And they’re off … Month 11 of bootcamp, here we come

Operation Fit Test, Month 11, Week 1, Day 11, 0600hrs, North Bay Chairlifts

I’m drained! What a busy day so far and it’s not over yet! The day started with what has to have been the toughest fit test yet. It was a longer one with lots of running. Make that lots of uphill running. And the exercises in-between the running were pretty full on ones that didn’t give much breath recovery opportunity.

We were at the North Bay Chairlifts again this morning after a slight deviation to the Open Air Theatre for last month’s fit test. The format was simple: run to lamp 1, do x20 reps, run to lamp to, do x15 reps of a different exercise, run to lamp 3 and so on until we ran to lamp 5 and did 1 x round-the-world.

We were introduced to a couple of new exercises which are going to feature this month. One was a big energy move like a starburst. It was called jumping jack (I think) and involved starting with feet together and arms in the air then a jump out to the side to land in a squat with hands at either side touching the knees. Pretty tiring stuff. Another move was very tricky if you’re rubbish at side planks like me because it involved side plank, squat thrust, side plank on the other side, squat thrust and keep repeating.

I’ve been intermittently running up lamp hill for 10 months worth of bootcamp now and I STILL find it takes it out of me. Despite my lungs feeling like they were going to burst, I still managed to stick to my rule of no walking. To be fair, my running pace wasn’t exactly leaving streaks of fire in my wake, but it was still a run … ish.

I was right at the back initially, but I managed to move forward part way through the exercise when a few of the others struggled and did a bit of a walk. By the end of this month, they’ll be faster than me again as is always the case but I don’t mind that as long as I improve my time. Somehow I managed a sprint finish today. Although my lungs were struggling, I had the energy in my legs to do a sprint downhill on the last run (and the bravery to do it as the ground wasn’t wet so I didn’t foresee a slip risk!)

I love my new t-shirt. It’s turquoise and the battle cry is: Guess what? Burpees don’t like you either. Genius! And very appropriate for me given the love lost between me and that particular exercise.

I went to work this morning for half a day and had the afternoon off to do a library talk at Eastfield Library. This is the second one I’ve done and I had a lovely audience who asked quite a few questions which was great. I loved seeing my book in its plastic casing when I arrived. Wonder if it will be borrowed very often.

Came home from that and I’m now catching up on some blogging before going out to Brownies for the start of the new term. I’ve already got a headache and have just guzzled some paracetemol. Hoping it goes before Brownies or it will get pretty horrendous as they’re always a tad excitable at the start of the autumn term after a huge break.

Hoping I can get an early night tonight. I barely slept last night again. This is becoming a Sunday habit. I don’t know it this is apprehension about bootcamp (especially the fit test), my mind becoming active about the week ahead at work, or simply going to bed too late but it’s driving me mad and making me so tired for the rest of the week.

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