I broke an 8 minute mile on Friday! Can you believe it? I ran a mile in 7:57! It was tough, and I was worn out afterwards, but I broke 8 minutes. It was quite an accomplishment for me considering that when I started boot camp my mile time was 14:42. Through a lot of hard work and pushing myself, I've been able to take almost 7 minutes off of my mile time. I don't know how much more I can improve on my mile time, but I'm going to keep pushing myself. Who knows? Maybe one day I can break 7 minutes.
Friday was the last day of the March session of boot camp. It felt great to complete my fourth month, and I'm ready to start another month on Monday. We're going to have some of the folks returning to join us as well as several new boot campers. I'm excited to see who is going to show up. We've had a steady number of new boot campers each month since I started attending. Maybe one day our West Midtown boot camp location will have as many folks as the Blackburn Park boot camp and Chastain Park boot camp locations. We've got a long way to go to get to that point, but attendance has been steadily growing since the West Midtown location started last September.
I'm looking forward to continuing to improve as boot camp progresses. I'm really excited about trying to focus on weight loss over the next few months. Fortunately, I'll be able to do a better job of focusing on eating right. With my busy season of work wrapping up, I won't be working long hours and having unhealthy food and snacks always within my reach. I'll be able to focus on the meal plan and do a better job of not eating bad stuff for me. I know that if I strictly adhere to the meal plan I will continute to see wonderful weight loss results. I've still got a long way to go to get to my weight loss goal.
I'm signed up to run the Sprint for Cancer 10K on Sunday, April 2oth. This will be my second 10K and I'm striving to beat my previous time of 57:25. Several of the boot campers are also going to join me in running the 10K. We're all going to work together over the next three weeks to prepare ourselves for the race. There's also going to be another large crowd from The American Boot Camp Company participating in the race. We're hoping to have a very large crowd show up. You should come out and join us as well...
Sunday, March 30, 2008
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
I want to run...what's wrong with me? 3/26/08
What an interesting past few days. It's the typical Atlanta early spring weather. Freezing temperatures in the morning and mid 70's in the afternoon. It's made it very interesting at boot camp this week. By the way, this is our last week of the March session of boot camp. I will be completing my fourth month of boot camp and have made some incredible improvements from when I first started. I'm hoping to break an 8:00 minute mile this Friday during our final PT test.
We did the long run around Atlantic Station yesterday morning. We ran a distance right at 4 miles. My legs were aching when we got done. I was really in pain. I think it was due to a lack of stretching after working out over the weekend. Upon finishing the long run, I gave my legs a good and long stretch; they felt fine and haven't bothered me since. I was real proud of some of my fellow boot campers. This was the first time that some of them had run this distance. Everyone did great! They've all made great strides during this month of boot camp. I hope they will keep up the good work and return next month for another session.
I had a strange thing happen to me over the weekend. I was sitting around on Friday evening watching television. I had missed boot camp that morning, and I really needed to get some exercise on Friday. About 7:00, I got up off the sofa and went and ran 2 laps around Memorial Park. I don't know what happened to me! I just had the urge to go out and get some exercise. Anyways, I felt great afterwards and really enjoyed the jog.
I decided to not exercise on Saturday due to the fact that I had to travel out of town for Easter and spend time with my family. I tried my best to watch what I ate over the weekend, but it's really hard turning down all of that good cooking that you usually get with an after-church Easter dinner. I returned to Atlanta on Sunday afternoon and found myself in the same situation that I was in on Friday. I was sitting around the house and had not exercised that day. So, once again, I got up and went and ran 2 laps around Memorial Park.
What is wrong with me? Why am I getting up off a very comfortable sofa to go run 3.5 miles? Have I lost my mind? Actually, nothing is wrong with me. Exercise and eating right are becoming a regularity in my everyday life. I don't feel right if I don't exercise or eat something I shouldn't. It's amazing what is happening to me! I guess these things are becoming habits of mine that my body has slowly gotten used to over the past several months. I never expected any of this stuff to become habitual, but, obviously, I was wrong. Both my body and my mindset are changing due to boot camp. I guess it's just easier to see the results in my body as opposed to the changes inside my head...
I'll keep you posted on how I do this Friday with my mile time. I'm also planning to run in the Sprint for Cancer race on April 20th. It is being held at Atlantic Station and both a 5K and 10K are available to participate in. Check out http://www.sprintforcancer.com/ for details. I'm planning to run my second 10K at this race, and several of my boot camp compadres will be running their first 5K. You should come out and join us...
