Monday. Done. Check. No more Monday's at Fitness North! As much as we love it here we are happy to be in our last week at Fitness North. Today was a pretty normal schedule. We went on our walk and morning pool time. Then we went to the ballroom where Leif had set-up a wonderful arm circuit for us to conquer our way through. We even had a surprise visit from O'Neil! It was fun to see him for a short time. He is always motivating! Our arms took a beating and we even had energy to run a few relays. Camille's bear crawl is the funniest thing I have ever seen! She wiggles her way down so fast that no one can ever catch up:) True talent! In the afternoon we went to the gym because of the threat of rain. Neither Camille or I was upset by the lack of hike (shocking!). We completed 2 hours of cardio and even had some one-on-one time with Leif. He was able to challenge our arms even more! Now it is almost 6:30pm and we are both laying in bed with the same tired look and aching bodies. This is something we will not miss at home! I look forward to laying down and not having my legs feel like they are on fire. What wonderful dreams!
Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Days 20 & 21...I take back what I said about hiking
Saturday - Day 20
So today we had a two hour pool workout that ended in an intense game of Ultimate. Of course it was all about the sport of playing and the exercise we were getting from the workout so the winners and losers were not important. Since I am not competitive at all I will say that we all had fun and that was the main idea...Yeah right, you all know me and I was pretty excited that my team won!!
Then our director, Sheryl, thought it would be fun to pack a lunch and go hiking all day. Not my idea of fun, but no one asked me of course. Nikky's hamstring was not being nice to her so she stayed back and did a 4 hour workout on the Nu-Step machine. Doesn't sound like much more fun than hiking. So we started hiking the Cascade Falls. Of course there were a ton of steps and the waterfall was pretty nice. Then we kept walking and Katie and I ventured out on our own and we were supposed to meet at a bridge and then turn around. After walking a while we ended up walking through the enchanted forest and ankle deep in mud we decided we had missed the bridge. So in order to make it back where everyone else was we had to double time it back and that included jogging most of the way back. We were pretty tired after that hike. But low and behold they had another hike for us. For fun we decided to hike up Oberg Mountain and then stop at the top and eat lunch. The mosquitoes were awful, but we made it to the top and ate then started to head down. Things were going pretty well when I suddenly stepped down on a rock, twisted my ankle and fell hard to the ground. I will admit I said a few choice words when I was on the ground. My leg was bleeding pretty good and my friend Jenn tried to wash it off with water from her camel back. I decided it wasn't going to get better so I just got up and started walking again. I left a blood trail for those behind us in case they got lost. When we got to the bottom they had another surprise for us, ANOTHER HIKE!!! I take back what I said about hiking, it is my arch enemy once again. So we started walking and we felt like we were walking up hill the whole time and then we got to the mountain climb. I was pretty sore, exhausted and I didn't think I could possibly make it. I will say I shed a few tears but I kept walking so that no one would see. It was a pretty intense moment. They are right when they say that your mind will shut down before your body ever does. I was mentally shutting down, but my body kept going. We made it to the top and then made our way back down. After 3 1/2 hours of hiking, a bloody leg, and a twisted ankle they decided that we still needed to fit in one more hour of cardio on our own when we got back. We weren't very happy (that is and understatement) but we did it anyway.
But then we went back to get massages last night. They were unbelievable!! After that we came back and had another fun game of hand and foot (card game). All in all it was a good day. Oh and we got 4 letters today which completely made our day that much better! Thanks Dawn, Jamie and Mom you guys are great!!
