Two a days are on the way, so right now my schedule looks like this:
7.00: Breakfast.
I have a really hard time eating in the morning, but it is really hard to practice for 3 hours on an empty stomach, so I force feed myself yoghurt and soy chocolate milk.
7.30: Icing down in the ATR (Athletic Training Room).
I have dealt with schin splints ever since my knee surgery back in November, 2009, but it has never been as bad as it is right now. I guess my body isn't used to running this much. I woke up at 4 this morning with so many leg pains that I had to get up and ice down.
In the ATR, I also get my finger taped up. Unfortunately, it looks to be broken or fractured, but I have declined seeing an actual doctor, since they could then pull me from camp. Catching the ball hurts like from now and then, but it's worth it.
08.15: Hitting the field.
It is still cool in the morning and the fog hasn't left the found yet. When we first enter the stadium, we cannot even see the far side of the field. However, the fog clears out pretty quickly after eight.
It is a beautiful sight! I am so happy that we are practicing on the stadium field instead of the practice field which is located right by the stadium. The O & D-line will use the practice field for an hour during practice.
The morning practice isn't too rough to begin with. The special teams are being set up. While this is being done, wide outs are catching balls with the quarterbacks and doing pushups. Our wide receiver coach, Frank Tierney, is a big fan of pushups – and as he says ”Well, a good ten deserves another ten”. Note: There are 10 quarterbacks here. 5 will make the team – 3 will make the traveling team, which means that they will participate in away games. The traveling team consist of 55 players. The entire roster is 100 men.
At practice he have to weigh in and out. This is done to ensure that we are eating properly – gaining the lbs that are lost with so many hours of training. Some of us, including me, forgot it on the first day. As a result, we were running sprints and did 190 pushups. I was so sore the morning after, but hey, no one has forgotten since.
After special teams we do pass skelly and then full team. At pass skelly every receiver gets about 4-5 reps. The same applies at full team. We live for those reps!
At the end of morning practice today the entire team had to do 100 yard strides – ”just” 6 of them. Haha...
11.00: Ice buckets, ice bath and ice bags
After practice, I need to ice down my schins. I have been told, that my legs needs two days of rest, but I don't really have time for that, so ice is my best friend. I wonder how I ever played without ice in the past. When I get back to Denmark, I'm gonna feel like an old man.
12.00: So hungry....
At noon, I meet my new lunch crew for lunch. It consist of a really cool dude, called Andy Sires ”The Virus”, a quarterback on the team, and Brett Benson, a sophomore cornerback.
Eating healthy food over here is not exactly easy, when the all-you-can-eat cantina presents you with hundreds of unhealthy choices. As we are practicing 6 hours a day the calories kill themselves, but if I don't make the team I should be careful not to turn into a lineman,
After lunch I have to sleep for an hour or two.
14.40: Icing down at the ATR.
Trying to numb my schins down as much as possible.
15.15: On the field again ready for practice.
This time there is no special teams. Instead we have individual groups, wide outs with quarterbacks, one on ones, individual groups again and then full team. Even though practice is three hours, it goes by in a swift tempo. I might not always be able to compete with all others on skills, but I am always the first on in and out of drills. I make sure to always hustle.
I had a really bad late practice. I simply couldn't think in the heat. It was 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 Celsius) which was bad – but it is the humidity that kills me. I simply couldn't recall any of my plays. Luckily, I have made some friends on the sideline that could help me out.
When I left the field, I kinda felt that I had played myself of the team.
18.00: Another ice batch, another ice bucket :)
19.00: Dinner in the cantina.
What had turned in to a bad day toke a turn for the better, when I finally sat down at dinner.
Apparently, the Dallas Cowboys had a scout out following the Dbs. As I have mentioned, we have a great cornerback, Derek Dreher, who has seen interest from both Seahawks and Dolphins. I have heard the talk about him and the NFL teams, but it was an awesome experience to have them up close. I had some really good one on ones beating a senior cornerback on a really good comeback route, so I was in a good mood after that.
Well, that's it for now... I will return with stories about water bottle eticket and team bowling.