Monday, February 4, 2008

P90X Bottom - Week 1

Well, week one's out of the way - the only workout I missed was Sunday's Kenpo X but I have a decent excuse: I ran the Kaiser Permanente Half Marathon yesterday and was too tired to do Kenpo X on top of that.

How did it go, you ask? Not that well. For starters, it has been becoming clear to me these past few weeks that while P90X has been great for getting my body into general shape, it hasn't been helping my running much. Not because it isn't a good supplement to my running, but because when working out 6 days a week for this plan, it's hard to fit in as many running days as I used to.

In addition to the P90X, I'd only be running 2-3 days in each week and really only started doing 3 days once I'd figured out that my running was getting the shaft.

So to begin with, I wasn't quite in the same running shape I was in last year. And then, on top of that, it sleeted on us. Literally. Possibly hailed too. Freezing cold rain nailing us in the face between miles 9.5 and 11.5. We had to run bending over so as not to get it all in the face. And then my hip started hurting. It was a great race, really.

So enough with my whining. Here's what I'm going to do about it: My training schedule for the Relay is out and that's when I want to do my best time this year, so my plan for P90X is to continue with the lower body and core focus and make sure I run 3-4 times a week. My week should look a bit like this:

  • Tuesday: Legs & Back (instead of on the night before my long run)
  • Wednesday: Plyo in the morning, short run in the afternoon
  • Thursday: Longer run with hills or sprints
  • Friday: Yoga X
  • Saturday: Whichever upper body it happens to be in the morning followed by a short run
  • Sunday: Long run, Kenpo X optional (I think most of the time, I'll do both, it'll just depend on how hard the run was.
  • Monday : Rest
On the plus side, the first of my 8 in '08 is completed. Now I just have to find the next 7 half-marathon+ races... I'm hoping to do Dublin in the fall.

5 comments:

Hoosier Daddy said...

I can see how it would be very difficult to stay on course with P90x while trying to maintain a consistent running schedule. I don’t have any expectations of trying to keep up with P90x as soon as the weather gets warm enough (and dry enough!) to start cycling again. I generally will ride 25 miles a day after work so that really won’t leave much time for an hour of Tony Horton’s Torture Sessions but I will at least do some basic strength work maybe in the mornings just to keep what muscle tone I gain from the program.

I’m mainly doing P90x to tone up my upper half which doesn’t get nearly the exercise from cycling. The chest workout and AB ripper I can tell already will help strengthen my core which is key for cycling and is embarrassingly my weakest area.

Anonymous said...

What does your running schedule look like? I am training for an early summer marathon (am still in base building phase--don't start "official" schedule for a few weeks) and am in my third week of P90x lean, but substituting runs for cardio (run about 30 miles/week). Just wondering how you find the time for all of your runs and an extra hour for P90X...I'm still trying to figure out how to run 5 days/week and on three of those days to do the P90X workout. I have switched the days around so that I don't have the legs workout too close to my long run. I can really feel the difference in my core already! Just stumbled on your blog...it's so helpful, thanks :)

MarySaturn said...

o what exactly is the difference between Lean and Classic? Are you supposed to do all 3, I'm guessing not or else it'd be called P270X :P I am just wondering what the difference is, is the lean supposed to make you lose more weight and that's why it's called lean, or is the classic just supposed to make more muscle and that's why the Lean is Lean? I think I'm missing a piece of the documentation that went along with the DVDs because I can find no explanation of the programs differences.

Sara said...

Hey Hoosier - I agree about balancing out the lower body, I just don't think I need *that* much of it... we'll see :)

Andrea - my next post will deal just with my running schedule, would love to chat with you more about this!

Marysaturn - The Lean program has a bit less upper body and adds the Core Synergistics on a more regular basis - So definitely less focussed on bulking up your upper body and more general strengthening... Do you need the actual schedule for Lean?

Paul Boyette said...

Paul Boyette
I started P90X last week and i run every day. I run in the morning around 5:00 and do P90x whenever i can after work. i've lost 5 lbs in 6 day already and i was only 165 when i stared. i try do do tempo runs after easy P90x days and longer runs on the weekends when i can rest. by the way i started my P90x program on a Thursday because my hardest day of work is on wednesdays. I started the program because i was running fast 5k's (sub 19:00) and getting injuries two to three times a year because of hard training. i'm 50 and at my age the speed workouts can injury you if you muscles aren't in great shape. running my entire life has lead to imbalances that P90x should address. so far so good. i still plan on running everyday and doing P90x everyday and come early spring i plan on running sub 18:30 for a 5k, and then turning my sights to my true love ultra marathoning and a 50 mile race. good luck to all the runners and remember beyond the pain there reward.