He conquers who endures. ~Persius

Last night at our team workout, the trainers reminded us that we should be doing 45-60 minutes of cardio 2 to 4 times a week. In case you did not know, our first competition is the Germantown 5 miler. Yes, that is right. They are taking 10 over weight people and forcing them to run a 5 mile race. Now being realistic, we will not run the entire race, but our goal is to finish with the best time we can manage.

After our workout last night, Kim and Benny took us outside for some "fun". We were expecting something else, but we were asked to run a lap around the lake at Rio. My first thought was "after that workout, I will not be able to move my arms." Surprisingly, I ran the entire lap - never stopping to walk. David came in first. He is a speed demon. I tried to catch up to him, but I decided I would rather finish the whole lap instead of walking it in. As I rounded the corner (where all of the yummy restaurants are), I decided to pick up my pace and sprint it in. I was afraid that Kim or Benny would say, "Okay, give me one more lap," so I did hold back a little. It felt great to push my body past its breaking point - exhaustion.

During our workout, we did a lot of arm exercises. We have been doing the same "type" since the beginning. Here is my pathetic attempt at describing them:

• We straddled a bench in a squat and did arm pulls that made our arms come to our body in a "W" formation. We were to tighten our shoulders. We did it at 8 lbs, then 12 lbs, and I think the men did it to 16 lbs.



• We sat on a bench and did arm pulls out to our side - stretching our arms out like we were pretending to be an airplane. We stayed at 8 lbs because this was extremely hard to keep up.



• We did chest presses while doing rotating leg lunges. I think we stayed around 15 lbs.



• We took weights are did arm rows to our neck and them arm lifts rotating between each of them. This again was hard to keep up for the minute. I did it at 5 lbs in each arm.



• We did a lunge and use the stretch band to do rows quickly (as fast as we could) and after 30 seconds switched legs.

Remember, we did each station for a minute and rotated through all 5 stations 3 times. It was hard to transition between some of the stations as it felt like we were using the same muscles. But we ALL pushed through.

The final rotation was core training:

• Stand at machine in a squat position and pull a weight from shoulder to shoulder with both arms straight out. Rotating directions about 30 seconds.



• In the push up position and with a half circle tube on the floor under us, we were to "walk" our arms: both on one side of the tube, both on, and both on the other side. This was the HARDEST for me to keep up for the minute.



• Football jig: Had a stepper under us and we had to straddle it and then step up with both feet, then straddle it again. Repeat.



• Plank while lifting each leg up. Very difficult.



• Push up position while lifting each knee to your chest.

I think Kim and Benny felt sorry for us. We only did one rotation of this then we headed outside for our run.

Well, I have a treat for everyone next week. I have a challenge within a challenge: I have a conference at Princenton University, so I will miss our workouts on Monday and Wednesday and also the weigh in on Tuesday. Let's see if I can do this thing on my own for a few days.