Saturday, December 6, 2014

A little boot camp and a little baking...

Every once in a while I have one of those things happen in my life that feels like a sign that I am moving in the right direction.  Last week I had one of those times.  I had been mulling over the idea of scaling back from triathlon for a few days and actually had pretty much made my decision when I got a notification from my gym that I had won $500 "bucks" from them.  The bucks are basically in-house cash that can be used on any of their services (spa, cafe, merchandise, training, etc.).  Sweet.  The gym was running a Black Friday special so I managed to parlay those $500 Bucks into a great deal on boot camp.  Like I said, it felt like confirmation that I was doing the right thing in changing up my routine.

Sunday night, I set my alarm for 4:45 for my first day of boot camp.  Rolled out of bed and headed to the gym.  I had done boot camp in the past so thought I knew what to expect and wasn't too nervous about it.  When I got there I realized that boot camp had changed since I had last participated.  It had definitely been restructured and cranked up a notch.  This was a good thing but took away my thoughts on taking it easy the first day.  :)

Right off the bat, the trainer motions to the pull up bar and has everyone do as many pull ups as they could.  From my adventures in crossfit, I knew my number on this exercise would be a big fat zero.  Normally, I would have flashed back to the 6th grade presidential fitness test and the pull ups there but I quickly realized that only one or two people in the group could do a pull up so it was no big deal.  I actually almost got one and surprised myself being that close to doing it.

If this was me, I would have gotten to a little past #3 there.  I am might use the suggestions on this page for improving my skill.  Boot camp homework.  LOL.

We went through 3 rounds of various workouts and at one point the trainer said we were still in warm up.  I knew this was going to be no joke but exactly what I needed!  After it was all said and done I had that awesome feeling of jello legs and arms.  You know you had a good workout but knew that was going to hurt later.  ...and it did.  I tell you what - you think you are in decent shape and then you start cross training and realize there are plenty of muscles you obviously aren't  working at all.  I do know I have to work on my upper body strength.  My legs can take a pretty good beating from all the biking and running but anything upper body related kicks my butt.  I need to get on the remedial push up program.  For real.  The rest of the week pretty much went like the first and I loved every minute of it.  Can't wait until I go back on Monday.

In other news, I still haven't decided about my two races in January.  Right now I am leaning towards dropping them and focusing on speed going into the other race in March.  Tomorrow is kind of decision day as it is a key long run.

Christmas-wise, I am getting the baking bug and might have to break out some treats this week for my guys and girls at the range!  I love to bake in general (I can follow a recipe like nobody's business but don't ask me to come up with something fresh and creative.).  I especially love to make treats to give away at Christmas.  I am thinking of making these this year...   Snowball cookies are my go to treat.  So simple and yummy.  The others are going to be new to me.  I might throw some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies in the mix too.  The funny story on those is that those cookies get rave reviews.  They are basically a Betty Crocker mix and I add pecans.  Sad but true.  I guess Betty knows her cookies!  Did I mention they have a weigh in every Friday at boot camp?  This baker will have to exercise some self control.  :)





    

1 comment:

Lindsay said...

Do you need my address to mail all these delicious goodies? LOL. Merry Christmas Karen!!