A Life Less Ordinary

Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground

            I woke up Tuesday morning excited to see what the day would hold. Yesterday had been busy but fun. After try outs the guys had taken me to find food. At points it felt like they were having a contest to see if I would pick what they thought was the best mid-afternoon snack food. Joke was on them I ate anything and everything after practice. While they were feeding me, we talked about favorite foods. Luke loved anything sweet, which made North cringe. Gabriel hated French food. He wouldn't tell me why just that it had bad memories for him. Silas loved anything Greek, which was hard to argue with that choice, Greek food is delicious. Nathan liked anything made with fresh strawberries, had to be fresh and real strawberries not the weird artificial strawberry flavoring. North tended to eat clean, healthy but it sounded boring to me, oh wait, that was my current diet anyway. Kota had a strange fondness for hotdogs, mayonnaise and sugar on everything. He blamed it on street food, after watching some of the videos of Korean street food I believed him. I made a note to never let Kota pick where we ate. Victor loved Italian food, again I couldn't find a reason to disagree, I loved Italian food, Caprese salad was my favorite afternoon snack ever.

I admitted to the guys that my absolute favorite cheat meal was chocolate chip pancakes. When I told them that Luke started gloating and I could see North's blood pressure rising. I forestalled both with the quick explanation that I couldn't eat pancakes often so when I did, I made it worthwhile. Whole wheat flour, dark chocolate nibs, fresh fruit and unsweetened whipped cream, low sugar, high dietary fats and lots of fiber, good for me, worked to calm the cravings without adding too much refined sugar. North looked interested when I went through my pancake recipe. Luke on the other hand looked a little ill. I think he was hoping for another sugar fiend, which to be honest I was, I just wasn't in a place where I could indulge. After the season I'll eat my body weight in sugar and not regret anything but the massive stomachache I'll give myself.

I was really hoping North had some good ideas on changes to my diet, I was so bored with the one I'd been on for the last couple years. I hurried to get ready to hit the track. I wanted to have time to meet with Nathan and go through my conditioning exercises to see if anything else needed changing. I mixed up another smoothie and grabbed a handful of protein bars. I also sliced up some bananas, mixed them with frozen blueberries and packed them in a reusable container and filled a small container with almond butter. My meal box contained a variety of vegetable 'waters' as well. I grabbed an artichoke water. I'd never had it before but a few of my former teammates swore by it on conditioning days. I packed up my gym bag with indoor shoes, my snacks, a new training notebook, and all the paperwork I needed to turn in today. I had my gear bag ready to go, I wasn't going to have much time between my last meeting and practice.

My run went well. I was the most relaxed I'd ever been during the summer. Usually I start the new year feeling stressed after eight weeks of avoiding my parents' attention. Father was usually gone on business trips, so he was fairly easy to avoid. Mother on the other hand was a lot harder. If she was feeling well, I wasn't allowed out of my room. She didn't want to see me, ever. Trying to dodge her and stay ready for my season was a daily struggle. Just two days into my time here and I was starting to relax and feel comfortable. It felt like my heart was pumping in time with my music by the time I headed to the gym. It was flexibility day, yoga and stretching.

The lights were still off when I let myself into the gym. Apparently, I beat Nathan and Raven in this morning. I left my current conditioning regime on the desk and went to get started. There was a hallway that started at the end of the wall behind the check in desk, on the left were the changing rooms, at the end was a doorway that led into a dance and yoga studio. I couldn't dance to save my life, but barre workouts were great for working core strength and flexibility. I found the sound system and connected my phone. I loved classic ballet music for doing my barre exercises. I had classmates that liked contemporary music for their work out, but I figure this is as close to actually doing ballet as I will ever get so I wanted to use the right music. I admit it I'm a dork. Technically flexibility training wasn't part of my conditioning program. I'd found a year ago or so that if I improved my core strength and over all flexibility, my tackles were stronger, and it was easier to get into the right position without hurting myself.