Day 38: MAX CARDIO CONDITIONING

I expected to wake up half-hobbled this morning from Max Interval Plyo, but it was about the same as the day before, just more soreness in the glutes. I'm home with both my kids and I have a lot to do today, so there was no "savoring" this one -- just needed to get it over with and with lots of distractions.

I was lukewarm on it -- not surprising, because Pure Cardio was my least favorite of month 1 and this is just the next step up. It was a lot shorter than the others, thankfully, at 47 minutes. It was basically Pure Cardio but different exercises and longer, and with very brief rests between each exercise, which almost made it easier. I won't go over the individual exercises because Sean has done a great job of that, but some of them are repeats from MIC and MIP, like the diamond jumps, plank punches and lots of variations of jumps with punches and suicides. The good old belt kicks from month 1 return, which is a nice semi-break.

It was hard though, and even the supposedly easier exercises felt really hard after a full minute. I huffed and puffed my way through, and this time I only drank 8 ounces total of my recovery formula -- 4 during the workout and 4 after. I was out at that point and didn't feel like making more, plus it felt more like a month 1 workout with an extra 6 or 7 minutes tacked on, so I figured I would be OK. I feel fine now, energy-wise.

Still using the knee wraps, and my knees feel fine. I did feel a slight tweak in my shoulder during the plank punches, though (those are hard ... much harder than they look), right in the area by the collarbone where I had the clot last fall (which isn't totally gone). It scared the crap out of me, and I hope it was something very minor. I'm sure the blood thinners I'm taking right now will protect me from further clotting, but it still scared me, as did the prospect of a shoulder injury.