Does it Hurt When I do this?

(source)

Hola Bloggies:

Although I haven’t shared with you, I have unfortunately been experiencing some back pain in the last month. At first it started off as tenderness in my lower back. I could feel it when I got up from extended periods of sitting – it was most noticeable right after driving or being at work. Then it progressed to pain that caused me to alter my “Operation Bring it!” workouts. I basically managed to get one week in according to the schedule and quickly found myself modifying the rest of the schedule to avoid anything that could cause stress to my back (that was most of the workouts).  And then it got worse . . .

About a week ago I had several days of absolutely excruciating pain that had me flat on my back in agony. I tried using heat. I tried taking extra-strength painkillers. I tried changing positions. Nothing worked. Honestly, the pain was so bad I was absolutely nauseous. And then it largely went away.

Still I wasn’t happy with the progression of my back issues and I attended a variety of Doctor’s appointments. Currently, I’m awaiting X-Ray results in the hopes of ruling out any skeletal issues. Although my Physiotherapist fears that may be the cause the Doctor is not so inclined. Nonetheless, in the meantime I am under strict Doctor’s orders to stay away from P90X. Instead, I have been prescribed a series of abdominal and weight lifting exercises that use very little weights and are heavily supported. Basically, they’re meant to target the deep muscles of my core in the hopes of alleviating the pain.

One not so great part is the fact that this pain has coincided with the start of my training for the Long Beach Half. To train for the race I will be using a modified version of Hal Higdon’s Novice Half Marathon Training Program. Basically, I know my body can’t take running every day so I will be limiting my runs to three times a week. On my non running days I will be participating in cross-training consisting of Zumba, cycling, and maybe some deep water running (the Kinesiologist recommended that I give it a go). Of course I’ll also be incorporating weight training into my workouts, as the Doctor permits.

Today, I did my second run of my half training. Although the workout came from FitSugar, I made sure to run it by my Medical team before giving it a go. Here’s what I did today:

 

Beginner Treadmill Workout

00:00-5:00   3.5 Speed   1.0 Incline

5:00-10:00   3.5 Speed   1.0 Incline

10:00-12:00  5.5 Speed  1.0 Incline

12:00-16:00  3.5 Speed  1.0 Incline

16:00-18:00  5.5 Speed  1.0 Incline

18:00-22:00  3.5 Speed  1.0 Incline

22:00-24:00  5.8 Speed  1.0 Incline

24:00-28:00  3.5 Speed  1.0 Incline

28:00-30:00  5.8 Speed  1.0 Incline

30:00-35:00  3.5 Speed  1.0 Incline

35:00-40:00  3.0 Speed  1.0 Incline

 

If you think that looks like a walk-run, you’re right! It wouldn’t be my usual choice for training for I’m trying to be good and listen to my Doctor. Truth be told, holding back was really the hardest part of my run. I wanted to go faster during those forty minutes. And after the scheduled workout was over I still felt so good, I wanted to keep going. But I forced myself to stop and move to another cardio machine.

Here’s hoping I get good news on the X-Rays and can return to regular workouts soon!

 

Question: Have you ever suffered a back injury? More specifically, have you ever trained through a similar injury?

The Dog Ate my Homework – I think she was trying to tell me something

Hola Bloggies:

This weekend was an important one for the me that is striving to be “the whole package.” Saturday I forced myself to re-evaluate my progress in my journey to wellness. You see this past week I received a call telling me my wedding gown had arrived (!!!) several months ahead of schedule.

WOW. Talk about a reality check.

So I’ve decided to clean up my eating. Say buh bye to refined carbs, excess sugars, mindless eating, and fatty stuff. Say hello to photographing my eats in an effort to keep myself accountable.

Cue breaky . . .

1/3 cup of oatmeal, one tablespoon of Chia Goodness, one banana, half a tablespoon of Maranatha Almond Butter, and a dollop of maple butter (it actually contains no butter and is made by cooking maple syrup to a high temperature, cooling it, then raising it again). This dish wasn’t just good – it was ahmazing! Kind of made me wish that every meal was breakfast. So far so good!

