Liz Runs the Mile High City

Where blogs go to die

lizruns — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 15:19:45 +0000

Testing, testing. Is this thing on?

It has been a very long time since I last blogged. I’m still running, and currently training for my next marathon – Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth, MN on June 22nd.

I guess I lost motivation to blog about running all the time. Therefore, I started a new blog that has absolutely no focus and just my ramblings. I can’t guarantee it will be interesting or exciting, but it’s out there if you want to read it.

Here is the name and the link – The Denver Diaries.

Have a great weekend!

Like a rollercoaster baby, baby

lizruns — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 03:40:26 +0000

The last few weeks have been a little bit of an emotional roller coaster.

Some good stuff: hearing news about awesome people moving to CO, my dad and Joey the dog coming to visit for a few days, my high school BF Lauren coming to visit, a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, and going to an Obama rally.

Some not so good stuff: family issues, crying after Lauren left because we’ll probably never live in the same city again, a hard drive crash AND an external hard drive crash.

Thankfully, Neil spent many hours over the weekend working on the computer and was able to recover everything.

With having two visitors, I gladly gave up workout time to be with them. I also decided to back out of my first ever trail race because I wanted to spend every second with Lauren.

We were active, but I was ready to get back to my regular workout schedule as life became more stressful.

This last week, I finally feel like I’ve gotten back into my groove of wanting to run. It also helped to have a breathtaking sunset run around Sloan’s Lake to remember why I love pounding the pavement. I could almost become an evening runner with the perfect temperatures and awesome views.

I also have some races coming up, which I’m really excited for. In a few weeks, I’m running the Rudi’s 5 miler in Boulder thanks to peer pressure from Alex about the awesome swag. In just under 4 weeks, I’m running another half marathon. While everything else in my life has been up and down, my running mood is definitely on an upswing – so here’s to it staying that way!

Denver RnR Half Marathon: Race Recap

lizruns — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 01:21:38 +0000

On Saturday, I ran my first Rock ‘n’ Roll race. I was expecting it to be poorly run, crowded and generally annoying as I’ve read some poor reviews of these races. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised and race day was great. I rode my bike to the start, which was an awesome decision because it was an easy ~4 miles mostly downhill to the race, and I could park my bike right near the start/finish area. I’m sure trying to find parking would have been stressful.

As I went to check my gear (which is actually something I’ve never done at a race before because I’m a weirdo) I realized I had left my shoe timing chip at home. I started to freak out when a kind volunteer directed me to the Rock ‘n’ Roll “solutions” tent. Even though I had no cash on me, they gave me a new timing chip and bib and asked me to come back at the end with money. That incident made me feel like the Rock ‘n’ Roll team was well-organized.

I had originally been put in corral 2, but with the new bib I was bumped back to 8. There were over 15,000 runners and 17 corrals! They did wave starts, and I crossed the start line around 10 minutes after the first wave. Because of this setup, I really didn’t have to do much weaving throughout the race. On the other hand, I was always surrounded by people throughout the course.

As the race started, I was feeling pretty good but I could “feel” my IT band, if that makes any sense. I promised myself that I would take walking breaks if that escalated into discomfort. And if discomfort escalated into pain, I would drop out of the race.

I’ve been using Neil’s old iPod for the last few weeks since I couldn’t find my clip on shuffle (I found it after the race in my make-up bag, which tells you how often I wear makeup). I just hold it my hands, and somewhere along mile 3 I dropped it. Although I quickly picked it up, my heart rate felt really high and off after that, so I decided to take a walking break for 30 seconds to calm down.

As the miles continued, I paid close attention to my IT band. Around mile 9 it started to feel more uncomfortable. I expected this, as this is the part of the course where a few rolling hills begin to show up. My lack of training past 10 miles probably didn’t help either! I decided to take 30 second walking breaks, plus walking through some of the water stops. I’m happy to report that this kept the IT band level at “slight discomfort” and it never crossed the line to become painful. By the last mile, it was feeling a lot better and I was able to cruise into the finish.

This may sound lame, but I’m pretty proud of myself for taking this race approach. A few years ago, I would have convinced myself that it is stupid to walk with only four miles left in a race. Then I would have probably re-injured myself and complained when I couldn’t run the next week. I feel like I’m a much smarter runner nowadays, and I can focus on the big picture (running injury-free for a long time) instead of short-term goals (making a certain time in one race). Thanks to big picture thinking (and foam rolling), my IT band feels completely fine today.

