I woke up at 4:09 and wanted to sleep in so badly. I painted for 12 hours yesterday (after running nine miles) and, believe it or not, I was freakin’ sore (I must have gone up and down the ladder 500 times). An hour more of sleep would have felt good. But the satisfaction of knowing I got up and pushed myself feels even better. And I sanded the skin off my elbows (the football field has sandpaper qualities). So I’m sure I’m lighter.
Stations today:
1. Weight room. 20 second sets. Upper body. We did the whole cycle.
2. Paul. We broke into twos and had a coach and an athlete. The athlete wore the mother of all bungee cords. The coach held it tight while the athlete ran drills through the ladder. We flipped flopped and then finished out by running in place and hitting the deck repeatedly. Paul said we would have to do that for 15 minutes on graduation day. Fun.
3. Wayne. We ran sprints and shuffles with a few burpees and jumping jacks thrown in for good measure. It was a station where we really worked on our breath. One thing I learned about sprints in high school (when I played football) that the secret is catching your breath in between segments.
4. Morgan. Lots of pushups, burpees and pushups out of planks (where I sanded my elbows bloody). I didn’t do as well on this set as I should have. But I did much better than I would have last year when I weighed 250 lbs. I am not particularly good at exercises where I have to bend over. But I have gotten much better. Practice makes perfect.
We ended in the end zone with Paul having us hit the deck six or seven times. He told us how our bodies are crying out for us to love them. For us to eat the right food (and drink lots of water since I had nearly dehydrated over the previous hour).
I could have slept in. It’s Monday and I’m tired from traveling and painting. But I know the only way I’ll have the energy to travel and paint and do anything else is for me to get up early and leave it on the field.