August 5, 2010 Retest

Yesterday was our first retest since joining boot camp. It was our chance to see how much improvement we had made since we started camp 8 weeks ago.

When I started on June 14, my goal was to master the hill. Upon attending the free session in May I realized the hill was gonna kick my butt, so I made that my goal. I had to get all the way up and down without walking. This past Monday was my first successful attempt and just in time. Wednesday was the test. Before we started Dustin asked if I had set a goal for the run. I admitted I hadn't as my goal was to just finish without walking.
So he gave me a goal. Finish 30 seconds faster than last time. Yikes! Not sure how I was going to do that but I figured I'd accomplish my goal first and then worry about the timing. Well, when he told us to go I started off, remembering to only use about 70% of my speed so that I would have some for the ascent. When I got to the bottom of the hill I started to push it more. I leaned forward, kept my arms pumping, and just pushed my legs as hard as I could. I talked to myself too. I said, "You can do this. You did it on Monday when you were much more sore." I wondered if anyone could hear me. Probably sounded like a nut. Oh well. It was very humid and breathing was kind of hard but I made sure to really breathe as I went up. When I got to the top and everything flattened out, I thought it would be easier now. But it wasn't.Still hard. I ran to the fence and then back down. The hill was more dry than usual and for once I just went with the decline, not holding back as much as I usually do. It didn't feel too bad but I really wanted to feel in control so I did hold back some. Finally I got to the bottom and took off. I gave it as much as I could, really trying to kick it some, but I didn't have as much left as I hoped. I was also running now to get the best possible time as I could since I felt I had already achieved my goal of making it all the way and down, running the whole time. When I was done, my time was 4:12. That was 35 seconds faster than my original test! Woo hoo! Of course, I felt I would enjoy it much more once I could breathe normally again.

The rest of my testing wasn't as good as I hoped. I added 6 more pushups, 3 more burpees, and lost 30 seconds on the wall sit. So now I have new goals. To improve in the pushups and wall-sit. I have about a month to work on this so I better get to work.

Have a good one.

Roger