Day Fifty-Seven (Wed., Apr 29th) – Playin’ Hooky

Wednesday’s Schedule:
• Yoga (1 hr)
• Playin’ Hooky (7 hrs)
• Chiropractor

Today I was SUPPOSED to go bike riding and hiking after the yoga class, but alas, but shoulder and my legs would have none of that. I love doing the yoga, but this morning it was impossible to do most of the floor positions which required weight on my shoulders. Besides that, my calf muscles were still sore and stiff from Monday’s stair climbing. Ugh. I hate losing a day, ‘cause that costs money, baby. I will have to do more running on Thursday to make up for it. When I returned to my apartment after the yoga class (we do our yoga in a room at the apartments rather than at the gym), I sat down and just could not move. My arm was throbbing, and any centimeter of movement in my legs was sheer soreness. Waaaah waaaah I felt like a big baby today. I thought I would skip the bike ride but then head to the gym to go on my first hike (that is, my first one here in Santa Monica) but as the time to depart approached, my body still didn’t want to move. I really believe my lack of good sleep (i.e., where I don’t wake up in the middle of the night after 5 or 6 hours) is having negative impact on my weight loss and my energy levels. I dozed off a few times and stayed on the sofa all day, and watched a couple of movies that I Tivo’d (“Enchanted” – LOVED it, and “88 Minutes” – was good, not great) until about 4:30 when my new, dear friend Michael collected me to take me to the chiropractor. I was very anxious to see what the results of the Xrays taken on Monday were. Happily there is no evidence of an actual injury. Rather, there is a tiny calcium spur between two of the vertebrae in my neck, and it’s likely that some heavy bicep curls that I did in the 2nd or 3rd week aggravated that spur which is now pinching or pressing on the nerve which leads from my neck down to my left hand. To work on this, I will have to lie on a special neck pillow for 5 minutes every night and I just have to watch that I’m not tensing my shoulders when I’m doing any exercises. I can lift weights, but have to be careful with the bicep curls. I still have pain and will continue with the chiropractic treatments. I feel that the acupuncture and cupping treatments have helped to eliminate the big knot that is in my back by the shoulder blade, so I’m going to hold off on any more of those treatments for awhile. I actually wouldn’t mind continuing the acupuncture and cupping just because I LIKE it, but time is of the essence now since I’ve fewer than four weeks left at Camp.

So, today, I thought about what I would write since I didn’t workout. I watched Biggest Loser last night as I always do. On this episode each of the contestants was shown a history of their previous 16 weeks at the Biggest Loser camp, and each one of them reflected on what they’ve learned about themselves. The common thread for all of them was strength…they all realized that they had the strength to do what it takes to get healthy and accomplish things. Well, I thought about that…I thought about what I have learned so far. I think I already knew that I am a mentally strong person. My Mom has reminded me several times over the years that “God never gives you more than you can handle.” So, when the times have been the very toughest for me, and just when I thought I couldn’t take any more, I remembered Mom’s words and kind of had to pat myself on my back because I must be pretty damn strong to be able to put up with that kind of crap. You should do the same if you don’t already…when you feel like you have hit rock bottom emotionally, mentally, physically, etc, remember that you are already strong enough to endure. OK, so I already believe in my mental toughness, my perseverance, and my tenacity. What have I learned then? Arleigh, one of the long-time trainers at Camp Technique, has a note on her profile on the Camp Technique website that says that “clients can do far more than they think they can” or something to that effect. She’s absolutely right, especially about the “FAR more” part. I swore that I would not start jogging, and now I’m doing it (I’m still swearing off any 5k, 10k, 20k, or marathons!). Last week at the Dunes, I ASKED to do one more climb before we left (I’ve gone insane, I’m pretty sure). Even at the stairs on Monday, if we had had about 5 or 10 more minutes, I would have done a full rather than a half ascent. I CAN push myself on my own. I CAN eat smaller portions (the real test will be when I’m in New Orleans and faced with crawfish, oysters, beignets, and muffalettas or some sangria in San Antonio!). Now that I think about it, this goes hand-in-hand with what Mom says (and I think she said that Granny used to say that to her). Not only does God not give you more than you can handle, but you can handle A LOT MORE than you think you can. That’s pretty cool, don’t you think? If any of you are having a difficult time, I hope you repeat that mantra to yourself, too. What else have I learned? I’m not a good multi-tasker; actually, I realized this fact when I was packing up my things in Bermuda. I’m not capable of working on more than one or two tasks at one time. We’ll just call that a weakness that I have and anyone else has to accept about myself. Right now this is apparent in that I have to concentrate really hard when I’m working out, so I don’t like to have chit chat or have a conversation; I just want to think about what I’m doing so that I can keep the proper form and push myself past my limit if I’m physically able. I also have learned that I still think too much about the past or the future instead of concentrating on the present – which kind of contradicts what I said about concentrating on my workouts, doesn’t it? Hmmm…see, what I can’t do is not worry about retirement, being alone, planning a trip, finding a job, when all I should be worrying about right now is losing inches and weight and improving my fitness and general health. There’s a practical side of me that wants to plan ahead, but I’m too tired and sore at night to do any of that, and that causes me to worry more. Geez. I gotta work on that.

So, I’m FINALLY caught up with my daily blogs! Yaaay! That was worrisome, too, so I can scratch that off the list. Since I played hooky today, I don’t know what’s on the schedule, but typically on Thursdays I have the Beach walk/jog (gonna push again tomorrow!), swimming (but maybe spinning this time), a partner or solo training session, a massage (!!), and the cardio & a movie. There might be a “critic’s corner” in tomorrow’s blog. I hope your Thursday goes well. I love Thursdays. The best stuff is on TV (for me, it’s “The Office” and “Survivor” and “CSI”) and there’s the anticipation that there’s only one day ‘til the weekend (since Fridays are awesome, too). I hope I can get on my bike tomorrow just to get to and from the gym…here’s hoping that my calf muscles will decide to stop mooing loudly!

Day Fifty-Six (Tue Apr 28th) – A Big Fat Goose Egg

Tuesday’s Workouts:
• Beach Walk/Run (1 ¾ hrs, 2.5 miles)
• Measurements!
• 3-on-1 Training (1 hr)
• Spinning (1 hr)
• 1-on-1 Training (1 hr)
• Grocery Store trip with Nutritionist (1 ½ hrs)
• Gym Boot Camp (3/4 hr)
• Acupuncturist

You know how when you first awaken in the morning and you yawn and stretch while still lying in bed? Well, I did that around 6:30am and I thought all of my calf muscles were going to rip in several places. Yikes!!!! This was obviously a result of climbing the Santa Monica Stairs yesterday. Ouch ouch ouch. I thought the two-hour bike rides made me walk funny, like Fred Sanford, but this was definitely funnier. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to do the beach walk first thing this morning.

However, I needn’t have worried. There was a low tide and it was cool so the beach walk went quickly. I even managed to jog for 5 whole minutes without stopping…TWICE. Woohoo! I must say that “Drumbone” by Blue Man Group was a perfect rhythm for me; I should have repeated that over and over on my iPod Nano ;-) I finished the beach walk with plenty of time to spare so we could all head back to the gym where it was measurement day. Uh oh…

I was not expecting good numbers because I wasn’t able to work out as hard as I usually do, thanks to my shoulder problems. And last week Aunt Flo was visiting which I knew would also not help with the weight loss or inches measurement. BUT, I didn’t expect a BIG FAT GOOSE EGG ;-( Gee whiz, I didn’t lose a single pound, and I only lost 1 inch. So, I’m still at 29 lbs and now at over 51 inches after eight weeks. When I first looked into signing up for the camp, I was going to do only 8 weeks, so this would have been my last measurement had I stuck with that plan. Thank goodness I’m doing 12 weeks ‘cause I still have a lot of losing (inches and pounds) to do. OK OK, I know I know, I shouldn’t be worrying about the pounds. I’m tired of hearing that! I need the pounds to come off so that I can run faster and pedal faster and climb the dunes and the stairs faster. I’m still carrying a lot of weight, y’know….when I started all this I weighed a lot more than most of you think. I’m thrilled with the inches I’ve lost and I think I’m almost down three dress sizes. I’m also very happy with my increased fitness level…but it’s more difficult to improve on that while I’m carrying so much weight!!! I spoke with Karen the nutritionist and Eric the owner and asked for my daily calories to be reduced. While they were hesitant to do that, they agreed that we could try it for a week and see how I was feeling each day – i.e., will I get too drained or feel hungry or dizzy? I rarely feel hungry anyway…oftentimes I don’t want to eat when we’re scheduled to eat. So I just received my meal delivery for Thursday and I’m down to 20g protein and 20g carbs for each meal (4 meals a day, + a 120-calorie protein shake). Thus this time next week if I’m complaining that I’m hungry then you can all yell at me and I will accept it.

Alright, after all this I had 3-on-1 training with Schuyler and then a spin class with him. I feel a little guilty that anyone doing workouts with me may not get enough upper body work ‘cause I was still limited to what I can do, but we worked on abs and core a lot and I can never get enough of that! I tried to stand on the bike pedals, too, when spinning, but I haven’t quite mastered that skill…it’s tough to do when you’re going fast! I also haven’t figured out how not to put weight on my shoulders. I need a private lesson – hint hint!! You know who you are, you naked hiker, you!

Next up was a 1-on-1 session with Eric. Eric is helping me to master balancing on the yoga ball, and he increased the difficulty this time. He concentrated on hips and abs/core work. I had already done a gazillion squats by this time so we mixed it up and did hop-overs on the Bosu ball with squats on each side (so one foot was up on the bosu and one was on the ground and I had to do a deep squat – HELLO, my quads are on fire!). This position however, caused my left arm to go totally numb! Yikes! I was holding my arms slightly in front of me to increase difficulty, but holding my left arm in a 90-degree position apparently pinched the nerve that has been causing me grief. Alright, let me explain…you know how when you sit on your foot or you lie on your arm or rest your head on your hand with a bent wrist and it goes to sleep? And then it tingles in a painful way with pins & needles when the feelings are coming back? OK, multiply that pain times 15 and apply it to your entire left arm, ‘cause that’s what I’ve been feeling. Ouch! I was going to the acupuncturist later so I was going to address that for sure. The pain in my back, where the knot was, had significantly diminished thanks to the chiropractor, but the numbness was still coming and going. After I violently shook my arm to get the life back into it, we continued on. One of the final exercises was to balance on the yoga ball. I’ve pretty much mastered kneeling on the ball on all fours and also lifting one hand. This time Eric wanted me to only kneel, so my upper body was up instead of bent over. This took a bit of work, but I did it. Hee hee!! Next time I’m going to have him take a picture. I really am excited about accomplishing this task. We have just under four weeks to master the one hand/one knee trick and I am going to do it, baby.

