Today is the third official day of preseason. As always, it's a tough grind but necessary and worth it. We started Saturday morning at 6:15 am with the timed mile. As the first official practice, many were nervous and excited to get this season going. We all lined up on the track and had to run a mile faster than 5:20. Personally I think this is an extremely fast pace for the whole team, but coach has high fitness standards for us. Since last year's preseason, it's been my goal to get less than 5:00 on the mile and "Champions Club Level" where I missed it by one second last year. Anyway, I went out flying on the mile and paced my group out. I hit the first lap at 1:07, which would be a 4:28 pace, but just tried to hold on to that pace for a brutal three more laps and finished the mile at 4:57. I felt extremely accomplished after completing that mile since it's been one of my goals for over a year now. One senior ended up passing me just on the last lap for a 4:55 mile time, but I came in second overall and only one of three to get under five minutes. We continued after that with a regular practice. Everyone came out flying and motivated and it was a solid practice. Later that day we had another session, and those two-a-days are just grueling, but due to my training and fitness, I played well, and the coaches are pleased with my play.
Then on Sunday we woke up bright and early again to hit the turf to run our second fitness test, the Beep Test. This is a series of 22 yard runs back and forth having to beat a programmed "beep" which increases in speed with different levels. Level 14 is the "Champions Club Level" and around level 9 I started to get tired, but at that point, it's mostly mental and eventually there were only three of us left at level 14, and the other two quit at 14-1, while I pushed it for the last sprint to win the fitness test at a level of 14-2. According to these tests, I am the most fit member of the squad and I am very proud of that. Shows that my hard work pays off. No one else is in the running for the Champions Club except me now, and I hope to "come into Paris with the yellow jersey." Anyway we followed that with another practice, a break and then another session in the afternoon with mass at 6pm. Unfortunately in the afternoon session we played full field and I tried to cut on the baseline, and rolled my ankle pretty bad. The trainer said it is a minor sprain which is disappointing but not as bad as it could've been considering I've rolled that ankle a couple of times now. I iced/Advil alot and chose to sit out today's (Monday) first session. I would rather rest now and make it better than hurt it a lot worse and impact the rest of my season. I am going to try and give it a run tonight's session but we'll see how it holds up.
So that's about it. The coaches have seen that I am fit, and I feel pretty confident with my starting role at left mid. As long as this ankle heals relatively fast, I am looking at starting on Wednesday for our first scrimmage against Chestnut Hill College. Besides, soccer I haven't been up to much. I basically eat, sleep, and play soccer. I've been filling my time with some light reading and movies with the boys. I am really enjoying my own room this year in our new dorm and am looking forward to the rest of my roommates moving in on Saturday.
So that's about it for now. Hopefully this ankle can sort itself out!
-TZ
