My First time at Boot Camp!

A run in the park at boot camp

I woke up on Saturday morning to rain pinging my bedroom window and I wondered if boot camp for this morning would be cancelled. The instructor said rain or shine so I grabbed my yoga matt and was on my way. I remembered that there was a pretty large gazebo at the park and wondered if we would all gather under there. It rained during my entire drive there, but surprisingly stopped by the time I reached the park.

This was my first time at boot camp so I didn’t know what to expect. I had met the trainer Nisan while out during a run one morning and I had met his wife at a Ladies Expo earlier this week. It was good to see them again and it was nice that they remembered me.



Our trainer Nisan ( in the green) encouraging us during the relay.

Our training started out with 3 laps around the park. I’m glad that I am already a runner because this actually felt good and not like a workout at all.  We then gathered on the lawn and did some partner activities. The first one was where you faced your partner while holding hands (straight out) and one person would pull, while the other pushed forward.  This activity was followed by a set of squat jumps. 

We then moved off the lawn and on to the parking lot where we did step kicks on the curb and then some calf lifts. We did a couple sets of these before going back in the park and doing wall squats and push- ups.  It was then time for another round of running.  This time we ran on the trail around the playground. This run wasn’t as much fun because we were running in wet mulch. It felt like we were running in sand, we were sinking in some areas.  We ran this course two times in a row and then went back for one more round later in the session.  We went back to the lawn and did a team activity which we did as a relay.  The objective was to run backwards on the lawn half way (until we got to the first light pole) and then we would turn around and sprint forward the rest of the way. When the first person finished, the next teammate would take their turn.  It looked like it was a tie between the two teams.  This was probably the most fun of all the activities. It was so encouraging to hear people shout for you as you were running and it promoted camaraderie.  For our warm down we ran one last lap around the park and then met around the gazebo for some cool down stretching.

A cool down at the gazebo.

I think my first day of boot camp was successful. This was some of the most fun I’ve had on a rainy day    (even though the rain held out during our session).  I feel like I’ve accomplished so much before 9 am!

Before we left the trainers offered us bottles of water, fruit, and granola bars.  As a “Thank You” for coming to my first boot camp, I was also given an envelope with my name on it. When I opened it up I found that it was a gift certificate to a local restaurant.  This was a delightful surprise!

It was nice to incorporate some different activities into my training.  I can’t wait to go back to boot camp!   -M

 

                                      Have you ever participated in a Boot Camp session?