Insanity, Days 34, 35, 36, 37: Core Cardio & Balance, Max Interval Circuit, Max Interval Plyo

Omg.. I need to blog more often. So many of my posts are going into one now!

As you know, Tuesday was a particularly bad day for me in that I did not work out. I ended up fulfilling the last day of Recovery Week on Wednesday, and I had that familiar "I can't believe I didn't do this yesterday! This feels so great!" feeling. The hardest part really is getting started. I'm glad I made up for it.

Now this next part was an unpleasant surprise: Month 2's workouts are an hour long as opposed to the previous 40 minutes. That's a 50% increase! What kind of upset me was the fact that Monday (Day 36) was supposed to be the Fit Test AND Max Interval Circuit. I took a peek at Max Interval Circuit and found out that it's an hour long! How the heck was I supposed to do that AND the fit test? Definitely skipped the Fit Test and I'm wondering how much more I would have been dying if I had done the Fit Test. Month 2 is definitely Max!! Kicked my butt. I am physically incapable of doing the switch kicks on my hands. And those mini-cartwheel things were scary at first! I felt like I was going to land on my head but thankfully I did not...

Day 37 was yesterday, Max Interval Plyo. Some more new moves here. The warm ups are super tough.. but I guess that's what I get for finally being able to make it through the regular warm-ups without quitting. The Max stuff in general, as I'm finding out, takes up more room and more coordination. I did Day 37 with Keith, which was great, because it helped encourage me. We just had to get a lil creative when it came to figuring out space in the living room of our cabin but we made do. Max Plyo is really tough!! (hmm, that seems to be the theme of today's post...) There were also these weird push up things where you squat and then lean forward, land on your hands, make like you're doing a push up but when you straighten out your hands push all the way up back up to the squat position. There are a lot of push ups in Max Plyo in general. The Level 3 drills are getting down and doing 16 push ups, running it out for 8 counts and then getting up and back down. Luckily you only do 2 of those, but I was so exhausted I think I made it from 16 to 12 before I collapsed. More globe jumps as well, except this time it was side to side with twists.

Eating well,... I think; oh, did I mention I snowboarded all day yesterday? ALL day. And THEN did Max Plyo. That was Keith's first time doing Insanity. He rode harder on the mountains than I did though. He kept saying this isn't a great time to go head first into Insanity (and it probably didn't help that it was Max) which I imagine is true but it was hard for me too! Plus he is training for a marathon and has done marathons before. Like Ragnar.

Oh, back to eating. I've been trying to protein it up -- nuts, tofu, beans. I had veg chili yesterday at one of the lodges here.

I'm not as sore this morning as I thought I would be. The left side of my neck + my left shoulder are super sore from looking to the right (I ride goofy) for hours yesterday. Keith says I should rotate and relax more. I'll try that today and hope that it works... I can feel my abs are sore and my thighs a little bit too.

Onto another day on the slopes + Max Cardio Conditioning today!

Insanity, Days 32, 33, and 34: Core Cardio & Balance

Monday (Day 33) was good. I pushed myself pretty hard and woke up a little sore on Tuesday morning. Shaun T says it's recovery week so I'm not supposed to be completely exhausted by the end of the workout, so I'm confused by all the difficult and strenuous stuff. Anyway, not entirely in a good mood; yesterday after work I was really hungry so I stopped by this place to get food, and this was after I went to the ATM. Plus there was a lot of traffic on the road so I didn't get to the ATM until 5:20-5:30. Next thing I know, I'm done eating by 6:30. I admit, I procrastinated just relaxing on the couch for half an hour, got to my room, turned on my computer ready to do Insanity and then suddenly it's 7:30 -- how did that happen? I ended up not working out. I'm disappointed that I didn't work out, but I was just so tired. I'm tired all the time, and it pisses me off. Sunday-Monday I slept from 10-6, 8 hours; Monday-Tuesday I slept 8:40-4:30 (but didn't get up until 4:50), almost 8 hours. Last night I slept from 8:50-5 after snoozing from 4:30 and didn't actually get up until 5:15. And I'm still friggin tired.

