Entry Eight: Day Seven

REST DAY!! Today was awesome I didn't have to run a single step and it was a much needed resting day. This week has been a long struggle but I am better for it. I'm glad it's over but I'm also glad I kept with it for the most part. Now that I know how hard it can be to work out rigorously maybes regular workouts will be easier to do now. It's been a good experience for me and I feel like it exposed me to a better lifestyle for myself. I probably won't keep up with working out this rigerously just because it is so time consuming and tiring.

Entry Seven: Day Six

I did a little better today. I got up and ran on my tread mill and did a lot of the work out at home. I went to the gym for a little to bike and stuff I couldn't do at home. The diet is still going strong too. All in all it's not as bad as I thought it would be, it seems to be getting easier but it still kinda sucks. I just want to eat my sour patch kids but that doesn't exactly fit the pro athlete diet.

Entry Six: Day Five

Day five. Back to slacking off. Only spent an hour at the gym today and was not productive at all because I wanted to go to the beach. I would feel guilty about it if I wasn't so exhausted. The diet is going well though, I ate a banana after the gym and grilled chicken for dinner. Today could have been better, but it could have been worse. At least I'm being productive enough to be horribly sore 100% of this week so far. Tomorrow will hopefully be better after I get extra sleeping in time in the morning.

Entry Five: Day Four

Today was a better day for me. I actually got up to run in the morning so there's a big step ahead from yesterday. So I met all of my requirements for the day on my workout schedule that I posted in the beginning! That would be the 2nd time in a whole 4 days that that happened. But all this activity has exhausted me...I fell asleep at 7:30 today and just woke up now. I have never napped before going to sleep ever. Weird. The diet went okay today. I ate an apple for lunch, strawberries for breakfast, chicken for dinner but it just went down hill.. I surrendered to my sour patch kids and just ate about 10 of them. Totally worth it.

Entry Four: Day Three

So today was day three of working out similar to a pro athlete and it just did not go very well. I think I had energy left over in me from the weekend on Monday and Tuesday but today felt impossible. I also feel guilty because I was not nearly productive enough today. I did not wake up to run this morning and I told myself I would just make up for it after school which proved to be an issue when I chose to go to the beach instead of the gym... I did go to the gym right after that at about 5:00, but I was on a tight schedule because I had to meet my dad for dinner at 6:15. So I ran for a little over a mile until my legs felt like they were going to fall off. Then I decided to go right to machine work and finish with biking. I was super productive today machine wise, I got around to everything I needed to do and even more so that was good. Sadly, I did not reach my 10 mile goal for biking today...not even close. I peddled a mere 3.5 miles because not only was I exhausted and my butt hurt from sitting on the bicycle seat, I was running out of my allotted time. So I finished with a quick stretch and had to leave. Today was not a very good gym day. I would say that today was definitely the low point of the week so far. It was just extremely difficult because I am so sore from the previous days. The diet is going well though, I think anyway. I ate a lot of pretzel sticks (instead of chips or cheezits) after school today as my pre-workout/beach snack. And for dinner I had half of a 6 oz. steak and vegetables and a salad. I don't eat past 8:00 because your metabolism slows down and that's pretty new for me. Tomorrow I have to be more productive even if it requires a great couple of doses of Advil because today was just not acceptable.

Entry Three: Day Two

So getting up again at 5:30 this morning was kind of awful. Before the start of this week I never had a true appreciation for that one extra hour. My morning run today was a lot harder than yesterday's because my muscles were so tired from yesterday, but I made it. I upped my machine work at the gym today and I am feeling it now. So after1.5 hours of biking another 10 miles, a lot of weight machines, crunches, squats and an awkward encounter with Mr. Terzian I finally left the gym to go home. Also, I have developed a new love/hate relationship with cool showers. Needless to say after today and yesterday I am pretty sore. As for the diet, I ate a bag of baby carrots and a banana as my after school and pre-workout snack and some pasta for dinner which is not exceptionally healthy but it could be worse. I'm also drinking a lot of milk which is pretty gross so that's a big adjustment for me. I have stayed away from a lot of the unhealthy foods in my pantry so far which is really hard with a box of thin mint girl scout cookies still in my freezer. All  in all I am pretty impressed with how well this project is going. I thought I was going to have an awful time and be unable to preform to my original standards, but it feels more rewarding than I thought it would so it sucks a little less at the end of the day.

