BOOT CAMP: DAY ELEVEN OF ACTUAL WORK OUTS

BOOT CAMP: DAY ELEVEN (ACTUAL WORKOUT)

Because I missed Boot Camp yesterday morning I had to go to the 6:30pm camp to make it up. The temperature was 94 degrees according to my car. My car would not lie to me.

We were in a nifty new location that had hills for our instructors to utilize.

First of all I must say that the 6:30pm class is smaller and so a bit more of a friendlier group. I had a good time talking to some of the women there.

Boot Camp is mostly women. We have 3 guys in our AM class of about 40+ people. There was only on guy in the PM class. He didn’t look like he was out of shape, but he seemed to be struggling.

I am still exhilarated when sweat drips off my face. When I’m doing push ups and it drips off of my nose…when I’m running and it skates down my jaw line to my chin. I really like that.

This guy must have been off the chart exhilarated. OMG…he looked like he was just dunked in a pool for the entire hour.

We did what they called “Suicides”.

Do I need to explain that? Sprint to the first cone, touch the ground, sprint back to the starting cone, touch the ground, sprint to the second cone, touch the ground, sprint back to the starting cone, touch the ground, sprint to the third cone and then run all the way down to the bridge and back to the starting cone where you will do about 50 squats as a cool down and then you’ll do another round of suicides.

We did this six times on flat ground. On the fifth round instructors yell out this, “C’MON YOU CAN DO IT! YOU ONLY HAVE ONE MORE OF THESE LEFT!”

Thus encouraged, I continue running even though I feel like stopping because I can see light at the end of the tunnel.

It was false light. I should have known when they used the term “one of these” that something was up.

After round six we moved to a new location where cones went up the side of a small, but steep hill.

Have you ever seen horses, pushed to the edge? They have foam in the corners of their mouths and their eyes are rolling in their sockets? That’s what I felt like when I saw that hill. I wanted to start shaking my head and pull out of my harness.

But I didn’t.

I got all….”I can do this. They can’t beat me.” I lowered my head and tried to “sprint” up the hill to cone one, then ran back down, then I sprinted again up to cone two and then ran back down, and then I sprinted (there was some groaning involved here and my sprints probably looked like NOTHING like a sprint) up to the top cone and ran down. That was round one and then we did push ups and then we did round two and then we did squats and then we did round 3 and boy were my eyes rolling then! But …I did it. I really did it.

After the suicides…we were done. It was time for our warm down…180 sit-ups. We do 6 sets of thirty. Each set is a different type of sit-up. Then we get to do stretches.

I wobbled to my car, drove home, wobbled to my house and cleaned up.

This morning I woke up at 4:45 and went to my regular Tuesday morning boot camp. Same spot, but with my regular fellow campers. This morning wasn’t as bad as yesterday, but I was amused to see that I was sweating just as much as I was the night before in 94 degree heat. Of course it was 79 degrees at 5:30 this morning. That doesn’t sound cool to me, but it felt VERY cool.

I was so worried about the heat, but it’s interesting how you’re so busy worrying about dying that you don’t even notice the weather.

Oh, a shout out to Andres’ daughter Andrea. She finished boot camp last week. She lost 12 pounds, 4 inches off of her waist and she reached very one of her fitness goals.

Hoo-Ya, Andrea!!! WAY TO GO!!!

BOOT CAMP: DAY TEN

I messed up when I set my phone alarm last night. I set it, but didn't SAVE it and so...

...

you know that sick feeling you get when you realize you overslept.

Yeah...that was my Monday morning.

So I missed boot camp Friday morning and did a make up class on Saturday, now I missed this morning and will have to make it up tonight...at 6:30....during the heat of the day. The high is expected to be 93-degrees.

Jaimie tried to help me see the bright side by saying, "At least it won't be 103." True...at least it won't be 103-degrees.

Thank you, Jaimie.

P.S. Jaime DID go to class and wrote her blog about it bright and early this morning like a good little camper and it sounds like it was hard...very, very hard. There was hill climbing involved.

And what really chaps me is that for once...for ONCE it was actually COOL this morning!!!

Ugh!!!

I am currently waiting to hear from Boot Camp Uber Instructor, Kari, to see whether or not I can attend boot camp this evening.

BOOT CAMP: DAY EIGHT (of actual work outs)

First of all let me say THANK YOU to those who left encouraging notes yesterday. It really did help me, especially last night. I think I was delaying my bedtime because I knew that as soon as I went to sleep it would be time to wake up and go to Boot Camp. Finally, I forced myself to hit the hay, but I did a quick Facebook Drive By on the computer just to re-read your notes.

