Decatur: Week 3, The Marnggie.

Oh my. The Marnggie. When the description on the FitWit blog is short, you know it's going to be a doozy. And boy, did the Marnggie deliver.

The Marnggie
2, 3, or 4 rounds
30 Rows
20 Slam Balls
Run 400m (5 laps around basketball court; 3 laps around indoor track)
50 pushups
20 burpees

Michelle points to me and says, let's go for three rounds. Okay. Three. I can do three. After our jump rope warm up (which I'm getting better at, thankyouverymuch), I was ready for this workout.

I'd done 30 rows before, and I knew the secret to them was breaking them down into reps that are manageable. After blisters from the last workout with body rows, I was ready to hit them hard. I really wanted to work on upper body strength with this camp, and I was not finding it as hard as it was previously. I was even able to start going for ten in a row before having to rest. (Although, as the workout wore on, that moved more to six, or so.) I got my first 30 in and moved on to the slam balls. Now, I have to say, there is NOTHING better than slam balls when you've had a crap day at work. Just being able to smack that ball down as hard as you can towards the ground, just makes it so satisfying. I even figured out my own little trick for not rounding my back. Don't look down. I tend to keep my torso straight up when I look at a spot on the ceiling when I squat down to get the medicine ball. (Thanks to Jose, for the tip!)

Sad to say, but the laps were the easiest part of this workout. Michelle told me I could do two laps around, instead of the three since I was still walking them. I have to say I was pretty grateful for that. Ever since that mile jaunt we did, my ankle has been a little on the sensitive side.

The first round of pushups and burpees were easy for me. The second round, I was definitely lagging. Joy helped me with the pushups and counted out some with me (even though she was already finished). The burpees I had to break down into reps to get through. Doing reps of five got me through it.

The last round of everything was just brutal. I was huffing and puffing, but I was going to finish all three rounds. I kept asking Michelle for time, I just knew I was going to end up being so close and miss that goal of three rounds. It was getting down the wire, I saw a lot vets finishing. I was going to do this. I was going to hit this awesome goal and feel great. It was down to the burpees and I'm breaking them down into sets of five. I just couldn't spring up from the floor worth a damn. I felt like I was getting slower. I got through the first 10. Just 10 more. I got up to six in the count, and I just about fell over. I had to push through and get the last four. I had to do it. It was going to kill me NOT to do it. Pretty soon, I was on eight. Just two more. Two more I could do. I was struggling to hold form, but I got to nine. I just couldn't make my arms bend to get down on the floor. They just stopped working. I pleaded with my body, please please work. I need to finish this. I need to kick ass and go home feeling like I really accomplished something this week. Finally, my arms bent and I was doing the last burpee.

TIME! I screamed it. I was so happy. I did all three rounds with a time of 34:47. I was sweating like a pig and I'm pretty sure my face was a nice shade of fuchsia, but I finished. I finished with time to spare.

This week, I wanted to push myself and see how far I could go. I feel like I accomplished that. I can't wait to see what next week holds.