Cue lunch . . .

 

One lean Italian sausage sautéed with a cup of mushrooms. Paired with 1/2 a banana and about a cup of strawberries. Not too green huh!? My fridge was admittedly low on veggies and since I was trying to hold out for Sunday’s farmers market I didn’t bother re-stocking. Ideally I would have sautéed a pile more veggies in with the sausage. But no could do. Still doing alright.

 

Cue dinner . . .

Go ahead – say it! “Karen, what were you thinking!? That’s not enough food for dinner!” You’re right . . . you’re so right. I ate 4 1/2 oz. of angus strip loin steak, half of a lean Italian sausage, one orange, and one strawberry. GINORMOUS fail!!! This is where it all fell apart. Sure I felt okay when I finished eating it – maybe even a little stuffed but it just didn’t have the staying power I needed. Soon enough I found myself hungry – which is why I proceeded to eat (un-pictured) two more oranges and 1 1/2 bananas.

Lessons learned from Saturday’s eats? Eat more veggies!!! My body needs something fibrous and slow to digest in order to keep me full between meals. Fruits are delicious and great for summer days but they just don’t have the staying power of veggies. I also learned I need to drink water. A LOT MORE! I need to make sure I keep my absolutely full Nalgene bottle (BPA free) on me at all times. That way I have no excuses. Staying extra hydrated will not only make my skin look baller but it will also help to stave off the hunger.

Let me be clear, I don’t intend on depriving myself but I’m smart enough to realize that revamping cleaning my eating won’t be easy. I expect to crave soft doughy rolls, the sugary treats at the office, or indulgent restaurant food . . . I just need to keep the bigger picture in mind!

 

Sunday I woke up determined to do better food-wise. I also woke up to discover a very sick Fiancé – le pauvre. While he stayed in bed all day I went about my business.

Cue breaky . . .

For breakfast I had pretty much the same 1/3 of a cup of oatmeal, whole banana, one tablespoon of Chia Goodness, and one tablespoon of Maranatha Almond Butter as yesterday. The only difference was that instead of using maple butter I added carob chips. Delish! Clearly this is going to be a staple around these parts.

After breakfast I loaded Daisy into the car and listened to a Joel Osteen podcast (it was my church substitute) as I drove to a local farmer’s market. We had a glorious time walking around the place, meeting the food producers, buying delicious goodies, and finding a new health food store. Around lunch we headed back home, where I proceeded to make myself a delicious meal with my new ingredients.

Cue lunch . . .

In my massive salad bowl (it’s kind of more bucket-like than bowl-like) went two cups of locally grown greens, half a tomato, two soft boiled organic free-range eggs, three slices of oven-roasted turkey breast, a handful of sugar snap peas, a couple of tablespoons of a homemade vinaigrette, and two tablespoons of nutritional yeast. This was my first time using nutritional yeast and all I have to say is – where have you been all my life!?!?!? Seriously delicious!!! It’s almost cheesy or nutty in taste. I’m not really sure how to describe it other than to say that it added a depth of flavour to my salad that had me totally liking the bowl. True story.

After lunch one of my co-workers called and said he wanted to drop off some home-made caramel ice cream as a thank-you for allowing him to use our PO Box. Far be it from me to turn down delicious homemade treats.

Cue the snack . . .

It was such a warm day the poor little ice cream partially melted on the drive over but that in no way lessened it’s out of this world yumminess!!! You see those dark pieces? That would be home-made salted caramel. It tasted like dulce de leche (think Argentinean milk candy). I had about a scoop of this deliciousness and forced myself to leave the rest for the Fiancé.

I spent most of the afternoon doing chores, writing emails (wedding stuff), and taking care of the sick one. Unfortunately, I also had to take a nap in an effort to try to get rid of the excruciating bout of back pain I faced this afternoon. Once upon a time, I suffered a back injury; years later I still have flare-ups. Truth be told I’ve had my fair share of back pain this week. Boo back pain. Thankfully, I woke up feeling all better and incredibly hungry.

