Q & A

Question: Your blog is called KUrunner. Why aren’t you talking about running?

Sadly, I haven’t been able to do much running since I became pregnant. At first, I was too sick. Later on, I was too big. There are tons of women who can run while incubating a baby; I just don’t happen to be one of them.

Now that the bun is out of the oven, I’m trying to ease back into running. However, finding time to run with a newborn who is nursing every hour or so has been difficult. I also need to buy a couple of new sports bras because of aforementioned newborn. Let’s see… I also need a new pair of shoes, a new Nike+ sensor, and a few hours to make a new running mix for my iPod. (I’m sorry, but if I have to hear SexyBack one more time, I’m going to shave off those pretty little locks of his.) Plus, running with an extra 30+ lbs on your bones is killer on your joints.

Question: You are doing P90X. Are you following the whole program?

No. So far, I’ve followed the exercise program, but P90X also has a nutrition plan. For the first month it’s very low carb, and bad things happen if I don’t get enough carbs. Sure, I’m not going to get the same results as if I used their meal plan, but my husband’s not going to get stabbed with a butter knife. That’s a win in my book.

I’m also going to add running back into my routine. I’ll still be doing the same P90X workouts but with a couple of added cardio sessions.

Edit: I’m also not doing AbRipperX. I just had a baby; my abs are ripped enough, thanks. (I’ll be starting it during month 2.)

Question: So, what sort of diet do you follow?

Diet? What’s that? I haven’t done a “diet” in almost 10 years and that was Slim-Fast. Yes, I lost some weight, but it wasn’t anything I could follow for the long term. I’ve tried South Beach a couple of times but I’ve never made it more than a few days because, again, carbs keep me sane.

Basically, I eat real food. If something is made from chemicals, I don’t eat it. Real food: eggs, milk, wheat, etc. Fake food: HFCS, aspartame, red dye #3, etc. I do have a sweet tooth and I tend to eat out bit too much, but it’s a work in progress.

Question: What’s up with your picture page? Are you taking before & afters of your P90X experience?

My old computer crashed. While I have bought a shiney new computer, I have yet to install my old hard drive into it. All of my weight-related pictures are on it. (At least I hope so. Man, it would suck if my old hard drive crapped out. Let this be a lesson about backing up your files.)

Yes, I have before pictures of both myself and the husband. However, they are incredibly embarrassing and I don’t want to make them public until I have some awesome after pictures to share. Plus, I just had a baby. Nobody looks good right after having a baby. You know all those celebrities on the tabloids? Airbrushed!

P90X - Day 10

Day 10 finished! Woooo! Only 80 more to go.

I did get my Plyo workout in last night, although I did have to hit pause a couple times to calm down Harper. She’s dealing with a cold and she’s been very fussy this past week. I could tell I wasn’t as in to it as last week, though. I had to stop some of the exercises early, take longer breaks and I don’t think I was working as intensely as I could have been. Oh well; at least I did it.

Shoulders and arms again today… definitely my favorite workout of the week. I moved up in weight and reps so I know I’m sloooowly making progress, even if I can’t see it yet. Jason, on the other hand, is already bursting with new muscle. I can’t wait until our 30 day measurements and pictures!

Excuses

It’s after 8:00 and I still haven’t worked out. I had too much fast food today and the baby is cranky. I’m tired. I haven’t had enough water. The Biggest Loser is on. I have so many excuses.

But I’m getting up. I’m going to put my gym clothes on. I’m putting the baby in her playpen. I’m going to push play and do my workout.

P90X - Days 3 through 7

I’m still with P90X; it’s just been a hectic couple of days and computer time has been eluding me.

A quick rundown of my week:

Day 3 was shoulders and arms. By far, it’s been my favorite workout, but probably just because it is pretty similar to my gym workouts. For once, I didn’t feel completely weak. Unfortunately, I don’t have a huge selection of dumbbells so I used heavier weights than I should have on some exercises and lighter weights on others. At some point, I’ll be able to afford more dumbbells, but for now, it will have to do.

