Spring Summer has Sprung!

All of the sudden, we've gone from freezing to blazing!

Clues that Spring (with temps close to Summer) is here:

• After taking the winter off, my car air conditioner just decided not to show back up to work this spring. It is HOT in that car after school gets out in the afternoon.
• Once again, I'm a sweaty mess after a workout. (Which is a good thing! It feels like evidence.)
• I spent a few hours, laying out reading "Little House on the Prairie" at the lake this afternoon. (I accidentally starting reading it when I was waiting to get my nails done and that was the only book I had in the car. I read all the Laura Ingalls books multiple times when I was little and picked that copy up at a thrift store to add to my classroom library. I felt a little ridiculous reading a children's book at the nail salon, but I got so into it! I forgot how wonderful those books are.)
  
• And most convincingly, it's spring break!!

In other news, I have a horrible confession: I did not run yesterday. We didn't get home until 10 and I didn't want to have the late-night treadmill discussion, so I just let it go. I did get in two runs today...one before supper and then one after The Shred Level 2. (Please ignore the fact that they were each only 1 mile.) I really liked Level 2! I've done Level 1 probably 15 times, but I was scared to go up because I was afraid it would be too hard. There were a few difficult moves, but overall, it was doable and there were some fun new moves!

Have a Happy Easter everyone!

31 Days, Hopefully?

If I had continued my 365 consecutive days of running, I'd be in the short rows now. Obviously, that's not the case though. It doesn't look like I'm going to be starting over anytime this year either. If you observed my repeated attempts and fails from April to September of last year, you'd probably agree. It's just not feasible when I'm teaching, in grad school, and have a rinky-dink treadmill that shakes the whole house and prevents others from sleeping.

I think 31 days is pretty feasible though, so I'm going to end the rest of my running (not calendar) year with a few last meager goals. It's less than a month until my birthday and I'm celebrating the last days by running each day and finally finishing Jillian's 30 Day Shred! It's my birthday present to myself and hopefully I'll enter this next year in a little better shape.

I'm only 3 days, 5 miles, and 3 Shreds in, but I feel so much better having that commitment each day and not being able to talk myself out of it!

Cheating through The Shred

So I had to take 2 days off of The Shred before my muscles felt recovered enough to run without giving out. I put off this week's "long run," which was only 4 miles until today after school.

(Please don't judge me for using a Beginner's Half Marathon Plan even though this is my fourth 13.1...and for choosing the minimum mileages on each day.)

I had a really good run though and (due to heading out too late and trying to get back before it was completely pitch dark) it felt pretty speedy for me. I even decided to go ahead and forge through with Day 4 of The Shred afterwards.

Confession: I completely cheated and fast-forwarded through the warm-up (I figured I was plenty warm already), cardio (since I just got in about 40 minutes of running, I didn't feel that guilty skipping those 6 minutes), and cool-down (I'm on the floor now in a v-sit stretching out my arms to reach my laptop).

I doubt Jillian would approve. : )

Ouch.

The Shred is already working. You know I can tell? I hurt. As in, barely being able to pick up the groceries sore. As in, walking sideways down the porch steps sore. As in, feeling pain when I laugh sore.

I was a little surprised to realize all of the sudden that the last time I was this sore was after the marathon. (Okay, two days after the marathon. That first day after the race, I could barely get out of bed. I was sore in my bones.)

So, kudos, Jillian. In 2 twenty minute workouts, you've produced almost the same pain results as almost 5 hours of running.

I decided to take today off because I want to actually be able to run tomorrow. Next week, the two plans (half marathon and The Shred) will merge!

I thought I loved you then...

No, this isn't an early Valentine's Day post. It's something much more pathetic.

For years (really, wow...it has been 4 years), I have been watching the Biggest Loser and knew Jillian Michaels was my kind of trainer. I bought one of her books and I have been poking around with some of her workouts for months. I already thought she was pretty much tops.

Tonight though, I finally got around to my first day of "The Shred." My first video workout led by Jillian. And it was fantastic. I've got a whole new respect for her.

I know it's really weird to wax poetic about a DVD workout, but I'd dabbled in many over the years and this one is the first that I'm really wild over. Most of the leaders in these videos encourage you "not to push it," "take a break anytime you need it," and "follow Jessica if you're not quite ready for the full workout." (Jessica being the girl in the back of the video who is just kinda scooting around with 1 pound weights.)

With most of these DVDs, I either get bored about 5 minutes in or just kinda wimp out on the hard parts (read: lunges, push-ups, etc) and bounce through the cardio. Jillian kept me going through the whole workout though. Every time my arms started feeling wimpy and I thought about putting down the weights, Jillian would start going on about "change hurts" or "don't wimp out now...the pain means it's working."

So, I'm really excited about keeping it up through the 3 levels! Oh, and I guess it's about time to run again...

The Shred!

I just put Jillian Michael's "The Shred" on my Netflix queue and I'm very excited about its impending arrival! I've had the "Making the Cut" book for months, but if you've been reading for a while, you know I don't have an exactly stellar track record with strength training. I'm pretty sure my record is making it to Day 6 of the 30 day book.

So, how about another approach? I've heard about many others having success with "The Shred" so I'm thinking the video might be a little more structured than flipping back and forth through a book to look up exercises.

So we'll see!