Sunday, June 15, 2014

P90X3 and Les Mills Combat Hybrid Schedule




I’ve said it before, I love P90X3.  It is my favorite Beachbody Program.  I also really enjoy Les Mills Combat and I often go back to that program because it is so much fun.  Dan and Rach are great motivators! 
 
Someone recently asked me for ideas on how to incorporate these programs into one. Here is a way to do P90X3 and Combat as a hybrid.
 
 
 
A few months ago I did a hybrid with these two programs but I was really doing P90X3 and incorporating running and Combat .  However, here is a way to do a hybrid.
 

Basically you would follow the calendar for both programs but switching which one you are doing.  

Week 1

 Day 1 do Accelerator (X3 day 1)

Day 2 CombatHIIT Power (Combat day 2)

Day 3 YogaX (X3 day 3)

Day 4 Rest (Combat day 4 or do X3 day 4 of CVX)

Day 5 Isometrix (X3 day 5)

Day 6 Combat Plyo (combat day 6)

Day 7 rest

 

Week 2
 

Day 1 Combat 30 (Combat day 1)

Day 2 Warrior (X3 day 2)

Day 3 Combat 45 (Combat day 3) etc.

 

Week 3 Repeat either week 1 or week 2.

 

Week 4 follow transition week in X3

 

Block 2 would follow similar fashion to block 1.

 

These programs are great by themselves but it keeps it fresh and interesting if you start to do them as hybrids. 

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Asparagus Pilaf - A Taste of Spring

Today was such a busy day.  I slept in a little and woke at 7am, woot-woot!  My boys both climbed into my bed and we all snuggled for a little bit. Love!

Everyone wanted pancakes so that's what I made but I really just wanted my Shakeology.  So after my coffee I just made a Chocolate Vegan Shakeology (with a little cold coffee) and headed out to the garden.  I will get that veggie garden done if it kills me.

Before lunch I snuck in a quick workout -- Focus T25.  Hey, it's 25 minutes so there is no excuse.  After lunch it was T-ball with my youngest son.  He's doing great.  What a difference a few weeks make.  At the beginning he kept running off the field.  Now, despite being the youngest kid in T-ball, he is one of the most interested, according to his coach.  Yeah!

My oldest son has been wanting to go bowling so after T-ball we all headed over to the bowling alley to play.  It was air conditioned and felt nice after spending most of the day in the hot sun.  But being this busy there wasn't much time left in the day and there wasn't much time to cook.


On the way home I picked up a roast chicken.  They work in a pinch.  I had some left over rice so I thought a pilaf would go great.  Here's the recipe.  Quick, easy and much better than just plain rice!

Ingredients
(serves 4)

2 cups cooked rice
6 spears of asparagus
1 carrot
1/2 Cup peas
3 Tbs Dijon Vinaigrette

Dijon Vinaigrette (21 Day Fix Recipe)
3 Tbs vinegar
3 Tbs lemon juice
3 Tbs Dijon mustard
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp salt
1.4 tsp ground pepper
6 tbs olive oil

Combine all ingredients except oil. Slowly pour in oil while whisking.
Makes 8 servings.



Chop the asparagus into 1 inch pieces and thinly slice the carrots. Steam the asparagus, peas and carrots until just tender.  Mix the veggies with the rice and add 3 Tbs of the dressing.  It's that simple.  It's so good.  There is no excuse not to make dinner.

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

P90X3, April and May Running and Cape Cod Ragnar!!



The months of April and May have been quite busy here.  Springtime means Little League.  Little League means that I am busy almost every night of the week, seriously!    I kept up with my workouts though and I finished up P90X3.  I wasn’t too terrible with my nutrition either.  Ok, I could have been better but I didn’t go off the deep end.   April and May were good running months for me too, despite being busy.  That is what I love about running before everyone is awake.  No matter how busy the rest of the day is, 5:15am is my time.

