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!

Day Seventy-Two – Am I A Sadist or A Masochist? Part I

Thursday’s Workouts:
• VO2 Max Test
• Beach Walk/Run (1/2 walked 1.75 miles, 25 mins jogged 1.75 miles)
• Abs/Core session (1/2 hour)
• Swimming (1 hour, 72 laps, 32 of those non-stop, arms only)
• ”Cooking” class and a “Glass of Fresh”
• Volleyball Drills (1 ½ hrs)
• Acupuncture

Yesterday after my seminar in pain from Mistress Nicola, I had quickly looked up the definitions of sadism and masochism to help me determine if I was becoming a sadist or a masochist. Thanks for pointing out the differences to me, Margaret, ‘cause I believe I did get it backwards. A sadist gets pleasure from inflicting pain, and a masochist gets pleasure from receiving pain. So, I think we can easily determine that Mistress Nicola is indeed a sadist, and I think it’s also safe to say that Schuyler, Arleigh, Marco, and Eric are also part of Mistress Nicola’s den of torture. On the other hand, since I have already admitted that I liked the “pain” that I get from acupuncture and cupping and also from the chiropractor’s jackhammer and from Mistress Nicola pressing down on a weight on my stomach, I guess I have to accept that I’m a bit of a masochist. For the most part, I can tolerate a lot of pain. Like…whenever I have blood drawn or get a shot, I have to watch the nurse do it. On Thanksgiving Day in 2000, when my scooter bike handles fell onto my right knee and snapped my leg backwards, I clearly remember not feeling pain at that very moment (but the anaesthesia from surgery made me miserable). I prefer going to the dentist than any other physician. And when I’m stretching, I like that little bit of pain that comes when I stretch a little further. Uh oh. If you think about it, I bet all women are masochists whether we like it or not. And I think we handle pain better than the boys. Sorry, guys, but I’m pretty sure it’s true! ;-P Well, if I am to accept this then perhaps I should dress the part. Do you think they have workout clothes for masochists? Oh wait, I already have some…my bras! I still have to wear my normal support bra and an athletic bra on top of it to keep the girls under control. Aaargh!

So, just to prove that I’m a masochist, I had it in my head that I was going to jog more than I had ever done before. But first I had to do my VO2 max test, which measures oxygen-intake during strenuous activity and determines more accurately your own fat-burning and cardio heart rate zones (Schuyler or Arleigh, please correct me if I’m getting this wrong). On my very first day, I took this test and showed only a 12 in VO2 max, which was indicative of a “very low” fitness level for my age. Four weeks later I took the test again and it went up to 24, which was at the top of the “low” fitness level. I’m glad to say that it has gone up again to 26.6, which puts me in the “fair” fitness level range. Now…how does this test work? OK, I’ve uploaded the photo from my test at Week 4 (so I’m a few inches thinner than this photo). You’re on a treadmill with this mask contraption and are supposed to breathe as normally as possible. The administrator of the test slowly increases the speed and the incline of the treadmill with the intention of getting your heart rate as high as possible apparently without making your heart explode right out of your chest. As the treadmill gets faster of course you start breathing harder, too. To get me to my highest heart rate, Schuyler had the treadmill at an incline of 6.0 and speed of 4.1 mph, and I had to run that for about 90 seconds. Holy crap! You should try that – well, only if YOU’RE a masochist, too. I’m not sure how it works, but the contraption also indicated that my maximum heart rate increased from 160 beats-per-minute (bpm) at four weeks to 170 bpm today. Considering that on my first day my maximum was only 139 bpm, I am REALLY pleased with this improvement. I’m going to inquire about what it will take to get into the good or excellent fitness level for my age; this would be a minimum of 29 for good or 32.9 for excellent in the VO2 max test. I’m sure it will involve more masochistic activities, don’t you?

So, why not hit the beach and give it a shot, eh? As I mentioned, I thought I might try jogging for a longer distance today. OH, and I’m doing all this with almost NO SLEEP. Last night the knot in my left shoulder blade kept me awake all night long; I awoke at midnight, at 1am, at 2am, at 3am, at 4am, at 4:44am, and then with the alarm at 6:30am. I’m being punished for something, I just know it, or maybe I’m subconsciously inflicting this on myself. So, we arrived at the beach and we had just under an hour and I knew that I could walk beyond the pier in 30 minutes, so my plan was to do that, and then jog back ALL the way. This would not have been possible if it had not been low tide so that the sand was flat and hard. I did make it past the pier and still had a couple of minutes, so I guess I made it about halfway to the rocks. From the rocks to the sidewalk is 1.75 miles according to my pedometer. I’ll measure it again next Tuesday. I kept my promise to myself, turned around, and started jogging. Remember that I jog like the Turtle in the Bugs Bunny cartoon, but I kept going. I was soooo tired but I pushed through the fatigue (yikes, signs of more sadistic behavior). It was interesting to me that the end seemed nearer than I expected, rather than far away and unreachable. When I reached the beginning of the beach, I still had a few minutes so I kept jogging, even up the slight incline to the sidewalk through soft sand, and then when I reached the sidewalk I still kept going. I wanted to get a full 25 minutes jogging time done. My heart rate had already gone past 170 but I felt OK. I was breathing heavily, of course, and I’m sure that anyone I passed would have thought that either I was going to die OR that I was some pervert breathing down their neck. I still had a minute to go once I reached the van so I kept going. Holy mackerel, I was tired and that baboon-ass was permanently tattooed on my face! In fact I think it stayed that way all day. Anyway, I really am very happy with myself for jogging the entire way back. On Tuesday I will try for longer, and by Thursday I hope to jog the entire beach, which means 3.5 miles. Geez, that’s scary….I WANT to inflict such torture on myself.

