Not Too Bad Today...My Groin Might Give You a Different Story, Though

Day 1, Week 2 of Fitness Boot Camp is under my belt. I thought I had actually worked through the groin muscle pain until one particular move where you "shuffle" across half a field, and then switch and "shuffle" the second half. As soon as I switched, I felt my right groin scream at me. I yelped in unison.

Dr. Drill Instructor used a different approach today. He announced squad leaders. We have BEE Bach, who is all sorts of awesome. (She did this slide across the field on her belly - very reminiscent of Brandi Chastain or Mia Hamm!)

Each squad leader led us through one exercise and one stretch exercise. We then lined up into six squads. I'm in squad three. We were instructed there were stations where various exercises were conducted.

The following is my recollection of those exercises. It's 5:30am, and you're lucky I remember my name. As Dr. Drill says, I've got to wrap my tiny little brain around these items. Some of these items, I've made up names, but hopefully they give you a picture of what happened in each station. I'm a work in process. So is my brain and memory.

My squad went to four stations. To do so, we had to run various parts of what I affectionately call "the evil mo-fo mile." Our team ran a quarter of it, then got into formation. The first exercise was "shimmying" on all fours to the center of the space, and then do 20 squats. We repeated this twice.

Then, we ran to the next station, where we did lunges up a hill and then ran down the hill. We repeated this a number of times. Then we got down on our butts and pulled ourselves up the hill using our arms (this was to work out the triceps). We did this once, I believe, before another squad appeared.

We got up, and ran to the third station, by the picnic tables. We did reverse push-ups by getting in a sitting position with our backs against picnic table seats and using our arms pushed ourselves up. We did 20 of those. Then we did push-away squats, where we squatted and shoved ourselves away from the table. (20 of those). Then we did steps ups, basically stepping up with one foot on the picnic table seat, then lifting the other; getting down, and using the opposite leg, repeating the process 20 times. Our final piece in this station was to do pushups using the table, by pushing as close to the table as possible, the pushing away, clapping your hands together, and then repeating the process 20 times.

Our final station was our home field, where we did lunges half way across the field, then sprinted the second half of the field. We did squats, push ups, and one-armed holding positions with each arm. I'm forgetting the order now, but somewhere in there we did the shuffle across the field where I re-injured my righ groin muscle. We then ran back to the opposite end of the field, and did planks, super planks, modified sit ups, held our legs six inches from the ground and did circles clock-wise and counter clockwise, and then more more modified situps. As we were doing this, the five other squads were coming in, and at the end we did what I can only describe as a "squat showdown." We held this position for a long time.

We then came together, sat down, for school. Dr. Drill talked about the importance of discipline to make it through the program, and encouraged us to talk to our neighbors to the left and to the right to encourage them and to get to know them, as we will be in a team unit.

My trusty Philadelphia Eagles hat needed to be washed from last Friday's hour in the rain, so my head was soaked and covered with cut grass, as was the rest of my body. Note to self: buy multiple hats, be they baseball hats or skull caps.

I am glad I am done, and that I am starting off my day with this. While I'm not nearly as good as some of the others in the squad in terms of performance, I'm pushing myself as hard as I am able to go.

Today was a good day.