Day Eighteen – Confidence

Today’s schedule:
• Beach Boot Camp (1 ½ hrs)
• Group Circuit Training & Stretching (nearly 2 hrs)
• Calories burned: 1294

A week ago at this time I was still feeling traumatized by my panic attack or whatever it was after having chest pains when no one was close enough to help me if I had fallen. And this time yesterday I was feeling yucky and not up to doing anything. I even felt a couple of chest pains last night while I was simply resting in bed…not going to sleep yet, but just resting. I don’t know what that was all about…my heart rate was fine and the EKG on Thursday revealed that my heart was fine. I felt around my sternum and nothing hurt, so I’m hoping it was just a stitch in my pectoral muscle or something like that. Today, however, I woke feeling renewed and much better. The regular Saturday Beach Boot Camp was scheduled and I was just slightly apprehensive about going. I also didn’t want to embarrass myself again like last Saturday. Our warmup this time was to walk around that dreaded Bird Sanctuary. I warned Amber that it took me 15 minutes to get around last week. That was OK with her, so off I went. Well, I have a new hero in Sean. He walked with me 3/4ths of the way to ensure that I felt safe and that I had no issues. I adore Sean. Only 19, he is mature beyond his years, and he is working his butt off (literally) to get healthy. More than once Sean has “distracted” me to get through an exercise or he has pushed me into doing a little extra cardio. I’ve attached a photo below to show where he was pressing 70-lb free weights. Ouch! My heart rate gets right up there quickly as usual, but there were no problems…it didn’t spike, I didn’t have any chest pains, and I wasn’t breathless at the end of it. THANKS, SEAN! Following this we did some other warm-up exercises to stretch. I was pleased to see Jeni’s dad, Mike, had joined us for the Boot Camp and later for the group circuit at the gym. This weekend was the first time Jeni had seen her parents in 7 weeks, since starting the camp, so it was a treat for them to see Jeni looking so fantastic, too. I cannot wait ‘til my visitors come (Amy, John, then Mom). I’m really proud of what I’m doing and excited about what I’ve accomplished so far, and I want to share the experience with them. Today was a good example of how far I’ve gone in only 17 days. I made it around the Bird Cage in less than 15 minutes (I actually think I shaved off a whole minute) and got through the warm-ups without getting winded. We then had to sit in pairs with stretch bands and do back rows. While we were doing that, one person had to run under each of our bands…I think there were 7 altogether. As we progressed, the bands got lower and some of us had to do army crawls. OK, I didn’t do a proper army crawl, but I DID get down on my hands and knees and crawled as fast as I could. Then we did a relay of 4 teams with one of the exercise being running slalom around a bunch of cones. Didn’t want to let my team down, so I actually ran! I hate running! But I ran as fast as I could and lived. We had to do that five times, too. And I felt OKAY (had to catch my breath each time though)! Next up was another trek around the Bird Cage while Amber & Eric set up for volleyball. Yaaay! Once again it was fun to bump and serve the ball and fall into the sand, just like the ol’ beach v’ball days in Bermuda. I think most of us would have continued to play for another half hour if they had let us! However, it was time for lunch and I know we were all hungry.

Guess what I had for lunch? STEAK! Yum! It was grilled nicely (medium-rare) and included roasted potatoes, scrambled egg whites, and a cup of fruit. I am so full from all the meals that I really can’t help but wonder if I’m getting too many calories. I just had turkey spaghetti Bolognese with broccoli for my first dinner meal. It was delicious!

Back to the gym for the second workout of the day…one of Amber’s Group Circuits. Recall that this involves each person starting at a “station” in the gym, doing the required exercise for 2 minutes, rushing to do 2 minutes of cardio, and then moving on to the next station. There are some exercises for which I must close my eyes so that I can concentrate on proper form (like, keeping the body straight for pushups, or squeezing shoulder blades together when doing lifts, or keeping elbows close to the body). Right now I can do pushups from a bar…i.e., the bar is about 4 ft above the ground, I stand in front of it, keep my body straight, and then sink down and then push up from the bar. It’s hard, but I can do it. I can also do them if I’m using a yoga ball (i.e, the “beach ball) under my hips. I CANNOT do them the ol’ fashioned-way nor with my knees bent. I’m working towards that. You will hear it loud and clear when I can do them! Dang, when I was 14 and did gymnastics at Higgins High School in Marrero, Louisiana, I was able to do pushups ON MY FINGERTIPS!

As I’ve been writing today’s update, I was thinking about why I felt pretty good about doing the beach drills and today’s gym circuit. Besides feeling good and knowing that I’m working towards a tangible goal, I have more confidence. At first it was scary to go bike-riding again, but now I love it and can go on my own if I wanted. It was scary to try the boxing, but I can’t wait ‘til each boxing workout starts. It was scary to try high inclines and high speeds on the treadmill, but today I pushed the inclines higher and maintained a good speed for myself. I dreaded doing planks and pushups and crunches, but now I’ve lost count of the crunches that we’ve done and I CAN do planks and those variations on pushups. Best of all, today I had no problems at the beach. I had fun! A few days ago Jeni stated that she felt like she had reached a new level. Now…Jeni is a few levels ahead of me in skill and fitness, so I can’t wait to get to where she is now. But I think perhaps I’ve moved up a level from novice to beginner after 18 days. I kind of WANT to try The Dunes this upcoming week. Yikes….I just put that in writing so someone is going to hold me to it!

Tomorrow, Sunday, we have our 2-hour group circuit workout, and then later in the afternoon I’m going to hang out with Shella who I have not seen since she left Bermuda (has it been two years already, Shella?). It means I’ll have to put on street clothes. I have not worn street clothes since the day I arrived. Actually, I’m tempted to try on a pair of jeans that were too small for me. If I’ve lost 4 inches in my hips, they might fit, don’t you think? Maybe I’ll let you know.

Hope you’re having a fun Saturday and will have a lovely Sunday!