Diving back in without comment

I started to write a post about where I've been for the last (gasp!) three plus years, but after struggling with what to write and feeling like everything I was writing sounded like excuse, after excuse, I decided to just dive back in to writing.  I may get around to posting about my whereabouts, but it is not really all that exciting.  I suppose I can sum of the last 3 years like so: I went back to work full time.  We moved. I got older. I gained weight.

Keep going

Woke up extremely sore this morning from yesterday's workout. Not surprised, but I think I did something to my right elbow. I iced it this morning and will keep an eye on it.

I did okay with my eating yesterday. I ate too much rice with my chicken, and I "cheated" once. I was scooping ice cream for the kids, and I snuck two spoonfuls of ice cream. I have absolutely no will power... I really tried to talk myself out of eating the ice cream, but I could not...at least I was able to limit my cheat.

So far today, I've been on track with my eating. Tonight we are headed to a local political event, so I am preparing myself to make good choices with whatever is served tonight at dinner.

I also got in an hour of cardio. I had to split it up into two half hour sessions because I did not have a solid hour available, but I think it worked out fine. According to my heart rate monitor, I burned a total of 603 calories, so I'm not complaining.

That's all the time I have for an update.

Two week challenge

I am on a mission of "clean living" for the next two weeks to jump start my most recent attempt to exercise and eat right. I've been around for the last several months, I was actually doing pretty well from October through mid-January. I'm going to attempt to keep track of my progress over the next two weeks!

Today, I got a great strenght workout in, and so far my eating has been on track.

Almost 1 Year?!?

Wow, I had no idea it has been almost one year since I last posted here. I did not finish the P90x program completely. I do not recall what happened. It was November, so I probably got sick. And then it was the holidays... yada, yada. I have been working out, honest, I have. I started back up in January of this year, but I never got back into the habit of writing about my workouts. I ran a 5k in the spring. I wanted to do another 2 or 3 this summer/fall, but I never got my butt in gear. I am not a good runner, that is clear from how long it took me to complete my first 5k. I've been trying to increase my speed by running intervals on the treadmill at the gym.

I have a good workout routine going on right now. I do cardio Sundays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. I do strength training on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays. Fridays are my "off" days.

For my cardio, I'm doing 40 minutes on the treadmill which is broken down like this: 5 minute jogging warm up somewhere in the 5.1-5.3 range. Then I do somewhere between 10 and 20 minutes at 5.8 pace. For the next 10 minutes, I do one minute at 6.1-6.3 range followed by one minute at 6.5-6.8. I run/jog the last 5-10 minutes at a pace somwhere between 5.3-5.5. I know it's not all that impressive, but I can feel my endurance getting better, so I must be doing something right.

P51x and P50x

I've been keeping up with the P90x program better than I've been keeping up with blogging. The problem is that I'm so spent after the day's P90x DVD, that I don't have the energy to type a post. Also, although it's a great program, Tony Horton doesn't inspire me to write a creative entry. While I hated Jillian and found many things to pick on, I like Tony. He's tough, but he allows you to take breaks, he makes fun of himself. He's serious, but he lets himself be silly at times. He doesn't make you feel bad for having to do some of the modified exercises.

So, yesterday was the second time for the Chest and Back routine followed by the Ab Ripper. It was as hard as it was the first time. I don't have and don't plan to install a chin-up bar, so I did the alternate exercises suggested by my neighbor which worked out well.

Today was the second time for PlyometricsX. Again, really hard, but I felt like I was able to keep up with Tony and the gang better this time. Still hate his version of "Rock Star Jumps!"

P52x

I was going to give myself a break today. The P90x program says that today, which is day 7, I can either rest or do "Stretch x." I was going to rest, but then I started to feel guilty, so I did 30 minutes of Yoga. I feel much better.

Tomorrow, I start over with the P90x "chest and back" and "ab ripper x" DVDs. I'm already dreading it!

P53x

Lying awake this morning just before the alarm went off at 5:45, I figured out what Kenpo X was going to be: cardio/kickboxing. I was right. It was a decent workout. The moves were not too terribly hard, but it was a vigorous workout that lasted just short of one hour. I liked it much better then some of the other DVDs, like the chest and back DVD that's coming back up in the rotation on Thursday... I'm already dreading it.

Anyway, tomorrow is an optional "rest or stretch" day. I'm planning to do a 35 minute Yoga routine tomorrow morning.