Got into the training ground on the first day raring to go. I’d been waiting for this moment for months, ever since I was offered my scholarship, and it was great to see all the lads again. We were off for quite a while so it was good to catch up with everyone and see what they’d been up to over the summer. A few of the lads had been to Magaluf for a week and had a right good crack. I wont repeat some of the stories I was told, not on here anyway!
Really wasn’t looking forward to the running today. We had been given an off-season programme to follow, which I had done religiously until the very last bit where it became too hard for me, so I wasn’t too bad. I’ve never been the greatest of runners, but I thought I’d done enough over the summer to ensure I was up there with the rest of the lads. I was completely wrong. In the first training session I struggled big time, we did five five-minute runs, which doesn’t sound to hard at all, but believe me it was torture. The best runner in the team lapped me, which was quite embarrassing to be honest. I was gutted. I thought I’d worked really hard over the summer with the programme to ensure I would be as fit as the other lads, obviously not.
I came in for dinner shattered and half asleep. I saw my goalkeeping coach for the first time and he told me to get a haircut because it was a mess. I had been for a trim two days previously! After our ice baths, (which our physio has made compulsory after every training session) it was back out for more running. This time though it was more sprint based work. The guys from University of Central Lancashire had come down with some timing equipment. I did reasonably well in the sprints, I wasn’t miles away like I was in the long distances so I was quite happy. We did seven fifty-metre sprints at the end which was a killer. When I got back to the digs after the first day I went straight to sleep until tea. I’ve never been as tired in my life! Me and a couple of the lads had a Pro-Evo tournament on my Xbox after tea, and I beat my mate Conchie in the final on penalties. This cheered me up because I was missing home already and I’d only been away for a day.
