Boot Camp

Gave in to extreme peer pressure from training pals and colleagues and hit my first boot camp session this morning. Yep, that boot camp taught by former Marine Josh Fitchitt from the Bellevue ProClub. We showed up at 6am (thankfully not a big deal for me. Slept in a little, in fact) in one of the aerobic studios and spent the first 20mins or so cranking out abs, then more abs, then some side planks, then finished with some crunches. Oh, then some scissor, flutter, and a few other kicks (also abs). Awesome. Fine for me as I work my abs super regularly (with little progress) so was easy enough but certainly more than I typically do on my own. Check and good.

Next - outside for a “warm up” mile down to a local park. Chuckles when Josh said “Warm up”. This was exactly the thing that has deterred me from doing bootcamp for the TWO YEARS my friends have been nagging me. I’m an endurance runner. A slllooooooow endurance runner. A fast mile for me is in the 10s and a killer short interval might find me in the 9s for a bleem. My warm up is like a 12. As expected these bootcamp folks shot out of the door and launched into 7 minute miles while I hung back and labored my way through what was about a 10 (again, WAY fast for my warmup). My leg muscles (spoiled things that they are) were SCREAMING as they were shoved into working hard right off the bat. Enough whining. I made it down to the park and managed to pass about the back 1/3 of the pack as several of them quickly realized they went out way too fast about 1/2mi in.

At the park we cranked out some “conditioning” moves that I really enjoyed. This was totally my favorite part of the class. Perfect lovely morning with Josh in front of 3 lines of folks (felt JUST like morning practice at my beloved band camp) doing sets of jumping jacks, mountain climbers, star jumps, and pushups in the wet turf. And no, I can’t do full pushups yet on my wrist, but can do all the rest and did pushups from my knees. We did two sets of 20ish of each counting off military style on 3 with a wind sprint in the middle.

Next - hill repeats for the veterans. Even though it was my first time, I’ve been training for a few years so I set off with the pros for a few hill repeats rather than stay behind with the newbies for a slow jog around the track. Hill repeats fine. I’m strong and slowish and manage to look reasonably competitive as even the speediest of the reedy runners typically slow down a bit on the hills and I just keep on rolling my big butt up….and then to my strongest part…downhill where gravity, for once, is actually my friend. I lean forward and let nature do the work getting nice acceleration and not really letting it be a recovery (HR in the 160s downhill and in the upper 170s headed up). Two hill repeats up a pretty easy hill and then back to the track.  

Now the sun was out in full force and the pleasant dew coated turf was steamy…mmmm. Down for some pushups, lunges, and more wind sprints. Ergh. Fatigue was kicking in pretty hard at this point and I was all out. I was getting that embarrassing “wheezing” with each breath and off we went for a few more laps! “Jog” the straights, sprint the corners for 3 laps (on a 5 lap=mile track).

All over but the crying at that point. Some pals and I did an easy jog for the mile back to the club, chatting and enjoying the weather. Me, jogging and chatting – that was pretty cool. Overall it was a *great* workout that really took me out of my usual routine and comfort zone. I felt pretty awful about being among the slowest if not the slowest but I knew that was coming and I should be used to it by now. Last year I compensated by starting an hour earlier than the rest of the training group for the 20 mile supported runs ‘cause I just couldn’t deal with the shuttle driver having to wait an extra hour to drive me back to the start point after everyone else had long gone. Yes, I’m always proud of myself for doing it and everyone I’ve ever met during training or racing is really super encouraging…..it just does take a bit out of me every time I’m the back of the pack. Hopefully boot camp will speed me up a bit. Next week we’ll do a fitness test with a timed 2 mile run to benchmark against at the end of the 9 week session _if_ I decide to show up for 6am bootcamp during my week of “vacation” (during which I’m coming in for meetings and working on our house. Hrumph).

Oh, and as expected, the “motivation” was nothing like what real military boot camp is. It’s positive, encouraging, and energizing – not abusive. Give it a try! I guarantee you won’t be the slowest runner there! That’s MY spot!  

Workout:

• Type: General Cardio
• Date: 08/02/2007
• Time: 06:00:00
• Total Time: 1:30:00.00