Guest Blogger: Takes 4 Weeks...right?

Emily Jones will be a Guest Blogger during our 8 Week Go Commando Race Training Program that prepares individuals to run a 5K, 10K or Half-Marathon. The program will consist of 2x a week of the Nationally Recognized Boot Camp Challenge workouts in addition to group runs on Saturday mornings.  
 
Emily will be participating in the 10K on October 18th and sharing her workout and training experience here.

Week 4

This week, I received my first, much anticipated food journal feedback.  Thankfully, Courtney didn’t tear it to shreds for my poor choices (soda anyone?), but instead provided very practical suggestions for improvement.  Protein at every meal and more calories at breakfast were my two biggest takeaways that I began to implement immediately.  One huge difference is how hungry I am in the mornings now, which is completely foreign to me.  Light dinner, wake up hungry, larger breakfast?   Who knew?  Oh wait - those fit, thin people know!

I also received my very first (and much anticipated!) compliments this week on outward, visible changes, and they weren’t all from the husband.  Who doesn’t love that more than a grande pumpkin spice latte with whip and a cream cheese muffin?

Tuesday and Thursday boot camp classes were led by Mandy this week who kept us on our toes with a game of “as many reps as possible”.  The team with the highest average won a prize.  One guess which team didn’t have the highest average, but there are no losers with a great workout, right?

Saturday was my last long run with Brandy before the half marathon I’m running in Nashville this weekend.  We completed 6 miles at the Greenway at 6:00am and needed head lamps (and our heads examined) to start before sunrise.  Brandy provided tips and suggestions for a successful race and plenty of what not to dos, based on her past race experiences.

Week 4 of Boot Camp Challenge is in the books!  Here’s to more compliments, bigger breakfasts, 4 weeks until Go Commando, and more compliments.

Guest Blog: Inspired

Emily Jones will be a Guest Blogger during our 8 Week Go Commando Race Training Program that prepares individuals to run a 5K, 10K or Half-Marathon. The program will consist of 2x a week of the Nationally Recognized Boot Camp Challenge workouts in addition to group runs on Saturday mornings.  
 
Emily will be participating in the 10K on October 18th and sharing her workout and training experience here.

Week 3 Blog

Week 3 of the 8 week Boot Camp Challenge is over, which means there’s only 5 weeks until Go Commando!  I’m trusting the process, but can’t help but wonder if I’ll be ready???

Tuesday was a fairly typical day at Boot Camp.  Meaning, it was hot!  Fortunately, none of the workouts are typical with Courtney at Boot Camp.  You never know what to expect, it’s never the same workout twice, and there’s just no way to prepare for which muscles will be sore this week.  And can we talk about her vehicle for a moment?  Rolling gym with dumbbells, mats, sand bags, exercise bands, calipers, tape measure, and more.  She’s equipped to lead a class anywhere & everywhere.  It’s impressive.

Today, we created six stations with a different exercise at each station, plus an ab exercise, and rotated through the stations.  We also turned in our food journals and those that haven’t been journaling had to do 25 burpees instead.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say that food journaling just moved way up on my list of priorities.  Burpees are evil!

Thursday was fall weather at its finest and such a welcome relief.  We began the class by running a 1 lap warm-up and as we were finishing the lap, Courtney tells us we have 4 more.  We are running a mile for time and we’re already 1 lap in.  Where’s the relief in that?  I finish my mile, but not before getting lapped by some super-fast boot campers, which was awesome.  May as well leave some room for improvement though, right?  Improvement = rewards and I think I’ve mentioned that I’m a fan.

After the mile race, I was introduced to Ab Survivor.  To date, my abs have just been trying to survive two C-sections, but we took it up a notch today.  Ab Survivor was a rotation of 25 reps of whatever ab exercise Courtney yelled out, mountain climbers for 30 seconds, and then a 1 minute plank.  Rinse and repeat for the duration of the class.  If one person quits, the whole class starts over.  I am not about to have the others throwing sandbags at me, so I “survive” and then collapse into a puddle of sweat at the end.  It was a lovely sight.

There were several boot campers with recent birthdays and we celebrated at the end by singing to them while they did push-ups.  I have never been so happy in my life to have a February birthday.

