Ice, ice, Baby
I kicked my own ass today at bootcamp. For the first time since starting this daily torture routine, I was able to run the entire grassy knoll. That’s right. I ran the whole thing. This is probably not very impressive to many of you, but did I mention the grassy knoll is 5 miles around? Well, it isn’t. I don’t know how far around it is, all I know is that until today I couldn’t run the whole way around it.
I was doing so well. I wasn’t tired, or sore, or even panting excessively.
After that, I lifted my weights and did my chest presses. I walked with ankle bands around my legs and did my best John Wayne impression, going up, then down the hill. Then it came time to run some more.
Yeowch. What was that weird pulling sensation?
It was my left hamstring. You know the old joke: A man walks into a doctors office and says “Doc, it hurts when I do this.” and the doctor says “Then stop doing that.” I told my trainer it hurt when I ran, and she told me to stop running. Apparently one of my workout buddies was suffering the same ailment, so I was sent back to my mat to join her for push-ups and crunches instead of continuing the cardio workout. She warned me not to stretch my hamstring today, to ice it, and to take some Advil. As I type, I am sitting on a bag of frozen peas.
I think from now on, I will not crank the heater in the car when I drive to bootcamp. I get all nice and warm and then I am thrust into the frigid air and made to move around at a semi-quick pace and my muscles say “Oh, hell to the no!” and tighten up on me.
I hope it feels better tomorrow because I am (I can’t believe I am admitting this) actually liking bootcamp. It’s feels good to get out there and work out. I feel a great sense of accomplishment. By 7 am I have completed a challenging workout, before many folks are even awake. Plus, it feels good to do something to improve my health. Sure, it’s early. And dark. And cold. But it’s also fun.
Well, except for the pulled muscle part.