Year-End Review

It's been a hot minute.

Sometime around now one year ago, I was setting goals to leave yet another city, find another new job, travel, save, pay off credit cards.. basically wipe the slate of adulthood clean and start fresh.

I am super proud to say that I have more or less done ALL of the above! In the first week of March I accepted a bomb job that I just love which incidentally made moving back to Phoenix actually make sense. It allowed for me to save enough to pay off both of my credit cards in full in under a year and gave me the opportunity to take a few small trips. One of which was definitely my last Vegas trip and I am pleased to report that I went out with a bang.

 I met this ridiculously wonderful man with whom, despite me freaking out about it (ha!), I have fallen obnoxiously in love. Didn't see that one coming.

And I only got in one non-injury (not my fault) car accident.

To say 2012 was a good year for me would probably be an undersell.

People, I am saving for a HOUSE.

Twenty-thirteen looks pretty shiny and bright too. I've already set some legit goals that I can't back out of: Ragnar Relay in Feb and Rock N Roll San Diego Half Marathon in June. When you pay over $100 for a race, it really motivates you to keep running and actually show up! Since I'm feeling ambitious, maybe this year I'll try some of those recipes I found on Pinterest?

I should probably update this as well...

Hello to all of our loyal, non-existent readers! A great way to sum up the time from my last blog post to now would be the following (represented metaphorically by Alpacas):

All periods of time when I was not at work:

Times when I was at work:

Well, see ya later!

Carb Me Baby

Hello, my name is Kristen, and I am a carbo-vore. Bread, pizza, crackers? Anything carby, savory, and fluffy? Yes please. Fact: I've been known to eat half my weight in pasta from time to time. So imagine my dismay when I came to the realization that there's a high probability that I have a (wait for it) gluten intolerance. UGH. I won't get into the nasty, but it's not pleasant. For the past year or so, I've been a little suspicious of the aftermath which follows consuming a yummy carbolicious meal, but it wasn't until our intern, whose sister has Celiac, suggested I maybe-perhaps-might possibly-if you squint and tilt your head to the right have a gluten intolerance. Wah!

Okay, it's not that dramatic. I just really enjoyed my whole wheat toast with peanut butter and sliced bananas everyday for breakfast. But you'd be amazed at all the things you can do with oatmeal! People, do you know how many foods contain wheat gluten? Pretty much everything. Fortunately, I don't have to eliminate everything. Just the good stuff.. like bread.

And thus we come to the real issue at hand. I want to shove my face in a fresh hot loaf of French bread right now. Maybe with a side order of pizza. And mac and cheese for dessert. Yeah, I said it. I am having a major carb craving of epic proportions (said as I sit here eating a pile of M&M's for lunch.. calories canceled out by this morning's run, duh).

I knew it would happen eventually. The minimalist approach to carb consumption is making me sad, in a way that all the fruit in the world just can't console me right now. Although there's definitely something to be said for gluten free goods. I've had a VERY tasty GF roll at Tryst Cafe and majorly yummy shrimp pasta at North Fattoria Italiana, so all is not lost. But alas, I don't have any of these things right now. Just a plum and a banana and the hopes that my mom made something really satisfying for dinner. Enjoy your potatoes.

The Winds of Change

I went out for a run a few days ago and the wind was just insane; with gusts up to 24 mph. As a runner, I have such a love/hate relationship with those wind "gusts". I love running into the breeze because it keeps me cool and makes me feel like I'm really working, but at the same time too much wind offers so much resistance that it can feel damn near impossible to get any forward progress. But once I turned the corner to head in the other direction, it was at my back. It was like being carried down a lazy river; I still had to propel myself forward, but I didn't have to work against the grain to get there. And it made me start to think: you don't truly appreciate and realize how easy it is to cruise with the wind at your back until you've tried to run for miles on end with the resistance in your face.

At that exact moment, I was thinking immediately of running. But this analogy can be directly applied to my job search over the years. Resumes sent, applications filled out, hours on end spent sifting through job postings, phone screenings, phone interviews, office interviews, meetings in hotels (?), volunteer work, and shitty (some fun) jobs. And all for what. The moment when I can finally turn that corner and have the wind at my back. When I can look back at all the leg work I put in to get to where I want to be and feel proud and satisfied to have made it to the place where I belong.