P90X3 is by far my favorite Beachbody program.  I was such a big P90X fan so I wasn’t sure I could like something more!  It is different from the original in that it doesn’t focus on weight lifting.  Don’t get me wrong – you use weights but the exercises are so varied that weights are just one part of it.  You mostly use your own body weights with burpees/sprawls, pull-ups and push-ups. 

This type of workout makes an excellent compliment to running.  I’ve gotten faster and stronger since doing P90X3.  I’ve been able to increase my monthly mileage easily.  Before I get into my monthly mileage, I should note that I do not consider myself a “runner.”  I run. I lift weights.  I swim. I do INSANITY.  I cross train.    Running, however, is a big part of what I do.  While many of the ladies who I run with are logging 100 miles months, I do not. I couldn’t possibly do that while doing all of the other things I enjoy.


In the month of April I ran 63.9 miles.  That is super compared to 49.4 in March.  This winter has been brutal with cold and ice and it lasted into March.  My average pace was slower in April compared to March but that is because I ran a few times with my 8 year old son and my 9 year old dog!  Great fun!  In May I ran 74.8 miles.  I really do need to look at my mileage before I start my last run of the month.  I really should have gone for 75 miles.  I am so excited about my May mileage.  Not bad.  My average pace was 9’27”.  That is awesome in my book.  Thanks, Tony Horton!

I ramped up my running because I was training for the Cape Cod Ragnar Relay.  What a great race!  If you run, you must consider running one of these.  They have them all over the country.  It is not just a race, it’s an adventure! 

The adventure started on a Thursday evening.  There were 24 women running and 4 drivers.  We had 2 teams (Ragnars typically have teams of 12) this way we had running buddies. This is especially helpful doing the night time run.  We were BAM 1 and BAM 2 – Bad Ass Mamas!   So there were 4 vans heading from NY to MA.  We got to Massachusetts pretty late so we checked in the hotel and went to bed.  I was in Van 1 so we had an early start.  At 7am we needed to be in the van heading to the start(about 45-60 minutes away) for safety instructions and a 9 am start time.
 
 


The way a Ragnar Relay works is typically 12 people split the running (legs) and each runner has 3 legs.  Our van had runners 1-6.  I was runner #4.  At the start we were all super pumped.  We cheered our runners from BAM 1 and BAM 2 and then jumped into the van to get to the first exchange.
 
 
As I said, I was runner #4 and had some time before my leg.  We decorated our van and had lots of fun honking and cheering for all of the runners we saw.  When it was time for me to get ready for my leg, I started to get nervous.  I totally over dressed.  It was cold while we were just standing there waiting for runner #3 but while running I was way too warm!


 

That leg was also full of killer hills.  I had 6.2 miles of hills!  My buddy and I did great.  The run was through a residential area and it was nice to look at the houses but otherwise I could have been anywhere.  My pace was a respectable 9’26”.  Not bad for a 10K full of hills.

My second leg, which was a night run, was at 11:20 pm.  It only totaled 4.09 miles and my pace was 9’03”.  I just wanted to get it over with so I could get to sleep!   When my leg was done, I stayed awake to see the next runner come back and to see runner #6 off.  That was around 1 am! 


From that point on I slept in the van.  I can sleep anywhere.  I sort of remember runner #6 getting back into the van but that is it.  Apparently there was a lot of shuffling in the van – people switching spaces to sleep but I slept through it!  I think I got about 4.5 hours of sleep.  It wasn’t the most comfortable but I was ready to start the day again and get my last leg done!  While we slept, van 2 was running so now it was their turn to rest.  Because of this we never really got to interact with the second part of our team.

My last leg was through a bike trail.  A few hills here and there but overall, it was flat.  It totaled 5.68 miles and my pace was 9’22”.  We stopped 1 mile before the end of the leg and had a Cape Cod Police Officer take our picture.  Gotta have fun, right?!

 

I was tired but it was a blast!  Almost immediately a bunch of us started to talk about the next Ragnar!  I’m signed up for Reach the Beach in New Hampshire in September.  Oh yeah, I’m hooked and I will definitely be training with P90X3!