Next up was my first educational grocery store trip. Karen took Maxime and me to the grocery store on the corner. It’s just a typical, average supermarket -- not like Whole Foods where you can expect that most everything sold there is organic and healthy. We went through several of the aisles…skipping the booze, of course (waaaah…there was a 2007 Malbec that I wanted to try!). Now…I’ve always looked at labels because I watch for sugar content. But I had not been paying attention to ingredients. This was such a helpful and educational excursion. It WILL mean that I will have to give myself extra time whenever I’m grocery-shopping ‘cause I’ll be picking up every single can and package to see what’s in the item I’m considering. How disappointed was I to see that my favorite peanut butter, Extra Crunchy Jif, was loaded with sugar, and worse yet, hydrogenated oil. Jif has come out with healthy peanut butter however it’s not crunchy! I only like crunchy peanut butter and I only like Jif. Looks like I’m going to have to wait awhile before I can have my beloved pineapple jelly and crunchy peanut butter on whole wheat toast sandwich ;-) And guess what…I’m going to stick with Land O’Lakes butter. The Smart Balance stuff, which is an acceptable alternative, just doesn’t appeal to me. I’ve already switched to sea salt; no more of that iodized stuff for me.

Next up I had a shortened gym boot camp because I had a late appointment with the acupuncturist. Again I worked on legs and did some jogging on the treadmill. Despite my very tired calf muscles, I was pleased that I could run longer than usual. At the acupuncturist’s office, Dr. Chen repeated the procedures as before, with a few more hot glass cups, so I have some new “hickeys” on my back. Too bad I didn’t get them the traditional, ‘fun’ way, although it would be kind of weird to get hickeys on my BACK in THAT way, don’t you think?

Day Fifty-Five (Mon., Apr. 27th) – And She’s Buying a Stairway to Heaven, But Why?

Monday’s Workout:
• 30-minute Cardio
• 2-on-1 training (1 hr)
• Massage!
• Spin Class (1 hr)
• Santa Monica Stairs (167 steep steps, 5 ½ flights, 1 hr)
• Gym Boot Camp (1 hr)
• Chiropractor

Monday was a lovely day so I would have been happy to do the usual Monday bike ride, but my shoulder problem made it impossible to do that. So, I was scheduled for cardio and other training in the gym. Now, since I can’t do upper body workouts, I’m left with abs/core and lower body workouts and that’s all I’ve been doing for the last eight days. I actually DON’T MIND that, except that it can get boring after awhile AND my legs do need a break. On Monday it was especially important that I didn’t overexert my legs because I was going to climb the Santa Monica Stairs for the first time. I had seen a video of the stairs and I wasn’t happy about doing them, but I was determined not to think negatively about them (i.e., I was doing some positive self-coaching). Early in the day, though, I was not feeling great and had to run out on Jason during our 2-on-1 session a couple of times (nope, not the swine flu, but something was not agreeing with me!).

After a massage it was time for my second-ever spin class. I like spinning; I just wish I could do it a hundred percent. It doesn’t tire my legs out all that much; does that mean I’m doing it correctly? We all work up a pretty good sweat, and even with my extra seat cushion, my butt hurts more than when I’m doing outdoor cycling. Whoever designed these spin seats must have been in a bad mood.

I had a little nap after lunch; I think I was just “zenning” to get ready for the stairs. Or, I was still not feeling great and my body wanted to rest. Anyway…we headed to the stairs and we started at the top. That meant that if I wanted to get home, I had to get my butt back UP the stairs one last time. There are 167 steps, give or take, with only two “landings” in between.
The steps are wooden and wide enough for 3 people side-by-side…so you stay to the right and let people pass you in the middle (I was certainly not passing anyone). There is a handrail which I avoided using on my first trek up the steps. Now…I mentioned before that I was worried about my knees, so I concentrated on pushing up from my heels, and thus I was mostly flat-footed for every step. My heart rate zoomed to past its maximum (over 160) fairly quickly during each ascent. But I have to say, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was exhausting, of course, and I had to stop to catch my breath and let my heart rate go down at the halfway mark and at the top, but it wasn’t horrible. I kept my mouth shut the whole time, too…I was NOT going to be negative as I was the first time I attempted the Dunes. We had about an hour to do as many ascents as we could. I managed 5 ½ for my first time. I guess that was pretty good. Going up didn’t hurt at all; it just took my breath away and made my heart rate zoom. But DESCENDING the stairs was very difficult!!! Omigosh, my quadriceps were like JELLY and I HAD to hold on to the railing to ensure I didn’t go tumbling down. At one point when I was about to start a descent, I had to back off and wait for my thighs to recover. Holy mackerel, I was not expecting that. They weren’t hurting, as I said, but they were just weak from the climb. Now I’m deciding whether I prefer the stairs or the dunes. Immediately after the stair-climb I think I might have said I prefer the Dunes over the Stairs, but now that I’ve thought more about it, I might prefer the stairs. They are shaded the entire way and the ascent is measurable, and it’s not as hard on the knees if you climb properly. The Dunes however, are low impact and my heart rate doesn’t shoot up as quickly, but they are usually done in the sun and that sand can get hot, baby, even while wearing sand socks. So, I think at this very minute, if I HAVE to choose, I’d take the stairs over the dunes. This could change after this Friday’s Dunes workout. Stay tuned ;-)

I had another leg workout in the gym before heading to the chiropractor. He cracked my neck and I heard three distinctive cracks on one side. Yikes. It still makes me nervous when they do that but it sure does help. The doctor also took two x-rays because we wanted to be sure that I didn’t have an actual injury instead of just pinched nerves. I will return on Wednesday evening to get the diagnosis.

Days Fifty-Three (Sat., Apr 25th) and Fifty-Four (Sun., Apr 26th) – A Quiet Weekend

Saturday:
• Beach Boot Camp (2 hrs)
• 1-on-1 Session (1 1/2 hr)

Sunday:
• 50-Reps Circuit (1 3/4 hrs)

There’s not a whole lot to report for this weekend. I was missing Amy, of course, but by the time we got started she had landed back home in Bermuda. We had a smaller than usual group for Boot Camp with Marco & Jason, and afterwards, all of the others wanted to do the flag football, but I did not, so I ended up with a 1-on-1 session with Jason. I was satisfied with that. I was still having shoulder issues so we concentrated on lower body stuff. I was hoping by this point that I will have lost a couple of inches in my thighs and abdomen ‘cause that’s all I did for previous several days.

On Sunday, I tried to sleep in, but alas, my sleeping problems are unrelenting. Grrrrrrrr! At the gym we were on our own to do the 50-rep circuit. I did 4 of the sections, using only 2-lb or 3-lb free weights for the upper body exercises, but I was not able to do any of the upper body machines without any pain, even without any weight on them. Bummer. I’ve been working on getting a good back and eliminating those flags that are covering up my triceps, but they were going to have to wait a bit longer. Before leaving the gym we picked up our schedules for Monday. My eyes just about popped out of my head as the Santa Monica Stairs were on my schedule. Horrors. You know how much I dread the Dunes, but I was dreading the Stairs even more, for fear of the inevitable pain I was going to feel in my knees. Well, at least this time I didn’t moan and groan about it. I went home with the intention of getting to bed early.

On Sundays I usually relax a lot and catch up on some personal matters (you know, pay bills, write letters, etc) and I wanted to get caught up on the daily blogs, but my time at the laptop was limited due to my shoulder pain. I was also able to reconnect on Skype with a friend with whom I’d not seen or spoken in awhile; it was a great way to pass the time and catch up. And I was psyching myself up with positive thoughts for climbing the stairs the next day. So….off to bed I went!

Day Fifty-Two (Fri., Apr 24th) – I Ain't Afraid o'No Stinkin' Pile of Sand

Friday’s Workouts:
• Circuit Training (1 hr)
• THE DUNES (2 hrs)
• Donna – Acupuncture
• Cardio (1/2 hr)

After ANOTHER sleepless and slightly painful night, Amy and I arrived at the gym for our hot breakfast…French toast with strawberries, syrup, and sausage. Yum! Freshly made, it was delicious and filling – and only around 400 calories. Before subjecting Amy to the torture of the Hell of Sand, we had a group circuit. I find that if I work out before doing the Dunes or other strenuous tasks, I perform better. I think I mentioned that the Dunes were closed last Friday because the Parks Dept was shifting sand back up the hill, thus making the top of the hill a bit steeper. Apparently this must be done every few weeks since the sand is constantly being pushed down – which makes sense, although I’d be happy if it was just a plain ol’ hill without sand. The day was cooler and initially had little sun so that immediately helped with the first climbs. Once again, I must say that Amy kicked ass! By the time I was finishing my first climb she had already completed two and was heading down to start her third. I stuck to my pace of 40 or 50 steps and then taking a breather, however with each climb I slowed down. Happily my shoulder did not bother me much during this task because I was constantly moving my arms. The temperature did rise, but not too significantly; I don’t think it got over 70-degrees that day. We were there for two hours. Amy did tire out after awhile and took a break, but I’m proud to say that she did SEVEN climbs for her first time. That’s pretty damn good. I also managed 7 climbs. That is the same that I did 2 weeks ago so I was a bit disappointed as I wanted to at least beat that by one. I will just try again this Friday. Sig from Iceland did FIFTEEN of them (he’s only 31 and fairly fit); I watched his method and thought I might try it, but my body just has to take a break. Sig moves slowly, one step at a time, but doesn’t stop until he reaches the top. For me it’s a combination of catching my breath and giving my legs a rest that slows me down. Regardless, I will try for more this upcoming Friday.