Finally, I feel the winds of change upon me. This week I have received three calls regarding my resume, inviting me to come in interviews. This is HUGE. A year ago this was not happening. Two months ago this wasn't happening. Perhaps this long road is coming to an end and I can start running with the wind rather than against it.

Contact: Misc.

In an effort to totally procrastinate getting started on my taxes, I started scrolling through my phone book and editing my contacts. And every once in awhile I actually bother deleting people. For the record, of the 330-some odd contacts I have, I actually CONTACT about 15 (give or take 10) of them on a semi-regular basis.

But in my years of college-induced frat hopping, bar bouncing, shot taking, beer chugging haze I managed to collect a LOT of numbers from a LOT of people whom I just can't seem to identify by the little labels I've given them. It's a familiar system: first name of guy and location where you met him. This works for like, a week, and then you couldn't pick them out of a line up. Unless of course you actually form some sort of relationship with them, in which case proper name identification is advised. For me, this usually takes a year to do because I find it amusing that I'm legit friends with "Brad Dbags" and "Matt O'Malleys".

I don't know why I don't just delete these people. Obviously I'll never contact them, ever. I doubt I ever contacted them in the first place. I think it's more of a nostalgia thing. Like, "Australia Will, I totally remember drinking with him at Bisons on Thursdays. He had a sweet accent." Plus, I love to laugh at the ones who I truly have no memory of meeting.

Some of my personal faves:

• Brian Neighbor (whose neighbor?)
• Chris Navy
• Chris Twin
• David BFF Whitehouse (honestly.)
• Eric AT&T
• Eric Navy (noticing a Navy thing going on here)
• Eric Vegas
• Jared/Braaden (I recall one being hot and one not having a phone, so they became the same person in my book)
• Mike Twin (I can only assume he is Chris Twin's brother?)
• MISSING LINK (this one is from HS!)
• Spooning Jason

ABSOLUTE BEST:

• Kelly Ass Compton. True story. Ben and I met this girl in Scottsdale sprinting from one bar to another just to make it to last call, she wanted to hang out with us, and we ended our night eating pizza with her. Also true, we used to call each other when we were in Old Town to go out and party. WHO AM I.

30 Day Challenge Fitness Midterm

I promised results, so here they are:

Fitness test 1:
Squat jumps: 30
Push ups: 30
Burpees: 15
High knees: 101
Switch lunges: 35
Tuck jumps: 29
Straight abs: 29

Two weeks later, we have fitness test 2:
Squat jumps: 40
Push ups: 36
Burpees: 15
High knees: 142
Switch lunges: 45
Tuck jumps: 26
Straight abs: 31

So, we see a pretty sizable improvement here! No change in burpees, which I somewhat attribute to the nature of the exercise. It seems biomechanically difficult to do them much faster, but I will certainly concentrate on that next time through. They aren't extremely strenuous, and the Bodyrock girl gets into the mid 20's, so I'm sure I can speed it up some.

The decrease in tuck jumps I attribute completely to being able to do significantly more reps in the prior squat jumps, high knees, and (especially) switch lunges. My quads were absolutely murderous by the time I got to the tuck jumps, I was sucking mega air, and I had to rest a few seconds after every couple of jumps. Pain.

So, on to the rest of week three for me. I guess I take this test again on the last day, and shall post results accordingly then. I don't think I'll see as big of an improvement the next time around, but hopefully there will be some.

Overall thoughts: I am really liking the short, at-home style of these. I don't feel like I have to rush home from work to get to the gym before it gets crowded. I'm definitely getting more quad and core work than before, and most certainly much more 90%+ heart rate cardio work. Upper body is a different animal. This is much more high repetition, lower weight than what I was doing before. More effective? I'm not sure yet, but I do feel like I was somewhat plateauing with my previous workouts, and this is a great way to change things up. I also could stand to raise the weight of the "sandbag" I'm using. Alas, I've run out of magazines to stuff inside my backpack, and it's already cumbersome as it is. If I continue this past the 30 days, I'll probably end up investing in the legit sandbag. It would make these workouts so much easier, form-wise.