I also had two reoccurring thoughts throughout this race. One, I was grateful not to have any time goals. It made the race so much more fun and less pressure. Two, I was very happy to be running 13.1 instead of 26.2. Another sign I’m not quite ready to pull the marathon trigger again.

Considering the race itself, I loved this course and plan to do it again next year. Compared to Colfax, there were a lot more people out cheering (of course, I have no idea if this continued for the full marathon runners). The race started/finished at Civic Center Park, and wound through downtown, some nice neighborhoods, City Park and Cheesman park. Plus the last few miles are slightly downhill, with a steep downhill at the finish line.

This race has confirmed that my love of running and racing has returned. I have another half in early November, and I’m excited that my endurance is well on its way after this weekend. AND I’m actually excited to do some speed work.

Denver RnR Half Marathon Goals

lizruns — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 18:51:53 +0000

When I registered for the Denver Rock n Roll Half, it was going to be my A race for the fall. But with a bad spring marathon, training burnout, an injury and a focus on other non-running related things in my life, that plan fell to the wayside. While it has been nice to not follow a training plan religiously the last few months, this Saturday will be the first race I’m heading into completely unsure of what will happen.

The Fans of the Field 10k was a good test run to see how 8:50-9 minute miles feel these days. It did feel doable to hold that pace for longer (especially since I was feeling pretty ill that race day), so that was a little bit of a confidence boost. But the fact that my longest run for this race was 10 miles and it was 3 weeks before race day is less than reassuring.

I’m more worried about my IT band problems coming back than I am finishing (the last few miles are downhill – which always irritates it more). If it starts to hurt, I fully intend on pulling out of the race.

I’d love to break 2 hours, simply because I have broken 2 hours in every half marathon except one. That race was a half in Ft. Lauderdale in February 2010, right before I started blogging. I was there for a friend’s wedding and training for my first marathon, so I registered for the race to do as a training run. I completely overdressed and a few miles in stopped to take off my jacket and re-do my bib (so dumb). Then about halfway through the race I got a very bad blister – bad enough that it bled through my shoe. As a result, I had to do a lot of walk/run intervals for that race and finished in 2:00:43…so close.

Either way, I think after this race I may be ready to get into more regular running and training again. A lot of the blogs I read are coming to their peak of fall marathon training, and I am finding myself a little envious of that feeling of accomplishment. I’m going to hold out on registering for any fulls for now, but I plan on filling up my fall with shorter races.

With that said, my most important goal is to finish the race injury-free so I can focus on running for the rest of 2012.

Fans of the Field 10K: Race Recap

lizruns — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:27:15 +0000

On Sunday, I ran the Fans of the Field 10K. It was one of the coolest races I have ever done.

Race day did not start out smoothly. I don’t think I ever posted a follow-up about my stomach issues since I experimented cutting out gluten and dairy. After years of doctor visits and painful days, it seems like dairy is a main cause of my issues. I’d like to point out that I have tried a dairy elimination diet in the past – but since there were so many times I ate dairy and was fine (think Pete’s Apizza people!), I couldn’t believe it was true. When I got sick after my first dairy elimination diet, I even blamed it on heavy food instead of lactose. What I’ve learned is that people can have different degrees of lactose intolerance, with some people getting reactions right away and some people taking up to 24 hours to feel anything. My problems seem to only show up when I eat dairy a few days in a row, or eat a lot of dairy at once. I’ve also started proactively taking lactaid pills if I know I’m going to eat dairy. I try to avoid it on a regular basis because I feel SO MUCH BETTER these days without it.

Anyways, rewind to Friday night, Neil and I went out on a nice date at a little Italian place. I forgot lactaid pills, but figured it wouldn’t be a big deal. We even got gelato for dessert. I was fine immediately after, but by Saturday afternoon my stomach started to hurt a lot. I took a probiotic drink and was fine for dinner at my friend’s house.

At 2:30 am on race morning, my stomach pains actually woke me up. I tossed and turned and went to the bathroom multiple times until 5:30. My alarm went off at 5:45, since I planned to run a few miles before the race. With my stomach still in a lot of pain, and a few bathroom trips still needed, I decided to wait until the last possible minute to leave the house and only run the 2 miles to the start line. Again, I took a probiotic drink which seemed to help.