I'm getting really annoyed at myself. Firstly, I'm not actually sleeping at those above stated times. Those are the times I turn out the lights and lie down. Admittedly, I tend to fall asleep quickly, but it's still probably about 5-10 minutes before I actually go to sleep. ...or less than that, actually. Ok, so maybe not a huge difference. But am I really that tired from not sleeping? Am I making up this whole tired all the time thing as an excuse not to work out, or am I tired at the end of the day from work? I don't know. Ideally, I'd find this out by SLEEPING MORE and figuring that out, but I'm having issues with that. Secondly, I'm not following the schedule I set last week. Thirdly, I really wish I could get by with the amount of sleep that I get, but I am indeed afraid it's not the amount anymore, I'm afraid it's when I am sleeping. Last weekend I slept one night from 11-7 and was totally fine for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, if I slept from 11-7 I would add 0:45:00 to my commute. Fourthly, ... I skipped my workout yesterday! That's twice in two weeks I skipped because I was too tired/lazy/not wanting to do it. I'm debating whether or not to just skip it all together since it is Recovery Week or to use yesterday as a rest day. I'm past the halfway point in Insanity, which feels weird. I feel like I've been doing Insanity forever, in both the I'm-so-used-to-this and the isn't-this-over-yet? contexts. I don't like my second attitude because every time I think that, I have to correct myself and tell myself it's not ever going to be "over." My mentality isn't where I want it to be. I have this longing to be that person who exercises and eats right all the time, as my default and my norm. But I'm over -here-, that person who still has to make changes and be conscious about it, and if given the choice, I wouldn't. I mean, sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not. Right now I'm not.. obviously. I'm kind of there, and farther to that point than most people I know, but not where I want to be yet.

Oh, and the waking up at 4:30 thing hasn't been working for me yet but I've only done it twice. I think I just need to hustle in the morning. I didn't get out the door until 6:30 on Tuesday and this morning I didn't shower (because I didn't work out last night and I'm tired.. my hair looks awful) nor did I make my smoothie (I ran out of frozen fruit) but I did juice and I got out of the house at 6:15. So it took me an hour to get ready WITHOUT a shower or smoothie. Oh, and Dennis, since I ran out of smoothie stuff, PLUS the fact that I forgot my 32oz jug in the car and substituted with a 24oz jug that has a smaller opening, I drank veggie juice first thing this morning -- it wasn't too bad. I guess I was supposed to have forgotten the jug in the car because where I forgot the jug I also forgot the jug I store my smoothie in which I obviously didn't make. I made the veg juice sweet, though; yesterday I was dying because of how bitter and gross it was with little bits of pulp (I've made up my mind: no more beet leaves in my juice).

I am so lost.. I don't know what to do. My priorities of work, sleep and working out are all on the same plane. Ideally I should add juicing and eating right in there but they have been taking a back seat. And then I also have a boyfriend who I need to be around for so he knows all of the updates of things that I want. Also, I've been breaking out as I said earlier. I need to eat like I used to; I wasn't breaking out then. I need my old willpower and self-control back to stop eating the cookies and granola bars and processed grains. I've always said when one thing sucks, everything sucks, which explains why when I was eating well I was also working out lots and now that I'm tired all the time, I'm breaking out and not working out when I should nor am I eating right. I guess they're all correlated. Now that I'm getting back into my juicing patterns I'm hoping the rest falls into place. Fingers crossed.

Insanity, Days 28, 29, 30, 31: Recovery Week, Core Cardio & Balance and Snowboarding

Woo! Hit the halfway point in Insanity! That feels good. I haven't been updating much, been busy... but the Core Cardio & Balance portions are still quite a work out! I thought it would be free flyin' for the next 6 days, but no. It certainly is not as much work, but it's still a ton of work and I do sweat lots (not as much as the regular stuff though). Recovery Week is doing one exercise after the other, with some breaks; some are familiar, like heismans, and others are new, like the high jump and walking planks. Surprisingly, I last through the Level 1 drills (with the push ups) fine; I don't go all the way down, but we go at a much slower pace than in the regular days which allows me to catch my breath. That portion in the end though KILLS me -- squat in second position and flap your arms out like you're going to take off and do other various things with the arms for 3+ minutes straight in that squat. For the first couple of days my shoulders, upper back muscles and abs were a little sore. I like how the exercises here build up so you're sweating and it's over before you know it. The other days have you go into it more so it feels a bit awkward in doing some of the exercises with cold muscles, but the Core Cardio & Balance has you easing into the exercises more. I did this on Thurs, Fri and Sat; yesterday I went snowboarding.