Back at the gym, after lunch, Amy returned home to clean up and pack while I went to the acupuncturist again. This time Dr. Chen inserted needles in more places and let me relax under the heat lamps again. Then she did the heated glass cups this time, but before placing them, she used an automatic needle-thingy that created a slight pin prick in my skin. These pin pricks were stuck in the affected areas, and then the heated glass cup was placed over that. The vacuum from the cup and the pin prick caused me to bleed in those spots…but that was intentional. It was like being “leeched” like they did in ancient days. It was kind of cool! It didn’t hurt at all, and the cup that was directly over the knot under my left scapula (i.e., shoulder blade) expelled some nasty-lookin’ blood. It was thick and had dull color. I have found that the acupuncture and cupping treatments have made the pain more localized. I can pinpoint exactly where the pain is on my back and also where the pain is coming from and shooting to in my arm. So, there was progress. I scheduled another appointment for late on Tuesday as I missed three workouts as a result of these appointments this week and thus I didn’t want to miss any more.

Back at the gym, as my appointment went longer than planned, I missed my partner training session with Jason so I did some cardio before we had our Community Meeting. It was a love fest as it was last week. I don’t think anyone wants to say anything ‘bad’ or give negative feedback in front of all the others. Personally, I believe in “praise publicly, criticize privately” so I’d rather hear from or give any negative feedback to the person privately. One thing I will point out though is that Barbara, the bride from the reality show, was in attendance as this was her last day. I believe we all enjoyed having Barbara with us for the week. She was delightful and worked just as hard as the rest of us and it felt really special to me that she was willing to share personal thoughts and feelings with a bunch of strangers for a week. Barb also pointed out that even though the trainers are doing their job, she said that they don’t act like it’s a job because they all want us to achieve our goals. Interestingly, later on Amy said the EXACT same thing before I told her that Barb said that. So, trainers, staff, and owners of Camp Technique….Well Done! I usually feel pretty safe with the trainers; I know that they’re there to take care of us. I still have to remind myself every day that they’re humans, too, with their own lives outside of the gym, and being our trainers really is their job. Thankfully they do it well and it’s a credit to them that we don’t think of them as just doing their jobs.

The meeting ended with Amy returning just in time to say goodbye. She was dressed like a normal human being, and whenever one of us shows up in the gym in street clothes, it’s a big deal, ‘cause we all get to see how we look in real life. Of course Amy looked fabulous, Marco told her he was impressed with her, and all the others were happy to meet her. I was very proud of her just as I was of Mom when she visited two weeks ago. I’m very happy that Amy and Mom were able to share the experience with me. Amy and I returned to my apartment for a couple more hours before she had to leave. She also took a couple of photos of me to show my progress. It was great to have her here and I can’t wait to see her again in June!

Day Fifty-One (Thu., Apr 23rd) – Please Cut Off My Left Arm!

APOLOGIES FOR BEING LATE....MY SHOULDER "INJURY" HAS PREVENTED ME FROM WRITING FOR A FEW DAYS. I MIGHT HAVE FORGOTTEN SOME DETAILS

Thursday’s Workouts:
• Beach Walk/Jog (2 ¼ miles, 1 ½ hrs)
• Get Dunked (i.e, Body Fat test)
• Abs/Core (1/2 hr)
• 2-on-1 session (1 hr)
• Amy – Butts & Thighs (3/4 hr); Donna – Acupuncture
• Cardio & A Movie (2 hrs)

Amy and I went for breakfast at the gym after I had another mostly sleepless night (thanks, in part, to my shoulder). I was looking forward to the beach walk/jog because it doesn’t hurt as much and I was eager for Amy to see the beach. She agrees that Bermuda beaches are still the prettiest. And can I just say that Amy kicked butt for the three days she worked out with us? There’s nothing she can’t do – hiking, jogging, cardio, abs/core, butts & thighs…you name it, she does it -- even the Dunes and getting dunked. I was really happy for her to be here to share a little bit of this experience with me, and I was so proud of her for doing so well. I have to admit I didn’t know if Amy would be able to keep up or if she was fit. Well, she kicked MY ass! My trainers were impressed with her, too. Thanks for coming, Amy!

We did the usual beach walk/jog, this time with Schuyler. Schuyler pushed me to jog more than usual, which I did. It was chilly this morning but I was sweatin’, baby! Whew, it wore me out! But we had to get back by 9:30am ‘cause I was getting dunked. We get dunked every two weeks to check our body mass index – i.e., to see what percentage of our weight is from body fat and what percentage is from lean muscle. I’m happy to report that of the 29 lbs that I had lost as of Tuesday, 20 lbs were from fat and 9 lbs were from muscle. I’m satisfied with that. Last week I had the mantra of “no new muscle” so I didn’t do any exercises with increased weights (this was before my injury). Percentage-wise my body fat percentage has decreased by just over 3%.

Typically on Thursdays I go swimming, but Dr. Chen recommended that I not do any swimming or any upper body work for that matter for a few days so that whatever is wrong with my shoulder can work itself out. Instead, we did do the usual abs/core class with Marco, then Amy and I had a partner-training session with Jason. He also obliged with lower body workout. One of the exercises was doing very deep squats in which we had to squat, in proper form, down to the bench press seat, then back up…at this deep of a squat our thighs were horizontal to the ground. Our butts better be good and tight after all this. In fact, with all the lower body work I’ve been doing, I don’t expect to lose many pounds but I sure do hope that I’ve lost significant inches in my abs, butt, and thighs.

After this workout Amy joined the “butts & thighs” workout while I went to the acupuncturist. Amy said the butts & thighs workout was killer but good; she said it reminded her of the Jane Fonda exercise videos from ages ago. At the acupuncturist’s office, Dr. Chen inserted the needles first and in a few different places, including my thumb and between my index and middle fingers of my left hand. It didn’t hurt! She also stuck one right in the center of the top of my head to help me relax during the 30-minute relaxation period. Again I dozed off a bit under the heat lamps….you know, I think I could do this every day ;-) This time she used cups again, however these were cold cups so Dr. Chen used some device that manually sucked the air out of the cups to create a vacuum. These didn’t stay on as long and didn’t leave new ‘hickey’ marks on me. We scheduled another appointment for Friday.

Amy and I were happy to hear that the movie for our cardio night was “Burn After Reading” (with Brad Pitt, George Clooney, and Frances McDormand – a Coen Brothers film), which neither of us had seen. I won’t spoil the ending or anything, but there were a few surprises, and I found that there were a lot of loose ends or bits which just didn’t make sense. After the movie we headed to my apartment to catch Survivor (for me) and Grey’s Anatomy (for Amy…I don’t watch it). Amy gave me a very brief synopsis of how Izzy was having sex with Denny’s ghost….. Seriously????? What crazy person thought of that plotline? When a show starts doing something like that, I lose interest ‘cause it’s just too fantastic. It’s fine if there’s some humor built into it, but not if they’re trying to be serious. Anyway, we wanted to get to sleep early because Friday meant THE DUNES and Amy was going to do them with us. What a good friend, eh?

I think Friday’s through Sunday’s updates will have to wait. The pain is back and the sleep aid (tryptophan this time) is starting to kick in. Please please please let me have a good night’s sleep!

Day Fifty (Wed., Apr 22nd) – Is That a HICKEY?

APOLOGIES FOR BEING LATE....MY SHOULDER "INJURY" HAS PREVENTED ME FROM WRITING FOR A FEW DAYS. I MIGHT HAVE FORGOTTEN SOME DETAILS

Wednesday’s Workouts:
• Yoga (1 hr)
• Bike Ride (2 hrs – 12 miles)
• Amy – Hike; Donna – Acupuncture!
• Gym Boot Camp (1 hr)

I was absolutely exhausted this morning since I didn’t sleep well, mostly due to shoulder pain. I was looking forward to yoga to hopefully stretch out my shoulders and work out some kinks. I was also excited for everyone to meet Amy and for Amy to see what a typical day for us was like. We had breakfast at the gym and then headed back to the apartments for yoga. As Amy is eleven years younger than I, she had no problems doing the yoga. I didn’t have a LOT of trouble, but it did start to hurt my shoulder whenever some weight was put on it. We headed back to the gym to start the bike ride. Amy was joining us! It was nice weather that day and not too windy, so it was going to be good for everyone – EXCEPT ME, it turned out. Marco wanted me to get started right away so that I could try to make it to the end and perhaps head up the hill that I’ve not done yet. Amy hung back with Marco and a couple of other campers who had not done the bike ride yet. Oh man…how I managed to do 12 miles at all I do not know. I don’t have one of those bikes on which you have to bend over to hold the handlebars. That hurts my back, so I bought a Raleigh women’s bike that has raised handlebars so that I can sit up straight with my arms forward. This time, however, this was not a good position. Holding the left handlebar made my whole arm tingle and caused the knot in my back to now feel like a knife in my back! Ooooowwww! Oh man, it made for a miserable ride for me…and I couldn’t get a good pace going. I had left long before Marco, Amy, and the others, but Amy caught up with me about 5 miles into the ride. I had to keep my left arm by my side most of the time. It’s not easy to go fast and around the curves of the bike path when you’re a one-armed cyclist for a day! I pushed ahead until I had gone 6 miles, then turned. I couldn’t get back fast enough.

