Fit Test 2

It's amazing what a difference not being nauseous can make.  :)

Today was Insanity Fit Test....for the second time.  Definite improvement has been made.

4 more Switch Kicks (from 45 to 49)

14 more Power Jacks (from 40 to 54)

15 more Power Knees (from 70 to 85)

10 more Power Jumps (from 15 to 25)

5 more Globe Jumps (from 4 to 9)

5 more Suicide Jumps (from 7 to 12)

8 more Push-up Jacks (from 12 to 20)

12 more Low Plank Oblique (from 43 to 55)

Just so we're clear: I really hate power jumps and suicide jumps.  Or perhaps I just don't like jumping....though I don't really mind the globe jumps.  Hmmmm.

Also lost 1/2 an inch around the waist, 1/4 inch off my left thigh, and 1/2 inch off my right thigh.  I must use my right leg more.  Now a 1/2 inch from a waist may not seem like much....but seriously, have you seen me?  I can't get much smaller.

Another two weeks until my next try at the Fit Test.  Bring it on!

Ahhhhh Thursday

I was going to take a day off.....well that almost never works.  I was right in the middle of my Cardio Recovery "workout" and the phone rang.  Ended up going out to work for a little while....made a bed, cleaned a bathroom, mopped a floor, folded mucho laundry.  And I'll be heading up to the office for payday and to get my schedule for the rest of the week and into next week.  Maybe I'll get my day off tomorrow....

Nice recovery workout today though.  Yippee for yoga and stretching.  Some of the squats and lunges are hard though....nice and slow, but I have to hold them FOREVER.  Ouch.  I'm considering pulling out my P90X Yoga for next Thursday instead of the Insanity Cardio Recovery.  Might be just what I need.

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Well, as promised, here are some pics of our trip to the south end of Hinsdale County.  It sure is pretty.  The HCSO Command Center camper was really quite nice too.

View driving from Archuletta County back into Hinsdale County.

Another view.  Obvious which county is more spectacular.

The HCSO Command Center

Our home for the weekend.  Not bad!

View out our "bedroom" window.

Pretty huh?



Plyometric Cardio Circuit....Again

Back to the Plyo Cardio Circuit.  It's so nice to see progress.  Able to keep up today.  Sweating like crazy and burning calories!  Sure does make me hungry.....ALL the time.  No nausea today.

I made an effort to do every exercise today.  Worked out well.  I'm pleased.  I tend to move slower and take more breaks than they do....but that doesn't really bother me.  I still keep my heart rate through the roof.  I'm kinda looking forward to Monday and going back to the Fit Test....I'm sure I will have improved.

Insanity is my new best friend.

Pure Cardio

Day 8....technically.

The weekend was lovely.  My portable DVD player is broken.  Didn't have time to work out anyway.  Aaaaand Monday was a complete bust too.  Working from 8:30 until 4 with tons to do at home to clean up from the weekend doesn't lend to having time to work out.  Oh well.

Back into the swing of things today with Pure Cardio.  It was pretty awesome.  Definitely hard....but awesome.  After taking 4 days off I was a little worried that my stomach would revolt against me again, but I made it through feeling fine.

Starting to be able to keep up a little more without taking so many breaks.  Only skipped out on two or three of the moves.  Not too bad.  Enjoying it more now that my stomach has been beaten into submission.

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Our weekend was nice.  Shorter, yet longer, than I expected.  We left LC around 9am Friday morning.  Then it was 3 hours of drive time, grocery shopping, dropping off the ATV at the campsite, driving to the county yard to pick up the camper, fill camper water/gas, move the camper to campsite, set up the camper.  Then Andy had to fix a few things on the camper.  That left us enough time to go back to town (Pagosa Springs) and get dinner....which was yummy, by the way.

Saturday we got up and spent the day patrolling around the south end.  We drove through all the campgrounds and parking areas.  Andy talked to hunters, fishermen, outfitters, campground hosts, forest service rangers (if that's what they're called??), SAR folks from San Juan County, etc.  It's a beautiful area!  I'd love to go back.

