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!

It's been a busy morning...

I've mentioned before that Miss C is non-stop. Today has been no exception... and it's still officially morning.

First...

she peed on daddy's briefcase 

(I cleaned it up before taking the picture)

We are potty-training over here... sort of.

I think it's a great idea...she doesn't really agree with me.

Then...

While I was cleaning up the pee on the briefcase,

she got busy with her toys...

My husband insists a purge is in order...

this picture has now convinced me that he is RIGHT!

And...

While I was cleaning up the toys,

she decided that sitting in her water table would be fun!

This thing is great!

And to think that I got it off the curb for

FREE!

Things were cool,

then she decided to stand up in it and do a little tapdance...

so we went inside.

So...

While I was fetching a towel and some clothes for her,

she was finding a red marker...

and using the red marker on her body.

(thankfully not on the white walls or the pink carpet)

Finally...

we decided a bath was in order...

intending it also as an attempt to tame her 

Einstein hair!

I think matted, wild hair must run in our family :P

I wonder what this afternoon will bring?

On a training note... I was able to eke out 6 easy miles yesterday without feeling too imbalanced. A little soreness in the back and hip but nothing to worry about... I hope. I'm thinking another 2 mellow runs early in the week, and I'll be back in biz. Keep your fingers crossed for me! In the meantime, some biking and a little stretching and core work... P90X-style... will be attempted. I really don't want to stay out of commission for much longer :(

Are you good about taking care of yourself when you get injured?

Are you patient with your kids (or pets) when they make a royal mess?

30th High School Reunion...

I looked good in my dress...

I still have trouble figuring out what to do with my hair. And maybe learning how to use a little bit of makeup might not be a bad thing...

But my week of diligent Core Synergistics and Ab Ripper X paid off and my gut hardly stuck out at all. So I definitely rocked the LBD, even if it was a didn't -even-try-it-on, $25-at-the-consignment-store, wrinkled-like-it-had-been-in-the-bottom-of-the-hamper real Moschino dress. "Moschino" is a designer, I found out. The girl at the register explained this to me as she oohed and ahhhed.

This is the dress before ironing. You can see it has a funky asymmetrical hemline... what you don't see is that the high side is really high. I didn't know this upon purchasing as I didn't try it on first. What you also don't see is that the long side is slit up as high as the high side. I didn't even know there was a slit. So basically it was like wearing a loincloth.

I met up with one of my very dearest friends prior to the event. We walked to school together for at least 75% of high school. She and I were each other's dates since our husbands had NO interest in attending. She is beautiful and was dressed very elegantly; I felt very honored to be her escort for the evening.

After hanging out at her mom's house for an hour or so looking through our senior yearbook and talking about everyone we hoped would be there (for various reasons) and speculating as to who would NOT be showing up, we headed downtown to the party.

There were a lot of people there! Some I recognized and others I totally did not. I was really excited to see about 5 of the people who were there, regular excited to see about 10 more, and didn't really know what to do with the rest. It was definitely worth going and a huge kick to see what everyone looks like now as we all close in on 50 (!) and find out what directions life has taken us all.

I wanted to take pictures, but I ran into two problems. First, the lighting was horrible and my phonephotos are really grainy in low-light conditions. And second, early on I took a picture of a particular person who is not aging well. This person was "all that" in high school, was pretty much a self-absorbed twit and, of course, was very cute. My date's little sister hated this guy... and really was dying to know what he turned out like. So I took a spy-shot that we were going to email her on the spot. It made my camera seize. For the whole entire night :(  Which provided even more laughs.

The two best stories from the evening:

1.

I know you all wanted video of me making inappropriate remarks... but that phone seized so no video. So here's the story of my shining moment... the camera-buster mentioned above walked by me and my date as we were talking to a couple of other really nice people. As he passed I said to him loudly, "Hey, I remember you!" He looked at me, bewildered, and said, "YOU remember ME?" because of course he didn't remember me. I said, "Yeah... you were in Mr. Anderson's psychology class with me." His reply: "Mr. Anderson? I loved that guy!" Me: "You loved him? Ugh... what an a**h***."  Camera-buster then said, "Who? Him? Or me?" Me: "Ummmm.... YEAH!" And I started laughing... dude walked right into that one. He served it up to me on a freakin platter! But he got soooooooo offended.