Back at the gym we had our abs/core class before swimming. This is another session in torture and we pay them to do that to us. Anyone seeing a pattern here? There were a lot of us swimming this day, so I wanted to get a lane away from the crowd as soon as possible so that I could concentrate on my laps without distraction. Some people like to chat the whole time. I do not. That is a sort of torture that I do NOT enjoy. On Tuesday I was able to swim 64 laps, or a mile, so I wanted to at least repeat that, but this time I wanted to do at least 20 laps without stopping. So, I warmed up with a set of 10 laps with stops at the end of each lap, then I did three 10-lap sets…one set with arms only and the buoy between my knees, one set of backstrokes, and one set of normal freestyle. 40 laps down, 24 to go. Now, when I say I stop, that means I usually pause at the wall, have a drink of water, and perhaps stretch my arms, and also catch my breath. Now I was going to try for 24 laps straight. I find I swim better when I have the buoy between my knees and only use my arms…the buoy helps keep the rest of my body closer to the surface and of course it really works my triceps, ESPECIALLY using the swim gloves. I was using these the entire time. I can feel the resistance working on my triceps, and that is important to me ‘cause I want to get rid of those flags that are waving down there. OK, here we go with the buoy and using arms only……4 laps done….8 laps….16 laps…only 4 more flip turns to go to reach 24. BUT, while I was doing that, I thought about the fact that 32 laps is half-a-mile. Could I do a half-mile without stopping? Why not…it was only 8 more laps past my original goal; only four more flip-turns. So I went for it. I could see by the clock on the wall that I was going to go a couple of minutes past the time we normally get out of the pool, but this was important to me. And I did it. 32 laps without stopping. Half-a-mile! 72 laps altogether – over one mile in an hour. Woohooo! Two major accomplishments for me this day. I was very happy about that!

I must dash so Part II of Day Seventy-Two will be posted later. Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Day Seventy-One – A Seminar in Sadism

Wednesday’s Workouts:
• Yoga (1 hr)
• Bike Ride (18 miles, including an absolute bitch of a hill, 2 ½ hrs)
• 1-on-1 Session with a Sadist (1 hr)
• Massage
• Skipped the last workout

After a pretty good day on Tuesday (except for the miserable weigh-in results) I was looking forward to Wednesday, but alas, I did not repeat the previous night’s uninterrupted sleep. Ay yi yi! What will it take to get a solid night of sleep? Regardless, I had to put my best foot forward and start the day with yoga. I’m getting better at it, I’m happy to say. While my flexibility helps me get into most poses, I still don’t have enough strength in some areas to hold those poses or to pop up from one position to the next. But, I like doing it and will have to look for yoga classes when I’m travelling. Following this I had my one of my last remaining sessions with Karen, our nutritionist, who also teaches the yoga. One of the things that Karen does is help to prepare for life back in the real world when we have to plan our own meals, consider portion-sizes and labels, and tackle restaurant menus. Mom had sent the menu from my favorite Mexican restaurant in Danville, VA, so Karen and I went over that. This restaurant has this Fajita Quesadilla that is to die for and it’s huge. I HOPE that when we go there, I won’t be tempted to eat the whole thing…either I’ll get them to make a half-sized one or I’ll just have to take half of it home for another meal. And I’ll have to settle for one small margarita instead of the giant Texas margarita ;-) As I’ve mentioned I still have a lot more weight to lose so in order to get to that goal with about a 1-2 lb loss per week, assuming I’ll be doing a few hours of workouts during the week, I’ll need to stick to about an 1100 to 1200 calories per day diet. That’s what I’m on now and I don’t feel hungry except right after heavy workouts (like the swimming or long bike rides). I know that it will be difficult for me to count calories, but I won’t have any trouble with portion sizes or contents of the meal (i.e., ensuring that there’s a good carb, the right amount of protein, and a reasonable amount of fat). I’ve tried the “writing down everything you eat” method and that just doesn’t work for me. So, I will have to trust that I can eat responsibly. I will check labels on foods that I buy in the grocery store, though. I think that’s important, especially to ensure that it’s not full of a lot of words that no one can pronounce!

Next up I was scheduled for a bike ride “on my own.” This meant that I was not going with a group nor a trainer as usual and I had to push myself. That was good for me…I prefer it that way. However, as I was preparing to take off, Shelby, another camper, asked to join me, and that was OK with me. I don’t know Shelby that well, but I know she’s faster on the bike and I thought it would be a good way to pace myself – although I did warn her that I’m slow and she shouldn’t wait for me. As I hadn’t take the northern route in a while (since Amy was here three weeks ago) and I figured it was early enough that it wouldn’t be crowded with pedestrians, we went that way, and I had the goal of finally climbing the hill at the end of it. Yikes. From the gym to the end of the path before the hill is exactly 8 miles. We have to cross the main road and make the trek up a steadily inclining hill that I believe is about two miles long. OMIGAWD! I could barely go more than 3.5mph. It was torture. There is a traffic light at 9/10ths of a mile up the hill, and that was all I could do. Shelby had made it part of the way, but she had a time limit and had to turn around to get back to the gym. I had more time so I kept going to get to that traffic light. Geez, that was difficult! After drinking a lot of water, I crossed at the light to make the trip back down the hill. Now, you’d THINK that going downhill would be loads of fun, and perhaps for YOU it would be, but it scared me to death. I didn’t want to squeeze my bike brakes too much but I kept the speed to about 20mph. I didn’t like this at all. The only protection I’m wearing is a helmet. It’s warm and sunny on these rides so I wear bike shorts and a tank top. I’ve had a little bit of Bermuda road rash, AND I have an eight-inch scar on my knee from my solo scooter accident in November 2000, so I was apprehensive about being so vulnerable on this hard concrete. If you waivered even SLIGHTLY you could lose complete control and have a horrible wipeout. I know a few of you are regular cyclists; how do you do it? Rich, Claudette, Michael, Neva? It doesn’t scare you? I don’t want to do that again! I made it down safely and crossed to return to the bike path, but I still don’t want to do that downhill ride again. No way unh unh!

