Thank god for iced coffee, free wifi @ starbucks, and air conditioned environments!

Today’s been jam packed already–I think this is the first time I’ve sat down yet.

I was up early for my first London morning bootcamp. I love love love waking up with somewhere to get to and something to look forward to–and bootcamp fit the bill! I did set my alarm early enough that if I was hungry (I wasn’t sure giving our late night froyo escapade last night) I’d have time to eat. And hungry I was, so I repeated yesterday’s snack to start my day with a happy belly.

Today I had four eager participants who I knew could handle a tough workout, so tough it was.

Warmup: cones (standard)

Workout:

15 minutes — as many rounds as possible of 25 squats / 20 walking lunges / 15 pushups / 10 burpees / 5 cone runs (placed a moderate distance)

hamstring activation (taken from the exercise routine section of The Athlete’s Guide of Home Remedies - a good inspiration!) -basically hinging forward like in toppling tree

tabata situps (20 seconds on / 10 seconds off x 8 rounds)

Cooldown/stretch

The gals that came this morning were rock stars and even smiled during the burpees–and they deserve props for that. I’m really glad people are coming out and supporting me and letting me kick their butts–it’s probably the best job in the world, being a fitness instructor!

Half of the post-bootcamp happy bunch!

After their workout was done, I got my own workout on and headed for a bike ride. It was hot hot hot, but I beat the heat a little. I just did my favourite short loop and saw lots of other friendly cyclists out for a morning spin.

When I got home and hit the showers, I was obviously ready for second breakfast.

And I love The Lord of the Rings. I have a thing for hobbits. I think it’s their feet!

second breakie – yogurt, banana, oats, and dried fruit

After my belly was happy, I headed to campus for a chat with my sports sociology prof from last year. He’d asked me about doing my masters at the end of his course and I had said I was going to be at Brescia. Now that things have changed, I don’t have that as a reason NOT to go to grad school, but I don’t really need a reason except that I don’t feel like it–now! So I talked to him about possibly going an independent study, which I think would be the work equivalent of taking about one course in the fall and then seeing if I’m interested in it. So I have some time to think — things don’t have to get official just yet, but I’m going to be using my library access to do some reading and exploring sometime between bootcamps, bike trips, and froyo runs.

After the meeting came a sweaty back to back trifecta of teaching at the campus gym. I covered a cardio kick box class, a gun show class (20 minutes of pure arm insanity) and an ab attack class (you guessed it–20 minutes of core challenging moves). I love love love teaching fitness and the kick box took me back to how I started as a fitness instructor in the first place. I used to love tae bo so I just channeled my inner Billy Blanks and things got VERY sweaty. GOD I wanted to be in his videos! I’d put that advanced tae bo tape in the VCR and I remember how accomplished I felt if I made it through the whole gosh darn hour–my butt was ALWAYS on fire by the end!

<br /><a href=”http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xpvfk9_billy-blanks-s-tae-bo-basic-workout-from-2000_shortfilms&#8221; target=”_blank”>Billy Blanks's Tae Bo Basic Workout from 2000</a> <i>by <a href=”http://www.dailymotion.com/powerspy&#8221; target=”_blank”>powerspy</a></i>

When it came to the muscle conditioning classes, I realized I wanted to go around and work with the people and give them more attention than a class of 20 people would allow. I guess bootcamp in its small and mighty-ness is a good match for me!

You can bet I was RAVENOUS after leaving the gym. My lunch will look familiar (but don’t worry, I’m almost out of sausage so you know things will have to change up soon) but also delicious. It hit the hangry spot, but then I was craving chocolate. And sweating balls in my apartment.

kale, apple, avocado, sausage

I put real girl clothes on (see the selfie to prove it, and please don’t judge me!) and hit the road. So far two mans have sat down at my starbucks table — it’s little and intimate to say the least — and one tried to talk to me til I actually grunted at him and said I was working on an “assignment” (sort of true, no?). Must be my perfume.

My plans for tonight involve continuing to chill, skipping out on anything that doesn’t involve air conditioning or froyo, and maybe breaking out the LOTR boxset now that I’m all hot and bothered by that video clip I included.  My trip’s coming quick and I’ve been flying by the seat of my pants for a while — I could really use some time to get organized! This weekend I’m heading to a half marathon relay in Sarnia, hoping to get out for some kayaking and hiking, and doing what I do best — making the most of the summer!

What are your plans for the weekend?
Did you have a favourite exercise video back in the day?
Have you watched the Lord of the Rings movies? Read the books? Is Frodo hot? Or is Frodo hot? …or am I weird?