Monday, January 12, 2009
The Ultimate Training Interruption
After doing only non-contact and low-impact exercise for a month I returned to the ultimate frisbee fields on Sunday for a winter league game. My body has still not forgiven me.
It was a long, hard, and exciting game - we took almost 3 hours to pull off a 17-15 comeback win - and my team didn't have any female subs so I was on the field for the entire time. As usual I had numerous collisions with the ground as I dove after discs, and I also had two collisions with defenders, though they actually fared worse than I did. It was a great game overall but there were several points where I knew I should have pushed myself harder. When I woke up the next morning, however, I realized that if I had pushed myself any harder I probably still wouldn't be able to walk.
Everything hurts. Well, that's not entirely true. My forehead, stomach, and calves feel okay. But everything else hurts, from my sore neck to my blood-blistered toes. Any movement is awkward and painful, including walking and tying my shoes. I've been in more pain before from ultimate but that was after multiple day tournaments, not a single game. This is ridiculous. I feel like I've been pummeled all over, which I guess is pretty accurate. I need a new playing style. I'm apparently getting old.
This one game of ultimate has also cost me three or four training days. I didn't bike on Saturday because I was due for a rest day and I wanted to be fresh for the game. I didn't bike on Sunday because after waking up early, driving for three hours, and then playing frisbee for three hours I couldn't drag myself to the gym. I planned to bike today but then I woke up and could barely move. And I probably won't bike tomorrow because I would need to do so in the morning and I doubt I'll feel better by then. I know that I should be learning to ride through serious pain since I'll have to do it when we head across the country, but I'm not convinced that all of my pain is normal soreness and I don't want to do anything (else) stupid. Plus Kyle made me promise. (I knew I should have come up with an excuse for the groans of pain I made on the phone...)
This conflict brings me to a critical question: Would I give up ultimate for cycling? A month ago I would have laughed at the question, and I'm still pretty sure that the answer is No. But I'm coming to realize that I will have to give up ultimate temporarily, cut back or stop completely as the trip date approaches. I can't train properly if I'm in this much unrelated pain, and I also can't risk a serious injury (like the ankle sprains that I seem to sustain about every other year) within a month or two of our departure. I'm glad that cycling is becoming addicting because ultimate will be incredibly hard to give up, especially as the weather gets nicer and the green fields start calling my name.
It was also rather depressing to watch my New Year's Resolution flounder after only one successful week: it would take quite a push to make this a 100 mile week and I don't know when I'll be able to do proper upper body lifting. Then again, according to the book I'm reading on long distance cycling I should never have tied myself to a weekly mile goal. Monthly goals are healthier and more flexible. Sounds good to me: my new goal is to ride 400 miles by the end of January, which will almost get me to the end of the challenge. Hopefully I can accomplish that goal while still playing ultimate once or twice a week. And hopefully I can walk up the stairs normally tomorrow. Small goals are important too.
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| posted at: 11:40 |
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