Sunday-Day 21 Sunday=Fun Day
We have decided that we would like more Sundays in a week. We love our rest and recovery day!! We were weighed this morning at 6am. We still don't know our results, but we will find out next weekend. Then in the afternoon we decided to go to Duluth. Our friends Camille and Sharon needed new shoes so Nikky and I took them to the Duluth Running Co. our favorite shoe store. Sharon (who will be 69 in August) needed some shoes that didn't have a high heal on them. So we convinced her to buy a new pair. She got the same pair that I got two weeks ago and now we are going to be twins. Since Nikky and I didn't need any workout shoes we decided to try on the Fivefingers shoes. They are the shoes that have a place for each toe. They are supposed to be really good for building strength in your feet and legs. They look kind of funny when you wear them, which made me fall in love with them right away. Nikky loved them as well. They feel like you are barefoot, but they have grip on the bottom. You can wear them in the water, walking, hiking, running, or anywhere. I ended up buying a fun blue pair and our friend Camille bought a black pair. Nikky wanted a black pair, but they didn't have that color in her size so she is going to order some later. Instead she got a cool pair of shoes that are just like them without the toe separation that are black and hot pink. They are awesome! We then headed to Target to get a few more band-aids and some other essentials.
When we got back we met our new roommate Allyson. She is very nice. We also met Jill our new next door neighbor who also seems very nice. We are now getting ready for bed so that we can get through our LAST MONDAY here at Fitness North. YEAH~~~
Camille and Nikky
So today we had a two hour pool workout that ended in an intense game of Ultimate. Of course it was all about the sport of playing and the exercise we were getting from the workout so the winners and losers were not important. Since I am not competitive at all I will say that we all had fun and that was the main idea...Yeah right, you all know me and I was pretty excited that my team won!!
Then our director, Sheryl, thought it would be fun to pack a lunch and go hiking all day. Not my idea of fun, but no one asked me of course. Nikky's hamstring was not being nice to her so she stayed back and did a 4 hour workout on the Nu-Step machine. Doesn't sound like much more fun than hiking. So we started hiking the Cascade Falls. Of course there were a ton of steps and the waterfall was pretty nice. Then we kept walking and Katie and I ventured out on our own and we were supposed to meet at a bridge and then turn around. After walking a while we ended up walking through the enchanted forest and ankle deep in mud we decided we had missed the bridge. So in order to make it back where everyone else was we had to double time it back and that included jogging most of the way back. We were pretty tired after that hike. But low and behold they had another hike for us. For fun we decided to hike up Oberg Mountain and then stop at the top and eat lunch. The mosquitoes were awful, but we made it to the top and ate then started to head down. Things were going pretty well when I suddenly stepped down on a rock, twisted my ankle and fell hard to the ground. I will admit I said a few choice words when I was on the ground. My leg was bleeding pretty good and my friend Jenn tried to wash it off with water from her camel back. I decided it wasn't going to get better so I just got up and started walking again. I left a blood trail for those behind us in case they got lost. When we got to the bottom they had another surprise for us, ANOTHER HIKE!!! I take back what I said about hiking, it is my arch enemy once again. So we started walking and we felt like we were walking up hill the whole time and then we got to the mountain climb. I was pretty sore, exhausted and I didn't think I could possibly make it. I will say I shed a few tears but I kept walking so that no one would see. It was a pretty intense moment. They are right when they say that your mind will shut down before your body ever does. I was mentally shutting down, but my body kept going. We made it to the top and then made our way back down. After 3 1/2 hours of hiking, a bloody leg, and a twisted ankle they decided that we still needed to fit in one more hour of cardio on our own when we got back. We weren't very happy (that is and understatement) but we did it anyway.
But then we went back to get massages last night. They were unbelievable!! After that we came back and had another fun game of hand and foot (card game). All in all it was a good day. Oh and we got 4 letters today which completely made our day that much better! Thanks Dawn, Jamie and Mom you guys are great!!
