Supercuts this morning, super tired now.

This morning's workout can be summed up in two words: mucho cardio.

Cardio Supersets.  The name says it all.

Again, I'm currently digging up DVD workouts I haven't done in a long time so I can do a few things:

• Shake things up with my muscles, confusing the heck out of them
• Leave me sore in places I forgot I had, and
• Remind me of how in shape I used to be when I used to do these videos on the regular.

Actually, this one wasn't that bad while I was doing it; I only felt like I was gurgling my heart in my throat two or three times.  The workout was also only actually 30 minutes, so that was a huge plus for those of us that get up at really-early-dark-o'clock to work out.  It was also a huge plus because then the pain and suffering ended way sooner than normal.

Taken slightly before the suffering was over.

For those of you wondering what the workout is like, let me break down the stuff and sequence in the workout for you:

1) Five-minute warm-up with no equipment but a lot of moving around
2) Lots of low-impact moving around that involves lots of squats or squat-type movements to give you that heart-gurgling feeling we all know and love.  Or I do, anyway.
3) Lots of low-impact moving around that involves sliding discs and still some squats but not so much
4) An ending combo that involves planks on the sliding discs where you are moving your legs perpendicular to your torso and then pulling your feet in and out in a plank and OMG WILL IT EVER END
5) Cool down with less moving around and some decent stretching

So how do I feel right now?  As good as a woman can feel whose lats AND abs are quietly sobbing in the background from that workout.

Anyhoo, on to the non-learning learnings:

• A bulleted AND a numbered list in one post.  Lucky you.
• This is actually a very decent total body workout that is disguised as a cardio workout.  It's all the squatting and planking.  Slow-motion mountain climbers, anyone?
• I like short but powerful workouts.
• I also like being done with short and powerful workouts.
• Sleep.  I like that, too.  Think I'll get some now.

Tomorrow's workout: Spin, baby, spin.

Getting back in the blogging saddle: BMW Dallas Marathon and other stuff

I last blogged in September.  Buh.  It's been busy and stressful since that time, with work craziness increasing exponentially and with my recent move to a much larger house and all.  So of course to relieve all that stress I decided to give myself another job: writing blathering facetious nonsense about my workouts and races again.  I want to get back in the blogging saddle so I can have something to look forward to doing that's not work-related...and where I can have fun with words instead of writing words dressed up in administrator-ese all the time.

Anyway, let's get started with the facetious nonsense of my most recent marathon: the BMW Dallas Marathon that I ran last weekend.

I tried to race this hilly little race last year, if you recall, and crashed and burned by mile 15.  This year I had no aspirations of racing it, as my training hadn't been all that consistent.  I barely did any 20 milers due to my left butt injury rearing (pun intended) its ugly head again, so I went into the race just aiming to finish and have a good time.

Only one of those goals was accomplished, however--my legs were dead from the start of the race, so there was very little enjoyment. (Unless you count the time one cheer station had donuts and I gladly downed one like it was the last food I would ever get on this earth.)  It was around mile 6 of this race that I realized I needed to take a break from all the high-volume running, backing off from so much running until training would begin for Glass City in late January.  Any full marathon I had scheduled between now and late April was downgraded to a half marathon to give my legs a break. After Dallas, that was the one lesson I learned--it's time to back off a little.

But that doesn't mean I haven't been working out--far from it.  I'm still using the My Run Plan app, and it seems to have the recovery plan I need right now.  Last week it scheduled me for nothing but cross-training, which allowed me to re-discover some old workouts:

Cathe's HiiT Circuit: Upper Body is a nice little workout, with some light weight work sandwiched in-between some high-impact HiiT intervals.  I haven't done Cathe's Supercuts in a few years, so I had honestly forgotten what it was all about.  Here's what I was thinking during the workout: "Meh.  Too easy."  Here's what my back and lats were saying the next day: "MY GAWD WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO US"

Seriously.  That workout is light on weight poundage but heavy on DOMS.  Go into this workout with open eyes and thoroughly warmed-up quads.

