A major part of my joy and fulfillment of being a trainer is playing a role in people realizing their own physical potential. The key to unlocking this limitless potential is the regular act disciplining the mind and body (our regular training). During typical training sessions, one must tell them self to ignore their own mind and body telling them to quit. Sure, doing intense training on a regular basis will get you better at doing intense training on a regular basis. But, how do you know what you’re really made of? I strongly believe that a test is in order that is far above and beyond the level of what you’re accustomed to practicing. By pushing your body into foreign territory, you find out if your regular training intensity is sufficient to catapult you to a new level of your own physical potential. This is why we embark on the Burpee Mile or the Harvest Cat every blue moon. Discovering that you can perform more than you thought you could a few months ago is extremely motivating.
On to the recap…
As of a few days ago when I checked the website poll between doing a Harvest Cat and doing a Burpee Mile, there were more votes to do the Harvest Cat. Despite constant pressure from Dave and Matt urging me to do the Burpee Mile, I texted everybody yesterday morning and told them that we were doing the Harvest Cat because it won the poll. Turns out that the poll had evened up since I last checked it, according to Dave, who told me this a few minutes before we were set to start. So, when the group arrived last night, we all voted again. I was honestly shocked when Traci and Ben voted to do the Burpee Mile, which ultimately swayed the outcome. Burpee Mile it is! There were several reactions. Nervous smiles, excitement, fear, and a bitterly cold shoulder.
We all drove up to the high school only to find that the driveway gate was locked. So, we parked just down the road and all walked slowly and nervously up the long driveway up to the track. Ben, Dave, and I chatted like giddy school girls during the walk. Matt didn’t say much but had a huge smile on his face- the type of smile you dawn when you’re extremely confident that you’re about to have sweet revenge on a workout that beat you in the past. The women were unanimously nothing short of irate. This was the first time in my years being a trainer that I thought I would actually drive away the entire female population from our group with a single workout. With that said, I would never put people through a workout that A) I haven’t done myself and B) was confident that they could complete it. Both A and B were checked off in my mind for everyone in attendance last night.
Before picture, minus Davage
Out of the three previous times I have done Burpee Miles, or 1.5 miles, the climate was never as good as it was last night. In the past it was either hotter than hell or freezing rain. We lucked out with a cool and crisp night with only a few damp spots on the field. The only down side was the fact that it was dark and nobody could see each other.
Once up on the track, I gave some brief instructions on form and pace, which nobody seemed interested in due to nerves, and off we went. Matt and I , Melissa and Traci, Ben and Dave were the sets of partners, and Judy was going solo. We had a set pace we were all keeping, and doing it rather well on the first lap. Lap number two was a different story. I remember seeing a silhouette across the field of Ben bent over and reaching for Dave in between a set. His vision was apparently starting to blur and he was disoriented. Hunched over, dizzy, and blind, Ben reached out his hand to grab Dave for support and started yelling, “Dave, where are you?! Dave?!”. A second later I saw the distressed silhouette do a face plant, with his arm still reaching for Dave. Intense. Davage extended zero mercy to his fallen partner and insisted that he get back up and continue. They both simply backed off of the set pace and kept on going. Around that same time, I started to hear the echoing on the women getting even more angry. I couldn’t make out exact words, which was probably a good thing, but like a dog I could pick up on their hasty tones. About fifteen minutes later, all of the women completed their goal- Finishing a Burpee Half Mile! Approximately 240 Burpees and in only 48 minutes. Ben and Dave finished their half in approximately 230 burpees in one hour. Congratulations to Judy, Traci, Melissa, Ben, and Davage for completing a Burpee Half Mile! I’m really proud of all of you!
Matt and I continued and methodically cranked out our last two laps. Matt had something to prove last night. Late last year in his first attempt at a Burpee Mile, he only got to the half way point and had to quit due to getting sick. He has been hounding me ever since wanting another crack at the full mile, so he was anxious and driven to finish. Matt even picked up the pace and started to gain ground on me on the last lap. At one point we had about 100 meters distance between us on lap three, but he managed to close the gap to about 20 meters by the time I finished. I completed my workout in 1 hour and 33 minutes and with 465 burpees. Congratulations to Matt for finishing the Burpee Mile in 475 Burpees and in a time of 1 hour and 35 minutes!
After picture of the men. The women understandably left immediately after killing their Half Mile
** By the way, I’m not sure how everybody is faring soreness wise, but I will offer a session at 8pm on Wednesday night and at some point on Friday. This will be laid back with a focus on recovery and getting loose for those of you who are still locked up. If you’re not too sore and ready to go hard again, we can do that too. I’ll be out there either way because I’m not really that sore, so it’s no intrusion. Text me if you’re interested.
I also chose to destroy myself using a new personal favorite routine. You need to be proficient with the jump rope to do it.