And I'm happy to say you guys were right. Today was MUCH better!!!

I was seriously considering not going, but where does that get you? Nowhere. I mean, you have to go again at SOME point or else quit.

Quitting is not an option.

As Andres' daughter Andrea pointed out in a note, I'm almost to the halfway mark. Who quits when they're half way to a goal? Not me!! So, I'm glad Andrea reminded me of that.

Jaimie, Andres' daughter-in-law, is in the same boot camp class. I've been reading her blog entries about her take on the experience and have been surprised at how similar our feelings are day to day.

She wrote a very positive entry today and I was glad. I wanted to write a positive entry today too because I thought to myself as i took my post boot camp shower, "I need to write about the good things in all of this instead of just the bad."

As I said earlier, Boot Camp was easier today. Not easy, but easier than yesterday!!!

Yesterday...Holy Moly.

Today....I didn't feel so demolished and disheartened at the end of class. We did 2 minute drills. Lots of sprinting and core body work. I liked the sprints. They brought back the plank today and my elbows, which were JUST beginning to heal, got roughed up again. (WARNING: NEGATIVE COMMENT AHEAD) I don't know which I hate more, the Plank or jump rope. Okay...back to being positive.

If EVERY day was like today, I'd consider signing up for another month, but...I know every day won't be like today and besides...I need to rest because I have learned that boot camp takes up more than one hour of your day.

You have to stay on an eating schedule and you have to watch what you eat. It isn't difficult to follow and I'm getting acclimated to some WONDERFUL new eating habits, but it isn't easy to be spontaneous with family and friends. I've also been losing quality family time in the evenings because I conk out so early, but on the up side, by getting my work outs done in the morning I don't have to do it in the evenings. Andres and I try to ride around the lake or run at least 4 or 5 days a week after I get off of work.

This morning as I walked from the parking lot toward the field I chatted with a young woman in her 20's who I'd never talked to before. She told me that, like me, she had considered laying out today because yesterday left her hurting so bad. But after camp was over, as I jogged back to the parking lot with Penny, a 56 year old first timer, Penny told me that she had just signed up for two more months.

There is a lesson here....
.
.
.
.
Penny's lost her mind.

*best smile*

Have a very positive day!!!

BOOT CAMP: DAY SEVEN (OF ACTUAL WORKOUTS)

Short update today for anyone who cares. I've been out of town on a shoot today, so could not post any earlier.

In a nutshell, Boot Camp was hell this morning. At one point I thought i was going to barf because my din din from the night before kept coming up. Then as I stood up and started to jog to another area for more workouts I got dizzy and thought...."Well, I'm going to pass out." and for a moment I wished I would.

But I made it through the hour long meat grinder, somehow, and got home.

Andres met me at the door like he does every morning and gave me his usual question, "How'd it go?" And I started crying.

I didn't bawl or anything, although I almost slipped into a jag when he said, "C'mere." and held me, but I got control of myself.

It was hard, that's all and I'm not even sure I was crying because it was hard. I think i was crying from a combination of exhaustion and just well, for lack of a better word, fear.

I dread going to boot camp now. I hate to say that because it really is a positive thing. I AM seeing results in my shape...I think. Maybe I'm just imagining things. But it's good. That which does not kill us makes us stronger, right?

Right.

Again, Andres, not liking to see me that way, told me I could quit. But I told him I wouldn't. "If I'm crying and puking through the entire class I'm not quitting." I said.

But I'll sure be glad when it's over. At least that's how i feel today.

I wonder what they'll do to us tomorrow.

BOOT CAMP: DAY SIX (OF WORKOUTS)

We worked our arms today.

5 sets of 20 reps for each of five arm workouts with bars and balls, so that's 500 arm moves with extra weight.

After each set (100 reps) we had to run to another area to do cardio burst work.

The alternation was interesting. I found myself dying to move to cardio when working my arms and then dying to get back to the stationary arm work when I was doing my cardio.
I am writing to you from my desk where I am having a light soup with fat-free yogurt and a piece of string cheese for lunch.

*stare*

Oddly, I know I’ll be satisfied after I eat and then I’ll eat again at 3:00, so the eating is okay.

I was so tired/sleepy last night that I went to bed without supper. Not good. I need to eat.
I think the running is getting easier. I’m not sure. If it is, the improvement is negligible.

I keep looking for improvements even though I’ve only been doing this for a week and two days. I need to get my expectations under control, but when you’re working this hard you sort of expect to be Wonder Woman by now.

Well, I’m not Wonder Woman.

I’m just Tired and Sore Woman.