I also got to hop on the indoor cycle a few times, doing my now-old-fave Cycle Sweat workout and trying a new-to-me-but-I've-had-this-DVD-for-years-and-never-done-it Cathe cycle workout CycleMax.  It's a pretty solid workout, but I was left wondering why we even needed a seat after spending so much time during the workout out of the saddle.

Even though I've been working out, my legs feel a ton better from the break from running.  The app has me running a whopping one mile today, so I'm going to try to fit that mega-run in some time after I finish cleaning my new house and frantically working on things for work that needed to be done a week ago.  I don't know how often I'll blog with my crazy work schedule lately, but know this - I'm going to blog when my brain needs it the most, that's for sure.

Did you miss the stupid learnings at the ends of my posts?  I know you did:

• I promise posts in the future that include way more bullet points.  Because the world needs more bullet points.
• I was seriously bummed about how tired my legs were during the marathon.  Sometimes you gotta suck it up and back it off.
• That donut in mile 22 was UHMAYZING
• I'm becoming very very fond of indoor cycling.  Very.
• I don't think my lats will ever fully forgive me for inflicting SuperCuts on them.  

Tomorrow's workout: The app says "rest day" which I'm interpreting as "let's get back to heavy weights already"

Days 5 & 6, Week 8: A tempo, some weights, and holy crap how long is my bike ride tomorrow?!?

Guess who ran a tempo Thursday morning and only had her left butt muscle hurt a little bit?

OK, I won't make you guess - it was me.

woot woot

Of course, after I landed from that jump I re-injured myself.  Just kidding--I had to race inside and get ready for work because they crazily expect me there in the mornings, not just the afternoons.

Anyhoo, two things about that tempo:

1) I ran it too fast, as you can see below:

2) And I ran it with my new Nathan 20 ounce hand-held, and I'm pretty much in love with the thing.  I could give many smooches to the person who finally figured out how we could carry water with us in a bottle and not actually grip it, causing me to feel like my arm will fall off mid-run from the effort.

A tender bonding moment.  Totally running BFFs.

Today's workout was just some weights (Cathe's PHA workout), and I was surprised I actually did it because I farted around most of the day.  Evidence of aforementioned surprise is for you below and is maybe totally not faked at all (those sweat stains are extremely not faked):

ZOMG how did this dumbbell get here?!?

But the biggest surprise of all will be when I get done with this bad boy of a ride tomorrow.

Fifty point freaking one seven miles, people.  That's what's on deck for tomorrow, along with a 3 mile run afterwards.  If I can stay awake after I'm finished, I'll tell you all about it righcheer on this blog.  Stay tuned kids.

Tomorrow's workout: Weren't you paying attention?  I already told you.

Day 2, Week 7: Barbell + these Cathe workouts = Hope you don't want to use your arms for a few days.

This morning was upper body weights courtesy of Cathe.

mmmm barbell

I did the "two sets of each exercise + finishers" timesaver premixes on two separate discs from her Ripped with HiiT series, which means that these workouts consisted of three exercises in a row, two of them being the same exercise repeated and the last one different and highly annoying for the most part.

A few things about these little workouts:

• They are small but mighty.
• And by "mighty" I mean "Holy cow these weights she's making me use are mighty heavy"
• The cat chooses the worst moments for rubs, such as when the barbell is quivering dangerously above my head
• I will be lucky to be able to lift my arms to wash my hair in the shower tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, what's the workout?  9-10 miles of mile repeats...Imma gonna die.  Check back tomorrow to see if I'm dead.

I lifted some weights this morning and surprised myself.

This morning's workout of choice was Cathe's Lift It, HiiT It: Back, Biceps, and Shoulders.  Again, I'm not a fan of repeating exercises three times in a row, but this is a workout that kicks your back, biceps, and shoulders in ways they have never been worked before, and those body parts will be sure to tell you the next day what those ways are.  My workout supervisor would agree with my assessment of the workout if he had been awake at all during it.

