Biggest Loser Resort - Day 3! (less exclamation points today for a reason)

Today I hit my wall.  Or at least I hope that's what it was because if this gets harder than today, I'm in trouble.

We were in the gym at 6am once again today.  Before we even got started, Hannah and Olivia were using foam rollers because they were so sore. (Amy has mad sneaky phone camera skills hahaha) It made me wish I knew how to use one cause man was I hurting.  I put on a pretty face for a pic with Amy though!

On the schedule it said "Dynamic stretching"...which apparently means, "10 minutes of stretching and then a really really hard crossfit workout."  I've never done crossfit before but from what I've seen from friends on FB, it's really hardcore and it has ALWAYS intimidated me.  When Betty mentioned we were doing it today I wanted to run for the door.  She had us warm up with some kettlebell swings (basically squats while swinging a weight), smash ball throws (giant weighted ball that we had to throw over our heads against the wall and squat when we caught it), burpees (just google it...they suck) and V-ups (lying on your back outstretched then bringing both arms and both legs up in a V.  The warmup wasn't too bad, but then she informed us that our crossfit workout was going to be AMRAP.  This means "As many reps as possible".  She put a timer clock at 20 minutes and told us that we were to do rotations of15 of each of our warmup exercises...and do as many circuits of that as possible in the 20 minutes.  HOLY CRAP.  And "crap" is not what I want to type.  It doesn't cover it.  After 20 minutes of that we were all on the floor dying.  But the point of only doing 20 mins was to show us that if that's all the time you have back in the real world....you can still get in a good hard workout.

After the crossfit, I didn't think the day could get much harder.  I was so unbelievably wrong.  We ate breakfast and then hopped in the vans for a 20 minute ride to our "outdoor workout".  We had an awesome talk with Olivia the whole way there.  I can't get enough of that.  She really is just so amazing to talk to.  We learned all sorts of things...from her diet and her likes and dislikes to secrets of the Biggest Loser show and things that happened off camera and so many other amazing stories.  

After a 20 minute drive, we arrived at an outdoor sports arena.  Artificial football turf.  It didn't look too intimidating.

I had no idea the pure hell that awaited us there.  Betty had us grab a bunch of those weighted smashballs and bring them out to the field.  We were put into partnerships and I was with Amy.  Our first "exercise" consisted of one partner squatting to pick up the ball...throwing it as far as they could (ours was 10 lbs) and then running after it, repeating that all the way down the 100 yd field and back.  While they were doing that, the other person had to do sprints to the 50 yard line back and forth until their partner finished.  Then we switched.  We each had to go TWICE.  We were the second to last ones done so we got the least amount of recovery time and we were already dying by this point.  

And then she told us the second exercise.  I wanted to cry before we even started.  One partner had to hold this heavy ass ball in their hands and do lunges down the field while twisting the ball from side to side.  And then on the way back, they had to hold this heavy ass ball over their heads (high...or we got yelled at) and RUN all the way back.  While doing this, the other partner had to do side shuffles to the 50 yard line and back over and over until their partner finished.  This is where things got ugly.  Amy and I both got through our first round without completely losing it, but as we started our second rounds our bodies hit their walls and they both revolted.  Amy ran off the field to throw up and I had the first mild asthma attack that I've had in probably a year.  And of course because I'm awesome and I workout 6 days a week and I don't need it...I didn't bring my inhaler.  Betty walked me off the field and helped me regain my breath, get some water and then Amy and I got right back out there.  But we still had one more exercise to go.

For the last one, we were put into two groups of 9.  Each person was given an exercise to do and we were to do them like a relay.  While one person was going, everyone else had to stand on the endline and do jumping jacks and mountain climbers.  Wanting to make up for my embarasing asthma issue, I volunteered for one of the hardest of the exercises...the army crawl.  I was supposed to be on my elbows and toes in a plank...and crawl like that to the 50 yard line and then get up and run the rest of the way there and back.  Sure no problem.  Yeah....I made it 10 yds and had to get Olivia to take my place.  Army crawls are hard enough, but add in the artificial turf stabbing your arms as you go and it's infinitely harder.  I still have turf burns and probably will for a day or two.  

Betty informed us once we were all done that we had made it through the hardest workout of the week. Hard is not the word.  I have never worked out that hard in my whole life and probably never will again.  But it was an amazing experience nonetheless.  I forgot to add that Betty was jumping on peoples backs while they ran.  Amy carried her an entire 50 yds.  It was amazing.  She avoided mine today but I made her promise to do it at least once this week!!  

