Day Seventy-Two, Part II, plus Days Seventy-Three, Seventy-Four, and Seventy-Five – The Countdown Quickens

Gosh, I don’t know where the weekend went! Let’s see, I left off on Thursday with the confession that I am probably a masochist because I jogged further and longer than I had before and I swam longer and further than before. And I’m paying these people to do this and more to me.

After returning to the gym after swimming on Thursday and having a quick cooking class at the catering kitchen, Karen, our delightful nutritionist, made a pitcher of “Fresh” for us. I absolutely LOVE this stuff! It’s a green, all-natural shake loaded with vitamins and I swear after I have a glass of it I’m bouncing off the walls with energy. We’re going to get the recipe in our “maintenance binders” which are given to us when we finish the camp. I’m going to make this stuff every day. The quick list of ingredients (which I can remember) is (all fresh and organic): spinach leaves, cucumbers, lime juice, lemon juice, apples, parsley, mint, hint of agave syrup for sweetening, if desired, and celery. You can add a banana and/or strawberries instead of agave syrup for sweetness. It’s tart and I love it. Karen also made a simple protein shake with protein powder, blueberries, a banana, and a couple of other things, I think. The protein shake had more calories so we were limited on the amount we could have, but I was happy to have lots of the green stuff.

Next up several of us left for beach volleyball drills with Eric. There were 9 of us, so we were even able to have a little game. Personally, I don’t like the warmup stuff; I’d rather just get straight to a game, but the warm-ups are necessary to loosen our muscles and to burn calories of course. Interestingly, I run around less during warm-ups and drills, but when we’re actually playing, I’ll hustle and go after the ball and don’t mind diving into the sand to get the bump. As we were finishing up, this tall, slender, seemingly fit man who appeared to be in his 40s stopped to chat and I guess inquire about us. He let us know that he was heavy when he was younger, got fit in the last several years, had a HEART ATTACK A WEEK AGO and was walking around and feeling fine that day; he said that he survived the heart attack because he was fit. SO DO YOU HEAR THAT, THOSE OF YOU AT RISK OF A HEART ATTACK? THIS IS EXACTLY the reason I came to this fitness camp. I had no health problems leading up to starting the camp, but I knew that if I didn’t change and GET fit, I would be at risk of a heart attack sooner than later. My Grandpa Gauthier was in his mid-40s when he died of a heart attack. HOLY SHIT MY HEART FEELS LIKE IT’S GOING TO JUMP OUT OF MY THROAT NOW BECAUSE THERE WAS JUST NOW (8:39PM in California) A BIGGER EARTHQUAKE TREMOR THIS TIME THAN TWO WEEKS AGO. OMIGAWD! GET ME OUT OF HERE! I DO NOT LIKE EARTHQUAKES! GIVE ME A GOOD OL’ HURRICANE ANYTIME!!! MY HANDS ARE STILL SHAKING!!! YIKES, THERE’S ANOTHER ONE, BUT SMALLER. I DON’T LIKE IT. MOMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!! NEWS REPORTS SAID IT WAS A 5.0 AT THE EPICENTER!! Ok, I am totally discombobulated right now. These earthquake tremors are going to give ME a heart attack!

No Cardio & A Movie for me Thursday night ‘cause I was heading to Dr. Chen, my acupuncturist. As time passes I’m feeling less and less pain, thankfully, and the big knots stuck under my shoulder blades are getting smaller. I think the acupuncture has helped that a lot. Dr. Chen also gives me a boost ‘cause she says each week I look thinner. I love her!

Friday’s Workouts:
• Circuit Training (1 hr)
• The Dunes (8 climbs, 2 hrs)
• 1-on-1 Session with Mistress Nicola, the Sadist (1 hr)
• 1-hr Cardio
• Massage
• No community meeting for me – Yahoooo!

After LAST Friday’s absolutely miserable day, I had vowed that I was NOT going to climb that Sand Dune again. I see no point to it and I can burn more calories in more enjoyable ways and since there are others in the camp who don’t do them for the exact same reason that I don’t (‘cause we HATE it), I was determined that I was not going to do them. Instead, I would have gone cycling for three hours BUT my thighs and knees were bothering me, and I knew that I was going cycling on Saturday instead of doing the beach boot camp, so I didn’t say a word, got in the van, and went to the Dunes without complaint. Before the Dunes, however, we had a 1-hour group circuit training session, and I do find that I perform better at the Dunes if I’ve had a good workout before them. However, I hate the group workouts...I’m trying to keep my heart rate high enough and there are people in the group who just take their sweet-ass time to get from one piece of equipment to another. It pisses me off, really. It’s so inconsiderate! Get out of the way if you’re not going to hustle! I have calories to burn! Anyway, thanks to the 1-hour workout, I was feeling pretty good about my first climb of the Hell of Sand and reached the top in under 6 minutes, my best time. Each subsequent climb took longer to do, but I did manage to do eight of them, which is the same as my previous best number. And this was the last time (and here's a photo to show it). I mean it. I burned 1100 calories, but I could have burned the same or more doing a good bike ride. Ugh!!! I was exhausted after this, and normally when I have a free hour I try to do some extra cardio, but after lunch, I just HAD to take a nap. The lack of sleep over the last several weeks is affecting me physically and mentally. Besides, I needed to get myself psyched up for Mistress Nicola’s session, ‘cause she’s a maniac! You’d THINK that doing a simple leg lift wouldn’t be that hard, but it BURNS, baby! I did the best that I could, but I was truly feeling fatigued by then. After Nicola’s session, I hopped on the elliptical machine and the stationary cycle to do some cardio; I think I actually did 45 minutes, not an entire hour. No matter. The community meeting was next, but as I was FURIOUS after last week’s meeting and I had complained more than once that I hated those meetings, it was agreed that I would not attend them anymore. So my massage was scheduled at the same time. That was a good way to end the day and the week.

