Me and Jillian are on a break

I love running, but I also love Fridays because they are rest days on my training plan. Before I knew what a training plan was, I would almost never take rest days. But those crazy days are over, rest days make your next run better, and you get to sleep in, what more could you want?

Apparently I looked too rested, because when I was in the middle of teaching math, one of my kids pointed to my flat black shoes that I wear at least 3 days a week (as evidenced by the scuffmarks) and yelled "why'd you wear your slippers to school?".
 
Um, kid, maybe you need to work on your powers of observation, because these have been in your face about 75 times already this year.

Tomorrow's forecast is 30 degrees with a 70 percent chance of rain. I have been trying all day to get myself psyched for my 18 mile run in those conditions.  It didn't work, and 5 minutes before I had  to pick up my kids from gym I randomly ran down to my room, called the running store, and half pleaded/half demanded to know if they had any waterproof items available. They had one waterproof jacket left in my size, and it was 30%!!!! It was clearly fate and I had no choice but to rush there the minute the last kid was picked up to get it. I didn't even care what it looked like, but it turned out to be super cute and I already love it like a family member.

You can't exactly tell, but it's bright blue.
My marathon coach happened to be working and she told me it was super water proof. I have three hours of running to test that out tomorrow.

After work I attended a fabulous happy hour.

It had great drink specials.


 
They were playing some sweet tunes.

It wasn't crowded at all, in fact, it only involved me.

And my super fun grad assignment. So excited that class has started up again. I guess not all Friday afternoons can be winners.

I know, I know,  you are majorly jealous of my awesome feetie Victoria Secret pjs, and you can't believe how much I look like the model in the ad when I wear them. I actually tried to find it to show you that we are practically twins, but they don't sell the winter stuff anymore so you'll just have to trust me on that one.

So I am finally done with my buddy here, and ready to review it. It's the first time I have ever actually done one of her challenges, as well as my first time writing a review on my blog.

Jillian recommends doing the workout five times a week. I did Level One 4 times per week, and Level Two 3 times per week. And, obviously, it was supplemented with marathon training.

After I finished last night I stared at my abs for awhile and tried to take a picture of them. Here's my conclusion - it's hard to take a picture of your own abs, and its even harder to be objective about your own abs. My first thought was this:
"If I ever come across Gavin Rossdale at the beach, and he has some sort of weird neck injury that only allows him to look at people in the abdominal region, he'll know right away I'm not his wife".

 

But, then, I thought back to all times I finished Jillian's workout even if it involved me screaming, cursing, or crying. My thoughts switched to something like this:

My abs look totally defined! Look at all that muscle! Would it be inappropriate to wear a bikini to work tomorrow to show them off?

So, basically I don't really know if they look any better, and I have my husband trained really well so there's no way I'd get the truth out of him. But, I noticed that the moves did get easier by the third week, and the soreness I felt after the first few times doing each level didn't return. So I do think my abs got stronger.

Pros

• The quick switching from one exercise to the next makes the half hour go by really fast.
• I like how it works all different body parts (shoulders, chest, even legs) while working your abs.
• It has a lot of cardio and gets your heart rate up.
• Jillian explains each move, why we're doing it (for the most part) and has her "dancers" showing correct form.
• There are high and low options within the first level, so you're not doing the exact same thing for the whole three weeks.
• The different levels have different focuses, Level One was more mat work and typical ab moves, and Level Two was mostly standing and focused on your obliques.
• By the end of the third week on each level, I was pretty bored with the moves (but good at them!), so it was the perfect time to switch it up.

Cons

• Jillian's constant yelling can get pretty annoying, luckily the mute button and ipod takes care of that.
• Staring at Jillian and her dancer's perfect flat abs gets a bit depressing after like the 14th time through.
• My abs don't look like Jillian and her dancers, and I suspect I'd have to reduce my chocolate intake for that. Technically this one may not be Jillian's fault thought.

 Overall, I thought it was a great workout, and I'm happy with the results. For ten bucks, it's a great deal, so go order yourself one and then you can start torturing yourself 3-5 times a week as well!

**I think I'm supposed to say something about how Jillian Michaels has a huge fitness empire and millions of dollars, so she doesn't exactly need to pay a lowly teacher with 14 blog follows to tell people to go buy her DVD, if you catch my drift.**

I'd like to say I'm going to continue working on my abs during monster month of marathon training, but that would probably make me a liar. Hopefully I can get the motivation to do some sort of ten minute workout a week or something until the marathon, but with the runs getting super long it just might not happen. But in March I start to taper so then I have no excuse, and I want to keep my strong abs, so feel free to harass me!

I'm off to carbo load and rest for my rainy run tomorrow!