Today I braved the wet spring snow to venture to May’s house so we could do the p90x fitness test together. Just needed to make sure I could make the minimum requirements to start the program.

Pull Ups: 1¾
(min. 1)

Vertical Leap: 9½"
(min. 3" )

Push Ups: 15
(min. 3)

Toe Touch: + 2½"
(min. -6" )

Wall Squat: 1:09
(min. 1:00)

Bicep Curls: 10 lb dumbbell 40 reps Left, 44 reps Right
(min. 8 lb dumbbell – 10 reps) we only had one dumbbell

In & Outs: 45
(min. 25)

Heart Rate Maximizer: 172 bpm, 118 bpm, 98 bpm, 90 bpm, 90 bpm
(min. finish standing & able to breathe)

Here’s my stats from Monday

Week 7
Starting weight: 137.8
Last week’s weight: 133.6
Current weight: 133.0
Goal Weight: 125.0

Overall loss: 4.8
Lbs to go: 8.0

I have only lost 4.8 lbs over the last 7 weeks, which felt discouraging to me, so I finally measured myself to see what was up.  Imagine my delight to find that I dropped 2″ from my waist and 1″ off each thigh.

The last 12 lbs for me definitely have been the most difficult to come off.  I’ve been trying to take those last lbs off for years now.  And I did do it once – in 2006, for like 2 months.     And I’m starting P90x this week – so look out!  My plan is to  be stronger and and leaner than ever before (well, at least close to my body building days).

So I’ve been having these HORRIBLE headaches when I get up in the morning, and they recur throughout the day.  I *rarely* get headaches, so this has been particularly annoying for me.

I got in with Dr. Daugherty yesterday for an adjustment – I was out of whack and totally tight.   After talking, we attributed it to low electrolytes due to some recent, more intense workouts (May and I added speedwork and tempo intervals recently), and that I don’t eat before/during my runs.  Which is okay for my 3-5 mile easy runs, but not so good for my longer runs and workout runs. 

He recommended that I take EmergenC once a day for the next week or so, and try and eat something light before running.  Which I tried today, for a long run.  I have to say I’m just not fond of eating before working out.  Drinks slosh around, food sits there and makes me feel ill.

Today I ate an hour before running – a slice of bread, 1 tbsp of peanut butter and 1/2 tbsp of grape fruit spread.  And then I had an EmergenC pack right after running.  So far so good.  I definitely could feel the food there in my stomach, so I need to find something lighter.  I might try a rice cake next time instead of the bread.  Or a banana with cashew butter.

I’m struggling with eating right now.  Last week I dropped my calorie quota to 1710 before exercise, because for the first 6 weeks, it was at 1830.  I’m afraid I’ll have to drop it again, but I am STRUGGLING with 1710 as it is.  We’ll see…

I got the p90x dvds today.  May and I were supposed to do the P90X fitness test last night, but her son got sick so we couldn’t do it.  We’re going to try and do it on Friday morning before our run.

I’m tired today.   We ran 7 miles this morning, and my chest muscles are sore from climbing last night.   

My guys actually love workbooks and worksheets – particularly connect the dots and mazes, which is helping hone their skills with a pencil. Anything where you have to draw a line to match things or circle a specific choice is great, too. The dollar store has LOTS of workbooks for $1 each.

Board games have been great – Chutes and Ladders has been great for counting/math type stuff. They actually figure out what spin they need to get to a ladder and what number they don’t want to get to hit a chute.

I’m thinking they are ready for Uno, which is one of my fave card games.

We love the library, of course, it’s just so nice to have all those books. We pick out 3 at the library, check them out and those are the bedtime books for the week. We started getting the audio books from the library as well for listening in the car.

We recently started giving the boys an allowance. They earn it with a combination of good behavior during the week, and then by completing Saturday chores with Doug and me.