Day 4 was yoga. Um, about yoga… well, I haven’t done that yet. Not to make an excuse, but the baby came down with a cold and decided she wasn’t going to sleep. If baby doesn’t sleep, mom doesn’t sleep. If mom doesn’t sleep, mom sits comatose watching tv instead of working out. We were planning on getting it in on rest day, but after a week of P90X, we really needed the rest.

Day 5 was legs and back. The back stuff was pretty comparable to Day 1 — all pull-ups (or bands in my case.) The leg work consisted of lots of lunges and squats. I HATE lunges and Jason HATES squats so it was pretty much an hour of complaining. I have knee issues, so I didn’t go as deep as the people on tv, but that’s the great thing about P90X… you do what you can. I did enjoy the variety of exercises and Tony really did hit the muscles from different angles.

Day 6 was kenpo. Kenpo is basically Tae-bo with a cooler name. I’m sure I’m going to love this workout later, but for now, it sucks. The moves are complicated and Tony changes the tempo a lot. I’m not the most coordinated person so remembering 4 different punches while trying to kick without falling over is a challenge.

Day 7 was rest. Yay rest. My legs hurt. My butt hurts. My triceps hurt.

Anyways, it’s been an interesting week, and I know that it’s too early to see any changes, but I would still recommend P90X to anyone.

P90X - Day 2

Wow.

Just wow.

Day 2 of P90X was plyometrics. After one workout, I have a love/hate relationship with it. I got a great burn although I will probably have to invest in a superduty, industrial strength sports bra. There should be a warning at the beginning cautioning us busty girls. I spent about 90% of the workout holding my boobs in place. (The other 10% was spent yelling “Superstar!” )

P90X - Day 1

In my anxiousness to get my fitness back, I decided to go ahead and start P90X instead of waiting until 6 weeks postpartum. I passed the fit test… almost. I have never been able to do a pull-up and my abs are pretty much non-existant after 9 months of pregnancy.

Day 1 was chest and back. Lots of push-ups and pull-ups (or in my case, modified pull-ups with a band). I HATE push-ups. There is a reason they’ve never made it into my normal gym routine. I’ll do all the bench presses, pec flyes, and cable crossovers you want, but I completely wuss out on push-ups. P90X has you do like 30 varieties of push-ups too. Ok, well, it’s more like 6, but it still sucks. I’m not able to do a decline push-up or a divebomber yet, but hopefully that changes soon. Day 1 also involves ab work, but I’m going to wait a few more weeks before I start.

Plyometrics tomorrow. Fun stuff.

Harper Grace is Here!

This post comes a little bit late, but it’s very hard to type when you have the most adorable little baby craving attention. Harper is two weeks old today after a very surprising appearance (a quick 2 hour labor followed by an unplanned home delivery). She’s doing well, and the whole family is just in love with her.  (Click here for her birth story.)

Unfortunately, I gained more than I had hoped with this pregnancy — 50 lbs! I lost 14 of that at the hospital, then another 13 during our first week home. So even though I’ve lost 27 lbs so far, I still have another 23 to go just to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight (and 60 lbs total to get to my goal.) I haven’t “dieted” yet because I’m breastfeeding and cutting calories can interfere with your milk supply, but now that Harper is getting the hang of it and gaining weight well, I’m thinking about trying Weight Watchers.

Numbers on the scale aside, I’m really nervous about my actual fitness level. I stopped running in October and stopped going to the gym altogether in December when my shoes stopped fitting. Apparently, they frown upon working out in flip flops. I’m not supposed to do any vigorous activity for another month, but light exercise is okay, so starting tomorrow, I’m going to be doing the C25k program… again. It feels weird not being able to run for a minute since less than a year ago, I ran a half marathon with no problems. I know I have to start somewhere, but I’m really worried I won’t get my endurance back in time for the Marine Corps Marathon in October. Registration is in April, so I need to figure it out and fast! Sadly, I can’t get back in the gym due to child care issues, so I’m going to be doing 30DS every other day until I can start P90X next month with my husband. I’ve never had much luck working out at home, but I don’t really have many other options.