Thursday Practice
Full team scrimmage x 2 hours
I played about an hour and 15 mins
Saturday Scrimmage
Four 20 minute periods of A side vs B side
Followed by 20 minutes of B side vs new guys
I played all but the second 20 minute period, this was because halfway through the first period I heard/felt my ankle pop. Luckily there was nothing wrong. Playing all those periods was exhausting to say the least, though. It felt like I played rugby for 3 hours, because I did.
As far as my performance, I felt like I wasn’t involved enough. I need to be at the breakdown and around the ball more.
[quote]theBird wrote:
So where exactly is the pain in your ankles?
tweet[/quote]
Pretty much all over. My peroneal muscles and ligaments are weakened; mostly from a car wreck (in which I tore 3 ligaments in my right ankle), although my flat feet don’t help (these feet have given me shin splints for the last 5 years).
When my ankles are acting up, it will hurt worse to go into dorsiflexion. Going down stairs takes forever the day after a match.
I will say they have been feeling a lot better lately. The rehab, stretching, and laying off of wednesday practices have really been helping
One of my ankles is pretty messed up as well. Bone spurs, floating bones, loose ligaments, tendonitis…
Something I found really helps is rolling the plantar fascia with a baseball and a PVC pipe and then doing bodyweight calf raises. Im talking 3 sets of 20. I do this before I do anything.
tweet
[quote]theBird wrote:
One of my ankles is pretty messed up as well. Bone spurs, floating bones, loose ligaments, tendonitis…
Something I found really helps is rolling the plantar fascia with a baseball and a PVC pipe and then doing bodyweight calf raises. Im talking 3 sets of 20. I do this before I do anything.
tweet[/quote]
I roll mine occasionally with a golf ball. I stretch my calves and do “ankle circles” a few times a day
Monday Training
DB Bench- 35’sx10, 45’sx10, 55’sx13
Squat- 185x5, 205x5, 235x5
Chest Supported Rows- 3x10-15
GHR- 3x7 with bodyweight
Knee Raises- 3x10
Run/Walk for 10 mins
Pool/Hot tub for 20 mins
Tons of rehab
Lifting went very well today. This was one of those sessions where it seems like I could lift all day and not get tired. Conditioning sucked. The shin splints were killing me. We added some rehab to the regimine to address this problem. I need to go buy some arch support for my shoes.
Tuesday Practice
Stretch/warm up
Conditioning Test
B’s/C’s scrimmage (A’s worked on other stuff)
Roster announced
So today they announced who the guys would be on the A side for this week’s game, both the starters and the reserves. They went off and worked on some technical stuff (lineouts, back plays, etc). Then the rest of us had a scrimmage for about an hour and a half. The coaches rotated players on the different teams to mix it up several times, which I think is a good thing, since everyone needs to play with everyone.
I did pretty well in the scrimmage, was a lot more involved (which is what I was trying to improve since last weekend’s scrimmage) and my tackling was decent. Not great, but it’s getting better. I didn’t get to run the ball that much, but we weren’t really able to run set offensive plays as there were a lot of new guys playing who aren’t familiar with them yet.
Wednesday Practice
It was storming, so we watched film of the scrimmages for 2 hours
Thursday Training and Practice
Press- 85x5, 95x5, 105x5
DB Rows- 45x10, 60x10, 70x13
Situps- 15,10,10
Practice- touch 7s, worked on scrums, more touch 7s
The weight on press felt lighter than I expected it to feel, as most of my other lifts have taken the normal 10% drop. Practice wasn’t very physically demanding, which was nice because the last few weeks have been brutal.
Match Report From Saturday
So Saturday was the first game of the spring season, as well as the first game of conference play. Our first opponent was a huge one, they’re the reigning conference champs, made it to nationals last year (only 16 teams go) and were ranked #6, and we were playing on the road.
A-side:
The A side guys played great, they were really in control the whole match. A few penalties in our own 22 which lead to kicks, as well as a horrible call that resulted in a try for the other team, and a try on the last play of the game kept the score close, but we dominated.
Final score: Us 35- Them 28
B-side:
The B side game went pretty much the same as the A side game. We were in control the entire match, despite them having rolling subs.
I think the score was 38-25, but it could’ve been different. We won by a few possessions.
C-side:
The new guys got to play their first match, after 3-4 weeks of practice, against a division 2 men’s team. They all played well and got the experience they needed.
