The Eve Of The Apocalypse ... Or Boot Camp

Ah geesh! Here we are. It's the day before ...

dun dun DUUNNNN ...

The first day of boot camp!

Tomorrow I begin my month-long (20 days, to be exact) torture session, otherwise known as Cincinnati Adventure Boot Camp for Women. I report at 5:30 tomorrow morning. Pretty sure it's going to be raining. Awesome. Whine, whine, whine.

Okay, let me tell you the truth. I really was trying to avoid it, but I figure this blog is supposed to be helping with accountability, and by sharing this, I'm hoping you can help me with this.

[deep breath]

I'm hopeful. I'm hopeful to see what happens, to see if my body is really impacted by what I'm about to do. Will I actually get smaller?

Since the beginning of March this year, I've been focusing solely on cardio -- running to be exact. I haven't done any weight or strength training. I haven't exactly dieted either. I've paid very close attention to what I eat, and even spent a good deal of time as a vegetarian. The combination of my non-diet and my new exercise habits hasn't exactly produced the results I expected.

Actually, I've been working out regularly since March 2009 (half of the time included weights, etc.) and that hasn't yielded visible results in my eyes either. (Okay, my body has changed shape a little here and there, but no numbers have dropped off.) I'm interested to see how a closely-monitored, trainer-led daily workout will impact my physical well-being. And I'm hopeful.

Hope is dangerous. It leads to disappointment. This is why I don't set goals and I often don't share my hopefulness. Sharing leads to joint disappointment ... and sympathy. I don't like those things.

This next month promises to be a difficult one for me. I don't really like not having control over my schedule. Being essentially forced into an every-day workout is rather off-putting. What if I don't feel good one day? Or three days? With running, I make my own schedule and decide whether or not I feel up for a run. Most of the time with running, though, I've impressed myself by ignoring those days when I don't feel so good and just press through the workout anyway. So maybe I've built up some kind of mental endurance over icky days. Maybe. This month will surely test that.

One good thing about this month, though, is freed up evenings. I'm not going to completely avoid an evening run, but I certainly won't feel pressured to get one in over the next month of scorching hot evenings. I'll be active for a whole hour each morning, so an evening run will just be an added bonus. I'm not going to strain myself in the evenings either; if I decide to run, it may just be a Week 2 workout instead of Week 3. Or I'll just jog at my own pace.

Blah. I don't want to think about it. I can't believe it's tomorrow already. I can't believe I have to get up at 5 a.m. and drive 5-ish miles in the pre-dawn to workout. THEN I have to try to cool down enough to stop sweating so I can look like a normal human being at work all day. (This will be the biggest challenge of all, I think.)

On that sweaty note, I bid you all goodnight. Please check back soon for a boot camp update. I predict I'll feel good tomorrow evening, but will feel like Hell Tuesday evening. We shall see!