This is a picture of what was going on on the field during our relay exercise.  Olivia's face says it all.

We finally headed back to the resort and went to our first lecture.  We have 3 a day, so I won't go into all the things I learned, but there was one very memorable moment during that first lecture.  Stephanie (the life coach) had us all write down a goal for the week and talk about those.  It was great to hear what everyone is striving for.  And then she had us all write down something we had already accomplished this week.  So I told them something that Betty told me while she was helping to calm my asthma.  I had told her that I was so unbelievably embarrassed because I workout 6 days a week.  I shouldn't have to stop something because of something like this!  I was in tears and hyperventilating and I was just humiliated.  And then she said to me, "Jill, think about the reason your body is doing this right now.  It's because you pushed it so hard!  You made yourself work harder than your body is used to and that isn't embarassing.  That is an accomplishment.  Be proud of that."  I cried as I told everyone this story.  It was just so true.  I felt so proud of myself for what I had accomplished and especially for going back out there.  I didn't quit.  I took a breath and went right back out there with everyone else.  

At 2pm we headed back to the gym for a 35 minute cardio circuit class.  Normally...that would be a cakewalk for me.  I do at least an hour of cardio every single day back home.  But when you're doing it after the morning we'd already had...it's HARD!  We had to do 5 minutes on 7 different cardio machines with only 45 seconds in between to switch machines.  And of course our trainer for this class, Symphony, would make us increase our speed and resistance as those 5 minutes went on.  We were all panting and dripping and it was just....hard.  As if that weren't enough, we had 20 minutes to go change into our swimsuits and then it was time for pool circuits.  Symphony taught this class as well and this girl is BRUTAL.  After 50 minutes of that, I was feeling extremely nauseous and barely made it back to my room for a 5 minute shower before our last lecture.

As we waited for the lecture to start, Amy was kind enough to take the following picture.

When the dietician came in, she even came over to ask if I was okay and snuck me some saltines to help calm my stomach.  I've never seen people so jealous of crackers haha.  But between that, some advil from my friend Helen and a bit of dinner (that I had to force myself to eat)...I felt much better.

Dinner tonight was amazing.  Once again I forgot to take a picture of the food (steak with this incredible pablano sauce) and some sauteed veggies.  I did, however, remember to get pictures of my new friends!

These aren't all of them, but most.  They are some off the most amazing people I've ever met.  Helen works on a cruise ship where her schedule is 4 months on the boat and 2 months of time off.  She's hiked Mount Kilamanjaro and is running a half marathon THIS SUNDAY...after all this!  She's one tough lady.  Melissa has 7 kids, two of whom are adopted twins that she had fostered from a drug addict mother.  Her husband took over for the week so she could have some time for herself.  She is AWESOME.  Dana is staying until mid-December!!!  She dropped everything in her life and decided it was time to make a change.  She's 24 and probably has a good 150 lbs to lose and my god is she determined to do it.  I can't imagine doing this for 3 months straight.  Everyone has their incredible stories and I really hope to keep in touch with them after this week is over.

After dinner, we got dessert...which we do every night, but this time it was seriously orgasmic.  No joke.  I'm not even 100% sure what each of the layers were, but it was like a chocolate mousse kind of thing on the bottom with sweetened greek yogurt in the middle and strawberries and pineapple on top.  It was only about 130 calories and I took 20 minutes to eat it because I was going to savor EVERY BITE.  It's amazing how much you can eat and still be under 1500 calories in a day!

After dinner was all over with, Hannah and Olivia did a Q&A session with us.  They said that normally they just do a motivational speech, but with such a small intimate group they just wanted to chat.  So we got to ask anything and everything and it was a very enlightening experience.  I did get some of it on video, but it came out upside down when I put it in my computer so I'll have to fix it when I get back to Utah and share it then.  Even Ben answered some questions.  It was so great and I'm so grateful they took the time to do that for us.

And now it's time to crash and pass out (I hope).  I had a really hard time falling asleep last night even though I was completely exhausted.  Luckily we get an extra 15 minutes of sleep tomorrow before yoga at 6:15am. I'm going to need it.  Tomorrow is supposed to be fun though.  We'll see if their definition of fun matches mine.  Goodnight!!