Hmm, what else? Ah! The most important thing: Vanity! The mirror test is inconclusive at this point. I feel like I'm still recovering from the annual Winter Holiday Festival of Gluttony, so more data is needed. Recovery is going well, though, so we're certainly not anywhere close to ineffective in this regard.

I'm tired of typing. BYE!

Kristen Out; Tristan In

Most of you probably don't know that I was doing this fitness challenge as well. I'm not convinced of its effectiveness quite yet; I'm coming from an entirely different exercise regime than Kristen did (I'm more along the lines of 95% weight lifting, 3% cardio, 2% complaining about cardio). Alas, I shall see it through to the end and deem it worthy or total suck. Or somewhere in between.

I'm about a week behind, and I'm not going to post results every day because I don't want to keep track, and I don't want to make the world's longest blog post by adding to the bottom every day (like someone we know was doing...). BUT, I will definitely post the fit test results. I think I do the midterm fit test next week, at which point I will post my initial results, and we can run the numbers, get statistical distributions, plot some chi-square curves, etc.

Note that I consumed an entire box of black and white cookies on Sunday night, but I don't think this will affect my results much. I already paid the price for that in the form of a 36-hour long stomach ache -- the bodyrock gods are strong, my friends. In all seriousness though, I'm attempting to keep my diet the same through this, so I will have a fair judge of how well this short, intense, living room method works opposed to my 4-6x a week gym sessions. After this test I can go back to being a wee bit more disciplined with my weekend cookie nomnoms.

BYE!

My Body Rock Challenge

 DAY 1:

Wednesday. January 4, 2012.

As for many, the past 6-7 weeks took one hell of a toll on my body. I'm pretty pissed at myself for allowing my body get to the point it's presently at, but I know exactly how I got here: seriously cut back on my running (to allow my knee a break) and ate literally every bad, piece of shit food around me. High five self.

I don't make New Year's Resolutions, I make goals. And weight loss is sure as hell never one of them, so unrealistic. But. I am on a serious exercise bender right now in a 100% effort to get back to where I was at, if not better.

I'm aiming for this..

So, in addition to having a mileage goal each week dictating how far I'll be running, I came across this killer workout today. It's a 30-day challenge on www.bodyrock.tv, which I started following today. Um, the day one "fitness test" already had me questioning my fitness and feeling fat.

For the next 30 days I'm going to keep track of my progress on the blog, mostly for my own accountability and to measure my success. I fully expect to have WAY better results in 30 days than what I had today. The exercises are bursts of 50 second intervals with a 10 second break in between. Today had 7 exercises. I know that tomorrow has 12 (I am a day or 2 behind the website).

Okay, wish me luck!

Monday: ran 3 miles
Tuesday: ran 3 miles
Wednesday: Started Body Rock Challenge! (I'll be listing each exercise, and how many reps I eeked out in 50 seconds)

• Squat jump: 30
• Push ups: 26
• Burpees: 15
• High knees: 90
• Switch lunges: 22
• Tuck jumps: 16 
• Straight abs: 23

Just for the record.. my quads were burning like HELL after about 15 squat jumps. It was at this point that I knew the next 6.5 minutes were going to be a delight.

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DAY 2:

Thursday.

Let me start by saying that I have mad blisters on the bottoms of both my feet from a pair of ill-purchased running shoes. They are the result of a 4 miler this past Saturday and too much friction. Totally inconvenient.

Yesterday evening, post-fitness test, I went grocery shopping and stocked up on some yummy healthy foods. My fridge has never been so full! I whipped up some bomb ass tabbouleh (sort of followed this recipe) and made my own pita chips (drizzled some olive oil and Italian seasoning over sliced up whole wheat pitas, popped them in the oven for 14 mins on 350.. yum).

My legs were feeling a little fatigued after yesterday evening, so I did a slower paced 3 mile run this afternoon. Those pesky blisters really weren't helping the cause either.

