We got back from Disney last week, and we’re already focusing our running for the Shamrock Shuffle at the end of March. But I wanted to do something more than just running three or four days a week. So I’ve come up with a couple of things I can do, whether it’s the Cardio Abs workout from Insanity, or Ab Ripper X from P90X, or just a routine from Runner’s World, I hope to do some core work a couple of days a week.

I also decided to start the One Hundred Pushups Challenge again. I went through it once before, and it definitely got my pushup max higher, but I never got to 100. So this time I’m hoping to do it right, and not move on until I get the proper max, and hopefully end up with a max of 100 pushups at once. The plan has you doing between 5 and 8 sets of pushups, with a structured amount of rest in between sets. It gets progressively higher, and is aimed at getting to 100 in six weeks. I’m not sure I can do it in six, but Day One last night already went better than I remember from the first time through. I hit all of the first four sets, and maxed out at 20 on the fifth set, where the goal is just nine. I’ll try to at least post my max every day I do it (Mon, Wed, Fri), if not some more thoughts on how it’s going.

Today was my last day of P90X! It feels great to have gotten all the way through something like this, and I’m definitely looking forward to moving on, but also incorporating the ideas into my future workout regimen. Tomorrow is a rest day, and Fit Test Saturday morning. Then I have to figure out what to do for the next 3 months or so.

I like the idea of just taking a half hour to do some strength training a couple of days a week, and knowing that I can now get a much better workout in that half hour than I would have 3 months ago. I’ll probably do a lot more running, with some cycling thrown in, and some maintenance strength work. And I know I’ll keep doing Ab Ripper 2 or 3 days a week as well – still plenty of progress to make with that.

Thursday was the Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot 5K. I didn’t really know what to expect since I haven’t been running as much, and hadn’t done any speed work when I did run. However, Megan had taken a class for PTs to treat runners, and the instructor preached the importance of core strengthening. She mentioned a stat about a significant improvement to running times by changing nothing but adding core strengthening. So I though that maybe I had a shot with all of the core work during P90X.

I lined up race morning with the 6:00 pace group (they had signs out), and waiting for the start. It was a fair amount of people, so I wasn’t surprised to not move right when the gun went off, but I was surprised to find people walking with strollers lined up in front of me. Apparently they just let people stream in from the sides, and everyone got in at the front, making it extremely difficult for me to get a good start. I spent the first half mile weaving in and out of people, and only being able to go 7:30-7:45 pace. When I was finally able to pick up the pace, I was pretty steady at about 6:15, but the damage had been done, and my first mile was 6:55. After that, I was in the 6:00 range, and kicked it in hard to cross the finish in 19:45. Had I been able to start unobstructed, I could have easily cut off another 30 seconds, and maybe a minute – which would have been a PR.

I’m not going to complain about it, but it is good to know that P90X has helped me improve my running. Now I just need to take this gained strength, add in some decent run training, and start kicking some serious butt in the spring.

Also, this is now my final week of P90X. I’ve done two days so far, tomorrow is basically and off day, then two more days, and off day, and I’ll take the Fit Test again on Saturday. I’ll post all of my results then, hopefully there’s some decent improvements.

Today was my last Plyo day of the initial P90X program. While I may still do it again in the future, it’s certainly a milestone signaling the end of this round. Since there’s nothing I can really compare like reps or weight from the other workouts, I do feel like I have gotten better at Plyo. I’m still dead tired after each set, but I think I’m able to do it with much more intensity, so I’m looking forward to see how it’s affected my vertical leap when I retake the Fit Test.

Tomorrow will be my last Back and Biceps, then Yoga, the last Legs and Back, and I’m done with active weeks. Saturday will start my final Recovery Week, and then I’ll be all done. It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were taking the Fit Test in the Burr Ridge Warehouse, and now it’s basically over.

This week is a bit off, since I was running late Saturday morning and had to push off Chest and Back until Sunday evening (we were away from home the rest of the time). So everything will be a day off this week, and I’ll forgo the rest day to get back on track for week 12.

