legs, legs, and more legs...

and toss a little core in, would ya?

Going with mixing it up this training cycle was one of the best decisions I have ever made. And again, I really can't thank Patrick and Big Daddy Diesel enough for their urging me in the bike direction. It has saved me. Riding my bike has integrated beautifully into my training regimen.

Keeping my fitness level up while recovering from the few mishaps I have had over the last couple of weeks has been easy, largely due to the bike and P90X. While my running miles have been cut, my bike miles and plyo hours have increased, and my overall fitness and strength has not been compromised.

image source

I love the P90X Plyometrics workout. Must be because I am a mother... and it IS the Mother of All P90X Workouts ;-) It is an hour of jumping, leaping, hopping all with quiet, cat-like landings. You sweat like a mother. And you wish your mother was there to pick you up off the floor and give you cookies when you're done. Or maybe a big glass of that recovery drink stuff my husband swears by but I have yet to try.

In addition to the Plyometrics, I have been using the X-Stretch workout a ton. After my physical therapist practically ripped my hip capsule open the other week, the X-Stretch has helped further the range of motion in that joint. Finally... it moves! My PT also prescribed core work, so I have turned to Core Synergistics... also part of the P90X series. As my core has gotten stronger, I have finally added in some of the resistance parts of the workout. The B-Lines® resistance bands are working better for me than hand weights at the moment. I just need to hide them from my kids. They enjoy snapping them at each other... which really can hurt!

These workouts are all intense... as Tony Horton says... "this is P90X, boys and girls... the X is for X-treeeme!" I do what he tells me to... I do my best and leave the rest. While I am not fully up to speed with all parts of each of these workouts, I find them manageable and infinitely enjoyable.

I did do these workouts for awhile when I was pregnant with my fourth baby, but when it got too intense, I switched to the Power 90 In-Home Boot Camp series... until I was huger than a beached whale and could hardly get my socks on let alone work out :P I am simply amazed at how some people (myself included during in my other pregnancies) are able to work out pretty intensely (or at all!) for their whole 40+ weeks of being pregnant. Just wasn't happening at the end there with Miss C.

On Saturday night, I did my first longish run since the beginning of the monkey-wrenches... 6.27 miles in one hour. While it didn't feel effortless, it wasn't at all tortuous either. It was even and very consistent (thank you, new Garmin, for telling me that!)... though at the end I swear I must've looked like a Baby Huey-esque, 3rd-string high school football player trying to muster some speed for tackling drills or something. I am seriously crediting my biking and my dates with Tony H and P90X for how well it did go...never mind that last bit about Baby Huey!

Bring it.

If you do P90X, you get that last part... it's kind of an inside joke :P

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Today is the last day to enter the Hood to Coast Movie DVD giveaway. Click here or see the sidebar for the link to enter. This is a great movie... even if you aren't a runner. I can't believe it is less than 2 weeks until I will be running in the Hood to Coast Relay myself!


Tomorrow is the last day to enter my Match the Rack contest. Click here to see if you can figure out which boobs are whose? There will be prizes!

What's Up Friday...

Screw alliteration.


There's still time for you to come play Q & A with me... the game where you can ask about anything. 

• Why did I stop rowing? 
• How much could I bench at the height of my strength? 
• What are my old PRs? 
• What is my favorite physical feature about myself? 
• What do I find attractive in others? 
• Why did I buy an enormous RED sofa? 
• What the heck is up with my hip?
• Why did I marry a man who already had 6 children... and then make him have 4 more?
• Exactly how unpopular was I in high school and why?

You can even win Nuun! See the Q & A game post for details.

Here's what's happening today...

Since my hip is all hurting and cranky this week, I am not running :(  I am so sad. Wouldn't it be awesome if you could just work out and nothing ever hurt or got injured? Fortunately, my PT had some cancellations today and they can squeeze me in... you need to understand how miraculous this is... the woman is booked out until mid-August. She is the Goddess of ART... my friend Tricia recently posted about ART. After having this hip problem for over 8 years, ART is what finally fixed me.  Sure wish I had known about it sooner.

Being unable to run, I did some more bike riding... that doesn't hurt my hip. I am so thankful that I was urged to try out the bike because it is proving to be so helpful. While I am still not so sure how much I like riding, it is a life-saver in terms of sanity preservation and has become a wonderful cross-training tool. I think I pay more attention to my surroundings when I ride... even though I am going faster. And it's nice to be able to venture outside of The Compound at twilight... I wouldn't do that running... just a little too close to the ghetto to feel safe.  Last night's ride was another beauty. Aesthetically speaking.

The sun had just sunk below the horizon by the time I made it out to the trail.

At my turnaround, I needed to pump up that tire

(yes, I do plan on getting it fixed soon... still figuring out how to fit it and four kids in the car at the same time... oh, brainstorm! toss it in the truck and get my husband to take it in!)

which gave me a moment in which to discover this bit of urban art.

(that's a paint-spattered shoe stuck on the wall)

Then back to some natural beauty...

I really wish I could take better nighttime pictures.

This looks so lame.

It was spectacular in real life.

And a sidenote...

Beth at Shut Up and Run has called for people to expose their strange hidden talents (their SHT, if you will). And has thrown in a t-shirt to make a contest out of it. I can't remember the last time I won a t-shirt. She can fart in her throat. I will be brainstorming and developing my SHT ... I have until the 18th to perfect and video it. I know you all are rooting for me. 

I could always video myself making horrifically candid remarks at my 30th high school reunion tomorrow night. But I guess that since everyone already knows I have 'filter issues', that isn't really a strange hidden talent.