Wouldn't even let me apologize... sheeesh.

2.

My high school crush... of course I had one of these. I had several, but senior year there was one in particular. Lots and lots of girls had a crush on him. I never told him... I don't think he even knew my name, but my closest friends knew about my unrequited feelings. My date and I had speculated that he would not attend the reunion. He had some big legal trouble a while back, and we thought it might be difficult for him to show.

Early on in the evening, we were surveying the crowd, trying to decide who we wanted to chat up. We saw a woman neither of us recognized who looked bored beyond belief. We decided to entertain her. She was the wife of a classmate that neither of us knew.

As we were chatting, in walked the crush guy. Looking fabulous. Aging amazingly. Our eyes nearly popped out of our heads in surprise, and we proceeded to fill our new friend in on why we were so visibly stunned. She interrupted at one point...."shhh... he's looking over here... he's heading this way..." Ahahahhahahaha! we laughed... "No, he wouldn't come over here... he doesn't even know us..." and we continued to dish. Incredibly, she was right! He walked right up to us (I don't think he heard anything) and gave hugs and hellos and smiled his charming smile. She excused herself, whispering to me "You better find me later and tell me the rest!", leaving me and my date to bask in the movie star glow of my senior crush.

NO, I didn't tell him!

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Remember today is the last day to play You Ask, I Answer... the fun Q & A game where you can ask me anything! Hurry, get your digs questions in now!

Moonlit Ride

What a day.

Just way more running around than I like... but about as much as usual.

Drop the little one off at preschool, take the big girl to try and weasel our way into camp mid-session, go to acupuncture, go home, throw food into a bag for the boys, go pick little one up from preschool, go to pool for 6-year old's swimming lessons, go pick big girl up from camp (we got in... yay!), try to figure out blogging-on-the-go while waiting for her, go home, make dinner, go to big kids' swimming lessons, get rear-ended by some jerk-off on the way home, get home...

I had to get the *bleep* outta there.

"Can I go for a bike ride?"

Exhausted husband: "Sure."

"And then a run?"

Him:  "Whatever."

Yes, he is rad.  (are you happy now, Chris K?)


Got bike. Grabbed helmet. Oh... AND pump. Off I went. It was 8:40 p.m.

Thankfully, there were no weirdos out, and the tire didn't deflate very quickly, so I was able to ride steadily for about 30+ minutes. It was getting dark and I don't have lights or reflective clothing, so I was taking some chances. But it was gorgeous out...

do you see the moonlight on the water? pretty :)

My camera/phone is not so awesome in low-light conditions.

When the ride was over, I ran into the house and changed my clothes and headed back out for a small run. It was nice to run on flat, level ground after my Sequel to the Apocalypse run on Sunday. But I have now decided that I do, in fact, hate those shoes. So glad I was able to find 2 pairs of my other discontinued ones online :)

A small brick for today's workout and Core Synergistics from the P90X series yesterday... I think I am going to do that every other day this week in the hopes that it makes me look super awesome for my 30th high school reunion this coming Saturday. There has been a flurry of Facebook activity regarding my reunion... I am so unbelievably curious now. It is bound to be totally interesting. 

I was one of those unpopular, obnoxious kids in high school.

I wonder if anyone will even talk to me?

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If you missed my babies... click here. And if you missed our awesome beach day, click here.

And the gadget! The gadget is coming... I promise!

The P90X Workout for Moms

My husband follows the P90X program. I often watch and listen while he works out, and I have heard them refer to this particular episode... the one my husband does the least... as the "The 'Mother' of all P90X Workouts".  I have asked my husband why he rarely does this workout. His answer: it's mostly for legs and his legs are fine. shhhhh... but I think it's because they call it a workout for moms.

