I'm M-m-melting!

Yes, the amount of sweat that pours off me during and after these boot camp workouts genuinely does make me feel like I'm an ice cube in a hot frying pan. But, it seems as though the weight is melting off me as well. Excluding today's measurements, I've lost about another 4 pounds since Tuesday. I'm averaging a loss of about 1.5 pounds every two days. Whoa.

Today, on the other hand, the scale showed me back at that 4+ weight again. Please tell me how I could gain 4 pounds overnight. Really. I want to know. This is where my distrust of scales comes from. Can I attribute the large weight fluctuations to my extreme mass? I know everyone's weight changes throughout the day, but 4 pounds? Really?

Okay, moving on ...

I'm going into my fourth and final week of Adventure Boot Camp (a.k.a. the reason for my weight loss success over the last month), and I'd like to look back at the last few days.

As I mentioned in my previous posts -- and I'm sure you're sick of hearing about it -- I've been battling a few "ailments" recently. I'm happy to say that the summer yuck/cold is almost entirely gone (just a little coughing here and there), the stiff neck is no more, and my back is at about 80% (I'm still feeling a little twisted). I feel free! Wheee!

I skipped boot camp on Thursday to "recover" a bit, and I'm sure glad I did. I woke up that morning in time to leave for camp, and standing up was no easy feat. Friday morning I was ready to roll, so I did. Unfortunately (for me), we did partner work for the entire workout. I'm not a fan. I think I've mentioned that before. I'm just not comfortable 1) having someone else rely on me to perform, and 2) relying on someone else to perform. It's not like a team sport; that I love. This is different. I wish I could explain it better.

Anyway, Friday's workout didn't leave me totally spent, and since I didn't have to go to work, I decided to go for a little jog at the my beloved Juilfs Park, which I haven't been to in a long time. I popped on my tunes and just started running without Mr. C25K to hold my hand. Ladies and gentlemen, I ran somewhere between 2/3 to 3/4 of the way around the mile track without stopping. WOOHOO! I also only did one lap instead of the normal two, but hey, I had just worked out for an hour. Geesh.

Here's a map of Juilfs, complete with my awesome Paint lines. Red = run. Blue = run/walk.

Borrowed from the Cardinal Soccer website.

This successful run leaves me really anxious to do the final timed mile at ABC on Friday. I can't wait to run this week, period. I'm going to tackle those before-camp laps like I wish I could have over the last week. Watch, it'll pour down rain or something. Faaahhh-bulous!

Rain shmain though. It was raining on Saturday morning when I headed to the "Off the Beaten Path" workout for ABC. I get soaking wet anyway, so what's the big deal?

Oh yeah, about Saturday's workout. Not bad, not bad. It was quite the experience to be there with so many other women. My boot camp is kind of small, I think, compared to the big camp in Oakley, so having that many people together to workout is a new experience for me. It was challenging, too. We did some running in between workouts and did a lot of work on our hips. That really seems to exhaust me quickly.

In fact, I have a picture to share of me in the midst of a strenuous hip workout.

Preface #1: Brian, I snagged this from your Facebook photos and cropped it to just show me in a huge field of people. I'd be happy to take it down if you like.

Preface #2: At this point, everyone else is on hands and knees doing a "fire hydrant" exercise. I guess I needed a break ... or needed to say "hola" to Allah. Maybe a little of both.

Woohoo, back sweat!

We also did a big set of exercises using a band around our ankles. Ooooh, I like those! Talk about working muscles that don't get worked so much. Surprisingly, I'm not sore from those.

I can't wait to tackle this last week of ABC. I'm ready to kick butt with the final timed mile on Friday and I'm almost ready to try this strength training thing on my own, and to get back to C25K (and maybe jump up a week!) I think I'll try following workouts on my Training On-Demand cable station three days a week. I just discovered that Jackie from Work Out has her own stuff on there. I liked that show, so maybe that'll keep me engaged (corporate word ... patooee!).

I'll keep you posted on this week and definitely let you know how the timed mile goes. Unfortunately, I still can't really do a push up, so that number won't be improving at all. Baby steps.