We did the long run around Atlantic Station yesterday morning. We ran a distance right at 4 miles. My legs were aching when we got done. I was really in pain. I think it was due to a lack of stretching after working out over the weekend. Upon finishing the long run, I gave my legs a good and long stretch; they felt fine and haven't bothered me since. I was real proud of some of my fellow boot campers. This was the first time that some of them had run this distance. Everyone did great! They've all made great strides during this month of boot camp. I hope they will keep up the good work and return next month for another session.
I had a strange thing happen to me over the weekend. I was sitting around on Friday evening watching television. I had missed boot camp that morning, and I really needed to get some exercise on Friday. About 7:00, I got up off the sofa and went and ran 2 laps around Memorial Park. I don't know what happened to me! I just had the urge to go out and get some exercise. Anyways, I felt great afterwards and really enjoyed the jog.
I decided to not exercise on Saturday due to the fact that I had to travel out of town for Easter and spend time with my family. I tried my best to watch what I ate over the weekend, but it's really hard turning down all of that good cooking that you usually get with an after-church Easter dinner. I returned to Atlanta on Sunday afternoon and found myself in the same situation that I was in on Friday. I was sitting around the house and had not exercised that day. So, once again, I got up and went and ran 2 laps around Memorial Park.
What is wrong with me? Why am I getting up off a very comfortable sofa to go run 3.5 miles? Have I lost my mind? Actually, nothing is wrong with me. Exercise and eating right are becoming a regularity in my everyday life. I don't feel right if I don't exercise or eat something I shouldn't. It's amazing what is happening to me! I guess these things are becoming habits of mine that my body has slowly gotten used to over the past several months. I never expected any of this stuff to become habitual, but, obviously, I was wrong. Both my body and my mindset are changing due to boot camp. I guess it's just easier to see the results in my body as opposed to the changes inside my head...
I'll keep you posted on how I do this Friday with my mile time. I'm also planning to run in the Sprint for Cancer race on April 20th. It is being held at Atlantic Station and both a 5K and 10K are available to participate in. Check out http://www.sprintforcancer.com/ for details. I'm planning to run my second 10K at this race, and several of my boot camp compadres will be running their first 5K. You should come out and join us...
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
ShamRock N Roll Success: 3/18/08
What an incredible past couple of days! I ran the ShamRock 'N Roll 10K on Sunday morning at Atlantic Station. I finished it in 57:25! Can you believe it? I ran a 1oK in under an hour! The clock was just hitting 27:00 when I passed the 5K finish line. That means I ran the second half in just over 30 minutes. This was a great pace that I was able to keep fairly constant during most of the race. I was really nervous at first, but really felt good during the race. Collette and Colin from The American Boot Camp Company stayed with me the whole time and kept my spirits up. I thought I was going to really struggle through the course, but I was extremely surprised at how prepared my body was for the long journey. I even had enough energy to finish the race strong and sprint the last leg of the race leading up to the finish line.
We had a nice crowd of boot campers that participated in both the 5K and 10K races. We had some special St. Patrick's Day themed shirts made up and everyone wore them during the race. You could easily pick out our group from the couple of thousand runners in attendance. Most of our group from the West Midtown boot camp location ran the races, and we even had a couple of people place in their age group. Aaron and Lisa ran the 5K. John, Renee, Elizabeth, Felecia, Michelle, Carolyn, Barrett, Collette, and myself all ran the 1oK. It was really nice to have everyone out there supporting each other. I can't describe how it felt to have some of them cheering me on when I was approaching the finish line.
Our workouts on Monday and Tuesday were very good and left me exhausted. We had a mile time trial on Monday morning and I finished it in 8:10. That's 16 seconds faster than my time only two weeks ago. My goal next time is to finish a mile under 8:00. I want to get to the point where I consistently break an eight minute mile. I think everyone in our boot camp class improved their mile times; some folks more than others. Tuesday's workout included the dreaded jump rope. It was a different workout that what we routinely do with the jump ropes. Felecia did a great job in leading us and really pushed us hard to complete the workout. My lower body really felt the pains of the jump rope workout.
My next race is the Sprint For Cancer on Sunday, April 20th at Atlantic Station. The big decision I need to make is whether I want to run the 5K or 10K. Whichever race I choose to run, I'm going to work hard to try to beat my previous time. At the moment, I'm torn as to which race to run. Part of me wants to tackle the 10K again, but the other half of me wants to run the 5K race and really blow my previous race time of 29:47 out of the water. I'll keep you posted as to what decision I make...