I returned to the gym after burning well over a thousand calories in time for a quick lunch and rest before working out with my sadist. Oh, sorry, I mean Nicola. Now, Nicola is very sweet and soft-spoken so you’d never know that she has a very evil, sadistic side that I’m pretty sure enjoys putting me through torturous exercises that she has concocted in her brain to make me scream. (Yes, Nicola, I’m talkin’ about YOU!). Ok, first we do the kettlebell warmup which involves holding a 15-lb kettlebell weight with two hands, swinging it between my legs while squatting, then swinging it up with my arms straight to about eye-level while I squeeze my butt and thigh muscles. Next Mistress Nicola hands me a 15-lb dumbbell to hold in one hand and let it descend down that side, stretching and then using the opposite oblique muscles to pull myself back up. Holy mackerel! You should have heard the noises I was making! Moans and groans and grunts – you know what that sounds like?!?! I had to do that on both sides, of course. We did two sets of those two exercises (usually we do five sets, so I think this was just the introductory sadism course). Then I had to hold a ball between my thighs, rise up on my toes, squat down to three levels, and then pulse up at down at the lowest level three times, doing all that ten times. THEN I had to hold a 10-lb exercise ball with straight arms in front of me, and squat down while lifting the ball over my head and squeezing my shoulder blades together. Well, the 18-mile bike ride I had just done did a number on my knees, so I didn’t squat so well, thus we concentrated on squeezing my back muscles. We did those two exercises twice. Let’s see…I think we moved to the mat next and I did crunches on the yoga ball. No problem…I like doing these. I’ve mentioned before that I can work my ab muscles more because I can stretch backwards before crunching up. Twenty of those. OK, maybe the class in sadism is over? NO! Now I had to do a full sit-up from the yoga ball, this time twisting my elbow, which I’m holding over my shoulder, to the opposite knee. Twenty of those. Yikes. Alright, I guess those weren’t the worst of it. The worst is still yet to come and I still haven’t told you everything. Next we did butterfly crunches – this is when you lie on your back, but the bottoms of your feet are touching and are close to your crotch, so your knees are spread wide apart. The point of butterfly crunches is that you engage your lower abdominal muscles more. I was doing the exercise properly, but as I still have a big belly there, I couldn’t feel the muscles “engaging.” So Nicola went to get a big round weight that is SUPPOSED to go on a bench press bar and puts it on my stomach and PRESSES DOWN with her own weight. Holy shit. But guess what…and this is what concerns me….I liked it. I liked it ‘cause I could feel my muscles working hard this time. See…I told you…it’s a seminar in sadism without the sex, except from all the grunts and moans I was making you’d think there was sex involved, too. I might be getting this next exercise out of order, but it doesn’t matter ‘cause the LAST exercise is the one that convinced me that Nicola is a sadist. I took this big wide rubber stretchy-band, put it on my foot, lied down on my side but propped up on my elbow, kept my hands on the mat in front of me, and did leg lifts. So NOW I need a fire extinguisher to put out the fire that is coming from my outer thigh! And we did three different versions of the leg lift and did it on both sides of course. Ow ow ow. Are we finished yet? NO. Next Nicola had me lie on my stomach, and clenching my butt and thigh muscles, lift my right leg with pointed toes, keeping my pelvic bones on the mat but lifting my thigh OFF the mat. And then after twenty of these on one leg, I had to hold my leg in the air!!! And do it on the other leg. Twice! And THEN…I had to lift both legs in the air (remember, I’m still flat on my stomach on the mat), and then click my heels together like I’m some low-budget Dorothy from Wizard of Owz (yes, I meant to spell it that way!). But the worst was yet to come. Mistress Nicola says, “we’re going to work on butt and thigh muscles now” – wait, haven’t we been doing that all along? What the heck is all that burning I’ve been feeling, hmmmmm? OK, she has me lie on my back with a yoga ball at my feet. I have to put my hands on the mat down my sides, and plant my heels into the ball. THEN she tells me to lift my butt as high as possible (are you insane?!) and THEN roll out the ball to extend my legs (you ARE insane!) and then roll the ball back to where my knees are bent but my butt is still up there, and do that ten times. And do it again! After letting out a giant groan, I announced loudly to anyone in the gym that could hear that “NICOLA GIBSON IS A SADOMASOCHIST!” And I’m afraid I’m turning into one, too…’cause I’m paying them to make me do more of this crazy shit! Mwaahahahahahaha.

Thank HEAVENS my massage was next. Nina worked her usual magic, and this time I dozed off. I normally don’t do that but I’m sure the lack of sleep and the exertion of my workouts wiped me out. I had hoped that the massage would be enough rest to be ready for the final workout of the day, but I could barely keep my eyes open even after the massage. So, I decided to listen to my body and give it a rest. You know…each time that I’ve had more than a 4-lb weight loss, I had taken a day off. I really can’t help but feel that I must give myself a day off to let my body recover and rejuvenate. So, I don’t feel guilty about skipping this final workout of the day, and I’m already planning on skipping Sunday’s 2-hr workout. I have to start packing anyway, so Sunday will be the best time to do that. I can burn a lot of calories packing; this I know for sure. I need to get some pieces of luggage packed for a luggage-shipping service which will cost less than paying for excess and overweight baggage with the airline; I have to schedule this to be collected before I leave, perhaps for Thursday or Friday of next week. Hmm, I better check out the email receipt from when I had stuff sent to me here in the beginning, so that I know what to do! I packed way too much stuff…there are workout pants and tshirts that I never wore And there are new things, too, as well as a few items that are too big. Woohoo!

Hope you all have a great Thursday…the weekend is almost here, yippee!

Days Sixty-Nine & Seventy – Two Weeks To Go!

Monday’s Workouts:
• 30-minute cardio
• 1-on-1 session (1 hr)
• Spinning (1 hr)
• Santa Monica Stairs – 167 of ‘em (6 ascents, 1 hr)
• Went home sick ;-(

Tuesday’s Workouts:
• Beach Walk/Run (45 minutes, 2 ½ miles)
• Weigh-in
• 30-minute Abs/Core class
• Swimming (1 hr, 64 laps = 1 mile, no fins!)
• 1-on-1 session (1 hr)
• Bike ride (2 hrs, 18 miles)

I have now been at Camp Technique/Live-In Fitness for ten weeks. It has gone faster than I expected, and while I have enjoyed it for the most part, I am ready to go. I’m pleased with most of my results. I’m averaging a loss of about 6 inches per week, which is very good, and it shows in my clothes. I packed a few skirts that were too tight and now they fit very well. None of my jeans fit; they are too big! I have some tops, too, that I have to pin closed because now they are too big and thus too revealing even for me (‘cause if you know me, you know that I don’t mind showing off “the girls”). I’m so much stronger than I was before I started. I’m also a much better swimmer – this was unexpected. I’m not a FAST swimmer and I’m sure I need to improve my form/technique, but I can go for many laps at a time without stopping. I’ve been doing things that I either hadn’t done since I was a kid or had never done before (like, JOGGING). Now, all this does not mean I’m a world-class athlete nor that I can keep up with a lot of you who already exercise regularly. I still have a lot of work to do to get to a healthy weight and a good fitness level. The whole point of me attending this fitness camp was to make a lifestyle change so that I could reach that goal. With only two weeks left, I’m mostly confident that I’ve done that and will be able to implement all that I’ve learned once I return to the “real world.” Even then, the real world won’t be quite so real for me as I won’t be working yet; I’m planning on travelling for several months before job-hunting and settling down in a new location. I don’t know where that will be or what I will be doing. Truthfully, right now, I’m not concerned about that! My only concern right now is to make my goal of a 50-lb loss by the time I’ve finished the fitness camp. That’s not going to be easy. I’m going to have to KILL the next thirteen days!