Cue Dinner . . .

Dinner featured approx. a cup of those lovely locally grown greens, one strawberry, more vinaigrette (balsamic + olive oil + organic mustard), one tablespoon of nutritional yeast, one lean Italian sausage, and 4 oz. of pork tenderloin (little known fact – pork tenderloin is amongst the leanest cuts of meat you can buy, and I include chicken breast). Okay I’ll confess, I liked the plate some more!

Also eaten but not pictured was a handful of pizza flavoured pretzels. Ugh. And I was doing so well. But the Fiancé got a snack attack in his sick state so I bought him some goodies. I couldn’t take it. The temptation was too much. Clearly, I need to work on that but overall I’m pretty impressed by how today went.

Win. 

 

Operating Bring it! – The Do Over

For a long time now I had been feeling guilty that I started P90X and then stopped doing the workouts on a daily basis. Then, when I re-started the programs I just picked up from where I left off. It just didn’t sit right. It kind of felt like cheating.

Clearly Daisy agreed with me . . .

Those little bits of paper would be my worksheets. The ones where I keep track of how many reps I did and at what weight. The worksheets are key in helping me to know how my progress is coming along and if I need to up or lower my weights. Ideally I want to work to failure on each rep and I heavily depend on those torn pieces of paper.

I don’t know if they tasted like sweat (she likes to lick me right after a workout) but she got into my precious papers and had a ball. But wouldn’t you know it – she barely owned up to the damage.

You see how she wouldn’t even look at me!?!? Ha!

My mangled sheets were just the impetus I needed to do the whole thing over again. For a long time I knew it wasn’t right to pick up where I started off. Looking back on this challenge I wanted to be able to count 12 solid weeks. No breaks in between. In the end I hoped to have an amazing and inspiring story to tell – Janetha style.

I knew what I had to do, Daisy had made it abundantly clear. It was time to start “Operating Bring it!” from scratch. Again

“Operation Bring It!” – The Do Over – Day 1, June 20th, 2010

Ah good old chest and back. And endless repetition of push ups and pull ups. The workout that is notorious for leaving me weak in the arms the next day.

I’ve done this workout before so I knew what to expect. But that doesn’t mean it hurt any less. There is just something about an hour’s work of push ups (intermingled with other moves of course) that makes me want to crawl in a ball. Today was no different.

228 push ups later (all but 36 on my knees) I was done for the night. I started off pretty well but near the end I started to feel nauseous. That’s when I decided to call it quits and leave my ab workout until tomorrow morning.

Overall it was a hard workout but I’m proud of myself for sticking with the DVD. As Tony Horton says “Keep showing up. Keep pressing play.” One day at a time, I’ll get there.

The Return of “Operation Bring it!”

Hola Bloggies:

You will remember some time ago I commenced what I called “Operation Bring it!” Basically my attempt to do a full cycle of P90X. I got off to a great start and then work  life got in the way. And although I kept doing most of the workouts I wasn’t doing them on the basis of the original plan and so I stopped telling you about them. But I’m not a quitter (no sir!) so it’s time I start updating you on the drops of sweat I’ve shed with Tony Horton.

This week I’ve decided to re-start the program where I left off. To make-up for the fact that I started it and then took a break I may add an extra week at the end. Either way I’m back on the band wagon and feeling rather proud of myself.

Want to know how I’ve fared in my return to “Operation Bring it?” Read On!!! 

 

Day 8 – “Operation Bring it!” - June 5th, 2010

My first official day back called for a return to the good old Chest and Back routine. I had done this DVD enough times that I knew what to expect – a massive amount of push ups!!

I have to confess that this time the DVD didn’t feel as long. The push-ups were still hard but somehow it didn’t seem to drag on (like the first time I did the workout). One thing that quickly became evident was how quickly I improved! On Day 1 I did a grand total of 162 push-ups with all but 26 of them on my toes. On Day 8 I did a grand total of 216 push-ups (!!!!!) with all but 27 of them on my toes. I was amazed at the difference!!!