Week 12 ends on Thanksgiving, and since I usually run in place of Kenpo on Thursdays, I’m looking at running the Dan Gibbons Turkey Trot in Elmhurst. It’s a 5K, and I’ve heard good things about it. Plus it raises money for PADS and the Chicago Anti-Hunger Association – something good for Thanksgiving. The only thing I’m worried about is being able to give it my all in the race if I go all-out with legs and Back the day before. My legs are usually pretty sore the morning after that, so I guess I’ll just have to Suck It Up and Bring IT!

I started Phase 3 this week, and it’s going well so far. It’s nice to see progress in both my strength and appearance. I can definitely do more pushups in all of the sets than I did in Phase 1, and I upped the weights with all of the shoulders and arms stuff, and might even need a little more next week.

The diet’s been sporadic as well. Most days during the week I’m pretty good about eating “good” foods, but then end up eating out or having lots of cake or something. At this rate, I’ll never have a six pack, but that’s really ok with me. Also, to combat this, I’m running a bit more. I’ve run 3 days this week, and hope to keep that up through the end of this thing. I’m going to swap out Kenpo with running from now on, so that’s one day I’ll get for sure.

I finished Week 7 this morning with Kenpo. Wednesday was tough with Legs and Back in the morning, then I went for a long-ish bike ride with some guys from work (20 miles in 1:17 or so), then I still had to do Ab Ripper X when I got home. My legs were hurting pretty good yesterday, and I was more tired than I’ve been in a while, so I moved my rest day from Friday to Thursday, and did Kenpo this morning.

Tomorrow will begin the Recovery Week of Phase 2, which is the same as the recovery week from Phase 1. I think Kenpo and Core Synergistics are the only things I’ll actually by the book. For Yoga, I plan to go for an easy run, stretch real good, and then do the Runner’s Yoga DVD. I’ll do a run and good stretch for the Stretch day, too. I didn’t get much out of the stretch DVD the one time I did it, so I think I’ll do my own stretching from now on.

Today was the final day of Week 6. Nothing was too out of the ordinary for this week, except my schedule got messed up a bit, so I ended up making Sunday Yoga day, but didn’t do Yoga (long story), and moved Plyo to Tuesday. I ran after work Monday, and hope to run tomorrow morning or afternoon, as well.

Monday morning, since I was running late, I skipped Ab Ripper, and moved it until the afternoon after I ran. For the first time, I was able to complete all 349 reps, and my abs could feel it the next day or two. Yesterday after Legs and Back, I did mostly everything, but skipped the leg climbers due to time constraints, and I feel like I get very little from them compared to how long they take.

Diet’s been about the same, not terrible, but could be better. I eat pretty well for breakfast and lunch, but then we have like 3 pounds of cake left so I have a giant slice of cake after dinner which throws everything off. The cake should be gone soon, and I hope to keep running more, so it should get better.

I finished Kenpo this morning, which effectively gets me through the first week of Phase 2. I’ll be getting to work early tomorrow, so while I’d like to run in the morning, it’s not feasible, so it will be a rest day. Saturday starts Week 6, with Chest, Shoulders & Triceps. I won’t have access to dumbbells, so it will be all bands. We’ll see how that goes.

Today is my wife’s birthday, so we’ll be eating cake tonight, and then leftovers for a while after as well. So it could be another week of not-so-great food. Someday soon I’ll start eating better, I promise…

Today was Legs and Back, so I got to use my pullup bar again. I don’t know if it was eating less healthy this week (sister’s wedding, White Sox games, etc.) or just not having enough in my stomach, but I felt more tired than usual doing all of the lunges and squats today.

I’ve given up on Yoga X for a couple of reasons. First, I never get up in time to do the whole thing, and second it’s becoming increasingly more boring for me. My new plan for Yoga days is to run, stretch, and do the Power Yoga For Runners DVD I have instead. It’s more geared toward what I’m trying to accomplish, and it’s not as long and drawn out as the Yoga X DVD is. Now the only problem is having enough daylight to run before doing Yoga in the morning.