New me!

Shortly after I wrote my last post (gasp! 4 months ago!!) I decided to start on a journey. Why I didn't start writing about it then, I don't know. Hindsight. The past couple years, since becoming a mom, I have had the privileged to be a part of a wonderful community of women, also mothers, on CafeMom. The particular group I'm in all have babies who were born the same month as Avery. As you can imagine, being a mother doesn't allow for a whole lot of free time to take care of ourselves. Yet, through this community we have shared hopes, frustrations, struggles and encourage each other in the day to day. Shortly after our babies were born, one woman decided to lose weight after her 3rd child was born. In the months proceeding it was amazing to see how her body was transforming. Now 2 years later, she is an athlete and has accomplished some amazing things with her body and her life. She is an inspiration to all of us.

In the summer she decided to take on a new workout routine to help accelerate her weight loss and tone up a little bit. It's called Insanity. She did this for the two months it recommends. She posted before, during and after pictures. I was impressed! I decided it was time to get my duff off the couch. At work I have had some downtime and with the exercises being about 40 minutes max, it seemed doable.

Heres my before

That first week was brutal. I was so sore. And of course it seemed like Avery wanted me to pick her up every second she was around. I knew it would be worth it, so I persisted. A couple weeks in, it was routine for me. I exercised 6 times a week and on my off days, I often felt lazy. I was feeling great! But my weight wasn't coming off. It was ok though because I could feel my body changing. 

September 17th

I could start to see my body changing. In my abs and legs the most. Not a huge difference, but noticeable. 

Then Month 2 started. All the soreness came back and it was like day 1. I was buff mama though so picking up Avery didn't bother me as much. It was more of a time commitment though. I tried to do the workout during my work day, but if I wasn't able to, then I would always make a point to do it right after Avery went to bed. Heck, I even exercised during our vacation in the hotel room!! Last year I got into an exercise routine, had a vacation and didn't exercise until this started. Yikes! The last 10 days were super hard. Because I was so close to the end, I could see the finish line but there was usually something that would get in the way of me being able to do my workout. Or an excuse I would find. One of my other CafeMom friends was in the same boat, so we decided to challenge each other to finish it out. 

Crossing off the last X on my calendar was the greatest feeling ever! It was beautiful. I knew I could complete something I put my mind to. 

October 22nd

I finished!! And I had obliques!! I've never had obliques before! It's really hard to not feel them all the time. I also noticed that my arms, shoulders and legs became more toned too. I was SO happy with the change and all my hard work. 

What next? 

Well, about 2 weeks into the program I asked myself, "Ok, this is 60 days, what are you going to do after that?" Every year in January there is a half-marathon along the beach. A half-marathon has always been a bucket list thing for me. Heck, why not run a half-marathon! So I am! I have this 2-mile loop that I run around my house and it has 3 pretty brutal hills. Before Insanity, the first hill I would make it about a quarter to half-way up before having to pause for a break. It was usually my negative self-talk that would make me stop. I always gave into it. When I finished Insanity I decided to test out that course and see if I if my endurance improved. Not only did I make it up the hill without stopping, but I kept going and going! I stopped briefly on the next brutal hill, maybe about 30 seconds because my heart rate was getting pretty high and I hadn't educated myself about what was in the safe-zone. After that I ran the rest of the way home! I was super impressed with my endurance and how much it has improved!

Now that I'm in full training mode, I'm still seeing my endurance improve. I'm not using any specific training program, but making sure I run at least 2 days a week around 3-5 miles and then do a longer run on the weekend. My longest run yet has been 6.75 miles which I did without stopping! Yesterday I just PR'd by doing a 9.16 mile average for a 3.76 mile run. I wasn't even in the mood to run but I PR'd!! I'm amazed to see how my body is continuing to change after finishing Insanity. My thighs are shrinking (which I thought I'd NEVER see happen!), my shoulders continue to tone, and I still have my obliques :). I have to say I'm quite proud of myself and can't wait to beat this half-marathon!! 

It's on January 27th by the way.