Gonna Try to Focus

I’m trying something new. The winter has not helped my plan to stick with training. It has been too easy to use cold and snow and ice as an excuse. I could try harder to make use of the treadmill and recumbent bike machine. Alas, I have not. But now I’m motivated to try something new. Many people have heard of the Beachbody programs like P90X and Insanity. Well, I’m going to try Focus T25 with Shaun T. It’s a program of intense 25 minute workouts each day (and twice on Fridays) with Saturdays off and Sundays as a stretching/flexibility day.

OK, I'll try...

Purchasing this program was atypical for me. Scot and I watched the infomercial, and then I found it on Amazon. Because Scot said he’d try it, I decided to go for it. The buddy system is definitely a help to me in sticking with a workout plan. I had never tried something like this, but why not? Scot had never tried anything like it either, but it sure looked like a good workout.

So, now we are two days into the 10 week program. Today is Day 3, and we’ll do the workout tonight. How did I do for workouts #1 and #2? To be honest, I struggled. I’m not used to doing those kind of exercises while constantly moving, and there’s a lot of jumping. I don’t like jumping. I had trouble with the choreography. I’m not naturally coordinated, so it’s hard for me to pick up a sequence of moves the first time. And…some of it is just plain HARD if you’re not used to it!

What I did do was fake it for some of the moves, and just keep going. I think the constant motion and challenging myself will go far, even if I’m a little out of synch with the incredibly fit people in the video (who have obviously practiced the moves a LOT). The workouts did get my heart rate up, they did challenge me, and I do feel it the next day. So, I think that’s progress. Now, I just need to keep up with it.

T25 is not yoga, but this is kind of how I feel trying to keep up with the fancy choreography

And how did Scot do? He was more frustrated than I was about the fast choreography with no instruction given. Not having done any kind of class or video like this, he was kind of lost. He wants to find a breakdown of the various moves, or watch them in slow motion so he can learn them before needed to do them super fast. I get that! I just hope he’s not discouraged by the program…because I need my workout buddy!

As for running – my spring race season begins this weekend with the Rock ‘n’ Roll DC Half Marathon (my practice run at pacing a 3 hour half the following weekend in Atlanta). I’ve got several halfs and the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler before my next full marathon. I should probably do some longer training runs on the non-race weekends, even if I’m not sticking to the original plan 100%.