Leslie Sansone Walk Away the Pounds Get Up and Get Started 1 Mile Walk Revisited

 

I did this one two workouts in a row, but I woke up feeling great, so I did this one standing up. I went pretty slow. I kept my knee lifts, kicks and kickbacks very gentle and I didn't sit down into any of the side steps. You can read a play by play of the workout from my original post back in January of 2014. You can also read my modified chair version from last week.  

I didn't use the weights either. It actually felt really great! I felt like a normal human being. I was in a pretty decent mood for most of the day after the workout too! However, once the ibuprofen wore off, I realized hat I felt great when I woke up because of the ibuprofen still in my system and not because I was magically healed. Lesson learned. 

I'm really looking forward to getting out of this boot and being able to exercise like a normal person. I forgot how much exercise really does make me feel better. I don't necessarily love the experience while it's happening, but it does improve my mood for the rest of the day. I've been pretty bummed lately and having a it of a woe is me attitude on life. I'm just so tired of all the baggage life has to offer. A lot of crap has happened over the last three years and I'm ready for it to be over with. I'm hoping that once the car situation gets handled, it will be a nice calm year. I need a nice calm year. 

I don't have any charts of the workout. One of these days, I'll get through the bags in the garage, but right now I still have a naked Christmas tree in my living room, so I'm not really optimistic about getting that heart rate monitor anytime in the next few days or even weeks at this point. 

C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 6 Day 1

I'm getting closer to getting caught up so I'm back on a Monday is Day 1 of  week thing. I'm going to take Monday off so hubby and I can go for a hike on the holiday. I was thinking that today was going to be walk for 5, run for 10, walk for 5, run for 10, walk for 5, but it was run for 5, walk for 3, just for 8, walk for 3, jog for 5, walk for 5. I was kinda looking forward to only having two running segments. Having the third one in there kinda messed with my brain. The cold weather messed with my lungs. OMG! It was soooooooooooooo cold! I could barely breathe in my first running segment. by the end, my breathing was horrible. When I got home, I was talking to hubby and I could barely finish a sentence without coughing. It was horrible and remained that way for most of the day. My body felt fine during the run other than my lungs. I did the faster pace at the end of the runs again. I did it last year, so I should do it this year. I'm hoping it helps me improve my horribly slow pace.

Polar M400 Screen Shots

My heart rate screen shot is a mess. It really annoys me when it gets like this. Maybe it's time to tighten the strap again or pay closer attention to which bra I'm wearing when it happens like this. 

C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 5 Day 3

This was the day that I was dreading. I had to run 20 minutes straight. The good news though......I did this last year so I knew I could do it. I just wasn't sure if I could do it on the street and at a faster pace than last year. The answer would appear to be that yes indeed I can do it on the street and I can do it at faster pace than last year. I wasn't a happy camper at the end of this run the last time around, but it wasn't that bad this time. I was definitely not as fast as I would have liked, but I got through it and wasn't sore the next day. My breathing was okay too. I'm quite impressed with myself this time. Hubby didn't come with me so I ran to the high school and around the block. I went all the way down to the Bi-mart street. Not really sure what possessed me to do that, but I did it even though I knew I'd end up having to go uphill at the very end. I really pushed for the last minute of the running segment. I read my post from last round before I did this workout and I did that same thing last year. I was all happy because I got to a 12ish minute mile pace so I wanted to go faster and I did! Woot Woot!

Polar M400 Screen Shots

I'm not really sure where those crazy spikes came from on the heart rate monitor or the crazy dips, This thing drives me nuts sometimes. 

Review of C25K Couch to 5k Round 2 Week 5 Day 2

Week 5 Day 2 of C25K was a five minute warm up followed by 8 minutes of jogging, 5 minutes of walking, 8 minutes of jogging and 5 minutes of walking. Hubby didn't go with me, so I ran on the street. I wasn't in the mood for the pesky hill at the end though so I turned left onto my street instead of going all the way down to the street for Bi-mart. I ended up getting back too soon though so I just walked past the street and turned around and then went back to the back gate. It felt good doing this run. The temperature was just about perfect so it wasn't too bad on my lungs. My breathing was decent and I didn't really hurt all that much. I was so ready for it to be over when it was done though. I had some issues with my pace in the first running segment. You can see the nice wavy line there. The second one was a little more consistent, but you can still see the gradual slow down. I did kick it up a notch in the last minute or so of the second running segment. I still need to work on my speed! I'm way too slow!