We had a nice crowd of boot campers that participated in both the 5K and 10K races. We had some special St. Patrick's Day themed shirts made up and everyone wore them during the race. You could easily pick out our group from the couple of thousand runners in attendance. Most of our group from the West Midtown boot camp location ran the races, and we even had a couple of people place in their age group. Aaron and Lisa ran the 5K. John, Renee, Elizabeth, Felecia, Michelle, Carolyn, Barrett, Collette, and myself all ran the 1oK. It was really nice to have everyone out there supporting each other. I can't describe how it felt to have some of them cheering me on when I was approaching the finish line.
Our workouts on Monday and Tuesday were very good and left me exhausted. We had a mile time trial on Monday morning and I finished it in 8:10. That's 16 seconds faster than my time only two weeks ago. My goal next time is to finish a mile under 8:00. I want to get to the point where I consistently break an eight minute mile. I think everyone in our boot camp class improved their mile times; some folks more than others. Tuesday's workout included the dreaded jump rope. It was a different workout that what we routinely do with the jump ropes. Felecia did a great job in leading us and really pushed us hard to complete the workout. My lower body really felt the pains of the jump rope workout.
My next race is the Sprint For Cancer on Sunday, April 20th at Atlantic Station. The big decision I need to make is whether I want to run the 5K or 10K. Whichever race I choose to run, I'm going to work hard to try to beat my previous time. At the moment, I'm torn as to which race to run. Part of me wants to tackle the 10K again, but the other half of me wants to run the 5K race and really blow my previous race time of 29:47 out of the water. I'll keep you posted as to what decision I make...
Thursday, March 13, 2008
The fat van, boot camp studio and big peach event: 3/13/08
We've had a good week at boot camp so far this week. I've enjoyed all of the workouts. Some of them have been repeats from previous months, but there has also been some new stuff added in to make them different. Today we had a first at the West Midtown boot camp location. Both Collette and Denny, our lead instructors, were not in attendance. Renee came in and subbed and did a wonderful job. It was a nice change to the everyday routine. Even though we did a normal workout, Renee's lead made for a nice change. It's hard to believe that we're almost finished with the second week of the March boot camp session.
I went to The American Boot Camp studio in Brookhaven last night for the first time. They had a mobile video gait analysis and a hydrostatic body fat tester show up for those of us who decided to come out. There were a good number of boot campers that showed up as well as others that participate in the sessions at the studio. The Big Peach Running Company brought out their video gait analysis for people to try out. You hopped on a treadmill and they filmed your gait as you ran. The analysis showed how your feet land when running. My gait was normal with only my left foot rolling inward a little bit. They discussed some different shoe options with me and gave me a form to take to one of their stores and get custom fitted for the right shoe for my feet. I'm going to try to go by there in the next couple of days to pick up a new pair of shoes.
After having my gait analyzed, I went and had my body fat tested. The hydrostatic body fat tester was an interesting contraption. I got in a big tub of water and did push-ups underwater while exhaling all of the air out of my lungs. While underwater, the machine was able to test my body fat. It took me a few times to get an accurate reading, but I eventually got it right. My body fat percentage is 29.9%. This is fairly poor for someone of my height and age. The test did show me, however, what my target weight and body fat percentage shoud be. It also gave me a breakdown of what my daily resting metabolic rate is and what kind of calories I can burn doing different types of exercises. It was really interesting to hear all of this. Plus, it gives me a great standard to work with and measurements to use as I continue to lose weight and transform into an active lifestyle. I can't wait to go back in several months and see what kind of progress I have made.
I've got the ShamRock 'N Roll race coming up on Sunday morning. I was originally scheduled to run the 5K race, but have since signed up for the 10K. This is going to be a tough race for me. I've never run that distance...ever. About the longest I have run so far is around 4 miles. I'm shooting to try to beat an hour. It's going to be a real challege, but I know Collette, Mari, and Denny will probably be with me the whole time encouraging me to keep going. I don't think I could do it without them. I'm a little nervous about it, but, at the same time, I'm excited and interested to see how I do. Come out and join me and the rest of the boot campers as we show up and conquer the Atlantic Station route. I hope to see you on Sunday morning!
I went to The American Boot Camp studio in Brookhaven last night for the first time. They had a mobile video gait analysis and a hydrostatic body fat tester show up for those of us who decided to come out. There were a good number of boot campers that showed up as well as others that participate in the sessions at the studio. The Big Peach Running Company brought out their video gait analysis for people to try out. You hopped on a treadmill and they filmed your gait as you ran. The analysis showed how your feet land when running. My gait was normal with only my left foot rolling inward a little bit. They discussed some different shoe options with me and gave me a form to take to one of their stores and get custom fitted for the right shoe for my feet. I'm going to try to go by there in the next couple of days to pick up a new pair of shoes.