BOOT CAMP: DAY EIGHT (5th day of actual work outs)

No days off this week for us weary campers, so I’ve decided to strap in and get psyched for the ride.

And…..the ride got off to a tough start this morning.

Andres and I rode our 11 miles around the lake both on Saturday and Sunday, so I wasn’t a bump on a log this weekend. I also did pretty well with my eating. My splurge meal happened Friday night when Andres and I decided to hit Tokyo House for Sushi on a whim. It was a very nice evening. …but I digress. We were talking about Boot Camp.

I woke up at 4:55 this morning from anxiety dreams about getting ready for boot camp. In the dream I was panicking and racing around trying to find my gear. I was terrified of being late. They told us that if we were late entire class would pay for it, but I noticed today that the late arrivals and those who over-indulged through the weekend were taken off by themselves after class for “encouragement’. That means extra work. That’s a good sign, I suppose. Maybe they’re backing off of the communal punishment idea.

This morning we had to carry around a heavy ball. The ball wasn’t very big, but mine weighed 15 pounds. We ran to our workout area holding the balls over our heads. That gets old fast, trust me. When we arrived at a lovely spot by the water our instructor, Kari (she’s kick butt and I really like her) told us that today would be a high intensity cardio day. Translated that means, “You’ll be dead by the time we’re done.”

And I was.

The work out, as best I can recall, went like this…

Hold ball and jump.

Jump side to side.

Now run in place with knees high…hold that ball up!

Awesome, okay now go take a run.

So we ran and came back and had to go right into pushups using the ball

One hand on the ball, then switch it.

And so it went. That was the pattern…cardio work-out with heavy ball, run, push-ups…cardio work-out with heavy ball, run, push-ups over and over again.

“OKAY YOU’RE THROUGH!” Yells Kari

But it’s a lie. She only means we’re through with the day’s special program. At this point we line up…hold our balls (stop laughing those of you immature enough to laugh) and start running and then alternately side shuffling (I hate this) to a different grassy area where we do our core exercises.

Core Exercises = fifty jillion sit ups.

Then we stretch and THEN we’re finished.

Tomorrow morning is another wonderful day. I can’t wait to see what they do to me.

BOOT CAMP: DAY FIVE

I was nervous about boot camp this morning because I felt like yesterday's time off would see me losing any ground I might have gained in the first three days of class.

It turned out to be okay.

On day five our boot camp toy du jour was a 10 pound pole. At least I think it was 10 pounds. It was heavy. It was about 4 feet long. We got to hoist that onto our shoulders and jog with it to a lovely hidden glen by the lake where we did squats with the pole. Lots and lots of squats of so many different kinds.

Happily, I have quads like King Kong and so the squats weren't a killer for me. I started feeling the burn at the end, though. Note to self, try to sit down further into the squats.

I'm not sure why, but for some reason the instructors decided we had to run right in the middle of a set. Not in between sets, but right in the middle.

There we were, counting down from 20 and when we got to 12 one of the instructors yells, "DROP YOUR BARS AND RUN!".

We dropped the bars and ran. I don't know why. It was very random and done with zero explanation.

And get this, later, some girl who was across from me in the circle, which means she was as far away from me as she could be said something verboten. There I was doing my squats and counting out loud like a good camper when all of a sudden one of the instructors says something like, "I HEARD AN 'I can't' EVERYONE DROP AND GIVE ME 20!"

So that girl might have said something like, "I can't do this."

Boot Camp rule: NO WHINING!

The 20 push ups didn't bother me too much, so no biggie, but if I'd had to do an extra run with that bar on my shoulders because of her, that would have been a different story altogether. I'd have raked her over the coals....in my mind.

Long story short, I went to bed last night with much trepidation in my heart. I woke up at 4:55 with a dull sense of dread, but by the time we were finished with the bars and had gathered to do our core exercises, something we do at the end of each class, I felt pretty good. Boot camp wasn't very brutal today.

Now we have a boot-camp-free weekend ahead of us and while it's a wonderful thought, it also makes me nervous. Like I said earlier, I don't want to lose any ground, so I may show up at one of the Saturday morning classes that are held for any campers who want to come. That should be at around 10:00am, though, so no early call on Saturday. YAY

DAY FOUR: NO BOOT CAMP

We got a day off today!

We got a day off today!

YAY!!!

It was so nice not to have to get up at 4:55am to head off to camp this morning. Instead, I got up at the leisurely hour of 6:00am and went on a tandem bike ride around the lake with The Marrying Man. That’s only about 11 miles, so no biggie. I actually feel guilty for not doing more.