I still say this is my favourite of all of the P90X workouts. There’s just something about the variations on a simple push-ups that I love. And the dive-bomber is still my fave!

Aside from P90X, I also went on a short two mile trail run (it started to rain so I had to turn around) through a local hiking path. It was glorious! My joints were pleased that I was nowhere near pavement and they rewarded me with a pace of 10min/mile. Which for me is basically blistering! I was one thrilled cookie!!!

 

Day 9 - “Operation Bring it!” – June 6th, 2010

All too soon it was time for the “Mother of All P90X Workouts!” The dreaded plyometrics day.

On Day 1 I felt like I was going to die during this workout. I had to keep on pausing the DVD to take longer breaks. Consequently it took much longer than an hour to complete the DVD! On Day 9 I didn’t have to pause for any extra breaks and I didn’t feel like I was going to die. In fact, I don’t know if I confessed this during my first recap but I got dizzy a couple of times. That’s seldom happened to me during workouts so I knew I was massively pushing myself. This time I still felt challenged but in a much safer and healthier way.

One additional change this week was my use of a heart rate monitor; I wanted to make sure I stayed within my calorie burning zone. I was thrilled to discover my heart rate stayed in the zone for the whole time with the exception of a few moves that caused me to head into my lactic acid build-up zone. It was an awesome workout and I could definitely see an improvement.

My goal for the end of the cycle? To be able to do the moves with the same absolute explosive energy as the peeps on the DVD. I believe I can totally get there!!

 

And then She Rested

What would have been Day 10 fell on a Monday – which as you know is the day I have my standing doggy hike date.

On this particular occasion we headed out on a two hour hike in the Rockies. Sometimes we take our hikes at a rather relaxed pace but on this occasion we were going at a really fast clip! In fact a really fit member of the group proclaimed it a death march! lol While I don’t think it was that bad I will confess to falling quickly asleep that night.

As if Monday night doggy hikes weren’t fantastic enough already we have decided to take on a group dinner at the end of each hike. This week one of our hike participants treated us to a lovely bbq featuring sockeye salmon, a mixed greens salad, rice, a dill yogurt sauce, and wonderful white wine. It was simply lovely! Unfortunately, I was so starved I neglected to take any pictures. But I promise to make up for it in spades!!!!

 

So there you have it – you’re all caught up now! Tonight I will be doing another of the P90X workouts but first I have to bake some “I Don’t Want to be a Lawyer Anymore Cookies” for the winning bidder in Bobbi’s bake sale and then of course I have to watch glee. Oh glee . . . how will I ever survive a summer without you . . .

 

Hasta Pronto!

Quoi de Neuf?

source

Bonsoir Bloggies:

I thought it was high time I check back in avec my friends and readers. Yes, I have been noticeably absent from blogging this last little while. The irony of the situation is that I (along with the Fiance) have been insanely hard at work on another website - our wedding website!!!!

It's been an incredibly labour intensive project that has happily resulted in a website we're massively proud of and are excited to share with our guests. Honestly, I think it has to be the most detailed wedding website in the history of wedding websites. We have subsections covering everything from our story (rather cute if I do say so myself), local attractions, wedding traditions, customs questions, booking accomodations, our photos . . . even survival Spanish!

In the process of designing our content the Fiance and I discovered that we're fantastic at building websites together. I'm good at the quick witty thoughts and he's great at revising what I wrote and making sure it looks good and follows proper rules of grammar. All of this led me to think that perhaps post-nuptials a whole blog revamp is in order. Preferably one that involves a professional designing my templates and new branding and the Fiance working with me on the content. I have some thoughts on new names for the blog but if you don't mind I'm going to keep things under wraps for now!

Speaking of keeping things under wraps - as much as I would love to publicly share the URL of our wedding website I am a little fearful of creepers. And by that I don't mean you readers - you're all cool beans - it's more the lurkers that exist out there. Having said that if you know me and would like to see our website please get in contact with me at tobethewholepackageATgmailDOTcom and I'll happily share! :o)

As for the Quoi de Neuf (which literally translates into what's new, in French) . . .

