P90X Workout Review

For some reason today I decided to take my normal workout to the next level. After having a nice weekend it was time for me to head to the pool and work off anything that I put into the system. I do allow myself to have a couple adult beverages and the occasional large meal at a restaurant on the weekends. During the week I eat pretty healthy. This past weekend was pretty calm. My girlfriend and I didn't do all that much except for hang out with some family friends and went to downtown Detroit for "Noel Night."

When I got into the pool today I felt really quick. I ate a small breakfast and had no lunch before I went. There was a guy in the lane next to me who is a very good swimmer. I kept on pace with him for the most of the time. Something was different though. Usually I start tiring out around the 15 length but not today. I made it all the way to 30 lengths (15 laps) without tiring. This is a new first for me.

Feeling rejuvenated I finished off the rest of my swim with another 15 laps. My overall swim time dropped by almost 5 minutes which is quite impressive for me. I kept thinking while I was looking at that stupid black line on the bottom of the pool why I was so much quicker and feeling good. Could it be because I took it easy this past weekend and rested or could it be that I ate ok and didn't have any bad food sitting in my stomach. What about me not eating anything except breakfast?

After finishing my swim I drove home and took one look at my treadmill and said what the hell. I threw my bathing suit in the bathroom, put on my running shoes and turned the treadmill on. The speed was at 6.2 mph with a 3% incline. Surprisingly I still felt strong. My iPod had some new jams on it and I just kept on rolling. At mile 2 I caught a second wind and decided to crank up the mph to 7. This is moving along pretty good for me.  When I hit mile 3 I knew I was starting to feel gassed and stopped.

When I added up what I did: a 3/4 mile swim and a 3 mile run it got me thinking that I could possibly do a mini triathlon. TriathaNewbie.com says a mini triathlon is usually a swim under a mile, a bike ride from 9-20 miles, and a 3-6.2 mile run. Well today I did almost 2 out of the three and I was not even going at full speed.

I have always thought about doing a triathlon but have not committed to it. Maybe I can start out small to get myself in the right direction. This might be the thing I need to keep my focused through the winter. The activities I do in the summer, softball and golf have already ended. I am not involved on any winter teams so I have more than enough time to train and focus. A couple of years ago I did the Detroit Marathon so I know I can focus on training.

 You know what. Let's do it. I am going to do some research on training for a triathlon and see what I come up with. Its not going to hurt me to change up my current workout routines. P90X is all about changing it up so this is what I need to do.

Two or three times a week I head up to LifeTime Fitness to go for a swim. Swimming has been a great workout to compliment all of the exercises I do with P90X. Its good to switch it up every once in awhile and after doing P90X for 9 months now it only helps build on the muscles I have gained. I usually do 30 laps (60 lengths) when I go and this was my plan for today.

Anyways, there is always this older guy who swims around the same time of day I do. This old guy is the kind of guy who brings four different types of flippers to swim in. He even has the flippers where it is a one piece flipper. I kind of want to use them because it is going to make you use your abs the whole time because your legs can never get out of sync. Of course he has a speedo like every old guy has. I think there must be an unwritten rule that says if you are over the age of 60 you have full rights to wear a speedo in any setting including grocery shopping. Old dudes are the only guys I ever see wearing speedos.

So what you need to know is that this guy is intense. He probably could hang with Martin Strel. If you do not know who Martin Strel is, he is the guy who swam the entire length of the Amazon River. Yup, all 3,274 miles. Pretty amazing knowing that we all know there are Piranhas and other creepy fish in there.

It just so happens that every time I go swimming the only lane open is the one next time him. The first couple times I started swimming he always seemed to be just out of my reach. Its not like I started or waited for him to get to the same end of the pool I was at but it worked out that way. We were always neck and neck with each other. He did not know we were racing but we were. It was my mission to beat his ass in a race officiated by me. How could I keep on losing when I make the rules? He did have a small advantage over me. He could do the turn where you do a flip before you hit the wall. I would go all out touch the wall and push off. With the spring action he was getting from the wall he always popped up for air at least a body length ahead of me. I would chase and catch up just to lose him at the turn.

He was not going to beat me today. I was feeling fresh from taking a couple days off from P90X on a trip I was on. I let him get one length ahead of me and my goal was to catch him and pass him before I did 10 laps (20 lengths). This was going to be quite a feat because he usually beats me heads up. It looked like he had been in the pool for 15 minutes so to be fair I figured the one length was good.

I felt so good in the water today. I got onto the same length as him after 8 lengths. It was going to be close but I had 12 more lengths to go. With 6 lengths to go I was half a length behind him. I could not see him under water yet but only on the turns when I had to come out of the water to turn. Down to 3 lengths and I could start to see his wake under water through my goggles. Your within my reach old man!! With 1.5 lengths to go I was neck and neck with him. I caught him. Was I going to tire? Was he going to turn on the after burners? Did he know he was going to lose the race in which he did not know he was racing in?

Yes. Old man river got beat. I pulled ahead of him and beat him by about 4 body lengths. I was tired as hell from all of that swimming. Looking back at it I had to swim twice as hard to catch him. Of course he did not stop. Probably had another 500 laps to go. Til next time old man!!