January 14, 2008: The Prodigal Private

Despite the looooong lag between now and my last entry, the drop in activity only occurred in the last 3.5 months. Why, do you ask? Life happens. It's unavoidable. Well at least a large part of it is.

August to mid-September saw me experiencing increasing pain and soreness in my knee which led me to consult an orthopedic surgeon (the same one who operated on my mother at the beginning of 2007). After a careful evaluation, he concluded that, while thankfully I didn't have rheumatoid arthritis, I had developed a minor case of "runner's knee". The combination of exercises had the cumulative effect of being punched in the kneecaps, and my knees had started to react. He advised against wearing high heels, climbing steps and performing exercises that would make me hyper-flex my knees (um, hello, which covers about everything in boot camp?!). Enough of the boring details.

September came and went, began a series of celebrations (my birthday week, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then the most hectic holiday party schedule I had ever experienced). During this whole time, I thought to myself, let me enjoy the hard work I put into getting in shape, and live it up a bit! Met some great people, partied it up, including at the Pure Power Boot Camp Holiday Soiree; where my friend Sunil O. and I felt a lot more like strangers than we did the year before - emphasized by Ruben hollering at me when he saw me, and giving me the 3rd degree about where I had been. I promised myself I would go back to boot camp at the beginning of January, because I needed to be in shape to tackle the slopes of Interlaken in February 2008. At the same time, in preparation for my trip, I decided to undergo LASIK, which took place on January 5, and prevented me from going back for yet another week. So, January 14 was to be my first day back.

It was rather fitting that I should go back on this day, because 2 days before, I decided to stop dating the person I had met over the holidays, and the return to boot camp in a way symbolized a new beginning. That Monday, I made sure I was well-hydrated (2 liters of water went down in no time), and had gotten plenty of sleep the night before. As I walked down the familiar path on 21st Street (from 8th avenue eastward), I noticed major changes; the Jewish cemetery no longer had plastic covering various headstones, and in place of the garage where Sunil and I had once stood on our first day was now the concrete skeleton of a 14 story building, that would no doubt, eventually become ridiculously priced rentals/condos.

Heart beating a little faster, I stepped out of the elevator to find the lighting a bit dimmer, with the satellite radio station playing that good ol' pulsating dance music (thank goodness, because if Alex was running the class, we'd probably be listening to classic rock, since when does one work out to that?). My breathing quickened a bit as I looked around, tossed my coat and bags to the side, and dropped down for my 5 pushups. Walking to the pup tent to change, I caught Ruben and Niccio (the new DI) glancing over, and in his inimitable bark, Ruben shouted, "Oh, look who's back! VINCENT!!!!" But I saw a smile, which I returned as I went in to change.

Falling back into the routine felt good - my initial panic at the idea of coming back to boot camp after 3.5 months of literally no hardcore physical activity (boogie-ing down doesn't really count, does it?) was allayed by seeing familiar faces walk into the tent, and being greeted warmly, even someone asking me how my LASIK went (totally forgot I told her at the party). As a super-precaution, put both my knee supports on, walked out, stretched for about 5 minutes, and then waited for class to begin.

The class was extremely large (I have to estimate around 16-20), but when we walked over to the PT area to get ready to run, a fellow veteran recruit and I noticed that the vast majority of the class was hanging back. I told her, technically I should be at the back as well, but if I manage to set a certain pace, it will portend good things for the rest of my first time back. Niccio called out, "7:00, seven laps!" As I started out, I felt myself running with a long stride, thinking I felt much lighter than I had in the past, almost gazelle-like. Rounding out the first lap, I found myself at the back of the line, and wondering why the rest of the class wasn't hustling (was I that excited to be back?). Back to the PT area, partner stretches, and then into two lines for jumping jacks. As we counted towards 60, Niccio stood in front of me, and said, "I can't hear you!" I thought I turned the volume up enough, but he continued barking - "I don't have a headache! I want you to give me a headache!" Huh? Drop down into push-up position, where we waited until everyone got into form, which took a bit of time, and then Ruben called for 15 push-ups. As we got to three, Ruben got it into his head that we weren't being loud enough (something we haven't heard before *eye roll* - that he is louder than all 20 of us, and that we needed to start over). Back to zero, eliciting a groan from some in the back, but I was galvanized by my determination, took a breath, and went along with it. After 15, hold for a count of 20, and surprisingly enough, I didn't hear someone yelling at me to get my butt down. 15 mountain climbers. Then, a lap around, but they didn't give us a 12 second time limit.