When I arrived at the gym, I couldn’t do anything. My left shoulder blade was on fire with pain. I decided that it was time for acupuncture! I had never tried acupuncture but always wanted to. There is an acupuncture university just a few blocks away, as was an acupuncturist’s office, however the university was able to see me right away, with a little bit of help from Stephanie who drove me there. One of the doctors, not interns or students saw me. I was still in most of my cycling gear when she took me to the room. I explained the pains I was having and gave a brief history of what I had been doing for the previous seven weeks. Dr. Chen had me lie face down on the table (just like a massage table with the cushioned with my top (bras and all) and socks off. As I had never had acupuncture before, I was expecting to at least feel slight pin pricks each time she inserted a needle. In actuality I hardly felt them at all. There were needles in the left side of my neck, around my left shoulder blade, and down my left arm. Dr. Chen then advised that I needed to rest there for 30 minutes and she put heat lamps over me (LOVED that!). I think I dozed off a little bit (which she wanted me to do); I have a terrible time shutting off my brain and thus it took me a little while to relax my mind. Dr. Chen felt that cupping would be necessary, too, after the acupuncture treatment. When she returned to the room, she removed the needles and then rubbed baby oil over the areas which were sore. There are a few different methods of cupping. The most commonly known method is when a small, clear glass “cup” is heated with flame and then immediately placed on the skin. The heat causes a vacuum in the cup and it sucks up some skin into the cup. This treatment is meant to remove toxins from the skin. It also creates giant “hickeys”! I’ve attached a photo of what cupping looks like (that’s not I in the photo) and what the “hickeys” on my back look like. (it was kind of funny for Amy to take the photos of my back; my camera didn't want to focus on anything!) It didn’t hurt me. It felt more like someone grabbing a lot of skin and then pulling. I have to admit….I LIKED it. Hmmmm, is there a sadomasochist lurking inside me? Uh oh! Anyway, I found that after the treatment, some of the tingling diminished and the pain was more localized instead of widespread, so I guess it worked. Dr. Chen did feel that I should return so I scheduled an appointment for Thursday.

While I was doing this, regrettably I had to abandon Amy on the hike. It was a group hike and it would have been my first hike here, so I was disappointed to miss it, but I knew that the pain would have made me miserable the entire time. Amy returned saying the hike was a good workout and fun. She and a few others encountered a skunk! And even worse, Vernon and others encountered some rattlesnakes which coiled up and rattled. Yikes! I don’t want to do that hike if I have to experience that kind of wildlife! I’m glad Amy went with them and enjoyed it. (I’m hoping Amy will do a guest blog to document her thoughts and experiences!) By the time the hike group returned, I had already started the gym boot camp instead of doing the later boot camp ‘cause I was tired and wanted to finish at 5 instead of 7pm. Amy rested until I finished, then we headed to my place for our meals and to watch a movie (“21” – about the MIT students that counted cards at Blackjack tables in Vegas and made loads of money – well done; worth watching). It’s a good thing we didn’t do the later boot camp ‘cause everyone who did it the next day was moaning about how tough it was and how tired they were. Whew!

I’m making up for 5 non-blogging days….2 down, 3 to go, plus today’s blog! Keep reading…

Day Forty-Nine (Tue, Apr 21) – I’m Melting, I’m Melting!

APOLOGIES FOR BEING LATE....MY SHOULDER "INJURY" HAS PREVENTED ME FROM WRITING FOR A FEW DAYS. I MIGHT HAVE FORGOTTEN SOME DETAILS.

Tuesday’s Workouts:
• Beach Walk/Run (2.5 miles, 1 ½ hrs)
• Measurements!
• Swimming (1 ¼ hrs, only 36 laps due to shoulder problems
• Thai Stretch Massage (1 hr)
• 1-on-1 Session (1 hr)
• 1/2 hr cardio
• The Dunes (3-climbs plus 50 squats, 1 hr)

Let’s see, as I’m writing this 6 days late I hope I can remember everything. I was very excited that Amy was arriving Tuesday evening, but at the same time I was struggling with major pain in my left shoulder and left arm, especially in my shoulder blades. Running or walking is not a problem because my arm is always moving. It actually hurts more when I’m still and especially when I’m sitting at the table typing on my laptop. It hurts now, but after massages, acupuncture, and pain killers it’s a little bit better. Even swimming was no fun ‘cause whenever my left arm was in the water, the water resistance caused a sharp pain. On Tuesday I didn’t jog at the beach ‘cause the pain was dull but present enough to cause discomfort. I was anxious to get back to the gym because it was measurement day, and it would be the first measurement after I had stepped up to a new fitness level the previous 7 days. As always we start on the scale, and Nicola started at last week’s weight, then moved the bar to 4 lbs lower than that. The scale didn’t move. I didn’t BUDGE either…I was too surprised and didn’t want to move an ounce that might ‘cause the scale to register. Nicola moved it down another pound, and another, and still no movement. By then I was holding my breath. I couldn’t believe it. Then Nicola moved the bar another pound and the scale finally moved. I was in shock…SEVEN POUNDS. WOOOOOHOOOOOO!! I didn’t even care about the inches; I was just too happy that I finally exceeded 4 lbs in one week. We did the inches measurements, too, and I had lost another 4 ¼ inches, too. So, in seven weeks, I had lost 29 lbs and over 50 inches. I was thrilled.

My happiness was cut short once we arrived at the pool and I started swimming. Oooooowwwwww! The rotating of my left arm didn’t bother me, but the water resistance every time my left arm was under water was killing me. I did the best that I could but only managed around 36 laps. Even just using the kickboard with my arms not moving was MORE painful. It really sapped out my positive energy. Thankfully I had a massage coming up.

And what a massage it was. I know that Nina is extremely experienced and highly-qualified, but today I really found out why. She felt that instead of the usual all-over body sport massage on the table, a Thai Yoga (or Stretch) massage might help with my left shoulder problem. So, while everyone else was at lunch, Nina took me to the mat and stretched me in places that I didn’t know I could be stretched – and remember…I’m very flexible already! Yes, I kept my clothes on! I was poked, prodded, and stretched all over. At one point Nina kneeled on my glutes while digging her elbows into my shoulder blades. Another time while I was sitting up with my legs straight forward, she sat behind me, put her feet on my back, and then pulled my arms backward. It all felt GREAT; I LOVE stretching and being stretched past my limit. I imagine for the massage therapist this is very tiring to do; I will have to ask Nina. I know that I can get tired whenever I’ve given massages; Nina usually does 4-7 massages every weekday, and then on weekends she occasionally joins our boot camps or just works out on her own. She has an unbelievably strong but tiny body. I love her!

Following this I had a one-on-one session with Eric (v’ball player). I love working out with Eric…he infrequently uses weights but manages to come up with some new challenge for me each time. He respected that I was having upper-body issues so we concentrated on core and leg work. We finished up with a balance on the yoga ball. Someone did get a photo but it has not been sent to me yet. I got on top of the yoga ball on all fours and balanced without touching the ground. I managed to hold that for just over a minute. Then, to challenge myself even more, I lifted one hand…so both of my knees and only my right hand were on the ball; my body is in dog position…i.e., I’m not sitting my butt on my feet. The ball was shaking but I managed to hold on for about 10 seconds before losing my balance. I’ve mentioned before that I saw Sione on Biggest Loser do this with one knee and one hand and I want to be able to do that before I leave Camp Technique. I was very pleased with myself. I have to work on my “core” a lot; it improves posture, accelerates abdominal weight loss, and improves balance.

After a nutrition meeting with Karen and a late lunch, it was time for the “late” boot camp; sure enough, Marco took us to The Dunes. We had missed the previous Friday so I was anxious to do well in the one hour that we had. Regrettably I only managed three climbs in the hour, plus a lot of squats afterwards. I was anxious to get back though because AMY was arriving this evening! Yaaaaay! One of my best girlfriends from Bermuda was going to join me for a couple of days and experience Camp life. Amy was doing the meal plan as well, so while she elected to stay at a nearby hotel, she had her morning and evening meals with me at home. That was such a treat for me…I just love my best girlfriends! We had a good first visit and planned for Wednesday, which included yoga, the bike ride, hiking, and a beach boot camp. We knew we needed to get to sleep early to be well-rested and refreshed for Wednesday. I also tried to write my blog for Tuesday, but this is when the pain from sitting at the table and laptop became prevalent.

Sadly, my ongoing sleep problems were made more difficult by my shoulder pain. Despite taking a pain killer and a sleep aid (I’ve tried them ALL by now), the pain was present enough to keep me awake for a few hours, and as usual I woke up briefly around 4:30am. I’m really at a loss for what to do at this point. Read on to Wednesday’s blog to see a photo of what I did about that!

Day Forty-Eight – I’m Gonna Steal That Jack Hammer

Today’s workouts:
• Stretching (1 hr)
• 1-on-1 session (1 hr)
• Spin class – my first ever! (1 hr)
• Cardio (1/2 hr)
• 2-on-1 session (1 hr)
• Massage!
• Gym Boot Camp (1 hr)

It was finally very warm in Marina Del Rey today. Yaaaay! Even Shelly Ann from Trinidad donned a short-sleeve t-shirt instead of her track suit jacket. It was a clear day as well, thus I was looking forward to the bike ride. Recall that I took a day off yesterday and thus didn’t collect my schedule for Monday. It turned out that instead of the bike ride, my first spinning class was scheduled. First there was stretching, which I always enjoy, followed by a “progress meeting” with my coach Marco (each of us has a trainer assigned to us as our “coach”), the nutritionist Karen, and the counselor Claire. The meeting went extremely well. I think since I blog about my experiences every day there isn’t much that anyone doesn’t know about how I’m doing or feeling. We did address the fact that I’m not sleeping straight through the night. Last night was particularly difficult as my entire left arm, shoulder, and neck are extremely sore and the tingling has returned to my arm and hand. It actually put me in a bit of a cranky mood – but just with myself (well, I’ll elaborate on that later) because it prohibited me from fully working out to the best of my abilities today. Marco worked with me afterwards and tried a few exercises to help it out.

The next session was my first spinning class. Those seats are NOT pleasant but as I had bought a removable cushion for my own bike, I used it to soften my tushy on the spin bike. I can see why people love spinning. You burn a lot of calories, sweat a lot, and can work out frustration to some good music if you want. I tried to master pushing the pedals while keeping my butt off the seat…but I need to practice that some more. I found it hurt my knees a lot, so I have to work on using my thighs and butt more than my lower legs to do the spins. I’m looking forward to more spin classes. Karen, besides being our well-informed nutritionist, leads the spin classes as well as the yoga classes. Karen is fun to watch ‘cause you can tell that she’s REALLY INTO it. So, I look forward to the yoga classes, too. ;-)

Following lunch and cardio, I had a partner training session with Jason. By this time my left arm was absolutely KILLING me. It didn’t matter in which position I was holding my arm, it hurt and/or tingled, so no matter what exercises Jason assigned to Belinda and me, I felt pain and just became crankier by the minute (Sorry, Jason!). My massage was scheduled immediately after this so I just dashed to the massage room and let Nina know what was ailing me. Before that Michael had asked how I was doing and as I was not feeling great I let him know, and he suggested that I go to the chiropractor with him after his last session. I was meant to attend the late boot camp, but I went ahead and rescheduled to attend the gym boot camp so that I could go with Michael. Nina obliged and did extra work on my left shoulder blade and arm. There was (still is) a big ol’ knot there and Nina dug deep to help work it out. I must admit that she did help a bit. Nina has unbelievably strong fingers and when the situation calls for it, she is able to dig deep and find the spots on us that are causing discomfort. I have another massage with her tomorrow, thankfully!

