Boot Camp Kicks (my) Ass

Last night was boot camp and I left feeling nauseous, tired and worn out. It was freezing out and I took the opportunity to wear my shorts (bad plan). I did however bring water this time which was vital as it gave me an excuse to breath for a moment in between work outs. We did squats, push ups, burpees, high knees and plank. With partners we made sure our form was good and we counted either the reps or the time we could do each and recorded them for a later date. I can't wait for the day when I look back and say, "Ha! Look at that, I could only do 25 seconds of the plank before!" I know that day will take time and dedication but as I walked back to my car I realized that day will be worth all the nausea in the world. 

Hill training was challenging and took a lot more thought than I had planned. We had to learn the proper way to run up the hill and how to run down the hill all loose. Both felt a bit unnatural but I must say running down hill comes a lot more naturally to me than running up. 

The whole night was a great test for my humility. I was dead last in each thing we did. Each lap around the park (only 1/2 mile) nearly killed me and my lungs burned so bad I thought I would certainly stop breathing all together. After the hill training we did jumping jacks and some sort of aerobics moves before another run around the park. On that last run, dead last and far behind I took the last block of the park at a jog. I kept thinking that my mental preparation for long distance running is really not that great. That when pushed I'd rather walk than run and if given the opportunity I will walk some of the distance and probably will end up crawling to the finish line with my current attitude. 

As I rounded the last corner and came up the block the entire group was back at our meeting place waiting for me. There was a big cheer and lots of clapping and encouraging words. I couldn't help but smile and push on. Now I know why people have cheerleaders along the route. I hope everyone else in the group got the same reception. 

Tonight I was supposed to attend track training - which I was really looking forward to. In general short burst of quick running are much more my style so I figured for once I might actually do well at one of the training sessions. However, life gets in the way and Dominic came down with an eye infection which required Dave waiting around at the pharmacy and getting home too late for me to make training. 

After boot camp last night and coming home with a deep chest cough I'm not too bummed about spending an evening indoors instead of freezing my butt off at Kezar Stadium under the lights. My next official training is on Saturday for a long run over by Sports Basement Potrero Hill. I believe we're going 5 miles Saturday so it may take me the next two days to really gear up for thinking that's a good idea.