Well, since I was home alone with 3 kids and it was raining, going for a run yesterday or last night was out of the question
but after the comedy-of-errors morning I'd had, I was needing some sort of something to soothe my soul... or something...
So I decided an evening consisting of a casual 'Mom Workout' that focuses on legs was just the ticket to end my day right :)

I figured it'd help clear my head, get a couple of lonely endorphins kickin' around maybe help them find a few friends, be a semi-substitute for the run that was on the schedule...

What is this 'workout for moms'?

it is

plyometrics

Gonna do a lil'
ply.O.

But first I needed some o' this...

Monday's Gadget Pie

I have single-handedly eaten all of that which you see is missing.

After filling my pie-hole with ... well... with pie, I put the kids to bed and suited up.

Time for a lil'
ply.O.

There is a guy in the demonstration group who has a prosthetic leg... meaning he is doing the workout with one leg.  ONE.  I think he can be considered a nail.

It took about 45 minutes to do the workout, including the warm up and the cool down.  It was really hard.  I had the most trouble with the regular jumping jacks... but that is not fitness-related. Remember, I've had 4 kids... next time I just need a pad or something... but only for that exercise. I did my best and left the rest.  Then I needed some more pie.

The P90X Mother's Workout gets my vote.  But... is this cross-training?  I really didn't want to do any cross-training... might wreck my image.  I might start looking ... serious.



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Do not forget to vote!  If you haven't heard the news, the competition is really heating up.
Fidel and I are up against a sex addict, a plastified old lady and the flippin' Berenstain Bears!  
Vote for US and you may win $20 worth of something :)

THE core workout

I realized here, during a run in the rain while wearing a white t-shirt, that some ab work was in order. But I didn't do anything about it.
Then I remembered here, while skating with the squid, how important core work is and that it needed to become a regular part of my exercise/life regimen.
There are so many possible core/ab workouts to do, all of which come highly recommended by whoever does whatever one... how to choose?
My husband swears by the P90X Ab Ripper workout... but just thinking about Tony Horton started me giggling.  I don't know why, but that guy just cracks me up.

Then my husband found THIS...




Yeah, baby!

This is the one I want to do!  And it looks like it'll help with my upper body strength, too... BONUS!

So I have started.
I am in the visualization stage right now.  That is where I watch the video wipe up the drool and then visualize myself doing it.  I take myself through each stage, breathing, tensing, clenching...
as if I were doing the workout myself.

I haven't noticed any results in my own core yet.

Might be time to ratchet things up a notch...
and actually do it ;-)

What sort of core work are you doing?
– prior to starting this visualization training (lol), I was sitting up in bed every morning. Bending over to put my shoes on. Reaching and twisting to put groceries away.  That's about it.

Did someone say "penguin"?

Who doesn't LOVE penguins?

even hot babes like Jessica Alba love penguins!

Tonight is the big benefit gala thing for our kids' school.  I am not there.

But my husband is.

He got all dolled up for the occasion ;-)

He looks pretty awesome in his penguin suit...

whether he is standing in front of the stunning garage door...

or next to the gas and electric meter on the side of the house...

or thoughtfully looking at our minivan his Aston Martin

across the gravel spacious lawn of his estate.

He's been working really hard to look this good.  My husband does P90X.  Yes, he does.  You should see him with no clothes on.  Wait.  Nevermind.  You should see him without his shirt on :)  the other is just for me.

He and Tony Horton are like that *holding up two fingers squished together and crossed*

And for the past two weeks he has been doing an amazing and rigorous cleanse program.  Last week, it was just brown rice, vegetables, fruits and his special rice-based protein powder stuff.  Yesterday he got to add beans and quinoa and oats back in... tomorrow he gets nuts.... he is very excited :)

And he is smokin' hot!

Have you ever been to a fancy tuxedo-y event?
– I think just my wedding.

Have you ever done a dietary cleanse program?  How long was it?  Did you feel great after?
– I did the one he is doing.  It's 28 days long... like rehab.  I felt AMAZING and didn't want to stop it when it was over and continued eating "clean" for another 3 months or so until I was pregnant and only wanted Ritz crackers with cream cheese... neither of which are part of the program.