Sunday-Day 21 Sunday=Fun Day
We have decided that we would like more Sundays in a week. We love our rest and recovery day!! We were weighed this morning at 6am. We still don't know our results, but we will find out next weekend. Then in the afternoon we decided to go to Duluth. Our friends Camille and Sharon needed new shoes so Nikky and I took them to the Duluth Running Co. our favorite shoe store. Sharon (who will be 69 in August) needed some shoes that didn't have a high heal on them. So we convinced her to buy a new pair. She got the same pair that I got two weeks ago and now we are going to be twins. Since Nikky and I didn't need any workout shoes we decided to try on the Fivefingers shoes. They are the shoes that have a place for each toe. They are supposed to be really good for building strength in your feet and legs. They look kind of funny when you wear them, which made me fall in love with them right away. Nikky loved them as well. They feel like you are barefoot, but they have grip on the bottom. You can wear them in the water, walking, hiking, running, or anywhere. I ended up buying a fun blue pair and our friend Camille bought a black pair. Nikky wanted a black pair, but they didn't have that color in her size so she is going to order some later. Instead she got a cool pair of shoes that are just like them without the toe separation that are black and hot pink. They are awesome! We then headed to Target to get a few more band-aids and some other essentials.
When we got back we met our new roommate Allyson. She is very nice. We also met Jill our new next door neighbor who also seems very nice. We are now getting ready for bed so that we can get through our LAST MONDAY here at Fitness North. YEAH~~~
Camille and Nikky
Friday, June 24, 2011
Day 19...Way Down Yonder in theTettegouche
Well, another day bites the dust. Thank goodness because that makes my countdown that much smaller. We started out the day by going on our morning walk by the lighthouse. I have been working myself into a wog for some of it. For those of you not familiar with a wog it is a mix between a walk and a jog. Too slow for others to really know you are jogging, but fast enough for your lungs to scream out in pain after too much of it. My goal has been to run up the hills for the past two weeks. Today I started to run more intervals and walk and wog the entire way. It is a start for me:) Then we had our pool workout and breakfast. As a fun surprise we went to the ballroom for some cardio. We did some Indian runs. For those of you not sure what this is we get in a line and walk while passing a medicine ball over our heads to the person behind us and then the last person in lines runs it to the front and we continue while walking around the resort complex. I am sure people watching us got a pretty good laugh. Then we ran some stairs and did some crazy relay races. We even had to do a relay race where we had to bear crawl. The bear crawl is where you walk with your hands and feet on the ground and butt high in the air. That had to be a pretty funny sight too. Our trainer, Leif, likes to come up with new evil exercises for us to do. We think that he dreams them up in his nightmares and last night must have been quite the nightmare because he made us do "Devil Boy Terrors", (that is what Jenn named them because we call Leif Devil Boy). We had to get in the plank position (on our hands and feet with knees off the ground) and push a 20lb weight while trying to maneuver our bodies forward. It was CRAZY!!
This afternoon we went on a hike at the Tettegouche. I want you to know that the first 2 weeks I was here I despised hiking. Everyone told us how beautiful the scenery was and all I said is "I can see that in a picture." I hated hiking!! Don't tell my trainers here, but I am starting to see why people like hiking. It is still exhausting, but I am not keeling over wanting to die so I am able to take in a little bit of the nature around me. Today we went up to the High Falls at the Tettegouche and saw a beautiful waterfall with a rainbow. Then we decided to hike down to the bottom of the high falls to see if we could find the gold at then end of the rainbow. What do you know, there was no gold at the end of the rainbow so we had to go all the way back up the stairs to keep hiking. My legs were not happy with me. Then we went to the two step falls. Let me tell you they should rename that trail to the 200 step falls because that is about how many steps we climbed to see them. It was a muddy, wet walk with a lot of stairs, but I survived. I will post pictures later.
Can't wait til tomorrow is over because we are getting another massage. It is what gets me through the week. The thought of a massage. There are four of us going tomorrow our roommate, Camille, is coming too. Yes you read that right we have another Camille living with us. It is pretty crazy to have two Camille's in a group of only 11 women. She is AWESOME though and I love having her around!