After having my gait analyzed, I went and had my body fat tested. The hydrostatic body fat tester was an interesting contraption. I got in a big tub of water and did push-ups underwater while exhaling all of the air out of my lungs. While underwater, the machine was able to test my body fat. It took me a few times to get an accurate reading, but I eventually got it right. My body fat percentage is 29.9%. This is fairly poor for someone of my height and age. The test did show me, however, what my target weight and body fat percentage shoud be. It also gave me a breakdown of what my daily resting metabolic rate is and what kind of calories I can burn doing different types of exercises. It was really interesting to hear all of this. Plus, it gives me a great standard to work with and measurements to use as I continue to lose weight and transform into an active lifestyle. I can't wait to go back in several months and see what kind of progress I have made.
I've got the ShamRock 'N Roll race coming up on Sunday morning. I was originally scheduled to run the 5K race, but have since signed up for the 10K. This is going to be a tough race for me. I've never run that distance...ever. About the longest I have run so far is around 4 miles. I'm shooting to try to beat an hour. It's going to be a real challege, but I know Collette, Mari, and Denny will probably be with me the whole time encouraging me to keep going. I don't think I could do it without them. I'm a little nervous about it, but, at the same time, I'm excited and interested to see how I do. Come out and join me and the rest of the boot campers as we show up and conquer the Atlantic Station route. I hope to see you on Sunday morning!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
March at West Midtown Boot Camp and a day at Blackburn Park: 3/9/08
What a week! I've been extremely busy at work and have been unable to enter any posts to my blog. It's been an exciting week and I have a lot to talk about. So read on and enjoy. Sorry for the long entry, but here it is...
Monday was the first day of the new March session of boot camp ast West Midtown. We have several veterans joining us for another month, as well as several new boot campers that have taken the initiative to try boot camp for the first time. For once, we have more guys than girls at boot camp this month. It's going to be interesting to see how this goes. This is unchartered territory for the West Midtown boot camp location. So far, so good...
I had to miss boot camp on Tuesday due to an early meeting at work. This being the case, I went to the Blackburn Park boot camp on Wednesday to make up for my missed day. What an experience! We average about 15 people at our West Midtown boot camp location. Blackburn Park has a group of about 50! Working out with a group of that size was incredible. The workout was very similar to the ones that we do at our West Midtown location, but the atmosphere was totally different. I can't put into words how pumped up I was to see that level of participation. They had us split up into six different groups for the workout. At my normal location, we usually split into two groups. The massive number of boot campers and the different location made for an exciting workout of doing cone sprints. Unfortunately, we repeated the same workout the next day at our West Midtown location. I was absolutely worn out after repetitive workouts for two days straight. I could really feel my legs burning.
Friday was in interesting workout in the rain. We didn't touch the flooded soccer field and took advantage of the basketball court and used workout bands for the first time in a while. It was nice to get a good upper body workout from the bands, but I have been feeling the pain in my arms all weekend. Denny did an excellent job leading us on Friday and it really took a lot of effort to complete the workout. I was using one of the blue bands which is one of the stronger, heavier resistance ones. A couple of the other guys started out with the blue ones, but they both had to move down to a lower resistance level in order to complete the workout. It was tough, but I was able to do it. I couldn't have handled the blue band my first month of boot camp either.
On a different note, I had a interesting weekend. I went quail hunting on Saturday morning for the first time since I started boot camp. Other than being a little sore in my arms and trying to shoot birds, it was great. The biggest difference I felt was a lack of exhaustion after walking all over a huge field following the bird dogs as they spotted the quail. My dad and I killed 40 birds during the hunt, and we really had to move around a lot in search of the quail. We only took one break during the hunt to change out the dogs and empty our game pouches, but I never felt tired the entire time. On previous hunts, I can clearly remember being worn out after walking all over the place following the dogs. This was just a small reminder of how much better shape I am in after doing boot camp for over three months.
I attended a wedding on Saturday night for an old childhood friend. This was the first time that I had seen a lot of friends from home in a long time. Only a handful of them have seen me since I started boot camp last October. Numerous people complimented me on how good I looked. They could all tell that I had lost weight. Plus, I wasn't half as exhausted as I usually am after cutting a rug on the dance floor. I can usually last a few songs and then need to take a break, but I was out there last night dancing more than most of the other people at the wedding reception.
These two small things that occurred this weekend are the kind of motivation that keeps me going. Experiencing a clear change in my behavior and feelings as well as the continued support from family and friends are two of the main driving forces pushing me to continue on this journey the rest of the year. You'd be amazed at the differences you can feel when you decide to make a life-changing adjustment and start working out and eating right.