Monday was a rather uneventful day, although it started with me not having had hardly any sleep. This made all the training sessions a bit more difficult. Climbing the Santa Monica Stairs was even more difficult. Before heading there I forgot to consume a protein shake, and thus between the hunger and fatigue my body was not having any of it. During the 5th ascent, my arms and legs felt weak and shaky, so I added a vitamin/electrolyte supplement to my water, and that helped me to complete a 6th ascent. So far that’s my best and that’s what I did last week, too. I’m still not sure if I finish on a Monday or Tuesday so I either have one or two Stairs workouts left. My quadriceps get very tired from doing them, but at least my muscles aren’t too sore. I stretch at the bottom and top of the stairs and this has helped to prevent the tight calf and thigh muscles the next day. When we returned to the gym I started to warm up on the treadmill in advance of the next training session, but I didn’t feel well. After resting a few minutes, I decided to head home. It turns out that hunger and fatigue really got the best of me ‘cause after I had a full meal I instantly started feeling better, and then I dozed on the sofa, which helped. Later I took sleeping pills to get me to sleep, and I believe I was out by 11:30pm. FINALLY FINALLY FINALLY I did NOT awake at 4:30am as I have been doing for the last six weeks. When I awoke, it was 6:00am!!!! I was absolutely thrilled. Isn’t it funny what small things can make you happy? I was just so relieved to have had more than six straight hours of sleep for a change. It made for a good start for Tuesday, too, and I was even looking forward to my weigh-in.

But first, as we usually do on Tuesdays, it was time for the beach walk/run. As I was feeling well-rested for the first time in what felt like forever, I was determined to jog a lot more today. And I did. After a 5-minute warmup, I jogged for 10 minutes without stopping, walked for another 2 minutes, then jogged another 10 minutes without stopping, walked for about 5 minutes, and then jogged all the way back to the van for 15 minutes without stopping. FIFTEEN MINUTES! If you know me well, you know that I would have sworn that I would never, ever do anything like that! During that final 15 minutes, though, I became a LITTLE deflated when this couple PASSED me and they were just walking with big strides. Hah hah…I run like a turtle!! Have you ever seen a cartoon of the Rabbit vs The Hare? Actually, I’m a huge Bugs Bunny fan and there’s an old episode of Bugs racing with a turtle. I run exactly like that turtle ;-) Anyway, I didn’t let it get me down; it actually amused me more than anything. And when I reached the van, I was very, very pleased with my efforts. Now…I have three more scheduled beach walk/runs so my goal is to jog the whole round trip before I leave. Perhaps I’ll try just jogging all the way to the pier on Thursday and work my way to that round trip. And, please…don’t think I’m gonna be ready for a marathon or triathlon, OK, so please don’t be trying to convince me to come jogging with you! Not yet. I gotta warm up to it first. Just ‘cause I’m DOING it doesn’t mean I LIKE it, y’know ;-)

So, after feeling very pleased with myself for jogging for 35 minutes, I was anxious to get measured. WELL, so much for THAT! Only two pounds!! TWO pounds. After all this hard work! And I DID NOT CHEAT AT THE CONCERTS!!! I lost just under three inches, too. Geez. HOW am I going to make my goal? I still have 13 pounds to lose in 13 days. Oh well…I didn’t complain about it and I went on with my day. I did the last half of Schuyler’s Abs/Core class and then did Marco’s Abs/Core class as scheduled. After this was our usual swimming workout. Since I stopped using the exercise fins, I’ve not been able to complete more than 52 or 54 laps. Today, I was going to do my darndest to get to 64 laps, which is a mile. Instead of using flippers, I did use these webbed gloves that give extra resistance against the water (thus working my triceps, which still need some work). You know what? I stepped into the pool and just attacked it. 10 laps warmup (which means I stopped between each lap). Then 10 laps freestyle without stopping (i.e., I used the flip-turn to keep going). Then 10 laps backstroke without stopping (I did something like a flip-turn for these!) Then 12 laps using arms only. Then 12 laps freestyle and backstroke. Only 10 more! I did it. And all within the hour. I was so happy with myself! My goal now is to do 20 laps at a time without stopping. We’ll see on Thursday!

After lunch I was originally scheduled for a 1-on-1 session with Marco, however we have a camper here, Pat, in his early 50s, who’s in the Army National Guard, had come home from Iraq for a few weeks and decided to attend the fitness camp for two of those weeks because he’s going BACK to Iraq next week. He has to meet some fitness requirements and requested that Marco help him, so they asked me to switch with Eric for my session. This was OK with me, of course, not only because I support the military, but also ‘cause I love working out 1-on-1 with Eric. Eric is TOUGH but reasonable, and always challenging. Eric is also helping me to get that yoga ball balance mastered. As I had just swam a mile and been doing some running and was going to do a bike ride later, Eric concentrated on glutes and stability. One of the significant improvements that I’ve made is my stability and core. This is what keeps you upright, keeps you balanced, and helps your posture (among other benefits). I can stretch and I can balance. So, to give that strength a workout, Eric had me stand on one foot on the Bosu ball, hold onto some straps weighted down with nearly 300 lbs, and then squat down on the one foot while the free leg was outstretched behind me. Holy mackerel, I felt that in my glute muscles BIGTIME. (But I liked it!) I had to do that on both legs, of course. Wheeeew! You’d think that I could use my arms to pull myself up, but the Bosu ball forces you to use all of your core to balance and thus the leg muscles work overtime to balance AND push up from the squat; I only used my arms for balance. Wow. We finished the workout with the yoga ball balance. I managed to balance on knees only, but admittedly my legs were tired so I wasn’t able to hold it for a minute as I had done before. We’ll just keep working on it. I still have thirteen days to master the “Aquaman” pose, which is one knee down with the opposing hand down and the free hand and free leg extended. I’m gonna have to practice this at home some more on my own yoga ball.

Following ALL OF THAT (the jogging/walking, swimming, abs/core, and 1-on-1 session) I still had a BIKE RIDE to do. I was doing this 1-on-1 with Claire, who is usually our counselor. Claire, however, is a bit of a Wonder Woman ‘cause besides listening to our troubles all week long she also runs marathons, shows horses, cycles, climbs dunes, and probably leaps tall buildings in a single bound (oh, no, that’s SuperGirl, isn’t it?). OK, Claire probably flies an invisible airplane and can dodge bullets with magic wrist guards. Anyway, we decided to take the southern bike route to Manhattan Beach because as before, I thought the northern, Venice Beach route might be crowded with pedestrians. We had two hours, and the goal was to get to Manhattan Beach and back. The time passed very quickly as we chatted most of the way and Claire kept me at a good pace. USUALLY I have to stop just to stretch or catch my breath, but we kept going and when we reached Manhattan Beach, 9 miles from the start, we turned the bikes around without stopping. So, that means when we finally reached the first traffic signal on the return to the gym, we had biked for two hours without stopping. Man, I’m tired!