Unfortunately, I didn’t want to risk eating or drinking anything that might make my stomach worse, so I skipped my pre-long run toast and coffee and simply took a Gu with water before the race. Luckily, my stomach held out for the race, but I certainly felt underfueled.

The idea behind the Fans of the Field 10K is that you run through the 3 major stadiums in Denver: Sports Authority Field (where the Broncos play), The Pepsi Center (where the Nuggests play) and Coors Field (where the Rockies play).

I met my friend Bronwen before the race, but we ran separately. We lined up according to pace groups and the race never felt crowded. There was a big hill within the first mile, but otherwise nothing too extreme.

It was awesome running through each of these stadiums and seeing it from the players’ perspectives. The Pepsi Center was actually in hockey rink mode, which was disappointing for me since I love the NBA. It was still cool to run indoors for a bit during a race, something I’ve never done. There were also cheerleaders and mascots at each stadium.

Finish line at the Broncos stadium

I kept a decent pace for the race. My goal was to come in around 9 minute miles and I did. However, this race made me realize how much I miss being faster. I hope next year to do this race again and kill my time.

Post-race they had the typical bagels and granola bars, but they also had barbecue and beer. I didn’t partake for obvious reasons, but brought some chicken barbecue home for Neil. While I had originally planned to run home and bring my total mileage to double digits for the day, I knew I was too underfueled to run anymore. I happily accepted a ride home from Bronwen.

I highly recommend this race to anyone in the Denver area, especially sports fans.

The Big Day

lizruns — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 03:02:24 +0000

There was a period of time just a few years ago where every summer was crammed with weddings. To be honest, they became less meaningful over time and influenced my own decision to elope.

The last two summers have been different. The number of weddings have decreased as I get closer to 30 and the last few have been some of the most important to me. Last year, both my brother, brother-in-law, and oldest friend got married. This summer, my best friend from high school got married. And this weekend, my cousin/best friend got married on Long Island.

How funny and eighties is this picture?

It was exciting for me because not only am I super close to Melissa, but I really love her fiancé and I love them together (I know I’m not the only one out there who doesn’t feel that way of all their friends!). They met over 10 years ago, so I think all of her friends and family have been looking forward to this day for a while.

It was my first time being a matron of honor and it was truly special. I loved spending the whole time with my cousin and doing anything in my power to make her happy. I was super nervous about the toast, but it went well. Plus I got to spend time with my other cousins. Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures from the wedding (too busy having fun!), but here is a cousin picture from the rehearsal dinner.

Back to work and back to regular life today, I got back into training mode with a body pump class after work and a workout plan for the week.

Monday – body pump (check!)
Tuesday – lunchtime trail run
Wednesday – speed work run AM, body pump PM
Thursday – recovery run
Friday – bike commute
Saturday – rest
Sunday – ~4-5 miles + Fans on the Field 10K

In between having visitors last weekend and then going out of town less than 48 hours after they left, my half marathon training has suffered in the last week or two. I ran 4 miles over the weekend and have no plans to make up the long run I missed. I ran 10 miles before my in-laws came to town, so I feel confident enough to finish the half marathon.

Normally, I would get upset about messing up my training, but my cousin’s wedding reminded me that running is not even close to the most important thing in my life.

A Family-Filled Long Weekend

lizruns — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 00:43:39 +0000

When we decided to move to Denver, one of the biggest adjustments would be living thousands of miles away from family. My parents, Neil’s parents, and Neil’s brothers all live(d) in the DC area. His two youngest brothers just left for college. My brother and wife also lived in DC in years past, but moved to San Francisco last year.

As soon as we decided to move, my mom booked tickets for her and my dad to come visit. Twice. I was worried that Neil’s family wouldn’t make it out for a while, but we convinced his mom to come for labor day. Then, we got an awesome surprise that Neil’s older brother Matt and his wife Kristen would also be making the trip.

Matt and Kristen are hoping to move out here in the not-so-distant future. Kristen’s cousins live in Castle Rock, so we all worked together to plan an action packed weekend to convince them Denver is the place to be.

