Sideways Rain: 2/26/08

Have you ever been outside in a hurricane? I haven't, but this morning felt like it. I've been out in the heavy rain before, but I have never been out in weather like this. Especially without some type of rain coat or umbrella. I don't even think an umbrella would have done me any good anyways. The ripping wind would have probably blown the umbrella right out of my hand. If I could have held on to the umbrella, I would have probably done a horrible impersonation of Mary Poppins.

We were doing the long run around Atlantic Station today at boot camp. We had about 3/4 mile left in the route before we got back, and the bottom dropped out. I'm not talking about a normal rain; it was a downpour. Within a couple of minutes, my clothes were completely soaked and my shoes had filled up with water. It made it extremely tough to lift heavy, water soaked shoes after already having run 3 miles.

The heavy rain continued to pour down, and, after a few minutes, the wind picked up. The rain was blowing sideways and the power lines were waving as the wind was blowing extremely fast. There was a flag at the corner of Howell Mill Road and 17th Street that looked like it was about to blow off the pole! Given the fact that I was already completely soaked from the rain, the stinging rain made it that much worse. I had to adjust my hat to deflect the piercing rain from hitting me directly in the face. Needless to say, I quickly picked up my pace and raced to the finish line. It's amazing what kind of motivation a soaking rain will give you.

For some strange reason, when we got done, all I could do was laugh. Everyone was soaked and it was a little chilly. We were all miserable, but most of us had a positive attitude. Collette said that it was the most fun she had ever had doing the long run, and I believe her. I would probably even have to agree with her.

After surviving a jog in the storm that brought tornadoes to several different areas of the state, downed trees and a loss of power to thousands around the Atlanta area, I really don't have an excuse to not work out in some of the worst weather that mother nature has to throw at us. It's the type of mindset that some people may say makes me crazy, but it gives me an incredible amount of motivation to get out there and work out. Like the United States Postal Service motto states: "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. " This is the kind of motivation that I am going to have to keep in order to complete the goals which I have set for this year.

Chastain Chase 5K Results: 2/25/08

Ran the Chastain Chase 5K on Saturday morning. Finished it in 29:47. Unfortunately, I didn't beat my previous 5K time, but I peformed well. The course around Chastain Park was extremely hilly. One hill along Lake Forrest Drive was so steep that it almost felt like I was running up stairs. The long, gradual hill along Powers Ferry Road also made for a difficult finish. I really struggled on the hills, but boot camp instructors Collette, Denny, and Mari stayed with me the whole time and kept me motivated and moving. I wanted so bad to stop running and walk, but my "support team" kept me running the entire race.

We had a huge group of boot campers at the race. There were probably about 25 people wearing The American Boot Camp Company shirts that showed up for the race. We had runners of all different skill levels wearing a rainbow of different colored shirts. I saw red, blue, green, black, gray, pink, and white boot camp shirts. We had a great presence at the race. Plus it was nice to have most of them there to join me in my third race of this year-long journey.

I also had several friends that joined me in Saturday's race. It was nice to have some additional support from some non boot campers. These are also some of the folks that I hang out with on a regular basis and have personally seen my transformation so far. Their support adds even more to the constant support that I receive from the boot camp staff. Thanks David, Ed, John, Katherine, Paige, and Rebecca. I really appreciate it.

We started week 4 of boot camp at West Midtown today. This is our last week of the February session. Today's workout was tough, but I felt great afterwards. We did a workout consisting of football type drills that included 30-20-10 second sets with sprints in between. We mainly worked the lower body, but then focused on the upper body and abs during our extra credit workout. Yes, I had extra credit today because I didn't exactly follow the meal plan over the weekend. What can I say, I ate some chips and had a couple of beers at The Taco Stand the other night while out with some friends.

I'm looking forward to see what kind of progress I've made this month. I'll find out on Friday when we have our base test. I'll keep you posted on how I do...

Jumping rope brings back memories: 2/21/08

When was the last time that you jumped rope? It was probably some time back in middle school for me. Well, we did a jump rope workout at boot camp on Tuesday. I was in major pain afterwards. My legs were burning...especially my calves! Someone mentioned during the workout that jumping rope for 10 minutes is the equivalent of running 3 miles. I believe them. I was so worn out afterwards. It's been a while since I've been that exhausted after a workout. It was painful to experience, but it felt great to complete such a rigorous workout.

We had a very fun workout this morning. It was the free "Bring a Friend to Boot Camp Day" and we had 4 visitors join us for today's workout. We did a suicide type workout where we ran back and forth between cones and did different exercises at each cone. It's one of my favorite workouts that we do at boot camp. It's fast-moving and we are always doing something different to workout different parts of our body.