Polar M400 Screen Shots

Here are the screen shots from the run. 

Review of Couch to 5K C25K Round 2 Week 5 Day 1

The best part of Week 5 Day 1 is that there were three running intervals! That's because each one was 5 minutes long! I wasn't sure how it was going to go with three 5 minute jogging intervals so we walked to the track. I grew to regret that decision. We get back soooooooo much faster if we ride. It just makes the running harder for me though.

I wanted to avoid the pain that I had in the previous couple workouts, so I didn't really push the runs too hard. I barely made it into the 12ish minute per mile pace in the last run. I didn't care though. Walking home was so hard. I was just exhausted. I think it was at that point that I realized the perfect way to fix my issue with being on the wrong days. I want to get back on a Monday through Friday schedule with day 1 of the week on Monday and day 3 on Friday. This day 1 being a Wednesday and Day 3 being a Monday is messing with my head. I had been thinking of doing a Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday deal one week to make up the missing day, but instead I decided to skip going on Friday and then skip going one day the following week which should put me back on track! (no pun intended there) I'm just not sure which day I'll skip. I think I'll end up waiting on my next skip until July 4th weekend. That would be a good day to skip. I want to skip a day this week though! LOL.

Not much to say about the workout. The five minute intervals weren't too bad going at my slightly slower pace. No pain.

Polar M400 Screen Shots

I'm not sure what happened with my heart rate monitor. It's looking a bit ragged. Oh well. 

Review of Couch to 5K C25K Round 2 Week 4 Day 3 - The halfway point!

I made it through the halfway point of the program! Hubby came with me again and we rode the bikes again. I'm starting to think the bike thing isn't such a good idea. It gets us there faster and home faster, but OMG my legs were not really all that into this running thing after riding to the track. This was the same workout as the previous two where it was a five minute warm up followed by 3 minutes of jogging, then 90 seconds walking, 5 minutes jogging, 2-1/2 minutes walking, 3 minutes jogging, 90 seconds walking and 5 minutes of jogging. I had a hard time getting into the 12 minute mile pace on this workout. I ended up getting there for each run, but it was a fight each time. My fastest pace was a little off too. Oh well. I got through half of the program which means, I only have half to go! Although, I'm pretty sure that I'm going to do 10K trainer after I finish C25K which means, I'm not really done with my running in four weeks. :) Don't tell my legs that though.

I had that horrible pain again in my right side during the last couple runs. I was trying to push myself to keep a decent pace. Apparently my body just doesn't like that pace. My legs didn't hurt though. I didn't make any comments about the side pain in my post last year for Week 4 Day 3 of C25K though so it bothers me that it's happening. Oh well. Maybe I'll do better in round 3!

Polar M400 Screen Shots

Here are the screen shots from the workout. I had to edit this to include the correct pictures. I originally included the following workout. Oopsy. 

Review of C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 4 Day 2

Here's another post from my marathon of getting caught up on Couch two 5K. I hate getting behind! Last weekend I spent so much time working, so I ran out of time to post about my workouts! Ugh! Week 4 Day 2 was the same as Week 4 Day 1. I did a five minute warm up followed by 3 minutes of running, 90 seconds of walking, 5 minutes of running, 2-1/2 minutes of walking, 3 minutes of running and 5 minutes if walking. Then there was the five minute cool down.

Hubby didn't come with me so I went down to the high school and then around to the middle school to finish off on the downhill straight section. I did the same route earlier when I was still on week three. It turns out that I finish up right near my street so I can just walk home! Or so I thought! There was more running involved in this one, so I had to go a little further to make sure that I didn't get home too soon, so instead of turning left onto my street, I kept going straight and turned up by the street for Bi-mart. Turns out, the stretch of that road between my street and the street for Bi-mart is UPHILL! It's not a steep uphill, but I was pretty tired already and was so not interested in going uphill again. My breathing was pretty horrible and I was pretty tired. I was so ready to be done with the running thing. Technically speaking, I'm not really sure that was actually running at this point though! I was going sooooooo slow up that last little stretch. I just wanted to be done! My legs didn't hurt though, but my breathing was sooooooo heavy and I was coughing a bit. I still did better going on the street for this one than I did for the same workout last year on the track. Feel free to read my workout for C25K Week 4 Day 2 from last year. If you're struggling to get through C25K, it might make you feel better. My first round was pretty much torture.