Sunday we packed up, took a spin around some of the major parking areas, then headed home.  Part way home we got a call about a neglected mule in a camping area near Rio Grande Reservoir....to which we were closer than other deputies.

So we pulled a U-turn at the top of Slumgullion Pass and back south we went.  Andy did a bit of investigating while I chatted with the neighbors in the campground.  We got back to town in time to catch an early dinner with the Sheriff at his "Meet & Greet" night for his campaign.  Then home to unload all our stuff and sit on the couch for the rest of the evening.

Pictures coming soon from our weekend.  Hopefully.....

Recovery

Insanity Day 4 was wOnderful.

Just like with P90X, I will look forward to Thursdays.  With P90X it was Yoga; Insanity it's Cardio Recovery (or Max Recovery in month 2).  Definitely still a work out, but not nearly like the other days.

Today it was some Yoga stretching, deep lunges, deep squats and some plank work.  Very nice to stretch out some of those seriously sore muscles and work on form and balance.

Tomorrow I come back around to the Plyometric Cardio Circuit.  Hopefully I'll have time!

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Busy day today.  1/2 way through my workout this morning I got a call from my boss.  She's been out of town and we needed to touch base.  Then off to clean 2 condos before heading out to Redcloud to spend some time with a friend.

Ah to have time to just go for a walk with a friend!  It was a nice afternoon with good conversation.  Much needed time with a friend.  Not to mention the wonders walking 5 or 6 miles will work on sore legs.  Feels very good.

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Andy & I are off in the morning.  Heading to the south end.  Looking forward to getting a little bit of a break....and a change of scenery.  Be back Monday!

Day 3

Power Cardio & Resistance today.  It was slightly hard to get motivated and moving this morning.  I'm SORE!  My butt, hamstrings, calves, quads....and maybe my abs just a little.  Oh yeah, my shoulders, triceps and back too.

Today involved jogging, power jumps, globe jumps, moving push ups, V-ups (picture yourself as an upside down V, butt in air, do push up - works the shoulders), belt kicks, etc.  Intense....and all in the comfort of my living room.

My body is feeling better and getting into the rhythm.  Every time I begin a new fitness program it takes a few days before my body submits to the rigors of it.  Even less nausea today with more time exercising.  I only skipped 3 or 4 of the moves today.  Not bad for Day 3.

Looking forward to tomorrow:  Cardio Recovery.  What that means, I haven't the foggiest but maybe it's less intense.  :)

Then a weekend AWAY!  I wonder if there's room in the camper for me to work out?  I guess I'll take my portable DVD player and find out.  I'd hate to miss 2 days in my first week.....

Day 1 & 2

Insanity....is actually insane.  Go figure.

Yesterday was Day 1.  It was a starting point....and something to improve upon.  All that was on the schedule for yesterday was the Fit Test.  It takes about 30 minutes total and includes a warm up, 8 exercises for 1 minute each with 30 seconds to 1 minute between each, and a cool down.

Throughout Insanity I will do the Fit Test five times.  It is a way to track of progress.  And lets just say that it can only get better from here.  I wasn't even sure I was going to make it past the fourth move.  But I pressed on!  Though I wasn't able to really give it my all due to nausea, I was able to finish.....before I went and hugged the toilet for awhile and took a nap.  :)

Day 2 was better....as is to be expected.  Today was the Plyometric Cardio Circuit.  Whew!  I was prepared for it to be quite challenging.  My experience with Plyometrics from my P90X days was helpful.  My butt is going to hurt tomorrow.  Suicide drills, power squats, ski jumps, basketball squats....you get the idea.

Less nausea due to taking things a little slower today.  Definitely going to be more sore though.  I think I've spent more days this year being sore than not.  And I think I'm really going to miss my P90X Yoga.

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As for everyday life:  This weekend Andy & I are going to head down to the south end of the county.  We're going to stay in the S.O.'s camper down there and Andy will do a little patrolling.  It's supposed to be a beautiful, warm weekend so it'll be nice to get away and maybe I'll get some hiking in.

