100 days left? Whatchu gonna do?

Thanks to a link someone emailed me, I realized that as of today, September 23, 2009 there are 100 days left in 2009.

It's Fall and it's back to school time. I love to use this time of year to reevaluate my yearly goals. Usually by now my New Year's Resolutions are either a distant memory, or I'm recommitting to them, or I'm committing myself to brand new goals.

So - 100 days left before 2010. You can do a lot between now and then. Whether you completely change your world or do abso-frickin'-nothing 100 days are gonna pass.

Here's your chance to take 2009 by the neck and make of it what you will.

Background & Numerical Proof!

Here’s my fit test results from around July 27, 2009

Prior to Day 01

1. Physical Condition

Pull-Ups 0.125 Reps

Vertical Leap 9 Inches

Push-Ups 21 Reps

Toe Touch 4.5 Inch

Wall Squat 295 Seconds

Bicep Curls 23 Reps with 12.5 lbs Weight

In & Outs 53 reps

2. Cardiac Condition

Resting Heart Rate 76 Bpm

Heart Rate Maximizer: (Do jumping jacks for 2 minutes at a quick & steady pace. During final 30 seconds go as fast as possible to maximize heart rate. Then measure heart rate over next 4 minutes.)

Immediately 160 Bpm

After 1 minute 124 Bpm

After 2 minutes 124 Bpm

After 3 minutes 108 Bpm

After 4 minutes 88 Bpm

And measurements from September 21, 2009

All in inches, taken on the right side of my body, at the widest point

Neck - 12.75

• 13 in July

Shoulder - 40.5

Chest - 35

Waist (2' above navel) - 28.5

Abdomen (narrowest point – at navel) - 28.5

• 31.5 in July

Hips - 37.25

• 40 in July

Thigh (90 degrees) – 22

• 23 in July

• Oh my thighs. I love you, but we could get rid of those inverse saddlebags, I’d be a happier woman. Instead of saddlebags on the outside of my thighs, I carry them on the inside. So weird!

Knee - 13.75

Calf - 13

Ankle - 8.5

Bicep (90 degrees) - 11.25

• 12 in July (I’ll assume this is mostly lost fat and not only lost muscle mass)

Forearm - 10

Wrist - 6.5

Waist-Hip Ratio - 0.7651

Just for reference, most of the visible flab that I can only laugh at in the mirror runs from about 2 inches above my navel to about 1/2 of the way down my thigh. Ah well. Let’s see what dedicating myself to P90X can do about that.

If you're still reading (why are you still reading?)

Basic info: I’m Lisa P, born in South Carolina on May 28, 1979 – yeah for turning 30! I’ve lived in Chicago since 2001.

I’m 5’8” tall, somewhat medium framed. Learning to like running. Or actually, I like listening to my iPod, so I run while doing it. I like lifting weights – more than cardio usually. So I’m a bit mystified by my new love of running and resistance to my resistance workouts. I tend to build muscle somewhat quickly and lose fat somewhat slowly. I want to do 35 pull-ups for my 35th birthday. I can almost do a quarter of one now. (Oh me.)

I love to cook and bake, so I brown bag the bulk of my meals. My eating philosophy tends to be: I eat a lot of meatless meals, but I like my steaks medium rare. Ideally, if when I eat junk food, it’s not just a burger from a chain restaurant because I’m busy. But if the mood strikes, I’ll eat a spectacular gut-buster burger from a locally-owned place when I’m really in a mood for one of their specific burgers.

I have a pretty wide ranging palate. Other than fried organ meats (bleh) and lima or butter beans (double bleh) there’s not much I won’t eat. I’m a big fan of most fruits and veggies.

I can make an awesome deep-fried Twinkie, or deep-fried Oreo (hey, I’m a Southerner) but I couldn’t get the batter to stick to the deep-fried Snickers bar. I’ll get it someday. Deep down, I kinda like something I read in a public health article “Eat anything you want, as long as you make it yourself.” Seems pretty reasonable to me for basic health.

So let’s do this! Whoo-hoo!

Been a long time, shouldn’ta left you…”

…without a dope beat to step to.” – Timbaland in the intro Aaliyah’s music video “Try Again.”

