Boot Camp Challenge: Week Three

Doing planks

Mon., Feb. 2, 6am: Day 7
So Tired
I couldn't fall asleep last night so I barely got any rest before my 5:30am alarm went off. I'll adjust eventually, but probably not till week six. It was pretty chilly outside at this early hour but not as cold as last week. More cardio today. Nine laps around the track (2 1/4 miles) with two laps jogging and one lap walking. I do a little better with the running today but I'm still having some pain in my lower back. Nothing debilitating but not so much fun regardless. I'm pretty sure I only ended up doing eight laps due to my slowness. At points the pain shot down my leg making it difficult to continue running. I can deal with it but I need to get my body aligned and take care of this problem. Maybe I'll treat myself to a massage this weekend. And not the kind you find ads for in the back of the Chronicle. We finish up with some runners' lunges, push-ups, and jumping jacks. The lunges are a little rough on my knees and not my favorite. I'm mildly nauseated toward the end and briefly afterward. I really need to stick with the program over the weekend which I failed to do for the second week in a row. I'll do it this week, for sure. If I don't, every Monday feels like starting all over again.

Tue., Feb. 3, 6am: Day 8
Oh No!
When I get out of bed and check the weather I discover it's 34 degrees. Well, I guess it could be worse. I'm the first to arrive for boot camp (which has never happened) and I'm secretly hoping that it has been canceled and I didn't receive notice. No such luck, other boot campers begin to arrive and then Alicia Jergens arrives in Brooke Norris' stead with some bad news, Brooke's dog is ill. We all say a silent prayer for Brooke and her dog and then move on to the workout. There are only four of us today and I'm impressed with my perfect attendance record so far. I may be the only one who has been to every session so far, but I could be wrong about that. I was superlate for day two so I guess it's not exactly "perfect." Alicia leads us through some upper body exercises and is patient with me not knowing what I am doing. The fact that I am sore later makes me feel like I did OK. Then we do some planks and some crunches and we are out of there. I think we may have actually left a couple minutes early. No complaints here. I still haven't adjusted to the early wake-up call and I've been all tuckered out the last few days. We're doing four days in a row due to last week's cancellation so maybe I'll see some visible results around my belly. Now I just need to stick with it during the weekend and I'll make some good progress.

Wed., Feb. 4, 6am, Rescheduled Date
The Dirty Dozen
Brooke's back! But with bad news. Her dog was diagnosed with terminal cancer. This was not the way any of us wanted to start our day. Good luck Brooke and we're wishing you the best. Today's torture is a little something they call the Dirty Dozen. We meet at the bridge at Town Lake (Lady Bird Lake) under MoPac and the challenge is to start by doing 12 push-ups, jog to the other side of the bridge and do 11 push-ups, jog back and do 10 push-ups, jog to the other side and do nine push-ups, etc. Repeat till exhausted. The good thing about boot camp is that it pushes me to do things I would never have the discipline to push myself to complete. Such as the Dirty Dozen. I could hardly do 12 push-ups when I started the BCC, much less something as ominously titled as the Dirty Dozen. Fellow boot camper Elizabeth shared some wise words of wisdom, "The things you hate the most, work the best."

Thu., Feb. 5, 6am: Day 9
Suicide Solution
Today I definitely was not feeling it when my alarm went off. I briefly went through scenarios I could concoct to excuse myself from boot camp. But one of the reasons I signed up was to improve my self discipline. There are things I need to do that I don't want to do but I just need to man up and trudge through. I know I'm good at quitting things, let's see how good I am at sticking it through to the end. So I get up, get dressed, feed the dog, and head out to BC. Today Janine runs us through some suicides which are basically short sprints of varying lengths. We all survive and finish up with some yoga. This marks the end of week three and the halfway point of boot camp.