Polar M400 Screen Shots 

Here are the screen shots from the workout. I didn't get a running index score this time. I wonder why. Oh well. I was surprised to see that I got up to 12:05 minutes per mile. That must have been on the downhill right after the first uphill. 

C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 3 Day 2

Day 2 of Week 3 didn't go as well as Day 1 of Week 3. It was pretty windy out and hubby went with me, so we went to the track. It's usually a bit windy on the way to the track, but it was exceptionally windy when I went out for the run. Going uphill on the first two runs is hard enough, but to run into the wind and go uphill is torture! I couldn't keep my 12ish minute mile pace. I didn't really try all that hard though admittedly. I just ran with my normal effort, but the pace was way off. I don't think I hit 12ish minute mile pace at all during the first two runs. This was just like Day 1 of Week 2. I had 90 seconds running, 60 seconds walking. Three minutes running and 20 minutes walking. Then I repeated the whole thing. I got through the runs fine. I wasn't in pain during them, but my breathing was horrible. I was coughing a lot. I wasn't sore the next day and the coughing cleared up once I was back home. I managed a little better with the two runs on the track, but I still wasn't breaking any land speed records. Hubby suggested we ride our bikes to the track to get there faster so I don't have to run on he street. We might try that tomorrow for week 3 day 3. It's going to lengthen the overall time of the workout though since I won't be starting the app as soon as we leave the house. We'll see how it goes.

Polar M400 Screen Shots

I like the heart rate chart a lot better from this workout over the last one. That was pretty weird on the last one. Not sure what happened there. This one makes sense though. 

C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 3 Day 1

I wasn't really looking forward to this day because it meant doubling my running time in a couple spots. It also meant doubling my walking time though so I had that to look forward to. Week 3 Day 1 is 90 seconds running, 60 seconds walking, 3 minutes running, 2 minutes walking and then you repeat that. Hubby went with me so we walked to the track. I started my running intervals on the way to the track though so save some time and then he caught up with me on the track. It works out pretty good doing that. Although, it means my first two running intervals are uphill. UGH!

I wasn't really sure what to expect during this workout since it was my first time this round doubling my running time from the previous workout. It went pretty well though. I ended up in the 12 minute mile pace for most of the running segments. I was happy with that. I slowed down a bit at the end of my last running interval, but I'm okay with that. I was hoping to get a nice little sprint on at the end, but it was just not going to happen. I made it through the workout though and I wasn't sure the next day. I was definitely ready for those 3 minute intervals to be over, but I could have kept going if I had to. I might have gone slower though if I needed to run longer. My maximum speed for C25K week 3 day 1 the first time I did it was 4.8 mph according to the Motion X app. I didn't urn that app this time though so there could be differences in the app vs. the Polar watch. Reading that post was interesting though. I definitely wasn't happy when I was done with that run, but this time was no big deal.

Polar M400 Screen Shots 

I'm not sure what's up with the weirdo heart rate readings in this workout, but the speed one looks pretty normal at least. 

C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 2 Day 3

I'm playing catch up on these blog posts. I've been doing too much editing lately. Plus, we had inventory at work last week. UGH! I used to love inventory, but not anymore! I'll try not to ramble too much. I'm still doing my second round of C25K. I haven't bailed on it yet. I feel like I'm further along than week two, but the holiday messed things up. I should get caught up on it one of these days and get it back so Day 1 is Monday!

Week 2 Day 3 was running for 90 seconds and walking for two minutes again. I was bound and determined to get under a 10 minute mile pace even if it was only for a few seconds. I tried last week, but failed. Hubby didn't go with me, so I ran on the street. I went up the block to the high school and then around towards the middle school. This made it so I would be going downhill or flat for my last couple runs. It did the trick because I made it to 9:34! I'm not sure how long I held that pace, but that does't matter. I made it under a 10 minute mile pace and that's all I was going for! As times goes on, maybe I can maintain that for a whole mile, but for now, I just needed to get there just to prove that I could get there. I'll work on duration later.

I've been fairly surprised with this round of C25K. I've been reading through old posts about my first round and it sounded like it was pretty much torture. I'm not actually sure why I continued to run since it didn't sound like I had much fun doing it and I wanted to die after doing it. Why did I continue? This time around, I've been ready for the running segments to be over because I hate being all out of breath and I hate coughing, but my body hasn't been sore. My abs hurt a little after the first day of this round, but that's it. Nothing sore in my legs, back or chest. The coughing hasn't been too bad. I think one day in my first week was pretty bad for a couple hours after the run, but nothing longer than that. I'm quite happy with the results so far. I'm not really looking forward to the 20 minute run coming up in week 5, but I got through it the first time around so I'll get through it this time around!

