i woke up about 10 minutes before my alarm went off, anticipating the day to come. finally, 5:30 came. i jumped up, threw on the same clothes i'll be wearing for the next 4 weeks, lathered my feet in "body glide" and put on my new hiking boots.
today was "assessment day", the day that places all guests into their hiking groups for the week. everyone is assessed and reassigned to groups. i was placed in an intermediate group to begin. we headed out for a trail called "chuckawalla". it was absolutely the most beautiful experience ever. the last time i've seen anything like that was in assisi in italy. the ridges were a deep red clay color, coated with a dusty brown sand and rooted deep within the sand were brown and minty green brush. the ridges were breath taking, but even the mountainous figures in the distance coated in brush were beautiful in the sunlight. this is my home for 4 weeks, and every where i look takes another breath away from me. honestly. (unfortunately i didn't have much breath to be taken away).
so we hiked 5.8 miles in 2 hours. and by hiked, i mean sped up a mountain at a ridiculous pace, and then jogged back down with the guide. however, there were about 6 people in my group, and only one other girl, shana, and i could keep up. so we hiked with her and the rest hiked with the tail guide. it's still an enormous effort regardless of how fast you're going. oh, let me also mention the guide i was hiking with had to be in her late sixties. most of the guides are 50+ and i have to say it is ridiculously impressive.
cute concierge boy, and my shuttle driver are also both hike guides.... like, you're kidding right? talk about small town lifestyle. i like it though, and i feel i have a lot of people to get to know in the next few days. so when we got back, we had breakfast (at 9:30) which was some fruit, and an english muffin type thing with eggs and bacon. it was good! next, i took a lecture which reminded us all of calories in and calories out. also, it taught about RMR (resting metabolic rate) and if you're interested in finding out yours just check out shapeup.org. i suggest it, it's an important number to know if you want to understand how many calories you should take in, and how many calories you should try to burn.
my next class was mountain class, which is a class where you begin on a cardio machine at a certain speed and then every 2 minutes you increase something about your workout. i chose the treadmill and i chose to increase speed rather than elevation for this class. so i started at brief walk and ended up running. i didn't think it would be so hard but by the last few decimals i was dying. and the last speed, your "top of the mountain" is 3 minutes. longest 3 minutes of my life. but the trainer, tiffany, kept giving us power talks and everyone kept yelling "i'm worth it" and cheering each other on. tiffany seemed to notice how hard i pushed and i felt awesome afterwards.
after that class, we had lunch (12:35). first course was a sunchoke soup. the second was a tuna nicoise salad. a huge plate of lettuce with steamed yams, artichoke hearts, olives, green beans, and tuna salad. it was amazing and ridiculously filling. also, the presentation of the food is that of a five star restaurant, you wouldn't believe it.
next, i headed to circuit training. it's a standard circuit class. you rotate from cardio machine to weights. i found it kind of easy, and it went so fast because you are never bored with any machine. after that was core training. nicole was the most intense trainer i've met so far, aside from the one that gave the budget lecture. it was a lot of free weights and pilates ball work outs. most of the exercises i've done before so i didn't really find this class that awful either. but regardless, i was still tired.
my last class of the day was H2O intervals which was almost kind of relaxing. it worked a lot with the resistance of the water against the pool weights. everyone was singing and laughing, there was no way to not enjoy it. but everyone was also exhausted and as soon as the class was over we wobbled over to dinner, which was roasted chicken over yam puree with asparagus. and for dessert we ate a few orange slices striped with chocolate. then there was a nutrition lecture... the end.
now my roommate candy and i are watching the bachelorette and for some reason i'm getting really into it.... so i have to go now.
also, i'm sorry these are so long but there is so much to say! also once i've gone through all of the classes i probably won't write as much... but who knows. just skim! bye i love you all
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