Got the Chastain Chase 5K on Saturday morning. I'm really looking forward to it. I actually went and ran around Chastain Park last Saturday afternoon in order to add some bigger hills to my run. I have a couple of small hills on my regular 3 mile route, but none as big as some of those around the Chastain golf course. It was also very nice to be back in my old neighborhood and to see some of the familiar sights that I haven't seen in a couple of years.

I'm hoping I can improve my 5K time on Saturday. I'm aiming to beat 29:02. The pressure is on me to perform well as several of my friends plus a large group from boot camp are running the race with me. I'm also praying that it won't be raining. It's going to be bad enough working out in the rain tomorrow morning. Hopefully, it will move on through and leave us with a dry Saturday morning for the race. I'll keep you posted on how I do. Maybe I'll see you on Saturday morning at the race...

Boot Camp Indoors: 2/14/08

We had a nice indoor boot camp workout today at the gym located on The Howard School Campus where the West Midtown boot camp is held. Thank God! It was freezing outside. I think it was about 25 degrees this morning when I left the house. Luckily, we have access to a gym and were able to take advantage of it. We did a nice workout working the legs. We ran some suicides, did some sprints, some shuffling up and down the basketball court, and even used some basketballs in some of the exercises. It was nice to get a good indoor workout for once.

This week's workouts have been much easier on my body than last weeks. Probably due to this being the second week of boot camp as opposed to the first. I guess my muscles have gotten used to the workouts, but, unfortunately, my body is still in the process of making the transition to getting up at 5:15 in the morning on a regular basis. I have been extremely tired during the mid afternoon and have come very close to falling asleep during a couple of meetings this week.

I've got the Chastain Chase 5K coming up next weekend. I hope I can keep up my streak of breaking my previous race times. It's going to be a real test for me to beat 29:02, but I'm going to try. Fortunately, I'll have some of my boot campers and instructors there to cheer me on and run with me. I've even talked some of my friends into running the race with me. You should come out and join us!

No pain, no gain? 2/8/08

As the old adage goes, "No pain, no gain." Well, this week has certainly proved that. We've had two days of ab workouts and today we worked our legs and glutes. My abs have been in constant pain throughout the past couple of days. Getting up out of a chair, bending over, and even lying in the bed. My abs have ached, but I've been able to work through it. Just when my abs started feeling better, today's workout left my lower body in pain. I could feel muscles that I didn't even know I had as I walked around. Luckily, this pain wasn't too terribly bad and didn't last too long. By the mid afternoon, I felt fine.

As much as it hurts, I must admit that it feels good. Knowing that my muscles are burning, reinsures me that I'm making a difference to my body...and that's why I'm doing this. As much as my abs have ached this week, they are probably the weakest part of my body and need the most improvement. I'm glad that we've focused on this particular body part. Who knows?!? Maybe I can turn this beer gut into a six pack...

I've got the Chastain Chase 5K coming up in a couple of weeks, and I'm planning to do some running this weekend. I'm going to try something new and head over to Memorial Park and go for a run around it. Maybe I'll see you out there...

First Day of Boot Camp at West Midtown: 2/4/08

Started boot camp today at the West Midtown boot camp location. The was the first group of 2008. It was tough getting up early and being out there by 5:45 a.m. again, but it felt good to be back at it. It was especially nice to see some familiar faces that I hadn't seen in a while. As well as meet some of the new boot campers. Fortunately, the rain had already moved on, but the ground was still plenty wet. I sometimes ask myself what in the world I'm doing when I'm lying on the ground working out in soaking wet clothes, but then I realize you have to make sacrifices in order to succeed.

The workout today was tough. I could definitely feel the burn that I hadn't felt in several weeks. I certainly could tell that my laziness over the past month had an effect on my body. I've tried to get up on my own in the morning and workout, but it's hard to do. It also felt good to have the boot camp instructors there with us while working out. Their constant encouragement really helps me make it through the workout.

One of the first day rituals of boot camp is doing the base line test which consists of the number of push-ups and sit-ups you can do in a minute and running a mile. My push-up numbers have greatly improved, but my sit-ups have only seen little improvement. I'm still trying to push myself harder and improve my core so that I can do more, but it's tough. My mile time did increase, mainly due to the fact that I haven't been running for the past month, but I was still able to keep it under 9 minutes. Considering that my best mile time is 8:29, I'm not too worried about reaching that point again and improving it.

This session of boot camp is going to be especially tough for me with my current work schedule, but I'm going to stay positive. I've seen great results so far and I don't plan on slacking off any. I'll keep you posted on how it goes.