It'll be my first "ride-along."  I'm kind of excited.  I hope to get some quality time with the husband while we're away too....although it's important to keep in mind that he will be working.  I've also never been to the south end of our county.  I hear it's beautiful.  Too bad it takes 3 hours to get there.  Ah, mountains, apparently it's easier to build roads around instead of over.

I'll try to remember to take the camera and maybe I'll have some pictures to share for a change.

Insanity

Have I gone insane?  Well, I guess it depends on who you ask.  It's possible.

Today marks day 1 of my Insanity journey.  In case you're wondering, Insanity is a workout (put to DVD) from beachbody.com....same place I got P90X from.  Don't worry I'm not checking myself into an asylum or anything.

Here's what I'm in for:  LOTS of cardio, LOTS of plyometrics (jump training), LOTS of strength training, LOTS of resistance training. LOTS of sweating and working my butt off....probably literally.  The main difference between Insanity and what I've been doing is the focus on burning calories vs building bulk muscle.

P90X includes lots of weight training, focusing on the "glamour" muscles to make you look good.  It's all about bulking up (though they teach you how to avoid bulk if that's what you prefer).  Lots of push ups, pull ups, curls, shoulder/back flys, lunges, squats, tricep extensions, etc.

They say with Insanity you may notice a loss of muscle size....but not necessarily strength.  No weight training involved.  Instead muscles will be leaner and longer; just as strong but without the bulk.  As a female this seems like a great idea to me.  I don't care about bulk.  They also say Insanity is the hardest workout ever put to DVD.....hence the name.

Why would I subject myself to this, you may ask.  Well, why not.  I'm not getting any younger.  My life/work isn't quite as active as it was a few years ago.  I see great value in being healthy and fit.  Here are just a few of my reasons for working out: (1) it's honoring to God, (2) it's honoring to my husband, (3) it makes me feel better about myself, (4) I enjoy being active, (5) it makes me more durable and less vulnerable to injury in every day life.

I'll keep you updated on my progress.  Here goes nothing!

10 Years

My 10 year high school reunion is this month.  It has been 10 years and 3 months since I graduated high school.  Yep.  Where has the time gone?!  It doesn't seem like 10 years.  I guess 4 years of college + 6 years in Colorado makes for pretty simple math, huh?

I don't plan to attend the reunion...and seeing how today is the final day to RSVP it's pretty much a set-in-stone decision at this point.  I decided not to attend for several reasons; but those reasons are my own.  In some ways it would be interesting to go.  In other ways I just don't really care.  Does that make me a bad person?

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In other news:  It's September 1!  That means our summer is pretty much over.  I'm still working at the Matterhorn here-and-there.  I also picked up another part time cleaning job with Lakeview Property Management.  I'm definitely enjoying it.  It's also kind of funny how things worked out.  My first day with LPM was August 21, the next day the owner packed up her kids and headed out to California for 2 1/2 weeks.

I've had my list of cabins and condos....some of which I've spent a little time driving around trying to find....and I've just been cleaning one or two as my schedule allows.  Most of the cabins have several days between guests this time of year which gives me all kinds of flexibility.  It's been great.

However, I find that this job has also been a little bit dangerous.  Not as in life-or-death risky, but dangerous nonetheless.  LPM manages and rents several condos out by the lake....and I would be lying if I didn't say that I like them.  The dangerous part comes in this:  one of the condos is for sale.

Ah, dare to dream about living somewhere other than our apartment.  Don't get me wrong, our apartment is great and I'm thankful for the home we have.  A bigger place would be nice.  Lets face it: we have a lot of...toys...and not much space to keep those toys.  Our 2nd bedroom is our guest room/gun room/fishing room/storage room/reloading room/exercise room/whatever-else-we-need room.  And that 2nd bedroom is not very big.

Maybe someday.

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On a different note, I feel as thought I've been surrounded by unfortunate events recently.  Our neighbor, Ryan, was killed last night in a car accident.  I didn't know him well, he didn't live here long and wasn't around much, but it is sad just the same.  He was 20-something and always friendly to me.  May the Lord grant him mercy.  May the Lord comfort his family as they grieve.