Saturday’s workouts:
• 3-hour bike ride, 24 miles, Marina Del Rey to Redondo Beach
• Group Circuit Training (1 ½ hrs)

So, since I did the F**king Dunes on Friday, I was not going to do the group beach boot camp on Saturday. Instead, I was determined to ride my bike further than last Saturday when I cycled 20 miles. I made sure to start a little bit earlier to ensure that I had the time to do that, and I followed the southern route again. There were more cyclists on the path this morning, but no matter…I just stay close to the right side and let them pass me (I practice proper cycling manners!). The sun wasn’t out that much so it wasn’t too hot. There were fewer volleyball games along the beaches but the surfers were all over the place!! I made it to Hermosa Beach as I had last Saturday and continued on through the path (that I had) not taken. It wasn’t that much longer before I reached Redondo Beach. What a pretty area! I wish I had time to go explore it. The marina and pier had lots to see and do. The bike path in Redondo Beach actually continues perpendicular to the pier and THEN it went into a covered garage area! How weird! By then I had gone just under 12 miles and I would have had to dismount to walk my bike again and I had biked for 90 minutes, so I turned around. NEXT Saturday I’ll try to go even further. Will have to start even earlier.

I returned home after 90 minutes so I wolfed down lunch, changed shirts, and headed to the gym for the group circuit workout. I had skipped that last Saturday since I was going to the Grateful Dead concert so I didn’t want to miss it. When I returned home, my body just quit! I barely had the energy to take a shower, but I did it, and then crashed on the sofa for hours. I had the good intention to start packing up the clothing that I wasn’t using, but my body said, “NO! SLEEP!” I also wanted to watch the final Saturday Night Live of the season, but thankfully I had set the DVR to record it, ‘cause it was hilarious. Did any of you see it? Will Farrell cracks me up. The Jeopardy skit made me laugh out loud. I actually continued to sleep on the sofa until 5 in the morning. I moved to bed at that point, but it was difficult to get to sleep, ‘cause I knew I had so much to do.

Sunday’s Workout:
• Bike 3 miles to beach
• Fast Walk 1.33 miles (35 mins)
• Jog 1.33 miles without stopping, 30 minutes
• Bike 3 miles back home

I ORIGINALLY planned to take a full day off on Sunday from working out so that I could have a productive packing day, but I think what kept me awake at 5:00am is that I have only eight days left and I want to do everything possible to burn off some more fat pounds. The weeks that I did more jogging I had better weigh-ins, so instead of going to the gym, I decided that I was going to go to the beach as we do on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and do some cardio. The bike ride to the beach was a little bit precarious as I had not cycled it before and it sure did seem a shorter route than I thought (‘cause I’m always in the van when we go there). No matter, I arrived at the beach around 8:30am and got started. My plan was to do as I had done on Thursday….walk going and jog returning. This time I made it all the way to the rocks past the pier and thus I was committed to jog the entire distance back. And I did. It’s hard to do, but surprisingly it’s becoming less difficult. Hmmmm…I think I might have to try just jogging the whole round trip. Will I be ready for that by Tuesday? It STILL DOES NOT MEAN THAT I LIKE jogging, so all you runners out there…don’t be thinking I’m going to sign up for any 5Ks anytime soon ;-)

Back home, I rested for awhile before getting started on the packing. I think I already mentioned that I’m going to use (again) a luggage shipping service that will collect and deliver your luggage to a specified destination in advance of your flight. It ain’t cheap, but it costs less than what all the excess baggage fees will cost me. I packed way too much stuff; there are tshirts, sweat pants, sweat shirts, and track pants that I never wore. Early in the camp I realized that it was more comfortable to wear Capri-length (that’s knee-length for you boys out there) yoga-type pants and sleeveless tops. And as time has continued, I became more comfortable and confident wearing tank tops. I’ve worn baggy clothes to cover up my fat rolls for so long that I had to convince myself that I didn’t look ridiculous in the tank tops. And now some of those tank tops are too loose on me ;-) I do have a handful that I had packed that are still just a little too tight…I’m going to have to work hard on my own to make sure they fit for when I get to Bermuda (in THREE WEEKS!).

So, the Survivor finale is on as I write this, and as I mentioned there was an earthquake tremor, and it was stronger than the one we felt two weeks ago. I really, really, really do not like them. Maybe if I knew what to DO when they happen – aren’t you supposed to stand under a door frame? I will be very happy if this does not occur again until after May 29th when I depart Los Angeles. There’s no warning and thus no preparation. The news mentioned that it was a 5.0, with the epicenter striking about 11 miles south of where we are. Holy shit, what if the epicenter had been here?!?!?!? It is extremely disconcerting to feel your chair shaking under your butt and seeing your clothes hanging to dry waving involuntarily. I don’t like it!!!! Daddyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

I don’t know what’s on my schedule tomorrow since I wasn’t at the gym to collect my schedule, but I assume we have the Santa Monica stairs again and I might have a bike ride or, actually, as I think about it, I probably have spinning. I have eight days to go. Here’s hoping that they are all earthquake-free, and that your week ahead is productive and happy. Ciao for now!