Till tomorrow,
Camille and Nikky
This afternoon we went on a hike at the Tettegouche. I want you to know that the first 2 weeks I was here I despised hiking. Everyone told us how beautiful the scenery was and all I said is "I can see that in a picture." I hated hiking!! Don't tell my trainers here, but I am starting to see why people like hiking. It is still exhausting, but I am not keeling over wanting to die so I am able to take in a little bit of the nature around me. Today we went up to the High Falls at the Tettegouche and saw a beautiful waterfall with a rainbow. Then we decided to hike down to the bottom of the high falls to see if we could find the gold at then end of the rainbow. What do you know, there was no gold at the end of the rainbow so we had to go all the way back up the stairs to keep hiking. My legs were not happy with me. Then we went to the two step falls. Let me tell you they should rename that trail to the 200 step falls because that is about how many steps we climbed to see them. It was a muddy, wet walk with a lot of stairs, but I survived. I will post pictures later.
Can't wait til tomorrow is over because we are getting another massage. It is what gets me through the week. The thought of a massage. There are four of us going tomorrow our roommate, Camille, is coming too. Yes you read that right we have another Camille living with us. It is pretty crazy to have two Camille's in a group of only 11 women. She is AWESOME though and I love having her around!
Till tomorrow,
Camille and Nikky
To my left hamstring
Dear Left Hamstring,
It has come to my attention that you are still very angry with me. For over two weeks you have been screaming at me and I am not appreciating the bullying that you seem to dish out every day. I wake up every morning hoping that you will survive the day but there has only been a few days where you have lasted through all the workouts without bringing me to tears. I know you would like a break (and I am sure the rest of my body would agree with you!) but we are here until July 3. Suck it up buttercup! I have treated you well at night - gave you ice and even a massage! Please consider healing before Monday. I have one week left and I would really like to kick some butt instead of having you be a pain in mine.
Sincerely,
Nikky
It has come to my attention that you are still very angry with me. For over two weeks you have been screaming at me and I am not appreciating the bullying that you seem to dish out every day. I wake up every morning hoping that you will survive the day but there has only been a few days where you have lasted through all the workouts without bringing me to tears. I know you would like a break (and I am sure the rest of my body would agree with you!) but we are here until July 3. Suck it up buttercup! I have treated you well at night - gave you ice and even a massage! Please consider healing before Monday. I have one week left and I would really like to kick some butt instead of having you be a pain in mine.
Sincerely,
Nikky
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Day 17 and 18
Sorry for not posting yesterday. We didn't have much to write about since the day was pretty much like Tuesday. The rain is still coming down but the chance for sunshine tomorrow looks pretty good. With all the rain we have not been able to take our morning walks (replaced with extended pool time) or afternoon hike (replaced by 2 hours on cardio machines in the gym!). We started this morning with our pool workout where I am sure that we did over 1,000 deck jumps...well, at least over 100:) Then we when to the ballroom where Leif had graciously set-up 24ish stations for us to continue the torture on our legs. Five of the stations featured wall sits. A wall sit uses a medicine ball and a sturdy wall (we might have tried on a fake wall - not good!). You lean on the ball against the wall and squat down so your knees are bent at 90 degrees and hold that position for 60 seconds (or longer!). Sounds easy right? Try it! Doing 10 of these was quite the workout for our legs and that does not even include any of the other stations! Our time in the ballroom ended with some farmer suicides. It is amazing to me that Leif could make us hate suicides even more but it is possible - just add 20 pounds in each hand! After lunch we drove to Hermantown to visit the lovely and extremely tough Jill at 4-U Fitness. We were there for 2.5 hours and completed an hour cycling class and a TRX/Kettle bell workout. If that was not enough we also did a short kick boxing session at the end. I think we all left feeling just a little (or a lot!) exhausted.
We must say that this journey is starting to take its mental toll on our brains. It is intense and we can't even remember what it was like when our bodies didn't hurt this much. The staff is wonderful and our roommates are awesome. Please pray for refreshed minds as we continue on our journey. The Lord is faithful and we are going to need His strength to get us through the next two days.
Maybe our hidden superhero powers will kick-in soon....
Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille
We must say that this journey is starting to take its mental toll on our brains. It is intense and we can't even remember what it was like when our bodies didn't hurt this much. The staff is wonderful and our roommates are awesome. Please pray for refreshed minds as we continue on our journey. The Lord is faithful and we are going to need His strength to get us through the next two days.
Maybe our hidden superhero powers will kick-in soon....
Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Day 16 - Leg Day!
Hello! I am writing you this post from a very very windy North shore! The waves are crashing and we had to cancel the hike this afternoon because of all the rain. No worries, they had other ways to keep us busy:) The morning started with our usual walk and pool workout. Then we went to the ballroom and enjoyed (yeah right!) our leg circuits which include many lunges and squats. It is still very tough and both Camille and I are counting down the "leg" days. After legs we had a core workout which included our favorite exercise - planks! Camille was even fortunate enough to have Kelly sit on her for awhile:) Then the real fun began. Leif set up cones for relays and we proceeded to run (yes, run!) suicides. Since we were doing SO well, he also decided to add crunches, burpies, and jumping jacks at each cone. Our workout area is all carpet so there are occasionally times when people will trip. Guess who tripped today? Camille! I must say when she fell she remembered her volleyball days and tucked and rolled. It was a perfect 10! We were kicking some serious butt and running much faster than we ever had before. I am sure the hotel was wondering what was happening because we kept cheering for our teams at the top of our lungs. All in all it was a very successful day. The afternoon was not as eventful because of the rain we had to spend the time doing our cardio at the gym. We survived and thrived today!
The days are not getting easier and we thought we would send a little challenge to all our family and friends. Not only do we want you all to eat healthier and exercise more but we would love to have some letters of encouragement. Camille has received two cards (from the same wonderful person!) and they are the highlight when they arrive. So we are putting our address just in case any of you would like to send some notes of encouragement our way. We would love it and it might make the tough days just a little brighter! No pressure but I know at least our mom's will read this and send us one;) Thanks for being on our journey. Your prayers are felt and we are very blessed to be here every day.
Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille
Address
Superior Shores
c/o Nikky or Camille
1521 Superior Shores Drive
Two Harbors, MN 55616
The days are not getting easier and we thought we would send a little challenge to all our family and friends. Not only do we want you all to eat healthier and exercise more but we would love to have some letters of encouragement. Camille has received two cards (from the same wonderful person!) and they are the highlight when they arrive. So we are putting our address just in case any of you would like to send some notes of encouragement our way. We would love it and it might make the tough days just a little brighter! No pressure but I know at least our mom's will read this and send us one;) Thanks for being on our journey. Your prayers are felt and we are very blessed to be here every day.
Until tomorrow,
Nikky and Camille
Address
Superior Shores
c/o Nikky or Camille
1521 Superior Shores Drive
Two Harbors, MN 55616
Monday, June 20, 2011
Day 15...Monday AGAIN!!
So we started our 3rd week today. We started our Monday with a morning walk. All of the newbies were wide eyed and bushy tailed at the beginning of the day. Then we did our pool workout and arms were our morning circuit. Everyone was pretty tired by lunch time. We ate and then headed to Split Rock for our afternoon hike. I was walking with one of the new girls Katie. She is athletic and has a long stride. My short legs take two or three steps to her one. We hiked to the top of the Day Trail (again) and then Katie and I did some off-tracking and exploring. It wasn't too bad until we found the 123 stairs. We walked down them, but then had to walk back up them. The newbies who walked with Leif and Kelly ended up getting an extra 1/2 hour hike because Leif was feeling pretty spunky on their first day and I think we wore them all out. They are now walking like those of us that have been here 2 weeks. For those of you old enough, remember the Carol Burnett Show? The lady that played the little old lady that shuffled when she walked, remember her? That is what we all look like when we walk now. I am officially counting down though. 11 more days of exercising until we come home...
Camille and Nikky
Camille and Nikky
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