Insanity Day 23

I always look back at the last two or three posts I wrote to see what I wrote and how I was feeling.  I'm glad I do.  Apparently I forget a lot more than I think I do.  I thought my back was only hurting this past week but apparently I have been complaining since almost the beginning. lol.  

Day 23 of Insanity and still going.  Had to take two days off last week due to lower back pain.  Got through this week with little discomfort until I got to cardio abs.  This was newly introduced and apparently my abs/core is much weaker than I thought it was.  My back was quite sore after doing the exercises.  I have been pushing through since it hasn't been THAT bad.  You know the knees were pretty bad while I was doing turbofire and they eventually got better.  Not 100% but definately better...stronger and pain is much less.  I am hoping the same thing happens with my back. 

Today I tackled pure cardio and cardio abs for the second time.  Half way through the warmup and I was thinking I should stop.  but i didn't.  Things loosened up a bit and I finished off the warmup strong.  The first exericse in the cardio circuit was suicide drills for 1 minute.  30 seconds into it and the back started to tighten up.  I wans't able to touch the floor by the end.  The next exercises in teh cirucuit weren't too bad. mountain climbers went well.  I completely avoided the jumping and modified.  I finished the dvd but still had cardio abs to go.  I really didn't want to do it, but was "leading" the other two who were doing it with me and didn't want to woose out.  Big mistake.  I couldn't finish the dvd and really felt bad by the end.  Now i'm suffering. 

All I want to do is finish off this coming week.  next week is the recovery week and then on to month 2.  haven't decided if i am going to do month two or not but i want to finish month one so i can say i finished month one.  i'll worry about month two later.

Insanity Day 13 and going Strong

Wow!  That's all I can say.  In one week I can see a huge difference from when I started this program.  I couldn't even finish the warmup without stopping several times and now I can (almost) make it through one of the dvds without stopping.  Are my high knees above my waist? no.  Are my pushups low enough to touch chest to floor? no. But am I staring at the floor ready to collapse? well yes actually, but only for a portion of it rahter than the entire dvd!  so progress has been made.  Seriously, I can get a good 15 minutes into the video before taking the first break.  I'm proud of myself.  I NEVER thought that would happen. 

The million dollar question....how am i feeling?

Well,  I'm sore. not going to lie. but who isn't sore who does Insanity? it's INSANE!  Yesterday and today have not been too bad except that I am exhausted.  After 3 days straight it's hard to finish the week off strong.  My worst dvd is CPR. lol. Cardio power and resistance.  It kicks my butt. HARD. I did it yesterday and i'm still worn out today from it.  The good news? it's on tap for tomorrow again. oh boy.  

Besides my lower back, i don't really feel that bad. less soreness than last week. I think it's getting better.

Insanity Day 6

Day 6 of Insanity and I'm beat. Physically and emotionally. lol.  Today would have been a cardio recovery day but instead I did Pure Cardio which was Pure Hell and tomorrow I am doing Plyo with my Beachbody BFF Caroline.  I am going to use cardio recovery on Saturday so I basically have the weekend off.  I'm looking forward to it.  My thinking is Insanity equals bootcamp.  Shaun T is beating me down to build me back up.  When the instructor says he is nervous for the workout, you know you are in trouble.

Anyway, I was feeling fine until I had a shower and sat down to relax.  Then everything started to tighten up and hurt.  My back felt good yesterday, no problems at all.  Tonight, not so much.  My knees, shoulders, and upper back are all sore.  I am hoping I will fall asleep quickly and stay asleep so I don't have to take any ibuprofen. 

goodnite and talk tomorrow.

Insanity Day 2 (really 4)

I found a cheerleader for me for Insanity.  Larae from Camp Do More who was on my team.  She has done Insanity in the past and has been encouraging me on every day.  Today was better.  thankfully.  I have not been going in order since i was previewing dvds for FitClub to find the right one to use but I should be on track after today.  After 3 consecutive days, my back has really been bothering me.  Today we did the dvd that is part of "recovery week" which isn't very easy but after doing Plyo dvd yesterday it was a welcome routine.  I'm not sure how well the back is going to hold up, those suicide lunges (i think its called) really take their toll onn my back.  I think i'm just tired so my form is not good.  Other than that, my hamstrings are tight and my shoulders are sore. 

I also found someone else from camp fighting an autoimmune disease who is about the same age as me.  it was nice to connect with her and hear her story.  so many inspirational stories at camp, reallly nice.

exhausted. heading to bed.

Insanity Day 1 (kinda day 3)

So technically I started Insanity on Saturday.  I wanted to preview the dvd's to see which one I could use for Fitclub tomorrow.  Saturday I tested the Fit Test which was horrible. lol. I did better than I thought I would have, but sore the next day and still too much for our fitclub attendees.  Sunday I thought I would try "recovery" thinking it would be fairly mild, but I thought it was still pretty tough.  Today started the actual first day of my 30 day challenge.  It didn't go well. 

It was plyometric cardio day which will be referred to as pure hell from this point on.  After barely being able to complete the 10 minute warm up, I took an extended cool down before jumping into the good stuff.  I think I was crying at one point but I was all alone so it was ok.  I took extended breaks and jumped in when I felt I could.  It wasn't pretty at all.  The worst part was that I was completely exhausted for the rest of the day.  It took everything out of me to lift my arm to talk on the phone or write somthing down.  Upper body/ lower body, it was all exhausted.  Did i mention I was dripping buckets of sweat the entire time?  Ugly.

