July 23 to 29

This week was hell.

Awful.

Crappy sleep and then no time for anything but work and rugby. I mean ... the rugby wasn't that great either. Hot, humid and sticky ... and that was the rugby.

Meh, at least I got back to my house in one piece. It's a mess here and I'll have to spend the next few weeks cleaning the thing up. I'm not sure what the future holds for many, but I know I will be turfing a lot of stuff out of my house in the next four weeks.

Anyway, I made three sessions of rugby this week and had to hork down extra work like it was water in the desert. I made it through though ... and now ... the last two days have been cardio focussed ...two cardio sessions Sunday and Two on Monday.

2020 season has begun.

July 15 to 22

These were some lazy days, man. Well, sort of lazy.

I did hit all rugby sessions this week, despite it being a crazy hell week at work for the summer. I mean seriously stupid crazy. If I wasn't sleeping I was marking.

I did have physio and I also made progress on the knee. I got up on Wednesday and my knee was pain-free. I have started to wear the inserts in my cleats and that seems to be helping. That and Advil at night also helped to reduce swelling and encourage deeper sleep.

But training sessions on my own were reduced to some recovery sessions in the pool and ... well, that was it. No lifting, no running. I did go for a hike around my old stomping grounds at Centennial Park, but that was it, man. Rugby was personally disappointing, too.

I decided that I need to get through to the end of this session of work and then get back to jogging. I'm also planning a lot of physio during August, too. Don't think those two things are unrelated.

July 3 to 14

I missed posting last week. Hardly surprising as I've been so outlandishly busy. I got a call for summer school and I started on July 2.

I spent the rest of the time since then marking or planning where to mark. Or playing rugby. Or in a pool somewhere trying to get my legs to stop hurting. The pool workouts never show up on the Polar Loop device. Mah, what ever.

I did get a kettlebell workout or two done. I did run today. My knees responded very positively to the playing of rugby with the orthotic inserts in the cleats this past Saturday. I'll have to see how it feels after training on Tuesday.

I didn't get more than a few minutes on Saturday. I understand that I look and act hurt these days. Last Saturday in Oakville the Second XV got crushed and I only played a half in the heat. I did score the team's only try, though. In a moment of grossness I had to squeeze the water out of my jersey before someone else took my place on the field. I mean it "schleerped" off of me and it was completely soaked. Just gross.

It took me like three days to drink enough water to fully recover.

This weekend I did get on for a few minutes and we crushed their scrum. It was kind of an idiot move on our part as the game was in hand, but I was trying to steal their ball. It was a drag getting into the game that late. On the drive home, I had no time to brood, I'm glad to report. I had another guy in the car and he kept me from thinking too much. I was very grateful for that.

As I said earlier, I did a run today. Not much recovery needed this week.

I did do some workouts and I got a lot of steps done since July 3, thanks to moving around the classroom at work. I'm not sure if this is the healthiest summer on record for me, but at least I'm making bank and having fun. I'm looking forward to doing something totally silent in August.

I'm finding that waking up stupid early gives me more time to get more things done ... but it was also very nice to sleep in today and then take my daughters out for breakfast.

June 28 to July 2

June 28 and 29, just had to get through the days. Did morning walks and then tried not to freak out about work or family issues going on.

I finished the semester and got a call on Friday about summer school.

I don't have a lot of choice in the matter and so I spent the afternoon getting stuff ready for the following week. I spent the Saturday getting ink and things printed off ... and a laptop for the middle child. And then going to the Apple Store with the laptop to get it figured out.

Saturday night I got a float in and slept for nearly two hours in the pod. No, that was not a typo.

We got that done and I was still more than ready on Tuesday.

I've done all this before. I know the stresses and I know where the pitfalls are, man. Keep stress free as much as possible, be as pleasant as you can to everyone and make sure you get a walk or cardio session done in the morning.

I got a kettlebell or two in the car over the weekend and planned out tomorrow's early training and prep for work. I know what I am going to do now. And so ... all I have to do is perform.

Sunday and Monday I also got simple walks in, trying to get this freaking hamstring to work. Of course Tuesday I got to training and my hamstring went "Poiiiing" on a sprint and I walked it off. I had ice on it for a while. The trainer did nothing to help, which wasn't surprising. Alas, these things happen. I was so pissed off at my leg.

I went to have a pint and the wrong person was behind the bar, so I went to bed. Annoying people are legion.