Day Nine – Mamma Mia, I Feel Great!

Today’s Workouts:
• Beach Walk (made it to the pier!) 1 ¼ hours
• Swimming (50 laps with fins, 6 without; about 1 ¼ hrs)
• Self-trained complete circuit (1 ¾ hours)
• Cardio Movie (watched “Mamma Mia” while on the treadmill and stationary recumbent bicycle – 1 hour in total between the two pieces of equipment)
• Finally a very brisk walk home…20 minutes

Hi, Everyone. I had another great day. I hope you did, too! The weather forecast had predicted cloudy skies and a chance of rain in the morning with cool temperatures. Well, it turned out to be a gorgeous day, perfect for walking, rowing, soccer, etc. (Michael Swain, you would die for this area where people row almost daily…it’s long and smooth as glass some mornings!). And thankfully the sand was more cooperative so I was able to trudge my way to the pier and back – that dang left butt cramp keeps creeping up though. Urrrrggh. As we’re concentrating on me doing fat-burning exercises, I was scheduled for another swim today. It was definitely chilly when out of the pool but nice and warm in it. I was happy to get 50 laps with the exercise fins…including 10 laps of freestyle. The freestyle gets me into my cardio zone but I feel like it also helps me stretch my lungs. I was just happy to get 10 of those kind of laps done! I also did a lap without fins because I wanted Josie, another camper, to see that the fins gave more resistance. It was sunny the entire day…that’s a good thing ‘cause I need that Vitamin D! Back at the gym, I went straight to the Catering Kitchen with a few other campers for a quick cooking class. Yum! Rice paper wrapped around grilled chicken which was marinated in a soyaki sauce, rice noodles, shredded carrots, mint leaves, cilantro, and mixed green. We dipped it in the soyaki sauce (gluten-free, but high in sodium). I wanted more of that! Back to the gym where I was originally scheduled to join in the soccer drills, but Marco felt that I shouldn’t be running on hard surfaces in which I could potentially hurt my knees while I’m still carrying so much weight. Well, honey, that was fine with me, ‘cause I don’t like to run! Instead I was given a circuit workout which covered all body parts. Here it is (I DID ALL THIS ON MY OWN IN 1 HOUR AND 45 MINUTES!):

• 10-minutes cardio
• Upper Body Machines: 50 Chest Flies, 50 Lateral Pulldowns, 50 shoulder presses, 50 bicep curls
• 2-minutes cardio
• Upper body with free weights: 50 chest press, 50 back rows, 50 side raises, 50 hammer curls, 50 OH tricep extensions
• 2-minutes cardio
• Lower Body Machines: 50 Leg presses, 50 leg extensions, 50 Leg curls, 50 inner thigh
• 50 outer thigh
• 2-minutes cardio
• Lower body with free weights: 50 regular squats; 50 Duck squats; 50 lateral leg raises; 50 back leg raises
• 2-minutes cardio
• Abdominal exercises on mat: 50 regular crunches; 50 butterfly crunches; 50 Russian twists; 50 reverse crunches

I used enough weight to give resistance without tiring me out to increase the fat-burn. I was super-tired afterwards but REALLY PLEASED with myself for doing it on my own, without cheating, and doing it all within the 2-hour workout period that I had. I had enough time for a breather and to have my 5pm meal before our Wednesday Thursday movie night started. Every Wednesday one of the trainers stays late with us and puts a big movie on the screen in front of the cardio machines and we all hop on and burn some calories while the movie plays. Tonight it was “Mamma Mia” which I had not seen (i.e., the movie….I HAVE seen the stage musical in Toronto in 2001). Marco stayed with us this time and the movie was his choice. He said that his wife made him go see the movie with her and he ended up loving it. So cute.

There are new campers arriving this week and next week, as well as a couple of the current ones leaving next week. Today 20 y/o Courtney from Delaware started…with Arnae not there today (I hope she’s OK), I felt like one of the camp moms guiding Courtney on her first day with some of the machines and with what to expect in her first week. I didn’t mind, ‘cause I felt so good. I’m surprised and pleased with how good I feel! Sure I’m sore and tired, but I am excited for what is to come in the next 11 weeks! Even though I dread the thought of climbing “The Dunes” or The Santa Monica Stairs or doing the bike/hike/bike, I can’t wait ‘til I’m conditioned enough to do those things. WHY haven’t I been doing some sort of exercise all along? I dunno, but I’m not going to waste any time regretting it…yesterday is over – move on!

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday are shorter workout days (but no less difficult!). I have more boxing and bike riding tomorrow. I’ll use Friday afternoon to unpack the rest of my luggage, which happily arrived today. Don’t worry, it wasn’t the airlines who lost it. It would have cost me an extra $400 to carry the luggage on the plane with me, so I used a luggage forwarding service and paid $240, I think. I’m too tired to do the unpacking tonight, but I want to hook up my TiVo (hmmm, I hope it survived ;-)

The weather is looking up, too. It’s supposed to be gorgeous this weekend (makes for good Paintball!) and will be warming up next week. Yaaaaay! You won’t have to listen to me complain (as much) about the cool temperatures (remember, anything under 80 degrees is still too cool for me). I am EVEN looking forward to this Saturday’s Boot Camp at the Beach….let’s see if I cry like a baby this time! I know it will be difficult but I also know that I will perform better than I did last Saturday – all I care about is achieving more than I did the day before.

Hope you all have fun and/or relaxing weekend plans. For my good friends in the KPMG Tax Department, I know you’re probably working ridiculous hours, but I sincerely hope that you’re taking care of yourself somehow by getting enough sleep and eating healthy. DON’T follow my example! And for all of you who have returned to the gym or to your treadmills or are trying new exercises…keep it up! Or if you’re thinking about getting started…start small. Give up sodas and diet sodas and drink lots of water. That’s a good start!

Lots of love

Donna