I still intend to keep on blogging about health and wellness. In fact lately I've begun to frequently use dailymile to log my workouts. And don't worry I haven't forgotten about P90X. Yes, I know I haven't been updating you on my progress. So tomorrow I will begin doing so again.

Now your turn! Quoi de neuf with you?

RauDZ: A Vacation in Under Three Hours

Hola amigos!!!

Thanks for all your well wishes on my last post and on twitter; they really warmed this bloggies heart! Thankfully I’m feeling heaps better and ready to get back to my regular schedule – both blogging wise and with P90X. But first I owe you another recap . . .

 

“Operation Bring it!” – Day 6 – March 26th, 2010

Today’s workout was devoted to KempoX or what Tony Horton seems to think is by far the most fun of the workouts. At first I was a little hesitant because I didn’t know what to expect.

What greeted me was a one hour workout full of punching and, in the latter parts, kicks. The punching part honestly felt a bit like I was training to be a boxer. Initially I was a bit uncoordinated but as the hour wore on I found myself getting into the sequences (jab, elbow, upper cut, hook . . . repeat!) and really enjoying the workout. I even yelled when Tony told me to yell. BTW, the first time I yelled Daisy came running down the stairs to see what was wrong. lol Funny puppy!

The kicks were a big part of the second part of the workout and although I think they’re effective you have to be really careful not to hyperextend your legs. It would be really easy to end up seriously hurt (I have a cousin that totally blew her knee doing Tae-Bo back in the day).

This workout is marketed as cardio and although it does get you sweating I found it significantly less strenuous than the PlyoX DVD. Overall I think it’s a great way to wind down the week but I wouldn’t recommend it as a replacement to a run.

And that was the end of week one of “Operation Bring it!” How do I feel?

Well I definitely noticed I was sleeping really soundly. I hit my bed like a ton of bricks and woke up feeling really well rested every morning. Major bonus!

On the eating front, I’m hungry. All. The. Time. Although I’ve been trying to up my protein intake (protein shakes are your friend and mine!) I don’t think it’s been enough. The key will probably be eating a lot of small meals throughout the day. That will be a big departure from my three meals a day style but I rather not feel ravenous all the time.

Body wise I can totally feel the difference. I know it’s only been a week but I can feel myself getting stronger and I love it!!! Truth is, my muscle strength never really went away but I definitely lost definition. And I can’t wait to have it back!!! I’ve also lost weight which makes my “I have to look awesome in a wedding dress” self really psyched!!!

I’m excited for week two!!!!

 

A Vacation in Under Three Hours

Right after the Olympics I was fortunate enough to visit Okanagan Wine Country. Although I was technically there for work purposes I did some serious exploring with the Fiancé after hours!

One of the things I was most looking forward to was enjoying Kelowna’s culinary delights! While I was working the Fiancé (who had some time off) was busy enjoying the city and heard of a restaurant that he thought I would love! And so we made a bee-line there for dinner. Enter RauDZ.

One look at the place and I knew it had basically been made with me in mind!!! The atmosphere was funky – modern and elegant yet unpretentious (funky quotes anyone?). And the kitchen was OPEN!!! Cooking as theatre!!! I LOVED it!!!! We were fortunate enough to be seated in a table for two right beside the kitchen. It was as close to a Chef’s Table as I’ve ever gotten. I hadn’t even cracked the menu and I was in heaven.

The Fiancé did a great job of choosing the restaurant!! It was when he heard the Chef’s philosophy he knew it would be my kind of restaurant: “Support local, buy local, eat and drink local.” It makes sense given that RauDZ is blessed to be located in the heart of the Okanagan Valley – home to wineries, orchards, farms, and ranchland. A veritable smorgasbord of foodie delights!

For appetizer the Fiancé and I decided to share one of the Chef’s signature dishes, Crab Cappuccino. Let’s take a minute to think about it . . . cappuccino! With Crab!!!!! lol The dish came in an oversized cup full of the creamiest and smoothest Dungeness crab bisque known to man. That was all topped off with a milk foam and caviar. In the spoons was an oil that tasted perfectly delightful. I don’t know what it was exactly but it was amazing.