I did the pre-mix that threw in ab segments rather than do the "finisher" sets after each exercise like I've been doing, because I am definitely finished after each set of three and don't need another exercise to finish me.  And let me tell you something about those ab exercises...

"Flying snow angel?"  More like "let's see what dumb pose they'll
do this time"

...they're effective but completely ridiculous.  I do them because I do whatever is on the TV screen in front of me.

But one thing happened during the workout, kids, that has never EVER happened before when I have done a strength workout involving biceps:

ZOMG PEOPLE I LIFTED A WEIGHT

I did bicep curls with a 20 lb dumbbell.  Your amazed amazement is palpable--I can feel it.

Before this morning I thought I would never be able to do that.  I thought 15 pounders were my limit for bicep curls, but today I grabbed that 20 pound dumbbell just like Cathe did without even thinking about it and slammed out 3 sets on each arm.  And it was only during the last set that the ZOMG hit me and I got to start the day with an LOOK AT ME I CAN DO ANYTHING attitude.  And that's a good way to start the day, let me tell you.  Especially since the rest of my day was spent cleaning and staining all of the doors and baseboards for my new house.

While I was immersed in my world of wood staining, I began thinking about other little "fitness milestones" that have occurred since I began to take my fitness seriously.  None of them are particularly earth-shattering since a of other fit people have done them, but they represent major breakthroughs for me:

1) My first run ever.  I had been doing workout DVDs for years before I took my first run.  Made it 2.5 miles...and then ran my first 5K two weeks later.
2) The first time I ran 10 miles.  Something about the number 10 was magical to me, and when I was training for my first half marathon it was the longest run I would do in training.  It was a horrific run plagued with gear and gastrointestinal malfunctions, but I remember still screaming to my husband that I had run 10 miles when I staggered back into the house.  And then he asked me if I needed a paramedic.
3) The first time I made it through the Tae Bo Advanced original workout video without wanting to puke.
4) My first obstacle course race.  Signing up is one thing...being confronted with muddy water with my knowledge of how many bacterial infections may be lurking in there is another.  But I made it through and happy to report no post-race sicknesses.
5) The first time I ran a sub-2 half marathon.  I also screamed at my husband that I did it at that time, too, but he was asleep downstairs and didn't even hear it.  Because he sleeps like the dead.
6) My first marathon.  I didn't die.  It was a win.
7) My first triathlon.  Again, I didn't die.  It was a win.
8) My first ultra marathon.  Still didn't die, but I ran it through a cemetery where a lot of people were dead.  Still a win.
9) The one time I ran a 50 minute 10K.  For a 40+ slow runner person such as myself, I almost fainted dead away when I got my results (those were the days before I had a GPS watch).
10) The first time you pass someone in the last mile of a race that treated you like crap before the race started because they were faster than you.  Most runners are awesome...a few aren't. 


Like I said, nothing particularly earth-shattering.  But these small wins (and sometimes snarky ones, in the case of #10) need to be remembered on your way to your bigger goals.  I know I'm going to remember my 20 pound barbell win from this morning...mainly because I'm an idiot that took a picture of it.

And the learnings are below in case you forgot where they were:

• I had to do my ab workout around that dog this morning.  Who snored through it.
• I'll try any dumb pose that's on the workout DVD.  Including ones that just involve laying on a mat...I'm looking at you, corpse pose.
• I almost dropped that 20 pounder on my foot when I realized what I had just done.  Which would have been bad because, you know, I need my feet for running.
• Wouldn't you be glad you passed a runner in the last mile who told you that you looked like you needed all the luck you could get just to finish?  I know I was.

Tomorrow's workout: Speed, baby.  4 x 800 delicious meters.

The weight loss lessons I have to learn every time I want to lose weight.

Today I did Cathe's Total Body Giant Sets, and finally got a chance to use my beloved barbell this week.  Please excuse my laundry hamper in the background; for once it was not guarded against large dog's pilfering because I have been home all week.  And I was too lazy to take a different picture.

Barbell: DEEElicious!