Anyway, I’m baaaack! I’ve (yet again) decided to reboot my P90X journey. Someday, somehow I’ll get through 90 days of P90X. I’ve rebooted at least 10 times never made it past day 35. This time in 3 months I got through 3 weeks worth of workouts. But every time I start, it means the previous sputter-out wasn’t a complete stop; it was just a pause.

So, today, Tuesday, September 22, 2009 is my new Day 1. I’ve got new pictures to prove it! They’ll go up as soon as I figure out the best way to do that. According to my nifty Excel spreadsheet (thank you Beachbody!) my planned completion date will be Monday, December 21, 2009. Just in time for the end of the year.

When I started 2009, I’d hoped to do 3 rounds of P90X. More true to my form, I’m praying I can get through one round by January 1, 2010. As long as I keep failing forward, I’m happy.

I’m keeping my old Fit Test results from the end of July, even though I’ve lost some upper body strength. Urgh. But I’ve got the pictures this time. Haven’t done those with a reboot in a while. I’ve also got new measurements. I’ll make a separate post with all that jazz.

Why am I doing this? To get fit. To paraphrase comic & commentator Elon James White “I hate running. What’s chasing me? Oh yeah, that family history of Type II Diabetes and Heart Disease.”

Why am I doing this online? To keep me honest. I want as many people watching this blog as possible. I know that it will pain me to my soul to publically admit to the masses that, “Yeah I had time and ability to do that workout, I just punked out.”

Plus, I’m hoping to (learn to swim!) then race in a short triathlon within the next two years. Since I honestly do have to learn to swim (not a big learned skill for Black girls from the South) I’m giving myself 2 years to hit that goal. At some point, I also want to take my half-marathon into a full 26.2 – yikes! Doing those without literally killing myself will take some discipline. And yeah, discipline comes from within, but I can look without for some encouragement.

Also, I’m unemployed at the moment and actively looking for work.

(Anyone need a financial analyst, also getting certified in project management?)

Working out helps me stay focused on the job search. Even if a day of applying and interviewing feels like a bust, at least I broke out a good sweat. Discipline in my workout program generally translates to more discipline in my life in general. More discipline is generally a good thing.

For now, I’ll focus on chronicling my workouts. Eventually I’ll add my food intake. (Oh gracious. That’ll be interesting.)

I'm a two-time half marathoner!

As of this morning I am a two-time half marathoner! Whoo-hoo!

13.1 miles in 2 hr, 18 min, 49 sec. I’m pretty damn proud of myself.

There was a light drizzle at the beginning that stopped for most of the middle, then became a heavy drizzle for the last 3 miles or so. But the weather was cool and I’m proud of my time. Much better than the last half marathon I did in 2007. That one took about 4 hours.

Now I’m off for some stretching, a shower, some Aleve, and the rest of my day!

Nasty Habit to Break

I’ve read various places that your brain can only deal with so much self-control at one time. So it’s unwise to start a really rigorous eating plan at the same time as you’re committing to practice the guitar 30 minutes a day. It’s like you have a set amount of self-control at one time and trying to spread it out over too many new ventures at once will deplete your stores.

When I’ve been good at exercising, often I go to work thinking, “Well at least I exercised this morning. That’s a victory!” Which is good. But then I lose interest in racking up work victories. So I need to get over that habit. I know I’ve got enough self-control to have an exercise victory then carry that feeling over into a work victory.

So, I’m off to tackle my work to-do-list! Wish me luck!

P90 X Fit Test

Here we go - Reboot # whatever.

Pull-ups

0.125 (1/8 of a pull-up - pathetic, but it'll change!)

Vertical Leap

9 inches

Push-ups (on toes)

21

Toe Touch - flexibility check

4.5 inches past toes

In & Outs - ab exercise

53

Seated Wall Squats

4 min, 55 inches

Arm Curls to Failure

23 curls w/ 12.5 lb weights

Heart Rate Maximizer

HR immediately after 2 min jumping jacks: 160 bpm

HR after 1 min: 124 bpm

HR after 2 min: 124 bpm

HR after 3 min: 108 bpm

HR after 4 min: 88 bpm

I'll need to do the morning resting heart rate tomorrow. Whoo-hoo!

'Scuse me while I gloat & ponder

I don't own a scale at the moment. My roommate owned the previous one and took it with her when she moved out. I'll buy one at some point, but I'm conserving $$$ at the moment. So, while at Target yesterday I weighed myself on one of the tester scales.

158 lbs baby! Kick ass!

