Trying Something New

Over the past 3-4 years I've done two iron distance events, a stand alone marathon, several half marathons, loads of other triathlons and swam, run and ridden thousands of miles in training and with the Louisville Bicycle Club.  So I understand why I've grown a little tired of it all.  Not that I dislike the three disciplines but I was looking for something a little different as the weather turns cooler.

The answer for me was to try P90x.  I'd seen the infomercials, talked to friends about it, etc. and it looked like it might meet several goals.  One, it would give me something different to do.  Second, since I've lost so much weight, I'd like to "tighten" everything up.  Finally, I could do it at home without a bunch of expensive equipment or a membership at a gym.

I did need a little equipment, some of which I had, some I had to purchase.  I ended up buying a door frame pull up bar, some push up handles and a couple dumb bells.  The dumb bells were the hardest to figure out as I wasn't really sure how much weight to buy.  I had a pair of 10 pound weights so bought a pair of 25s as I figured some of the exercises might allow me to use a lot more weight.  My goal is not to get huge but to tone up so using a bit lighter weight should be ok.  I can also pick up different dumb bells as necessary in the future.

Yesterday was day 1:  chest and arms and some ab work.  Since this workout has a lot of pull ups and push ups, I knew I was in for a test.  Over the several pull up segments, I believe I averaged about 1/2 per 30 second or one minute segment.  The only way is up after that!  It must have been a good workout as today, I'm having difficulty lifting my arms very high.

Today was plyometrics, which was a lot less strenuous but certainly worked my tail off.  I kept up with this workout a lot better.  Tomorrow is shoulders and arms so should be more very hard work.  I guess if it's hard and I'm sore, it's doing the job.

On the "normal" training side, I've kept my run streak alive at over 140 days and tuned up my mountain bike for a break from the norm.  I have a half-marathon on November 3, which I'm doing mostly for the interesting participant medal so have no set expectations.  I might even run it with no Garmin and just enjoy the day.