P90X

Went into town yesterday for my run. Started at the Rec and ran toward town. The problem with starting at the Rec is that you have to go up hill for the first half mile to get anywhere. I ran 5 miles and when someone runs 5 miles around Manchester they will pretty much run through the entire town - and some places 2 or 3 times. My heart rate was already in the 150's after the first half mile. Also the town is full of hills, which is different than my normal course that is flat, so I got my heart rate up to 178 a couple of times. Not bad for a 53 year old. Let's see 220- your age (53) = your max heart rate (167). So computing by the Karvonen method TargetHR = (HRmax − HRrest) × %Intensity) + HRrest that would be Target HR = (167-65) x 100%. That means I was giving 102%. No wonder my knees are sore today. I'm taking the day off running to do P90X Core Synergistics.

Mile 1 10:11
Mile 2 9:28
Mile 3 9:21
Mile 4 9:32
Mile 5 9:25
Total 47:57

I've seen some blogs about P90X and I'll tell you from my own experience it is an ass kicker. If you are not in at least somewhat decent shape don't even try it. I did it last year from Jan-March and only missed one workout in the 90 days. It is a day of weight training followed by a day of cardio for 6 days a week (7 if you want to do X Stretch). It goes 3 weeks with a routine then the 4th week is just cardio and stretching. Then the next week the routine changes completely so that the muscles can't adapt. These workouts are all about core. The Ab Ripper X is 25 reps and 11 different moves and I still can't get all 25 reps of all the moves. The Yoga X isn't your sissy girl, relaxing music yoga. It's POWER YOGA to the max. There's a part of the yoga called yoga belly 7 that burns the hell out of my abs. The strengthening workouts are best done with dumbbells and a P90X pull-up bar instead of resistance bands. Also be careful, the Plyometrics may cause puking.

When I finished the 90 days I just started over again. I didn't do any running during that time and had already signed and paid for the Country Music Half Marathon. I decided I would run a few miles on the Tuesday before the half marathon just to see how I felt. I felt good so I decided what the hell I'll run, have fun, and try not to injure myself. So I ran slow (I don't run fast anyway), stopped and ate cookies, drank at most of the stands, and walked when one of the bands sounded really good. My time was about 9 minutes off of my normal and I really, really, really didn't try and really, really, really felt good at the end. It made me wonder how I would have done if I would have tried. Also I lost 2.25 inches at my belly line (belly line is more important than waist line for most of us guys).

I'm going to start the P90X series again in January but I'm going to add a running routine in with it, possibly the Hal Higdon routine. My goals are sub 2:00 half marathon, and a 31 inch belly line.