Polar M400 Screen Shots

Couch to 5k C25K Round 2 Week 2 Day 2

Hubby actually decided to go out with me for Week 2 Day 2. I was pretty surprised. He went with m three days this week! Let's see if he picks it back up on Monday. I had planned on doing this entire round of C25K on the street/sidewalk/walking path, but it's just a bit weird to go out with hubby and then not be with him, so we walked to the track. I did my first and second running segments before we made it to the track, so I ended up there before he got there, but then we just both went around the track. He walked and I ran. At the end of my last running interval, I found him and we walked home. It was hard to find him since it was so dark!

I was determined to hit the under 10 minute mile pace for just a couple seconds today. Once again, I saved it until the end and once again, it didn't happen. The closest I got was 11:06. It's driving me nuts that I can't even get into the 10 minute mile pace since I did it in my first week! I'm seriously contemplating trying it during my first running interval instead of my last since I'm just not getting close. I fear that I won't be able to catch my breath enough to continue though. I'm so torn. It's a goal I really want to make, but I don't want to make it at the sacrifice of the rest of the workout. Decisions decisions. 

This run was on a Thursday instead of a Wednesday since the holiday threw off my schedule. I tossed around the idea of running on Saturday to make up the missed workout. I also tossed around the idea of running two days in a row. I opted to just skip the extra run day and make it up on Monday since we had a hike planned for Saturday. I wouldn't have time to do a run before going to Albany, and there was no way I was going to run in the heat! I didn't want to run two days in a row because I knew the hike was going to be a bit of a challenge for me since it has been the two previous times we did the same hike! 

Polar M400 Screen Shots 

Here are the screen shots from the workout. 

C25K Couch to 5k Round 2 Week 2 Day 1

It was Memorial Day last weekend so I had the day off and so did hubby! We bought a new car instead of going for a run. I skipped my Monday run, but did it on Tuesday. The first week was only 60 seconds of running, but the second week is 90 seconds of running and two minutes of walking. I got through it before, so I knew I could get through it again. I just wasn't sure how it was going to go this time around. It wasn't so pleasant the first time around. It wasn't too bad this time. It's interesting to re-read the blog posts from the same day in the program when I did it the first time. I didn't have my Polar M400 the first time around, but I did play around with a Jawbone Up3 last year. I wasn't impressed.

I tried to keep my running pace in the 12 minute mile pace and I think I was successful for the most part doing that. I felt pretty good during this run. My legs didn't hurt. I was ready for the running intervals to be done, but that was more about my breathing than it was about my legs. I haven't been sore after my run days except after the first day and that was my abs more than anything. I ran on the path to town and then on the sidewalk through town and back again. I wanted to get under a 10 minute mile pace just once and it didn't work out last week. I tried again this week, but it didn't work out so well for me. I've been trying it at the end of my runs because I didn't want to tire myself out from the effort. My final run this time was uphill. It's not a big hill at all. It's not even really a hill. It's more of a gentle incline. I tried to hit the sub 10 minute mile pace, but I knew it wasn't going to happen while going uphill. I decided to try going downhill. I turned around and gave it all I got, but I didn't make it. I was just too beat. Another failed attempt at the sub 10 minute mile pace. I decided to try again for Day 2 of Week 2 and told myself that I would go around the block down to the high school so my final run would be going downhill.

I'm bummed that I didn't hit my goal, but I feel great after reading how torturous this was the first time around. I've made some great improvements. I can't lose weight, but I'm a better runner than I was a year ago. Eventually, the weight has to fall off if I continue to do stuff like hiking and running right? I know you can't out exercise a bad diet, but my diet isn't that bad. I know I need to cut out the bread and french fries on the weekends, but I'm doing great during the week!

Polar M400 Screen Shots

It pains me to see that the fastest pace was an 11:30 minute mile! I got faster than that last week, but I was trying to pace myself a bit since I had the longer running segments.

