Boot Camp – the one with Tank

We wait for Jenny but she doesn’t arrive. All of the guys are complaining about various aches and pains from the last session so she is probably too sore to train. As a bonus, Merlin’s dog Tank has decided to join us – I’m sure he’ll be great for pacing the run.

Warm-up

We’re running around the outside of a circular athletics field. There is a small hill on each lap just before the clubhouse. I manage five laps which is one more than usually and everyone, except for Larry who is stricken with gastro halfway through, does seven. I jog the last half lap to catch up with everyone before we start some strength training.

Shoulders

It’s still very dark so we walk around to a slightly less dark part of the field. I’m carrying my ‘rifle’ and a water bottle. The ‘rifle’ is a small and fairly light wooden log about three feet high and as thick as my upper arm. It’s painted a cheery yellow and has ‘glory’ emblazoned on the side. Everyone has finally exhausted the ‘morning glory’ jokes. Other recruits are carrying ‘endeavour’, ‘strength’ and ‘ultimate’.

We start with 100 shoulder presses and then do 25 push-ups off the bench in front of us (incline push-up about two and a half feet off the ground). Repeat three times. After the second set I have no feeling at all in my deltoids. Larry’s shoulder is playing up so he has a never ending set of squats.

Short run

We alternate with Merlin running laps of the field. Merlin is significantly quicker than the rest of us so we don’t get a huge amount of rest between runs. Tank runs the best lap time at 1 minute and 6 seconds. Repeat five times.

Interval

We start with a series of short sprints. Sprint, touch the ground, return to the start, touch the ground. Repeat three times.

Interspersed between the sets of running we are on the very dewy and dirty ground (loots of loose, sandy soil) for a strength exercise. Sit-ups, reverse crunches (knees bent, bring them in to the chest), leg lifts (both legs straight up in the air, lower to just before the ground and raise again), and back extensions (lying face down, feet on the ground, hands under the chin, lift the upper body). 20 repeats of each.

So, the sequence is sprints, sit-ups, sprints, reverse crunches, sprints, leg lifts, sprints, back extensions.

Cardio

Three sets of 20 burpees. Tank takes exception to the third set and starts barking at everyone. I can’t help but agree with him that this is a bit excessive.

Cool down

Light jog around the field. Just one lap. We have a bit of a chat about how grateful we are to be finished for the day.

It’s almost 7am so we’ve taken the fill hour and a half. The supermarket opens at 7 so I’m off to do the grocery shopping after I wash the encrusted dirt off my hands and remove a filthy t-shirt. Everyone will have to cope with my unavoidably dirty and damp rear end.

Last day of personal training for the week tomorrow. Looking forward to a sleep in because I don’t have to start until 9am.