I just finished up with day 2 of the Body Rock Challenge. Holy crap. First of all, I forgot half the exercises as I was trying to do them. Clearly I need to pay more attention and spend some more time practicing prior to attempting them. So, for a good portion of some of these 50 second intervals I kind of said, what the hell am I doing? But! Here are the exercises and my numbers, as promised (to myself, really).

• 10 x High Knees & 10 x Mountain Climbers: 5 sets
• 2 x Squat Jumps & 2 x Push-ups & 1 x Tuck Jumps: 6 sets
• Centre to Elbow Jump (L&R) & 2 x leg jumps: 10 sets (I actually enjoyed these!)
• Clean & Press & Squat & Press & Push Up: 7 sets (this is where I said, WTF am I doing?!.. and wasted time..)
• Tuck Jumps x 5 & ½ Burpee & squat hold x 5: 5 sets (strangely enjoyed these.. started my good sweat around here)
• Spider Knee Push up & Straight Leg Push Up (L&R): 5 sets each side, girl push ups (this was a bad idea because it threw me off balance.. next time real push ups like I do in all the other sets)
• Switch Lunge & Press: 16
• Side Lunge x 2 & L & R Side Punch  & 2 Tuck Jumps: 8 sets
• 10 x Squat & 10 x Squat Jumps: 1 set (either very time consuming or I did something wrong)
• Elbow to Knee jumps 10 x each side: 3 each side
• Wide leg jumps & Push up: 14
• Speed run: you can't count this, I just ran in place as fast as I could for 50 seconds

What I learned today: I suck at anything involving a "clean and press" or "press". This is clearly too much thought for me to put into one exercise and should be omitted or reconfigured in a way which my simple mind can handle. 

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DAY 3:

Friday.

Today's workout started with a 4.5 mile group run around the UofA campus. But not just any old fun run. This one included parking garages! As in, we ran up and down every parking garage and flight of stairs we could find. Super awesome run, actually. A little faster than I normally run for that distance, so I stayed at the back of the pack. What the killer for me was, still, was my $*(%&#! blisters! I felt like my feet were bleeding. Crap. I think that's what slowed me down.

Okay, so my BFF Ben is in town from Denver (yay!). So we attempted yesterday's workout together in my tiny living room/common space. After taking 30 minutes to learn the moves, practice the moves, and practice them again, we totally thought we were ready. We for sure had the first two down, after that all hell broke loose. We spent more time laughing and "trying" and crawling to the computer saying "what's the next one?!" than I think doing anything else. But, we had fun, got a good sweat going, and definitely are feeling it in the upper body.

Here are the exercises, which I totally didn't keep count of because we were too busy being obnoxious. Also, for the exercises which require the sandbag, I use a small backpack filled with books.. during these exercises we'd toss the bag back and forth to one another, thus causing more chaos.

• Superman Push-ups
• Elevated Push-up’s & L&R knee to elbow touch with the Swiss Ball: Ben, "I hate that lady!"
• Squat & Press with the sandbag: scene: throwing weighted bag at each others' heads
• Ugi Clean & Press + Jump Forward + 3 x Squat Jumps
• Reverse Pull-Ups on dip station: modified to push ups, girl push ups at that because the laughter made us weak
  
• Side Jump Burpee + 2 knee to elbow Oblique Abs + Tuck Jump Centre (Alternate Sides)
• Forward Lunge + Side Lunge + Knee Lift. (Alternate Legs) with the sand bag
• Ugi Ball Push-up & Burpee + Sumo L&R Knee Touch.
• Tricep Dip + Kickout V Abs with the dip station
• Overhead Abs with the sandbag
• Sandbag Shoulder Lift + Squat + Switch Shoulder Press with the sandbag
• Speed Run

What I learned today: It's FUN to do this with friends, but not necessarily more productive. Ben's here for the weekend, so I'm looking forward to days 4 and 5!

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DAYS 4&5:

Saturday&Sunday.

Saturday's exercises were WAY easier to (no, not do) follow along to and actually remember. I've sort of been reading others' posts on the website and it's pretty clear that I'm not the only one who can't remember a 12 minute routine when you only have 10 seconds to recall whatever the hell you're supposed to be doing.