Before heading home I stretched for about half an hour; biking does a number on my knees so stretching the quadriceps helps to relieve that. So do ice packs, which I’ve had on my knees for the required 30 minutes ;-) I have another bike ride on Wednesday so I want to be sure my knees will be OK. I wanted to hurry home, too, to get ready to watch the Biggest Loser Finale. As it starts here on the West Coast, it will have already ended on the East Coast and in Bermuda, so don’t tell me how it ends! I’m typing this as I’m watching. The transformations of the contestants who were booted off the ranch have been amazing. Wow, Kristin looks fantastic! I loved seeing Sione and Phillipe doing the Haka (War Chant) ‘cause in Bermuda we’ve seen the New Zealand All Blacks do it every year at the Rugby Classic (my favorite week of the year in Bermuda, baby!). As for the final contestants, I’d love to see Tara win (I can totally relate to her) but will not be disappointed if Mike wins. I’m going to sign off now so that I can watch without distraction. Hope you all have a great Wednesday. I think mine will be pretty good ‘cause I have yoga, a bike ride, and a massage scheduled tomorrow (besides two other workouts and a nutrition meeting). Oh, and by the way…..THANK YOU for all your compliments! Gee whiz, you really know how to make a girl blush!

Days Sixty-Seven & Sixty-Eight (Saturday & Sunday) – Dancing With The Dead

Saturday:
• Cycling (2 ¼ hrs, 20 miles)
• Grateful Dead Concert at the LA Forum!

Sunday:
• Circuit workout (2 hrs)
• Concert at the Hollywood Palladium (Delta Spirit opening for The Shins)

After another mostly sleepless night (are you as tired of hearing that as I am of writing that?), I awoke on Saturday eager to get started on my bike ride. I was not doing the usual Beach Boot Camp, but I had committed to Nicola and Claire that I would go cycling. I decided for myself that I would do at least twenty miles, which is further than I had gone before. I took the more difficult southbound bike path since the northbound path would be crowded with tourists along Venice and Santa Monica Beaches. I hadn’t ridden on a Saturday before so I wasn’t sure if the southbound route would be any better, but happily it was. There were more cyclists and runners and lollygaggers on this path, but I’m confident it was more crowded the other way. It was a nice ride although my legs were very tired from the previous day’s 15-mile ride. There were lots of surfers, volleyballers, and beachgoers out, too. This bike path follows along the beach where the whole surfing culture in California started. It was nice to finally see some surfing in person (well, almost…I was about 75 meters away). I wish I could take the time to learn how to do it, but I can’t even do the pop-up from the paddling position to squatting and standing. Yikes. It looks like tons of fun. Maybe a year from now when I have even less weight to lift, eh? Anyway, I cycled past Manhattan Beach which is where I usually turn around. I had made it there within the first hour so I was satisfied with my pace; I would have liked to arrived about 10 or 15 minutes sooner, but all these sleepless nights do affect me. I continued on and the path became part of the main road; I seemed to have missed the place to stay down on the beach. I went a little bit further and figured out that I just needed to turn down these alleys to get to the path, except now it was not just a bike path but a jogging and lollygagging path, too. No matter…I maneuvered as needed. Nobody was really rude or stupidly in the middle of the path despite there being lots of people there. I reached Hermosa Beach and came to a spot where I had to dismount and walk the bike for what looked to be about 50 yards, but as I had been cycling for nearly 1 ½ hrs by then, I decided to turn around. I think next time I will stay up on the bike path on the road and go further. I’d like to get at least 25 miles next time. Anyway, I turned around and the return trip was easier with less wind resistance. And isn’t it always the truth that the first time you try to get somewhere, it seems to take forever, but when you know your way back, you get back in no time. I was very pleased that I did exactly 20 miles in 2 ¼ hrs. I think if I had had a better night’s sleep I could have gone even further in that amount of time. I’m looking forward to trying again.

I did not join the group for lunch at the Catering Kitchen. Rather, I had decided that I WOULD go to The Grateful Dead concert with Skate and Siouxsie. I bought a ticket online at 1pm while the concert doors opened at 6:30pm. Luckily some single seat tickets had been released so I got an amazing seat that was at the same height as the stage, on the railing (i.e., no one in front of me), and only 20 feet away from the stage right back corner. So this means that I mostly saw the musicians backs the whole time, but I had a great view of the drum set. I did not know that there was going to be an AMAZING drum/percussion solo. AAAAAAWESOOOOOME! But I’ve jumped ahead of myself. I must talk about “The Lot.” Skate and Siouxsie are huge Dead fans and are actually following the tour (and also The Allman Brothers) to a few cities in the next seven days. They’ve done lots of Dead concerts and Skate told me that they go several hours before the concert starts to “The Lot.” Ok, for you college football fans, this is like a giant tailgating party for hippies! There were tie-dyed shirts and dresses everywhere, and people of all ages (including the ones who were born after the Dead) walking up and down the parking lot aisles while more people were selling arts and crafts and tshirts, beer, and all kinds of contorted glass bongs. Woohoo, what an education for my naïve little self ;-) I wanted a beer so bad, but I stuck with my water. There were vendors offering tacos and other deliciously-smelling noshies, but I had my meal and protein shake before heading to the Forum so I resisted. I’m not too proud to admit that I don’t object to marijuana and there was plenty of that floating around, too, but I turned down any offers of that. I didn’t need to smoke it ‘cause there was enough in the air to inhale. Good thing Bill Clinton wasn’t there, eh? So, we headed into the arena and that’s when I learned how great my seat was. I was alone, of course, and thus didn’t know anyone around me. HOWEVER, the folks that sat next to me were very friendly and I had a great time with them. Such a good time, in fact, that I was invited to join them on Sunday night at the Hollywood Palladium to see Delta Spirit open for The Shins, two bands of which I’d never heard, but I figured it would be another good chance to get out around L.A. and have some fun seeing live music, which I love. Tom, one of my new friends, has a small ticketing business so he sees lots of shows and has a VIP table at the Palladium, so that sounded like my cup of tea (aaaaah, I remember the good ol’ eMoo days when Paul made sure I was treated like a VIP at Bermuda concerts of which eMoo was one of the sponsors – I miss that, and you, Paul!). The Dead were great. Even though Jerry Garcia has passed away, they still have the amazing sound and skill they’ve always had. They definitely looked OLDER! I love live music because I love seeing a packed audience get into the performances. From my seat I could see most of what the performers could see. As I’ve been onstage myself a few times, I can attest to the thrill of seeing a full house of people who are all loving and enjoying and generating the same supportive energy for the performers. The crowd was insane! I absolutely loved seeing thousands of hands and arms in the air pumping and dancing about. Every single person around me was just as animated. You just can’t help but get up and dance and sing along with everyone. What a great time. I took some photos with my Blackberry but the camera on it sucks, so unfortunately they’re not very good as you can see. The concert finally ended around 11:30pm after a couple of encores and Tom and his friends had offered to give me a lift home instead of waiting for a cab. I couldn’t reach Skate to let him know; turns out his phone had gone dead, and mine was near dead, but I knew they were going to be back in The Lot partying for awhile, so I didn’t worry and I accepted their generous offer. The ride home was a hoot because Tom’s friends John, Kristen, and Eddie had been drinking (Tom was the D.D.) and they were hungry and obviously still wired from the concert. If I had not had a workout scheduled for Sunday, I might have stayed out with them even longer (but without the alcohol and late-night munchies). Gosh, I hope my late-night partying days aren’t over yet!!!