While you don't use the barbell for upper body in this particular Cathe workout (she has others where you do), the upper body portion of this workout is nice because it gives you a set of these:

kerBLAM kerBLAM

Large dog was very surprised to see those guns, because they've been hidden since fall began.

He's not really surprised.  He just wants treats.

Female cat, as usual, was unimpressed.

Hyooman. Take your guns and leave.  Sleeping here.

What you should be impressed with is my eating today; it was good all around and I didn't succumb to any of the crap in the hubbs' junk food stash today.  That's because I was too busy working on work stuff today to even go downstairs near it or even think (fantasize) about what chocolately or salty goodness was in there.  And that's a lesson I've learned--and had to re-learn--over and over again concerning weight loss: if it's in the house, I'll eat it.  So what are some other lessons I've learned, you ask?  Well, below are a few of my favorite weight-loss lessons I have to learn every time I realize my pants aren't fitting anymore:

• If I stop weighing myself, my weight loss stops too.  I know they say you shouldn't weigh yourself every day, but if I don't get that daily feedback (with an understanding that it's the trend over time you need to look at, not the day-to-day fluctuations) I tend to be all, "Hey! I lost weight!  I'm good!" and then slowly begin adding back junky food bit by sneaky bit.
• For me, "I can eat out all I want as long as I watch my calorie counts" is a complete and total lie.  Most of the take-out stuff is junk, and I eat too much of it, and then the weight creeps back on.
• Eating 30 health bars a day doesn't mean you'll lose weight.  I have a tendency to overdo it on the health bars, especially now that I'm in a more sedentary job.  I have to switch out "health" bars for carrot sticks (VEGGIES BUH) so I can mindlessly snack the day away without guilt.  
• "I can eat what I want as long as I work out every day" is another complete and total lie.  I worked out every single day for 45 minutes for an entire year, didn't change my eating habits, and consequently didn't lose a single damn pound.  Only when I started eating right did the pounds start coming off.  Exercise makes me feel good; eating right makes me look good.
• If you have a bad eating day, just start again tomorrow.  If you don't give yourself another chance, you'll start spiraling down into the vortex of "I CAN'T DO THIS" and then, you know, you won't because you've told yourself you can't.  And then you will lose no weight whatsoever due to mental self-sabotage.
• View food as fuel, not a reward.  About every 3 nanoseconds I have to remind myself that I eat food to fuel my workouts (and, you know, live), not to give myself a nice hit of sugary crack to make myself feel good every hour.
• Know that your weight doesn't define you.  I grew up with a very warped "if you're skinny you're happy and liked and accepted" idea.  Now that I'm in my 40s and have tons more life experience that the teenager that used to think that, I realize that skinny is nice, having awesome guns and muscles is even better, and knowing who you are no matter what you weigh is literally the best.  Oh, and winning the women's race at an Olympic distance duathlon a full 30 pounds heavier than you were at a size 2 helps you remember that, too.

OK, before this post gets way too serious, here are today's learnings:

• Man did I miss using my barbell.  If I start talking about how much I missed it this post is gonna get way too weird.  Well, weirder than it already is, at least.
• Another lesson I learned today is to keep my hands busy with work (ugh) so they will not reach for food.  
• Or at least check my email a few times a day, because that always makes me want to pull my hair out and my hands will be busy doing that rather than picking up bad things to eat.
• As long as you chart your daily weight over time and see a downward sloping best-fit line, it's all good to weight yourself every day.  If you obsess over normal day-to-day fluctuations, you should weigh yourself once a week to retain your sanity.
• Nothing tastes as good as lifting a heavy barbell feels.
• kerBLAM....whoops.  One of my guns must have misfired.  Sorry.

Tomorrow's workout: 13 mile run.  Seeing as it's going to be a high of 7, looks like the treadmill for me.

Bye 2017. It was fun racing in you.

I chose Cathe's PHA Training as my last workout of 2017.  And I feel this was a good choice, because this little low-impact heavy-ish weight gem gets your heart rate up and still kicks your sweet patootie.  I haven't done this one in a while, so it was a nice little surprise on this last day of 2017.

