Back to Boot Camp... Part 4

Otherwise known as... The Night Linette Joked Chad Was a Horrible, Horrible Man

Last week I hit a wall.  My birthday had been on the sixteenth, and I threw caution to the wind, as well as all of the good eating habits I have acquired over the past year.  That, coupled with the fact that the previous week had quite possibly been my busiest week ever, combining boot camp, salsa lessons, and training for a half marathon, in addition to my regular work week and a late night salsa social on Saturday night, created a condition that called for relief.   

I didn't boot camp. 

I didn't salsa. 

I didn't even run. 

I knew I was flying out on Thursday evening to spend the weekend with good friends in Massachusetts, and I didn't want to be dog tired by the time I arrived at my getaway destination.  I went to work, and I rested.  I was exhausted from my crazy schedule.  By Thursday, though, I was feeling like myself again.  The weekend is chronicled through the posts of the past few days, but this is not about my weekend away.  This post is about the day I came back to boot camp.

This morning I started my day with a four-mile run at the My Small Town Lakefront.  It was an awesome run.  I had downloaded new music over the weekend:

1. Florence + the Machine-- Dog Days are Over
2. New Radicals-- You Get What You Give
3. David Bowie--  Modern Love
4. Beastie Boys-- Sabotage
5. Mumford & Sons-- Roll Away Your Stone

This music, combined with a few songs that I already had, created quite the running playlist.  I think it was the easiest four miles I have ever run. 

After the run, I came home, showered, and made lunch.  Around three I started chopping the components for a roasted butternut squash over fresh greens dish that I was making for dinner.  Linette was coming over this evening, and I knew I had boot camp, so I thought that getting everything ready beforehand would help speed things up when I got home. 

At 4:30, I was at the My School District Employee Boot Camp location... a little early so that I could explain to Chad, our inflicter of pain for the greater good of bolstering our less-than-perfect bodies, why I had been away last week.  My colleagues from My Small Town High School gave me a hard time about being away, but... what are you gonna do?  Sometimes you just need to rest your weary bones.  The point is... I came back. 

After the warm up, Chad had us do the following exercises, starting with five reps, and adding 5 more reps each time we took the standard lap of active rest (A lap that was further than usual!):

1. Dead squats (I don't think that's the right name, but the paper is in my car!) that started us squatting down, weights almost touching the ground, then standing and putting the weights over our heads
2. Bent over rows
3. Push ups  (Enemy, thy name is push up!!!)
4. Mountain climbers
5. Sit ups

By the end of our session, I was doing thirty reps of each, although I have to admit that I broke them down into two sets of fifteen.  I can't do thirty push ups at once.  (My roommate, Chuck, and friend Linette say that I could if I had to... but I say I cannot!)

Chad had other fun in store for us as well, a bit of side shuffling, duck walking, and my personal favorite, a pushup where my arms were the hands of a clock, and my body went clockwise in a circle.  It was really, really hard.  I know that push-ups are effective, and I know that I am getting better at them than I ever have been before, but the around the world push-up set after the sets of exercises and laps, was deadly. 

I think Chad wants to kill me.  Slowly.

The final torture was a set of jumping squats (again, not sure if this is the correct name, but if you can imagine a jumping jack combined with a squat where you hit the ground, you would be picturing the right maneuver).  Well, no, it wasn't one set.  We worked through eight sets of twenty seconds of squatting and jumping, with ten itty-bitty seconds of rest in between.  This was another tabata drill.  It was challenging, but at least it wasn't push ups.  Thank goodness. 

Or maybe I should say, thank Chad.

We finished up with a few kind minutes of stretching before walking zombie-like to our cars and driving home.  Once home, I combined the squash, garlic, and onion with a bit of olive oil, kosher salt, lemon juice and red pepper flakes and put the dish into the oven before jumping into the shower to get clean and lovely for my dinner guest. 

When Linette arrived, she sat down at the bar and asked if I had been to boot camp this afternoon.  She attends Chad's early morning boot camp sessions, and is well-acquainted with his various forms of torture.  Yes! 

How was it?  I just looked at her.  One look was all it took.  I know, Jen.  He is a horrible, horrible man. 

We don't really think that Chad is horrible... we actually really appreciate his workouts because they force us to improve our bodies in ways that we wouldn't on our own.  Finishing one of his workouts is a great feeling.  And calling him horrible makes us feel a little bit better.  She'll be seeing Chad tomorrow, and I'll be seeing him again on Wednesday.  Today I told him that I had started my day running four miles.  When I went to take my first lap of active rest, Chad looked at me, Jen, now that I know you can run four miles I'm going to expect to see you hustle on the runs. 

Oh, okay!  At boot camp, Chad knows best.  And we are glad for that.  Even if we jokingly call him horrible.  Or Gollum.