Ben is still here so we rocked it together. There were only 4 exercises, so we did 3 rounds. Round 3 = not fun.

• Push up + tuck jump
• Elevated push ups, L&R knee to chest: we did these in place of the reverse pull up because as it happens, I don't have a dip station laying around
• 3 plank + jump: this required some amount of coordination, aka don't kick each other in the head
• Tuck abs: just a fancy way of saying sit ups

I'm finally sore. SO many push ups. And, for the first time in a long time, my abs are actually feeling it! I do a lot of ab work on a regular basis, so it's nice to know they can still be worked out.

Today's exercise is a little different. It's kind of a timed trial. We only have two exercises to do, 4 rounds, and let's see how long it takes. Currently I'm not counting things because it's just too hard when I am trying to encourage someone else to keep going (cheerleaders only count from 5-8 (o; ). Once Ben leaves tomorrow, I'll be back to keeping track.

There is a run in store for today.. hopefully 3 miles. The blisters are getting better, but I'm more concerned about my large alcohol consumption from last night! Oops.

And then we do this!:

• 75 high knees
• 25 tuck crunches (knees to chest, back flat on floor)

 I wonder what my neighbors think when they look in my window and see us doing these workouts?!

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ACTIVE REST DAY: 

Monday. January 9.

Today is my first "active rest" day. Which means.. I made it through week one! YAY! I am using it as a true rest day, as this weekend wore me out a little and I'd like to give my body a day to recover from everything I've been putting it through. 

I have a handful of friends out there doing this (and similar) workout challenges along with me, so I want to send a big long distance high five to all of you! I'm incredibly proud of all of you for joining in and sweating your asses off. Just remember, this isn't some new year's resolution (remember, I don't do those). This is a great way to kick start yourself: getting you into the health you deserve and revealing the body you want. Aside from appearances, the rush of daily endorphins from these short, but high intensity workouts, will keep your moods boosted, your immune system in peak performance, and your mind sharp. This isn't just a 30 day challenge, but the opportunity to change how you live your day to day lives. Be proud of yourselves for pushing your body and minds to the limit every day when you make the decision to work hard, sweat crazy, and wipe yourselves out. Most of the challenge for many people is getting up and doing it, you've already done half the work just by putting your shoes on.

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ACTIVE REST DAY:

Tuesday.

The second of two active rest days.

I used today to go for a 3 mile run and I'll be damned if those blisters haven't gone away yet. Nothing is really helping them. I took 3 days off of running to rest my feet, I have tried Neosporin, and I put moleskin on my feet when I run. At this rate, I'm going to be running on nubs. You can start calling me peg-leg..

Post-run I decided to try out something I haven't done in several years: a protein shake. I think these can go either way; really good or really bad. I used to put flavor-free powder in all-fruit smoothies with an orange juice base (highly recommend this, because it's yummlicious). But, I'm looking for something a little more substantial, think meal replacement while also replenishing the lean muscles. I found a whey protein at Wal Mart that was inexpensive, sounded tasty, and was in a 2lb tub so in the event that I hated it, I wouldn't really be stuck with it. It's Body Fortress Chocolate Peanut Butter Whey Protein. I put 1/2 scoop (13 g of protein) into 8oz of skim milk, added a whole banana, a spoonful of peanut butter, and some ice to thicken. Whizzed it all up in my trusty POS blender and much to my delight, it was delicious, nutritious, and incredibly filling.. almost to the point where it was way too much and I want to vomit. Since I don't really care for chocolate, I was happy that I didn't get much chocolate flavor. I mostly tasted the banana and peanut butter which I added, and that suites me just fine! Although, maybe I'll be less generous with the peanut butter next time..

Meanwhile, Tristan has joined in the Body Rock movement! He began his adventures in Body Rocking yesterday and I think he's pleased with his decision to start (o: . 

Tomorrow I'm back to it and I have to say, I'm very excited!

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DAY 6:

Wednesday.

I have to blog quickly while I still have some range of motion in my upper body.

