Boot Camp Day 20: Almost at the Halfway Mark

Today was perhaps the first day that I could tell that I am actually improving. Things are still hard, but they aren't as hard as the first week. We started with a morning beach boot camp, consisting of a short run/walk, stretching, and a long run/walk. It was during this longer stretch that I realized that my breathing had become more even, and that while I was definitely pushing myself, I knew I wasn't going to collapse. The rest of beach boot camp was hard but tolerable: more jogging and walking, some stretching/balancing exercises (way to combine cardio with strength training), and some abs and core work. Much better workout than last Saturday.

After the weekly visit to the diner, it was back to the gym for 2 hours of group circuit training. Here's another example of how much I've improved: one of my few boot camp buddies was at the next elliptical trainer for our 25 minutes of cardio, and I was able to talk with her the entire time, while working hard enough to keep my heart rate in the 145/150 zone. Considering that 2 weeks ago I couldn't do more than 3 minutes on the elliptical trainer with or without talking, I consider this a huge improvement.

The strength-training segment (maybe 70 minutes or so) was primarily focused on shoulders, with some bicep, tricep and ab work thrown in for good measure. The class was run by the same trainer who did the amazing Saturday circuit a couple of weeks ago, so another really good workout, followed by more talking on the elliptical trainer.

Now I should be working on fellowship applications (this grad school application process seems to be interminable), but I think I'm going to read a little before bonding with my favorite boot campers at the movies. Speaking of my fellow boot campers, I've mentioned before that there are a couple that I think are cool and get along with well. Still true. There are also a few of the younger kids that are funny and nice and a little crazy, and they get high marks in my book, too. The rest, though... it's amazing to hear the things that have come out of their mouths. One of them talks about "Orientals" without a hint of irony, another prides herself on being "very, very, very far to the right" (although she hasn't said precisely what that means, I'm tempted to ask her if it means that she's anti-health care and decent educations for poor children, anti-affirmative action, anti-gay and anti-immigrant), and more than a few have expressed their fears about Obama (and Democrats generally) destroying their capitalist way of life. I'm grateful for the presence of a few Europeans and Canadians: they tend to dilute the effect of the crazies.

Finally, something for me to stress out about: I've been scheduled for the Santa Monica stairs (all 154 of them) Monday.