So I played football yesterday and hoped to put my new found fitness to good use playing 6 a side. Bearing in mind I’ve put on over 3 stone in lockdown I think I should have been a bit more cautious going into the game. I did a warm up run fully expecting my new found fitness to see me through and perhaps even be fitter than most.
How wrong can you be? My lungs continue to be an issue and I was short of breath and wheezy from the word go. Also nobody else seemed to have put on weight in lockdown and even the guy who had the heart attack last year and heart bypass op had lost weight and seemed lean and fit. Mind you, he plays exclusively in goal.
Within a few minutes I had tweaked a calf muscle and I was now worried that the injury would play havoc with my running let alone being able to play football. The other side had 3 young and very fit lads and my team were soon 6.0 down and I was feeling like it was all my fault. We changed the teams around after people took pity on me and I went in goal as the other team didn’t have a dedicated keeper. The best player had also swapped teams and now my new team was under the cosh. However, the 6 goal advantage my new team already had told in the end but only by a single goal.
I managed to get through the game but felt humiliated and useless. There is a guy who is in his late 60s who plays regularly and even he seemed fitter than me. However, rather than beat myself up it dawned on me that as bad as that game was for me, imagine how much worse it would have been if I hadn’t been doing the running! I shudder to think!
In conclusion I need to get the weight down and continue with the running at all costs. I also maybe need to get better at stretching and looking after my aching muscles. Perhaps it’s inadvisable to play football the day after a run but I know that I’ll continue to play unless I really do myself a mischief. I’ve been walking around today and I can feel the injury but it’s not bad. However, I anticipate that I won’t be able to do Week 6 Run 2 until Wednesday at the earliest. I have been thinking that the running will help my football and I’m sure it will but my breathing difficulties are either due to the fact that I did have the virus in February and my lungs are still recuperating or the weight combined with being asthmatic are making me feel less fit while playing my favourite sport.
A cautionary tale then. I need to stretch after running more so I don’t tweak more muscles. I do know that in a few months I’ll have a decent level of fitness despite my lung problems.
1st run
That maybe it for a while
Starting the couch to 5k challenge tonight!
W7R2 - running after injury
Just starting
