Hurts…to...type…

I may have mentioned previously that I signed up for a bootcamp fitness class that takes place at Patterson Park twice a week (Monday and Wednesday evening). The class itself is 8 weeks long and started the first week of June. We've had 2 rain-outs and the makeup for one of the rain-outs was yesterday.

Let me start by saying that I'm a fairly fit person. I workout at the gym 5 days a week and try to be active on the weekends. Although I can't run any marathons (or even half marathons), I can at least walk up stairs and jog down the street without wanting to die.

So far, the beginner's bootcamp class hasn't been terrible for me. Sure there are days that my calves burn (hopping up a large flight of stairs on one leg will do that to you) or my arms and chest are a little sore (Ii've never done so many push-ups in my life), overall - I've never felt like I was going to die.

That was until Monday. Monday's workout was the first workout that I thought I was going to PUKE. It was the first time I really thought, "Holy shit - I'm not going to make it!" as I wheezed heavily. The worst part of Monday's workout (outside of runing repeatedly up and down large hills) was the fact that we had another bootcamp the VERY NEXT DAY.

I kind of assumed that yesterday's class was going to be a little easy. I mean - who would push us that hard just 24 hours later? The bootcamp instructor - that's who. She set up a rope ladder across the ground as well as other various torture devices and had us do walking push-ups across the ladder… twice. And then we did another fun walking push-up exercise… twice. Oh and just for fun? We're going to do this excruciatingly difficult walking push-up exercise… you guessed it, twice.

The last round of push-ups actually made me whimper in pain. Sweat was pouring off of me like someone had dumped a water bottle over my head. I think I may have even seen my life flash before my eyes. I was relaxing on some beach somewhere… it was magnificent.

So how am I feeling today? It hurts to BREATHE. Not because my lungs hurt - but because the muscles in my chest ache that badly. My shoulders? Please don't ask me to grab anything off of the top shelf for you today. I might cry. My legs? I'm limping. I'm getting in and out of my chair like an 85 year old woman with arthritis.

The worst part of my feeling like this? KNOWING WE HAVE ANOTHER CLASS THIS EVENING! It's "bring a friend" day and Kristin will be my guest. The instructor promised that the class will be tailored so that everyone can keep up but then added it will be a "strength" workout. What the fuck did we do yesterday?

While I haven't seen any dramatic changes in my body - I have noticed that I am able to do more push-ups. So the next time someone challenges me to a push-up contest, I might have a fighting chance!

*Update* Just took the class. She noted that we did 100 push-ups yesterday. 100! In an hour! No wonder everything hurts. I can't even believe I made it through tonight's class. I definitely need this vacation.