Overall, I thought my workouts were really intense (felt my heart was pounding every lap) this week but my nutrition was way off so I feel like it was a wash.

I do have some willpower though. Everyone headed to the bar after the last seminar we had but I discretely went to my room to change and hit the lap pool instead. I swam 23 laps which is equivalent to 1/3 mile…the distance of the triathlon I am doing. I am happy with that but I took way too many breaks in between so there is no doubt that I need to improve on that. I finished the workout by doing  ARX in my room.

Now off to meet up with everyone…

Nutrition- As much as I have had some solid workouts this week, I feel like am offsetting them with my nutrition. The conference I am at this week is feeding us with not-so-healthy food all day long. I am doing great during the day but I am cheating a bit at night. I did sneak in a 3 mile run last night before hitting dinner so that did help with some of the guilt I might have felt if I did not do it.

Now for my swimming workout…

Wow, I am in trouble. The lap pool (see below pic)  is 75 feet long so my goal was to complete 18 laps (each way – one lap) which equals out to ¼ mile…my triathlon swim is 1/3 mile which is 23 laps total but no chance I was going to attempt that on my first swim training day. After swimming 4 laps, I had to stop and take a break so at that point I realized I am far from where I need to be. I did complete all 18 laps but from lap 4 to 18, I pretty much took a 5 second breather every lap.

ARX – Seeing that I was a slacker last week, my goal is to complete ARX three times this week. I did complete it this morning after my swim. I brought the DVD and played it on my laptop in my hotel room. Completed about 98% of it, got stuck on the “high heel to heavens”.

To make things a bit more challenging, I am off to Colorado Springs on business travel this week. Not sure if it’s functional right now but the hotel I will be staying at has an outdoor heated lap pool. If this is the case, my plan is to get a jump start on my triathlon training and swim laps for my workouts. Swimming is another great exercise that falls under the interval training routine that I have been doing during my P90X MASS rest weeks.

I not going to let last week discourage me. If anything, I am eager to get started on my P90X Triathlon training program. I also plan on being more strict on my nutrition as I did allow myself to eat more during my P90X MASS routine. Over the next 13 weeks I will be shifting my focus from building muscle to getting ripped (or at least trying) so I am looking forward to that!

The good news is there is light at the end of the 90 day tunnel. I am on day 137 and I have been cheating faithfully on my nutrition plan once a week. I am not only getting stronger but my body continues to physically change for the better. I know there is a lot of P90Xers out there that claim “never cheat”, nutrition makes up 80% of the program. These people are correct,  the nutrition piece is a lot more important than the working out part but not all of us want to live our lives around P90X. With that said, I do highly recommend being as strict as you can during the first 90 days. Your day 90 results will show how strict you were on both your nutrition and how hard you pushed yourself during the workouts. Even though P90X is marketed as a 90 day program, you should continue to do it after the 90 days but under your terms. Allow yourself a cheat meal once or twice a week. If you continue to push play 5-6 days a week, 1 or 2 cheat meals a week will not be an issue. I pretty much been allowing myself a cheat day (not to be confused with a cheat meal)…probably shouldn’t admit that but I am trying to keep it real.

Also, I did complete the ”Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps“ routine this morning…

The P90X Triathlon program is coming at a perfect time. I will be confusing my muscles once again with the different exercises I will be performing during this period. My focus will now shift to cardio (running/biking/swimming) but I will also be completing P90X workouts to maintain the muscle I have.

25 Pull-ups – I barely completed 25 pull-ups without a break so I was happy with that. 

50 Deadlifts with 135lbs – I completed 25 reps and took a break. I then did another 15 and stopped as I started feeling pain in my lower back.

50 Push-ups – This was the easiest exercise, banged out 50 without a problem. I then did the remaining 10 reps of deadlifts (back felt fine).

50 24-inch box jumps – Did not do

50 Floor wipers – I was able to complete all 50 with 3-4 breaks in between.

50 1-arm clean and press with 36lbs kettlebell – I used a 40lb dumbbell instead. I was toast by the end but I did complete them.

 25 Pull-ups – I was only able to muscle up 10 before taking a break. I then did two more sets of 5 with a break in between. The last 5 were painful and it took just as long to complete the last 5 than it did to complete the first 20…but I did finally do it.

 Overall, this workout is very intense!  My plan is to do one more informal run at this before starting it for real.

I say this now but I am very much looking forward to the P90X Triathlon routine. My goal entering this phase is to maintain all of the muscle I currently have as my focus is now going to shift back to shredding fat. I can’t imagine not losing more fat during the P90X Triathlon program. I will be be running and biking a few times a week for the month of May and then I will be incorporating swimming for the whole month of June and part of July.  My plan is to still do P90X 3-4 times a week and I also want to fit in that 300 workout once a week. I may even double up on certain days and do P90X in the morning and  do one of the following (run/bike/swim) in the afternoon/evening if my schedule permits. 

This all sounds great but I need to make sure I follow through with it!

First Triathlon – July 18th, 2010

Still not exactly sure how I am going to do it but I do know there will be a lot more cardio involved.