So I figure I'm at 27% body fat (using calipers and a website) with about 115 lbs of lean body mass (skin, bone, muscle, etc.)

My healthy goal is to get to 18% body fat, which will put me losing 18 lbs of fat and weighing around 140 lbs.

It amazes me to think that's a healthy and attainable weight and body fat percentage. While, I'm tall for a woman in my family - 5 foot 8- I'm actually medium framed. I always thought I was large framed! And really, I always see myself as the pudgy junior high/early high schooler. Same height, but hovering around 175 -180. I've gone up and down slowly since then, once getting to 155 for a red hot minute when I hit goal at Weight Watchers.

So what's different this time? I'm going slower. I'm adding pieces to the picture one at a time. First running, then weights, then focusing more on food. I'm balancing my weight/body fat goals with physical fitness goals, i.e. Getting to 140 lbs and also training for a half marathon.

While getting to a healthy weight and body fat percentage is important, I know that I suck at keeping weight off once I get to a goal. So, as little intrinsic passion as I have for running, I use it as part of my physical fitness goals. Once I learn to swim, I'd love to train for a sprint triathlon. I'd also like to do the Hustle Up the Hancock stair climb some day. I may even get up to a marathon someday if I can get my pace time down.

So hopefully the combo of "be a hot ass in a swimsuit" + "get my tail out and use my damn body for some physical show of strength" goals will work to keep me invested in training and staying at a healthy weight.

Defying Gravity

I'm adding P90X back into my workout plan since I'm feeling pretty good about the running consistency, I want to add pumping iron back into the rotation, and I really miss trying to do pull-ups.

When I do the X I use an assist from a chair or stool to get up over the pull-up bar. Even with the assist I can tell that my back gets stronger doing pull-ups than any other exercise. But I do want to work up to unassisted pull-ups.

So, anyone with or without the X who's interested in defying gravity, here's a 12-week plan from Women's Health to build up to 3 pull-ups.

Way behind on the sweating

Unemployment sucks.  I need to structure my days better.  Since I'm in the job hunt - and not with an actual job and on summer break from classes - it's far too easy for me to fritter away my days.

Thus, I need to make up

• a 5.5 mile training run
• TJ Cardio Party 3
• Ab Jam
• Cardio Party Remix
• Booty Sculpt with Abs
• Punch, Kick, & Jam and Ab Jam

Cripes!  I think it's feasible for me to do the run, CP3, Ab Jam.  Maybe CPR since it's just 30 minutes, and Booty Sculpt is short too.  Maybe just leave off the 2nd Abs so I don't overwork them.   Basically if I do Monday & Tuesday workouts today, then double up tomorrow with Wednesday + Thursday workouts I'll be back on track.

Discipline is key for me.  I don't have to workout well every day, but I need to work out every day.  This no workout - no workout - no workout - make up 3+ days of workouts is a sure way to knock myself on my butt with injury.

Believe it or not, I have a great plan outlined.  I always do.  But I never stick to it.  So either I'm being overambitious with my plan or I need to focus more.  I think my issue is the latter.

Year 30 Goals

Since I turn 30 in 14 days, I figure I should write out the goals I want to accomplish for my 30^th Year

• Do 3 pull-ups before I’m 31 (or better – do 30 pull-ups!)
  
•  Run a 10 Mile or 15K Race
  
• Finish 2 rounds of P90X
  
• Do a round of ChaLEAN Extreme and/or Intensity (I can’t wait for that workout – no equipment and all body weight!)

Those are the fitness goals.  Other goals are

• Pay off at least half of my credit card debt – ideally by Dec 2009
  
• Memorize “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” on guitar – also ideally by Dec 2009
  
• Learn to drive a stick shift
  
• Learn to swim
  
• Donate 10% of my income to my church and 10 hours a month to charity/community development

So, I feel like those are doable in a year.  The credit cards and playing guitar ones might be a little harder to do by December ’09, but if I apply myself I think it’ll happen.

I’ve noticed that when I’m putting energy into my fitness goals, I’ve got a heckuva lot more energy and drive to put into my other goals.  So, I’m gonna focus a lot on the first 4 and hopefully that’ll help me get the next 5 into place.

Since we’re 5 months into 2009, it’s likely your New Years Resolutions might have fallen by the wayside.  So, do y’all have any Mid Years Resolutions?