Fitness Ridge Day 3

6:00 AM Stretch session with Cameron.  The session was much more of what I expected in the morning stretching classes.   Cameron is like a yoga instructor.  It is exactly what I needed this morning.  An hour later my legs felt like jello.

8:00 AM Our hike today was up shit creek without a paddle, or better known as Zuma Ridge.  There are several routes up this canyon, but I think we took the eastern loop which takes you along both Zuma canyon, and gives you views of Malibu and the Pacific Ocean.  This trail is just about 3 miles up to the top of the ridge, and increases over 1500’ of altitude.  Needless to say it’s a very testing trail.

Hiking this trail is almost like being on a stairclimber, because there is no end to it.  Every time you think you have reached the peak or the end of the trail, you turn the corner and see more trail.  It’s mentally exhausting. 

If not for my hiking partner Mary, I don’t believe I would have been able to keep the pace.  By my calculation she is about 50, but has the engine of a 25 year old.  She just keeps pushing along.   Hearing her footsteps was like listening to a metronome, each step helping to propel my own.  After a while the Foo Fighters on my ipod was like white noise, helping me to focus on the sound of her footprints.  The group of people in my hiking group is full of butt kickers, we aren’t the most advanced group, but I believe we are one or two down from the fastest people.  What I am sure of is that all of us are putting in everything we have to overcome our physical and mental hurdles.

I have video below of some of my attempts to trail run, or perhaps hippo run, I’m sure people who weren’t part of our “resort” saw me coming down like an out of control school bus.

When we got back to the “resort” there was a class on weight training.  A bore!  John who gave the class rubs me the wrong way, especially because yesterday during our weight training intervals he told me I was using momentum to move the weight, I wanted to grab him and shake him, and tell him “I am using a weight I could probably do with one hand, ass!”. 

12:00 PM Personal Training session with Sam. If you have watched the biggest loser, and watched Sam’s season then you know everything about him.  The guy is passionate, motivated, and likes to really push people.  I was on the verge of exhaustion during my session.   I haven’t felt that spent in a long time, it wasn’t exhaustion from working too hard, but weakness from not consuming enough food.  The hour session felt like 2 hours, we didn’t use any weights, but did resistance training.  It’s apparently the type of workout I should be doing.  I have another session with him tomorrow, so we will see how I feel afterwards.

2:30 PM H20 Interval training, this session involved the swimming pool.  There was a manatee sighting in Malibu.  In relation to all the other workouts the pool sessions are almost like an hour of relaxation.  Essentially this session involved underwater resistance training with laps in between resistance exercises.  The joyous finally to this session was treading water in the deep end, using both hands, then using one hand, and then using no hands.  The manatee almost drowned!

3:30 PM Cardio Interval Training, this sucks.  It involves a short warm-up, then 8, 30-second intervals with each interval increasing in intensity.  Then at the peak of the increases we hold that pace for two minutes, and then we have 7 decreasing 30-second intervals.  At the bottom of the decreases, we hold for two minutes and do three sprints.  1 minute of intense resistance, followed by 1 minute recover, then minute of intense incline, followed by 1 minute recover, then the third sprint is intense incline and resistance…did I mention that we get do this for a second cycle.

4:30 PM Total Body Workout with Sam, in pairs we worked 12 different exercises, each part of the circuit 1 minute on, 30 second recovery, and 1 minute back on.  My partner Nitjit and I were very supportive of each other.  YES I AM STARTING TO DRINK THE COOL-AID!  By the end of the circuit I just laid on the ground while people walked over me, my abs hurt so much that I didn’t think I could get up.

When I got back to my room I took my shirt off, and laid down on my bed.  I was trying to stretch my abdominal muscles, but I went into a strange psychosis.  I think I was asleep but I could hear the TV, and my own snoring.  I eventually woke up and realized I had to eat. 

Eating dinner was hard; I had to force the food down.  This from a guy who never said no to a buffet, and who’s eaten so much greasy duck his face should be on the wall at Peking Gourmet.   I actually ate my food thinking to myself I can’t eat another bite.  I pursued my food like Zuma Ridge, one step at a time, and with the understanding at the end of it I would feel better.

It’s now 8:00 PM, and I am surprisingly more alert then one would think.  I have had a hankering all day for some protein.  I think if a cow walked by my cabin, I would take a bite out of its ass, and then try and talk the cow into brining his friend chicken over hear so I can take a bite out of his ass too.

I have had a sore throat all day, and have had a raging headache.   I’ve been pounding Emergen-Cs to boost my immune system.  I feel a bit better, but need to get some sleep. 

Half of me thinks I am ready for some more, and the other half me wants to get on a plane and go home.  As soon as I am done with my laundry I am going to bed.  I have been sweating so much that I have had to change between every session.  As a result I have used up all my shirts and shorts in two days.  I have a feeling I will be doing laundry every other day. 

By for now…

Moment of California Zen…