First Match 13th April

It looks like the first match of the season is going to happen on April 13th. Hopefully the weather will improve over the next 2 weeks then. The prediction is for it to turn cold again in the next few days with possible sleet and rain. Going by all the fields around our way it's going to be pretty soggy and wet almost definitely slippery unless of course the rain holds off and Blackshots has really good drainage?

This means I'm definitely going to have to do some exercises and running cos I still haven't got into any of that at all and I'm still slightly concerned that my calf muscle isn't fully recovered as it still feels taught if strecthed. I'm going to try and get out there and do something this evening and see how it goes. It seems at the momen the slightest little bit of running and my muscles ache, so I need to do something.

Spoke to Richard at work and he's saying that he'll be up for playing in a couple of weeks time, I reckon once the weather gets better some of the old team will be willing to get out and have a go.

Later.....

W'hey I did it! This evening I got in from work and now with a date of April 13th for our first match I got off my Butt put some trainers on and shorts (It's summer now in my head) and went out in the pouring rain and mud and did some training! Did some stretches on my calf muscle first and took it easy to start with.So what did I do? Well this is what I did.....I got two stumps and one of my famous hockey balls (Waterproof). I set the stumps a fair distance apart -40 yards and then threw the ball "Paul Collingwood style" (See BBC skills video) aiming to hit the single stump. Needless to say it goes way past the stump and then you run after the ball retrieve it and then throw it back to the other stump which now with the over-throw is 50-60 yards away - run after that retrieve and throw ad infinitum. Then every fourth run sprint as fast as you can and then keep that up for 20 minutes non stop.Admittedly an old bloke like me had to have a walk around once or twice - I haven't done any running since last september, but I reckon I did quite well. What I was impressed with though was the Paul Collingwood throwing technique. For one I didn't pull any muscles and secondly I couldn't believe how accurate I was! If there's been three stumps I reckon I'd have hit them a few times, so that was really encouraging. So well done the BBC and Paul Collingwood - that's a nice little video you've got there!Once in I did some rotator cuff exercise and a few planks of different varieties and some of those press ups where you twist and raise a lifted arm above your head, which look hard but came really easy. So a good start - I'll see how I get on tomorrow!