Review of Beachbody Les Mills Combat Kick Start

Les Mills Combat Kick Start

It's actually been a couple weeks since I did this workout, but I've been so busy with editing that I haven't done much blogging. I need to rectify that because I've noticed that my desire to workout goes way down when I have no time to blog about my workouts. I fear that I'm on a slippery slope. I'm not losing any weight and that makes me sad. I haven't been on point with my nutrition because it's like why bother since I wasn't losing weight anyway. I decided to do this workout because I was in one of my soul searching moods and wanted to go back to a time where I was actually losing weight. I wasn't in the mood for a Leslie Sansone workout, so I popped in the first Les Mills Combat workout. It was a 30 minute martial arts style workout. I love martial arts workouts! I really enjoyed doing Les Mills Combat. Wow that was like two years ago next month! Holy Cow! I did the full round of Les Mills Combat starting in June of 2014. I also did a mini round of it. This time around, I just did the one workout. 

I just re-read my post after the first time I did Kick Start. It was interesting to read. I wrote the post the day I did the workout though, so there are no comments about if I was sore the next day. I speculated that I would be, but I'm not sure if it happened. The day after doing it this time around, my upper back was killing me! My legs and arms didn't hurt at all, but my upper back hurt for a couple days. I was pretty surprised by that. I remember having some strange spots of soreness behind my shoulder blades the first time I did the 45 minute Les Mills Combat workout, but I didn't remember any upper back pain from the 30 minute one. I was punching with all I had this time around though so maybe that was it. I usually have a hard time getting DOMS in my back, but give me a 30 minute combat workout and here comes the DOMS. 

Polar M400 Screen Shots

I discovered that I did this workout on May 11th! I can't believe I haven't gotten around to blogging about it until now! I'm such a slacker. Well, not really, but I've been crazy busy with my editing gig so really haven't had any time at all to do blogging. Here are the screen shots from the workout.

Review of Beachbody Les Mills Pump: Pump Challenge

Pump Challenge

This week, I started doing C25K Couch to 5k again. It's only three days a week, so I thought I should do some strength training on my non-running days. I was going to start doing Beachbody Hammer and Chisel again, but I didn't give myself enough time. I decided to give Beachbody Les Mills Pump another try to see if I was any better at it. I didn't go through the full 90 day program before. I just did each workout once. Each one of them made me hurt for about four days after I was done! I liked the workouts, but OMG they made me hurt! I picked the first for my workout between my first and second day of C25K. 

You can read about all of the moves on my first post about Pump Challenge. I used the five pound weights for the squat track and the chest track. I used 10 pounds for the other two leg tracks. I used 2 pounds and 5 pounds for the shoulder track. It was mainly two pounds. I think I did fives for the upright rows and the rest was just 2 pounds.

I made it through most of the workout with any problems. I did have to take a break on each side during the lunge track. Lunges suck! My shoulders were killing me for the Shoulder track, but I didn't need any breaks. I wasn't shaking when I was done with this workout like I was the first time I did Pump Challenge.

I wasn't sore the next day either. I was pretty happy about that part because I did it the day before I had a job interview which wasn't the best of ideas considering how much I hurt the first time I did it. I was able to walk up the stairs and down the stairs at the interview and didn't even wince. It kind of made me want to go through the 90 day program and alternate between C25K and Pump, but on Thursday, I had no motivation to do the same workout, so I took a rest day. Oopsy.

Polar M400 Screen Shots 

I'm not really sure what's up with that weird dip in the last third. The first dip is while I listened to the lengthy explanation about changing the weights and safety stuff. I think if I do try to do Pump along with C25K, I'll just move right two the second workout because the first one has too much down time while they explain so much. The others have some down time between segments, but this seems to have the most. 

Zen Labs Couch to 5K C25K Round 2 Week 1 Day 3 - I survived a full week!

I managed to get through a full week of C25K. It's not that amazing of a triumph really though. It's only three days, but I got up and I kept at it! I had the crazy idea of trying to hit into the 10 minute mile pace for each of my running segments and then I was going to make a major push at the end of the final running segment to see if I could get under a 10 minute mile pace even for a couple seconds. I was back under the cover of darkness which was nice! I didn't run into anyone else on the path/sidewalk. Whatever you want to call it.

This whole week has been a 5 minute brisk walk warm up and the 60 seconds of jogging followed by 90 seconds of walking and then a 5 minute cool down. I've felt pretty good because I have been making it through the running segments without much of an issue. I'm ready to stop when the 60 seconds is over, but I haven't felt like I wanted to die except for the crazy fast running segment at the end of the previous workout.