This has given us a great opportunity to teach them about handling money…about lending/borrowing, and saving up for something. I even introduced the concept of matching contributions. They’ve been wanting a Game Cube, and they are $30 used. So, I said if they each gave me $7.50, I would match their contributions to help them buy it. They are still considering it.

They’ve been really frugal with their money, which is pretty cute to me. When we go out, and they really want something, I ask for it out of their allowance. 9/10 they decide that they really don’t want it that much. This summer, we are going to the bank to start an account for each of them. I’m trying to find a super kid-friendly bank close by to do that.

They love to help with cooking – cracking eggs, pouring ingredients…

We just renewed our zoo membership, and I really want to do some treasure hunt type stuff at the zoo with them this year – where I make a list of things for them to look for, and when they identify it, they get a sticker/stamp.

We use our screen time judiciously. Educational games, pre-approved tv shows – usually 30 minutes per day, or up to an hour if I have to work. On the weekends, they get to play video games purely for entertainment.

I’ve been on a bit of a weird workout binge today.

Last night before bed, I tried a Namaste Yoga workout (recorded from FitTV), which turned out to be a very active Hatha yoga workout. I need to find a more relaxing Kripalu style workout.

When I got up in the morning, I started one of the 20/20 Method Kickbox Cardio DVD workouts while the boys ate breakfast. Lots of jumping jacks and pushups amidst the cardio on this workout. I quit before the cooldown, took the boys to school, then proceeded to do a recorded Total Body Sculpt with Gilad workout. I finished that, finished the cooldown from the Kickbox Cardio workout, then hopped in the shower to get cleaned up for my 9 AM meeting at Pikes Perk downtown.

Crazyness!

Sadly, these 3 short workouts all added up only burn up as much calories as a 5k run. But I’m also workout on different muscles and stretching, so hopefully these workouts are changing the shape of my muscles/body.

I nearly blew it with a coffeecake and a steamer (soy no whip) at Pikes Perk, which made me feel ill for an hour afterwards. Then followed by some pizza and veggies at Mr. Biggs, but I was good with portions and ate a low calorie dinner to compensate.

But since I’m on my cycle, I’m feeling bloated and bleh. Can’t wait for this week to be over!

Because I didn’t run, I also didn’t weigh in on Monday, and I ran out of time yesterday morning after my run, so I got on the scale at about 2:30 PM yesterday afternoon – well after lunch.

Just about a half pound loss over the last week. I’m thinking my last minute date night with Doug on Saturday probably had something to do with that. I’ll take that over no loss at all, or worse, a gain.

Week 6
Starting weight: 137.8
Last week’s weight: 134.2
Current weight: 133.6
Goal Weight: 125.0

Overall loss: 4.2
Lbs to go: 8.6

The miracle isn’t that I finished.
It’s that I had the courage to start.
                               - John Bingham

This quote is the one that inspired me to take up running after 37 years of not just ‘not running’ but mocking those who run.   
I saw it on a t-shirt during the 2006 Take 5 in the Garden Run.

DLF > DNF >> DNS

Dead Last Finish is greater than
Did Not Finish which greatly trumps
Did Not Start.

Have the courage to start!

I struggle every day to get out there and do SOMETHING.  In fact today, I didn’t.  It’s SO easy to make excuses.  May’s kids had a 2 hour delay school start, I had to work, my mom couldn’t watch the kids… I could have squeezed in a short run several times during the day, but I procrastinated until I had another excuse. 

Finally it was the end of the day, and now I feel like a slug.  So tomorrow morning, we’re going to run – and I’m going to put work and all those excuses I used today away for the duration of our run.  Because my health is important to me, and I need to show my kids how important it is to me.  And I’m writing this to kick *myself* in the ass.

Because once the P90X DVDs are here, I can’t allow myself to make excuses.  I’m tired of my excuses.  I’m ready to make a commitment to me. 

The marathon was an amazing accomplishment, and I am still so psyched that I did it.  But I’m not as fit and strong as I want to be.  And that’s my next goal.  And I need to do it – for me.