Because of all the cardio based workout’s that I’ve been doing since Jan, Today I noticed a weakness in strength training.

Total Body is an odd workout as the muscles that are working the hardest are not the ones you are actively working.  Its almost like a detraction workout.  ”Here, we are going to to tricep kick backs with 10lbs weights…WHILE in a warrior 3”

10lbs - easy
triceps kick backs - cake
Warrior 3 - easy-ish if I wasn’t doing tricep kickbacks with 10lbs weights shifting my balance.

The entire workout is kind of like this.  one arm chest press while balancing on a stability ball.  The muscles that are working the hardest are the ones to keep you stable on the ball, not the chest press.

I don’t think I fully understood this concept the first time I did P90X2 so all my studying for my certifications is paying off :)

I’m already sore from this weeks workouts and yoga but I then did the scheduled X2 ab ripper with the lovely Collette.  I still don’t think the new ab ripper is as hard as the original but it works deeper and different muscles in your core

Tonight is back to yoga and i’m trying to decide if i’m going to do my 3 miles before or after yoga

As always, look me up and join me on my beachbody team

www.beachbodycoach.com/brucea

Have a great one!

I”m starting later in the season than I would have liked but my 1/2 marathon and marathon training began this morning.  How do I know it began this morning and this wasn’t just A RUN?

I didn’t want to do it, I got up, got adjusted and started running and fell into the grove I fall into when i’m preparing for something.  This is the start.  Not the fastest or longest run but it was damn steady and I didn’t pause or stop one time during it.

I couldn’t find my running socks this morning so I ended up running in my vibrams, which was kind of a blessing because I re-adjusted my running and it felt great!

First 3 mile run done…many many many more miles to go

.

My first run is the Zombie run on June 1st followed by the warrior Dash and who knows what i’ll start to sneak in before or after that.

Tonight is P90X2 Plyocide

Keep runnin

#P90X 

Last week I had the hardest time staying motivated to workout.  I pushed through a few workouts but in general it was a very weak showing.  Yesterday felt about the same as the weather is dark, cold and rainy (to all people who CLAIM to love fall, enjoy your messed up season where everything dies!) and just zapped my energy to do anything.  I got up this morning with a determination to have a good workout!

Will power, it’s the difference between staying in a overweight unhealthy body and pushing yourself to get fit and healthy.  One of my favorite super-hero’s entire ability is based on will power

Will power is what got me the last 4 miles on a marathon when I could barely move because my feet were cramping so badly.  Will power is what got me from 380 lbs down to 285 lbs in a year.  Will power got me off my ass this morning and into the last 3 weeks of my P90X workout!

There is a moment when you start to do 4 count push ups on bars when you decide i’m going to give this all i’ve got or i’m going to crumble 1/2 way down.  This mornings workout is the boost I’ve been needed to push me through the post marathon depression (yes it’s real, I didn’t believe it until it hit me).  I feel re-energized and i’m planning on running tonight.  I have a 10k on Sunday!

I even managed to do a modified Ab ripper x!  My groin is still kind of tugging but i’m able to do 80% of the workout which is better than a few weeks ago when I couldn’t do anything.

The body is healing, the energy levels are climbing again.  Two more weeks of P90X and then I start my next workout program that will take me through the end of the year…only I don’t know what i’m doing yet…go figure.

I’ve also set another large goal for next year:

I’m not one to sit and rest on pas accomplishments!  I ran a marathon, I got my medal in the mail yesterday so I can officially close that accomplishment.  Next year I want to do a triathlon!  I need to get my gym membership back because I need access to a pool but this is the plan.

Two weeks left of P90X!  I start teaching P90X and Turbo-kick at the park district this Saturday and I plan to start Triathlon training sometime in November.  I am running the Disney 1/2 marathon again in Jan and I hope to keep up with my training enough to run….gulp, another marathon in Feb or March…yeah I know I said never again.

Beachbody has created products that inspire me and keep me moving forward with my own health and fitness goals .  Being a coach, the personal development programs and continued support I get from the company really help me be a better me and I love it.

Keep pushing play and let’s finish out this year of fit strong!

as always, if you need motivation and support, let me be your coach!  Get a free account at www.beachbodycoach.com/brucea  and send me an email.  I am dropping weight and staying healthy, let me help you do the same!

