A Case of the Runs

As you probably know, my workouts for the past five months have primarily been Insanity ones.  I started a second round in August and am nearly done , again (I'm on Week 8 of 9). For a something like three weeks, I did follow a P90X/Insanity hybrid schedule, but it wasn't working for me (perhaps I will post more about that another time). One of my most popular posts on this blog has quickly become this " How Hard is It ?" update I did in my first round, so I can see that this program has generated a lot of interest.  [I also recently read that Shaun T got married  this past weekend, so I've been thinking about this program often.] Now that I'm nearly done again, I thought I'd answer some of the frequently-asked questions that I get whenever people find out I'm doing the program again: 1) Why??! The simple answer of why I came back to this program was because P90X wasn't working out, it got WAY too hot to run this summer, and frankly,...

In case you missed any of my Insanity posts (although how could you miss all that?... ha ha), here they are: Phase I Week 1 - Secret Insanity Week 2 - Can't Stick to Any Diet Week 3 - How Hard is It? Week 4 - Running versus Insanity Recovery Week Week 5 - Tough Month Ahead Phase II Week 6 - I was Lazy Before Week 7 - How Long Should One Exercise? Week 8 - Taking it on the Road Week 9 - My Insanity Graduation (Part I) and (Part II, this post ) ------ All Sorts of Results Here are the results of my final Fit Test alongside the others.  I really smashed it on the last Fit Test, probably because of a hard hotel room floor that I had to use because I was away.  If I ever do this program in its entirety again, I need to hide this table from myself, because I would have a "PR" mentality (e.g., the world sucks when I don't beat my old time) when it came time for these, which isn't exactly how I want to approach these exercises. Fit Test 1 Fit ...

This week's workouts: Monday - Max Interval Plyo Tuesday - Max Cardio Conditioning + Cardio Abs Wednesday - FINAL Max Interval Circuit Thursday - FINAL Core Cardio & Balance Friday - FINAL Max Interval Plyo Saturday - FINAL Max Cardio Conditioning + Cardio Abs Sunday - FINAL Fit Test Whew. How could one be so verbose about doing workout DVDs for two months? I'm an Insanity graduate .  That means nothing... except what I just said in the line above.   When the infomercial comes on, I can say, "Yeah, I tried that."  Strangely, I actually hadn't seen one of their infomercials for a couple of years and recently saw them pop up this past month.  (Or perhaps I'm just watching too much TV.) But, I do get to order an Insanity shirt from the   Beachbody  website... and  I'm really excited to get it *ahem, in 6-8 weeks*, which in my opinion, is harder than obtaining any race shirt I own. Review of the Program: Assuming you're not...

I alluded last week that I had to modify my schedule, so here was my Week 8: Week 8 Reflections : Monday - Max Interval Plyo (originally Tuesday) Tuesday - Rest (originally last Sunday) Wednesday - Max Cardio Conditioning & Cardio Abs Thursday -  Max Interval Circuit (originally Friday) Friday - 2.5 mi run and 10 min swim (in Boston) Saturday - Plyometric Cardio Circuit instead of Core Cardio & Balance so that "The Ukrainian" and I could work out at the same time and save time Sunday - Rest Taking these DVDs on the road with me was definitely a change of scenery and countered boredom a little bit, but it did add the stress of having to wake up unpleasantly early (on East coast time, too!) and wondering if I can squeeze all my jumping in a hotel room and having enough energy afterward to drive to unfamiliar places and run meetings.  Somehow, it actually all worked out pretty well, though. Hmm, as Shaun T says, "Dig deeper!" Meanwhile, back on...

Well, at the point that this post comes up, I can declare that I only have two weeks left of this program.  I still am amazed how I've been able to not quit! Week 7 Reflections : I had to do a little modifying this week, because in spite of my best intentions, I must move my rest day to Monday or Tuesday.  Given that next Monday's workout is supposed to be a nasty Fit Test (25 min) + Max Interval Circuit (59 min) combo, I elected to do a little shuffling to make it work without killing me.  Well, prolonging my precious rest day will probably kill me, but oh well. Monday - Max Cardio Conditioning Tuesday - Max Interval Circuit Wednesday - Max Interval Pylo modifications Thursday - Core Cardio & Balance (originally Saturday) Friday - Max Cardio Conditioning & Cardio Abs, then Max Recovery (originally Thursday)... whew! Saturday - Fit Test #4 (originally Monday) Sunday - Max Interval Circuit (originally Monday) Monday - Max Interval Ply...

Guess who decided to join my insane antics? At the end of the second week of the program, "The Ukrainian" and I were on a weekend trip with his family.  Determined to not skip a workout, I brought the necessary disc and prayed that the laptop we brought would not give out because the charger had been left behind. Two people doing Insanity in a small room (that doesn't sound right, but keep reading) was a strange sight.  Since I knew the moves, I went off to a corner and let "The Ukrainian" take the front-of-the-laptop space.  Thirty-eight minutes later, we were drenched, and I believe a seed was planted (this continues to sound wrong, agh!). Over the next few weeks, "The Ukrainian" voluntarily popped in that same disc (Pure Cardio) a couple of times.  Then, as I was finishing the first month, he said he was going to do the program.  Wow... I was never able to get him to do any of the other videos  I've done, so there must be something sp...

Yep, another post on Insanity.  Thankfully, there are only (!) nine weeks in the program. If you've missed them, here are my previous posts: Month/Phase 1 Week 1 - Secret Insanity Week 2 - Can't Stick to Any Diet Week 3 - How Hard is It? Week 4 - Running versus Insanity Week 5 Reflections: I spent the week recovering. Recovering from the marathon , and, coincidentally, it was the Recovery Week of the Insanity program. Doing these workouts post-marathon was no joke, even if it was "recovery."  I was still dripping sweat by the end... how does that happen?!  I actually found that (carefully) following the Recovery Week helped with the stiffness, but I had to fight both my body and creeping doubts about my ability to safely continue.  Let's just say there were squat hops, high vertical jumps, and other post-marathon no-nos embedded in there, but as I mentioned, if you're doing it right, most of your energy should come from the core, anyway, and l...