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.

June 19 to 27

So Tuesday I pulled the chute on rugby training ... the knee just wasn't having it. Too puffy and too sore. So, I went anyway and tried to be helpful.

I don't think I was very helpful, but at least I tried.

The rest of the week was in the pool at Cedar Springs ... well, I mean the training part of the week. I wish I could have spent this week sprawled on the side of this pool.

There were morning and afternoon sessions, depending on the day. Lots of walking, rolling and stretching of the legs, hips, shoulders and back.

I've started working with a trainer and saw a physio in order to get my summertime experiences covered by insurance. Should be at least cheap for me.

Thursday was the exam night for the ASL class and so I headed home instead of to the rugby field afterwards. Meh, I'm glad it's done. I look forward to working on expanding my knowledge of ASL.

Saturday was not a good day - I didn't even make it through the warm-up before the knee let me know not to play. It was too sore and it was threatening to make me feel even worse. I sat myself.

Recovery sessions have been all this week ... on land and in the water. I'm back to thinking that I can start to run soon. I'll check that out tomorrow or Saturday. Man, it's going to be Canada Day soon.

And ... yeah. This was a tough year, man.

June 11 to 18

Tuesday June 11 was a long rugby training session, as a number of activities for my kids are finally over. I got a white board session done which helped a little with "the system".

The next few days were rough ones for my knees and hamstrings. I was selected to start second xv front row on Saturday. I'm glad to report we won all of our set piece - scrums and line outs. Throws were on and the timing was ok. I did get a few touches on the ball. The game was also won.

I left right after the game to get my kid home from a swimming event, left to go for a coffee, then had to go pick up another kid and take them to a different event. Then I got to do some swimming and water recovery. Sunday was the same. My legs and knee was sore and puffy. I wasn't sure what to do in the water other than roll the muscles, stretch, walk and jump. I did have a six-year-old yell at me that I shouldn't be splashing in the outdoor pool at Cedar Springs. I stopped and waited for him to leave ... and went back to splashing.

Puffiness continued Monday and Tuesday, too. Lots of icing and Advil to try and get the swelling down. I approached the Athletic Trainer at the Rugby Club, They chuckled when I asked them to look at a sore knee/hamstring combo.

As I write this on Wednesday morning, Hamstring is better but the knee is still puffy. Meh, let's see what the day brings.

June 3 to June 10

The early morning cardio continues.

Most days this week it was 25 minutes of straght cardio with one or two days of kettlebells/cardio HITT workouts. Rolling and stretching in the pool are great additions to this excellent habit.

After the game on Saturday, went to Cedar Springs and got into the pool. Did something very strange to my left ankle and it was sore for a few hours. I woke up on Sunday, thinking I was going to be moving badly and ... it was fine. Weird. Someone commented that it was a sign of arthritis. Great.

Need to keep moving. And stretching.

Nutrition is marginally better with a focus on soup and healthier options. Salads and lots of water for lunches.

Saturday was an away game in Barrie. We had the lead when I went on and got up a number of points but blew it with missed tackles and an inability to hold the ball and go into contact. We had to kill the clock and we just couldn't get that done. Shame, really.

At least we got the bonus points and we saw the system work when we held onto the ball. It looked slick, man. Seriously. I still do need a white board session with someone with a lot more experience with this system than me. And I need for the ASL class to be over and get back to two training sessions a week.

The other guy played for Barrie this weekend. Shame, really.