6 lbs lighter

Today I had my post-boot camp fitness assessment, and I am 6 lbs lighter and 3% less body fat. I guess that's pretty good right? I want to do it again, and see if I can take off another 6 lbs, but I don't think with a wedding coming up in less than 3 months that I can really afford the expense. I'm definitely going to try & keep it up though, work out hard like that every morning that I can. I feel so much stronger now...even though the post test said I was about the same in strength & flexibility, I don't believe it. The last day of boot camp I could bear crawl like never before!! haha. And I can do more than 10 pushups without collapsing. That's saying something.

I have to say that my favorite days of boot camp were 2 days last wk and then the last day (on Monday). One of the days we did an Easter egg hunt of sorts...one person sprinted to the eggs and brought one back, and whatever was written on the egg was what the group had to do. Another day we went to Centennial Park and did a lot of running, stopping at various points in the park and doing different things. A really nice change-up in routine, and of course, we all know that I can run. The last thing we did at the park day was run from one end of the park all the way back to CNN center...it was long and a gradual uphill, but I didn't stop even though I felt like I was moving so slowly. At the top of the hill I thought, how did I ever do that for 26.2 miles?! I can't even imagine it now.

Then the last day of boot camp, we did a relay race where we sprinted, ran backwards, skipped, and sprinted again. My team won so we didn't have to do extra stairs! Yippee! But that day was fun, in addition to the relay race, we did a sequence of bear crawl, run, crabwalk, run, side squat, run, lunge, run. I actually enjoyed that too. It was hard but we could go at our own pace.

So in summary, boot camp was a worthwhile, effective and even fun experience. There were days I dreaded getting out of bed, but man, I am so glad I did. Above all, I'll miss the people. It's funny how attached you can get to people after seeing them every morning, bright & early, for 20 days. I actually saw one of the boot campers today before my post test, she was just lunging away around the athletic club track. Dedication! Encouragement...motivation...I think that really makes a difference. We'll see how that works when I'm on my own!

And I guess it's back to long distance running :) Half marathon, Disneyland??

one wk down

So I made it through a whole wk of boot camp! Phews. Thursday was the toughest day. I got called out so many times for doing things wrong and then had to do even more to make up for what I didn't do right! Embarrassing and hard. Friday was actually fun though. Also hard, but we did a little obstacle course of sorts that I found fun. Today we were inside since it rained yesterday. It wasn't too bad until we did one of the things I dread the most...bear crawls! They are really hard to do inside. I actually had gloves to prevent blisters from the track, but I think they just made my hands more slippery. Plus we had just done a lap of lunges. I'm pretty good at lunges - I mean I have strong legs, I was a runner and was always working on lengthening and strengthening my stride. But after prolonged lunges, it's hard to get down on the ground and crawl like a bear. Another hard thing was at the end, we did reverse burpees down the length of the basketball court. So we got down, kicked both legs out (like doing a pushup), then walked our hands backwards while keeping our legs straight so that we were eventually standing up again. And then we got medicine balls and did a squat and then threw it at our partner. Who knew an 8 lb ball could have so much force!?

We also turned in a week's worth of food logs today. I can't WAIT to see what the coach writes on mine. I am sure it will be a humbling & eye-opening experience.

Ok next I am going to blog about the marathon. I'm feeling inspired listening to my Lady Gaga Pandora station. Thanks Lauren/Elliott :)

need suggestions

So I skinned my left knee so badly that it hurts to move it too much. I think I'm going to have to lay off the running, at least til the weekend. Does anyone have any suggestions for some good exercises I can do that do not involve my left leg?

Probably not possible...but I thought I'd throw it out there.