I punked out again last night and opted for an at-home workout instead of heading to the gym in the cold. My toes were numb by the time I made the short walk from the Metro to my house, so I decided I'd just stay inside.

Since the Biggest Loser season premier was last night, I felt it was appropriate to let Jillian kick my butt as well.



I did Level 2 of the 30 Day Shred, a quick but intense workout.

I can tell all the Jillian work I've been doing lately is starting to pay off. My muscles don't fatigue as easily while I'm doing some of the strength moves. Score one for building up some strength.

While I'm happy with that fact that I've been much more dedicated to building strength lately, I feel like I've been completely slacking on my running. The last time I ran was about two weeks ago when I was home in Allentown and it ended with lots of hip pain. At some point soon I need to get back on the running horse and log something short. Maybe today will be the day.

In BL news, I live tweeted like crazy last night about the show. I can't believe how big some of the contestants are this season. I truly don't know how it can be safe for someone who is 500+ pounds to workout like they do on that show. It's got to put his heart at risk.


So far I have yet to figure out which player is my favorite. I'm sure that will happen soon in the weeks to come!

Cross training isn't my favorite thing to do. So when I'm training for races, I pretty much have running days and resting days. It's not very often that I mix things up with biking, swimming or lifting unless it's the "off-season."

But last night it was rainy and cold and I was in no mood for the treadmill. So I cracked open my 30 Day Shred case which has been sitting neglected on my desk for at least 6 months and popped it into my laptop.

Twenty minutes later my poor shoulders, pecs, triceps, entire upper body area was dead. And I'm still feeling it today. It hurts so good though.

It was a nice change of pace to mix it up. I think I'll be turning to Jillian more often as the cold clutches of winter grip the area.

On tap for the weekend, I've got a happy hour tonight with friends before the Terps season opener (basketball) and then tomorrow the BF and I are tailgating before the VT vs MD football game. Md will probably get killed the BF will laugh and laugh. (He's aVT alum.) Should be another excellent weekend of sports!

Happy Friday!

Yesterday was National Running Day. And you know what I didn't do? That's right, I didn't run.

Why you might ask? Well because National Running Day fell on one of my cross-training days and I wasn't about to get my training schedule all messed up just for some faux-holiday running celebration.

Seriously, I run most days of the week. In my mind every day should be National Running Day and people shouldn't need a special day to go out and do it. But yea, America is fat so I guess the country as a whole needs days like this. Props to all who participated.

I however knocked out a solid day of cross training. I did Level 3 of the 30 Day Shred for the first time and holy moly I was in some serious pain. I had to do the modified version of a lot of stuff because I thought I might die. What an awesome workout.

Then I taught my yoga class where I for the first time had two participants who I don't think smiled once. They were all super intense yoga people and the whole time I was just thinking, "Oh man my class is so not for you." My class is so mellow and chill and for people who just do yoga for a good time and for the health benefits. I don't like making people bend into unnatural shapes. So I feel like those two ladies probably didn't get a ton out of my class. But my normal Wed. lady was there too and she looked pretty happy with the class, so it's all good.

It's raining like crazy here today so we'll see how I'm feeling about tonight's run. If the weather clears I'll get it in, if not I might just swap in another day of the Shred.

Happy Thursday!

As I've been mulling over running plans and races and thinking about training that will incorporate strength and yoga and running as I prep for the Virginia Beach Half Marathon, I've decided to proclaim April my pre-season.

I almost punked out of starting the 30 Day Shred last night because I was so nauseous by the time I get off the Metro. (I need to bitch for two seconds about how I had the worst metro driver ever who didn't know how to stop the train without sending people flying across the car...gahhh...I seriously thought I might hurl if I had to ride for one more minute.)

Ok rant over.

Anyway, I thought about laying down and letting my stomach settle, but then I figured I might fall asleep and what the heck Jillian's workout is only 20 minutes.

So I popped the DVD in my laptop and went to town on Level One.

Like some of you have said, Level One seemed a little bit easy. The cardio got my heart pumping and the squats and lunges were nothing terrible, but it still felt like a good workout. I don't have hand weights at home so last night I used two cans of kidney beans as my weights. Unfortunately those kidney beans were used in last night's dinner, so I'm not sure what I'm going to use as weights tonight.

I plan on picking up some small hand weights this weekend (maybe some three and five pounds), but until then I'll just have to be creative. If you've got suggestions feel free to throw them my way.

I was really glad my roommates weren't home when I was doing all kinds of jumping jacks in my bedroom. I feel like I was shaking the whole house. I get home a few hours before them usually so I should be able to have time to fit Jill in after work without anyone being the wiser (except my roommates cats, who I probably scared the crap out of).

My plan is to stick with Level One for the next three to five days and then move up to Level Two. From there I'll play it by ear on when I can move up to Level Three.

Alright that's all from me! Happy Tuesday.