Come join me on Wednesday evening at The American Boot Camp Company studio in Brookhaven for an exciting time. The Big Peach Running Company is going to have their running stride tester out there. This machine analyzes your step when you run and can match you up with the best running shoes for your stride. I'm looking forward to seeing what it says about me and possibly getting a new pair of shoes. There's also going to be a body fat tester for those who are interested. All this takes place from 5:30 to 8:00 pm on Wednesday. Go to http://www.thebootcampcompany.com/ for more details and directions. I hope to see you there.
I've got the ShamRock 'N Roll 5K this coming Sunday morning at Atlantic Station. We do our long run around Atlantic Station and I am really looking forward to seeing what kind of official time I can put in for the race. I'm shooting to beat 29 minutes. Come join me at the race and see how you do. Details can be found at http://www.shamrocknroll.org/. I hope to see you there!
Monday was the first day of the new March session of boot camp ast West Midtown. We have several veterans joining us for another month, as well as several new boot campers that have taken the initiative to try boot camp for the first time. For once, we have more guys than girls at boot camp this month. It's going to be interesting to see how this goes. This is unchartered territory for the West Midtown boot camp location. So far, so good...
I had to miss boot camp on Tuesday due to an early meeting at work. This being the case, I went to the Blackburn Park boot camp on Wednesday to make up for my missed day. What an experience! We average about 15 people at our West Midtown boot camp location. Blackburn Park has a group of about 50! Working out with a group of that size was incredible. The workout was very similar to the ones that we do at our West Midtown location, but the atmosphere was totally different. I can't put into words how pumped up I was to see that level of participation. They had us split up into six different groups for the workout. At my normal location, we usually split into two groups. The massive number of boot campers and the different location made for an exciting workout of doing cone sprints. Unfortunately, we repeated the same workout the next day at our West Midtown location. I was absolutely worn out after repetitive workouts for two days straight. I could really feel my legs burning.
Friday was in interesting workout in the rain. We didn't touch the flooded soccer field and took advantage of the basketball court and used workout bands for the first time in a while. It was nice to get a good upper body workout from the bands, but I have been feeling the pain in my arms all weekend. Denny did an excellent job leading us on Friday and it really took a lot of effort to complete the workout. I was using one of the blue bands which is one of the stronger, heavier resistance ones. A couple of the other guys started out with the blue ones, but they both had to move down to a lower resistance level in order to complete the workout. It was tough, but I was able to do it. I couldn't have handled the blue band my first month of boot camp either.
On a different note, I had a interesting weekend. I went quail hunting on Saturday morning for the first time since I started boot camp. Other than being a little sore in my arms and trying to shoot birds, it was great. The biggest difference I felt was a lack of exhaustion after walking all over a huge field following the bird dogs as they spotted the quail. My dad and I killed 40 birds during the hunt, and we really had to move around a lot in search of the quail. We only took one break during the hunt to change out the dogs and empty our game pouches, but I never felt tired the entire time. On previous hunts, I can clearly remember being worn out after walking all over the place following the dogs. This was just a small reminder of how much better shape I am in after doing boot camp for over three months.
I attended a wedding on Saturday night for an old childhood friend. This was the first time that I had seen a lot of friends from home in a long time. Only a handful of them have seen me since I started boot camp last October. Numerous people complimented me on how good I looked. They could all tell that I had lost weight. Plus, I wasn't half as exhausted as I usually am after cutting a rug on the dance floor. I can usually last a few songs and then need to take a break, but I was out there last night dancing more than most of the other people at the wedding reception.
These two small things that occurred this weekend are the kind of motivation that keeps me going. Experiencing a clear change in my behavior and feelings as well as the continued support from family and friends are two of the main driving forces pushing me to continue on this journey the rest of the year. You'd be amazed at the differences you can feel when you decide to make a life-changing adjustment and start working out and eating right.
Come join me on Wednesday evening at The American Boot Camp Company studio in Brookhaven for an exciting time. The Big Peach Running Company is going to have their running stride tester out there. This machine analyzes your step when you run and can match you up with the best running shoes for your stride. I'm looking forward to seeing what it says about me and possibly getting a new pair of shoes. There's also going to be a body fat tester for those who are interested. All this takes place from 5:30 to 8:00 pm on Wednesday. Go to http://www.thebootcampcompany.com/ for more details and directions. I hope to see you there.
I've got the ShamRock 'N Roll 5K this coming Sunday morning at Atlantic Station. We do our long run around Atlantic Station and I am really looking forward to seeing what kind of official time I can put in for the race. I'm shooting to beat 29 minutes. Come join me at the race and see how you do. Details can be found at http://www.shamrocknroll.org/. I hope to see you there!
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