Day 4, week 2

As soon as I got to the park, I let Tracy know that I somehow (while stretching) strained my neck which limited my head & shoulder movement. She said that she didn't think that any of the exercises planned for the night would strain my neck, but if they did to let her know. I felt like a whiner, making up excuses as to why I may not perform my best, but honestly (even as I type this) my neck/shoulder are very strained and painful. As I was walking away, Jen (the sub trainer) jogged up (I didn't know that she joined our class!) and gave a run down of how her night had gone. I overheard her telling Tracy "...and I couldn't believe Melanie! She gave 150% and kicked some butt! She's doing amazing for her first week!" I pretended that I didn't hear them talking, but it made me feel AWESOME and motivated!

As always...walk the park, run the park....stretch. Then we start hell.

Last night's routine was called corepedia (kor-pee-dia). It involved 2 sets of 1 minute exercises in rotation. Let me see if I can remember the order:

1 min Jumping Jacks
1 min fast feet (jumping up & down switching which foot is in front)
repeat

1 min Burpie
1 min jumping jacks
repeat

1 min jump squats
1 min angel wings (At this point, my shins and bottoms of my feet were literally on FIRE. Tracy could see that there was something wrong, so she said, "Talk to me, what's going on?" I told her, and she asked if my shoes were too tight. NO, THEY'RE NOT TOO TIGHT! I pushed on; I never quit, despite the fact that I was in an enormous amount of pain.
repeat

1 min V touch (talk about an ab killer!!)
1 min standing side to side crunch
repeat

1 min superman (right arm) - This is the only thing that aggravated my neck
1 min superman (left arm)
1 min push ups
repeat

1 min dead fish (Martha, the other NEWBIE, hasn't been able to make it through a whole routine yet. She gets dizzy or nauseous, or a cramp, not her fault. She's much thinner than me...maybe a size 12, and while we were doing this exercise she looked at me and said, "Melanie, you're amazing. You're a machine!" I told her thank you, and that she was doing AWESOME too. She made me feel recharged, and gave me enough motivation to go that extra 30 seconds I thought I wouldn't make.
3 min Turkish sit up (lay flat, sit up -no arms-, cross legs, stand up...all quickly...not a graceful exercise)
repeat

(I'm sure there were more...just can't think of them)

After we were done with the circuits, we were instructed to line up. Tracy had an 8 # ball that she handed to the 1st person in the line. She said that we were to run the park at a medium jog handing the ball overhead to the person behind us. When the last person got the ball, she was to sprint to the front of the line and continue. We were told that we had 8 minutes for this exercise. After we ran the park once, I was gasping for air. When we reached Tracy, she said, "Don't stop, Go around again!" I ARE YOU FRICKING KIDDING ME??? I I thought, "There is NO WAY I can go around again....while still jogging!" I could tell that everyone (except this lady Deb who must be 45 and is obviously very fit...though not thin) was exhausted and if I were to step out now, they would only have to work harder, so I kept in sync and made it around again.

I just realized that I ran (jogged) 1 mile without stopping last night. Holy Cow!!

Now that we were all dying...time for butts & abs. I was actually surprised that Tracy was making us do more core work since everyone...even Jen...was vocalizing their abdominal fatigue...but, that's what we're here for, right?

We started with fire hydrants (on all 4's lifting one leg as if a dog peeing on a fire hydrant) and I noticed that my hips weren't feeling normal...almost like they were coming out of socket. Irregardless, I continued...until "This feels AWESOME" and pushed out 10 more...both sides.

Next, we laid on our sides (my RIGHT side first) and did leg lifts for 1 minute. If anyone stopped, everyone would have to do 50 mountain climbers...so everyone begged "PLEASE DON'T STOP!" While doing the leg lifts, again my hip was in extreme pain and felt like I was dislocating it, but still I pushed on. After the lifts, we stayed on that side and did leg lifts to the front & then the back. Switch sides....

As I began doing the leg lifts on my right leg, I felt such an enormous amount of pain that I couldn't continue. I told Tracy (nearly in tears) that my hip was dislocating when I did that exercise, so I laid on my back and did leg lifts that way....for 3 minutes. I thought my leg was going to fall off, but at least it was in socket!

We finished with

sit ups (laying on your back, arms over your head, legs flat, sit up using abs and touch feet. Legs stay flat on ground)

up & overs (OH MY GOSH!!!) where you lean back on your hands while on your tail bone, feet off the ground going from side to side while making an "A" in the air

side to sides (lay on back feet up in the air, legs together and rotating your legs from right to left while getting as close to the ground as possible, making sure your back is flat on the grass) I used the grass as handles to help rotate from side to side!

& rope pulling (where you lay on your back, feet up in the air, shoulders off the ground, "pulling rope from the sky", or trying to touch your alternating toes (right hand left foot, left hand right foot)

PHEWWWWW.......done!

The only thing that hurts today is my stomach and my neck. That's it! I can't believe that even after last night, when I was literally in so much pain I held back tears, I'm hardly sore. My shin splints & burning feet went away after about 40 minutes. I just have to keep reminding myself that "this too shall pass" and that, with any luck, I will soon be looking at a smaller "me".