#marathontraining

Welp, last night we did 3 miles with me pushing a stroller…with a flat tire…ugh.  Kat is training to run the Disney 1/2 marathon with me.  I did this run in my vibrams, nice and slow since my calfs are really kind of bothering me.  I need more water and more stretching

This morning I work up at 2:30 knowing that I have to do my 4 mile run in the AM as I have school tonight.  I tossed and turned and dreaded but I have to get this done. i’m so close to the end.  I headed out at 4:40 this morning determined not to push to hard but to get a good run in.

OH MY GOD!

I put out the fastest times I have ever run!  This is the first time I have run a sub 10 minute mile in ages.  In fact I ran 4.4 sub- 10 minutes miles.  I ran sub 4.4 sub 9 minute miles!!!

4.34 miles in 36 minutes!  That’s faster than my last 5k!  Check it out:

I wouldn’t have believed it if I did do it!

4 months of running, Asylum, doing an Ultimate Reset and P90X and I’m finally fast again!  Finishing this run felt like that scene from Rock IV when he climbs the mountain

Chicago Marathon,  I’m ready!

Now i need to do some stretching, fortunately today is P90X Stretch X…how is that for timing?  See, I really do time all this shit down to the wire :P

#P90X

This is marathon week so i”m going to redo P90X recovery week rather than start on Phase 3 this week.  It would be kind of silly to push myself uber hard doing this workout only to be to sore to do the marathon.

I’m shocked I was able to do marathon training and P90X at the same time.  Granted I did skimp on the leg workouts and after I got injured I couldn’t do ab ripper for a month.

So this week will be my last few runs and a lot of Yoga and stretching.  I may do a day of core syn just to keep it honest.

Have a great week

#chicagomarathon #training

Well, this is it!  I did yesterday’s scheduled 8 mile run this morning and that is the last  ”long” run before M-day.

This was not the best run as I hadn’t run at all last week.  I definitely have a sinus infection, which kind of scares me because it totally messes with my breathing and I don’t want to be THAT GUY shooting snot out of his nose the first 5 miles of the run. This was a cold-ish run.  I decided to run it like I would dress for the Chicago so it was T-shirt, shorts and compression socks….and 48 degrees.  Took me about 2 miles to get warm ish and my lungs didn’t want to start working until 4 miles in.  I discovered upper body fatigue as my shoulders are tired from yesterdays yoga and didn’t want to run.  This was also my first out and in before the sun came out run!

This was a kind of difficult run, mostly because I didn’t run all last week, a bit because I didn’t eat the best the last few day and the whole sinus/snot issues.  This coming week, I must get in my 3,4 and 2 mile runs just so my body is back in a running mode.  

My hip started hurting around mile 7 but again, i think this is more because I hadn’t done any running last week to get those muscles flowing.  This is also the first run where something happened that kind of scared me.  I’m running and a car goes by, then the same car goes by again, and then again, and then it slows down and goes by again.  I don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to get off a street and onto a trail before.

So this is it, I pick up my race information either Friday night or Saturday and by this time next week I’ll be downtown ready to do this.  WOW, just saying that sent butterflies through my stomach.  oh wow, i’m going to run a marathon

#P90X #recovery

This is recovery week!  True to P90X form, by the time you get to week 4 of whatever phase you are in, recovery week is a much needed change!  Core Synergistics today and guess what?  My groin and hip is well enough that I was able to do it!  I still have a little pain and weakness but I think it’s more needing to work these muscles than needing to rest them now.

I’ve made the decision that I”m going to do this week twice.  Next week is the marathon and rather than break myself doing P90X I’ll just do a second recovery week which will work Yoga, Core and the areas i’m wanting to get some more strength and flexibility in that will ultimately benefit me for the 26.2.  See, i’m always thinking :P

Last night’s workout was P90X but was a little different, I did a demo class for the park district because they wanted to determine if it would be a good add to their schedule for the next session of workouts.  I think they liked it!  I had a group of 8 women and they rocked out some push-ups and lawnmowers.  I was impressed!  They really liked he turbo-kick session so we shall see what decision is made but I think I’ll be teaching P90X soon.

Tonight is suppose to be a 4 mile run but I have a paper I need to finish by tomorrow so I don’t know if that’s going to happen.  This fall weather is rapidly zapping my will to do anything physical so I made the extra effort to do my workout in my old 4 am time slot this morning just to get moving effectively.