For the main course I had RauDZ version of a Salmon BLT – which had a lovely pancetta piece, a perfectly cooked piece of salmon, a lovely light sauce, all on a black fig and anise toast. Beside the BLT was a pickled cucumber salad (very similar to one I had and loved in Stockholm) and the yummiest french fries ever. Not a hint of grease. Just perfection!!! Overall I really enjoyed my dish although I would have liked a little less bread as I felt it took away from the delicate taste of the salmon. Having said that, the bread was really wonderful.

And then I had some of the Fiancé's dish (!!!). There are no words. It was amazing. The Chef somehow managed to take a staple steak house meal (steak with gravy, roasted veggies and potatoes in a cheesy sauce) and make it marvelous. I kept on dipping my french fries in the Fiancé's sauce whilst wishing I had order the steak instead. I know it wasn’t a particularly light meal choice but it was worth every calorie.

Next came dessert – as I’ve mentioned before I am terribly allergic to real vanilla. This can make ordering dessert in a fine restaurant quite trying. Most Chefs seem to be drawn to real vanilla – even when the dessert itself is chocolate or fruit-based the sauces are all about the vanilla. Knowing the dilemma I was in our waitress (who was incredibly helpful and friendly) volunteered to ask the Chef what I could eat. Since we were seated so close to the kitchen we saw when she asked. And also saw when his eyes bulged out and he shook his head in a half-stumped half-stressed expression!!! lol It caught us so off guard that we (Fiancé et moi) burst out laughing. But boy did the Chef come through!

The dessert selections at this restaurant were priced at $4 each and billed as very small tastes. This was specifically designed so that diners could choose various small deserts to try. I ordered the sorbet and the Fiancé decided to skip the dessert. But the Chef (seeing that we were a table of two) sent out a huge helping so the Fiancé could have some too! The attention to customer service at RauDZ was beyond anything I had ever experienced!

And the taste? Oh wow. The sorbet tasted like the freshest of fruits, the sauce accented the wonderful flavours, the wafer was perfectly thin, and the deep fried (yet still fresh) mint leaf was inventive. I adored the appetizer, I loved my main dish, I coveted the Fiancé's meal, but the dessert was the cherry on top of my perfect meal sundae. I never imagined that a humble sorbet could make me so happy. It was while I was eating this dessert that I realized I had completely forgotten about the outside world. I completely forgot I was in the city for work. It was just the two of us, a kitchen crew that had mastered the Art of fine dining, and the flavours in my mouth. It was honestly like being on vacation. In less than three hours no less.

Perfection.

As if the evening couldn’t be more perfect, our (very reasonable) bill was accompanied by a choice of lollipops made in the kitchen of the restaurant. I chose the peach and it tasted like summer. Honest to goodness – pure summer. It was the most incredible thing I’ve ever had. In fact I gushed about it to anyone that would listen.

In my life there have been memorable meals. My first Michelin starred restaurant experience in Paris (Le Violon D’Ingres), breakfast in a packed diner in Sausalito, the time I tasted oysters in Saint Malo, the fresh rolls at my first East Coast Lobster Supper . . . and now there will be my meal at RauDZ. The one that made me forget about everything else. The one that realized my good food ideals. The one that elevated cooking as theatre to it’s rightful place. The one that turned the humble lollipop into a gourmet treat.

The one that still makes me smile.

Of Awkwardness and Speed Skaters

Hello lovelies:

lol I’m back with another random blog title! It will all make sense in due time I swear!

I do hope all of you peeps have had a wonderful week thus far. Mine has actually been pretty nice. I haven’t been massively overworked which has given me plenty of time to be able to enjoy some quality puppy and Fiancé time – not to mention get my P90X workouts in!!!

 

“Operation Bring it!” – Day 4 – March 23rd, 2010

Now if you’re quick on the draw you noticed that I skipped a day. That’s because I was horribly exhausted on the 22nd (long court day) and couldn’t bring myself to do YogaX. I just wasn’t feeling it! So I made an executive decision and moved my rest day from the end of the week to the middle instead. My body was begging for a break and truth be told I think it allowed me to face the rest of the workouts that were to come.

