Simon Says...Run: PHOTO EVIDENCE

Sunday, April 21, 2013

PHOTO EVIDENCE

I thought it'd be fun to look back at some before and after photos. Back in the summer of 2011 I attempted P90X. Actually, I call it P60X because I only lasted 60 days, instead of the 90 days the program is supposed to go for. Anyway, I thought I took photos at the beginning and after one and two months, but I couldn't find any 60 day photos.

So the first two photos below are from the start of the program and the second two photos are after one month. At the time, I blogged that the results were indistinguishable. While I was stronger, it was hard to see visual evidence. Looking back, I think part of the issue was that I wasn't doing any cardio work at the time, due to injury, so P90X basically just replaced running. Also, I didn't adjust my diet at all.

Fast forward to the last two photos which I took yesterday and I think you can see more of a difference than anything I did during P90X. While I'd love to say this is just from changing my breakfasts from cereal to Nutriblasts or from switching to a plant-based diet. However, I just added the Nutriblasts at the beginning of April and I've only been without meat for one week. I think this really all goes back to the start of the year when I started trying to mix in some salads and avoid all the sweets at work. In addition, I also started adding in a second workout each day. Basically, I'd try to do my cardio in the mornings, as usual, but then at lunch time I'd go into our fitness center and alternate days of core work with days of lifting weights. Of course, x-c skiing all winter doesn't hurt either when it comes to things like triceps, abs and shoulders.

After gorging from Halloween through Christmas, I was up to 158 pounds. Yesterday I weighed in at 145 pounds. Best of all, I feel great. Yesterday I had my longest run in probably 7 or 8 months. I made it 15 miles at 7:45 pace and felt great at the end. That gave me 50 miles for the week on 6 runs, plus an hour long spin class - and of course, 2 sessions of core and 2 sessions of weights.