Keep pushing play!  51 days in and this workout will be done in time for Thanksgiving!  My clothes are not loose and when I get some more money i’m going to have to get new ones.  I was stronger doing core syn this morning than I have been in the past, even with the injury!  The body is changing all you have to do is keep pushing!

Now i need some Shakeology!

www.beachbodycoach.com/brucea

#P90X

Today is suppose to be Plyo-X, as my hip is not in plyo-x condition as of yet, I went for a slow and controlled 4 mile run.

The hip is performing well on the run, no unecessary pain, my stride is off a bit and I can feel that my leg wants to pull a different angle but i’ll work on that.  I ran in my vibrams because, when I want to make sure i have correct running form and posture, these shoes are the bees knees.

Wasn’t the fastest run and I probably walked about a mile of it when I decided to go off the path an on the dirt trail.

The place I was teaching turbo-kick was forced out of business this weekend so I need to find a new studio to teach at (this makes me sad as it was one of the activities I really enjoy doing).

Tomorrow is another day, keep pushing play.  Just because summer is “over” doesn’t mean you can’t be in great shape for all the fall parties coming your way!

www.beachbodycoach.com/brucea

#marathontraining

This morning started an 18 mile run that morphed into a 4.5 mile run.  I took a different route today and I was moving at a decent pace when it hit me, my first marathon running related injury…left hip flexor pull!

It started to hurt around mile 4-5 but I continued to push through thinking it would loosen up like my calfs tend to do.  Around mile 11 I was still feeling good but the pain had grown to a throb.

Then I stopped into my walgreen to get something to drink and continue on.  I’ve said it before, NEVER STOP!  Every time I stop it’s a pain to get started again, this time it really was a pain!

I tried to start running and TWINGE!!!  OK, i’ll finish my Gatorade, pop an Advil and then start up running.  I started a light jog and then picked up the pace and TWINGE!!!  OK, I won’t jog, maybe I should just walk a mile and see what happens.   

I walk another 1/2 mile and start to try to run and TWINGE!  OK I’m done!  I call Kat to come pick me up and I hobble another mile to the top of a hill outside the forest preserve.  14.5 miles.  4 miles short of 18 and I was feeling good overall.

Another running first for me….did you know that your nipples bleed?

I didn’t!  I wore a white shirt because when I started running it was pitch black out and now I have a long red stain down the front of my shirt that I didn’t notice until Kat pointed it out.  THIS is why the walgreens people were looking at me like I was weird…UGH.  I still have so much to learn about this running thing.  Now i need to figure out how to effectively treat a hip flexor pull AND bleeding nipples.

oh well 14.5 miles and my body feels GREAT, except the pull.  I think I could have easily finished the last 3.5 miles if my hip was ok.  I guess it’s better to stop short while it’s hurting and not an injury rather than NOT be able to run because of an injury.

Have a good one

#marathontraining

Today is the first run after the weekends long run and it always seems so hard.  It was easier to get going this time but maintaining and desire to do this is in flux.  About mile 3 of a simple 4 mile run (funny, 4 miles is now simple) I got hit by a sudden wave of panic.

I’m scheduled to run a Marathon in 6 weeks!  I can’t do this!  Do I want to do this?  What made me think I could possibly do this?  I’m currently struggling on a 4 mile run!  My last 1/2 marathon I came in last and it nearly killed me what am I think?  People who train harder and run more have done marathons and died at the end!!!  I don’t want to do this!!!

Yeah, full fledged panic.

 I remember being in jump school and this was the point in the first life jump where the plane has taken off, reached altitude and you hear those words” “Hook up!”  Ranger school where you’re 5/12 weeks in, you’re starving, cold, wet and tired and today is all day march.  It’s that moment during a first OP when you hear the words “Extraction is compromised proceed to bravo.”  Its Scuba dive master training where you’re 14 feet under the water and you have to take off all your gear and put it on again while buddy share breathing.  It’s that moment in your first martial arts tournament where you face your opponent and take a stance right before you hear the word “Fight!”  It’s being the Anchor leg in the 200m relay and the baton is coming to you and all you have to do is get a clean exchange.  That moment in your first football game where the runner is coming at you and you have to make the solo tackle.

I survived all those moments, I can do this!  I will do this.  I’ve already run 4 1/2 marathons for no medals with no one around and called it training.  This is that half way point where you either commit or go home.  This is where the fear sets in.  I will face my fear and it will pass through me.

I will do this because I decided back in January that I would do this.  Let the fear come and let it go but i’m going to run a marathon.