What have I done?

[DCJenn]

So, I'll admit it- I'm vain, not for myself, and not for my husband, but I totally fall prey to "what other women think" crap.

and I'm going home over Thanksgiving and I may be having to see a former friend whose fiance is a personal trainer...and she's in amazing shape as a result.

I'm completely out of shape these days- I can walk miles but probably couldn't do a push-up to save my life.

So I just signed up for a month-long Boot Camp class that ends the week of my 40th birthday- the day before we fly home. Its one hour every day at 5:30 in the morning. At least the dawkter will be able to cover me- even HE isn't up that early and he's in the flippin' Army!

This better work if I'm dragging my arse out of bed at 4:45am.

It starts 10/23. I'm justifying it as my birthday present for myself. We'll see how I feel halfway through.

Jenn

[DCJenn]

PS- I plan to share the whole process here so....keep the positve vibes flowing!

Jenn

[DCJenn]

OK- So it starts. Friday I have a meeting with the instructor for weigh-in and measurements. Yikes!

I have to buy five-pound weights (I have eights and tens but she wants fives) and running shoes.

I'm still having panic attacks about getting up at five am, on purpose. My husband told me I get to pretend I'm on-call and sleep on the couch. (actually our house is so small, it's not a bad idea- and the couch is VERY comfy! But not as comfy as the King Sized Bed!)

I'm still walking every day with the dog and Nikolai in the stroller, hopefully that'll help for something. I can't believe a year ago I was teaching exercise classes. My how things change.

J.

[DCJenn]

Yesterday was the big weigh-in and calipers measuring. Yikes. That quiz that was posted was 100% accurate about the weight. (the number part). The fat analysis? Wow, that was scary. So even though I weigh less than I did at my most huge (when I was traveling weekly) I am still pretty fatty. I'd definitely be in the Marbled Prime Steak section.

I bought new running shoes today. I went to an actual running shoe store which is always preferable to either the PX where there are no sales people or those ginormous stores like Sports Authority where there actually is no sports authority. The salesman watched me walk in stocking feet, looked at my old running shoes for wear patterns and then asked about any pain. He found three pairs for me to try- Saucony, Brooks and some other brand I'd never heard of. The Brooks were the most comfortable. I got a 15% discount due to the relationship between the store and the Boot Camp instructor.

and proving that I live in a really small town and once you know one person, you know everyone...the instructor's husband is a doc who works with one of our clinic docs at the jail. Bizarre. I can't believe how quickly your circle can open sometimes. I joined all kinds of activities the last time we moved here to get out of the house and meet people. I'm still friends w/ most of those people. Definitely, I'm getting a good feeling about doing this.

Of course, the 5am thing still sounds horrible.

One more day of sleeping in.

[DCJenn]

First- it's 9:00am and I've been up for four hours. I'm getting ready to mainline my next cup of coffee. Why stop at the sip when injection is so much quicker.

It's actually pretty chilly here- it was 42 degrees this morning at 5:00. I left the house at 5:05 and made it to the site (the Medical Center area for those of you who are familiar with San Antonio) at 5:25.

We started out doing warm-ups and stretches after we got warm. (I never actually got warm. In fact, I'm still frozen- you know that bone-chilling cold that never leaves-yeah, that's where I am today) We ran around the track one lap. I haven't run in roughly three years and my knee is already sore. Then we did a lot of weights with squats and lunges. We brought five-pound weights. Then one more lap. (I power walked it) Then we did walking lunges, kneelifts and ran backwards for a few laps around some cones. Finally- it was matwork- push-ups, sit-ups/crunches and stretching.

My hip muscles are so tight that I'm sure they're going to hurt the most. Arms and back will be next.

The biggest problem today is that I didn't sleep well last night (for a variety of reasons- I was cold, I was afraid that I was going to oversleep, my beloved husband didn't go to bed until midnight and finally by about 3am the animals must have been cold, too because EVERYONE ended up in our bed.)

I need a nap. and I think I'm going to go get some Ibruprofin at lunch and do a little prophylactic medicating.

I survived Day One.

Jenn

[DCJenn]

You know what's funny? I lived with two people who were children of Irish immigrants. (I say I'm Irish but it was MANY generations ago that my people left the Olde sod...) Christina and Don swore better than any two people I've ever known before or after. Don should give lessons, he's that good.

this morning, I revisited several of the strings of curse words that I lived with for a year. It started with the mild religiously based ones. "Holy Mary, Mother of God..." and "Jesus, Mary and Joseph...." and moved pretty quickly in to "F me to tears" and many, many more.

I'm so sore that I had to prop myself on the desk to sit down to type this and when I drive my clutch leg shakes. Fun at red lights.

My back muscles hurt. My arms hurt. My knee still hurts.

But I went to bed at 8pm last night and at least I feel well-rested. I fell asleep watching "Count it Higher" the Sesame Street music DVD. Actually, all three of us fell asleep watching it. Guess that says something, too.

But I survived and now must head into the office where there are many, many kinds of pain pills in the kitchen. I will be enjoying a cuvee of pain meds this morning. (thought the winos would appreciate the reference.)

Day Two. Done. 18 more to go.

Jenn

[DCJenn]

Good God. the pain pills did nothing yesterday.

and I fell asleep at 7:30pm while attempting to read a magazine- with the dog on my lap.

Today it was supposed to rain so we were under a gazebo- that meant push-ups off the table edge and tricep dips on the picnic benches with step-ups off the benches, too.