I did this one on the street and went the shorter route so I would be back home when the time was up instead of the longer route which would give me an extra five to 10 minutes of walking once the workout was done. I procrastinated getting out of bed so I didn't really have the extra time to be walking. It's kind of nice being able to run on the streets! The 30 minute workouts were closer to 50 minutes because I had to get to the track before I could start running. Now, I can just start running as soon as the little beep goes off. It's nice.

I managed to hit the 10:xx minute mile pace for all of the running segments. There was one segment where I went all out and then started to feel like I wanted to die, so I slowed up a little bit and then I kicked it up a gear again. You cans see it on the speed and heart rate charts where my spike has a bit of a dip in it. Oh well. I didn't make it to the under 10 minute mile pace. I underestimated just how strenuous hitting the 10 minute mile pace during each running segment would be. By the last segment, my breathing was horrible and I was doing a lot of coughing. I didn't think it would be a very good idea to try to beat my record. I think I'll try it at the end of my next workout. I'm not sure though since next time, I'm supposed to run for 90 seconds instead of 60 seconds. It's only an extra 30 seconds and I do get an extra 30 seconds to recover between intervals, but that 30 seconds might be a big deal once I start running. We'll see! Eventually, I'll get under a 10 minute mile pace even if it's only for a few seconds.

Polar M400 Screen Shots

Here are the screen shots from the workout. I'm not really sure what's up with the weird readings at the beginning, but whatever. I love how it says that I significantly developed my aerobic fitness and my abilities to sustain high intensity effort for longer. It was a 30 minute workout. I don't think anything significantly changed during this workout. I am quite interested in finding out what speed I need to hit to make it into speed zones 3, 4 and 5 though. I might have to do some research to find out! 

Zen Labs C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 1 Day 2

I surprised myself and managed to get up for Week 1 Day 2 of C25K. The surprising part was that I went for my run without the cover of darkness. I usually just run in the dark, but I got to sleep in on Wednesday! It didn't stop me from going for a run though. People actually saw me too. Not just the cars going by, but other people on the path! I only ran into two people, but both times were during running intervals. The second time was while I was on my last running interval so I was trying to go as fast as I could! Oh he looked scared for me! He looked scared for himself too like if she falls down, am I gonna have to give her mouth to mouth? I didn't fall down though.

I ran on the sidewalk again. It's funny that I call it the sidewalk in this post, but I called it the path while I was talking to my hubby. He's like what path are you talking about? I'm like the one on the side of the road. He's like are you talking about the sidewalk? I'm like no. The path. It runs along the road, but it's not a sidewalk. Sidewalks are different. This is like asphalt and not like concrete sidewalk with a curb and everything. He thinks I'm crazy, but he knew I was nuts when he married me. I'm pretty sure he met my mother and my grandmother before he married me which means even if I wasn't nuts when I met him, he knew that with age, I too would be nuts. It's his own fault for marrying m. He's not getting out of it now.

Okay, back on track! I ramble a lot. So I ran on the sidewalk or the asphalt walking path next to the road. Whatever you want to call it. So last year when I did C25K, I mainly ran on the track because running on the hard surfaces of the path/sidewalk, made my legs hurt way worse than running on the track. I seem to be stronger now though because I'm not in pain while I'm running on the sidewalk/path. After day 1, my abs were a bit sore, but that was about it. I was surprised that my glues, hamstrings and calves weren't sore, but they weren't! Nothing was really sore after day 2. Again, I was pretty surprised by that. I'm getting so much stronger! It's good to go back and repeat programs that you've done in the past so you can compare how far you've come. To do that though, you need to keep track of things when you're doing it. Don't rely on your memory. That's why I love the blog. I can go back and check out how I felt after just about every workout that I've ever done. I have skipped a couple, but I've blogged about most of them.

My breathing wasn't bad at all after this one. I hardly coughed while I was doing this workout too. It was kinda nice. I felt pretty good about myself after this one. By the time I got back to he house, I was so ready to be done though. I was getting tired and hungry.

