Round 3 Begins...

Before I delve into the today's adventures let me recount Thursday and Friday. I didn't write on Friday because I had family visiting for an early birthday celebration. In preparation I made sure to go to spin class on Thursday so I could just enjoy my time with them Friday.....I couldn't believe it. People were actually telling the truth that spin doesn't hurt your bum as much the second time you do it. I didn't leave feeling like I bruised my crack! Friday morning I slept as late as possible knowing full well that my house guest weren't use to getting up before 5am for bootcamp. I think I made it to 6 so I had to hide out in my room for another two hours before waking them up. It was my mission to show them Highlands Hammock State Park though I've never gone myself. We hiked around out there for a good hour and yes, it was as bad as I imagined. We were attacked by the most vicious horse flies and probably donated a pint of blood each to the mosquito population but it WAS pretty out there. If I ran a 5k out there I'd probably complete it in record time because I would faint of blood loss if I went any slower.

This morning culminated the beginning of bootcamp round 3 for me. The enrollment was jaw-dropping when I arrived at the Highlands YMCA this morning. There must have been at least 50 people there. It's great to see so many taking control and making that step towards healthy living. Also, as usual, misery likes company. We started with a little circuit where we did three burpees, 3 tire flips, 27 rope things (sorry, no idea what to call them but we basically had to take both ends of one of those tug of war ropes and flick it 27 times on each arm), then we ran to the volleyball pit around the little lake that was forming and do 3 sand sprints. When that was over we did another circuit that involved table climbs, lunging ball passes, shoulder presses, a couple banded arm exercises and tire flips. Then we started both circuits over again. It's amazing that I actually missed that squeaky little voice that tells me to sink lower into my lunges. No, the voice is not in my head, it's Sgt. Laura making sure I earn that shower.

Two-Shower Morning

Reggie and I were up and at it. He knew today was the day he got to go for a run. I warmed up with a little Shaun-T Hip Hop abs and then we hit the pavement. Hopefully my hands get use to hold the leash so tightly soon because right now it almost feels like rope burn. What would be even better is if Reggie actually stayed by my side without me holding on for dear life.

We got home so I put him in a cold shower again and dried him off to cool him down. Then I jumped in the shower myself. When I got out I looked at the time and wondered why I was done so early. Duh! I was supposed to meet CEO.com at the YMCA pool at 5:45. It was now 5:43. Well I threw on my bathing suit and made it to the pool only five minutes late but apparently the shower initiates cool down mode because I was whining about doing laps like a child leaving a candy store. 6:15 couldn't come fast enough.

Magic Yoga Mat Rides

I made plans to meet up with CEO.com at the Y, so I wondered how Reggie would take it. I half expected him to follow me to the door wondering why he wasn't dressed for a run yet but that boy didn't even follow me out of bed. I guess he's isn't afflicted by the same guilt as me when I want to stay in bed longer.

When I got to the gym I went immediately to the treadmill to warm up and wait for CEO.com. When she got there we started our 1 mile run on the treadmill. Ugh I really despise running indoors. There's nothing interesting to look at which makes you pay closer attention to your exhaustion. I wanted to quit around a half a mile but I know I can run .7 miles without walking so I pushed on. Once I got to the .8 mile mark I started walking to catch my breath but only for .05 miles then I picked it back up again. I was hoping to get under 13 minutes for my mile but I started my sprint a hair to late, however it's still marked improvement.

When we were done with the treadmill we reluctantly went to the blue room to work on some floor exercises. We did timed two minute situps, some timed arm exercises, planks, flutter kicks, leg lifts, pushups, sumo squats and burpees. We finished it off with some stretching and CEO.com says to me. "Don't you just wish these yoga mats were magic carpets and they could just take us home right now." Someday....Someday....A Whole New World

Success Is Not Throwing Up..I Mean Giving Up

Finishing up the first of two weeks without bootcamp. I'm definitely not getting the same intense workout I would get under Sgt Laura's screech but the important this is I'm still moving and now I'm sharing my healthy new habits with my 5 year old....dog. This morning, moments before my alarm went off Reggie popped out of bed and started nudging me. I told him last night we were going to run in the morning and I guess he was anxious to hit the road. Well I made him wait with anticipation because I first put on a 40 min hip hop workout dvd. When it was time for the cool down part of the dvd I got the yoga mat out. Oh I remember why I have to keep putting away the yoga mat. Immediately as I'm getting on my yoga mat, Reggie tries to bulldoze me over so he can lay on the yoga mat. No I'M going to do downward facing dog!

It was finally time to hit the road for our run. Boy he picked up some speed today, I tried to slow him down telling him to pace himself but he was determined to do more than prancercise. He was already much improved at staying by my side rather than bobbing and weaving in front of me but I also got more of an arm workout forcing him to stay by my side. We made it the entire loop and he never threw up. Yay! Always a nice thing when you don't throw up in the neighbor's lawn. I think I'd like to continue running in the morning with Reggie even after bootcamp starts. Maybe on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Healthy Mom, Happy Mutt

I've already worked out three times this week! I promised CEO.com that I would go to spin class yesterday and I kept that promise knowing full well just how miserable it would be. I don't think I've done spin since 100 lbs ago. It was no surprise how much those narrow rock hard seats hurt your butt, the surprise came when I made it through the entire class. Granted, I had to stand up and peddle often before I was supposed to but I had to do something other than run away to relieve the pain. I'm pretty sure I checked the clock at least twice a minute.

