Breast Cancer 5k (...Insanity Still Going Strong!)

Hi all,


I am painfully aware that I'm overdue for blog postings on the 2nd month Insanity workouts!  I promise they're coming...and I promise they'll mostly harp on about how much harder they are than month 1, which as you recall was killer in itself!  That said, today I thought I would give a little recap of the AWIB's Breast Cancer 5k this past Friday.

I hate running.  Pretty much always have, and likely always will.  Either I find running extremely difficult, or at best (assuming I'm in good shape at the time) I find it boring.  And I've never run more than 6 miles at one time in my entire life.  Well, after Friday's 5k I can't say that my opinion on the topic has changed much, but at least it ended up being a good time for a good cause :)


The run was the WaDuke running trail, which, in case you've never been on it before, is pretty imposing in terms of the number and size of the hills on it.  Definitely not a cakewalk. However, I was feeling a bit more confident about running than normal because of all the Insanity workouts I've been doing.  Surely all that training would come in handy out in the real world!  Right?




5k Recap
Well, after the start signal was given, the 30+ or so of us who were there started speeding off down the trail.  Pretty quickly, and unsurprisingly, it was clear that there were two main groups of participants.  The social bunch were "running" to enjoy each others' company (I think they had it right!), and then all the folks struggling to stay at the front (including me).


Despite not having run in about a year, it seems Insanity has provided at least a decent bit of prep for this.  I ran steadily and surely for the first 2/3 of the race, even passing a few people towards the end who perhaps were a bit too eager off the starting block.  However, that's around when the wheels started to fall off the bus.


It wasn't cold outside, and yet I was wearing lined track pants, sweating profusely after about the halfway mark.  With about 1/3 to go I finally stopped, scrambled to take them off quickly so I could jump back in the race, and was able to get a bit more mobility.  However, I don't know if it was because of that single stop or if I was simply doomed from the start, but that last leg of the race was filled with constant pitstops and breathers.  I was toast!  My muscles were starting to ache, my lungs were burning, and I was feeling rather...unmotivated (boredom starts to set in on top of everything else).  And man that last hill to the finish line is a doozy!


In any case, I ended up finishing with ~24 min, 40 secs on the clock, which was fine by me!  Definitely fast enough for me to feel like Insanity has done me some good, but there was still a solid handful of folks who pretty much destroyed me by at least a couple minutes.  However, it turns out most of them were running club people, so I was lucky enough to win a free apple pie for my finishing time as a wannabe runner.  Too bad they're not on the diet!  It smelled so good too, but we were able to find another taker for the dessert so all is still right with the world.


Miscellaneous Update

• Went to the State Fair last night in Raleigh.  What a circus!  People everywhere, but definitely a fun time.  Too bad the culinary staples there are things like oversized turkey legs and deep-fried kool-aid/twinkies/etc.  I made do with a chocolate covered frozen banana though, so I feel like it made it out ok :)
• The diet is still going strong, although I'm starting to doubt how well it's actually working for me.   However, I think I've maybe been eating too many grains lately (even if they've been gluten free)
• Incidentally, although my doing Insanity has never been about losing weight, I have lost about 6-7 lbs since starting. Weighed in at 150lbs even yesterday.  That's about as low as I want to go, but it's still nice to know I've gotten rid of some of the extra baggage.

Insanity Day 22 (Cardio Abs) complete... this was tough!

So this weekend at Duke was marked by a little something that is commonly known as Campout.  Essentially it's a 36-hr party in a parking lot, where you are required to be present for periodic "check-ins" throughout in order to qualify for a lottery for Duke basketball season tickets.  That said, doing my workouts the past few days has been a challenge, and unfortunately not one that I accomplished successfully.  I briefly toyed with the idea of doing Insanity in the parking lot and getting some other folks to join with me.  Seeing everyone though in the morning looking half-dead told me it would be easier just to run home to do the workout and then come back to Campout later.


Yesterday was supposed to be BOTH Pure Cardio and Cardio Abs.  As of this point I hadn't actually done the latter (instead, Katie and I have swapped in less cardio-centric ab workouts on days that called for ab work); and since Campout had left me exhausted already I decided to just do Cardio Abs, which ended up being a welcome change of pace, still quite a challenge, and a great yet unique ab workout in about 15 minutes.


Warm-up
This wasn't TOO different from the warm-ups for previous Insanity workouts...just a bit shorter since it didn't involve repeated circuits, and perhaps a bit more ab-focused in terms of the exercises chosen.  The trick is to keep your core engaged throughout!


The following moves are each done for 30 secs

• Run in place
• High Knees
• High Knees with Twist (cranks on the obliques)
• Jump Rope 
• Tuck Jumps (jump up high from a starting squat position and bring knees into your elbows at peak)
• Wide Tuck Jumps (similar to above, but is done with a wide legged stance)

It may not look like much, but you'll probably be sweating pretty decently afterwards

Workout

Shaun T's cardio abs revolve quite a bit around what he calls the "C-Sit" position.  Basically you sit on your butt, legs slightly bent in front, with back/core leaned backward at a 45 degree or so angle.  Just holding that pose for a while can work the abs on it's own!

