As you can see, I've stopped cataloguing my blog entries by week/day. I think the reason is that for the first few weeks, I needed a way to just get through it. Now, I can safely say, I am in enough of a groove that I don't need to worry about making it through each session day by day. They have had their highs and lows. But, if I had to look critically at myself, the quads are a lot more solid, the arms are a lot less soft, and there is definitely less insulation around my midsection. Still have a ways to go, but there's definitely been progress. And so, a few days back, I officially became a Platinum member - signed up for 6 months, for 3 days a week.
As a Platinum member, you get a new set of camos, and personal consultations with Lauren; she sat me down in her office and explained to me that at the beginning of each month, we would be setting goals, depending on what I wanted to be working on. And she also made dietary recommendations. Not finished with my 'tour of duty' yet, but I am almost done. Probably just about 5 sessions left.
Ironically enough, day after I re-upped (Friday September 29), I went AWOL for the first time ever. Not just not making it to class and calling to let them know, but straight up not showing up. I blame City Blend - after a punishing, yet satisfying session on Friday, I went to my friend's apartment where the whole crew showed up. There was one key moment in the night, at around 11:45, when I realized I was not going to boot camp the next morning. Enough said. I got a call from Sunil the next morning after boot camp ended, just making sure I was alive.
Got through Monday well enough. And on Tuesday, I got a call from Lizzie, one of the women at the desk, making sure that I was going to be in class on Wednesday, because apparently, people were coming by to watch the class. Later on, I would learn that they were reps from GTDirect, owned by Gaiam, that company who puts out those yoga workout DVDs, among others. I guess they were evaluating the floor exercises that Lauren was teaching - because who has an obstacle course in their tiny New York apartment?
The class was HUGE. I mean, safely 20 people. How everyone was going to fit was a mystery. The 6PM class was finishing up, and as opposed to the rock wall, they were doing their group sit-ups on mats in the PT area. DI Wong called for 'foot holders', while the rest of us were directed to start running. I thought, yay, I will get through my laps sooner (a point of pleasure, because I was convinced that the ever-present pain in my knees was due to the running - something which I had given up years before because my doctor told me that I had slight tendonitis). WAY WRONG - as I rounded out 6 laps, looking hopefully at DI Ruben, he gave no signal to stop. All in all, I think I ran 5 extra laps; ridiculous. After our warm up, Lauren looked at her clipboard, called off several names to go with her, and then instructed me, Sunil, and 3 other people to go with DI Wong.
Behind the Intensity wall, we were instructed to grab a tire and do 25 tire presses. After that, 15 tire pushups. This was tough, because you are trying to do a pushup while searching for traction on a surface of shredded tires. Sunil asked if we could move off the surface, and so Wong moved us over to the outside of the course. There, we were given our next set of exercises. 4 sets of the most hateful combination - 10 squat thrusts, 15 push-ups. Nausea threatened. And then I got angry, and got through it. The five of us were directed to the wall, to do wall squats, which basically has you in sitting position, with your quads holding you up, with your hands at shoulder level out in front of you. As the person farthest to the right, I had to sprint around the perimeter, back to the left side of the line. All the while, my cohorts were holding steady in the wall squat formation. And then the next person sprinted around, and the next one, etc., until we had gone around twice. Not so bad, I was flagging a bit at the end, but managed to stay up. Off to under the monkey bars.
Hard to recall exactly what happened next, but one thing I did notice was that Lauren had a large group of people running the course, hooting and hollering, getting over walls, cheering people on - probably to illustrate the supportive nature of boot camp, and also the high level of female participation (Note - in a class of 20-23, Sunil was the only guy that day). I did wonder why she purposely excluded us, which did bring a few moments of consternation - were we the embarrassments? Surely not, I would hope.
The next part of class consisted of another hateful set of squat thrusts, and dips, 4 sets, if I remember correctly. In between cursing every 5 seconds after attempting a squat thrust. I was still sort of annoyed about being the only people sort of put in the corner, so when we were given the option of 10 more dips or inverted pushups (where you had your feet on the window and your hands in the shredded tires), I chose to do the inverted pushups. Small victory. Then, grabbing 2 dumbbells, we did 10 presses, and then ran a lap, after which we were to rotate to the next person's dumbbells (we were all given different weights initially). After the second go-around, my knees really started to burn. I haven't felt that ever - definitely troubling. I told DI Wong, and he instructed me to ice my knees, and gave me a substitute exercise - the same dumbbell presses, minus the running. When that was done, it was time for individual throwdowns - unlike when we are partnered up, and the person is standing over us, and we are using their ankles as support, we used the metal support beam. I thought I heard him say 2 sets of 25. No problem. And then when I was done, he said, "Did I say 2 sets? I meant 4 sets, I lied." Ridiculous - I grumbled, but got through it.
Next, over to the walls, and it was one of those days that I was mentally incapable of doing the third wall. Wong, presumably seeing the defeated look on my face, directed me to do another lower ab exercise - forgot what the name was, but we were supposed to get to 100 before the class was over. I managed 75.
Later on, Sunil and I collectively licked our wounds (given that he had been duly harangued by Wong, more so than myself) with a couple of cocktails at Therapy with a few of his friends. I worried about my knees, thought about starting on a regimen of glucosamine chondroitin. Well, like the Howard Jones song goes, things can only get better.
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