Feeling the burn ...

Me and the nutty buddy on the way to Santa Cruz

Well, it's my favorite time.  The day 2.  Huh?  The day 2 after starting an exercise program.  I was sore on day 2 after my first run here in CA.  That quickly went away.  I haven't been sore from swimming, interestingly.  I thought my shoulders would hurt but no, they've been good.  I went Insane yesterday ... and I am SORE today.

I'm starting the new program by Insanity's founder Shaun T, T25.  It's an exercise program that's like a scaled down version of Insanity, but as effective.  It's 5 days a week vs 6 (I hate to have to "work out" on the weekends.  I'm perfectly happy to go on a long walk or a hike or something, but I don't want to have to 'work out'), and it's 25 minutes a day.  Even month 1 in the Insanity program is a MINIMUM of 39 minutes.  Now granted, that 39 minutes includes a warm up, stretch, and cool down, but still ... when you're lazy by nature, it's hard to get motivated to sweat for 39 minutes (minimum).  T25 starts you out with a low impact exercise, gradually working you up to higher impact ... and you never stop moving.  For 25 minutes, your body is moving.  WOW!  I loved it.  I sweated hard core, I breathed hard, and I loved it.  Today ... I am sore in every muscle of my body.  I didn't even do a single push up/plank exercise at all, and my arms/back/shoulders are screaming at me today.  Not looking forward to day 2 because of the soreness, but I learned and will head straight to the pool once I'm finished!  I will swim probably half what I've been swimming (700 yards) for today, then soak in the hot tub for my poor muscles.  Tomorrow, I will do my workout, then do a walk/run for 3 miles.  I'll work back up to running 3 miles + plus doing the T25; since I've been so lazy I don't want to overdo things and hurt myself, so I'll work up gradually.  I've only done day 1 of the T25, and so far, 2 thumbs up!

In other fitness news, I'm feeling ever so slightly stronger swimming.  I've estimated my pool to be roughly 14 yards long, so to do my 700 yard sets, I have to do 4 sets of 7 laps, take a break, 4 sets of 4 laps, break, then 4 sets of 2 laps.  By lap 5, second set ... I feel like I'm drowning!  My butt starts to sink, I inhale water as I breathe, and my head comes way too far out of the water.  The short break allows me to recoup a little bit, then I'm good until about lap 5 again.  I'm comfortable for the 4 laps in a row, but laps 5-7 are really tough.  I'm pushing through, though, and I'm sure that doing the T25 will really help me, just like Insanity did with my running.

In running news, it is a HUGE struggle to run 2 1/2 miles straight.  I don't know if it's the fact that most of the running is flat, or on sidewalk, or what.  My neighborhood had hills, which means UP, but it also meant DOWN, which was awesome.  My new track around the apartment here is all flat, which means there's no downhill relief ... maybe that's it?  I need to find some new shoes as well, I think.  My issue isn't that I'm breathing too hard, like it used to be.  My cardio is FINE; it's my feet and legs that start to really hurt after about 1 1/2 miles.  My right shoe keeps trying to rub a hole in the side of my big toe, and it is just flat out uncomfortable.  I have another pair of running shoes I could use again to run in (I've been wearing them just "out and about"), but the problem with THOSE is that my middle toe on my left foot goes numb when I run in them, which is why I demoted them from being my 'running' shoes.  So, I don't know.  My goal is a sprint triathalon THIS year, before January.  My sis and I are going to do the Lavaman tri in Hawaii in 2015, and that is Olympic length, so I need to get in at least 3 sprint length tris before then.  The run is typically 5K length, and the swim is 750m, which I can DO; not comfortably right now, but it's doable.  So, I will continue to train, I will get a bike once employment is settled and begin THAT part of the training.  Right now I can concentrate on running and swimming, which is enough :)