Insanity P90X 26.2 70.3

Bad Week Good Week

Last week was an absolute killer, I only got one workout in on Thursday, a great circuit weights and 6 mile run,that was the extent of my workouts last week.  My company put on it’s annual convention so I was in NYC from 11am Sunday to 7pm Wednesday.  My days during the convention consisted of waking up at 5am in order to help set up by 6am and then work the convention until 7pm, I then didn’t get back to my room until midnight after entertaining clients.  I guess if there was any good that came out of it workout wise was I was on my feet all day.  The negative, I ate like crap.  

That leads me to this week, I knew I had to bounce back with a strong week workout wise and diet.  I promised myself not to step on the scale Monday and wait until the end of the week because I felt as if I gained 5 or so pounds after such a horrible week before.  I broke that promise after my workout Monday and to much delight I didn’t gain an oz.  Even still I continue to have good workouts this week, here is what I’ve done so far and what I will do to wrap up this week:

1. Monday- 10 mile stationary bike & 4 mile run
2. Tuesday- 6 mile intervals, 44:50
3. Wednesday- 20 mile stationary bike
4. Thursday- circuit weights, 6 mile run, 40 minute swim
5. Friday- 20 mile stationary bike
6. Saturday- 10 mile road run
7. Sunday- off

Now the diet, I’ve made an effort to intake much more protein before and after my workouts and minimized the junk after dinner.  I need to concentrate on making better food decisions during the week so I don’t feel so guilty if I cheat a little on the weekends.  This weekend in particular will be tough since we are having my daughters 2nd birthday party at the house. 

I’m officially 2 months away from my Half Ironman 20 week training program so I will continue to increase my base with a little more concentration on swimming and biking.  I may even throw in a couple Insanity workouts throughout the week thanks to my brother in law who will be taking the Insanity challenge come Monday.  He got me thinking that since I have 2 months away from training why not build in some Insanity to help build more lean muscle.  Dig deep Joe, dig deep!

Till next time, I run do you?

Good Workouts Bad Eating

My workouts have been fantastic, in fact I ran 10 miles with my buddy Kevin Saturday morning and didn’t have any soreness during or after the run, I’m confident that riding the stationary bike and swimming have helped my running muscles considerably.  Then there is the diet/eating portion of training which has completely sucked for a lack of better words. 

Lets first discuss the good and that is my workouts, I’ve been averaging two 20-30 minute swims, 25-35 miles on stationary bike, 20-25 miles running and at least one circuit weight training session for the past 3 weeks.  The breakdown looks like this:

• Monday- 45 minute bike/15 miles
• Tuesday- Circuit Weights & 20 minute swim
• Wednesday- 7 mile run
• Thursday- 10 mile bike & 4 mile run
• Friday- Circuit Weights & 20 minute swim
• Saturday- 10 mile run
• Sunday- off

Now some of these distances vary but this is a good average as to what I’ve been up to.  I will try and stretch theses workout a little longer starting next week.  Note, for all the bike sessions I’ve been on the stationary.  My settings are level 25 (hardest) and interval hills, I really push myself, in fact I get out of the saddle for the hardest hills. Here is what my heart rate chart looks like during one of these workouts:

I know it’s hard to read but my average HR is 147bpm with a max of 166bpm and clearly shows when I’m out of the saddle climbing the hills.

I’m not going to spend a whole lot on the eating/negative because it’s a simple fix, discipline.  I need to eat smaller portions and STOP eating junk after dinner.  For the most part I do fairly well throughout the day it’s when I get home and the weekends which absolutely kill me.  Why is it that I feel the need to treat myself every night simply because I worked out that day?  I need to change my thought process and discipline myself when I have those cravings, it’s going to start today.

Quick shout out to my buddy Keith who is on Day 10 of Insanity, DIG DEEP buddy.

Till next time, I run do you?

Building a Base

As I explained in my earlier posts I’ve decided to put Insanity 2011 on the back burner so I can start building a base for the Half Ironman, I won’t rule out an Insanity workout here and there when I am pressed for time but for now my focus will be on swimming, biking, running and circuit weights at least 1x per week to maintain muscle tone. 

When it comes to building my base I need to do some research online and see if there is a program that will get me ready for my 20 week training schedule which starts on May 15th.  Click here for the 20 week program.  As you can see I need a good enough base that allows me to bike 90 minutes, run 50 minutes and swim 45 minutes, obviously not all at one clip but there are days in which you will have to do two exercises back to back. 