Come the 23rd I was ready for my P90X so I popped my YogaX DVD into my player and got ready to ruuuuumble! Yogi style!

I had previously done this DVD in my hotel during my most recent travels, which meant I knew what to expect. And that was some serious awkwardness and borderline boredom. I really hate to say it but this is the only P90X DVD thus far that I really haven’t liked.

This workout is an hour and a half; which is a particularly excruciating length of time when you’re not down with what you’re doing. For about an hour you do the usual sun salutation type movements. Funny thing is I feel like there’s a ton of repetitive flow patterns and not enough power. I do Power Yoga (using Rodney Yee’s brilliant DVD) on a fairly regular basis and YogaX my friends isn’t power yoga. Yes I managed to feel uncomfortable but I don’t think that was due to some power style moves in there. Rather, I think the flows just don’t work sometimes. And then there are the times when you want to tell Tony Horton to move on already! But nope. He repeats things over. And over. And over. Again.

After an hour of flow type movements he tells you the worst is over. Then you move into half an hour of poses that you hold for long periods of time. I’m not used to that type of yoga so it’s an adjustment and it will take me a bit of time to get things working like clockwork. In the meantime my dancer will look none too graceful. Most of the movements are pretty Kosher and I managed to play along. That was until we hit about the last 10 minutes. That’s the time period where all the lovely DVD people get on the floor and proceed to contort into something I’d previously only seen done by Cirque de Soleil gymnasts. I tried to find a picture to show you what I meant but couldn’t – despite my creative Googling terms! lol Point is it feels uncomfortable on my neck and I don’t want to push it without supervision.

Overall I didn’t love this workout and I’m tempted to just do Power Yoga with Rodney Yee, on YogaX days!

“Operation Bring it!” – Day 4 – March 24th, 2010

This day was devoted to Back and Legs plus the now very familiar AbRipperX. Thankfully we were back to hour long workouts – and this one seemed to practically fly by!

I really enjoyed this DVD! It included a ton of variations on squats as well as lunges. I’d like to think they’re going to make me super bootylicious! lol It just so happens that my Hispanic genes managed to miss my butt region all together! lol

Seriously though this workout pushed me to keep on going and in the case of the evil wall squats to hold them as long as the peeps on the DVD. And by the end of it I felt really proud of myself!

One of the fantastic moves on this workout was called Super Skater. In it you attempt to mimic a speed skater by maintaining a quasi lunge in one leg and simultaneously moving your other leg back while moving your arms. This guy on YouTube does a pretty good of demonstrating the move. Although, really you should be aiming to have no toe tap in the back:

Before doing this move I had no idea that the speed skating motion could be so painful when repeated over and over again! Don’t believe me? Try it out for yourself! It hurts!!! And you can feel it working!!! One of my new favourites, pain notwithstanding. Bottom line on this move? Apolo Anton Ohno, I salute you! lol

Now before you say “But I have a bad knee! I can’t do this DVD!” let me tell you my background. Sure I’ve suffered many injuries in my day but amongst the worst are my knee and ankle injuries. I’ll probably share more on those injuries with you in the future but let’s just say my past fractured kneecap and my 2nd degree ankle ligament tear haven’t stopped me from doing this workout. Which is my way of saying “If I can do it, so can you!” Just make sure to rehab ahead of time.

Up for Today? KempoX – woohoo!!!

A High-tech Running Toy for my Wrist – like the cool kids have (plus a P90X weekend wrap-up)

Hello Friends:

So I thought I better get to writing my weekend wrap-up of P90X before Coco (Sleepless Again & blog “taste” talk) started bugging me about slacking! lol She promised she would if I didn’t update. No worries – though I have remained faithful to my P90X workouts!

