I Must Be Insane

I tried Insanity yesterday afternoon.  The Pure Agony Cardio one.  OMG, it was.... INSANE.

So here's the deal: apparently there are 5 titles, and it is put out by beachbody.com, the same people who do P90X.  As I said, I did Pure Agony Cardio.  Trying just one workout obviously doesn't make me an expert, but I'd like to discuss the differences between P90X and my first impression of Insanity.

So the workout went like this: hit the gas pedal, then accelerate, faster, faster, faster, faster, faster for 40 minutes until you're done.  Seriously.  The 10 minute warm-up was 30+ seconds each of running in place, Heismans, Heismans side to side, butt kicks, high knees, football thingys, then repeat 3 times, faster each time.  SERIOUSLY??  The warm-up!  For 10 minutes!  No instruction on form, etc.  By the end of this my calves were already ready to call it a day.

Then there was a quick stretching session during which sweat dripped off of me.

Then more insanity.  Crazy crap like 4 push-ups, jump up, then back down.  Not just once and not slowly enough to actually manage.  Jump lunges.  Again, faster than humanly possible except probably for Olympic-freaking-sprinters.  It just went on and on.  It was like the P90X Plyo workout on speed - nothing matters but speed.

So initial impressions of the comparison P90X vs. Insanity?  I prefer P90X.  I like to do things with proper form at a speed that is humanly possible and yet still provides a good cardio workout.  I believe P90X provides this much more effectively.  I always feel in control during P90X, but still that I'm pushing myself.  Insanity is so INSANE that I actually think it mentally works against you.  There were times when I looked around the room and everyone was just laying facedown on the floor.  What incentive do you have to keep trying when there is no possible way you can a) keep up or b) ever finish?  And if you know you can't finish, what pushes you to keep trying though the whole set?  I think it sets people (at least me) up to tap out early and therefore not get as much out of the workout as they possibly can.  P90X has a countdown timer on each of the moves, and most people can talk themselves into doing anything for a minute.

So, will I do Insanity again?  Probably.  It was a good workout.  Afterwards my muscles were twitching with exhaustion and I'm only 12 hours removed and already sore.  And it is convenient to do once or twice a week at work for a little variety in my routine.  But I won't be buying it.

I did drag myself out of bed for a little run this morning on the theory that I'll be so sore tomorrow I won't want to.  My knee tweaked once or twice but never prevented me from running, so that was good.  I did 3 loops of run 9/walk 2, and so should be ready to run steady on Saturday.

Another Breastfeeding Bump in the Road

So The Kid (easier to depersonalize her when she is hurting me) has started to do this new thing where she clamps down and then pulls back while clamped down instead of just opening her mouth and letting go of the boob.  NOT COOL.  Actually very painful.  As painful as biting, PLUS pulling.  Excellent.

She's been doing this since Friday afternoon.

I have a number of theories:

• I'm not producing enough, and the slow flow is ticking her off.
• Growth spurt, and the slow flow is ticking her off.
• That's kinda what happens when you pull a bottle out of her mouth, maybe she is just transferring.
• Teething.
• Finished nursing, clamp-pulling is fun!

There is (different) supporting evidence for each theory, except for teething, because you never know when it is teething.  So without a real cause, it is really difficult to try to intelligently break the habit.

Here's what I tried:

• Saying (ok, occasionally yelling) "No" very firmly and removing her from the boob.  Full on toddler hissy fit tantrum ensues, including red faced crying/screaming, back arching, etc.  Awesome.
• Putting up with it.  I tried this when I was trying to get her to sleep, because let's face it, she isn't sleeping if I'm scolding her.  Result: pain.  And she still didn't sleep.  Total failure.
• Pushing her into the boob when I feel her trying to pull back.  This interrupts her breathing, forcing her to open her mouth to release.  (Sounds worse than it is!)  I've had mild success with this one.  But it is difficult and requires serious vigilance on my part to catch the clamp-pull *before* the clamp.  Or at least before the pull.
• Switching sides after first clamp-pull, ending session after second clamp-pull.  Also resulted in total tantrum.  And eventually me giving her a bottle.  And she took 5 oz, so I really believe she was still hungry, at least that time.  Even though she had nursed for almost 20 minutes already.
• Breaking her suction and frantically withdrawing boob every time I think it is about to happen.  Also difficult on me.  Usually results in my holding boob in one hand, and her head in the other, cramps running up both arms, neck bent 90 degrees staring at her, scared to blink, cramping in my shoulders, stomach hurting from the fear... Yeah, not my favorite method.
• I'm also playing around with my pumping times so as to never feed her when "empty".  Even though breasts actually produce milk on demand, and are therefore never empty, production takes time and slows the flow, so I'm just generally trying to go into feedings having pumped no less than 2 hours previously.

When I got to work yesterday morning I was shaking from the adrenaline.  I felt like I had been in a battle with the baby!  I was disturbed to the extent that this morning I just offered a bottle.  And it was so.much.better.  Wow.

Last night we had one good session (the last when she fell asleep), and one bad (2 clamp-pulls, ended in bottle).  So I was pleased with the last session and am hoping that means she's over it. *fingers crossed*  (I have found in the past when she has gone through biting phases, twice, that after about a week it seems to work itself out.)  I mean, I really really hope she's over it.  Because when nursing ain't going right, ain't nothing going right for mama.

Well, one thing is going right.  This morning I did the 30 Day Shred for my 30 minutes of exercise today, day 2, oh yeah!

No Race Report Yet

They're killing me with not getting the photos up!  Of course, you know that because I'm waiting and hoping for a good photo that I'll be making a goofy face in all of them!

This morning I tried Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred, workout 1.  It is about 30 minutes long, rough if you really do the whole thing and don't take breaks (like she yells at you not to), but in the end I didn't feel like it was good enough.  Not enough abs, not enough cardio.  It would have been great, wonderful, stellar even, during those first 3 months postpartum when I had very little time and I needed something I could do while Z napped, or in fits and starts.  And it might be nice for a quick weekender or off-day workout.  But it can't come to the regular party.  Not now.  Not when I'm really starting to want to see results.  I suppose another option would be to piggyback multiple workouts from that disc (there are 3) together for a harder time...

After that I also tried P90X Stretch.  I'm all tight and sore from the Warrior Dash, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to see what it is all about.  I only had time for the first 30 minutes (of 60), so I'm doing an incomplete review.  It is another that I like, but that won't make it into my weekly repertoire.  It can slot in instead of a Yoga as an off-day or weekender.  Or as a recovery like this morning.  But it is what it sounds like: a bunch of stretches.  I love to stretch.  Stretching feels good.  But if I've only got an hour a day, I need more.  It isn't like the P90X Yoga that can count as a hard core workout in and of itself.  The Yoga is definitely harder than the Stretch.  But it was nice.

You know, writing this post I'm having flashbacks to my mom when I was a kid.  She had all the Jane Fonda workouts.  I always danced around with her... then as I got older I started to think workout videos were lame, for old flabby people who couldn't do anything... look at me: the old flabby mom working out in her bedroom first thing every morning!!  But I'm not doing these videos because they are easy, and I'm not playing at exercise.  This is just the simplest way for me to get in a workout right now without worrying about childcare or my running clothes that still barely fit or anything else.  But I've gotta say: I can't wait until the Z is 6 months old so I can take her for a run in the BOB!  I'm ready to ditch these videos and become a runner again!