Food: Good, I guess; can be better. I carbed it up this weekend.. again. bleh, carbs are just way too easy and accessible...

oh, one thing to note...

My left knee has started to hurt. At first I thought it was the weather, as it hurts more in the cold (a well-deserved thank you goes out to two accidents that are to blame for permanently injuring my knee); but now I'm wondering if it's this exercise + stop & go traffic (this morning I spent 6:30-7:10AM driving about 3 miles. Apparently that's what happens when a big rig turns on its side and the driver is unconscious.) or if it really is just the cold. Hopefully it's not the exercise and it's just the cold, as I don't want to stop exercising...

Insanity, Day 27: Plyometrics

Hmm, yesterday was good. My eating was good. Well it was good in terms of when I ate; I brought food to work and ate it when I wanted to which was awesome.

Soy protein smoothie
Cantelope
Watermelon
Grapes
Asian Pear
Banh mi chay
Spinach salad with nuts (some were candied pecans...), dried cranberries, golden raisins
Some garlic, onion, something else crackers which I won't ever eat again
Yogurtland (that's a good post-workout food, right..? I had a LOT of candy in that though!! probably a ton of HFCS and definitely a ton of sugar)

I've been mostly keeping to my sleep schedule, falling asleep around 8:30 and waking up at 5; I haven't committed to making veggie juice in the morning yet.. ugh, and those veggies are getting really old. I'm still really tired though. I remembered that it's not just how much you sleep, but it's also when you sleep, which might explain why I'm tired all the time despite getting 8.5 hours of sleep.

Yesterday's Plyometrics was tough. Level 1 drills and all those push ups are really hard for me. I have no upper body strength. However, I have been noticing that my biceps are getting harder when I flex, and when I push my hips forward at a certain angle with the right light and flex hard I can kiiiind of notice some definition in my stomach. I still have this layer of fat covering my abs which is creating this almost 4-pack look, I think. Convenient how my fat arranges itself into packs, huh? My thighs are still big... and my love handles still bug me. Mmmm.. need more time, and to stop eating Yogurtland at night. (But I'm one check-in from being Mayor on Foursquare!!!!)

Insanity, Day 26: Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs, take II

YAY! I worked out yesterday! And it was a gooood workout. I feel silly for being so down about skipping a work out... I just remembered that I just won't take today's rest day and exercise instead so I'll still be on track.

Yesterday I pushed myself through the entire warm-up even though I wanted to quit, which was good. The switch kicks (kick one foot and then jump alternating feet/legs) are really hard. Btw, and I guess this is a criticism from watching the same videos over and over, I really wish they wouldn't show some awkward people, especially during the Heismans. Some people look funny when they do it, like it's unnatural and uncomfortable. I'm not saying I'm any model student, but as someone who is following a group of people, having the camera focus on someone doing it really awkwardly throws me off. I pushed myself too hard yesterday to the point of nausea but I recovered quickly.Otherwise, the get up/get down/do push ups/run it out/get up is still really hard for me, and I was so exhausted that I could barely do jumping jack push ups. Is that supposed to happen? Also, am I supposed to do Cardio Abs right after? Because I do, and I don't have too much energy left for the warm up part. I always have trouble with the leg lifts things.

Food:
Soy & hemp protein berry smoothie (46g protein, 4.5g carbs, 4.5g fat)
Cantelope
Asian pear
Leftover grilled veggies from Macaroni Grill (way too greasy and oily)
Tofu, spinach and pea masala with 1/2 plate of basmati rice
Hemp shake (42g protein)
Sesame seed ball with mung bean
Soy shake (25g protein)
So that's around 120g protein, 100g (????) carbs, very little fat. My food habits are picking up! I ran out of hemp powder when I was doing my smoothie and I didn't feel like going back to my room to get more so I used soy protein. It tastes better than the hemp one. I am so annoyed with these powders being so dang clumpy!!!!!! I thought the soy protein was disgusting at first (the one without carbs), so maybe this hemp takes getting used to.. I'd really like to like the hemp one more.

Insanity, Day 25: Pure Cardio & Cardio Abs

Ugh.. I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I didn't work out yesterday. I started to, but I had a small headache, and when I was into the warm up, the headaches got worse as I landed my jumps. I won't lie and say that I had to force myself too hard to quit. I have been really tired in the past few days and my motivation is wearing off. I have put on a tiny but of chub -- hopefully it's bloat -- from all of what I ate last week.