Polar M400 Screen Shots

Here are the screen shots. There's an extra picture today. They changed these ups so I can show the heart rate chart and the speed chart separately. I kinda liked it when they were together though so you could see how the speed impacted my heart rate, but I didn't make the decision to change it. See that big spike before the cooldown? That's my big burst of speed! I hit a pace of for a 10:23 mile. That's the fastest I've ever gone I think. I know last year, I hit an 11.xx minute mile pace for about 10 second. I can't remember what the seconds were, but I know it was in the 11 minute range. I don't think I ever hit 10 minute range. I'm dying to hit below 10 minute even if it's just for a short period! I'm not sure why it's a big deal to me, but it is. Sort of like I'm dying to do a full push up on my toes. I'll probably hit a sub 10 minute mile pace before I get that push up down. :) 

 

Zen Labs C25K Couch to 5K Round 2 Week 1 Day 1

I've been seeing a lot of posts about running on my Facebook news feed, so I've been thinking about giving C25K another go. Yesterday, hubby was supposed to go for a walk with me since he's going to up his game as far as this whole Diabetes 2 thing goes. He's going to start walking with me more so he can get himself off his meds and get his sugar under control. he decided not to go with my though! UGH! So anyway, that left me with a decision to make. I could go for a walk alone or I could do something here, or I could just hang out on the couch and read. I decided that I was going to try my 10K app! It's the graduate program after C25K. You work yourself up to running a 10K. I checked the first day though and it was a 50 minute workout with 10 minute jogging intervals and I was pretty certain that I wasn't going to survive that. It's been many many months since I did any running. I decided to do C25K again instead. I didn't feel like walking to the track though, so I did it on the sidewalk. Last year, running on the sidewalk killed my shins so bad that I didn't do that more than a couple times, so I thought I would regret the decision, but I did it anyway.

I set out on my normal walking route and started up the app. The first day is a five minute warm up followed by 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking. You alternate between jogging and walking for 20 minutes and end with a 5 minute cool down. My cool down was longer because I didn't turn around at the halfway point. I didn't want to do less distance than my normal walking route. During the first running segment, I was on a hill! It's not really much of a hill at all, but it was still a hill since I was running! It didn't go that badly though. I was pretty surprised. When I got to the end of the 60 seconds, I wasn't dying! I actually felt like I could keep going. I didn't want to deviate from the app though so I went back to walking. There were a couple running segments where I actually felt like I really was running. There were a couple going down a slight incline which was nice.

By the time I was done, I was pretty tired and ready to be home. My breathing wasn't terrible, but I was coughing a little bit and the back of my throat felt a little funky. I didn't have any pain at all in my shins or calves though. I was pretty excited about that. Later that day, I read my blog post about  my first round of C25K. I was pretty happy after reading it! I have made so much progress in a year in terms of my strength. I may not be losing any weight lately, but I'm certainly getting stronger!

Polar M400 Screen Shots

I didn't have my Polar M400 when I started C25K last year! It's way more awesome than what I had last year! I haven't done this whole running thing since like August of 2015. I was surprised to see all the extra things on the app. The screen shot on the left has a bout twice the information it used to have. I think part of it is that they made some things always appear where before you would have to click on the thing to change it to another thing. Now you see it all at once. It also added a cadence count. I found that interesting. I love looking at the heart rate grid on this. I'm supposed to be doing interval training if I'm doing this whole Wild Movement. I talk about it, but then I don't really follow through with it. I haven't had much focus lately on working out. I can blame my hubby since I don't want to start a Beachbody program and then not be available to go for walks with him in the morning, but really I just use that as an excuse not to start a full on program. I hope I stick with this running thing so I've got something forcing me to workout on a regular basis!

Review of Beachbody Less Mills Pump

Beachbody Les Mills Pump

This is a discontinued Beachbody program that uses weights and a lot of reps to get results. I haven't done the entire program, but I have done all of the workouts in the basic package. You can't buy this program from Beachbody anymore, but you can buy it on ebay if you want it. It's a great program to add to your strength training library.

The Workouts

The program comes with 5 strength training workouts, one 15 minute ab workout and one yoga workout. If you bought it from a Beachbody coach, you also got an extra 10 minute ab workout. You might be able to find someone selling the version with the extra workout, but you might not.

Pump Challenge

This workout is about 25 minutes. It has five tracks. They cover Squats, Chest  & Triceps, Back, Butt and Hamstrings, Lunges and Shoulders. I hurt for about four days after doing this workout! I was a bit bummed that it didn't have anything for biceps, but was happy to have no ab section! This workout was short, but it was very effective in making me sore! This one didn't have a warm up or a cool down track. You can read a play by play of all the moves on my post about Beachbody Les Mills Pump: Pump Challenge. 

