Beginnings
Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at 12:25 PM filed under Exercise & Fitness postings
Alright, I'm 30. I turned the big 3-0 about six months ago, and I want to be healthier at 31 than on my last birthday. That means work.
I've learned a few things about myself. I enjoy working out in groups or with other people. One on one training is great, but it's spendy. I like the motivation that comes with doing stuff with others. I think this is related to playing sports in school. It just makes a *huge* difference for me. I've followed some plans from this website before for a couple of months, but I find that I get bored with them within a month or so.
So, the weather is nicer, and I've signed up for a bootcamp at 7 a.m. four days a week for four weeks. I'm in the middle of week 2, and so far, I love it. I work late nights a lot, and sometimes the 6 o'clock alarm can be rough. However, I love having this lovely part of my day back. I haven't regularly woken up at 6 o'clock since high school, and yet, my body seems to think I need to be waking up 5:30 or so. Most mornings I wake up about a half hour before the alarm goes off, which TOTALLY CONFOUNDS me. Body, just let me sleep til 6! While it's nice to have the morning back, I am ready for bed at around, oh, say 10 or so. That's early for someone who's been working in restaurants for the last 10 years. I do think I'm liking the trade-off. I guess I'm more of a morning person than I suspected. Shhhh, don't tell anyone.
The bootcamp itself has been great. The city of Boston is a pretty place, and I've enjoyed this spring like none other that I've had in the almost 8 years that I've lived here. Flowers, trees, sun, and even the rain that means spring in Boston have all been enjoyable. The class itself has about an equal number of repeat campers as new ones. I'm not the least fit person in the group, but I definitely fall into the bottom half. Every morning is a challenge, but the completion of every workout is such a thrill. I've come to quiet tears a couple of times but pushed on through and finished every workout I've gone to. (I did miss class yesterday. The alarm wasn't enough to get me up, and I don't remember turning it off.)
This morning we did about a mile warm-up jog then baseball diamond stuff. Sprint to first, 5 mountain climbers, jog home. Sprint to second, 10 mountain climbers, then home. Continued through home. Then did walking lunges until our partner made it back. (My partner today is the fastest person in the group.) Three sets of this. THEN we did it all again the wrong way around the bases substituting jumping jacks, a.k.a. the bane of my existence, for climbers and rows and flies with resistance bands for lunges. Three sets of this. There was no stopping. All of this took about the hour. It went by fast, but it was pretty excruciating by the last set of jacks. I was surprised that the hour was up. Lesson learned today: attempting to sprint in mud is freaking hard. Also, wet grass is slippery.
Tomorrow is the last day of the second week! Woo!