I joined Schuyler’s Gym Boot Camp at 4pm; there were only 4 of us, which I liked, and he had us work in pairs, which I also like. Shelly Ann and I were paired up and had to start with push-up holds. Marco had warned me not to do any pushups and had written a note to the other trainers about that, so Schuyler had Shelly Ann and me doing the pushup hold on a raised bench. This put less strain on my shoulder. Didn’t make it any easier though! While we were doing that for a whole minute, the other two ladies had to balance on an upside-down Bosu ball in squat position with hands extended forward (without holding on to anything). That wasn’t easy either! After the minute was up we pairs switched. OK, guess what…I actually did OK on the Bosu ball and would have preferred to do that over and over instead of the pushup hold. I’ve included a photo of a Bosu ball, since I’ve mentioned it a few times. In the photo the girl is stepping on it; in our case this time it was upside down on the “ball” side and we balanced on the flat side. Yikes. We alternated with cardio and also did some bicycle crunches and metronomes on the mat and some boxing on the bag. Normally I love the boxing but my left arm was killing me again so I just did some right crosses and barely did the left jabs. I really just wanted to get to the chiropractor as soon as possible.

Michael and I left soon afterwards and arrived at his regular chiro who accepts walk-in appointments. My goodness, what a happy place to be. The receptionist Rose was delightful and happy to see Mike, and the doctor (also Mike) was just as glad. He worked on Michael while I took care of paperwork, and then saw me. I told him about the knot just under my left shoulder blade and he took out this “jack hammer” contraption that made hard, directed “punches” into the knot and the area around it. I wanted to steal that thing and take it home with me to jack hammer the crap out of that knotted muscle all night long! Dr. Mike also did the usual neck and back cracking. I definitely need to see him again for a few more adjustments. Some of the tingling is gone but as I’m sitting here writing today’s blog, I can feel the pain in my shoulder blade like a dull knife that can’t be removed. Waaah waaah waaaah. It woke me up several times last night so I hope that it won’t be as bad tonight. I think I will try to go see Dr. Mike again this week, perhaps Wednesday.

I’m looking forward to tomorrow as it’s my usual weigh-in day. I hope that the little bit of running that I did has made a difference and that I have lost several inches and at least 5-lbs! I also hope that missing one day of workouts doesn’t have an adverse effect on the measurements. I really want to have lost at least 5 lbs, but if I have a big number in inches, I’ll be satisfied. I hope to exceed the 50-inch mark! I am also excited about tomorrow ‘cause one of my closest friends from Bermuda, Amy, arrives. I haven’t seen her since my last night in Bermuda on February 2nd and she has been super-duper busy with tax season ‘til last week. Amy’s going to work out with us this week and even try The Hell of Sand on Friday before she leaves. What a good friend, eh?

Tomorrow I also have swimming; I hope my left arm/shoulder will be OK. The warm weather is brief, too, and the temperatures are dropping again. Ugggh – that makes for a chilly swim. The pool is usually kept at 85-degrees, however last week it was only 80-degrees and there was a cool breeze, so it was not that pleasant of a swim! I’m spoiled by the beaches in Bermuda….that water has to be 85-degrees before I will go for a swim, OR, the air temperature has to be hot enough to make me want to go into cooler waters. I’m pretty sure the water at the beaches here doesn’t get much over 70-degrees so I will not be going for a swim there voluntarily! Maybe I should wear my shorty wetsuit tomorrow…would that look silly?

I hope your week started off well. I know of THREE people who had surgery today (two family members and one grammar school friend and it was her birthday!); I hope all three are recovering comfortably and will heal quickly. Have a great Tuesday, y’all!

Days Forty-Six & Forty-Seven – First You Put on a Parachute, Then You Rest

Saturday’s Beach Boot Camp (1 ¾ hrs):
• Warm up jog
• Travelling stretching drills
• Walk/jog around the bird cage
• Shot Putting 10-lb Medicine Balls across 20 yards – 10 times
• Sprinting (hah!) 10 yds, shuffling 10 yds, sprinting 10 yds, shuffling 10 yds, bear crawling 10 yds, sprinting 10 yds – FIVE times
• Running 20 yards with a parachute attached to me – twice
• Final bird cage run
• Gym Circuit Training (1 ½ hrs)

Sunday’s activities:
• Absolutely nothin’ – Burn Out Recovery!

Even though I’m still having trouble sleeping and thus am not feeling as rested as I should, I was looking forward to Saturday’s boot camp because the weather was great and I wanted to redeem myself after LAST Saturday’s boot camp (not that I needed to prove anything ‘cause I busted my ass then, too). We had a smaller than usual group; not sure why. Perhaps it’s just because some people are finishing up their camp stays. We thought the film crew was going to be there, too, but they weren’t, so there were no distractions from that. We usually always start with a quick warmup from the sidewalk to the lifeguard station near the water’s edge; I think this is about 50-60 yards one way. Since I am now a champion jogger (hah hah) Schuyler was yelling at me to hustle. Geez, man, I gotta get my tunes on! Today I had Blue Man Group to keep me moving. Upon returning, we do these travelling stretches across about 10 yards. These are NOT easy, because you must work on your core/balance at the same time of doing the stretches towards the finish line. This always makes my lower legs ache. Next we did a trek around the bird cage (recall that it’s really a bird sanctuary but I like calling it the cage). My best time last week was 00:14:12, which was a whole minute off my previous best time. This time I jogged every now and then including not stopping from the final corner to the finish line. Ohmygosh, the ones who had finished were cheering for me – that felt sooooo good! And I was even more excited at the end….I did it in 00:11:46! A whole 2 ½ minutes less than last Saturday’s time. Woohoo! Who’s a crybaby now, hmmmm? You know, I REALLY REALLY HATED what happened last Saturday, but I think it did spur me on this whole past week. All I’ve wanted to do is just WORK OUT. No chit chat, no silliness, no goofing off, just work out. Following the bird cage run, we were split into two groups. My group had to take these small but heavy (10-lbs) medicine balls and “shot-put” them across about 20 yards, first with the right hand, run to the ball, then do it again with the left hand. Then we had to turn back and do it again to the starting line. And we had to do this 5 times each way, or 10 times total. Yikes. Ok, I really didn’t know what the heck I was doing, so I tried to envision the Olympic athletes doing it. As I recall they made faces and yelled at the shot put to make it go further, so I did the same. Meanwhile the other group was doing the next drill, and when we finished, we switched. OK, THIS drill involved sprinting straight ahead 10 yards to a cone, then shuffling 10 yards to the right to another cone, then sprinting (hah hah, sure I was “sprinting”) straight ahead 10 yards to a cone, then shuffle to the left to a final cone. But we’re not finished. Then we had to bear crawl (down on hands and feet but NOT your knees) to the 2nd cone, then sprint back to the first cone. And do all that five times. Well…I did pretty well with that and had a couple of minutes to kill. I was going to start back around the bird cage as we knew we had to do it again, but NOOOOO, Arleigh was lookin’ for some entertainment and wanted to see how the parachutes looked. Guess who went first – yeah, me, who said she would never run. Check out the photo for an idea of what it looked like. I wish someone had been able to take a pic just to prove that I was RUNNING. The thing was strapped around my chest, then I had to ball up the chute in my hands, start running, and then throw it behind me, with the goal being that it inflates and stays afloat. We found this really only works if you’re going against the wind. So, I RAN 20 yards, sort of jogged back, and then DID IT AGAIN. And THEN I had to do the bird cage again, with a goal of beating my previous time. Well, as Jeni and I were the only ones to don the parachutes, I think we should get a bonus of at least 30 seconds taken off our time! I was pooped and thus didn’t jog as much around the cage this time. When I reached the final corner Schuyler came after me to push me to jog the rest of the way, but I didn’t beat my time. But I think I have a really good excuse, don’t you? It didn’t matter to me, truthfully, because I FELT GREAT! I was really proud of myself for stepping it up another level on Saturday.

After a delicious lunch at the Catering Kitchen (steak and eggs, baby, and some yummy roasted, seasoned potatoes) we headed to the gym for our circuit training workout. By that time, I was absolutely busted, and every exercise which Jason assigned to us was ten times more difficult than it normally would have been – not because Jason made it more difficult, but because I was drained of all energy. My body was really crashing and burning by this time. The end of the workout could not get there soon enough, nor could I get home soon enough. I was so beat and was already thinking that I needed a day off. I have worked out 46 days straight without a break. I have only missed 6 hours of workouts in total for all of those days (keep in mind we workout about 37 – 40 hours per week). It was a gorgeous day today and I had aspirations of biking to the beach, doing the walk, and then biking back to the apartment, but when I awoke, there was not a single part of my body that wasn’t aching. Finally I just gave in and literally did nothing today. Not even housework -- although I’m going to do some of that now. I’ve been on the sofa almost all day except for having my meals and now catching up on Facebook and finally downloading music to and creating playlists on my new iPod Nano. While I’m still sore, the pain is not nearly as great as it was this morning, I’m not as stiff, and thus I am confident that I made the right decision to take a break. Damn it, I earned it! Now, I just HOPE that it doesn’t affect my weigh-in on Tuesday. That would just be cruel.