Pump and Burn

This one as about 35 minutes. It has six tracks. The first track was the warm up track. After that, we covered Squats, Chest, Legs and Back and Abs. The last track was the cool down. I was also disappointed not to have a bicep track in this one. I have to admit though that I was not upset to be missing a shoulder track. My shoulders are so wimpy. I hurt for about four days after this workout too. You can read a play by play on my post about Beachbody Les Mills Pump: Pump and Burn. 

Pump and Shred

Pump and Shred was about 47 minutes. It had 8 tracks to it. We started with the warm up track and ended with the cool down track. I'm glad these have the cool down tracks. The first one just had a little stretching between tracks, but I felt like I needed more! In between the first and last tracks, we had Legs (Squats), Chest, Back, More legs (Lunges), Shoulders and Abs. Once again, no bicep track, but we did get our shoulders back into the mix oh joy. I hurt probably for four days again after this workout. These things are killer! You can read more about the moves on my post about Beachbody Les Mills Pump: Pump and Shred.

Pump Revolution

Pump Revolution had 10 tracks! It was a whopping 57 minutes! It was soooooooo long! It was awesome, but OMG that was a lot of reps! The first track was the warm up and the last track was the cool down. In the middle we had Squats, Chest, Back and Legs, Triceps, Biceps, Legs (lunges), Shoulders, and abs! We finally got a bicep track! My biceps barely made it through the track, but they weren't really sore the following day. I was still happy to finally get a bicep track though! It feels like my biceps have been shrinking since I haven't been doing much with them lately. You can read a play by play of this workout on my post about Beachbody Les Mills Pump: Pump Revolution. 

Pump Extreme

Pump Revolution was another long one! It lasted just under an hour and had 10 tracks. We did a warm up and a cool down track. In the middle, we had Squats, Chest, Back and Legs, Triceps, Biceps, Legs (lunges!), Shoulders and Abs. Pretty much the same stuff we had in Pump Revolution. Most of the moves were the same too. The ab track was a bit different and I think the shoulder track was a little different. It was nice to have another workout with a track for biceps. My biceps were a bit fried before I started this workout though. I had helped load the truck at work a couple days before this workout and my biceps got quite the workout. They were the only thing sore the day after loading the truck. I was kind of surprised that they were sore. I was really surprised nothing else was sore. I'm rambling, so back on track! I liked this workout, but some of the tracks get a little old because you do the same move for the entire track. The only difference is the tempo. You can read more about the moves on my post about Beachbody Les Mills Pump: Pump Extreme. 

Flow 

This one was just under 20 minutes. It was a mix of strength poses and stretching poses. I felt like I needed more stretching poses though. I really love the stretching aspect of yoga. I didn't really feel like we held any specific pose long enough to really get a good stretch. I felt good after the workout, but I wanted more! There were four tracks. We started off with some Vinyasa Flow type stuff. Then we went into a section of strength poses with stuff like Crescent and some Warrior Variations. Then we did some stretching poses on the floor. The last track was mainly focused on twisting poses. I love twisting poses! You can read a play by play of the moves on my post about Beachbody Les Mills Pump: Flow. 

Hard Core Abs

Hard Core Abs had three tracks and they were all about the abs. Shocking I know. The workout was just under 15 minutes. I'm not a fan of ab workouts. I'm okay with hiding ab moves in other workouts, but to go into a workout know that it's just going to be about abs is just not something I'm a big fan of. I wasn't expecting to enjoy this workout because I've rarely liked any ab workout before. It wasn't that bad though. We didn't do anything crazy challenging, but my abs were sore the next day. You can read about all of the moves on my post about Beachbody Les Mills Pump: Hard Core Abs. 

Core 

Here we have another short ab workout. This is the one that came with the program for buying it from a Beachbody Coach. It was about 11 minutes and had three tracks. I liked this one better than Hard Core Abs. It still had the Hover or Plank as we call it in this country, but the rest of the stuff was more enjoyable. As I said in the last paragraph, I'm not a fan of ab workouts. This was probably my favorite of all ab workouts though. It was totally doable, but still challenging. Ab workouts are hard for big girls like me. We're not really built to be laying on the floor. It's hard to lay on the floor and not hurt your back when your butt is ginormous. I'm not saying this to be funny. It's seriously hard to not hurt your back while doing ab workout when you can't get your back flat because you've got too much padding in the rear end. You can read about all of the moves on my post about Beachbody Les Mills Pump: Core. 

Want to learn more? Watch the video!

You can't buy Pump from Beachbody anymore, but you can still buy it from ebay so if you want to learn more about it, just check out the video that still exists even though you can't buy it.