Insanity Day 1

This picture of our barn has nothing to do with this post, but I wanted to share it anyway!

Our dogwoods have been so pretty this spring.

Insanity + Running = Torture

I barely survived Day 1 of Insanity--the Fitness Test. The workout lasted only 32 minutes, but it was TOUGH! My three oldest children watched me try to keep up with Sean T. I was glad to provide them with such comical entertainment at 6:30 in the morning!

This workout consisted of a series of exercises performed for one minute, counting how many you could do in that one minutes. There was also a warm-up, stretching session, and cool-down. After I was finished, I could hardly walk! I continued to be super sore all day, and I had a difficult time going up and down our stairs.

Then I ran.

My legs felt like 100 pound weights. I ran two miles with Leah, and thankfully she needed frequent walk breaks. I ran one more mile alone to have 3 miles in all, and it was PAINFUL. Those three miles were as bad as the last three of my marathon. Really. When I got home, and I climbed the stairs from the garage to the kitchen, I was ready to cry. My legs hurt that bad! And they hurt in places that never hurt after my long runs.

I consulted my friend who had done both Insanity and continued to run. She reported that she was extremely sore for 2-3 weeks! And that her legs felt like lead while running, and that it was a struggle to run at first. So, my soreness and fatigue were normal.....but I began to question myself. Do I really even want to torture myself this way? Last week when I totally rested from running after the marathon, and the week before when I ran very little before the marathon, I felt so good. I was not tired all of the time. Yesterday that familiar feeling of fatigue accompanied me all day, and every time I moved, something hurt. Why am I doing this?

After discussing all of this with Jimmy last night, he asked me what my fitness goals were. Here they are:

1. Maintain my current size.

2. Keep up my weekly running mileage so that I can run a half-marathon whenever I want.

3. Train for the St. Jude Marathon beginning in late August.

4. Run the St. Jude Marathon in under 5 hours. I would be thrilled with a time of 4:59.

5. Run a 10K in under 55 minutes. (not going to happen this May!)

Does Insanity help me to achieve any of these goals? Probably not. Insanity is an extreme workout. Super-charged aerobics. Lots of jumps and squats. It is a great workout, and if you follow it, you WILL be in great shape. But I think I am just going to stick with running. I really don't want to be sore for three weeks, and I am really afraid that I may end up injuring myself. Like Jimmy said, I AM 41! And I haven't done aerobics in about 18 years! My muscles are specifically trained right now to run, and I am just going to keep in shape by running.

So now I am going to rest from running until my muscles are no longer sore. I am hoping to be able to run by Thursday or Friday. Then I will finish my 12 miles for this week and run 14 the next.

So that's my one and only Insanity report!