Back to Boot Camp

by Carla Morton

 

I just started back at a morning boot camp after taking almost 4 years off.  Gasp!  4 Years??

 

Yes, 4 years ago I met with 6 women at 6:15 AM two days a week, outdoors for a 75 minute Boot Camp with a personal trainer. 2 Days a week, I’d get up when it was still dark, drive down to the local school and muscle through a mess of sprints, lunges, chin ups, push ups and jump squats, all while watching the sun rise on the beautiful San Geronimo Valley in West Marin. 

 

At one point in the program, I heard the gals chatting about a personal chef they were thinking of working with who would deliver food prepared for a special 2 week program. 

No Coffee, No Sugar, No Carbs, (not even fruit) No Alcohol, No Dairy. 

Jesus Christ, are you kidding me?  No carbs at all? Just protein and veggies? 

 

Miserable at the thought of it all but damned if I was going to watch my work out buddies

turn into super models while I waddled around with them at 6AM (I am exaggerating on both fronts), I decided to join them on the 2 week plan. 

 

Needless to say, by the end of summer and between the Boot Camps and several of those 2 week (weekends off) plans, I was 13 lbs lighter and in the best shape of my life.

 

Then I started my internet company…you know, BrandHabit? 

 

I think I managed to stay on a bit of a workout plan for another year.  But the startup took over my life, Boot Camp was over and the budget for chef-prepared-meals-made-for-a-rabbit was gone.   Miraculously, my muscle tone remained for quite awhile.. but slowly, slowly as I spent more time in meetings, or driving down to silicon valley to pitch to VC’s and endlessly sitting in front of my computer things changed quite a bit. 

 

Recently, my attempts at working out have been pathetic.  I shuffle through 10 minutes running on a treadmill and then 10 minutes on a Stair Master, barely eek out 10 incline push ups (I used to do 2 sets of 20); I’ll push myself through 20 or 30 lunges and call it a day.

 

8 lbs have crept back onto my body and now, when I have NEVER carried weight in my middle, I have what my friends and I endearingly call: A Muffin Top. (shhhh!)

 

So finally, knowing that I have exhausted all personal internal resources to motivate my-SELF to work out on my own (I don’t live near a lively gym), I signed up for another BootCamp through PacWest Athletics.  (blog continued below)

 

Thank GOD my friend Alice was willing to join me this morning or I would have hit the Snooze button at 5AM when the alarm went off.

 

But we made it.  Alice and I were out there jogging and lunging in the dark.  Before the sun created enough light for me to see the 20 other men and women who also braced the cold this morning, we were half way through the class.   

 

Jocelyn the coach couldn’t be a more perfect 6AM motivator.  It takes the right kind of person to get you going at 6AM.  She’s neither sticky sweet nor a barking drill sergeant; either would probably irritate me at that hour. Jocelyn is the picture of beautiful natural health; she's about 5’11 with a model body, model good looks and a warm smile.  She has been a marathon runner for years and makes all of our drills look fun and effortless.

 

6 Weeks till summer... I’ll feel like a million bucks (and the muffin top will be gone)!

Comments

[carlina]

Carla,

I'm so proud of you! This sounds awesome, we should work out together sometime. I am training for the Nike Women's Half Marathon in October. I am nervous, but excited, that's a lot of miles to run!!!