Today I did both the HIIT workout, as I have been, and the resistance workout, which I hadn't been doing. I wasn't doing the second mainly because I thought it was for the dudes. False. Although, during and after doing it, I still might think it's for the dudes.

No time to chat today, my muscles are twitching and I think my arms are detaching from my torso.

Since I did three rounds of each exercise, I'm listing how many sets I managed to do each round:

• Press-up + Burpee + Tuck Jump x2 & 10 x Straight Punches: 4, 4, 4
• Press-up + Burpee + Tuck Jump x2 & 10 x Hook Punches: 4, 3.5 (didn't get the punches in), 4
• Press-up + Burpee + Tuck Jump x2 & 2 x Straight Punches + 2 x Hook Punches: 3, 3.5, 4
• 2 x Mid Abs + 2 x Bag Touch Abs: 8,7,6

I really worked hard to make sure I got in those 4 sets on the last round, but they took it out of me so I fell a little behind on the sit ups.

The resistance work out is a timed trial. Which, much to MY surprise, had to be done THREE TIMES. I hate Sean.

• 50 Skips: This is basic jump rope, but I jumped in place simulating a jump rope. The purpose is to keep your heart rate up during the whole workout.
• 15 Pushups off of the Swiss Ball alternating legs: I used the sofa
• 50 Skips
• 15 Wide Pushups 15 Star Pushups: THE. WORST. EVER.
• 50 Skips
• 15 One arm Sandbag Press using the sandbag off the Swiss Ball (left): again, used the sofa
• 50 Skips
• 15 One arm Sandbag Press using the sandbag off the Swiss Ball (right)
• 50 Skips
• 15 Dips using the dip station: I own no dip station. Silly me. Used the sofa.
• 50 Skips

This workout, three times through, took me 21:48. And for the record, I did every damn push up. I didn't cheat, didn't take any breaks, and only modified because I don't own a Swiss Ball and a dip station. I'd high five myself, but I can't get my arms that high.

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DAY 7:

Thursday.


Today was an awesome interval workout! I was looking forward to doing it because it looked like less upper body and more focus on core and legs. I know they design these workouts to hit every area, but I definitely want to tone ze gams. I'm still pretty sore from Sean's workout yesterday. And I still hate him for making me do so many push ups.


Didn't go for a run today because a) Mikey is sick and he's my running buddy and more importantly b) the blister area of my feet literally hurts to touch so I figured c) I can afford to lay off it for a day in order to spare my tootsies. 


Today there were 6 exercises to do two times through:


1. Box Jump + 1/2 Burpee (Alternative sides): 10, 9
2. Lunge & Swing using sandbag: 24, 26
3. 3 point jumps + R & L Knee to Elbow: 12, 13
4.  Side Leap using the Ugi Ball: I used my weighted bag instead, but this one totally tripped me up the first round, 22, 33
5. Tricep Dips + Knee Tuck: dipped using the sofa, then sat on the sofa and tucked knees to chest, 10, 11
6. Walking Pike Push-ups: these were challenging especially considering the burn from yesterday, WHOA. 6, 6

Disclaimer: I am super addicted to peanut butter. Today I stirred a couple spoons of all natural (aka pure peanuts and a little salt) peanut butter into a bowl of nonfat plain yogurt and added some raisins. Wholly yumface. A little tart. A little salt. A lot of delicious. This would be bomb with banana in it, but I've already had two today and really just need to save one for tomorrow. I also decided to make black beans in preparation for tomorrow's dinner. I've never made beans before. It's a good thing I realized it would take three hours out of my life, otherwise I'd be confused and hungry (or just lacking beans..) for dinner tomorrow. 

P.S. Beans smell delicious when cooked. I'll probably spend my sleep dreaming about heavenly foods and wake up drooling with a growling stomach. Dammit.

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DAYS 8, 9, & 10:

I haven't had the opportunity to blog over the weekend so I'm going to compile the last three days into one.


Friday.


I started out running intervals on the dreaded treadmill. Most runners will agree that hopping on the treadmill is awful for a handful of reasons, probably the first being that it's so damn boring. The only reason I use the machine to do these exercises is because it can properly keep my pace that I just can't do when I'm running outside. Happily, though, my apartment replaced the treadmill I may or may not have blown up a few months ago and this one is significantly nicer. 


