Hard work = pay off

I have not missed a single boot camp, since committing to 5 nights a week, not even letting a marathon get in my way.  I can be am a little on the obsessive side when I say I want to do something (Go big or go home), and I'm happy my recent fixation is on finally breaking past this weight loop-de-loop I've been on for the past year.  The last time I was under 200 pounds on the scale was last October.  Ten very long months ago!  Granted, I had a rather sucky year last year (cannot believe Dad's anniversary is in 11 days already) but the fact that I have been stuck at 204-207 since October is hugely frustrating.  It's a vicious hamster wheel, and I finally wanted off.

Boot camp on Wednesday was HOT.  In order to keep us from passing out, Trainer Josh had us find any shade we could, and then we took off for the Douglas Fir trail.  It's all shade, and amazing that you step onto the trail from the pathway and feel the temperature drop a good 10 degrees.  I'd day it was much better, but then we began the climb UP.  Legs were still tired from marathon/boot camp/boot camp, but I plugged along till I caught up with everyone.  Only took me 9 minutes, which Trainer Josh was pleased with.  The uber fit duo of C. and J. made it in just under 5!!  Hate them...I mean, way to go, you guys!  Once at the top, we did some drills, sprints up and down, until Josh figured he had worked us all hard enough.  Back to the mats, and a big patch of shade, which we stuck to with a lot of shoulder and triceps work.  We even had a band to entertain us!!  A group showed up at the picnic area near us, complete with big old double Bass and started "jamming".  Groovy, cats!

After picking up the vegetables from our co-op, I dropped off H-woman's share and then went down to Eau Claire to meet up with some very sweaty, hot runners.  Enjoyed my usual pint and the Frank's Lime Red Hot Mussels (sans bread for dipping...sad for me) and a tossed green salad.  That is becoming my Wednesday usual, and it is quite delicious.  Even without the bread...

After puttering around in the morning, I walked down to Weight Watchers (I am on vacay this week, but am really doing nothing all day...guess I needed the rest) and practically did a back flip off the scale!  199.8!!  Boo-yah!!!  Since Trainer Josh took me under his wing starting beating me with a stick, I have lost steadily every week, for a total of 7.2 pounds, or almost 2 pounds a week.  Outstanding!  I know it's all me doing it, but I guess I just needed that nudge in the right direction.  I will most definitely keep up the 5 days a week for the next session, as I'm also noticing some changed in the old bod, like my tummy not being quite so prominent these days. 

Speaking of, class #19 involved the staircase at North Glenmore and some interesting drills.  Of course, we did have to wait for the group of young men idiots to finish what ever it was they were smoking at the bottom and move on, before Trainer Josh would let us go down the stairs.  Safety first, always.  After a warm of high kicks, high knees, sprints, and butt kicks, we got down to work.  First, some shoulder work, then run down the big hill, squats at the bottom and run back up.  It's not as steep at the BA hill at Edworthy, but it is long.  I ended up having to walk a bit of it, but I picked it back up when needed.  After more shoulder work, we then went down and up the stairs twice (need to count them, but 80-100 steps??) before coming back up the hill backwards (we did some serious quad work yesterday) and then one final sprint down and back up again.  Finished the day off with more squats (the dreaded one-legged), lunges, step-ups, shoulder presses, plank (which I might say mine was perfect and I held it for a good minute or more!), sit-ups, v-sit and negatives.  Love getting my sweat on!

Home to dinner of baked salmon with maple syrup (which I didn't notice mine had a layer of something on it till too late - didn't affect the taste at all, but I threw the bottle out...guess you can't trust Walmart brand to be good quality, huh???), on salad greens with goat cheese and balsamic dressing.  That's becoming a fave salad of mine.  Caught up on some People magazines, watched some mindless TV till way too late and went to bed.  On the agenda for today...must.cut.the.grass!  And then some tidy work inside the building, and in my suite.  figure out what I'm going to do with all the crap in the abandoned suite, and decide if I'm brave enough for tomorrow's hike to Heart Creek.  There's supposed to be a lot of spree and I don't like that slippery/slidy feeling when hiking.  Makes me nervous.  But I do love hiking, and I just bought a cool backpack with big bladder in it (3L) so I don't have to carry a camel back and a bottle and on and on.  Okay, okay...I'm going!

One more cup of coffee and then I'm out of here.  Seriously...I mean it this time!

Later,