I think the final scored was 4 tries to 1, but it doesn’t really matter.
Personally, I played the entire B match. The first half I played 2nd row, and for the second I played 8 man. I was really gassed in the first half, after 20 mins I felt like death, but in the second half I never got tired. I think I kill myself by still trying to run around like a loose forward when I’m at 2nd row, and that is impossible as the scrums take way too much out of you.
All in all, I think I played fairly well. I made a lot of tackles, rucks, a few runs, etc. I almost scored twice as well.
Monday Training and Conditioning Practice
DB Bench- 35x10, 45x10, 55x15
Squat- 195x3, 225x3, 250x3
Lat Pulls- 3x10-15
Situps- 3x10-15
Practice- Touch 7s, conditioning, 100 burpees
The last set of squats felt heavy today, hopefully it’s just a tough day and not a sign of my squat taking an even bigger dive.
For practice, the coaches are now trying to have a conditioning only practice on Mondays, and eliminate the Wednesday practice, which I’m all for.
I did the running stuff the team was doing for a while until my ankles/shins starting bothering me. Then I did 100 burpees.
Tuesday Practice
Started off with the usual warmup/stretching
Ran 8 sprints, apparently the team was talking too much
1 on 1 rucking drill
Passing/Hands drill
2 on 1 tackling drill
Forwards vs Forwards scrimmage
20 minutes of conditioning
Wednesday Training
Warm up/Stretching
Bench- 145x3, 165x3, 185x3
GHR- BWx 9,8,7
Chins- 25
Abs- 4 sets
Thursday Practice
It was raining for most of the day, so the fields were closed. Instead we all went to the gym as a team and did a bunch of random conditioning.
Most of the team ran for pretty much the whole time, I did some running and walking until my ankle started acting up.
Also, everyone on the team rowed 1000 meters as fast as possible on a row machine and the times were recorded. I did pretty decent with 3:30, which surprised me because 1-I’ve never used a rowing machine before and 2-my back was sore from those chins on wednesday.
The best time on the team was 3:15, with most of the team between 3:25 and 3:45
After practice I sat in the hot tub/pool for 20 minutes.
Match Recap from this weekend
For the C side and B side games, we played the local men’s team. The C side played a half, then the B side played a half.
The C side lost 0-10, B side lost 10-17.
Again, these results aren’t really a big deal, since we have a lot of guys that this was their second game ever, and most of the guys on the men’s team have been playing 10 plus years.
I played the B side half at #8, and I’m really starting to like the position. I hope I’m actually doing what I’m supposed to do, since I kind of just got thrown into it, but I feel like I’m playing well. I’m also in MUCH, MUCH better shape when I’m playing this versus 2nd row.
The A side played another conference game. This team took us to overtime last year (my first game on A side), even though we were definitely the better team. We knew we would have to be disciplined and execute well to beat them.
The guys played a very good game, despite some pretty bad refereeing, and won this game 44-26.
We’re now 2-0 and in sole possession of 1st place in our division.
There was also a good sized crowd for us at the game, probably 80-100 people. I don’t think they really knew what was going on, but they gave the team a great ovation after we won. This was pretty awesome and I hope it continues.
Sunday Recovery
Jog a lap, Static/dynamic stretching x2
Hot tub/Pool for 20 minutes
Monday Lifting and Conditioning Practice
Lifting:
Stretch/warm up
DB Bench- 35x10, 45x10, 55x17
Squat- 205x5, 235x3, 265x1
Chins- 25
Abs- 3 sets
Conditioning Practice:
Stretch/warm up
Incline sprints on treadmill x15 minutes (this was 20 secs on, 40 secs off)
Tuesday Practice
Warm up/stretching
4 different drills, most of them focusing on tackling and rucking
10 v 10 scrimmage, half tackling but full rucking
Tonight’s practice was hard hitting, it was raining, and it was muddy. My arms and legs are cut up and bruised.
Wednesday Lifting and Recovery
Warm up/stretching
Press- 85x3, 100x3, 110x3
GHR- 3x8,7,7
DB Rows- 45x10, 55x10, 70x15
Abs- 3 sets
Hot tub/pool for 20 minutes
Thursday Practice
Warm up/stretching
Conditioning
Worked on Lineouts
Worked on Offloads
Team scrimmage, non contact
Fairly light practice today, mostly working on being in the correct positions and not so much on the hitting. Should be ready to go by Saturday.