Activities included:

Delicious meals at a restaurant in Castle Rock, one of our neighborhood places, famous Colorado pizza, and my favorite vegetarian spot.
Hiking at Red Rocks
Driving up to Mt Evans (thanks to Heidi for giving me this idea!)
Hanging out in Ft. Collins with their OTHER cousins

I think they’re going to like it here.

High-Low: Running is Hard

lizruns — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 12:54:20 +0000

I don’t want to sound like an asshole, but lately these posts have been harder to write because I had trouble finding lows. Thankfully running regularly again after a few months of no running took care of that problem.

High workout of the week: MY BIKE COMMUTE! Sorry, but I had to scream this one. I was unable to find a safe north-south route from south Lakewood to North of the 6th Avenue Freeway (do not let the green lines on Union fool you!). To my surprise when I checked Google maps yet again this week, I found the city of Lakewood has kindly added new bike lanes, making my whole bike commute pleasant and safe. Not to mention the new route has less steep hills so it is faster. I don’t think I can really articulate how happy this makes me. I actually WANT to bike to work for the first time since I moved.

Low workout of the week: I have been doing my trail runs at lunch. Because I work in Lakewood, I’m conveniently very close to Green Mountain. I always have the mental battle to get myself out there because once I’ve spent a few hours at the comfort of my desk, it’s hard to motivate myself to go do a tough workout in the hot sun. But then I remind myself of the old saying that I never regret a run and I always love it when I’m out there. UNFORTUNATELY, I might need a new mantra because my Tuesday trail run sucked. I don’t know if I was dehydrated or just fatigued from Body Pump the previous night, but my legs were shot and I struggled to finish without a million walking breaks. My Thursday speed work was also tough, but I was expecting that at least.

High work week moment: NOT having work today…HA!

Low work week moment: Do you know what I have hated most about all my jobs? When I have to wait on someone else – and literally having nothing to do while I wait – to finish something at work. I’m not sure if this is industry specific or just the nature of the working world. While this job actually requires less waiting (because I’m not dealing with external vendors anymore), it still drives me nuts to waste time like that. Particularly when that happens after 5 pm.

High moment in the kitchen: I’ve been making Neil these one-dish rice and chicken meals. He loves them so much and says I should open a restaurant selling just those. Perhaps I will bring back recipe posting for this one.

Low moment in the kitchen: The other night these things were consumed for dinner/snacks: crispy tofu, cauliflower rice, and kale chips. While these were are all delicious, I think this officially makes me a food weirdo.

Now I’m off to do my long run of 10 miles. Hopefully I got all the bad runs of the week out of my system. Have a great long weekend!

The Perfect Mix

lizruns — Tue, 28 Aug 2012 02:44:32 +0000

I learned a valuable lesson this weekend. Corporate America should change over to four day work weeks (with a three day weekend). After taking Friday off, I came to work this morning feeling rested, happy and revitalized. I have Friday off again this week, which makes me positively giddy.

With a three day weekend I had the chance to do everything that makes a weekend perfect: socializing, being active, relaxing and productivity.

Socializing:

I took the day off Friday to spend with Lauren and Alex. Lauren was celebrating her last day of freedom before starting her graduate program, so we decided to have a girls day. Alex dubbed it nails, trails and cocktails, which perfectly sums everything we did.
For lunch on Friday, we met up with Erin for sushi in Boulder. The last time I saw Erin I was dying at the last mile of the Colfax Marathon, so it was great to see her again.
Lauren and Phil hosted a BBQ on Saturday, cooked us delicious food and served us yummy drinks. Thanks guys!

Being active:

A hike with Lauren and Alex at Eldorado Canyon on Friday. It was beautiful, but I was a little freaked out by the number of fresh mountain lion warning signs in the area.
A 2.6 mile trail run with Neil and Leela on Saturday at Meyers Ranch Open Space. It was at 8000 feet and I was certainly feeling the elevation difference.
A 7 mile solo run + the Retro Run 5k with Lauren and Leela on Sunday. The race advertised that they would be music throughout the race (with each mile designated to a different decade), but unfortunately they only had a band at the start/finish. Because of that, the race was kind of a disappointment, although I liked seeing people in hilarious costumes. They also had no water stops and ran out of water bottles by the end, which made me feel like a terrible dog mom! But I was proud that Leela ran the entire way (except when we got slowed down by race traffic). She also handled the crowds pretty well, so I definitely want to do more races with her in the future.

