Typical Day
Before the sun has risen, Hammer O'Thor wakes up. His muscles still ache from yesterday's training, and as per usual he had just woken from a dream in which he was also training. Can't escape it, not even in his sleep. He silently wishes his nighttime reps counted with his coaches, but no such luck. Dreams are for dreamers, but Hammer's a realist.
Hammer hops out of bed. His alarm shows an angry, red "6:00" in the dark room. He makes his way to the communal bathrooms, where he encounters a few other student-athletes: a footballer and cross-country runner. They greet each other by groaning and flailing their arms. To anyone else, this would seem rude, but they understand.
They understand completely.
After washing up, Hammer returns to his room to make himself some food. Breakfast usually consists of whatever he can shove into his mouth before the first workout of the day. This morning, he's managed to wake up early enough to make oatmeal. Excellent. Oversleeping meant cold oatmeal. Working out on a completely empty stomach's a good way to throw up: a delightful contradiction that never fails to amuse.
At 7:00AM, Hammer's already in the gym. Morning means strength and conditioning, which he had learned was coachspeak for, "We're going to find muscles you've never heard of and make them beg for mercy." He warms up in the empty gym taking a quick lap around the court.
After warming up, Hammer does static stretches. Not stretching is a surefire way to strain your muscles. He learned that the hard way. Hammer sits on the ground, brings the soles of his feet together, and presses down his legs with his elbow. The butterfly stretch. Hammer reminisces about his elementary school P.E. class. This used to be his favorite stretch.
Hammer then gets up and does a series of other stretches for twenty minutes. He stretches his shoulders, upper back, biceps, chest, hamstrings, and calves. When he's done, he feels as loose as a noodle: perfect for lifting weights.
He lifts for an hour, which he knows he'll regret for the rest of the day. Yep, every muscle in his body will be complaining before the end of the workout. As usual.
Hammer finally hits the shower. After drying off: time to eat. The joke in Lord of the Rings about second breakfast wasn't funny to him anymore. Either he ate again, or he might be dealing with a Donner Party situation. Hammer figures he'd probably get kicked out of school for eating just one professor, let alone several. He has to stick to the diet, though.
For post-workout, he needs lean protein. He whispers a tearful goodbye to bacon and gets himself a skinless grilled chicken breast, some more oatmeal, and enough fruit and nuts to choke a gorilla.
Hammer finishes up his bacon-less breakfast and heads to class. He has to find a way to concentrate over his groaning muscles. Luckily, he keeps snacks on him at all times to help carry him through until lunch.
In the late afternoon, after yet another snack of dried fruit and nuts, Hammer goes into the sports medicine training room. He always has a nagging injury or two. Today, it's his left knee (which had already been bothering him) and his throwing arm (which tweaks whenever he hits full extension). So the trainers work on him. He knows that he isn't going to be pain-free until the off-season. This session's just to get him through to the next day.
After yesterday's aches are taped, bound, and rubbed, it's time to make new ones. Evening practice is two solid hours. Hammer sometimes envies the guys who only run or only throw. But he was a decathlete, and that means he's doing all of the above.
Then again, they have to spend two hours doing only one thing. There probably aren't even names for the kinds of pain they're in.
He always looks forward to the ice bath at the end of the workout. There was a time when the thought of submerging himself in icewater horrified him. Now, it was the greatest treat in the world. The only thing to take the sting out of a hard workout.
The sad part is, his day's only just begun. He's still under a full class load, and it's not like his homework's going to do itself. But first, dinner. And then second dinner.