I set the timer for 20 minutes. Ran the first 10 minutes alternating 2 minutes at 6.2mph and 2 minutes at 6.4mph. The second set of 10 minutes I alternated 2 minutes at 6.4mph and 2 minutes at 6.6mph. It's simply a good way to burn fat.


After the interval run I was going to "cool down" for 10 minutes with an inclined walk, but decided to test out the "glute buster" setting on the treadmill. This was basically another interval workout but with steep inclines and not as fast. Fast enough to where I couldn't walk, but slow enough to where I couldn't run. It was a painfully slow jog uphill. 


Immediately following that I did the BR HIIT workout 2x through (numbers to come soon):

• Clean & Press using the sandbag: 16, 14
• Squat Leaps: 30, 27
• 3 Tier Push ups: 15, 15
• Reverse Pull Ups using dip station: I did push ups in place, second round did girl push ups because my arms were SO fatigued that I was getting nowhere fast: 12, 15
• Squat & Press using the sandbag: 15, 17
• Switch Lunges: 27, 27

Then the resistance workout at 3 rounds of 15 reps per exercise. Dammit Sean.:

• Sand Bag Swing using the sandbag
• Sand Bag Up Right Row using the sandbag
• Sand Bag Squat Jump Press using the sandbag
• Sand Bag Lunge Press Side Turn using the sandbag

13:44.

Just for the record: doing all that running followed immediately by ALL these leg workouts is NOT a good idea. I was shaking long before I ever finished day 8.

Saturday.

Woke up unable to move my legs properly. Felt a lot like Gumby probably feels on a day to day basis. I've been doing my workouts in the evenings, but since my family was coming into town I had to get this one done bright and early.

These were done 3x through:

• Press up Burpee + Plyometric Jump (or squat/tuck jump): 10, 10, 10
• Star Single Toe Touch Abs: 27, 26, 26
• Sit Squat & Jump using the sandbag: 25, 25, 28
• Mountiain Climbers x 10 & Ugi Ball Toe Touch’s x 10: the toe touch is like doing a high knee, but having something to place your toe to.. I used my weighted bag: 4, 4, 4
  

Sunday.

Had full intentions of running intervals again today, but my blisters are almost healed and there was no energy in my body so I put them off until Monday (active rest day).

The following exercises were done once through, as fast as I could muster, against the stop watch:

• 100 High Knee Skips: rather than jumping rope, I just did high knees
• 100 Lunge kicks (50 each leg) using the sandbag: not even going to lie, these were difficult. I had the bag above my head while trying to not fall over (can't promise I didn't), while simultaneously lunging backwards and then kicking that leg forward. Feel the burn.
  
• 100 High Knee Skips
• 100 squats using the sandbag
• 100 High Knee Skips
• 25 Straight Abs
• 25 V Abs Left: this was like a side crunch using your whole body. I'm not sure I had the form 100% correct, but they were pretty tough as well.
• 25 V Abs Right
• 25 Bicycle Abs

16:31

Then was Sean's glorious workout of 2 exercises, 3 minutes each. I literally hate Sean:

• Bicep curls with bag: 78
• Bent over row with bag: 90 .. there wasn't a video for this workout so I kind of guess what this exercise might be..

Okay, I have a few observations/complaints/thoughts to express. I'm definitely noticing that I'm getting stronger, which is totally awesome. Doing a lot of the leg work is becoming easier (high knees and tuck jumps especially) and even push ups are feeling easier. So in that respect, I am pleased. I'm excited to do the fit test this week and see how much, if any, I've improved from Day 1. That being said, I have not lost weight, which SUCKS. I already know what the argument there is: muscle gained. Unfortunately, that was NOT my goal. Yes, I do want to gain a little more muscle definition all over ,but I can see that my arms have gotten bigger, God help me. I don't want my arms getting bigger, I want them slimmer. Ditto my legs. I have pants that used to fit a month ago and they are NOT fitting me right now. So that's my complaint: I'm gaining muscle, but it's bulky (in my eyes). I'm not leaning out.