Rick might seriously have to brush my teeth tonight.

Day Three- done.

Jenn

[DCJenn]

Day Four- done.

I can go upstairs without grunting. I thought that was a positive change. I'm sure the heroin addicts in front of my building probably have some Very Good Pain Pills and were thinking, "what the heck is HER problem?".

Today we were in the drizzle which actually felt pretty good by the end of class. We ran a half mile and then did sprints. Between sprints, we did weights, jumped rope, did walking lunges, etc. (Wow, that sounds like a lot!)

We always end class with the mat exercises- she changes up the kinds of horribly painful, extremely demoralizing tummy exercises every day. Stetching is nice, though.

Tomorrow we are supposed to be timed for a mile run. My game plan is to go super slow and that way I'll 'improve' just by running my regular speed! ('speed'...hahahahaha)

I think I must be clenching my teeth through some of this stuff or clenching in my sleep because today my jaw is killing me.

I just tried to scratch my cheek and almost couldn't! More drugs. May the Gods of exercise bless the people who invented Ibuprofin.

Jenn

and let me tell you about protein craving!!! I could eat a freaking side of beef these days. Every morning while driving home I think about eggs.

[DCJenn]

I have no real complaints about San Antonio except for this weather!! Every day this week has been something different. Monday it was 42 degrees, Tuesday was warm and dry, Wednesday it was mild and humid, yesterday it rained and today it's 50 degrees but with 25 mile per hour winds. It was hot when we were in protected areas but really chilly when we weren't.

So, we were timed for our mile runs- even with walking some, I still had a time of 11 minutes and 24 seconds- much better than I thought I would. We did some crazy triceps stuff today and as a result I really don't have a whole lot of range of motion. Particularly in my right arm, for whatever reason. The exercises seemed easy so I guess I might have overdone it.

I was so chilled by the end of class that I drove home with the heat on and then made hot cereal for breakfast.

Week One- DONE. and two full days of sleeping in!

[DCJenn]

Well, did I enjoy sleeping in over the weekend? Nope- I woke up at 5am both days. Of course, I didn't bother getting out of bed but Jeez- that blew.

Yesterday's class was actually pretty good. We ran a half mileand did weights. We did do sprint relays which were fun- kind of a return to gym class. I'm always better with sprinting than distance so that felt good. ofcourse, we were running on wet grass so it was hard to go fast enough but not too fast. I did hurt my knee a little bit doing the sprints.

Todays class- my knee was really bothering me for the various squats and lunges we were doing. I did what I could be didn't push it. We used soccer balls (in lieu of 5-pound medicine balls, thank god!) and it's amazing the pain that one lightweight soccerball can do to a body!

I'm stiff all over.

Tomorrow we're supposed to go hiking our in a park way outside of the city. (well, way outside for me since I live downtown!)

[DCJenn]

I totally blew off the hike in the park. In reality my knee hurt after those sprints so I justified not going by telling myself that I was resting my knee.

I'm not 100% sure that's the 100% truth but it sounded good.

Today I was back at it. I didn't run because I really do want to rest my knee but I did power walk.

Maybe there are muscles showing in my arms? Maybe it's my imagination. We're doing weights every day so you'd think that something would be happening! at least I'm not so stiff that I can't brush my hair.

Tomorrow is another day! Almost done with Week Two.

[DCJenn]

I missed Friday's class (see ER visit #3) and Monday's class was cancelled because of horrible weather.

Yesterday was unbelievable. I had to dig deep but I got through it. and today? Today I rocked. I felt great, I ran very well, I did more push-ups than I have in years. Maybe this is working! I don't see anything different but I'm definitely stronger.

Tomorrow are the boards so no class. My husband has to BE there at 7am. The instructor told me to go for a run so I'll do that after I take the dude to daycare and before I go to work. (gotta love the PT employee thing!)

and I'm thinking of signing up for the short two and a half week class in December!

Jenn

[DCJenn]

Sleep. It was a beautiful thing to sleep all the way until 6:30 this morning.

and to think I had to drop my 8am classes in college because I never could get there.

Jenn

[DCJenn]

We had class this week on Saturday to make up for the Monday class that was cancelled. There's a park north of SA on the outskirts of town (right by the Army shooting range!) and I figured "right, a hike...probably a walk over some rocks." Figures...It was actually some pretty steep hills with large outcropping of rocks. It was a ton of fun. I took Petey with me and he was a rockstar as always. We did the loop in 55 minutes which our instructor said was a fantastic time.

This is the last week- I can't believe it.

Jenn

[DCJenn]

So- it's done, I survived and...I'm going to do it again in January. (end of January.)

Lessons learned: 1) I really, really needed to crank up the intensity and kinds of exercise in order to make a difference. Walking is great. But not nearly enough. 2) Waking up at 4:50am, while painful, is an excellent way to get exercise in. Everyone is still asleep and I got the time to myself.

So here are the stats:

Weight- exactly the same
% body fat- lost 2.57% body fat
Gained .5 inch in arm diameter
Lost: .5 in chest,
ONE INCH FROM MY WAIST
and .5 inch from the thighs.

I was one minute faster in the one mile run and gained 200% in the number of push-ups (straight-legged, not on the knees) I can do.

I feel better and I can see muscles in my arms and legs that I haven't seen in year.

I'm definitely going to keep this up- the Army base has a great gym that opens at 5am. There's no reason why I can't do this long term. My goal is to continue to get in better shape before the check-in for the January class.

Jenn