Relaxation:

Manis and pedis with Lauren and Alex.
Lots of cocktails following said manis and pedis.
A nap on both Saturday and Sunday. This is a huge deal for me because I NEVER nap.
8 pm bedtime on Sunday night.

Productivity:

Errands and groceries on Saturday morning.
Lots of cleaning and organizing around the house on Sunday. Let’s just say I haven’t seen the counter tops of this dresser and nightstand for a long time.

Of all the fun things I did this weekend, the highlight was a surprise from my brother-in-law Matt and sister-in-law Kristen. Neil’s mom is coming to visit this weekend, and they surprised us by buying last minute tickets to come as well! Not only are they family, but I truly consider them to be our best friends as well. I’ve really missed them since we moved to Denver. They are already thinking about moving here, so I plan on making the upcoming weekend the BEST EVER so they will move immediately.

Insanity Review and Results

lizruns — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:27:59 +0000

I wrapped up my final day of Insanity on Monday. I’m proud to say I did every single workout.

Short story:

I feel like I’m in much better shape than when I started the program. I haven’t felt so challenged, both physically and mentally, in a long time. But I’m very happy to be done.

Pros:

Not thinking or planning your workouts
Can be done in the comfort of your own home
No equipment necessary, except a mat
Shawn T. (the trainer) is funny and nice on the eyes
Most workouts are 40-60 minutes, with a few days longer than that
You constantly see your fitness improve through regular fitness tests and being able to do more each time you do a video

Cons:

Doing the same few videos for an entire month
Keeping up motivation to do a DVD six days a week for 9 weeks

(The Very) Long story:

Why I did it - I decided to try Insanity after seeing some infomercials and reading about it on some blogs. I purchased it off craig’s list for $70, $90 cheaper than the retail price. I was interested in Insanity because it is only 60 days. Think about where you were 60 days ago. It doesn’t seem that long ago, right? I thought to myself, in 60 short days I could still be frustrated with the same 5 pounds, or I could push myself for a short period of time and see real results. I was also dealing with an IT band injury so I had to take time off from running anyways. I found the workouts did not irritate my IT band, but there is a warning at the beginning of the video for people with knee, and back problems, so proceed with caution if you are injured.

How it works – Insanity provides a calendar of workouts, with a workout every day but Sunday. Every two weeks on Monday, there is a 25 minute fit test to measure your progress. The fit test consists of doing as many reps as possible in one minute of 8 different exercises, with a one minute break in between. Each workout in the entire collection has a warm-up, pre-stretch, the main workout and a post-stretch. It has a timer along the bottom of the screen to keep track of the total time, as well as the time in each section (I LOVED this).

How it is broken up – Insanity is broken up into month 1, recovery week and month 2. Recovery week is in between months 1 and 2, and is the same video each day. Months 1 and 2 have three main videos to rotate through, plus a recovery video each Thursday and an additional ab video. Two of those main videos are high interval training, which consist of a circuit of tough exercises, repeated three times. There is a one minute rest between each circuit. The last video is an endurance video that has all different exercises with minimal rest for the entire length of the video.

What to expect in the workouts – There is a lot of jumping around in Insanity. Think jump tucks, burpees, and high knees. There is a big focus on leg work with variations of squats and lunges, but also upper body work through different types of push-ups. Because of all the jumping, this might not be a good workout if you have people living below you. I actually did the first month entirely barefoot to keep the noise level down and because running shoes hurt my feet. In month 2, I bought some cheap cross-trainers because I had a bruise on the top of my foot and jumping around hurt it more. I did the workout in our office, with a fan pointed on me (no central AC!) and a towel nearby because I was always dripping in sweat.

Month 1 workouts – I was sore after the first day fit test, so I knew Insanity was going to be a challenge. And indeed I was sore the entire first week of workouts. Each circuit starts out at a lower intensity, and increases gradually until maximum intensity in the third run through. The videos were only 40 minutes long, but I felt like I pushed myself to the brink by the end of each workout. Plus I was working on muscle groups that had been ignored by running and lifting. By the second week the workouts had gotten much more manageable, and by the third week, the videos were easy and I was starting to get sick of the same videos.

Recovery week – I had read a lot of reviews online about the intensity of month 2, so I welcomed recovery week with open arms. While doing the same video every day could seem boring, I liked seeing immediate progress in the two toughest sections of the workout (hip flexor burners and shoulder burners).