• C-Sit Twists (arms in front of you, twisting side to side)
• Twists with Knee (same as above, but bring in opposing knee to your forearm on each movement)
• A-Frame Ab Twists (similar to the twists, but you put your arms extended above your head instead of in front of you)
• A-Frame with Knee 
• Hold C-Sit Pose
• Single Leg Raises (in c-sit position, extend one straight leg off the floor a couple of inches; now lift it up and back down to the starting position for the duration... then switch legs)
• Double Leg Raises (same as above, but do both legs at same time; THIS IS NOT EASY!)
• High Plank Position 
• High Plank w/alternating knees (while in plank, use your core to bring your knee up/around towards your shoulder)
• High Plank w/fast knees (same as before, just faster)
• Low Plank Position (go down onto your forearms)
• Low Plank w/alternating knees
• Pulse tucks (in plank position you're basically performing, dare I say, pelvic pulses to contract your abs; sounds silly, but it really starts to burn pretty darn quickly)

That's it!

Diet Update

My diet is actually going very well, and I'm extremely lucky to have such a supportive spouse.  Part of the reason I decided to to cut out certain things (dairy, gluten) was that I determined that these might be aggravating my skin a bit.  After being on this for a while, I can fairly confidently say that's true since there has been zero issue since.

Also, a note on Campout since I attended as a gluten-free lackey.  Obviously, my choice of brews was limited to the gluten-free variety (mostly sorghum based), and here are some very brief notes on those I tried:

• Redbridge: fairly decent Bud-like beer, falling somewhere in taste between Bud Light & Bud.  At the very least it tastes most like normal beer compared to the others I tried, even if it's not all that good.  I give it a C+
• Bard's Tale: has a somewhat "off" note to it, but definitely has more flavor than Redbridge.  I actually kind of liked it after a while.  B-/B
• Green's: I had three different ones of this brand over the weekend. A dubble dark ale, a golden ale, and one other I can't quite remember.  The Golden Ale is way too sweet and medicinal for my tastes but the dark ale was actually not TOO far astray from a decent tasting craft Belgian.  I'd give them a C+/B- and B/B+ respectively
• St. Peters: by far my favorite of the weekend.  Strong flavor and body without too much of that "off" flavor that seems to go along with most of the gluten-free brews.  I'd give it a solid A-

Almond Milk: a few reviews

Hi All,


So as most of you know I've been experimenting with a rather stringent diet regimen lately that includes the restriction of "no dairy."  Sadly dairy is one of my favorite things since I love cereal, but I have been tiptoeing into the waters of almond milk recently.


As a general note, almond milk holds WAY more promise for me than any other dairy substitute I've tried.  Store-bought coconut milk is too thin and has an almost medicinal taste, soy milk tastes indescribably "off" to me, and rice milk tastes almost burnt.  Almond milk, however, is by far the closest non-dairy substitute I've found for actual cow's milk (at least skim).


A few mini-reviews:

• Trader Joe's Unsweetened Organic Almond Milk
• Solid choice.  A little thinner than cow's milk, but very close to skim milk.  The only real differentiation is that it has a somewhat toasted flavor to it, although it's not really off-putting and certainly isn't noticeable in a bowl of cereal.  There's also traces of what I can only assume is some sort of almond sediment.  Make sure you shake this up.
• Trader Joe's Vanilla Organic Almond Milk
• Not terrible, but this stuff is pretty dang sweet (and it's quite an "odd" sweetness at that)!  Not my cup of tea at all.  
• SILK Unsweetened Almond Milk
• I had already tried SILK's chocolate almond milk before, so I had a good feeling about this.  Easily the closest approximation of true skim milk in the bunch (both in terms of consistency and taste): highly recommended. 

Insanity Day 14: Rest Day

Ok, just to fully round out the first two weeks I thought I should at least reference today's rest day.  Very needed!

I'm still extremely sore from doing the Chest, Shoulders & Triceps P90x workout the other day, but today it was all relaxation.  Spent most of the day at school actually, but the evening involved some end-of-day networking/hanging out, and then finally a night out with friends to celebrate the 'ol birthday...complete with ANOTHER gluten-free/dairy-free cake courtesy of the Mrs.  I am extremely lucky!

Till the new workouts come to the Insanity rotation in a couple weeks, stay tuned.

Insanity Day 13: Pure Cardio (ugh, take this out of the rotation!)

Ok first of all, today was the big 2-9 on the 'ol birthday meter!  And what better way to start the day than with an early morning bout of Pure Cardio????


Katie and I were back at it again, and for those just now joining us (as they say) this is easily the toughest of all the Insanity workouts as far as the first month is concerned.  Just a beast!


Anyway, not much to report today since y'all should have a good idea by now of what to expect from this one: ~11 min of killer warmup; stretch sequence; and then 15 min of non-stop, 100%, keel over and try not to pass out, cardio intervals.  


Again, we have pretty much got this warm-up thing down, but today (because of the extreme resistance stuff I did yesterday with P90x) I was very very sore.  Doing "pushup jacks" when your chest starts off the workout already fried is not an easy proposition.  With that in mind, there were a few more of the pushup exercises than normal where I had to modify due to sheer exhaustion.  And I'm actually STILL sore as I type.  Oh well.