Entry Two: Day One

Today was day one of being an off season pro soccer player and it was a tough day. I followed the schedule I posted on the first blog as exactly as I could. In the morning I only ran 1.5 miles but I finished the other .5 right after school in addition to biking 10 miles. Ten miles is a LOT longer than you think sitting on a stationary bicycle just peddling away and it was easily the most difficult task to complete today.  It took me a while to finish but I felt pretty accomplished when I was finally done. My stomach and leg muscles are so tight from all of the crunches and running that I've done today that it hurts to laugh. Tomorrow will be the ultimate test because I have to do it all over again still being sore from today. I can't say that I thought it would be easy but I didn't know it would be quite this difficult.

Entry One: Personal Reflection

For this project of a week in another person's shoes, I chose to take on the role of being a professional soccer player...in the off season of course, because actually kicking the soccer ball, attending practice and working with a team is not a possibility. I chose soccer specifically because I knew it would be a lot of running which is something that I was never horrible at but I wanted to get better. For this week, starting tomorrow, I will be following the rigorous off season workout schedule of a pro athlete as well as attempt to mock their diet (minus the ample amount of protein shakes). I know that this choice will have many ups, like getting more in shape, and many downs, like soreness and waking up extra early to get in a morning run; however, I look forward to the difficulties and I am optimistic of the experience to come. I chose to do the project on this because I like knowing that I will get something beneficial out of it when it is all over. After some research, I finally found a few good sources to take a weekly workout schedule from. Also, I did have to modify some of the original work out plan because my previous gym work outs have not been nearly as rigorous as a professional athletes, and I am obviously not a men's pro soccer player. So, with that in mind I decided on the following schedule:




Monday:

1. AM:
1. Morning run... 2 miles
2. Stretch...15 minutes
2. PM:
1. Bicycling...10 miles
2. Pushups... 5 sets of 20
3. Crunches...5 sets of 40
4. Squats...5 sets of 20
5. Bicep machine...3 reps of 15
6. Triceps machine...3 reps of 15
7. Stretch

Tuesday:

1. AM:
1. Morning run...2 miles
2. Stretch...15  minutes
2. PM:
1. Bicycling...10 miles
2. Squats... 5 sets of 30
3. Calf raises...5 sets of 30
4. Bicep machine...3 reps of 15
5. Triceps machine...3 reps of 15
6. Stretch

Wednesday:

1. AM:
1. Morning run...2 miles
2. Stretch...15 minutes
2. PM:
1. Bicycling...10 miles
2. Pushups...5 sets of 20
3. Crunches...5 sets of 40
4. Squats...5 set of 20
5. Bicep machine...3 reps of 15
6. Triceps machine...3 reps of 15 
7. Stretch

Thursday:

1. AM:
1. Morning run...2 miles
2. Stretch...15  minutes
2. PM:
1. Bicycling...10 miles
2. Squats... 5 sets of 30
3. Calf raises...5 sets of 30
4. Bicep machine...3 reps of 15
5. Triceps machine...3 reps of 15
6. Stretch

Friday:

1. AM:
1. Morning run...2 miles
2. Stretch...15 minutes

1. PM:
1. PM:
   1. Bicycling...10 miles
   2. Pushups...5 sets of 20
   3. Crunches...5 sets of 40
   4. Squats...5 set of 20
   5. Bicep machine...3 reps of 15
   6. Triceps machine...3 reps of 15 
   7. Stretch

Saturday:

1. AM:
1. Morning run...3 miles
2. Stretch...15  minutes
2. PM:
1. Bicycling...10 miles
2. Squats... 5 sets of 30
3. Calf raises...5 sets of 30
4. Bicep machine...3 reps of 15
5. Triceps machine...3 reps of 15
6. Stretch

Sunday:

1. REST DAY.

In addition to that schedule, I will also have to wake up an hour and a half earlier to run, stretch and shower before having to go to school. Over the course of a week (only 6 days because Sunday is a rest day) I have to run approximately 14 miles. Now that I have it all typed out it seems like this is going to be a real struggle...even more so than I thought originally.