On Friday, the half marathon running coach reached out to see if I could meet at 6:30am on Saturday instead of 7:30am.  Sure, I’m agreeable.  I’m also pretty sure she decided that I needed the extra hour to finish the route at the same time the 7:30 group would finish, but whatever.  I meet her and one other boot camper at 6:30 on Saturday for a 5 mile run.  The route for the day takes us out of Liberty Park for the first time to Zinc Plant Rd & River Rd.  The route is part of the Go Commando route and Brandy wanted to prepare us for the hills.  I have nothing nice to say about the hills.  It was brutal and I never got my head in the zone, but I ran the 5 miles and high-fived the 7:30am group as they were starting and not as they were finishing.  Whew.

Another boot camper, who has lost 100 pounds (amazing!), and I walked to cool down afterwards.  I loved hearing her success story.  Such an inspiration!

Next week marks the halfway point of this 8 week session and I’m already so thankful for what I’ve learned, the new people I’ve met, the progress made, and energy gained.

Guest Blogger: "We Need to Food Journal?!"

Emily Jones will be a Guest Blogger during our 8 Week Go Commando Race Training Program that prepares individuals to run a 5K, 10K or Half-Marathon. The program will consist of 2x a week of the Nationally Recognized Boot Camp Challenge workouts in addition to group runs on Saturday mornings.  
Emily will be participating in the 10K on October 18th and sharing her workout and training experience here.

Week 2 Blog

Week 1 of Boot Camp for me was all about figuring out how the class was going to fit into my life and if I were going to have to call in sick the next day because I couldn’t move.  I’m happy to report that no sick days were used and I’m ready to tackle additional areas that need an overhaul, in addition to my mummy tummy.  My plan for week 2 is to add two mini-goals to the mix in hopes of creating a good habit.

1. Journal all food, all week
2. Break up with my scale

Journal all food, all week sounds simple enough, right?  Courtney suggests the My Fitness Pal website and tells me that I’ll be sharing my journal with her for feedback.  I’m familiar with My Fitness Pal (and every other food journal site/app out there), but never used it on a consistent basis.  I read Courtney’s blog post about food journaling and begin to weep when I see her blast the sugar content in a flavored Starbucks drink.  May as well add goal #3 now.  Break up with my beloved Starbucks.  <tear>

Journaling for the week goes well in that I’m much more mindful of my choices since Courtney will be looking at them.  This first born with perfectionist tendencies hates to disappoint.  My image would be ruined if one of my food entries ended up on her blog.  I also feel the need to defend my leftover dinner for breakfast choices to her before submitting my journal.  Hello, my name is Emily and I eat leftover meat, veggies, casseroles, salads, etc. for breakfast.  At work.  My co-workers love when I re-heat spaghetti at 8:00am.

Moving on to the scale…He & I have had a long, tumultuous relationship.  And yes, it’s definitely a He as a She would read at least 10 pounds less.  I know we need to break up, but it’s so much easier said than done.  Courtney & I have a conversation about gaining muscle versus losing fat and I know the compulsive weighing must stop.  Truthfully, I fail miserably at this goal this week, and still take sneak peeks here & there at the number.  I make a pack with myself to weigh once a month on the same day/same time.  I also pick one pair of pants to use as a non-scale victory each month and I brainstorm monthly progress rewards, because you know me & rewards.  They are my love language.

The Tuesday & Thursday evening Boot Camp classes were HOT.  It rained on Tuesday afternoon so we were indoors at the First Christian Church for my first time.  The clocks on the walls were my enemy.  I much prefer ignorance when it comes to how much time is left in the class!  Courtney offered a bonus class the day before, for the Labor Day holiday.  I had family plans, but I felt guilty all day long for not adjusting my plans so I could attend.  I was upset with myself for not going, until Tuesday night’s class.  Could I have handled two days in a row?  Yikes.

Thursday evening, we were outside again and while it’s been hot every class, this one holds the record.  Steamy, muggy hot.  We did partner exercises and focused on core & legs.  As my partner said at the end of class when we share our effort level, high & low of the class, her low was any of the moves while lying on the ground. Usually, those are her favorite, because of the lying on the ground part.  Me too, girlfriend.  Me too.  Today, there was steam rising from the asphalt.  Come quickly, fall!