Happy to get that off my chest. I will continue to do this challenge and see it through to the end, but once it's over I'm definitely laying off the training. I can't do this every day! I'm afraid of having huge arms, ha!

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ACTIVE REST DAYS:

Damn. My biceps are SORE. Like, feel the burn because they're growing at an exponential rate sore. Stretching my arm out to the straight position is a slight challenge at this point and is borderline painful.

Monday.

Yesterday I ran intervals on the treadmill. I did 20 minutes. The first 10 minutes, alternated 2 minutes at 6.4mph and 2 minutes at 6.6mph. The second 10 minutes I alternated 2 minutes at 6.4mph and 2 minutes at 6.8mph. I felt like I could have gone forever, but my blisters which have STILL not gone away reminded me that I cannot, in fact, run forever.

Post run I did 10 minutes of incline intervals at a super slow pace just to cool down.

Tuesday.

Today I did the usual 3 mile run. My knee was kind of bothering me earlier today, so I took the run a little slow just to be mindful of injuries. Annnnd then I came home and ate two delicious sushi rolls that I picked up from AJ's this afternoon in addition to a medley of veggies and quinoa. Holy food baby batman.

Two things: The first is pretty obvious. I'm definitely way more hungry than normal since I'm working out a lot more. Good and bad. I mean, I need to fuel my body and I'm really trying to be mindful of what I put in it (natural foods, nothing processed). But, I feel like I continue to consume what I burn, thus making weight loss nearly impossible. Second thing, ever since I started this workout routine I have been a lot more tired than normal. Not immediately following my workout, but in the aftermath of it all my body is requiring a couple more hours of sleep per night than it regularly does. I'm happy to accommodate, but it's really inconvenient when I'm waking up 40 minutes after the first snooze swipe on my alarm and get into work 15 minutes late.

Thoughts?

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DAY 11:

Wednesday, January 18.

After stepping on the scale this morning, my biggest (woman) fears have definitely come true. I have gained quite a bit of weight. I'm sure a good amount of it is muscle because I don't look fat, but it would be an understatement to say that I'm really upset. My body is going in the entirely opposite direction of where I want it to be going. My goal from this whole thing was to get back to where I was: lose about 10 pounds, slim back down, fit in my damn pants. Everything opposite of that is occurring. I've gained weight, gotten bigger, and definitely do not fit in those mother f'ing pants. I don't want all this muscle, which apparently I'm predisposed to putting on, I eat way too much to compensate for the calories I'm burning, way more than I'm used to and it's grossing me out, I feel fat, and it's wearing me out.. I'm requiring far more sleep than normal and I just can't be going to bed at 10pm and struggling to wake up at 7:30am! All of this is just absurd.

All of that being said on the verge of tears and frustration, I am no longer going to continue with this workout. I enjoyed doing it and loved the daily challenge, but it's not working for me and my body and it's not producing the results I personally want. I am going to just stick to the running, which has always been successful for me.

I hope this doesn't discourage the rest of you who have started this program. I always get excited when another friend tells me they've started because I inspired them! Just remember: what works for one person, doesn't always work for another. I just know my body and it simply needs running.

On another note: I'm eliminating peanut butter from my diet for a couple months. This might come as the biggest shock to those of you who know me really well! Peanut butter is not necessarily unhealthy for you. In fact, in moderation it's quite good for you. It's a healthy source of monounsaturated fats and protein. Unfortunately, it's also high in calories (about 210 per 2tbsp serving). And the rate at which I consume it is totally not healthy. (Admitting it is the first step, right?) For me, this is the simplest way to cut easy calories.

Anyway, I think I may still do the fit test today, just to see how far I've come in two weeks. Since I've put in all this work it would be nice to see how much I've improved from Day 1. I'll post the results either tonight or tomorrow.

Thank you all for reading along and joining in on this challenge! For those of you continuing: ROCK ON! You're amazing for challenging your bodies and minds to do something you may not have thought you could do, and probably question while you're doing it. You are a lot stronger than you think you are. Lots of love!