I bet you anything I will get a nice little surprise of sore glutes and arms tomorrow morning when I wake up, too.  That's just how Cathe rolls.  And here's how large dog rolls while I'm trying to do the ab workout on this DVD after all that weight lifting goodness:

He's just rubbing it in that dogs don't have
to work on their abs.  The jerk.

So that's how I'm ending my 2017-with a low-impact weight workout and a sleeping dog in my workout area mocking me with every snore.  But it wouldn't be an end-of-year post without a look back on my crazy year of running and cycling and love of my barbell now, would it?  So I took the liberty of making a small collage of my major races this year:

Here's the rundown for 2017 in terms of races:

• 6 marathons (Austin, Little Rock, Glass City (Toledo), Flying Pig (Cincinnati), Twin Cities, Chicago, Dallas)
• 3 half marathons (Christmas in July (Indianapolis), Schaumburg Half Marathon, and Batavia Half Madness Half Marathon)
• 2 duathlons (Freeport, IL and Muncieman Olympic Distance Duathlon)
• 4 Ragnar Relays (Tennessee, SoCal, Chicago, Great River)

And a smattering of 5Ks and 10Ks.

So what's on tap right now for 2018?  Well, I plan on doing a few less marathons and focusing on my training a bit more.  I am ultimately aiming for a sub-4 marathon, and that's going to require toning down the "OMG there's a marathon I MUST sign up for it" tendency I have.  I am also doing a half distance duathlon in June, so the cycling will add some much needed cross-training into my routine.

And if someone asks me to run on their Ragnar team, I will definitely not say no.

But I have to say that 2017 was a pretty good year for my running.  So even though I have to say goodbye to you, 2017, please remember that I had a lot of fun running in you.  So it's not you, it's me - I just have to move on to 2018 now.

And now for the final learnings of 2017:

• I am really going to buckle down and focus on my sub-4 marathon goal.  That not only means training, but also eating correctly so I can look like my fitness pipe dream.  Maybe.
• So of course I talk about eating correctly but guess who had red velvet cake for dessert tonight?
• In case you couldn't guess, it was me that had red velvet cake. I plan on eating lots of veggies tomorrow to cancel it out.
• But I did have a ton of running and fitness fun this year.  See everyone next year!

Tomorrow's workout: I have a New Year's Day race that is on the schedule, but they're calling for -21 wind chills.  So I may just stay home and do some mile repeats and eat lots of veggies instead.  Stay tuned for the resolution to that cliffhanger.

Day 7, Week 13: I'm so over tapering & I lifted puny weights today.

Tapering.  I don't handle it well.  In fact, I had a tapering tantrum last night.

I don't want to taper and YOU CAN'T MAKE ME

You see, when you get used to running big miles and sometimes fast miles, when all of that running goodness is suddenly yanked out from under you in the training plan, you go through a little withdrawal.  And frustration.

But I was good today and didn't lift my normal heavy Saturday weights; in fact, the barbell is off-limits for a while (BOO).  Instead I whipped out Cathe's ICE series, which is for intermediate exercisers, and wisely chose the workout that sounded the easiest.  So, of course, I chose the Boot Camp Circuit workout because I am a moron.

This workout consists of 6 circuits, each circuit containing one cardio, one lower body, one upper body, and one core exercise.  If you've done any of Cathe's earlier workouts, she definitely makes the exercises in each circuit much easier than she normally would (except, I feel, for the cardio exercises...I found those still pretty intense).  She also lifts much, MUCH lighter than what I'm used to lifting, as you can see from the equipment list on the back of my DVD set:

No 20s? No 25s? BOGUS.

I mean, really--I had no idea what to do with those 5 pound weights.

What are these "5 pound weights" of which you speak?

While I kind of felt like I was wasting my time lifting those lighter weights, I reminded myself that consistency is your workout BFF--I still had to do this workout to keep in the habit as well as to save energy for the marathon next week and allow for some recovery to build strength.  I also loved that abs were a part of the circuits in this workout, unlike the Boot Camp Cathe offers in her Strong and Sweaty series.  That meant no separate abs workout after the weight lifting whereby I have to lay on the floor for 10-15 minutes while I dodge animals trying to play with my mat or lick my sweat.