Still the ride was hard. The wind was pretty strong making about 4 miles of the trip pretty difficult.

My legs…they don’t like jumping and so they did not like the ride this morning. My calves are EXTREMELY sore from Wednesday’s boot camp. I had to go down the stairs sideways today. My calves keep threatening to cramp up at the slightest provocation.

More injury inventory:

1. My elbows are all skinned up. We have to do several plank exercises which puts you on your elbows and toes. Yesterday we had to “walk” down the length of our jump ropes in this position and back again. The elbows were already a little gimped up from previous days, but Wednesday pretty much made them officially scabbed. *gross* I look oh, so professional at work walking around with scabbed up elbows.

2. Knees: they don’t like scraping along on dried out grass either. My right leg has scratches all down the shin.

Food Notes:

We have to keep a log of everything we eat and have been told to eat 6 small meals a day and we’ve been advised what to eat and how to eat it. I haven’t been hungry once…well, okay once yesterday afternoon, but it was fine. I am so full from lunch right now it isn’t funny and I have to eat again at 3:00! I have healthy foods and meals I’ve prepared at the house, so I bring everything I need with me to work. I just had 2 oz of beef with stir-fried veggies and yeah…I’m full. I’ll have half an apple and a half cup of cottage cheese at 3:00.

I’m a little sleepy today.

DAY THREE: Just Do It!

Remember when I wrote about hating the jump rope station on Day Two? Guess what was waiting for each of us Boot Campers when we checked in for duty this morning?

"EVERYONE GRAB A JUMP ROPE!!!"

That's right, we had a flippin' jump rope in our hands for the entire hour.

When I wasn't jumping with the jump rope I was running with the jump rope held over my head.

I had to hold the jump rope aloft while doing lunge squats.

I had to lay the jump rope in front of me and jump back and forth over it, do push ups in front of it and then…I got to jump with it some more.

*sigh*

Well, it was lots of running here to do jump rope exercises, then run over there to do more jump rope exercises. (the lake is lovely at dawn though) Then we ran back to where we had just run from to do more interesting things. (note: I had no idea you could do so many things with a stupid jump rope) It was hard for me, very hard, but not quite as hard as yesterday. At one point by the lake, I think it was during the 100 jumping jacks, I found that my mind had left my body.

Cool.

At that point I realized I wasn’t there with Bravo Company (that’s the name of my squad. Don’t laugh) listening to instructors yell, “C’MON! MAKE SURE THOSE HEELS TOUCH THE GROUND!” My mind was thinking about work and other things. The ol’ brain said, “Enough of THIS! I’m outtie.” My brain is very smart.

Note: I’m a sucker for one on one encouragement. I did not know this about myself, but as I was sludging through some jumping exercise about half way through class one of the instructors got in front of me and said, “Just Do It!” I realized he was talking to me and looked up. (apparently when I’m worn out I stare at the ground while trying to jump) He was smiling at me and said, “yep, I’m reading your shirt.”

I looked down at my shirt and sure enough it had emblazoned on it, “Just Do It”.

I suddenly picked up my pace.

I feel great today. Sore, but great!

DAY TWO: OMG

Just let me say OMG. Whatever warm feelings I thought I had about feeling cool at boot camp on day one were immediately dislodged this morning.

I can’t even be creative here so I’m just going to outline what we had to do.

Run about a quarter mile to vacant parking lot. Get in a circle with your group and do calisthenics, many, many exercises designed to get us warmed up. While doing this we all had to tell the group something about ourselves.

I’m not gonna lie, I was tired just doing those warm up exercises. I know, it’s shameful, but there it is. I was already winded.

After the warm up we ran again, longer this time, but I’m not sure how long…half a mile? I dunno. We ran to a grassy area where stations were set up with lighted cones so we could see where we were going in the dark. We had to go around to these stations and do workouts in smaller groups with about ten in each group. Even getting from station to station was a workout.

No rest.

No rest.

Just move and jump and lay down and hold your legs up and lay on your side and hold your legs up. Now raise one leg in the air and hold it while you’re in plank position. Don’t put it down. (I had to put it down) Now the other. Now side plank. Hold yourself up. That was an example of what happens at the stations. Then we would run to the next station for more and by the way, I hate jump ropes. Jumping rope sucks when you’re already tired.

And when you’re through jumping rope please run some more.

I was dying as I moved through the circuit and felt some hope in my chest as we came back around to the station where we had begun. I thought that meant we were at the finish line. I thought it was nearly time to go home. But I was wrong. We got to the station only to find they had more work for us. We had to do a second circuit. My legs were shaking as I tried to do more lunge squats. My abs hurt because most of the exercises focused on our abs today.