On Sunday, I slept in a bit, then headed to the gym for the usual 2-hour 50-reps workout. For all of the exercises, wherever weights were involved, I increased my weights from the previous Sunday. I was so happy that I was not feeling any pain in my shoulder or arm from doing the weights. Now I just feel the pain afterwards, so I take that as a good sign. I was soooooo tired when I returned home. After lunch I decided to stretch, and at one point I stopped to rest on the living room carpet, and do you know I FELL ASLEEP right there on the floor between the coffee table and the tv?! I napped for about an hour and awoke shortly before Tom called to confirm if I was joining them for the Palladium concert. I was, so I rested a little bit longer then prepared for the evening. I decided to wear a skirt that used to be waaaaay too tight….it fits very nicely now! (I took a picture!). We arrived at the Palladium and headed upstairs to the VIP section. Nice! The general admission area has no seating whatsoever, so I was glad to have a place to sit without any obstructed views. OH, ALSO in the VIP area, there was a woman offering chair massages, so I indulged! Fifteen minutes of that was just right. I had never heard of either band performing, but I did take the time earlier on Sunday to check out The Shins on the internet. The description of their music led me to believe that I would enjoy this very much. I would say that I did enjoy the music of both bands, but I found that they didn’t play enough music that got the crowd up and dancing. It was absolutely packed as the photos below show, but nobody was really dancing…at least nothing like we saw the night before at The Dead concert. I like musicians on stage to give a little more than just music….I want to see them animated and looking like they’re really into it and giving it all to the audience. The audience was very appreciative with loud cheers and stomping for an encore at the end, so maybe just because I was so tired I wasn’t as into it as I normally would have been, and also perhaps because I wasn’t right up by the stage I didn’t feel the crowd’s nor the bands’ energy. There were songs that I did like. Funny…nowadays when I hear music, I think about on which iPod Nano playlist it might go…my walking/workout playlist or my relaxation playlist. From both bands I heard songs that I could put on either list. I just don’t know any of the titles ;-) We left before the final encore as it was past my bedtime…I try to be in bed by 11pm and it was already 11pm at that point.

On Monday, besides the usual cardio, spinning, and training sessions, we also have the Santa Monica Stairs. I did six ascents last Monday so going for at least seven. I hope today you’re reaching new heights or surpassing your set goals. Have a great week!

Day Sixty-Six – Apparently Being Perfect is a Requirement

Friday’s Workout:
• The Dunes (2 hrs, 6 ½ climbs)
• 15-mile bike ride (1 ¾ hrs)
• 1-on-1 session (1 hr)

Last night I tried the Chinese Herb capsules to help me get to sleep. Unfortunately they didn’t work as well as I would have liked. The last time I saw the clock it was 3:00am, so I was extremely disturbed when the fire alarm went off at 4:00am! I was so disoriented that at first I thought it was just my alarm, and all I could think was I’m waking up the neighbors. It’s situated over the bed, so I thought maybe if I jumped up I could press the button to stop it. OK…imagine that at 4:00am…I’m in my pajamas, I’m in a daze, and I’m jumping up to reach the ceiling and the smoke alarm button. Of course I couldn’t reach it and each time I jumped I fell on my butt; thank goodness the bed has a really cushy mattress. Next I went to the bathroom, as you do when you first wake up, grabbed my robe and keys, and stepped into the hallway. The fire alarm in the hallway was going off, so it wasn’t just me. It went on for a couple of minutes. I was surprised that no one else was stepping out to see what was going on (in my hallway, anyway). I went back inside and looked through the windows….there were no lights in any of the apartments within my sight. Were all these people sleeping through this brain-piercing noise? The noise finally stopped, and I stepped into the hallway again. Somewhere someone in another apartment was confirming with another someone that it was a false alarm. Thank goodness for that. Then the damn thing went off again! It went on for a few seconds. Meanwhile, my heart rate was slowly coming back to normal. When the alarm first went off I thought my heart was going to pump itself right through my chest! I commented about the damn alarm on my Facebook status, and do you know that alarm went off AGAIN?! For heaven’s sake! Once it finally stopped, I returned to bed, but of course it took awhile to get back to sleep. I decided to change my alarms to let me sleep in an extra hour, if I could even get that hour. Since we were doing the Dunes today, I WAS going to TRY to bike to the Dunes (about 9 miles, including a massive hill), climb the stupid, f**king Dunes, and then bike back to the gym. But, as I had no more than 2 ½ solid hours of sleep, I knew that that was going to be physically impossible.

It was HOT today. There is no shade over any of the sand, and you know how hot the sand can be when it’s baking under the sun with no clouds up there. We started around 9:30-ish, so it wasn’t tooooo hot just yet, but by 11:30, it was not pleasant. I wear sand socks which prevent sand from getting in your toes and help grip the sand. By my 7th attempt, the sand was too hot and unbearable even for me wearing the socks and even for the trainer who had had enough, so I left it at a half-climb. Only 6 ½ today. Whatever. I only burned about 950 calories doing something I absolutely, positively, hate doing. It doesn’t make me feel good when I do it, it exhausts me, and it makes me not want to do anything else the rest of the day. And guess what…there ARE other pleasant, enjoyable ways to burn as many or more calories than climbing this big, stupid, hill of sand.

