Sommer Woodward
Monday, June 15
I’ve decided weekends aren’t the best idea for me. I don’t want to exercise and eating right seems so much harder. One reason is I always have something planned where I’m surrounded by food. A friend and I threw another friend a baby shower. My job was to bring the meat and cheese tray and make the cake. Why didn’t I sign up for the fruit tray? So, Saturday night, I’m cutting up the sausage and cheese, and I can’t help myself but to eat some of it. Then I began making the cake. Who can make a cake and not lick the icing or the batter after you pour it into the pan? And of course I had to have some of the cake on Sunday. So, picking the right food over the weekend seems to be a challenge so far.
My next problem was I decided to ride the new motorcycle for a couple hours on Saturday, which turned into five and I didn’t wear sunscreen until it was too late. So I’ve been fighting my sunburn all weekend too. This morning when I awoke, my burn wasn’t as bad, but I was praying they wouldn’t have us rolling on the ground today. My shoulders wouldn’t be able to take it. God must be looking out for me because today’s exercises were mostly standing up squats and lunges, some pushups, front bridges and side bridges. I was able to stay off my shoulders most of the morning. This Thursday is the day we are tested again, so I hope I’ve improved. I guess we’ll see.
Tuesday, June 16
I’m convinced they tried to kill me this morning. At least that’s what it felt like. You know those football movies where the guys are working so hard, they throw up? Thank God I didn’t drink anything before I began the workout today, because that would have been me. I felt like I was going to be sick twice. But the instructors kept telling us to keep going, push through it, so I did.
They lined us up in between cones, and we had to either sprint, bear crawl, lunge, side shuffle or (my not-so-favorite) jumping squat between other sets of cones spaced maybe 50 to 75 feet apart. There were three sets of cones and we had to sprint to one, then lunge to the other set, then get down and do 25 to 30 pushups, or tricep dips, or whatever else their devious little minds made up for us this morning. The fact that I was sore from yesterday didn’t help my squats at all. There were a couple times I just wanted to lie flat on the ground and breathe. Man oh man, how I just wanted to breathe.
I can say, hands down, this was the hardest day I’ve been through since we started. But I made it, so that makes me feel pretty good about myself. I’m guessing that I worked off that cake I ate over the weekend.
When we were done, Brooke said today’s workout was designed to be the most challenging workout of the entire camp. That was good to know since I figured my stamina should have been increased by now. I’m guessing I’d have passed out from that workout in the beginning of this challenge. I’m kinda bummed because I have to miss the last day of camp due to a camping trip this weekend. But I’ll get up and work out at the campout, so that may help. Only one more day until we see what progress we’ve made. I’m excited about that. I’m hoping I can run the entire mile this time. I already know I can do more than 14 pushups in one minute. We do that every day. I hope they don’t try to kill us again tomorrow.
Wednesday, June 17
I am sore, sore, sore and more sore today. My shoulders, my thighs, my stomach - they all hurt. It hurts to sit down and sometimes I think I won’t be able to get back up again if I do.
During the workout today, we rotated between four stations. At one station, we did curb kicks and jumped onto and off of the curve. At the other station we used resistance bands for arm exercises, and at another we ran through rope ladders to keep our hearts pumping. The last station was for ab exercises. We rotated to each of those stations four times and stayed there for two minutes each. I’m not sure if it was just terribly muggy today, but I was soaking wet by the time we were done and utterly exhausted. I know I drank at least five 16-ounce bottles of water yesterday, so I think I was hydrated enough. But for some reason, I was feeling light headed during a couple of the workouts. I’m guessing the July classes are going to be tough, since it’s going to be so much hotter than the June classes. Hopefully, I will make it through.
Thursday, June 18
The day of reckoning is here. Were these 5 a.m. mornings worth all the effort? Do or die folks. Here I go.
I was a little worried this morning since yesterday I started developing a head cold or allergy attack or something. My throat is sore, my head is stuffy and I have a headache that just won't quit. I was hoping that wouldn't get in my way today as we tested our abilities.
They took our measurements first thing this morning and I was pleasantly surprised by the results. I dropped 10 pounds from the first day I weighed. One thing you should note though is I weighed at night the first time and in the morning the second. I always weigh about four pounds more at night than I do in the morning. So, with that information, I can say with confidence that I lost at least six pounds. Go me! Now for my measurements. My neck and bicep measurements were the same, but my waist and hip measurements dropped. I lost 2 1/2 inches in my waist and 1 1/2 inches in my hips. That is fantastic.
Then we warmed up and began the mile. I kept thinking maybe I should have walked a little more the last time I ran the mile. I tried hard the first time and I was hopping I could beat my time. I'm convinced most of my challenge is in my head. I have to keep telling myself to keep going, just keep jogging around that corner, then the next corner and the next. When it was all done, I managed to jog, not walk the whole mile. My time improved from 10 minutes, 19 seconds to 9 minutes, 34 seconds. Overall, I improved on everything. Instead of 30 situps, I managed to squeeze in 42 in one minute and 43 tricep presses instead of 29. The best improvement, by far, is my pushups. Instead of 14 pushups, I pumped out 37 in one minute. That's more than double my first score. Yay!
So, I ask myself whether this whole experience was worth the effort, and I conclude that it was more than worth it. My confidence in my abilities is up and those really tight clothes aren't so tight anymore. I've improved in every area, and that's with only three weeks in this camp since I started the program late. I definitely recommend the program for anyone. Not only is it fun, but it works. Thank you ladies. I'm definitely signing up for the next one.
If any of you out there are interested, go to greencountrybasictraining.com and sign up. I hope I see you on June 24 at Centennial Park.
