Fitness Update Feb 2nd

February 2, 2017 by Zucchini Runner in Fitness, Running | 2 Comments

There are 31 days in January, and I somehow managed to workout 27 of them. And guess what? I didn’t feel like I was overexerting or torturing myself either! hahaha I think in our society there is still the whole “no pain, no gain” mentality… but that is just not the case. It’s more about “slow and steady wins the race”. The race, being your own personal goal of course.

In 2017 I started marking the days off the calendar in the bathroom each morning, as I record my weight. In the corner of each square on the calendar day, I put 5/365 or 10/365 or today, I did 33/365. I use it as a reminder to not waste a single day. Not wasting a single day, is going to mean something different to everyone, but for me currently it means; have a positive outlook, get a workout in, and focus on putting good food into my body. That’s really about it. That is my own personal goal/race. I’m plugging away at it slow and steady. I don’t kill myself with each workout, I balance them out so I have mostly moderate effort and one or two hard effort, and a sprinkling of yoga.

Below are the workouts I did over the past week:

Friday – Upper Body Weights + Indoor Spin (morning)
Saturday – Long Run (12 miles; morning)
Sunday – Yoga (evening; 21 Day Yoga Retreat – Stretch Wk. 1)
Monday – 3 mile evening run; joined by family on bikes and roller blades
Tuesday – Fitness Blender – Kettle Bell HIIT (evening)
Wednesday – 5 mile tempo run (morning)
Thursday – Yoga (morning; Ted’s Yoga | Muscle Recovery)

The past 7 days are a total WIN in my book. Not only was I able to stick to 95% of my workouts, despite a somewhat hectic schedule, I also had my weigh-in and measurement day Monday.

Drumroll please…

I lost 4 lbs. and 3.5″ total between my arms, chest, waist and hips. I was STOKED! I mean, I knew about the weight, cause clearly I just mentioned I weigh myself each morning — but I don’t put a whole lot of stock into weight. But the measurements were exciting! That means I’m toning up and turning some of my fatty parts into toned muscle. That was part of my GOAL! Would a smaller number on the scale be nice? Sure, but I’m more interested in tightening up some things. I am not getting any younger people… the big 4-0 is fast approaching!

Also, I hit 102 miles in January, which is about 46 miles more than December — another number that surprised me! I feel really good right now too. I started to feel some twinges here and there, due to the new strain on my body. But I am making a huge effort to get 7 hours minimum of sleep each night; 8 hours if I can. I also try to allow myself one day where I just sleep in, without an alarm. (But, that only adds an additional 20-30 minutes usually!)

I also started seeing Mr. Zucchini Runner’s massage therapist. She is amazing. Every week, I go in for a visit and it helps to loosen up the tight spots I can’t get with stretching alone. (If you are in the Tempe/Chandler/Ahwatukee area, you should give her a try. Just click the link to shoot her an email, let her know I sent ya!) I should also mention, that I see a chiropractor every 2-4 weeks as well. It occurred to me there are things I take for granted in my every day routine, that are second nature to me, so I never think to share them. But the chiro and massages, and good sleep make a huge impact on my ability to workout so regularly — especially at this stage where it is a new routine. It’s important to reward your body with the necessary sleep and extra care when you implement any new physical activity. Which leads us to the nutrition segment.

I am still using my Be Well Fitness Log daily, and it is REALLY helping me to stay on track. Well, almost. haha As you can see, Tuesday night we made some homemade cookies. They were very low sugar (banana, a little honey, a little maple syrup and very little coconut sugar), gluten-free and vegan so I may have had more than a couple. As you can also see, I ate SUCH a huge (and late) lunch, that I only had hummus, crackers and a grapefruit for “dinner” Tuesday. That might explain the cookies later that night. But as I mentioned last week, I do not aim to be “perfect”, just to focus on plants first and eating high nutrition 80% of the time. This is my life. This is real.

Lastly, I wanted to update you on the Garmin 235. It turns out, I can use my old heart rate monitor chest strap, to ensure I have more accurate HR readings on my runs. BOOM! Besides the watch freezing up a couple times since the purchase, and having to do a force restart, I am loving it! I feel like that is par for the course, for all electronics these days… but maybe I’m wrong. Has anyone else experienced that with their Garmin watch — particularly the 235?

Until next week!
Sleep hard.
Get moving.
Trust Your Gut.

T25 Review

December 10, 2013 by Zucchini Runner in Fitness, Review | 9 Comments

I have put this post off for FAR too long. It’s for a good reason though. I don’t have a whole lot to report on this fitness program — at least not at first glance. I’ve had a mental block about what to say and struggled with showing you successful before and after photos. But the success that I received from this program can’t be measured in a before and after photo – and that’s ok. It took me a while to accept that.

Day 1 – August 19th

My goal when doing T25 was to have a workout that would compliment my running – as you can tell by the name of my blog – I am first and foremost a runner.

Running is my passion.

However, I know that it is important to incorporate cross training to my daily routine, in order to become a better runner and avoid injury… but knowing that and DOING that are two VERY. DIFFERENT. THINGS.

You name the excuse, I’ve made it. The number one excuse I ALWAYS had however?

TIME.