Back to the PT area, where Ruben told us, "squat thrusts - 20". Now, this is normally something I detest, but given how long I had been away from them, I was curious to see how they would go. Still can't get them right, there is something about the way my legs come back from extending that is weird, and oddly makes them more difficult. Not wanting to break cadence, I surreptitiously skipped 4 of them. Could have been worse. Another lap around, and then Niccio called us over to the tires behind the INTENSITY wall. Let me interject something here - I forgot who my squad was, and accidentally went over to Ruben's squad, and he was like, "Vincent, what the hell are you doing? Get the f**k over to your squad!" Utterly embarrassed, I sprinted over to Niccio, and picked up a tire. He looked around at all of us, and called for 25 presses with squats. As opposed to blowing it out, I was more concerned about getting through, and while I may not have squatted as deeply as I could have, got through the 25. With zero protests/complaints, unlike one of the more vociferous women next to me. Then a lap around. And then when we got back to Ruben, 15 jumping jacks, and then another lap over to Niccio - it seemed they had this "alternate squads, exercise, and then another lap around" thing. Down into push up position, for 20 'feet-together-feet-apart'. I'll admit, I cheated on at least 4. Another lap, not before I collided with another recruit, who obviously was a newbie, and was attempting to throw her leg over the hurdle just as I passed by, and I got a swift and heavy kick to my left upper arm. Not fazed at all, over to Ruben for 20 leg lifts, which were broken up by various people dropping their legs way below the required 6 inches off the ground, as in, on the floor. I focused on my breathing, which might have seemed a bit annoying to the recruit next to me, but whatever works, right?

Next up, 20 jumping squat thrusts, and this is where I completely fell apart. I think I managed 10-13 of them. Niccio kept barking to keep cadence, but in the state I was in, even if he had counted at half the speed, I would have fallen behind. I stumbled into the lap over to Ruben, for yet another difficult exercise (given my lazyass state, in more active times, this would have been a snap) - 20 star jumpers. I tried to be as unobtrusive as I could, and hoped that other people would seem more poor in form, so I would get under the radar. No such luck, Ruben told me to get closer to the floor. Ouch. Then over again for the last set of alternating exercises, 20 jumping lunges. Definitely worried about their effect on my knees, and struggled not to topple over, while keeping my hands on my hips.

And would you believe, no water break yet??? Was this something new for PPBC 2008? When someone asked, Ruben said, "It's just psychological." No, it's cellular! Someone needs to send him back to Bio 101.

Everyone was called over to the PT area, where mats had been laid out. We partnered up for throwdowns, 2 sets. First set was 40, second set was 30; straight up and straight down, as opposed to the down-apart-together-up thing, which is infinitely harder. My partner (who, coincidentally, I found out at the end of class, was the one who kicked me, but no matter, she's new, and is just getting used to things) looked alarmed, but I reassured her, much like I had been reassured when I was in her position, that we could get through this. The first set, as the numbers got higher, I felt her struggling, and counted louder, and when we hit 20, counted backwards to motivate her to keep going; like someone had done for me, I advised her to inhale going up, and exhale going down. For my set, the first 40 flew by, with a bit of heaviness setting in for the last 5. Even tougher for both of us the next time, but I got even louder and more encouraging, willing her to get through it. Me, I struggled significantly more, but collectively we finished before the last pair had gotten through theirs. Ordered to start bear crawling around, which I was ready to do, but only a few lengths in, we were ordered to run it in. Timed situps, yet another low point in my session. First set, as many as we could do in 2 minutes. My number? 45. Pathetic. Second set, as many as we could do in 1 minute. 27 this time. Downright shameful. I could hear Ruben and Niccio discussing the next part of the class, who would take what part. I thought, okay, I am in the bottom 4.