Speaking of animals, large dog and I have a 5K race tomorrow morning in a town about 45 minutes away, so I have to end this kind of boring and non-funny post now so I can grab some shut-eye. This is so we can get up way early and run 7 miles at marathon pace before the race so we can make the 5K race the end of our 10 mile run on tap for tomorrow.  So I'll leave you with this picture of us from the same race last year, where it snowed the whole time and large dog loved every slippery minute of it:

I'm sure the race will be a great three miles of large dog ADHD trying to yank me into ditches.  Good times.

First some learnings and then I'm going to bed, kiddos:

• Tapering.  Buh.
• Cathe's ICE series is a nice solid series for someone who wants an "entry level" Cathe series whereby they can build up to her heavy weight workouts.   
• The ICE series is also good for exercise freaks who still want to work out like this during a taper when they absolutely shouldn't be doing anything of this sort anyway but are morons.
• How cool is it that Cathe lists the times and needed equipment on the back of her workouts?
• Very cool, that's what.
• It's also cool that Simon is running in a Santa hat tomorrow for our race because, you know...dogs in hats.

Tomorrow's workout:  Already told you it's a 10 miler at marathon pace, but it will be broken up into a 7 and a 3.1.  We'll see if I actually wake up and do those 7 miles pre-race.

Day 6, Week 12: Yet another post about weight lifting on my running blog.

Everyone has a favorite number.  I have several favorite numbers; let me show you what they are:

These are most of the delicious weights you get to use in Cathe's Total Body Giant Sets, along with my beloved barbell and a sliding disc to make some of the leg exercises that much tougher.  The woman does not play in this video-while the sets aren't that long for each exercise, the weights are pretty challenging.  Lift big or go home, indeed.  Well, you would go home if you weren't already working out in your home.

Anyway, I've learned a lot about my fitness capabilities since doing Cathe's Strong and Sweaty series.  While I've been doing Cathe for quite some time, this series has really done a lot for helping me look like I actually have muscles as well as helping my running and cycling prowess.  Below is a nice list of what this series has done for me because it has been way too long since I overwhelmed everyone with bullet points.

• This series helped me see that I can use all my big girl weights more than I thought I could.  Before this series, those 25s and that 30 pound weight was for back work only; this series has forced me to use those for some of my upper body exercises, which a year ago would have been nothing but crazy talk.  You never know what you can do until you push yourself.
• I now know that heavy weight work can also work your heart rate.  The "sweaty" part of the title is serious-Cathe has put together some exercises in all of the workouts that get your heart rate pumping.  And, as someone who is constantly training for a race, I appreciate the fact that I can sneak cardio in during a weight workout that is also helping me get swole.
• I understand that you can always have more barbell.  While Cathe doesn't use the barbell in all of the workouts in this series, when she does its use isn't gratuitous (meaning it's not just thrown in as a gimmick). The boot camp workout in this series uses the barbell in every single set, which as a barbell lover I greatly appreciate.  
• If I use 20 pound weights on my chest presses instead of 15s I will not die like I previously thought I would before the Strong and Sweaty series.  Evidence that I survived (along with an awesome bonus shot of my armpit) is below.

• Workout supervisors are still easily surprised when caught sleeping on the job.

• Weight workouts don't have to be long and boring in order to be effective.  Cathe used to be a little notorious for longer workouts and in some series she has there are a lot of repeated exercises (Low Impact Series, for example).  I'm glad this series is structured differently--the sets are pretty short but the exercises and weights are obviously chosen for maximum effectiveness.  And because the sets are short and she doesn't repeat exercises that often, the workouts move along pretty quickly without me ever wondering when the heck the set will be over.
• Large dog will never be impressed with my weight workouts.  Ever.