Not enough time. How am I supposed to spend more time working out than I already do?! Running is so important to me, so by default it gets done first and easily most days. Anything else I consider a bonus workout. When I started seeing FOCUS T25 advertised like crazy all over social media, I was STOKED! 25 minutes a day, five days a week. BOOM. Sign me up!

I had always been intrigued by Shaun T’s Insanity workout, but was not willing to do something that crazy and risk GETTING an injury at the expense of my running!

After our first T25 workout. Clearly got a sweat on.

Mr. Zucchini Runner and I are pretty loyal Tony Horton fans because of the changes we experienced with P90X. For me especially, Tony is the first at-home fitness pro that I could tolerate regularly. So adjusting to Shaun T’s style was… well… an adjustment. I had to keep telling Mr. Zucchini Runner, “We didn’t like all of Tony’s corny jokes in the beginning either! Shaun will grow on us…”

And he did… slowly…

The first workout left us both thinking – wow – this is a lot harder than I thought! But, at the same time, we were able to handle it and do every move. (We couldn’t say the same for most of the P90X workouts on the first go around…)

Day 2 was almost… easy… which was great because I needed something easy, since I run Wednesday’s. (We started on Monday, so our workouts were Mon-Fri; I typically run M, W and Sat. Hard Tuesday workout + sore muscles for Wednesday’s run = not a happy Zucchini Runner.)

Then day 3 workout hit – after my run. Holy mother. Total Body Circuit was/is a KILLER workout. We were both modifying, for sure! Thank goodness for Tania, the modifier, in the video! It still stands as the toughest T25 workout in my book – including the Beta series.

In a nutshell, Mr. ZR and I both noticed after 3-4 weeks that our legs were growing and becoming more defined. PERFECT! This was exactly what I wanted.

STRENGTH.

He was jumping higher and with less effort in volleyball games and I was running faster and had greater endurance in the summer heat.

The Details
There are two segments to T25 that come with your base package: Alpha and Beta (Gamma is ordered separate, and we didn’t go that route). Each segment is only 5 weeks long – so 5 weeks of Alpha and 5 weeks of Beta was perfect to get me through summer running!

The downside: Both Mr. ZR and I started to notice that our ankles and knees were getting achy after about week 4. There is a LOT of jumping… a LOT. So, being a big proponent of listening to my body – we both took a week off in between Alpha and Beta to let everything heal up. Best decision ever. We started Beta and were able to hit the ground running. We noticed a huge difference – the break totally helped. If you do T25, I would suggest the same thing.

My last T25 workout before my half marathon

Now this is where things started to get a little fuzzy. Temps in AZ were starting to cool off, I was starting to pick up my mileage, and prepare for a half marathon, where my goal was a hefty PR. Mr. Zucchini Runner had a major volleyball tournament he needed to rest up for… and therefore we both had less commitment to T25. However, I surpassed my hefty PR and got 3rd place in my division, and he and his team won the tournament in their division. Not too bad!! 😉

We stuck with Beta for a solid 2 weeks before it became sporadic.

Sept 29, our fresh calendar with all the beta workouts.

With both of our passions calling to us, it was difficult to stay engaged with the T25 workouts. Additionally, dare I say it, we were both getting a little bored. Sorry, but I’m being honest. We both expected something more in Beta, more weights maybe? Different moves? Instead, it was more of the same moves we learned in Alpha, just combined together in different sequences. I really wish we could have stuck to it for the entire 10 week period, but I would be lying if I said we did. We gave it a solid, 7 week effort and then I averaged about 2-3 solo workouts a week, versus our previous 5-6. Oh yes, on Fridays you have the option to do two workouts, or double-days as they call it. Sunday there is also a 25 minute stretch DVD, which is really nice if you are feeling stiff and sore.

In our first week, getting ab intervals done!

In conclusion, I did really appreciate the workouts in T25 and Shaun T’s motivation did grow on me. His ability to know when your quads are burning and that you’re about to give up, is perfectly timed on the video and it’s like he’s there in person, saying “You’ve got this!” And just like moments in P90X when we’d yell at Tony, we’d yell at Shaun T too. I just wish there was more variety – seems odd from someone who can run for hours, I know. But like I said, cross training is difficult for me so I need something that will keep me engaged the whole time. Having said that, we are both EXTREMELY EXCITED for the release of P90X3 today! Good old Tony Horton will soon be back in our workout room, telling us NEW corny jokes, but this time, for only 30 minutes a day. MY DREAM COME TRUE! It has all the variety of P90X, but in half the time… which means get in, get done, get on with it. STOKED!

Getting an outside workout in after a run this summer, with the sprinklers on, so refreshing!

If you are a runner, I do think T25 is a good addition to your running regimen. I could definitely tell my running improved – the good news is – that improvement has stuck! I know I’ve lost some of that fitness and strength I gained during the program, but I’m still running personal bests!

Sept. 19, after Alpha phase – before Beta phase

Maybe once we get going on P90X3, I will finally get my full 6 pack abs! 🙂 If you want to join Mr. Zucchini Runner and I on our P90X3 journey, you can purchase it through my website starting December 10th. If you don’t find the program right away, check back again towards the end of the day!