I woke up this morning determined to take my shepherd/husky mix, Reggie, for our FIRST RUN EVER. In the 5 years of his life I've never lead a healthy enough lifestyle to give him that kind of exercise. Sure he's run at full speed in dog parks and we go on an occasional long walk along Lake Jackson or to the nearest Redbox but never have we jogged together. Ok so my run is more like a fast walk for him but in that hot muggy Florida air at 5am the .7mile loop we did was more than enough for him. We got half way done and he threw up. He's always been a terrible walking partner, he bobs and weaves and while running, he nearly took me out several times. When we got back I had to cool him down with a cold shower and I went to the YMCA to meet up with CEO.com to swim.

We did a couple freestyle laps and then some kickboard laps and then we went to the deep end to run in place for a few 30 second intervals. As we're moving I tell CEO.com my legs are tingling, "I think that means I'm losing weight". She laughed at me and said, "I'm pretty sure that means your blood is flowing." I replied "Yeah, which means I'm probably losing weight!" A few more seconds passed and I said, "I'm losing weight in my ankles right now." We both busted up laughing. Exercise is no fun if you can't laugh about it.

Gym Anxiety

Today was the first day of the two week bootcamp hiatus. My fellow bootcampers talked the good talk on Facebook about still meeting at the gym and working out together. Well when I showed up it was a ghost town in the basketball court, I would have left then but as I was walking towards the entrance Mrs. Mayor showed up and encouraged me to go inside the gym. I exclaimed that I didn't know what to do in there! I'm terrified of the actual gym. There were two or three more people in there I recognized from bootcamp so I hopped on a treadmill beside them...and they moved on within a minute or two so again I was alone, bored to tears staring at a pitch black window. Twenty minutes went by and I decided enough was enough. I went home and put on a hip hop workout routine. I think the look I was getting from my dog, Reggie, was probably more judgmental than any look I actually would have got from someone at the gym. I was imagining him saying as he was laying in the lazyboy staring at me, "Look at this big white girl, she couldn't hold a beat with both hands." I carried on with my rythmless hip hop imitation for twenty minutes. I know I didn't get as good of a workout as I would have at bootcamp but at least I got up and moved. I somehow agreed to try spin class tomorrow morning so we'll see if I can even walk on Wednesday but I know that I need to come up with a workout plan for the remainder of this break so I don't get gym anxiety again and leave.

It's Over! Until It Starts Again...

Challenge: Run to the Circle K
to buy a banana and protein shake

Today was the last day of my second round of bootcamp at the Highlands YMCA. I really wanted to be able to say I've lost 30lbs since the beginning but I can only say I've lost 29. Just like last time the end of bootcamp is celebrated with a group challenge. Yay! *said saturated in sarcasm. For any introvert, group projects and challenges are never preferred merely tolerated...refer to photo.

Challenge: Put the tire in a truck
push the truck down the road

One challenge we did that was actually kind of fun was when we put a tire in the back of Sgt Laura's truck and pushed her truck down the road until she yelled stop, asked us a trivia question, if we got it right we pushed it again and if we got it wrong we had to take the tire out, roll it around the truck and put it back in.

Challenge: Skate around the
room as a group

We also had to "skate" around some cones as a group. I think we were fairly good at this one. Skating is actually when all 4 of us put our left feet on one 2x4 and our right feet on another lifting up one board at a time. The last challenge my group tackled was the pool challenge. Only two of us needed to do this so G Boss-man and I volunteered. He swam 3 freestyle laps and I just had to swim 2 kickboard laps. The sad thing is I barely finished my two laps ahead of his 3. Lesson learned though, bring a towel on challenge days. My car seat was still wet on my way to work.

And now a two week hiatus from the organized torture. I think several bootcampers are still going to meet up and work out during the break so misery will still have company.

Skeeter Buffet

Today was very deceiving. I thought for sure we were going to have one last 1 mile run to gauge our improvement in our last week of bootcamp so I prepped with proper support....we didn't run a mile. When we arrived there were a few mats and bands set up in the basketball court so I thought we'd do some circuits there....but we went to the classroom for various weighted exercises with 20 second pick your plank recovery. Pick your plank is like saying pick your poison. You could do regular planks, left or right side planks or reverse planks. I tried reverse planks for a couple seconds but strangely it gave me a twinge in the back of the knee. So I pretty much stuck with the standard planks. After that we did three very quick exercises to include, high kicks, knee pulls and tire flips. I'm now at a point where I have to go for the heaviest tire or I'll feel guilty for not challenging myself. Then she said we were going to the field. People often call the soccer field the skeeter buffet but that can kind of be misleading because the mosquitos are the ones chowing down on bootcampers. Today however, right before we did our last sprint across the width of the two soccer fields, one particularly zombie-like mosquito had a hankering for brains I think because he flew up my nose so hard HIS life almost flashed before MY eyes.

