By: Emily Nassi (University of Delaware)
Follow Emily on Twitter
In about a week or so, after having relaxed all summer, I will be thrown back into the routine of being a student-athlete in a Division I sport. Here’s what a typical day as a member of the rowing team in the fall looks like.
5:30 a.m. Hear alarm clock go off. Throw myself on the floor in hopes that I’ll either wake myself up, or knock myself out long enough to miss lifting.
5:55 a.m. Silently hope that weight lifting coach doesn’t show up.
5:56 a.m. Hopes shattered.
6:00 a.m. to 6:50 a.m. Warm up, then lift and ab work. Wishing I had trained more over the summer because everything really hurts.
6:55 a.m. Watch my legs visibly shake as we finish up with wall sits. Try not to slide all the way down the wall.
7:00 a.m. All done! Feel all those endorphins come out and suddenly have tons of energy.
7:15 a.m. Shower, eat, nap. I can only pick two of the three. Go with shower and eat and figure I can nap later.
9:05: a.m. Get to my first class. Gulp down my large coffee and wish I had went with nap instead of eating.
10:30 a.m. Trying my hardest to let keep my eyes open.
11:45 a.m. Eat a huge lunch that I didn’t really need, but figure it won’t matter with this mornings work out.
12:15 p.m. Go back to my room and attempt to get work done. Get really distracted, but luckily, I’m an English major. Nonetheless, these papers don’t write themselves, so I write a few more paragraphs before getting distracted again.
2:00 p.m. Head on over to the trainer for some awesome cold whirlpool and rehabbing for my sprained ankle. Swap injury stories with various other UD athletes.
3:30 p.m. Get on the bus to go to Wilmington, DE, where our boathouse is. Pass out as soon as the bus starts moving.
3:50 p.m. Arrive at boathouse in the middle of the worst part of Wilmington. Get all our equipment out, stretch.
4:15 p.m. Get out on the water. Unsurprisingly, it’s raining. Hard. Try to keep the water out of my eyes.
5:50 p.m. Get off the water, really soggy, really tired, and shockingly, all I want to do is sleep.
6:45 p.m. Arrive back at campus at run to the dining hall, just before it closes. There’s no food left. We eat it anyway because it doesn’t matter.
7:30 p.m. Go to work. Lifeguarding gets boring but money is always nice.
9:00 p.m. Trudge home. When I get there, hop in the shower again, and try to relieve the soreness in my entire body.
9:30 p.m. Go on Facebook instead of doing my reading for class.
10:30 p.m. Go to bed because I am just that lame. And that tired. Relish the fact that I can sleep in a whole 3 hours later tomorrow. Yes, 8:30 becomes sleeping-in in the life of a college athlete.