Month 2 workouts – The reviews were right. Month 2 is MUCH tougher than month 1. While there is no way I could have gotten through a workout without having month 1 as a base, I felt like it was a very significant increase in intensity. The workouts are 50-60 minutes long, and instead of gradually increasing in intensity, the first circuit is also completed at full speed. The first two weeks I felt demolished after each workout. But I also started getting excited as my fitness improved and I could gradually do those seemingly impossible workouts.

The diet – Insanity provides a nutrition plan along with the workouts. It helps you calculate a calorie goal. The plan itself is focused on healthy carbs, high protein, and healthy fats through 5 small meals a day. I followed the plan at the beginning, but honestly five meals a day takes a lot of planning and packing for this working woman. I still used the nutrition plan to tweak my meals and incorporated a lot more protein (through eggs, beans and tofu) than I usually do. I consider myself someone who generally eats healthy 80% of the time, and indulges 20% of the time on drinks, meals at restaurants, and snacks. But this summer, it has probably been closer to 70%/30% because I’ve been exploring restaurants and CO beers. I know that following the meal plan to a T is an important factor in getting results, but for now, getting the best results isn’t as important to me as having fun.

How I stayed motivated – First of all, I’m a sucker for a calendar training plan because I love checking off the boxes and seeing the progress everyday (OCD much?). Secondly, I broke up the months in my mind. When I first pinned up the calendar, I folded it over so I could only see month 1 and the recovery week. I only focused on getting through month 1. The hardest week in month 1 was the third week – the workouts had started feeling easy and I was getting bored of the same videos. Reaching the fourth week and seeing the end in sight kept me going. Again, this happened in the beginning week 2 of month 2 (or week 7 overall). Except this time I was struggling because the month 2 workouts were so hard and I still had 3 full weeks left. Once I got through that week and only had two weeks left, I knew I could push it until the end. Another key element for me was doing the workout immediately when I woke up. There were only two occasions I didn’t do this (one was after we went camping, and one was after Lauren’s bachelorette party when I was too hungover to keep down solid food until 3 pm). I didn’t have to think about NOT wanting to do the workout, I just popped the DVD in and went for it.

Running with Insanity – I would not recommend doing Insanity while you are training for a big event. Like I said, there is a lot of focus on lower body work, and my legs usually felt shot. I started incorporating running back into my workouts in month 2 (only because I have a few races coming up), and it was not easy or enjoyable. The Insanity videos the day after a trail run SUCKED because my legs were fatigued. Plus I only motivated myself to do my weekly long on a Saturday once – because I signed up for a race – meaning there were a few weeks when I had no rest days at all.

The results - There is good news and bad news here. Good news – my fit test results went up across the board. Especially those push-up jacks!

MOVE	FIT TEST 1 (DAY 1)	FIT TEST 2 (DAY 15)	FIT TEST 3 (DAY 36)	FIT TEST 4 (DAY 50)	FIT TEST 5 (DAY 63)	Total % increase
Switch Kicks	54	61	65	67	70	30%
Power Jacks	43	57	62	69	74	72%
Power Knees	85	97	105	118	120	41%
Power Jumps	22	28	32	43	50	127%
Globe Jumps	10	12	13	13	13	30%
Suicide Jumps	15	18	20	22	24	60%
Push-up Jacks	13	19	25	32	35	169%
Low Plank Oblique	41	60	70	80	97	137%

I feel stronger and in better shape than I have in a while. I also can tell my legs and abs look more toned, and some of my slightly-muffin-top-pants fit better. I noticed when I was at the gym this week, I could do much more push-ups and in better form than ever before.

The bad news is that I only lost about a pound. I know that I would have lost weight if I ate better, but for me following such an intense workout plan and an intense diet plan is too much. Especially since I only want to lose 5 pounds. It’s hard to feel motivated to be PERFECT when it is only 5 pounds! I also know that I probably gained muscle, but unfortunately I’m still disappointed and frustrated. I should have taken before/after measurements and pictures (which the program recommends) and I highly recommend anyone doing this program does so to take focus off the scale.

Bottom line: I would recommend this program if you want to push yourself and feel fitter than ever. Be sure you can commit yourself 100% because it takes a lot of motivation to stick through all 9 weeks.