The new home of "The Frank Report."

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  What a difference an extra hour of sleep makes! By skipping my running homework, I was able to get some chores done (like flea baths for the dogs) and still get to bed in time for a good 6.5 hours of sleep. (Ah, the good old days when 7 hours of sleep meant that I was "sleep deprived.") Got up feeling good and fresh this morning. In a true, full-out scandal, two of our recruits, Cindy and Mike, were AWOL. I hope they get a very irate phone call from HQ demanding to know where they were. If I don't get to sleep in, then nobody in our boot camp does.

The upside of having two people AWOL, meant that I could claim a dry spot on our little field. Quite the difference, let me tell you. It was like being upgraded to first class on a transatlantic flight; and definitely brightened my day. Because of it, the running seemed easier, the exercises were more fun, I spent more time admiring the dawn while jogging around; basically it was a pleasure to be out there huffing and puffing, instead of a damp, clammy chore.

Two weeks of "boot camp". I'm proud to have made it this far. Anyone who knows me should be amazed that I've made it two weeks straight of getting up at 5:15 in the morning *and* doing some hard core exercise in the a.m. Personally (and ridiculously) I'm starting to feel very "badass." I catch myself sliding a hand over to check to confirm that "yes, I still have a bicep" and "yes, it's still pumped" or puffing my chest out and taking a look in the full-length mirror in the bathroom at work when no-one else is around.

Tonight it's chest and arm exercises plus 30 minutes on the treadmill at the gym and then a well-deserved trip over to Red, Hot and Blue for some barbecue pork, beans and potato salad.

Man cannot live by yogurt, powerbars, salad and slim fast shakes alone.

posted at 7:56 AM

  Almost didn't make it this morning. By this point in the week, the lack of sleep really starts to catch up with me and makes getting out of bed more of a chore than it needs to be. Wasn't particularly thrilled by the dropping temperatures either. Like the tantrum-throwing, spoiled-child that I am, I miss the warmer mornings of the early part of the week.

Got to the site with just 5 minutes to spare. Not enough time to do a full lap, so had to warm-up on the fly.
The site as usual was muddy. (I suspect there's an underground spring.) And as my roommate has noticed, it's really starting to make the towels I use to sit on at Boot Camp stink to high Heaven. (And no, I am not using the same one over and over.)

After stretching, we set off for a 2 mile run, taking a different route this time. For those of you who don't run (and this may seem obvious) when you're out there huffing and puffing along, two miles is a looooonnnngggg way.

I stayed back with Cindy and Ann this time. They set a far more humane pace than Mike and Sam who were out in front and out of sight before I could say "heywaitaminute!" The good news is that I was able to do the full 2 miles without stopping ("Go Frank!") The bad news is that it wasn't a particularly impressive pace. At least the shins are doing OK this morning. That in itself is another minor miracle.

Speaking of miracles, my body fat is now down to 15.6%!!!!! Read it and weep, people! I don't know how it's possible to have this much fat on my body and still register so low, but facts are facts. (Or so scientists and philosophers tell us.) Maybe all my fat is just squished into the midsection and the rest of my bod is muscle with a thin coating. Who knows? Who cares? I'm just stunned that it's dropped so low so fast.

Now I don't feel so bad about gaining weight. This confirms that the weight gained is in fact, muscle.

PS - The sun was just starting to come up as we completed our run, and with the cold air and humidity, I was radiating clouds of steam from every exposed piece of skin. I've always imagined what it would be like to be a vampire. Now I know what it would look like to be one of the undead...just before dawn.

posted at 8:13 AM

  I've found that dogs make good bed warmers. I make certain to tuck one in under the covers before I go to sleep to pre-heat the blankets and grab one at about 4 am to get me through part of the 4-to-7 temperature drop in the house.

Back to our regular mud-pit as usual this morning. I'm starting to wear little trenches in the grass from where I do my jumping jacks, calf stretches, etc. There's no sense trying to move. All the other recruits have already staked out dry patches that they defend vigorously and the swamp is even worse to the right and rear.

