Tag: countdowntocic

My roomies are here!

I was awake when they got in last night. I’m sleeping a little better. It took me awhile to fall asleep, but I stayed asleep. I’m making a point to not take a nap today so that I can go to bed early tonight.

Today we bought groceries and found our way to the gym where we’ll be training.

This afternoon, Eddie and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. He convinced me to run. We ran about 4 minutes, took a break to walk, and then ran another 6 minutes. Cardio warmups take 3-4 minutes, so we wanted to hit that range and push a little further. Now I know for sure I can do it.

That being said, the run was fairly unpleasant. I did my best to control my breathing, but I still couldn’t get enough oxygen. At the end of the four minutes, I couldn’t feel the end of my nose. At the end of the six minutes, my ears felt all stopped up. As uncomfortable as that was, I stayed on my feet, I didn’t stop moving, and I didn’t pass out.

Day 0 of CIC 2 is a success.

I had trouble sleeping last night. I don’t know if it was because of noises in the hotel or discomfort from elevation or what. I know my sinuses felt plugged but also dry? It was a weird sensation. Anyway, since I was kind of up and down all night, I slept in a little bit this morning.

After I finally got up and had my coffee, I visited the pool. I swam (head out of water) for just under 30 minutes, and then I hit the hot tub. I packed up and checked out, and Kevin from Loveland Krav Maga came to pick me up. I got to see the place where we’ll be doing CIC. It’s getting real!

I’m all checked in at the AirBNB and resting. I took a long nap and have been generally chilling out. I have one more day to hang out, and then the journey begins on Friday.

Today I tested out my lungs in this new and unusual land. I was on the elliptical for about an hour and felt pretty good. I had a light headache, but managing my breathing wasn’t too bad. Here are my stats, but I didn’t keep my hands on the heart rate monitor the whole time.

What astounded me was that my sweat actually evaporated instead of drawing more moisture to my body. My shirt was the same color after my workout as it was before!

After a short rest, I changed and hit the hotel pool. I swam for about 20 minutes (head out of water) and enjoyed the hot tub for 5 more.

I didn’t push myself super hard today, but I’m feeling optimistic.

Yesterday I hit the gym and had chest day with Nik. I’m sticking with the low weight with high reps. I don’t have a set list for you because…

…I’m in Colorado! I got on my plane yesterday evening and arrived safe and sound around midnight. I have a couple of days to acclimate to the elevation and utter lack of humidity, and then it’s time for CIC 2!

My plan for the day is to take it easy, maybe check out some stuff in my 5-mile radius. My hotel has a fitness center and a pool (with a hot tub), so I’ll be making use of those at some point as well. I’d like to try a little cardio up here to see what I’m in for before I’m in the thick of things.

On Thursday I had leg day and swam laps in the pool. Here’s a set list.

On Friday, I worked at the hotel in the morning and got a lot of steps in. Then I worked security at night and got even more steps.

On Saturday I worked in the morning (fewer steps than on Friday). Then I swam in the gulf in the afternoon. I crashed out hard last night.

This morning Nik got called in to work at the Ft. Walton Beach location. I took that opportunity to visit the Under Armor outlet and buy some new workout pants for CIC.

I can’t believe I leave in just two days!

This morning I walked on the beach and swam in the gulf.

I didn’t make it to Krav tonight. I have some major blisters on my feet, and I think a high intensity workout would rupture them. The last thing I need is open wounds on my feet for CIC. I want to be healed enough to train on Wednesday.

I did put on shoes long enough to go to the gym and lift. Here’s a set list.

One of my fencers wrote an exercise program for us, so I’m trying that out with some minor modifications. I added some ab work, and I’m doing more reps and sets at a low weight. At the end of the workout, I was ready to take off my shoes, but my blisters were still intact.

After that I swam laps for about half an hour. I heard swimming is a good way to train my body to work out with minimum oxygen intake. Plus I don’t need to wear shoes. That’s a huge benefit.

I feel really good! Maybe Nik will want to swim and lift tomorrow.

On Friday I was up bright and early for a demo at Gulf Breeze Elementary. I got to fence on and off for 3 hours. I hadn’t fenced much since Gulf Wars.

After that I went to the beach and swam a lot. It was a fun way to cool down, even if I did get a little bit too much sun.

On Saturday I met up with Mike and Eddie for some Krav Maga practice in the morning.

I skipped fencing on Sunday because I was worried I’d be an asshole. I was productive around the house, though, so that helped.

Today I hit the elliptical with the Everest mask on the highest setting. Here are some numbers.

I went to Krav in the evening. Michael was teaching, but I helped with the warmup, demonstrations, and stuff like that. I participated as much as I could.

The game was really challenging for me. I’m a little concerned about CIC 2. I was hoping my fitness level would be higher, but I’m not seeing much change in class. Bring able to run on the elliptical is all well and good, but I need to keep up in class for long periods of time.

I hope part of the problem is trying to talk and work out at the same time.

CIC 1 – The Departure

Michael and I leave for Indiana tonight after work. My bags are packed; I just have a few “last minute” items waiting to go into my bags. Most of my stuff is waiting by the front door. This is happening!

The plan is to get in late tonight / early tomorrow morning and spend Thursday getting settled in and orienting ourselves to the area. Friday is the Big Day.

Starting weight: 178.4 lbs. We’ll see how much comes off during ten days of near-constant activity.