Practising With Soldiers

Woah.  I am sore.  That's what I am.

Yesterday I attended the first British Military Fitness training 'run' in what may well become a series for me.  This is a very quick post before Maggie's dinner time, to share the excitement with you all.

Here's what I expected:  20 minutes of rough-ish warm-up and strengthening exercises, followed by a run for 40 minutes.  I also expected to be at the back the group for that run, because let's face it, my first half-marathon was two years ago, and I've had a baby and very little serious training since then.

What really happened:  there was no 'run' as such, but a lot of of running.  What do I mean?  I mean that for one hour it was a relentless (read: no breaks aside from a total of about 4 minutes to glug some water) series of hard and fast strengthening exercises such as squats and lunges, which we had to do while counting down aloud ("louder!"), and were interspersed by either short jogs or sprints of about 30 seconds - 1 minute max.  So... not really a 'run' then, you see.  But wow, what value for the mere 5 quid that I paid!  The guys are truly nice folk (they do not humiliate you and you do not, I swear, have to respond "sir yes sir" (a shame, perhaps?).  You get tons of exercise, tons of ideas for very good stretches, great outdoors training, and the opportunity to meet other runners who are also struggling (well those who were at the back of the queue with me struggled too, I could tell).

So, the only expectation that was matched for me was that I was the last in queue for most of the hour.  I also thought I wouldn't be able to make it, and felt like throwing up for about 10 minutes towards the second half, right after trying to exercise through a 10 minute stitch.  Yet I still would do it again, and I am so chuffed that I made it through to the end!  Hardcore!

I then enjoyed being totally soaked under a hailstones shower, as I was walking to join Stephen and Maggie at the Natural History Museum where they had been watching Dodos and creepy crawlies all morning.

Evidently, I went to bed at 8 without even dining.  And stayed there.