Since I wasn’t at the gym today I don’t know what’s scheduled for Monday, however usually I have a stretching, bike ride, 1-on-1 session, cardio, and gym boot camp on Mondays. I am going to finally do a spinning class this week. My friend Rolf suggested that spinning would help burn off more calories and fat, especially in my legs, and thus that would start making jogging a bit easier. I’m looking forward to that! I’ve never done a proper spin class. I HAVE been on a spin bike for occasional drills, but I have never done a full class. I’m not sure if the spin class will be on Monday or later in the week. I have just over 5 weeks to go. I really want to kick it up a notch now….I’m not even halfway to my goal (which is pissing me off!). By the end of this I need to be down a couple more dress sizes so that I can fit into a dress for Pam’s wedding…I’m totally going to treat myself at Dolce & Gabana or somewhere on Rodeo Drive, baby. But, only if I lose enough inches, and I still have a long way to go. I know that I’ve come a long way and I’m thrilled with my results, but over the next 5 weeks….I’m going to KICK SOME ASS!

I hope you had a fun weekend with good weather. It finally feels like spring is here and summer is finally on its way (‘cause I can’t stand cold weather!). Shelly Ann from Trinidad finds it too chilly for her taste, too – see, I’m not the only one!

Days Forty-Four & Forty-Five – Recapping Highs & Lows

Thursday’s Workouts:
• Beach Walk/Run (2 ½ miles, 1 hr)
• Abs/Core (1/2 hr)
• Swimming (54 laps (no fins!), 1 hr)
• 2-on-1 Training Session (1 hr)
• 60-Minute Cardio (1 hr)
• Cardio & A Movie (1 ¾ hrs)

Friday’s Workouts:
• Group Circuit Training (1 hr)
• Beach Walk/Run (about 2 ¾ miles, 1 ½ hrs)
• 45-minute Cardio (3/4 hr)
• 1-on-1 Session (1 hr)
• Group Meeting

I am still not sleeping well and I am still sore all over. I really want to push myself and do more jogging, but it is just killing me! Either my ankles hurt or my thighs are sore or I get breathless after only a minute of jogging. At night, I can barely move and oh man, if I move it my sleep, that’s a big mistake. How do you joggers & runners do it? I truly feel like it wouldn’t feel as bad if I wasn’t still carrying so much weight, especially in my legs. I swear, my thighs are as big and as heavy as tree trunks. I gave it a go anyway, on both Thursday and Friday mornings, and whenever I have cardio on my own I try to jog a few minutes (but in one-minute spurts…that’s all I can handle right now). Also, due to losing only 4 lbs again (I know, I know, most of you think that’s great, but I want to have at least ONE 5-lb week!), I’m insisting on doing exercises that will NOT BUILD MUSCLE this week until Tuesday’s weigh-in. NO NEW MUSCLE! And if I still don’t lose 5-lbs by this Tuesday, I’m going to do it again next week. I hope hope hope that this little bit of jogging that I’ve been doing (every day since Monday) will help.

We had a “community” meeting to end the day on Friday. Each of us (i.e., each client/camper) discussed with all the trainers what highs and lows we had experienced during the past week. We were also encouraged to give some feedback. Of course we all gave positive feedback to each other! Now, as I’m blogging every day I think everyone knows what my highs and lows are. I’ll briefly go over them, but I thought I would mention some of the highs that the others felt. Can’t help to spread some good feelings, right? (I apologize in advance if I don’t remember them all or remember them correctly!). Sig from Iceland said he’s feeling better and doing more than when he arrived. Nicoletta scored a touchdown in Flag Football and can see her collarbones (I am so jealous! -- in a good way, of course). Many of us admired how Nicoletta is always working hard to achieve her goals. There’s this one cardio-machine that has her name on it…she attacks that thing whenever she has a chance. Belinda’s butt is smaller (OK, that was MY high for her ;-). Belinda was thrilled that The Sand Dune was closed today and loves doing the bike rides. Shelby is glad to get started again after an extended absence from the camp due to illness. Sherrie felt like she had a normal week. I saw Sherrie do this insane exercise where she had her hips on a yoga ball, had to push from her hands from the ground up to a step and then up to another level, then back down again – TEN times. Yikes. And Shelly Ann from Trinidad admires Sherrie’s daily energy. Brian is loving the outdoor exercises and wants more. I happen to love it when Brian is boxing…even when I’m not looking, I can tell if he’s boxing with Marco because you can hear his jabs and crosses smacking the punch pads across the entire gym. Brian swims like a fish, literally. I wish I could swim that smoothly and easily. Divya enjoys making Arleigh, one of the trainers, do leg work with her. I let Divya know that whether she knew it or not, she helped me a lot in my first two weeks; if I said I couldn’t do something, Divya said I could…and she was right. Shelly Ann’s first week went very well; she was pleased with her pounds and inches lost and is feeling the difference already. Vernon completed the bike/hike/bike on Wednesday despite the incredibly difficult and windy conditions that day. I’m impressed that he does that twice a week, regardless of the conditions!

For myself, I had lots and lots of highs and only a few lows. Obviously the worst of the lows was my altercation with the trainer on Saturday. But there was a high as a result ‘cause we made up. I was thrilled to make it to the end of the south bike route in less than an hour and make it back to the gym in less than an hour as well. I had a wonderful visit with my Mom. My sister Arlene sent some “Emotibombs” from Lush Cosmetics as a little surprise in my mail. These are cool little bricks of aroma that you drop in your shower and the steam becomes fragrant. Another achievement for me this week was figuring out how to do a flip-turn in the pool so that I can do more than one lap at a time (but I can’t do more than two just yet…thanks to getting breathless). The low that I’m really feeling now is the lack of sleep, feeling burned out, and the soreness as a result of the jogging – but starting jogging is a super high for me! I had sworn off and begged not to do any running, but now I’m doing it a little bit at a time. Another wonderful high which I failed to mention at the meeting is that a friend in Bermuda told me that she was inspired to quit smoking about 5 weeks ago. Omigosh, I can’t tell you how my heart exploded with joy when I read that. I feel a high every day when one of you writes to me to tell me that you’ve been inspired to make some healthy life choices, whether it’s going to the gym more frequently or at all, quitting smoking, or attending a class that makes you feel good. And of course, all your messages of encouragement send me soaring every day. At the meeting, I was happy to receive feedback that many admire the energy that I put into my workouts, and that I was helpful to new campers when they first arrived.

So, I mentioned that the Sand Dune, better known as The Hell of Sand, was closed this morning. There were tractors moving some sand here and there. You know by now that I hate that damn hill, and I (as well as the others in the van) was somewhat relieved that we didn’t have to climb it, but I have to admit I was a LITTLE disappointed. After doing so well last Friday (7 climbs), I was determined to do at least 10 today, despite the soreness in my leg muscles. I will just have to look forward to it next Friday, especially since one of my closest friends, Amy, will be here to do it with me! (Amy, are ya ready?). It was a nice day so Marco took us to the beach for a walk/run to the pier. We had more time than usual so I made it past the pier to the rocks, then back to the rocks at the beginning, and then started back for about a quarter-mile. I did jog every now and then. I am feeling it now as I write this. Every time I get up to move it aches sooooo much!

We have our Beach Boot Camp tomorrow. I’m sure there will be no unpleasant situations as there were last week. I’m looking forward to it, however I am feeling very burned out. I have been attending camp and exercising every day for forty-five days without a break. I’ve only missed 3 or 4 hours of workouts at the end of a few days. I am sore and not sleeping enough. I hope that I can get a good night’s sleep tonight and tomorrow night, but if not, I might take Sunday off. I hate to miss any day (mainly because of the expense!) but I feel that I need some recovery time, and since Sunday is only a 2-hour workout, it might be time for a day off. I think my inner Drama Queen needs a day off, too ;-)

As always, I hope you all have a lovely weekend. We’re supposed to have great weather but I’m afraid all I’m going to want to do is sleep and/or vegetate on the sofa. I’d love to hear about some of the highs and even lows that you’ve experienced recently.

Oh, one more thing. Two of my friends are doing long-distance bike rides for charity. Michael is doing a 7-day ride from L.A. to San Francisco in June and my good ol’ friend Rich is doing a 2-day ride in early May from Miami to Key Largo. Rich’s website for raising funds is: http://main.nationalmssociety.org/site/TR/Bike/FLSBikeEvents?px=2000591&pg=personal&fr_id=9960&s_tafId=99588 and Michael’s is: http://www.tofighthiv.org/goto/papabear Any little bit that you’re able to donate will be appreciated.

Day Forty-Three – Another Uneventful Day

Today’s Workouts:
• Yoga (1 hr)
• Bike Ride (2 hrs, only 12 miles; brutal wind)
• Cardio (1/2 hr)
• 1-on-1 Session (1 hr)
• Meeting with Nutritionist (1/2 hr)
• Gym Boot Camp (1 hr)

I STILL cannot get a good night’s sleep. Last night was my own fault though since I let myself fall asleep on the sofa. PLUS I was worried that I hadn’t mailed my tax return extension properly. I am just incapable of turning off my brain. Every time I moved to try to get into a more comfortable position, my body, especially my legs, just ached. If this is what jogging is going to do to me then I don’t want to do it! I have not been this sore the entire six weeks that I’ve been here. The soreness made all of today’s workouts very difficult. We started with yoga at the apartment’s fitness center. Generally I love yoga but my thighs were not cooperating. I was also not looking forward to the bike ride. It was COLD outside and the wind was unbearable. I got started on the north route; the wind was against me the entire time. Uuuugh! The sand was blowing against my skin, too, and that hurt! I was only able to do almost 12 of the 15 ¾ mile trip. When I turned the wind was at my back and made for a much more pleasant ride but it was soooo cold. I couldn’t wait to get back to the gym and have some hot tea, lunch, and a quick nap. After lunch I tried to warm up with some cardio as scheduled. That helped a little bit. I had a 1-on-1 session with Jason who last week had really challenged me with the heavier free weights. As I had only lost another 4 lbs, I asked Jason to not give me heavy weights (to build muscle) but rather to do a workout which burned a lot of calories. He obliged and had me do several different upper and lower body exercises which kept me in my fat-burning heart rate zone. I reduced my usual weights on the machines so that I could do more repetitions faster. I felt pretty good afterwards; some of the soreness had diminished.