“JUST THINK ABOUT THOSE BIKINIS!!!”

Yeah, right.

It was as I was moving through the second round of circuits that I realized something, never ending workouts would be a great punishment in hell.
I was seriously dying and wondering what I’d gotten myself into. Someone’s made a HUGE mistake!!!

But you know what? There is a girl in the class. She’s very large. She was in our smaller group at the start of today’s class when they made us introduce ourselves which is how I know anything about her at all. She’s from the Bahama’s and this is her second month of Boot Camp. She’s been through the boot camp once and has decided to do it again.

Just knowing that inspired me. As hard as it is for me, it must be harder for her and she didn’t quit. More importantly, that crazy girl signed up for more!!! So I noticed that she was always trying her best with everything. I tried my best too. It wasn’t stellar by a long shot. I think I even cast out a disparaging comment about jump ropes to a fellow camper as we approached the jump ropes for a second time. I felt bad about that because it’s not very encouraging to my fellow boot camper to be like that. I made a mental note to keep any grumbling to myself. Besides, a positive attitude absolutely makes a difference.

I returned home sore and had a hard time going up the stairs. My body hurts all over, my arms, legs, backside, back, abs.

But the thing I like about today’s boot camp is…I made it through and….well…that’s about it. I made it through and I feel good about that.

We Have to Say HOO-YA and Everything!

I was feeling very G.I. Jane as I lay on the grass at the park surrounded by 40 other boot campers. It was raining in my face as I struggled to do as many sit-ups as possible in one minute. That was really a nice moment. I felt good about myself in that moment. My first day at Boot camp was more than half way over. Light was seeping into the air. The morning was cool and the rain was gentle.

“14, 15, 16….C’mon, you can do it!”

That’s my partner. We buddied up for this portion of the camp. We had to count for each other while we did push-ups, sit-ups, more sit-ups but in a different way, tricep presses and then some more sit ups. My partner’s name is Dallas. She was a very good counter. She is skinny, a little older than me and has a black eye, but she looks very cool. I was a sucky counter for Dallas because I lost track very early into her pushups. The instructors were walking around all of us barking out things like, “ENCOURAGE YOUR PARTNER” and “30 SECONDS LEFT”. I got distracted and forgot where I’d left off with my counting. I was not prepared for the mental focus needed to count. So I guessed at it. I hope she wasn’t counting for herself, then she’ll know I goofed it up. I will not blame her if she finds another buddy tomorrow, but it should be noted that I did an EXCELLENT job of counting for the rest of the bajillion exercises they made us do.

Class started at 5:30am. Dark Thirty. It was cute. They had a Coleman lantern set up at the table where the instructors check our log books every day. We have to keep a log of everything we eat and how we’re feeling. We get daily emails with encouragement and menu ideas. Andres’ daughter, Andrea, began her boot camp experience about two weeks ago and so was able to give us (us being me and Andres’ daughter-in-law who is in the same class as me) tips like, plan ahead when it comes to eating six meals a day. So I packed my mini-meals last night and had it all ready to go this morning.

The hardest part of camp today was the end of the mile run. They timed the run to get our first day best time. They will time us again on the last day to measure how much we’ve improved.

I was flat out exhausted at the end of that run and looked forward to a little breather, but there would be no breather. At the end of the trail, trainers greet you with this…”GOOD JOB! NOW GET DOWN ON ALL FOURS AND DO...” I don’t know the name of the exercise they made us do, but it was NOT an easy one. (I think it should have been an easy one, because really…the run was very hard) My hands were planted on the asphalt trail. Why couldn’t we be on the grass? (don’t forget, it’s still raining) My feet were together extended behind me. I had to jump up and bring both feet in at the same time and then jump and extend them back out. Totally sucked and I thought I would die.
But I didn’t.

After that terrible exercise I started feeling better Apparently, there is no standing still allowed in Boot Camp. We had to move the entire time. Even if you’re standing there listening to the instructors yak you have to be doing a quick time jog in place. Other instructors will walk around us and yell at us to “MOVE”.

Overall, was very excited about doing day one and worried that they’d cancel class because of the rain and lightening, but the lightening was to the west of us (and beautiful, I might add) so they stayed the course.

When I think about doing this every day it’s a bit overwhelming, so I put that thought out of my mind. Now that I know what to expect, I probably will have a little more dread in my heart about tomorrow morning. I really hated that run and then the quick turn-around to exercise, but I’ll be there and I’ll do it.

And with that I will leave you with a hearty….
HOO-YA!!! ß(they force us to say this at the end of every exercise)