Boot Camp

With our wedding coming up, and with the turn of the new year, I found myself Googling "denver boot camp" on Thursday. When my neighbor asked me to go to boot camp yesterday, it seemed like a great idea. In my world, everything seems like a great idea after a few glasses of wine.

The concept of boot camp has always intrigued me. When we were training for the half-marathon last year, I realized that I really had never pushed myself so hard. When I'm jogging or doing anything physical, I mentally congratulate myself for the fact that I'm in motion, and I don't generally focus on speed or intensity. So I guess for me, I don't really have the inner drive to work out really hard- I need to pretend I can catch up to my sister's running pace, or know that someone is going through the same thing, or hear people cheering me on.

The intensity of boot camp this morning completely took me by surprise.

Of course, we were kind of able to go at our own pace, but all the things we did- even at my own pace- were killer. Killer, I tell you! Everything we did was in sets of 3- we sprinted for 45 seconds, rested for 7 seconds, sprinted for 7 seconds, rested 7 seconds, then sprinted one last set. I usually set my treadmill at home at a 5.5 and run for 30 minutes, and there were people there sprinting at a 9.5. I was afraid I'd a) throw up or b) fall off if I went that fast, so I kept it somewhere in the 7 range.

We did a wide range of exercises throughout my hour at boot camp. I was pretty much dying after about 10 minutes (who am I kidding- I was in rough shape after only about 4 minutes...), felt like I was going to hurl about half-way through, and had to fight my way through the last 10 minutes. I asked someone where the bathroom was- it was that bad.

Not sure if I'll head back to boot camp any time soon, but boot camp did prove to be valuable in that it made me realize that I need to work out more days per week than not. I'm not really one for "new year's resolutions," but the passing of January 1 always makes me feel like I've got a fresh start. It's a good time to build some new habits.

Do you make resolutions in the new year?