I like a challenge but this is ridiculous.  Tomorrow I am going to try and add a few more carbs into the diet and hope that gives me an extra boost.  If I continue to feel this bad, I don't see how I am going to be able to complete 30 days : ( 

It really annoys me that I can't complete the workouts.  I'm not any where even close to completeing the workouts.  Maybe next week.  For now, I'm trying to concentrate on finishing off this week.  Sunday is day of rest. Let's hope I can make it that far.

Hiatus is over. 2 month update.

Geeze time flies when you are having fun.  So I just returned last week from a trip to California.  Believe it or not, I finally made it to Camp Do More (otherwise known as turbokick camp).  It was one of the best trips I have ever had.  You know how I LOVE turbokick and talk about it on a weekly basis.  You know how it does not necessarily love me and my joints so you can understand how anxious i was to go on this trip.  For 3 years I have wanted to go, but chickened out feeling like I would not be able to keep up, would get sick before I left, would get sick while there...all the same ol crap that most lupies worry about.  But this time, I decided to just man up and do it.  I have little left on my bucket list and this was one of them.  My husband, my rock, was unable to go with me but one of my BFF's came along (shout out to Melissa).



Me and Melissa



I survived the plane trip going and coming thanks to a few glasses of wine and some hand holding.  I survived the few hours of sleep, the countless hours of exercise, and being away from home.  I survived. Yayyyy!  I am so ready to do it again next year.  The people who attend the camp from all over are all wonderful with boundless amounts of energy.  They are great supporters and non judgemental.  Everyone there seems to have a story of survival, from depression to shedding 250lbs.  I met and got a picture with Chalene Johnson the creator of turbokick and my idol.  The weather was perfect, a mild mid 70 degree sunny days while those back home on the east coast battled 100+ degree days. How bout that for timing? lol.

Despite the long hours and grueling exercise schedule, I managed to keep up with everyone.  My BFF had my back the entire time.  Good thing I have a sense of humor or I would have found her constant "checking in" to be quite annoying.  There I am in the middle of hip hop hustle when I feel a tap on the back of my shoulder, turn around and sure enough, it's Melissa holding out a cup of water for me to drink.  She was my ringman. lol. Checking in to see how I was feeling. Checking in to see how the joints were holding up.  Checking in to make sure i wasn't doing to much. Checking in to make sure I had enough to eat.  Yeah, you see where I'm going with this...a bit annoying but I know that it was all done out of concern and she knew that my husband was relying on her to watch me!  oh she would have been in trouble if i got sick on HER watch. lol.  You know what wasn't annoying?  the massages. lol. I would be lying if I didn't say that my feet, legs, and back weren't hurting quite a bit by day 2.  Enough to stop? never! If you ever are so lucky to have a friend who is a massage therapist, be sure to take them on vacation with you whenever you go. You won't be sorry. lol.

The aftermath:  so now I'm back home and the euphoria of camp has worn off and so has the ultracet and wine. Still, not hurting as bad as I thought I would but can feel the affects.  Have been exhausted.  Of course I came back to a busy schedule and the father in law visiting which doesn't help.  Regardless, I'm managing. 
I'm still having problems with my back. Not sure what to make of it.  I blamed it on exercise, then (during my hiatus) had a GI flare and thought maybe it was related to that.  Coincidently, the back pain went away once the GI flare calmed down.  However, now after the increase in exercise it seems that the back pain is coming back. so I don't know.  but on the plus side, the knees are doing good. still don't have complete range of motion on teh right but it hasn't gotten any worse with camp.  Please add Nike Airmax to "Carla's favorite things".  The best $200 for a pair of shoes you will ever spend.

So camp recovery is almost over and tomorrow I am tackling Insanity for a 30 day challenge.  It's suppose to be 60 days but I don't want to push it. I am hoping to blog every day of my 30 day challenge.  We shall see how it goes.  As my Chalene says, Push Harder!  I'm just hoping I don't push myself into the emergency department. 


Me and Chalene



Let the games begin!

Arghhhh.  4:30am.  I've been awake since 2am.  I have terrible muscle spasms and pain in my back and groin.  I always have this same problem.  I don't know when the pain is going to escalate so naturally I don't take any pain meds when going to bed because I may be able to fall asleep and sleep through the pain which usually does happen.  Then there are nights, like this one, when the pain prevents me from sleeping or gets worse during the night.  What's a girl to do? 

Now I'm stuck.  At 3am if I take a pain pill it's going to take an hour to kick in.  Now it's 4am.  I am now going to be sleepy from the pill and dose off which will give me about 3 hours of sleep before waking up leaving me tired and cranky for the remainder of the day.  If I choose NOT to take a pain pill ( as I did tonight) I am left wide awake typing on the computer with a heating pad or ice on the area trying to get some peace.  I did take two tylenol, why? I don't really know. 

I'm starting to think that maybe the back is being aggravated by the knee. The knee aggravates the back which aggravates my nerves which aggravates all those around me when I am miserable to be around. Vicious cycle.  I did enjoy a bowl of banana pudding while waiting for my tylenol to kick in.  Nothing beats banana pudding at 4 a.m.