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.