I guess I run now

I figure I’ll let ya’ll in on what we do at boot camp should anyone here be curious enough to want to try it out. I did a little research to see how many calories are burned in these things (500-600 apparently) & it looks like they all have similar approaches, so my experiences (and tiny2b, see if this fits with yours) would be common.

First of all, yesterday was a terrible day of non-stop teaching, meeting, & running errands. On top of that, the dog did something to his eye (all bloodshot & painful looking) so into an already packed day, I had to fit in time to drop him off at the vet (thankfully they have a drop off service, so I didn’t have to wait for him to see the vet). So by the time I got to boot camp, I was really looking forward to it. Weird. Really weird for me.

We started off with a quick 1/2 mile run. Then 1 min jump rope, 1 min push ups, 1 min jump rope, 1 min push ups. I need to do some of this stuff over the weekend so I’m getting stronger.

Then we moved into some kind of round-robin dealy with multiple stations…I forget what they called this, but it’s all about pulling/pushing and endurance. So 1 min each of squats, sit ups, pull ups, weights pushed over head, jumping on a box (a la biggest loser, but I can’t do it, so I did steps), and in a plank position, kicking the crap out of a boxing bag (a mountain climber with an grudge sort of thing). So…6 minutes total. 6 minutes of total hell. The worst & longest 6 minutes of my life!

But when we finished the round, our trainer said something to us that I’ll remember for the rest of my life: she said, “okay, one minute rest & then we go again.”

Here’s the deal. I couldn’t possibly go again. No freakin’ way. I didn’t have it in me. I was done.

But we did it anyway. Boot camp is like a freight train: it just keeps coming and there’s no stopping it once it’s started.

So I kept pushing through each damn 1 minute exercise (and I swear she doesn’t use a stop watch, so she forgets the actual time).

And then she said it again, “okay, one minute rest & then we go again.” AaaaaaaaaaaaaRrrrrrrrrrGggggggggggHhhhhhhhh! I mean, never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d do two rounds, but three was totally out of the question!

But we did it anyway. Damn freight train. But as gawdawful as those 18 minutes were, I feel great for having done them. Great in the intellectual, not physical sense. Today my knees are screaming.

So that’s the latest from boot camp. They offer a 30-minute version at the Y, which I may sign up for after this month is over. Or, who knows, maybe I’ll sign up for another full boot camp. I hate, hate, hate it & I really like it a lot!

Okay, I’m off to buy veggies for dinner before my meeting. Happy day ya’ll. Keep fighting the good fight!