Next I had a session with the nutritionist, Karen. Karen had the menu from The Cheesecake Factory. I have never been to this chain of restaurants. The menu is HUGE; it must take a patron an hour to decide what to have. The point of the exercise, anyhow, was to help me choose appies and entrees and to understand which items have the highest caloric content and how to enjoy the meals I really want (even the fattening ones) without going overboard. I believe portion control is key in these situations. I’ll just have to get in the habit of ordering an entrée, eating only half of it, and saving the rest for another day. There’s a Mexican restaurant in Danville, Virginia, where my Mom lives, and it has the best beef quesadilla that I always order. And it’s ginormous. I will definitely have to have only half of that quesadilla…but that makes for a yummy leftover the next day. And I guess I’ll have the regular margarita instead of the “grande.”

I had a final workout with Eric. It was meant to be a group boot camp in the gym but some of the others had not returned yet from their outdoor workout, thus it was just myself and Veronica up for the challenge. I actually prefer it that way and thus we go started at various “stations” in the gym. It was another good workout which kept my heart rate going. Regardless, I was still sore and couldn’t wait to head home. As I’m writing this my quadriceps, glutes, and whatever the side thigh muscles are called are tender to the touch. I think a hot bath might be in order! As tomorrow is Thursday that means Beach Walk/Run and Swimming. I’m thinking about trying to jog again…we shall see how my muscles are feeling. But first I must get to bed EARLY tonight and try to get a good eight hours of sleep.

I hope all of you had a good day and filed your tax return or extension by today if required. To my KPMG tax friends…WOOHOOO!!! Hope y’all had a good time celebrating the end of busy season. I used to love it when we’d go out after work on the 15th. To Debbie V, I hope you had a good birthday and didn’t spend any of it at the post office trying to get your taxes filed ;-)

Have a great Thursday, everyone! OH…if you watch “My Name is Earl” on NBC, trainer Jason is going to be on it Thursday night. He’ll be the buff, blond guy wearing a white t-shirt in the background somewhere when Earl is talking about working out and getting fit.

Day Forty-Two – Halfway There

Today’s Workouts:
• Beach Walk/Run (2 ½ miles, 1 hr)
• Abs/core (1/2 hr)
• Swimming (1 ¼ hrs)
• 1-on-1 Training Session (1 hr)
• Gym Boot Camp (1 ½ hrs)

Tuesday I woke up with some muscle aches that I had not had before…in my glutes and outer thighs. I wasn’t sure from where they came but I suspected maybe it was from the few spurts of jogging that I did on Monday. We headed to the beach for our walk/run. Thankfully the conditions were perfect….cool temperatures, slight breeze, low tide, flat, hard sand. This enables one to walk or run at a faster pace. I thought I might try a little jog, but mentally I couldn’t make myself do it, and then I was feeling a very slight pain in my right heel. However, about 20 minutes later, when I had nearly reached the pier (I was walking FAST), I finally got up the nerve to jog. Claire, our counselor and also a marathon runner, told me on Monday to keep my shoulders relaxed and let my hands drop by my sides, rather than holding them in fists and up high. I did that and went as far as I could. I get breathless VERY quickly though…I don’t think I lasted more than 30 or 40 seconds before I had to slow down to a walk and catch my breath. Nevertheless, I kept going, past the pier, towards the rock. I saw Jeni in the near distance and thought I would at least jog to try to catch up with her, but Schuyler wanted us to turn around so that we could all get to the van and back to the gym on time. Jeni is able to run almost all of the way; I’m working towards that…that’s over a mile each way. I can barely manage a few meters right now ;-) Anyway, I jogged to the pier and slowed to a walk, trying to catch up with Schuyler (who is very tall and thus has very big strides!). Eventually I just got determined and jogged to catch up with him. HAH! Now Schuyler knew I could run so he was going to make me do it. After I caught my breath and was able to have a conversation again, he said, “OK, let’s jog to the next lifeguard station,” and we did. Again I had to catch my breath, we walked a few meters, and as the next lifeguard station was approaching we jogged again. I think we did this four times until we reached the beginning of the beach. Even though I was completely breathless, I was very proud of myself. I swear I never ever thought that I would give jogging a try. I made the round trip in 47 minutes, too. That was awesome to me. When we returned to the gym and I exited the van, I felt those muscle aches even more this time. So THAT’S what’s causing them…the jogging! Oh no…I can’t have that. I tried to do some stretches which you know I usually can do with ease, but even these became difficult. OK, if I have to choose between being a jogger or being a rubber band, I’ll take the rubber band, please! I’ve been flexible my entire life and I do NOT want that to diminish (how many 43-yr-olds do you know that can do a perfect split or heel-stretch, hmmmm?).

After a killer (what else is new…) abs/core session with Marco, we headed to the Santa Monica College Swim Center. Again I wanted to push myself and try to get that flip turn down so that I could do consecutive laps without stopping. I wish I didn’t get out of breath so quickly. All I could manage was a full length, the turn, and then half a length before I had to slow down to breathe. I kept at it though, trying backstrokes, too. Those really wear out your legs! At least I can breathe the entire time and get ready for the next lap. As I’ve mentioned before, I like doing laps with the buoy between my knees so that I can work arms and back. Happily I was able to do a flip turn and complete a second length without stopping. Yaaaay! But then I was breathless again. Geez.

Back at the gym after lunch and an administrative meeting with Nicola, I had a 1-on-1 session with Eric. The first exercise went something like this…raise the Bosu ball over my head, bend over to put it on the ground, jump back into a plank position (still holding the sides of the Bosu ball), do a pushup, jump or walk both feet back up, then raise the Bosu ball over my head. I had to do that 15 times (plus two more sets of 15 reps after that!). Good Heavens, I must have put out a pint of sweat! I also did single-armed back rows with 15-lb weights. Whoooaaaa! There were other tasks, of course, but as I’m writing this day’s notes a day late, I’m probably still in a daze and not remembering everything. However, I am LOVING how all the workouts are getting tougher and more challenging.

I was supposed to an hour of cardio on my own, but I had to get my tax return extension filed. I’ll do the real thing in July. Because of the sale of my shares in eMoo, I have a foreign capital gain to report and on which taxes will be owed. I have NEVER written a check to the IRS before! In all prior years when I worked in the US, I usually received a small refund and while in Bermuda I never owed anything. I assure you, I did not enjoy writing that check. Nor did I enjoy going to the post office. There was an awfully long line, but happily I ran into two of the trainers who were filing their tax returns as well and they were using a self-service machine. Hurray…what could have been a 90-minute wait (thus making me miss my next workout) turned into only 15 minutes and I was back at the gym for the final workout. And it was a killer.

Marco had us on the mat first doing various drills in teams of three. Each drill had to be done for 5 minutes so within each team one of us could take a break for a few seconds and then jump back in so that another team member could take a break. There were three teams and I’ll just say that our team was made up of 3 40+ women. And we held our own against the men and the younger ladies. It was brutal, though, and that 90 minutes did not end soon enough! When I returned home I was too exhausted to do anything and fell asleep on the sofa while watching Biggest Loser (but I DVR’d it so now I know which contestant was sent home). This turned out to be a big mistake because I awoke at 2am, went to bed, and tossed and turned past 4am. Every toss and every turn hurt! My whole body was sore. More about that on Day 43’s note.

Day Forty-One – Run Forrest Run (I Mean, Jog Donna Jog)

Today’s Workouts:
• Stretching (1 hr)
• Bike Ride (18.3 miles, just under 2 hrs, personal best again!)
• 2-on-1 Training (1 hr)
• Cardio (3/4 hr)
• 1-on-1 training (1 hr)
• Gym Boot Camp (1 hr)

Monday started very early as it was sadly time to say goodbye to Mom who had an early flight. We had a great weekend together. I’m glad she worked out with me for a day. I was really very proud of her, and of course I was happy to show off my Mom as she made those 4 ½ grueling climbs up the Hell of Sand (better than my first time there). Not bad for a 60-something yr old…although, Mom jumped out of an airplane for her 60th birthday so why should any of us be surprised? Hope you had a good time, Mom….wish you could have done a whole week with us! (NB: As I'm writing this I've just learned that Mom arrived in Atlanta but her second flight was delayed so much she is having to overnight there. Mom almost always has difficulty when flying. I rarely remember a time when she hasn't had a bad experience on any of her trips)

Meanwhile, just like yesterday, I was actually dreading going back to the gym. This is the first time in the six weeks that I’ve been here that I did NOT want to go. Regardless, I was going to go workout and that was all I wanted to do…just work out without any interruptions. Before the bike ride we had a stretching session, which I always like to do. It’s something at which I’m really good but I can always still push myself a little further each time. The bike ride was next and I wanted to get started as quickly as possible because we only had two hours (well, we ALWAYS only have two hours but usually I have a little break afterwards, but this time I had to get back on time for a Partner Training session) and I knew that Marco would be pushing for me to go faster to improve my time to the end. Well, surprisingly, instead of going the north route as Marco usually takes us, he decided to take the south route (which I’ve mentioned previously isn’t as nice and is more difficult). As this was a new route for a couple of the cyclists, I went ahead on my own. I had made it to the end (Manhattan Beach Pier) just once and it had taken me just over an hour, so I was going to have to push to make it within the hour. Happily there was little wind resistance in either direction so it was a rather pleasant ride. I was able to increase my average speed, too. There are several slow inclines during the ride, leading up to a killer hill which one reaches when one is already tired, but this time, surprisingly, I approached that hill sooner than expected and actually made it up there without stopping and without too much difficulty. Hmmmm, it is becoming apparent to me at this point that I have moved up to yet another fitness level! I kept pushing on and with 15 minutes before the 1st hour was up and before I had to turn around, I could see that the final destination was within reach. I was so excited! I was actually going to make it to the pier in the hour! I did make it with 4 minutes to spare. Hurray! Damn, I was all alone, too…celebrating my little victory inwardly with a few quadriceps stretches outwardly. The one-way trip from the gym’s parking lot to the Pier is 9.15 miles. So, I knew I had to average more than 9.2 mph to get back to the gym within the hour. Despite my thighs being tired and my knees just killing me, I did make it back in under an hour. I surprised myself! I’m not sure what got into me. Maybe, just MAYBE the incident on Saturday has spurred me on. I don’t know. I really don’t mind if a trainer yells at me to push and motivate me, as long as he/she doesn’t say something which humiliates me. I was definitely still pretty pissed off about the incident…maybe I was working off some anger.