Yesterday, I drank my hemp/strawberry/blueberry smoothie, asian pear, apple, some grapes, a couple of handfuls of nuts, odwalla bar (yuck, I hate eating bars but I was starving), bad banh mi from Lee's, Yogurtland. I would consider this my "normal" desired way of eating minus the Odwalla bar. Well the thing that's connected to that is I worked straight through lunch so I didn't really eat a lunch lunch.. the banh mi was lunch dinner. As you can see that is clearly not enough protein. It's lots of carbs and moderate fat. I remember when I was focused on what I was eating and making sure I was getting "enough" protein I did not feel bloated. This morning my stomach measured a bit over 26" whereas I would be a solid 26" before. Maybe I should indeed go back to the way I was eating before: high protein, low carb, low fat. I've been WAY slacking on the veggie juice. Like WAY slacking. My skin is not great right now as I've started to break out from eating too many of these processed foods and not drinking enough veggie juice. My main problems are:

1. Tired all the time
2. No veggie juice
3. Not enough protein
4. Too many carbs
5. Unmotivated
6. Battle between wanting to eat the way I want to eat and making Insanity worth it, eating plan and all

These are all related to each other, probably spurned on the most by #1 and #5. The problem for me right now is scheduling. Ideally if I had all the time in the world, my schedule would look like this:

1. Wake up
2. Shower
3. Make veggie juice
4. Make smoothie
5. Drink smoothie on car ride to work
6. Get to work, drink veggie juice, eat correctly
7. Go home, work out, drink protein shake
8. Get to bed 2-3 hours later

My main problems lie in these areas:

1. I need to leave the house by 6AM. 6:15 at the latest. Which isn't a problem in itself; #2 is the problem:
2. I would have to wake up at 4:30. Do you know how hard that is? I can't shower at night after my work out; I don't want to sleep on wet hair, and I don't want to spend an hour blow drying it. Not to mention I can't ever style my hair after having slept on it (wet or dry). So I must shower in the morning. I must also make veggie juice in the morning, because I don't want to drink it at night.
3. You should drink veggie juice fresh. I don't normally drink it until after I finish my smoothie, and I don't normally finish it until a couple of hours after I start. By then it's gross because it's warm and the juice starts to oxidize and turn brown and taste yucky, and a lot of the nutrients are gone by that time. It takes me about an hour or so to get to work, then some more time to get settled then start drinking.
4. I usually either wake up hungry or get hungry soon after I wake up. I also heard that you should eat soon after you wake up to jump start your metabolism. If I wake up at 4:30 and not eat until when I get on the fwy, I will be voracious.
5. Waking up at 4:30 means I would have to sleep at 8, since 8 hours of sleep is clearly  not cutting it for me. I think I would be comfortable with 9 hours of sleep, but I'll try 8.5 first. Not sure if I have the willpower to go to bed at 8, and my social life on the weekends will suffer.
6. I'm on an entirely different schedule from everyone else at work; I get in around 7-7:30, everyone else, 9-9:15. Ideally I get two lunches -- one at 11, one at 2. They normally eat around 12:30ish. That's fine, I guess; I just don't want to step out twice (I work in a small office, and office etiquette says don't eat things that smell!).
7. This doesn't leave room for me being late anywhere, including staying late at work (although if I stay late at work that means I face boat loads of traffic, which is another discouraging thing about leaving late).
8. I hardly ever have down time to read or do anything.

So it looks like my revised schedule will be:

1. Wake up at 4:30
2. Shower, eat something real fast, do my hair and make up, make smoothie first, then veggie juice
3. Drive to work at 6-6:15, drink smoothie in the car
4. Finish veggie juice before 8:30
5. Eat snack at 9
6. First lunch at 11
7. Second lunch at 2
8. Hemp shake at 4 when I leave work
9. Work out when I get home, finish protein shake by 6:30
10. Be in bed by 8:00

Hm, okay, looks like I'll have some wiggle room there after my work out. Hopefully I will be able to sleep at 8:00 after finishing a work out just 2 hours prior. This is hoping that I can actually get up at 4:30 and get ready in 1.5 hours.

Wish me luck...