My second group run was on Saturday morning at Liberty Park.  It was exciting to see how many boot campers, plus additional family members and children were there for the run.  I ran with the group training for the half marathon, and we were to run a 4 mile route, which was a 1 mile increase over last week.  All I wanted was to show an improvement over last week.  Brandy, the half marathon running coach, is amazing.  My best training runs are when I have someone to converse with instead of focusing on my screaming legs, and she totally indulged me.  Once I passed the point where I took a walk break last week, I was determined not to walk at all.  I really wanted to be able to say that I completed the run without any walk breaks.  The end point for the 10k and 5k training groups was at the 3.1 point, where I stopped for a moment to glory in my running a 5k route without walking.  It has been 4 years since I’ve done that, so I was quite proud of myself and wanted everyone else to know as well!

I then finished the additional .9 miles with a smile on my face and realized for the first time, that I would be able to run the Go Commando 10k on October 18 without walking.  To see improvement within 1 week is so motivating to me.  This is improvement I’ve been struggling to make on my own, and I’m truly thankful for Courtney & the Boot Camp class for pushing me outside of my comfort zone, and out of the cozy chair at the nearest Starbucks!

Guest Blogger: "My First Week of Boot Camp"

Emily Jones will be a Guest Blogger during our 8 Week Go Commando Race Training Program that prepares individuals to run a 5K, 10K or Half-Marathon. The program will consist of 2x a week of the Nationally Recognized Boot Camp Challenge workouts in addition to group runs on Saturday mornings. 
 
Emily will be participating in the 10K on October 18th and sharing her workout and training experience here.

 

Tuesday, August 26

It's my husband's birthday. Instead of eating & drinking with him, I'm headed to my first boot camp class. This is not right. 

I arrive early to assess the situation from my vehicle. I can't tell who the trainer is because more than half the class is trainer fit. 

I cuss my (now former) friend Jessica Goldberg, Go Commando race director, under my breath for getting me into this predicament. 

Class begins & they vote unanimously to workout instead of doing a fitness assessment. What in the world?

60 minutes of running laps & circuit training later, I'm shocked when Courtney yells "on your belly"! We're done and it actually went by quickly?

Class ends with everyone sharing their effort level on a scale from 1 - 10, their high from the class, and their low. I can truthfully say I gave it a 10, and I'm proud that my first class is in the books.

I tell Jessica that I love her for making me do this. 

Wednesday, August 27

I wake up with some soreness, which increases as the day goes on. I'm strangely proud of the muscle aches & strangely sad there's no boot camp on my schedule today. 

I spend my lunch break shopping for new workout clothes & accessories & spend time at home getting organized for my new found "activity". 

I sleep like a rock. Did Not Move. 

Thursday, August 28

I am excited all day long for my 2nd boot camp class. 

I spend time reading Courtney's blog, website, & Facebook page. I am determined to be her next success story. 

I arrive early for class again & Courtney takes my measurements & body fat percentage. I'm anxious to receive the calculated numbers & see how much I can improve in this 8 week period & beyond. 

Tonight's class is a 2 lap warm-up & then 55 minutes of combo strength training moves. The only thing I can do with the proper form is the laps. I give it a 10 again for my attempt, but man, those are some hard moves to master.

My 7.5 hours of sleep feels like 2. I am exhausted & sore.

Friday, August 29

My office closes at noon today in preparation for the holiday weekend. I am all about the rewards & book a massage for the afternoon. I make a list of mini goals (& rewards) to keep my motivation high. 

I prep for a 7:00am group run at Liberty Park on Saturday, my only day to "sleep in", if you can call it that with 2 little ones. A 6:00am wake up is better than my usual 5:00am though, so I'll take it. 

Saturday, August 30

I wake up before my alarm for the group run.

My husband take the kids for doughnuts (of course he does), while I meet the Go Commando training group bright & early. 

There are 3 groups, one training for the 5k, 10k, and half marathon. I'm running the 10k, but get talked into training with the half group since I'm registered for a race in September as well. 

The half group is running the 5k course this morning & the leader wants me to run a 10 min pace. She has lost her mind, but I agree to try. 

The 10 min pace doesn't last very long, but I complete the course with only 2 brief walk breaks & enough energy to sprint the last 30 seconds or so. 

I'm completely wiped, but after some stretching & cooling down, my friend & I jog another 1.5 miles before heading home. Who am I?

My endorphins last the rest of the day and I feel extra productive starting the weekend with a run. 

Week 1 of Boot Camp Challenge Go Commando training is complete & I'm already hooked! Bring it Week 2.