Reality

Jumping in with both feet, that's my problem. 

Moderation does not come easily for me.

So, I mentioned that I was starting the TapouT XT workouts.  I love the workouts, they are tough but oh so good.  That said, I'm registered for 2 marathons this fall (Chicago and Marine Corps Marathon).  I haven't been doing much of any running lately, and I'm now ~16 weeks out from Chicago.  Probably not very realistic to assume that I can do a tough daily workout 6 days a week plus marathon training. 

So, I'm regrouping.  And traveling down to St Louis for the weekend to run the Pride 5K with my friends.

To Quit Does Not Exist - TapouT XT

For the past several months (OK, probably more like a year), I've been going to see a personal trainer twice a week, eating junk, and not really doing any other exercise.  This has not been working for me.
Plus, lately I've been getting burned out on the trainer sessions and skipping on a fairly regular basis.  This has not been helping the way my clothes fit at all.

I have a couple of friends on Facebook who have been posting about a workout called TapouT XT, so I got curious and visited their website.  I watched the infomercial and decided to give it a go.  I ordered it late one Sunday night and waited patiently for the workouts to arrive.  Next, I started the procrastination.  Of course, this is me we are talking about.  I got the DVDs a couple of weeks ago and just started the workouts on Monday.  Since this is me we're talking about, I also had this brilliant idea that I would be running 4-5 days a week AND doing these workouts 6 days a week.  Um, yeah, maybe eventually but not so much from couch to twice a day workouts right off the bat. 

Sunday night I took before pictures in my bikini (which I haven't worn in public in about 4 years).  It is not pretty.  I couldn't bring myself to measure or weigh.  I know, I know.  I have an idea of what my weight is, so I'll know how much weight I've lost at the end within a pound or two.  See that, I'm thinking positively about this thing already. 

So far, I've completed 2 of the workouts. 
Day 1 was "Cross Core Combat".  This workout is no joke.  There were a lot of pushups, which are my kryptonite.  I had to come up with my own modifications for a lot of the moves, but I got through the workout and still managed to burn just over 500 calories.  Not too shabby for a 45 minute workout.  This workout took a lot more space than I expected, so I was rolling into furniture at first. I'll get that figured out before the next time (I've been doing these in my bedroom).

Day 2 was "Strength & Force Upper" along with "Ultimate Abs XT".  I liked this workout a lot better than the first one.  There was some floor work (which I did on my knees again), but there was also a lot of resistance band work which I liked.  My upper body was burning by the end, more than it ever has after any weight training workout.  The Ultimate Abs workout is ~15 minutes of ab hell.  That's all I can really say about it.  My goal is to get to a point where I don't have to take any rest breaks during the moves for the 15 minutes.  Day 2 was a little over an hour of workouts, and I managed to burn 674 calories.  Not bad.

Today is Day 3, and I'm looking forward to Plyo XT after work.  I know it's going to be tough, but I still can't wait.

My next progress photo will be after 10 days.  My plan is to post the progress photos as I go, I'm hoping for a noticeable difference after 10 days... 

Is There Anybody Out There?

Wow. 

I can't believe it's been over a year since I've posted here. 

I'm not going to try and summarize what's been happening around here, I'll just jump right in like I've been here all along.  That makes perfect sense, right?

Last weekend was a big weekend.  My daughter had her senior prom,

and she graduated from high school.

Since I live alone with 2 kids that are basically adults (the boy will turn 18 in October), you would think I would have all kinds of time to do whatever I want, right? 
Well, that's true.  I do have a lot more free time on my hands these days, but I'm not taking advantage of it.  I'm spending a lot of time lounging around the house and reading on the back deck instead.

I'm not going to whine and complain here about how out of shape I am.  I have the tools to change it. 

The plan is that over the next few months, I'll be posting my progress here.  So far, not so great.  This week is Week 1 of Marathon Training for Chicago.  Guess how many of my 3 scheduled training runs I've done so far?  Oye.

I'm signed up for CARA Training, so I have no excuse (short of laziness) to miss the 6 mile run on Saturday...  Hopefully I'll meet somebody who lives in my  neighborhood who can be my conscience for the weekday runs as well.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a local running partner.