I missed you, Tony Horton

I spent 59 minutes yesterday evening with Tony, Pam, Adam, and *shudder* Dreya.

I like straight lines.  You should see my closet at home.

Every Monday my Cleveland Marathon training plan includes Core Synergistics or Plyo care of Tony Horton, Beach Body, and P90X. Prior to last night, it had been almost exactly 2.5 years since my last bout with a P90X workout. Between July 2010 and yesterday, I had only exercised, excluding running, one time.  I remembered that I enjoyed Core Synergistics more than the other P90X workouts. Still, I was a little nervous to give it another go.

Two and a half years ago, I was using bands as opposed to weights. This time, I went with free weights at five pounds--Joe told me that he feels they make for better results than bands. My only other experience with free weights was the one time this past summer that I did a core workout from a DVD by this creepy dude named Gunnar. Gunnar's DVDs are like a Robert Palmer music video combined with porn, a ball, and weights. I gave up on Gunnar after one workout because I was afraid of dropping the weights on my face as I wobbled to remain upright on the ball.  My core is clearly weak.

Anywho, it was apparent from the warm-up in Core Synergistics yesterday that it was going to be a rough one. While stretching I couldn't do simple things that I once could do with ease, i.e., get my hands onto the floor while stretching. This made me sad.

Every kind of push-up made me want to cry. I used to be able to get down pretty low, and I'm talking in terms of real push-ups--none of that knees-on-the-floor crap.  Last night I was getting myself down maybe an inch before I could feel my chest ready to tear and my wrists beginning tremble. The worst were probably Sphinx push-ups.  I am pretty sure that I once thought those were fun. Last night, I think I did five before I wanted to cry. It, like the warm-up, made me sad.

Using weights was a blasty. In fact, they offered respite between push-up varieties. My favorite move was Lunge Kickback Curl Press, which is everything that is in the name. Five pounds in each hand, lunge, kickback, bring torso upright, curl, press, reverse, down, then repeat with the other leg forward in a lunge. I felt like a badass, although I probably looked pathetic. I think five pounds was the perfect weight, which created way more resistance than what I used to get with the bands. Lots of sweat was dripping onto the floor. It made me happy, although it was fleeting.

The end of Core Synergistics is pretty enjoyable for me, though I think the moves at the end suck for a lot of people: Reach High and Under Push-ups (the only push-ups that I enjoyed, although they, like the others, did make me want to cry), Steam Engine, and the *shudder* Dreya Roll. I was feeling good after those three, so I attempted to give the bonus round a try.

The bonus round starts with Plank to Chaturanga Iso, which is a lot like an ealier move (Plank to Chaturanga Run). The former sucks and the bonus round version might suck worse. Since I couldn't get through one Chaturanga, I just flopped onto the ground and fast-forwarded to the Half-Back. I did that because it's fun, then pushed out 15 Table Dip Leg Raises per leg. And then it was time for the cool down.

I made it through the hour and felt more accomplished than I ever remember feeling the first time through P90X. Or maybe it was more of a feeling of "Thank you, Jebus, for ending this torture." Not bad for my first attempt in years.

I'm thinking about adding a second day of P90X to my Cleveland Marathon training plan. I imagine that I'd add a second day of Core Synergistics, but I'm considering throwing in Ab Ribber X to one of my 3-miler days instead of an entire workout. Without yet trying Plyo, I imagine Ab Ribber X or more Core Synergistics will benefit me most. Not sure how much I'm looking forward to my first ever attempt at Plyo in a couple of weeks.

What do you do to supplement running?  More importantly: What's your favorite Tony Horton quote?