I do have to say though, as hard as this workout is, it gives you a VERY satisfying feeling after you complete it.  


Diet Update
Not too too much to report today, but there were still some pretty delicious items had throughout the day that fit the diet plan:

• Breakfast: green smoothie
• Mid-morning snack: almond milk & gluten free puffins
• Lunch: Udi's gluten free artisan bread, avocado, sliced chicken breast, mustard.  Delish, but a bit messy.  Those avocados do not want to stay on the sandwhich!
• Dinner: Katie took me to La Residence in Chapel Hill.  Scrumtralescent tuna tartare and pork tenderloin.  Pork isn't technically on my diet but is still "more" allowed than red meat
• Dessert: Katie made a homemade dairy-gluten free "ice cream" cake with peach sorbet, Pamela's cake mix, and caramel frosting.  Wowzers it was good!

Going Forward

Just as an update on where my little reviews will go from here.  Since the workouts don't really change for another two weeks, I'm going to take a brief hiatus and pick back up when the new workouts start hitting the schedule.  If I can make it that far :)

Insanity Day 12: P90X's Chest, Shoulders and Triceps (aka, too much cardio = let's do some P90x!)

Hey all,

So I had been warning of this, but the cardio overload is getting to me, and I can tell the upper body isn't getting near as much love in these Insanity workouts. To rectify this, last night I decided to swap in Chest, Shoulders & Tri's from P90x in place of Insanity's Cardio Power & Resistance. This being my first time to pretty much do a P90x and Insanity workout back to back, I can definitely tell a whole lot of differences in the way these two programs are designed.

Chest, Shoulders & Tri's is 1hr long, and rather than cardio it simply massacres your upper body with a seemingly infinite number of pushups, flys, shoulder presses, tricep extensions, etc. It was the first time in a long time that I've gotten that "pump" feeling in my muscles from exercise, and I like it! My arms and chest can barely move today, so even though Insanity has definitely been getting me in VERY good shape VERY quickly, there are still gaps in program in terms of its focus.

Plus, Tony Horton, in my opinion, simply does a better job of warming up and cooling down in a logical flow, whereas Shaun T's warmups are way too intense and his cool-downs jump straight into static stretching without taking time to let the heart rate come down.

In any case, here is a list of the moves from Chest, Shoulders & Tri's
(Any non-weighted exercises like pushups or dips is done to failure in terms of reps. Everything else is done as either 8-10 reps or 12-15 reps depending on whether you're looking to build muscle or just get toned)
- Slow Motion Pushups
- Shoulder Fly In & Out
- Chair Dips
- Plank Pushups
- Pike Pushups
- Side Tricep Rise
- Floor Flys (side moving pushups)
- Scarecrows
- Overhead Tricep Extensions
- Alternate Speed Pushups
- Y Shoulder Press
- Lying Tricep Extension
- Side to Side Pushup
- Pour Flys for Shoulders
- Tricep Extensions
- One Arm Pushups
- Weighted Shoulder Circles
- Throw the Bomb
- Plyo or Clap Pushups
- Slow Mo Throw
- Tricep Extension
- One Arm Balance Pushups (pushups w/ a yoga-esque rotation at the top)
- Fly Row Press
- Dumbbell Cross Body Blows


Diet Notes
I can actually say that 1) the diet is becoming a lot easier in terms of resisting temptation, and 2) it's helping dramatically with the results I'm getting from Insanity in terms of noticeable toning, etc.

Some of the goodies I munched on yesterday:

Sweet potato chips
Unsweetened Almond Milk from Trader Joe's with some multigrain Puffins (gluten-free)
cliff z-bar
An awesomely healthy yet delicious salad Katie made: greens, onions, some sort of oil based dressing, strawberries, nuts

Insanity Day 11: Cardio Recovery

So thankful for this!  The early morning cardio annihilations was starting to get to me.


Also, Cardio Recovery is a bit on the shorter side (~35 min), which ended up being great today since I ended up doing school related things (mostly AT school) from about 9am to 10pm.  As a recap of what this one is all about, there's no cardio, and it's mostly a series of stretches but also some deep power moves: squats, etc.  It's at times relaxing, but definitely tough on a few of the exercises.  Katie and I both had to come out of the held poses a few times!


For tomorrow I'll be doing P90x Chest, Shoulders & Triceps to shake things up a bit and give myself some more upper body work.  I posted about these way back in the day when I first did P90x, but I'll probably do a full review of the workout since I have somewhat of a new "audience" reading this blog.


Diet Notes
Breakfast: Green smoothie


Lunch: bowl of fruit, roasted almonds, Trader Joe's strawberry soy yogurt, gluten free sweet potato chips from Costco, turkey/avocado sandwich on gluten free bread (was actually quite delicious), Cliff Z Bar


Dinner: sea bass marinated in soy sauce in white wine and vinegar and mustard, encrusted with sesame seeds; cabbage, snow peas, carrots, onions with white wine and vinegar; brown rice