One and...not done

My shins are screaming. I say “ow” every time I sneeze. My hands are still red from the bear crawls across the AstroTurf we did Thursday. I could barely lift my arms to wash my hair this morning. Speaking of hair, I’ve not managed to do more than put it in a clip all week. I’ve left little pieces of rubber from the football field in my car, my shoes and my carpet.

But I made it. I’m done with my first week of boot camp. It’s been the longest week of my life. My alarm goes off at 5 a.m. Then I drive, half-asleep, to the high school where we meet. There we are greeted with sprints, crunches, pushups (so many pushups), suicide drills, more sprints, lunges, mountain climbers, more sprints, more pushups, more torture, etc. I even got stung by a bee on my first day. Seriously.

Bear crawls by an actual bear. I look like this, just less furry.

I’ve whined a lot. I’m good at it, if you haven’t noticed. But the real truth is that I kind of love it. When I drive home at 6:30 in the morning, there is no question I worked my butt off. And I can’t help but feel pretty darn good about that.

With that said, here are a few favorites from my first boot camp week (next week, look for a real favorites post from me):

My eye mask

So, I’m going to sleep while it’s light out and waking up when it’s dark. It kind of throws off one’s body clock. Luckily, I recently purchased a sleep mask. I have this one, but it’s pink (duh). It blocks out the light and helps me tune out the world.

Water

My boot camp instructor suggests taking your body weight and dividing it by half to get the number of ounces of water you should drink every day. For me, that’s…a lot of water. But honestly, I can’t get enough of the stuff. I think yesterday I drank about six 32-oz. cups alone.

Workout gloves

As I mentioned, the AstroTurf is killer on my hands. Doing pushups on the field, tricep dips on metal bleachers and the torturous bear crawls across the turf was almost harder on my hands than my body. Yesterday, I hit Target and bought these gloves. This morning, those exercises were a little easier without the additional pain. Plus, they’re cute and girly and kind of make me feel like I’m a Serious! Athlete!

A buddy

My best friend Rebecca’s fiancé, Paul, was kind enough to sign up with me. It’s nice to have someone to hold me accountable. I know if I’m not there in the morning, he’ll check in with me. That’s enough to keep me motivated. Also, I have a bridesmaid’s dress to wear for their wedding in March. He’s a good reminder of that.

Post-boot camp nap

I get home around 6:45 every morning. This week, at least, while I’ve been getting used to my new schedule, I’ve laid down for a little 20-minute nap. It’s done wonders for my soul.

Bananas

Some people can exercise on an empty stomach. I’m not one of them. But I also can’t eat a lot before such a tough workout. Thank goodness for bananas. They give me a little energy boost to help me through the hour.

Here’s a video from my boot camp company, if you want a better idea of what I’ve been doing every morning.

I’d love feedback from those of you who do tough morning workouts. What do you do for soreness? How do you keep your hunger at bay during the day? What keeps you motivated?

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend. I know I’ll enjoy sleeping past 5 a.m.