So, we get back to the gym for lunch and my favorite thing to do – the “Community Meeting” (can you detect my sarcasm?). As I’ve written before, I do not enjoy these meetings. We’re supposed to go around and talk about our highs and lows of the week and then give each other feedback. Well, usually this is a love fest and almost everyone sings each other’s praises. As you know I’ve been feeling less than perky for awhile and for me, my week was just average. I did everything I was supposed to do; I didn’t really achieve anything new, and so that’s what I said. I said that I would “keep my lows to myself” because I didn’t want to share them and as I’ve previously said, I don’t believe criticism should be given publicly. Someone reminded me that I had a 6-lb loss. OK, big deal. I’m supposed to lose weight every week. And I’m really tired of hearing “don’t be a slave to the scale” and “muscle weighs more than fat” and “the inches matter more.” And you know what, if I choose not to be excited about that, then that’s my damn problem, not anyone else’s! So I talked about how much I hate doing the Dunes, and I would rather do something else more enjoyable as another camper was doing; she comes to the Dunes with us and then walks and jogs the neighborhood which has a lot of hills and also climbs the stairs (I think) that are next to the Dunes, and burns more calories. She took offense to this and implied that I couldn’t keep up with her doing all that. OK, that’s not the fucking point….the point is she’s burning more calories doing an activity she would rather do, and that’s all I want. So then she says that I “should find joy in life” and that I “used to be inspiring.” FUCKING HELL! You know what? Nobody knows what’s going on in anyone’s life and has no fucking right to say “find some joy.” I have tons of joy in my life as all of my good friends and family know; I do not find joy in climbing that fucking hill of sand. And guess what?! I’m not attending this camp to be inspiring to anyone! I came here to improve my health and learn ways to live a better life. It’s NOT MY JOB TO INSPIRE ANYONE!! And I don’t HAVE to be happy with a smile on my face all the time!! It’s not my frickin’ responsibility to make anyone happy either. My only responsibility right now is to do everything that I’m physically able to do in order to lose weight and inches and improve my physical fitness and strengthen my heart. Y’know, this is now the THIRD time that I have been embarrassed in front of several others. I didn’t know that that was going to be part of the program! First I was a “little girl” and then a “crybaby” and now I’m “joyless and uninspiring.” SHIT! I can’t win for losing! I try keep to myself when I’m feeling down so that I don’t say anything negative and I choose not to engage in conversation but that is apparently not allowed. I’m supposed to be perfect and happy and inspiring all the time. No wonder I’m always exhausted and can’t sleep!

After this waste-of-my-time meeting ended, I had a break before having to do an hour of cardio. Well, I needed to get away from that place, which seems to be a recurring theme lately, so I decided to go for a bike ride. I hadn’t done a proper ride in about three weeks since my left shoulder and arm had been giving me trouble. I wasn’t wearing my bike shorts but I didn’t care. I had about 1 ¾ hours before my next training session so I just decided to go for 15 miles. As I said before it was a hot and sunny day (yes, I wore sunscreen!), and since it was Friday, I took the more difficult route, south towards Manhattan Beach, instead of going north through Venice Beach and Santa Monica Beach because the northern bike path route gets crowded with pedestrians (even though it says “bike path only”) and becomes an obstacle course for cyclists. Happily my arm didn’t go numb and my shoulder didn’t give me any trouble, so I guess I’m ready to get back on the bicycle for extended rides now. And guess what….I burned more calories doing this activity in slightly less time than climbing that stupid hill in two hours. Regrettably I returned a few minutes late for my next session ‘cause I didn’t plan my time accordingly. Before getting started though, I had a chat with Claire the counselor and Nicola the trainer/general manager about what happened in the meeting. I was furious by now ‘cause I had been thinking about it during the whole 15-mile ride. I just wish I had thought of those responses spontaneously at the meeting. That always happens, just like Meg Ryan in “You’ve Got Mail” – you think of a good response long after the fact. Anyway, remember the other day that I said I was going to stick to my guns, so I’m insisting on not attending those meetings anymore (not everyone does anyway) and not doing the Dunes (not everyone does anyway). I’ve already decided…next Friday, I’ll go for at least a 25-mile bike ride. Cycling works my thigh muscles just as much as the Dunes do, and I can keep a steady heart rate for the entire bike ride while my heart rate goes up and down while climbing the hill. Screw it. I know what’s best for me! Tomorrow, too, I’m not doing the beach boot camp. I hated it last Saturday because it felt like nothing I did was good enough; the sand just sucks the life out of me. So instead I’m going for a bike ride tomorrow. The most I’ve done is 18 miles, so I’ll do at least 20, and if I start early enough, I’ll do at least 25 miles. As I’m writing this, am I hearing thunder? Geez, I hope not…that would screw up my plans, wouldn’t it? (A quick weather check reveals that skies will be clear tomorrow. Whew!) Anyway, back to the meeting….I’m going to continue to do fewer group activities which suits me just fine. They still want me to climb the Dunes but I do not want to.

I had a final one-on-one session with Nicola. I find it so interesting that the hardest workouts are the ones that do NOT use weights. First we did some squats with kettlebell swings, but my hamstrings were still aching and tight from Tuesday’s hike, so we stretched them out. Next up I had to stand in ballet second position (i.e., feet spread apart, toes pointed out) and up on my toes, tuck in my tailbone, then squat down three times, going lower each time, before straightening my legs. Omigosh! Then Nicola had me stay in second position on my toes, but do a deep squat, and then slowly pulse up and down ten times. OK, this is one of those exercises that almost makes me puke! I can still say I have not puked from a workout yet! My quadriceps absolutely burned and I can feel the surge of fire rising in my throat. We did five sets of those three exercises then moved to the mat. By now, after the Dunes, the bike ride, the squats, and six weeks of inadequate sleep, my legs are just DONE. First I did a deep-squat balance on the Bosu Ball for ten seconds….it burns the quads but I can do these fairly well. Then I did cross-overs on the Bosu in which you have one foot on the ground and the other on the ball and do a deep squat, then jump over and do it on the other side. This is where the fatigue really came in. Then I did crunches. I like doing crunches on either the Bosu ball or a yoga ball because you get more range of motion; i.e., you can go further back to stretch your stomach and then get a really good crunch when you contract. After three sets of those three exercises, I got down on my hands and knees to do three different leg lifts on each leg for two sets. My butt muscles hurt now, baby! I’ll have to ask Nina to kneel on me again at my next massage ;-)

I was eager to get home and showered as I was planning on meeting my old Bermuda friend this evening, but his and his wife’s flight plans changed so I’m home typing and resting. On Saturday they are attending the Grateful Dead concert and I just might join them! I haven’t been to a proper, live, rock concert in ages. I’m glad for the rest tonight to give my legs a break. They worked hard today.

