Insanity Day 42

Hello, Day 42 of Insanity.  I have mostly good news today, but some bad news.  I'll start with the bad news and get it out of the way.  This week, my knee started feeling pretty bad.  I had Patella-femoral Syndrome in middle school, which caused my knees to lock up or give out without warning.  I went to physical therapy and learned some moves to make my knees stronger.  I was actually surprised it's taken 6 weeks for Insanity to start making my knees hurt, given there is SO much jumping and hard contact with the floor.  My knees have started cracking and popping with every step, and if I do a lunge, my knees sound like rice krispies being smooshed.  ew..  on Friday, I went to recess with my kids and played four square.  Every time I ran off to get the ball, my knees hurt so bad!  So, I decided I needed to take it easier.  This is a huge disappointment, because I just wanted to be fully committed to Insanity for the right length of time, but now I am mixing it up with lower-impact workouts (Cyndi Whitmarsh videos on ExerciseTV from HULU, or using the elliptical machine, or walking a ton).  As I do the lower impact workouts, I try to incorporate Insanity moves to challenge myself and make the moves a little more advanced.

The good news is that all of my weight/fat/muscle/measurements look good this week! I finally broke past 150 pounds.  I honestly think stopping some of the Insanity is the reason for this, as my muscles aren't dying to hold onto every drop of water anymore.  Here are my photos and stats:

Mother's Day Craft

Here's the Mother's Day craft I had my students today: duct tape flower pens. They LOVED it!!!! I have never seen the kids have SO much fun!!

My first attempt

MOM, I MADE THIS ONE ^^^ FOR YOU!

Mother's Day Craft: Duct Tape Pens

I always struggle to plan cool gifts for students to give their families for holidays.  Last year for Mother's Day, I went inexpensive but creative: my students traced each others' silhouettes on black/white paper. 

Last Friday, I discovered a cool new trend: duct tape flower pens.  Duct tape is IN with ALL the students right now... they love making duct tape wallets and bags.  I showed my kids this duct tape flower idea and they CANNOT WAIT to do it!! They have MSP testing for the next 2 days, but Friday will be an enjoyable day for them to create their flower pens, just in time for Mother's Day on Sunday. 

Today I stopped by Fred Meyer and purchased $46 worth in duct tape and pens.  I know my kids will love the variety of colors of duct tape!!  I'm excited to do this project with my kids, and I think their moms will really like it!  Here are some photos of the flower pens I made today as a test.

Insanity Day 35

It is Day 35 of Insanity!  I'm 5 weeks through the program and have 4 weeks to go.  My recovery week (still full of difficult workouts) just ended and I'm hitting it hard in month 2 now.  Most of the month 2 workouts are around 1 hour.  Today I had to do the Fit Test, followed by an hour workout.  This may be TMI, but I have not been this sweaty yet.  My hair is soaking wet and usually my shirt has speckles of sweat on it, but there are literally huge patches this time. eww, I know.  My face is actually splotchy red and white too, like it used to get when I was really out of shape in middle school and did volleyball training.  My fit test results and photos are below.  I'm kind of disappointed that the changes are so slight, but I'm still holding out hope for changes in the 2nd month.  I am proud of my fit test results.  I was extremely nervous to do the fit test this time because I REALLY gave it ALL I had last time, and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to match or beat my reps.  I matched one and I beat all the rest :)

See you next week :)