But before I tell you all about “Operation Bring it!” I should thank you for all your help and advice in my whole Polar HRM vs.. Garmin dilemma! I got all sorts of advice from my readers. Although, I think the funniest comment award has to go to Marathon Maritza for major LOLs:

“Garmin. Hands down.
I have the 305 and it's practically my BFF, but if you can splurge, I would DEFINITELY go for the 405. It's much less bulky. I have impure thoughts about running my beloved 305 with my car just to get the 405. Shhhhh don't tell”

From the comments it was obvious that Garmin was the clear winner amongst bloggies. Still I decided to talk it over with the Fiancé. That night I was trying to outline the different features of each brand for him when it dawned on me . . .  with a Polar I would have to purchase separate GPS units (that you wear on your arm!) to get the same thing that’s already built into a Garmin. So even if I don’t really need the GPS right now I may down the line and I quite like having it integrated into one little unit.

In the end I chose this baby (picture borrowed from GPS Lodge):

While I was tempted by Maritza’s obvious love for the 405, the negatives sealed the deal for me. In the end the price difference (this one cost me about $175+taxes whereas the 405 was in the $300s) plus the negative Amazon reviews were enough to make-up my mind.

I’m very happy with my choice and super excited to be one of the cool kids with special wrist running toys!!! lol I can’t wait until it gets here and I can take it for a test-run. Hopefully the weather will be spectacularly beautiful by then too!

 

“Operation Bring it!” – Day 2 – March 20th, 2010

Okay, so I’ll confess . . . when I first got up on Saturday I thought to myself “Oh! I don’t hurt that much!” lol And as the day wore on I realized I hurt a LOT more than I wanted to admit. My abs had taken an AbRipper X style beating! And I couldn’t be happier about it! Masochist I know! lol

On the schedule for today was Plyometrics X, or as that evil man on my television Tony Horton calls it, “the mother of all P90X workouts!” This is another one of those videos I had done ahead of time so I knew what to expect. It’s seriously intense full out cardio non-stop for one whole hour!

What are plyometrics you ask? Well essentially it’s jump training. Think of doing a lunge or a squat. Now imagine going deep into a lunge only to jump into another one right away. Or doing jumping jacks except that the whole time you’re in a squat position and the only thing you do is move your legs in and out – but still maintaining a squat. Even if you’re not doing P90X, plyometrics are great to incorporate into your workout routines. Let’s check out what a plyo lunge looks like:

The P90X Plyometrics workout is essentially an hour of workout moves like the one above. This DVD pushed me to the limit and I had to hit pause a couple of times and extend the 30 second water breaks built into the program. By the end my lungs were burning – kind of like when I hiked a mountain in the Swiss Alps or like the first time I worked out with my trainer (I thought I was going to die!!!).

I’m looking forward to the day when I can do all these moves with the same explosive energy I seem to muster in the first twenty minutes of the DVD! Needless, to say I think this is a workout that will provide huge benefits and will likely even increase my running pace! Awesome!!

 

“Operation Bring it!” – Day 3 – Shoulders and Arms

This DVD is meant to target what my trainer always referred to as the “vanity muscles!” Those being the ones that you see in a tank top or wedding dress for that matter! Like most girls, I covet awesome triceps and lovely looking shoulders so I was all about this workout.

Like most of the P90X DVDs this one is an hour. But unlike the Chest and Back DVD this one had a super long warm-up; I think that’s because those arm muscles are fairly hard to warm-up and it would be super easy to get an injury!

I don’t know if I should be happy or not but I kind of liked how this DVD didn’t leave me feeling like I wanted to curl up in a fetal position! lol It was a manageable workout that left me appropriately sore without feeling like I was going to keel over. I did notice that it was a bit hard to figure out exactly what weight I should be using. For most exercises I did 12.5lbs in each arm but there was an odd one where that was too heavy. It will take a little bit of tweaking but I’ll get there!

 

On the schedule for tonight? YogaX and the AbRipper X I should have done yesterday but ran out of time!

Have you ever tried plyo? If no – will you try it now? If you have in the past - did you like it? I admit at one point I used to be afraid of it due to my knee and ankle rolling issues. But I’ve now rehabbed everything enough that I can do the moves!