Monthly Archives: March 2012

While this P90X workouts are doing something for me physically, it doesn’t help with material to write about.  After all, it’s a 90 day program, and each day (at least 6 days per week) is an hour or more.  Add on my freaky cardio fixes and there’s really no time to do anything new.  I’m looking forward to getting out there again!

In the meantime, since last week was my birthday I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on how truly fortunate I am to be writing such posts.  There’s the luck of my health, which has been remarkably good all my life and with very few injuries.  There’s the simple luck of geography, in that I live not only in a place with all the basics (like water and electricity) that so many go without, but my particular little town is great for running – good neighborhoods & sidewalks everywhere!

What may be just as important is the luck of my friends & family, which started with very active parents who encouraged us to pursue some form of exercise each day.   It has blossomed into siblings & friends that join me for marathons –  or at least let me stay with them when I’m in their town for a race.  Some have even braved the pre-dawn hours to drive us to starts and watch the festivities.  I have a husband that is spending this year whittling down his 1/2 marathon time so he can beat me next fall, and a little boy who ran his first 5K at age 4.   More than anything else it’s that these people understand me and allow me to continue in my weird running or other exercise pursuits without complaint.  (At least, not much complaint.)

When it comes down to the people in my life I am most thankful for my husband.  He is the one who started dating a casual marathoner (I was training for #9 at the time), having no idea it would determine a sort of life style for us.  The past 15 years he has been my main “sponsor” and support team as we’ve traveled around the country & overseas for races.  He was with me when I watched an Ironman race for the first time and saw the gleam in my eyes.  It was without hesitation that he assured me I could do one – all I needed was a good bicycle (he gave me his).   He never let a seed of doubt enter my mind and was thoroughly convinced that I could do whatever I wanted once I had the right equipment.  He was there for me holding PB&Js, bananas & power gels as needed throughout 5 Ironman races and always had my favorite post-race treats ready or was willing to head off into the night to find them.  By the time I had finished my last full Ironman race, he had not only picked up my swim & bike gear from the transition area, the swim stuff was rinsed & hanging to dry & the bike was packed up & ready for the trip home.  Triathlete friends asked if he could be rented.

Within 5 weeks of our son being born I was back out taking my long runs on Saturday mornings, leaving Jeff alone in the “deep end” with a newborn – not only for my run but for the post-run nap.   Sam himself has also been a great support.  He was so used to getting outside for walks & eventually runs in the stroller every morning that if we weren’t outside by 9am he started to get cranky.   They have both been great in dealing with the various trials – driving in the dark to drop me off at a race start, fighting LA traffic after getting me at a finish (cabs for that one ever since), camping out in the few patches of shade on a very hot day in Sonoma, & fighting crowds and traffic at many, many races to stand and get a 4 second wave or hug at mile 20.  I know that without the love, support and acceptance of my wonderful family I would not have been able to get my toe to the start of so many races, much less a full 100 marathons.

I had a very nice birthday this year – quietly celebrated with a few friends, and yes I did receive some nice gifts.  But the true gift is the one of this particular life that I get to lead, and the amazing people I get to spend it with.  Thanks to all of you that are a part of it.

Keep moving!

I am now in week 5 of my P90 *almost* X challenge (the DVD set I have is missing the yoga DVD, so I swim instead on those days).  Last week was actually a bit of a test for me – a rest week.  Having one that isn’t trailing a marathon just doesn’t seem “earned” to me, so I had to put my faith in Tony Horton to know what he was doing.  After all, the people on the videos look pretty good.  Of course, when something called core synergistics is included twice it’s not a couch potato kind of rest week, and I still had to burn some cardio calories to keep my mood straight.

This includes my weekly long swim, that has reached a nice 6000-8000 yards and is a nice mind-cleanser as well as a workout.   I had to practice some mood control on Saturday when after 75 little yards the entire pool was cleared out due to a “chemical imbalance” (those damn kids parties) & we were informed the pool would be closed for at least an hour, probably more.  My sanity was only on edge until I was able to confirm a babysitter for the Sunday afternoon lap session & the pool was back in balance by then.  Phew!

I admit that I’m not always the best student with regards to the at-home workouts, but I am doing my best with this one.  I’d say my biggest flaws would be using workout bands of mystery tension instead of installing a pull-up bar, swimming rather than finding a yoga class (and lets face it, it’s the North Shore – there’s a yoga class around here every hour), favoring chocolate milk over the official recovery drink and REFUSING to give up my bakery treats.  There is one other step that I choose to skip along this journey and that was the BEFORE pictures.  See, in the instructional DVD, Mr. Horton tells you all the equipment you would need for the workouts (including that pull-up bar) and tells you to take a set of BEFORE photos in several different poses.

My problem is that there are  reasons  these are the BEFORE photos – and for these reasons I was not about to take pictures of myself in a sports bra & tight shorts without a strategically placed sarong.  Now that I’m 5 weeks in, however, I’m starting to wonder if anything looks different and wish I’d taken those damn photos.  I mean, I’m no push-up queen yet (as yesterdays attempts at the one-arm goodies will tell you), but Plyometrics has become much more tolerable than it was the first week.  I truly believe that despite my best efforts to sabotage it with peanut butter cookies, this stuff might be working.

I guess I’m at a point where I can at least get some photos taken and see where it goes from here, but whenever I’m considering taking the shots in the bathroom mirror I can’t help reaching for a towel to drape just so.  Maybe next week.

Keep moving!