Hope your weekend has started well!

Day Sixty-Five -- Back On Track

Thursday’s Workouts:
• Cardio/Interval Session (1 hr)
• Body Fat Test (i.e., Got Dunked)
• TWO Abs/Core classes (1/2 hr each)
• Swimming (50 laps, 1 hr)
• Beach Volleyball drills (1 hr)
• Circuit Training Session (1 hr)
• Cardio & A Movie (3/4 hr)
• Acupuncture

It is finally heating up in Marina Del Rey – seriously…I think it was in the 80s today. I love it. The sky was a perfect blue with no clouds. The tide was high though, which makes for a soft sand beach walk/run. Normally I would have been happy to do the beach walk/run, but I was glad to be in the gym. Since I was scheduled for a body fat test I participated in Arleigh’s cardio/interval training session. Whew, what a workout…by 9am I was already soaked from sweat. See…I sweat A LOT. I don’t mind it though. I was getting dunked anyway so I was going to be “clean” pretty soon. I put on my swimsuit, and Arleigh thought it was new…but the truth was it’s becoming a little too big! Arleigh also commented that I don’t take up as much space in the dunk tank as I did in the beginning. That’s good to hear. Shucks, I have a pair of jeans that were too small for me when I arrived, but now they are too big. Woohoo…that means I’m down THREE jeans sizes. I’d love to go on a shopping spree, but I still have a lot more weight and inches to lose. These twelve weeks at Camp are just the starting point for me. I’m looking forward to challenging myself once I’ve left Camp, to doing some sort of healthy workout almost every day, and to just living a healthy lifestyle. So the shopping spree for new clothes will have to wait. I’ll have to buy SOME new clothes, of course, although I do have some stuff in storage that was too tight – wouldn’t it be a treat though, if all that is too big, too! Hee hee! OH! The results of the BMI test…..were good! My body fat percentage has decreased by nearly 4% in the nine weeks that I’ve been here. Of the 35 lbs that I’ve lost, about 25 of them have been fat pounds. Now that I can lift weights again, I should be able to build some more lean mass and burn even more calories. I’m going to kick ass these next 18 days.

After the dunking, I had a free half-hour, and since I was going swimming an hour later, I decided to leave my suit on and do an EXTRA half-hour of abs/core work. On Tuesdays and Thursdays there are usually two half-hour abs/core workouts on the mat. Since I had time for both, and I had dried off enough, I did both. My abs are still the weakest part of me. I know that my back and legs are really strong, but when I have to do things like bicycle kicks, c-curve holds, forward planks, etc, I struggle a lot. I think my CORE is strong (‘cause I have good balance, as proved by the ball balancing act), but my abs definitely need a lot of work. All the more reason to burn those calories and that belly fat!

Swimming was next, and as I mentioned on Tuesday’s blog, I wanted to do at least 20 laps without stopping. It took me thirty laps to warm up to that, but I did it! Oh baby I was tired, too. So tired, that after lunch I had a doze on one of the chairs in our “lounge” area. Do you ever doze but you’re not quite asleep enough that you can hear what’s going on around you? That’s what I was doing. I’m still having sleepless nights so any spare minute that I can shut my eyes helps. There aren’t many of those spare minutes, I can tell you. Thankfully I CAN fall asleep anywhere – it especially helps if I can rest my feet up and cover my eyes. Some of us were going to do beach volleyball drills later so I knew that I needed that rest. It didn’t help my legs though. I forgot to mention that when I woke up this morning, instead of my calf muscles being sore, my hamstrings were killing me after yesterday’s hike. This did not make for quick nor easy movement in that deep sand for the volleyball! Regardless, I do love doing the volleyball drills….I burn lots of calories and get to do something I enjoy.

Back at the gym Eric, who had taken us for volleyball…which makes sense since he’s a professional beach volleyballer, led us through a group circuit on the mat. We had a couple of extra minutes at the end so I asked to do the ball balance again. As I’ve now mastered the all-fours and the two-knees-one-hand technique, I went straight to getting up on my knees. I’ve just about figured out how to keep myself up there for awhile. It does BURN my inner thigh muscles and quadriceps though, however I managed to stay up there for 1:39. Woohoo! A record! Francine, if you’re reading this…girl, I’ll show you how it’s done!

After wolfing down the apples/cinnamon/cottage cheese meal (I love this! With lots of cinnamon), it was time for the cardio/movie workout. I, however, had scheduled an acupuncture appointment for this evening ‘cause I wanted Dr. Chen to work on those knots in both of my shoulder blades and to see if she had any ideas to help me sleep. She did the usual needles and also the cupping. I asked her to repeat the bleeding process on the knots because that seemed to alleviate the pain from the knots a couple of weeks ago. I just want them to be SMALLER. I swear they are the size of ping-pong balls. Can you imagine ping-pong balls stuck just under your inner shoulder blades? Ouch! As I’m writing this now, I’m feeling the usual pain but slightly diminished pain in my left arm. I’m hopeful this will improve after tonight’s acupuncture and cupping session. Dr. Chen also gave me some Chinese Herbal capsules to try. Before doing that she looked at my tongue for any abnormalities, but since I’m eating a perfectly healthy diet and am consuming zero toxins, my tongue looked perfect, thank you very much! If you’ve ever watched Dr Jillian McKeith on “You Are What You Eat” on BBC America, you’ll know what I mean…Dr Jillian always checks the tongues of the people with whom she is working and they always have a nutrition imbalance that is revealed on their tongues. Anyway, I’m about to take these Chinese Herbal capsules, get my shower, and hopefully have a good night’s sleep. ‘Cause you know what Friday means….THE DUNES! I also have a 1-on-1 session with Nicola, and I know it will be tough, so I want to be well-rested.

I hope your Friday is going well and you’re looking forward to a fun and relaxing weekend. Anything exciting planned? I’m looking forward to seeing my old friend Skate and his wife Siouxsie who arrive in Los Angeles Friday night to attend the Grateful Dead concert. Hmmm, I wonder if we’re going to go to dinner? This will be a great chance to put my nutrition knowledge to the test by ordering from the menu. Still can’t have any beer or wine though. Pooh!

Have a great weekend, everyone! And Happy Mothers' Day to all you Moms, and especially to mine!