So what have I done so far?  It’s only Tuesday but here’s what I did yesterday and today:

• Monday- Stationary bike 10 miles on hardest hills setting, 31 minutes & Ran 3 miles in 26:34
• Tuesday- Ran 4 miles in 32:00 and swam .25 miles in 20 minutes

From what I can tell I think I’m in pretty good shape leading up to May, I will obviously increase these totals slightly each week so I will be ready to go come May.

Till next time, I run do you?

Kevin This One’s For You

Ok so I’ve taken yet another vacation from blogging and it took a good friend of mine to get me going again, thanks Kevin this one’s for you.  Kevin has decided to join both myself and my friend Jimmy for the Poconos Half Ironman, let’s kill it!

So as to my workouts, I just completed Day 8 of Insanity in the gym along with a colleague of mine.  We take my laptop during lunchtime and use the spare aerobics room in order to get our workout in.  I know it’s not smart to skip the stretch after the warm up or at the end but we are pressed for time so we simply condense the stretching portion.  For those of you that have the time STRETCH! I know this may higher the risk of injury but I have no choice.

Not only do I need to keep up with my blog but also my diet.  I’ve been horrible of late and this needs to stop, the scale proved that today as I put on another 2 lbs.  I guess the 10 home made chocolate chip cookies last night didn’t help much did they?  I’m a sucker for cookies or ice cream and if I want to reach my goals I need to treat myself a little less and eat a lot cleaner.  Key here is to let last night go and focus on the next meal, you can’t correct what already happened.

So to recap, more blogging, Insanity, less junk foods and eat cleaner, keep this up and I’ll be back to tip top shape in no time.

Till next time, I run do you?

Marathon Update

Sharp pain in the right knee, business travel and worrying about getting in my long runs are all reasons why I’m bailing on this year’s NYC Marathon.  Excuses, perhaps, but I don’t want to run a marathon without my mind and especially my body in the proper shape to where it could be enjoyable.  Trust me my second NYC Marathon was a struggle, I didn’t train properly due to my son being born 2 months prior and training took the back seat which lead to an unpleasant experience come marathon Sunday.

The good news is I still continue to exercise and have started running again but the mileage has decreased to 25 miles per week along with a spinning class once a week and circuit weight training 2-3 times per week.  I’ve definitely put on lean muscle and have kept my weight off after my completion of Insanity back in March (see results here) and plan on starting Round 2 of Insanity Monday so can hopefully lean up even more before my vacation late November.  After Insanity and my return from vacation winter will be upon us and my plan is to then start P90X December-February so I can be ready for the springtime!

Additional updates to come on a more timely fashion along with some stories, tips and articles that I’ve learned over the past couple of years since I’ve taken fitness to a new level in my life.

Till next time, I run do you?

Insanity, P90x and more

Ok so what have I been up to the last couple of months?  Well I haven’t been sitting on the couch that’s for sure. 

Work has been out of control lately and is the reason why for the lack of updates.  Even though it doesn’t look like things will calm down work wise I still intend on posting at least a few times each week as I owe it to you the reader. 

With that I’ve been mixing in some Insanity and P90x workouts but not following any specific schedule since I’ve been concentrating more on running as I’m 87 days away from my 5th NYC Marathon.  Below is a copy of my schedule, yellow denotes runs completed, pink are days off and white are planned runs.

As for my other workouts I’ll do more upper body P90x workouts and stay away from any additional leg workouts since as you can see I hope to run on average anywhere between 45-55 miles per week.  I don’t want to risk any injury by over working my legs.  I haven’t done any P90x workouts besides the first couple of DVDs so I can’t tell you much about it yet, what I can tell you is that it is a different beast compared to Insanity, at least at this point.  I’ll give a little more detail on P90x over the next few days. 

Going to sign off for now as I need to close some business, especially since we had to get a new hot water heater yesterday. Doh!

Till next time, I run do you?

Insanity Max Workouts

Wow I forgot how difficult the Insanity Max workouts are, especially Monday when I did the Fit Test and Max Interval Circuit back to back.  Hopefully I’ll post my Fit Test results tomorrow, what I can tell you is I both improved and took a step backwards on some exercises, nothing drastic and perhaps it was due to over training, my muscles have been fatiguing rather quickly.  Remember I’m also doing circuit weight training 1-2x’s per week which is really breaking down my muscles.  As for the Max workouts I’m holding up pretty well and doing much better than I did the first go around but still kicking my butt.  I have to dig deep and focus on my diet the last 23 days as I know this is when the results really take shape. 