Finally it was over but oh wait, it's someone's birthday again which only means we plank in some sort of design while singing happy birthday. People! Would you quit aging! Luckily this time Sgt Laura asked me to lead the song so for once it wasn't slow and painful....well after all those planks we did before it at least wasn't slow.

Last Week of Round Two

So it begins, the last week of this 6-week round of bootcamp. Time to finish strong. We started with a small scale circuit, many of the exercises seemed to target the glutes and legs because here I am singing, "These quads are on fire!"

Since my favorite part about my blog is recounting the ridiculous exercises Sgt Laura has us do, let me tell you about today. It is somewhat like a trust fall except you're watching your partner's agonizing expression on their face as they try not to let you fall on the floor with the full force of your twohemmem lb butt. This is probably one partner exercise that is a good idea to find someone around the same weight as you but did we do that? Nope. CEO.com and I, partners in pain, paired up as usual. It started with me on the floor and she is supposed to pull me up into a standing position and then slowly lower me back down to the floor with little assistance from me.....well since I've got a considerable amount of weight on her I tried to help as much as possible but lets face it, standing up from a lay down position is already a labored effort for me alone. So I think she still got a good workout.

We finished out the workout with a .7mile lap and I made it again without walking! Last Friday I signed up for my first 5k, I know I have a long way to go from a mile run to a 5k but hopefully I'll be able to work on the endurance to at least survive it over the next 2 months and 3 weeks. I also just found out that after this week I'm going to have two weeks without bootcamp. This will be good practice on how to keep active on my own....that's what I'm telling myself anyways.

Dodge This!

While doing our pre-workout laps around the basketball court we all notice the illuminated floodlights on the volleyball pit. That only means one thing, sand sprints. We started first on the basketball court doing ball toss relays, the concept of which eluded both CEO.com and I for quite a while at first but we finally got the hang of it. Basically, most of us stand in a line and shuffle left while 5 people toss a ball at us and we toss it back then they toss it to the next person and they toss it back and so on. Let me warn you that zoning out is not a good idea during this activity. I drifted off in thought and Radio Diva nearly took my head off with a medicine ball.

After a few rounds of this modified dodgeball we went into the classroom for some timed and counted plankwalks and leg lifts....then the time was here, it was time to go to the sand pit of pain aka the volleyball court. We did our sand sprints and then it came, the thing I was warned about, sand plank crawls. Of course because I'm the odd woman out and didn't have a partner, Sgt Laura, who by the way is quite petite with short arms, volunteered to plank for me and I am supposed to crawl under her....in the sand. To make it even better, we had to demonstrate the plank crawls for the group. By the time it was over the imprint in the sand looked like I was trying to tunnel through the DMZ of North Korea! Thankfully I haven't detailed my car yet.

I Felt Like G.I. Jo

I think Sgt Laura took a page out of G.I. Jane for today's workout. Our first exercise was called The Human Stopwatch Drill. I tell you, there's nothing more effective when torturing someone than inflicting the pain on someone else and making them watch. That's what the Human Stopwatch did. We had to pick a partner and go to opposite ends of the 2 basketball courts. One of you must plank while the other person runs the length of the 2 basketball courts and back 5 times. The idea that someone is suffering through planks for that length of time is a good motivator to run faster. What made it even worse was the three rounds we did, we had to have a new partner for each one so you had to torture three separate people.

We then went to the classroom for sets of 60 partner sit-ups, planking high fives and side crunches. The planks and the high fives I can do with some speed but ain't no way I can pump out 60 sit-ups quite yet. I think I slowly got to 30 when this pinching in my lower back became unbearable. Thankfully on the round of 40 we did, I was partnered with G-Boss Man so we were in the same boat, planks and side crunches ok, sit-ups not so much. Sgt Laura didn't even believe us when we finished the planking high-fives, probably because G-Boss exaggerates every other number. :-)

I'm A Tweener Now

I barely made it to bootcamp on time this morning due to various morning routines taking entirely too long. I arrived to find Substitute Sgt Java explaining the first set of circuits. I guess he learned this time that he doesn't need to demonstrate each one for us. :-P On one of the circuits we were supposed to do pushups for a minute but considering we were doing these on the basketball court the concrete is too hard to do modified pushups so I had to buck up and do REAL pushups...well obviously I couldn't do REAL pushups for a full minute so I took breaks and Sgt Java caught me on one of them so he took it upon himself to come over and provide workout theme music to inspire me to continue...I'm not sure what song he was butchering but it only made me laugh. That Sgt Java is a character, not only does he provide a live sound track but when giving us an update on time left on each round he yelled "You have a certain amount of time left." CEO.com retorted "Well thank you Captain Obvious!"

One of the last things we did were Indian Runs, apparently we didn't do them like Sgt Java wanted us to do them but we just continued on. As usual, we split into speed groups. Group one the fastest and group 2 the slowest. We got to the other side of the building when group 3 officially kicked me out and told me I need to be in group 2. I was able to keep up with group 2 for a while but finally near the end of the 8 minutes I had to drop out and join my compadre. I guess I'm once again in that awkward tweener phase.