Anyway, as I’m very satisfied with myself but my knees are absolutely killing me, for the next workout (partner training with Schuyler) Belinda (who also did the bike ride) and I asked to NOT do anything using our knees. Thus he had us work chest and triceps. That might have been a mistake to tell him not to make us do more leg work because he just about SLAYED us with holding a pushup position for a whole minute followed by doing 10 pushups in which one hand was on a medicine ball and the other was flat on the floor. Now, as both of us are still working on getting a good pushup down, both of these tasks were murder. And we had to do THREE sets of them. Belinda and I were yelling and huffing and puffing to make the time go faster (why doesn’t that EVER work?). As usual, in between each set of exercises, we had to do a couple of minutes of cardio. Well, once again I don’t know what got into me, but I had the urge to go above 4.0 on the treadmill and actually RUN (ok, JOG is more accurate, but the point is, I actually got both feet off the ground at the same time). The first time we had a cardio break (that’s an oxymoron!) I jogged for 30 seconds. The next time I did 45 seconds. The next time I did 1 minute. And the final time I ran the full assignment of a minute-and-a-half. If you’ve been following this from Day One, all along I’ve been bemoaning the fact that it hurts my boobs to run…as I’ve said several times, there’s just no sports bra that will provide enough support (and I wear two bras…a regular, underwire support bra and a sports bra on top of that. Plus I use one of those bra hooks that converts your regular bra into a racerback bra; this provides more support, too). What I have discovered is that there is also no pair of panties, bike shorts, or other sports undergarment contraption that will provide enough support for the jiggling fat all around my big butt! Hey, man, that stuff hurts when you land on each foot and the fat and cellulite jerks down with it. Anyway, once again I was very pleased with myself for finally getting up the nerve to jog, and I let Schuyler know that he’s the first trainer for whom I’ve done that. Now he’s going to spoil it and put it in his daily report so all the other trainers are going to expect me to jog, too!!

Later I had a cardio session on my own. I thought I was going to give the jogging another try, but my legs were tired and my feet were starting to hurt for the first time, so I did a brisk walk on the treadmill and also a good ride on the stationary cycles. This was followed by a training session with Marco. Recall that Marco handles most of the boxing training and I wanted to box and kick again…I was still not finished letting out some aggression, baby. WELL!!! Listen to this….our gym is going to be part of some reality show in which a groom (and then later the bride) is surprised with a visit to the gym and is put through the paces for a short period to get him in shape for his wedding day. They were filming on the mat where we do the boxing and over which the boxing bags are hung, so we couldn’t do it there. AAAARRRRGH! So, as I still wanted to throw some punches no matter what, we just did about 20 minutes of boxing in the parking lot. It was a pretty day and good to be outside again anyway. Marco used the boxing pads to block my kicks, but seriously, I couldn’t really wail on them like I wanted. Then we moved indoors to do some chest exercises (don’t worry, these exercises are not making my chest any larger!). We did cardio between sets as usual and this time I managed three whole minutes of jogging. Woohoo!

After my usual Monday massage, we had boot camp in the gym with Schuyler and the Groom. We were split into two groups and The Groom was in the other group, so I wasn’t in any background shots. Don’t worry…you know me – I won’t shy away from the camera (even though I’m still fat and hot and sweaty with no makeup all the time) and somehow I’m going to have to manage to get one of my splits or heel-stretches on camera ;-P I don’t know what the show is called nor when it will be aired, but you can be damn sure I will find out and let you know. There will be film crews frequently over the next few weeks; don’t know how long this will go on. I think it will be interesting to see the whole process.

So, are you all back at work? Recovered from the long weekend? No tummy aches from eating too much Easter Candy? Still flying your kites or are they stored away for next year or did they crash and burn on their maiden flights? Filed your tax return or the extension (I just did mine; have to go to the post office tomorrow)? It’s OK to wear white now, y’know ;-) Tomorrow will be the end of week 6 for me, with 6 more weeks to go. I also get measured tomorrow. I’m trying to convince myself to not worry about the pounds anymore and just hope that I’ve lost a lot of inches. And tomorrow we have our usual beach walk/run before abs/core and swimming. If the beach conditions are good enough (i.e., if the sand isn’t too soft close to the water) I’ll try to jog for part of it. That should really improve my time, eh? Have a great Tuesday, everyone!

Day Forty – I Never Promised You A Rose Garden

Today’s Workout
• 10-minutes cardio
• Upper Body Machines: 50 Chest Flies, 50 Lateral Pulldowns, 50 shoulder presses, 50 bicep curls, 50 tricep pushdowns
• 2-minutes cardio
• Upper body with free weights: 50 chest press, 50 back rows, 50 side raises, 50 hammer curls, 50 overhead 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 front 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; 50 “reach for the stars” crunches
• 10 final minutes of cardio

I did not sleep well at all Saturday night, despite taking some Advil PM. I know it’s because I was still stressed out about what happened at Saturday’s Boot Camp. I, unfortunately, cannot turn off my brain, even if I have the ocean waves whooshing through my clock radio. I woke up around 4am and only dozed a few minutes between then and 8am. Finally my stomach would not let me sleep any longer….it was hungry, especially since I skipped the 4th meal on Saturday (just too tired to eat). Achingly I arose from bed…my triceps, knees, ankles, and right elbow were still bothering me. Ooooowwwww! I really didn’t want to go to the gym, but as I missed a whole workout yesterday, I had to go. I knew that with Schuyler leading us, we’d be on our own to do the list above. Normally I don’t like it; I really prefer for a trainer to push us. But after yesterday, I was in no mood for anyone to yell at me. I got through the workout without any trouble and headed home to meet Mom where we planned to visit the California Science Center’s Rose Garden. We were excited about this because we could see that along the road and in the yards of many houses in the neighborhood, the rose bushes in full bloom, and thus we had high hopes that the Rose Garden would be exploding with color and aroma. Alas, the lack of sleep hit me and it was slow-going for me to get through lunch, shower, and getting dressed. PLUS, the final round of the Masters was on and I’m a huge Tiger Woods fan and by the time we turned it on, Tiger was coming back and catching up to the leaders. I LOVED the fact that he and Phil Mickelson were paired together. Tiger Woods made me become a golf fan many years ago. I love his dedication and athleticism. To me, he forced all the other golfers to step up their game, making golf that much more interesting. I generally only watch tournaments if Tiger is playing, but sometimes also if Phil Mickelson is playing. I’m not a golfer at all. I’ve only ever played in office tournaments in which I was paired with an experienced golfer. I can count on two hands the good shots that I’ve ever made. Anyway…I love close matches and I was pulling for Tiger and also Phil to catch up to the leader, Kenny Perry. By the 17th hole, however, if you watched you know that Tiger bogied and thus had no chance to win. By then, Angel Cabrera wasn’t doing so well, but he was paired with Kenny Perry who was holding onto the lead. Mom and I decided to leave for our excursion. We assumed either Kenny Perry won or Chad Campbell caught up and won. JUST NOW to my surprise I checked the Masters.org website and I see that Cabrera came back from a disastrous 1st Sudden Death Hole to win the 2nd Sudden Death Hole. Unbelievable! Wow!! I wish I had recorded all that on my fancy-schmancy new DirectTV satellite DVR which I’ve not quite figured out. I’m a TiVo expert, but this DVR has a few more bells and whistles, so I missed the overtime of the show and thus missed the sudden death holes. Aaaaargh! I would have liked to see Kenny Perry win as he would have been the oldest man to ever win a Major, however, I’m pleased to see that Cabrera came from so far behind to win. Those are the best kinds of wins, don’t you think?!

It was a gorgeous Easter Sunday and there was lots of traffic to prove it. Mom and I headed to the Science Center which is next to the LA Coliseum (where the Olympics have been held, among other events). When the parking attendant asked us to which exhibit we were visiting, we indicated the Rose Garden, and she said it was CLOSED! HORRORS!!! Omigawd, we were SO DISAPPOINTED! So, we pulled up a bit to get out of the entrance lane and to figure out where we wanted to go instead. As we started about two hours later than planned (thanks to me being so exhausted and because we were both engrossed in the Masters), the other Botanical Garden that we would have visited, The Huntington Gardens, would have closed only an hour from then. So, we realized we weren’t going to see any gardens that day. It’s sort of a tradition with Mom and me – whenever we visit a city we try to make it to at least one of that city’s best gardens. We’ve visited gardens in Edinburgh, Scotland, Washington, DC, Atlanta, GA, and on our own I’ve visited Butchart Gardens in Victoria, BC, and Mom has been to Callaway in GA, San Antonio’s, and Galveston’s. It’s a tradition that I love and thus you can see why we were so upset that we didn’t get to see the Rose Garden. Sooooo, we had plans to go to Whole Foods Market and headed that way. We passed through a few somewhat dodgy neighborhoods to get there, but as we got closer to Whole Foods the neighborhoods improved. We noticed a few side streets that had large homes, so after Whole Foods and eating lunch, we drove back to a couple of those side streets. One of them was June St. As “June” was Granny’s name, we felt we were destined to tour that street. Somehow, even though there was no ladybug on our shoulders, Granny was with us because the street was lovely with large, unique homes and most of them with lots of roses along the walkways or walls or whatever. The homes had character, too. We also drove down the next street, Hudson St., which had gorgeous, bigger homes, but the ones on June St were much more interesting, just as our Granny was. After this, we were tired and as Mom has to pack for her early flight, we headed home. I’m icing my knees and ankles now. I DO feel and walk like Fred Sanford! I want to try to sleep well tonight as I have SEVEN hours of workouts scheduled for tomorrow, including the bike ride (in which I know Marco will push me to get to the end in less time) and a 1-on-1 and 2-on-1 sessions.

Did you all have a lovely Easter Sunday? I heard the weather was awful in Bermuda. I hope all my KPMG tax friends at least slept in before heading to work. I still have to do my tax return automatic extension!! Only three more days, y’all! Hang in there and be ready to party it up on Wednesday! Have a great week, everyone ;-)