As for running I’ve taken a step backwards there also in regards to weekly mileage, I’m averaging 15 miles over the last three weeks and I need to bring my base back up to 25 before I go into Marathon training mode which begins July 5th an 18 week training program.  I have plenty of time to build up my base and I plan on taking a step up in my training compared to last year averaging 50-60 miles per week.  Worst case scenario is I average 45-50 miles per week which will still put me in good shape come Nov. 7th.

Want To Learn More About The Insanity Workout? Click Here

Till next time, I run do you?

Insanity Before and After Picture

As I mentioned earlier this week I thought long and hard about posting my Insanity before and after photo results and without further ado here you go. 

Why did I hesitate showing the photo? Well I don’t want to be so vein and be like, look at me, look at me.  The main reason why I posted is for the simple fact that I want you the reader to see with your own eyes that Insanity really works if you simply make that 60 day commitment.  I was hard core with my diet for the first 50 days and eventually added in my “happy foods” over time and in moderation.  One more point I’d like to make since I don’t want to mislead you the reader, I also ran on average 20-25 miles per week while doing the Insanity program.

The photo on the left was taken on Jan. 4th 2010 and weighed in just over 225, the photo on the right is from March 5th 2010 when I weighed in at 205.  The biggest difference for me is by far my pecs and side obliques.  There is much more definition in my chest as I got rid of the dreaded man boobs, pardon my language, but hey that’s what their called, right? 

As for my obliques they are slimmer and now only have the slightest love handle, again sorry about the lack of words however I know each and every one of you know exactly what I’m talking about with the above terms. 

My Round 2 Max workouts start Monday and anticipate being slightly more toned after the next 30 days but my results won’t be as dramatic from Round 1 simply because I haven’t followed the exact Insanity program, been as strict on diet and ran as frequently. 

After round 2 of Insanity it’s onto Marathon training.  That’s right I’m back and in the 2010 NYC Marathon.

Want To Learn More About The Insanity Workout? Click Here

Till next time, I run do you?

Kicked Insanity Butt

Yea that’s right I kicked Insanity butt last night and officially out of my funk, at least I think so.  I pushed hard last night, in fact I was able to get my heart rate over 170 for the first time since Round 1 of Insanity.  Felt great to be back after the brief lay off and really looking forward to Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs. tonight.

Woke up a little sore but not too bad and I plan on hitting the gym today for some circuit weight training and a quick 4 miles on the treadmill while watching the Mets day game at 1 pm. 

One last thing, I’ve thought long and hard about this and I think I will be placing my before and after photo from Round 1 of Insanity over the next couple of days so you the reader can actually see the results.  Haven’t really seen or felt any major changes from Round 2 just yet, however Max workouts are right around the corner.

Want To Learn More About The Insanity Workout? Click Here

Till next time, I run do you?

Insanity Update

What does one do when you go away on business?  Bring your Insanity DVD’s and laptop of course.  I’m no stranger to this as I’ve done it in the past, however this trip was going to be different and finding time for Insanity was going to be difficult.  Long story short Day 22 and 23 were a success then I hit a brick wall.  I haven’t worked out (running or Insanity) since Wednesday of last week.  That’s 6 days and I feel like crap.   

With this week being my Recovery week I’m going to make up those 4 missed workouts in the following way:

• Tonight- Plyo
• Tomorrow- Pure Cardio & Abs
• Thursday- Cardio Power & Resistance
• Friday- Plyo
• Sat & Sun- off
• Monday- Start Month 2 with Fit Test and Max Interval

This is what I need to do not only physically but to get back into it mentally.  I can easily see how these 6 days can turn into 6 weeks and I’m not going to let all that hard work go to waste.  I feel soft, sluggish, overweight (haven’t gained), tired and have aches and pains that I didn’t have before.

As for running I can only hope to squeeze in a 4 miler here and there and will run harder and longer once my hectic schedule eases up. 

I’ll post back tomorrow and let you know how I feel after tonight’s Plyo workout.

Want To Learn More About The Insanity Workout? Click Here

Till next time, I run do you?