Peg Kerr's Journal

I took a week off, due to the pain I was experiencing in my left arm and lower back. It was unexpectedly difficult to do so. I didn't mind the sleeping in, but I didn't want to lose the habit of working out. But I started again today, cautiously, with one of the non-weights workouts, and it went okay. The pain in my left arm is gone, but my back continues to be problematic. I did a test to eliminate the possibility that it's a pinched disk problem at least.

I will obviously not be one of the OMG SUCH A CHANGE examples they will be able to use in their marketing materials. But I do intend to finish the 90 day program, although I will not have done 90 workouts. Closer to 75. Still. Not too shabby. At this point, I'm not entirely sure what I'll do, but I think I will take a week off and then start the program again, this time following the 'classic' sequence. It would mean adding plyometrics, but I'll take it cautiously. We'll see.

Man, oh man. I barely got today's workout in today.

First of all, I did it this evening instead of this morning (I'd stayed up too late watching "8" to get up at 5:30 a.m.) I was prevented from starting it the first two times I tried (a phone call, and someone else using the room). It was the first time I had done this particular workout, so I spent a lot of time fumbling with the weights. My husband had stuff in the way of the only doorway I could do pullups. I felt tired, bloated, low energy, and zero motivation. I had to talk to myself all the way through to keep going. It wasn't pretty, but I finished it.

Gah. Up at 5:15 a.m. tomorrow for yoga.

It's even harder to keep this up when you feel it's not doing any good.

This song ran through my mind a lot.

You may feel like the workout's doing any good.

Work out anyway.

I'm never quite sure how much to post here. Elinor Dashwood is preoccupied with some of the stuff under the surface that she feels she isn't free to talk about much in public.

Fiona is having a blast in college. Although her social group has fallen apart a bit this semester, she is adoring all her classes (Calculus, Spanish, World Religion and Script Analysis [theater]). She made the Dean's list last semester and has never been so on top of her game, academically, as she is now. She loves it and is very content and happy that she picked the right place to go to school. I think I mentioned that she's planning on going to (Mitch's) prom with him this spring. Hilariously, Mitch's dad Randy has already bought her two potential dresses off ebay and is contemplating a third.

Delia continues at her charter school. She tried out for a play and got a small part, and so that has kept her after school some. Our commutes together continue to be quite enjoyable as we explore our various iPod mixes together, although I miss listening to the news on the radio (Delia Does Not Do News). She spent last weekend buying the material for a crazy dress, with a pleather bodice and pink skull and crossbones material for the skirt(!).

I continue to do P90X. Increasingly grumpily, because although I think I'm gaining core strength, it doesn't seem to be doing anything magical to my body at all--no weight loss. Yes, I know muscle weighs more than fat, but my scale also measures body composition, and the number of pounds of fat has not budged at all, either. This is infuriating. Particularly at 5:30 a.m., when I'm groggily trying to ignore how ANNOYING I find Tony Horton.

I had stepped back from Alternity for a bit, due to family distraction, but I'm back now, and oh, it's been such fun!

I have been reading gobs and gobs of romance novels. I check them out as ebooks from the library and put them on my Nook. I've read HUNDREDS that way. This is a really new obsession--I'd never really read romance novels before this past year. No idea why, but it is what my backbrain seems to want. Like popcorn. I am not feeding my body Dorito chips, through sheer willpower, but I am feeding my brain romance novels.

I continue to enjoy Mark Reads Lord of the Rings (he has now reached The Return of the King and is agonizing over the siege of Minas Tirith). Inspired by this, I spent all day listening over and over again to The Charge on the Pelennor Fields. Watch this scene: it'll get your blood going. This is currently my favorite scene in the entire history of cinema.

You will not believe the screamingly vexatious time I am having with trying to do this P90X program. The problem is the computers in the house. I can't do it in Rob's lair, where the TVs live, which is stuffed with Rob's stuff. I can't do it in my computer nook--It's the only reliably working computer in the house, but the floor space is about two feet by three feet: nowhere to exercise. There's a computer in Fiona's room (my old office, where I used to exercise), but the room is, again, overstuffed with her possessions and so there's no room to maneuver. In addition, the chin up bar doesn't fit in the doorway. I've been moving the dining room table out of the way each time and exercising in there, but Rob's laptop, which I've been using, is dying. There is a desktop computer in the dining room, but it continually freezes up. Delia's computer really isn't free for me to use.

I really want to do this. But I can't figure out how to simultaneously have 1) enough room to exercise in a place where I have 2) a reliable computer that will play DVDs. Argh.

We have no money to repair the computers. Rob needs to have a crown replaced, and I need to take my car in this week. It's smelling sickeningly of exhaust every time I use the heater, which seems dangerous to me...I'm afraid I'm breathing carbon monoxide. And it needs a wheel alignment. These two things are going to blow the budget out of the water this month. But I've been so committed to doing this, and I don't want to stop. Dammit, dammit, dammit.

I am much hungrier than usual. The nutrition guide said I should up my calories from the range I'd been trying to stay in before I started this, and I was dubious, but oh boy, I've really noticed a difference in my appetite.

Tony Horton seems really kind and encouraging. I certainly appreciate all the modifications he points out, and I feel more confident that I'll be able to keep this up, although I certainly can't do all the exercises yet. Not even close. But I'm confident that I'll get better.

I can tell that my problematic right knee will continue to be a factor.

Tony Horton's personality, on the other hand, really sets my teeth on edge. I can best describe it as, um, 'California Smarmy.' I can tolerate it for now. (I do note that there is an option to turn the sound off. I may resort to that in the future!) The program does seem solid, challenging, and safe.

Still sore, but not unbearably so. I am resorting to painkillers.

So. Tired. And. Sore.

On the third day of P90X (shoulders and arms today) and spent hours moving my work station.

I expect to be even more sore tomorrow, but I know the worst of it will wear off by the beginning of next week. Still intend to stick with it.