Boot camp – the one without fibre

Four recruits and still the only female this week. The conversation has degenerated into rousing cheers of ‘Do you need to chuck (vomit)?’ after particularly intense sprints or interval sessions or discussions about the importance of fibre. One of the guys has a nasty habit of dashing off 20 minutes into the run to go to the toilet. His house was a bit too far away this morning. His parents must have been surprised to see him at 6am bursting through the front door and rushing into the bathroom. Too much discussion about the positive impact of roughage and the negative impact of excessive protein on one’s bowels.

Warm up

Long course run around the oval. It’s extremely dark at 5.30am so we’re now running on the road. Five laps of a 1km circuit.

Circuit

There are five stations and a hill sprint. Twenty repetitions of each exercise at each station. We jog between stations and do each station as a team (we have to wait in position if someone is lagging). Repeat all six stations three times

Station1 – Shoulder press, bicep curl, squats and tricep extension with the rifle (small log about three feet long).

Station 2 – 20 jump thrusts. A modified burpee, much easier because you don’t have to lift your hands off the ground or stand.

Station 3 – Jumping jacks.

Station 4 – Pull ups or ‘rups. There’s a metal fence about waist high around the oval with posts and a metal bar across the top. Underneath the bar, legs out, knees bent, overhand wide grip pulling the chest towards the bar.

Station 5 – Modified push ups off the bar (fence). Push ups with hands on the fence instead of the ground.

Hill sprint – slightly enthusiastic run up the hill to the speed hump. About 100-150 metres or so.

Running

Time trial runs around the oval. The guys are doing 800 metres and I’m doing 400. I can feel that I’ve opened up the grazes on my foot (a juicy, sticky sock sensation) and I don’t want to make the injury any worse.
If we’re not running a lap, we stand in the car park with our palms up, arms out in front or to the side. Sounds easy – starts to hurt quite quickly. I run three laps and everyone else runs five or six.

Cool down

Stretching and some more casual conversation about vomiting. I register a protest about the choice of topic but am ignored