After finishing week 2 of the program you're supposed to do an exhaustion test...do as many push ups as you can with no break. I had a pretty busy weekend, so didn't get around to doing my test until tonight. I managed to complete 35 push ups! Yay me! This means I can continue on to week 3.

Yesterday I finished week 2 of the push up challenge. The required sets were: 16, 17, 14, 14, >= 20 with a 2 minute rest in between. I just barely managed to finish 20 in the last set. The next step in the challenge is to do an exhaustion test: do as many push ups as you can in a row with no rest. This determines what how your sets in the next few weeks will be organized. My first exhaustion test was back before week 1 started, and I managed 23 push ups. I'm hoping to do at least 30 now that I have a few weeks under my belt...but we'll see how things go :)

Required: 14, 16, 12, 12, at least 17 w/ 90 second rest Did: 14, 16, 12, 12, 20

Yesterday I started the second week of the 100 Push Up challenge. I needed to complete 5 sets of 14, 14, 10, 10 and max (at least 15) push ups, with a minute rest in between. I did manage to finish all 5 sets, with the minimum 15 push ups on the last set. This was much more difficult than the last day of last week, probably because of the shorter rest period. My abs were also pretty sore last night after doing the push ups. I can see how this challenge is going to be...challenging :) I'll do day 2 of week 2 tomorrow.

I just finished the last set for this week, which was 11, 15, 9, 9 and max (at least 13), with a 2 minute rest between sets. I finished 20 push ups on the last set. Today was much more difficult than on Tuesday. My muscles were tired after the first set, but I think I am improving, I was surprised to have been able to do 20 on the last set. Next week the rest period drops back down to a minute, so we'll see how much of an effect the rest period has! Week 1 completed! Total push ups so far: 192.

Just finished day 2 of the training. Pretty similar requirements to last time, today was 10, 12, 8, 8 and max (at least 12) but with a 90 second rest between sets. The extra 30 seconds of rest made this much easier than last time, and I finished the last set with 18 push ups. I can definitely feel different muscles getting a workout though!

As I mentioned yesterday, I'm starting the 100 push up challenge. I decided to start today. Mondays always suck, so the chances that I would be able to work up enough motivation to exert extra physical effort would be pretty slim. The requirement for today was 5 sets of push ups: 10, 12, 7, 7 and max (at least 9) with a minute break in between. Today wasn't too bad, I finished all the sets without a problem, and managed 13 on the last set. I think I could have squeezed in two or three more, but Thomas decided to try and climb over me as I was finishing #12 and #13. So, a break on Monday, and then Day 2 of training on Tuesday! I'm actually looking forward to it!

After taking a bit of a hiatus from racing, I completed my second half marathon last week. I did the same race as the one two years ago, the Toronto Marathon. I liked the course when I ran it before, and the weather in October is usually better than in September. I finished in 1:52:45.6 (compared to 1:52:58.4 in 2006). So I'm 13 seconds faster! Woohoo! Halfway through the race I thought I might beat 1:50, since I was consistently doing less than 5 minutes per kilometer....but that part was mostly downhill :P Once the course flattened out I slowed down again. The weather was perfect again this year: a bit chilly waiting in on the starting line, but very comfortable once you got going. Signing up for races is a great way to keep motivated. I've signed up again this year for the Egg Nog Jog, and I'd like to actually do the Around the Bay race this spring...I registered for it in 2007 (and have the shirt to prove it!), but my training was kind of thrown off by Thomas' birth, and our move to the new house.

I'm a bit of a sucker for silly physical challenges. For example, I'm hoping to complete the Canadian Death Race one of these days. So when I learned about the 100 Push Up Challenge, it immediately appealed to me. The gist of the challenge is to progress along a 6 week program, at the end of which you should be able to do 100 push ups in a row. I did the initial test tonight, and managed 23 push ups. Pretty pathetic, I know :P I thought I could manage at least 25! I intend to post updates semi-regularly on how I'm doing. Haven't decided whether I should start tomorrow, or wait until Monday. Stay tuned.