Not so - yay! Ruben called me over to his squad, along with 3 other women, and the guys. I quickly realized that this meant that I wasn't going to be relegated to the "let's strengthen our cardio big time in between exercises" group. Ruben ordered each of us to grab a tire, and hold it up as he gave us our orders. We were to do 20 presses (no squats), grab some water (whoo hoo!), and then come back to do the obstacle course with our partner.

I got through the presses and ran over to gulp the most satisfying drink of water that a person could ever take, aside from one imbibed by a weary traveler discovering an oasis in the middle of the Gobi desert. Happy and hydrated, I trotted back to the course, where Ruben pointed to the first set of hurdles, and ordered me to go first (truth be told, it took me a second to re-acclimate myself to the order of the obstacle course). Despite not having jumped them in a while, I gleefully bounded over, alternating my right leg and my left leg, at such a pace, that Ruben, watching from the bottom of the rope net, ordered me to run back and go over them a second time (as my partner was plodding her way over). Under any other circumstances, making you do more work would elicit a complaint, but in the framework of this, it meant that they knew I could do more, which only fueled me up. Patiently, I waited my turn at the rope net, and then Ruben told me to hop up. He knows I can't do this. I shouted, "Ruben, you know I didn't have a growth spurt over Christmas!" I futilely attempted to jump, barely managing to get the ropes down to waist level. Ruben, mercifully realizing he had put me through enough, gave me a boost. Focused and agile, I didn't flounder on my stomach, instead was very aware of putting my feet on each rung of the net/ladder. The dismount was a different issue. Normally this is not an issue for me. You get to the top, make sure the rope is at your waist, grab it, and then flip yourself over. This time, as I came down, I got caught in the ropes, and was about to garrote myself, until a milisecond later, Ruben supported me until I could dislodge myself, cursing and jumping down. Swung across the log (the filthy water hasn't been there in a long time, maybe someone caught e.coli from it, so Lauren had to remove it), and as I crawled under the 'barbed wire', kept my eyes closed, to minimize the risk of the shredded tire dust getting into my eyes. (Earlier, I definitely felt the sensitivity in my eyes when the sweat poured in as I attempted my situps, so I was more aware of the fact that my eyes are probably still healing). Hopped over the second set of hurdles, decidedly less nimbly than I had tackled the earlier set; then over to the three walls. First and second ones, no problem. Then that damn third wall. I looked at the word PERSEVERANCE in front of me, paused and contemplated, and tried to hop up. No dice. Ran at it in the Neanderthal way my friend Sunil would have. Nothing. And, I hate to admit, looked around, and then jogged around it. I suck.

Thankfully Ruben didn't notice, because when I came over, he told me to get up on the monkey bars. The problem? The weight bench which normally was positioned at the beginning of the monkey bars was no longer there. How was I supposed to get up? Ruben came over, and said, "Jump up, Vincent." I tried in vain, and, in an attempt to lighten the situation, I was like, "What the hell? Is this Great Adventure now? I say, I say, you must be this tall to be in boot camp?" Ruben chuckled, and helped me up onto the first bar. Unlike in the past, where I have endured facial injury on this obstacle; I focused and swung from bar to bar, 1/3 of the way before I lost my grip and fell off. Tried it again, got through the same length, and then fell down again. Ruben seemed to be satisfied, because he told me to get on the rock wall, before walking away to bark at a few newbies. There is a technique to getting around this wall, and in the past, I always used to blame my short limbs. This year, I have less patience for people around me when they make excuses, so maybe it manifested itself in my attitude in getting through the course. Foot on a peg, reach out with your right hand, and hug the wall as close as you can (being a girl who isn't completely flat as a pancake).

Last up, 25 dips against the windowsill, followed by 10 pushups - 3 sets. Ack. But it seems like we were allowed to do things at our own pace more than before, so I got through, and then grabbed a drink before 24 group situps.

This was exactly what I needed to come back. Cheesily, I cued up the theme song to "Laverne & Shirley" and just about danced to the subway, to go home euphoric.

Today is a different issue. Stiffness started to set in around noon, and as the day went on, I thought to myself, this is a really bad week to have broken up with a licensed massage therapist. Oh well, let's see what Thursday brings, kids.