And now for more bullet points in the form of learnings:

• I meant that whole "you never know what you can do until you push yourself" stuff.  That's true for weights, running, your job, life, etc.
• I got a fever, and the only prescription is more barbell.
• You're welcome for that shot of my armpit.  It's a refreshing change from sweaty running pictures in front of creepy children statues, I bet.
• In terms of workout supervisors, I guess I can't expect any better considering they just work for treats and whatever large dog can steal off the counter when we're not looking.

Tomorrow's workout: I have a little half marathon race that I'm turning into a 20 miler.  More about how well that goes later...

Day 2, Week 11: 10 things I've learned from doing Cathe's workouts.

I did my typical Monday workout thing and hit the heavy weights.  I was going to do a different upper body workout but my hands had put Cathe's Ramped Up Upper Body in the DVD player before I realized it so my subconscious decided for me.  I had no choice.

Whilst I was trying to endure through some chest flys in this workout (flyes? flies? Someone clue me in on the proper plural for this) and focus on proper form, I realized I have learned a lot from Cathe's workouts over the past 4 years...and I decided to share some of the more important points with the fitnessblogosphere.  And away we go:

Things you learn when you do nothing but Cathe Friedrich workouts for 4 straight years

1) You learn that any woman can do these workouts.

One thing I've always admired about Cathe's workouts is that there are real women in them.  Yes, these real woman are also yooge and strong, but their bodies look attainable, unlike some other videos I'm tried.  And I don't know about you, but if I'm doing a workout video and I don't think what I'm doing in the workout will actually make me look like any of the people in it, I tend to not do the workout anymore.

Also, Cathe gives a lot of good modifications for some of the intense exercises so they can be done by anyone.  As far as the weight workouts, lower the weights if what Cathe is using is too heavy for you at first.


2) You learn that when she says "This is your last set!" that sometimes she is LYING.

I have learned to dread the word "bonus" during a Cathe workout.


3) You learn you can do anything for 16 reps/30 seconds/1minute/twice in one workout.

Cathe pushes you, plain and simple.  When I first started doing her workouts, I couldn't do all of the reps/sets/repetitions.  But I did what I could, and learned I could get to the goal, even if I had to modify at first.  Come into these workouts with a growth mindset and you will learn you can accomplish anything.


4) Push-ups.  So many push-ups.

The woman loves her push-ups.  All kinds.  It makes my pecs cry just to think about it.  Remember those chest flys (flyes? flies?) I was talking about earlier?  Give me 1000 of those over push-ups on any given Monday.


5) The equipment needed for the workouts is worth the money.

I'll be the first to admit that some of the workouts require an excessive amount of equipment, some of it expensive (do you know how much a 30 lb dumbbell costs???).  At first I just didn't buy some of the more expensive stuff (like the club step) and modified as needed, but eventually, after I bought the equipment, I found that it was worth it in terms of results.  Plus it's really hard to do step aerobics on a step stool, if you know what I mean.


6) Along with all those crazy push-ups, Cathe will nail your triceps to the wall.

I think that sometimes the tricep exercises border on the excessive (High Reps especially), but my triceps are stronger than ever.  Can't argue with the results; only the mental anguish during the workout.


7) No matter what you do there will be a husband trying to embarrass you by taking pictures of you during the workout.

Which I intentionally make worse because by God I'll show him just how embarrassing I can be.

8) No matter how hard you work out in my house, there will always be an animal judging you.  Always.

Hyooman.  Not good enough.  Ever.

9) Re: #7 - Cathe's workouts work.

If you challenge yourself during the workout, you'll get results from Cathe's workouts.  End of story.


10) Large dog will always make a mockery of your workout by sleeping right through it.

And, in sum:

• This post was totally meant to be serious but yet again devolved into facetious garbage by the end.
• Writing "top ten things" lists is obviously not my strong point, just like FAQ writing.
• If you workout in my house, you better get used to all the animals roaming around.  And judging.
• Seriously, Cathe's workouts are worth it.  Go buy some.

Tomorrow's workout: A speed workout I can get behind-- a 10 x 400!