It was an upper body day today and we did our exercises in reverse order. (The Sarge likes to keep things interesting.) The worst was when we did a combination shuttle-run/push-up marathon on the basketball court: run half-way down, do 15 pushups, run back to the start, run back to the middle, do 10 push-ups, etc. I feel bad for our women recruits. Even doing the exercises on your knees, that's a lot of push-ups - for men *and* women.

On our jog around the park, the Sarge had us drop to the ground at various points and do 80-90 crunches. Did I mention that it's been raining heavily the past two days? My jogging shoes are caked with mud and my sweats looked like I had been buried in the woods after a bungled Mafia hit and stumbled back to civilization.

My shins are still sore - dangerously so - which is making me nervous. Tonight I need to do 30 minutes of running (part of our post-workout "homework"). Tonight is also leg night at the gym - the routine that brings me closer to crying more than any medley of sad movies. And then of course we have another two mile run tomorrow, followed by 30 minutes of running on Friday and Sunday.

A gruesome picture, no?

The good news is that the Sarge is relatively pleased with my diet. (Me! Of all people! I can't imagine what junk the other recruits are shovelling into their bodies!) His only recommendation was to add more fish to my diet - possibly as a substitute for all the turkey that I've been eating...as a lower-fat substitute for all the red meat I used to eat. No problem! As long as it comes in a lean cuisine or nuke-it-in-10-minutes pre-prepped bag, I have no problem eating more fish.

Sarge mentioned that we should begin to notice positive changes and may even experience some weight loss. I think I've gained weight, and will try and confirm that tonight. The only positive change I've noticed is that the "mini-bicep" I've developed is becoming more permanent. I don't have to flex to bring it out, just raise my elbow. The downside is that I am soooooo hungry that if I miss one of my 5 daily meals by as little as five minutes, my energy level plunges drastically.

Ever see those period-piece movies where Victorian women retire to their fainting couches? It's like that....minus the corsets, crinoline and bad shoes.

posted at 10:44 AM

  Lesson #1 - No matter how much sleep you rack up during the weekends, going to bed late before Boot Camp is never a good idea. I only got 5 hours of sleep last night and it definitely showed in my performance this morning.

The weather was warm (yeah!!!!) but drizzling (booo!). We did all our stretches in the muddy grass patch that I'm starting to think of as home. After that, Sarge sent us out on a run that sounded a lot shorter than how it was described.

I'm trying to run on grass in order to give my shins a break, but there were so few level patches that I spent most of my time running like a mountain goat (one leg up/one leg down). The grass was soaked (and slippery) from yesterday's rainstorms and the road just seemed to keep going on, and on, and on, and on. I had to stop several times for a quick walk break, which is when I learned Lesson #2 - Running on a Treadmill is Easier Than Running Outdoors.

It was bad. Sam, the guy with the shoulder injury, blew us all away, ditto for Mike, with his back injury. Anne with her asthma ran steady the whole way and did a "come from behind" to blow past yours truly. Ditto for Cindy, who also has a problem with shin splints.

This morning I'm starting to feel that old rumble deep in my bones and am desperately gulping ibuprofen and icing the shins whenever I get a chance. At least I can hold my own on pushups and crunches. Otherwise, I'd really be in a world of hurt.

The good news is that exercising in the wet morning air drops my voice an octave. So as I'm calling out the count for crunches or jumping jacks, I sound like a testosterone pumped bodybuilder. Now, to get my body to match my voice......
posted at 8:18 AM

  Even though we had the day off from work, I schlepped my butt out of bed and to the park to do our Sergeant's Program workout. It was unseasonably warm - so much so that I was able to swap sweats and thermals for shorts and a t-shirt. Unfortunately, because of the incoming rain, hellacious lightning storms, and threat of tornados, class was cancelled.

I was actually disappointed.

So instead, I went home and crawled back into bed. The dogs, because I deviated from the morning routine, punished me by crapping all over the carpet. Charming.

posted at 8:06 AM