Back On The Pitch

It took me a while to get to sleep last night. I was getting a bit excited about being allowed to warm up with the team playing Canada today!

Now for those of you who know me you'll know my feelings on warm ups! I really believe that what you do in your mind to be ready is the most important before a game, physiologically there is clearly a need but it doesn't mean I enjoy it. I often wonder how many warm ups I've done in my lifetime: in the last week I've done 12, which is quite typical, so that multiplied by the number of training weeks and years I’ve been playing it must be getting close to tens of thousands. This surely makes my feelings on warm ups more understandable, today’s warm up though was a special one.

One thing I’ve not mentioned up until now is the role of nutrition on my recovery. This is something I’m extremely conscious of anyway as over the years I’ve learnt to appreciate the impact it can have on performance. The last two weeks have been particularly crucial; due to the increase in training my susceptibility to illness has also increased, and getting ill was something I couldn’t afford to happen. Supplements have played their part: fish oils, vitamin C, creatine, beetroot juice, cherry active are all things I wouldn’t normally take but my nutritionist wanted to not leave any stone unturned.

Daily supplements which have massively helped my recovery

I know I won’t get any sympathy for this comment but one of the hardest challenges for me has been to get enough calories in! I’ve been getting up early to make smoothies, and eating snacks left, right and centre to get the right amount of carbohydrates and protein. I’m a really slow eater though and sometimes there just isn’t enough time for me to eat enough food. It did at one point take me back to my U21 England days, when the coach would force me to stay at breakfast and eat toast against my will. I’d sit there for ages, chewing away, trying to get it down me and I hated it.

I definitely feel better and very strong for all the calories. A few test results have shown that my legs have grown in size by two to three centimetres in diameter and I’m more powerful because I can jump higher. Even though I know it will be tough, this is really encouraging for when I return to hockey this week.

I’m obviously looking forward to returning to the group and joining in training for the first time since February. It will be weird to be back as my identity for the last eight weeks has been as a rehab athlete, where I’ve been in control of my own training, working with a small group of professionals who have all done all they can to help me and I’ve become comfortable within that environment. Now I need to change to being a hockey player again, getting my astro shoes on, checking I’ve got my stick, shin pads and gum shield. I’ve worked incredibly hard to be here at this point in time and this is the time to not let up and keep pushing on.

Keep My Head Up; Keep My Heart Strong

Whenever I go on twitter I will often see one of the FIH’s (International Hockey Federation) tweets counting down the days to the World Cup. The excitement for the tournament is building, but in all honesty whenever I catch a glimpse of it I get a sickening tug in the pit of my stomach.

FIH World Cup Countdown

Today’s countdown says there’s forty days to go which is still a great deal of time to for me to make huge strides forward. That’s just less than six weeks away, and with how things are going I really believe I can be fit in time. To be at the World Cup though I need to get selected into the team; and that date comes much sooner. Everyday I tell myself to keep fighting and put myself in the strongest position possible, ignoring that feeling in my stomach as much as I can.

I’ve had one hell of a week: it’s seen me go from just starting to run, to doing hockey-running sessions, 1 v 1’s and sprinting on the treadmill at altitude. The hockey-running sessions involve different types of movement you’d expect to see on the pitch like tackling, passing and dribbling which were interspersed with the hard yards including accelerations and decelerations, which is the thing that really takes it out of you. It felt so good to get a stick in my hand and instead of any chocolate eggs this year, my gift on Easter Sunday was to do some 1 v 1’s.

I’ve also completed four killer running sessions and two hideous bike sessions at an altitude of 3000m: the equivalent of the third of the way up Mt. Everest. We are very lucky to have a chamber at Bisham Abbey and the resident EIS (English Institute of Sport) physiologist Luke Gupta, has kindly agreed to oversee my intense two week programme which will hopefully speed up my adaptation and accelerate my fitness, so when I get back onto the pitch I’ll be better able to cope.

At that altitude, because there is less oxygen in the air, the sessions have definitely tested my mental reserve. It starts to become very easy to question whether this is all worth it. The answer is always yes and always will be. Having the opportunity to get in the altitude chamber to speed all this up does give me a lot more hope.

Unfortunately I’ve never been blessed with a great deal of natural speed, strength or endurance. I’ve always had to work extremely hard on this part of my game. Not surprisingly it probably wasn’t until I endured two years of rehab between 2003-2004 after my perineal tendon ruptured, requiring three operations, when I really learnt how to train properly.

Back then rehab taught me how to: set goals, short cuts don’t exist and how to push myself physically. On the pitch I always played with a great deal of passion, but that didn’t necessarily transfer to the fitness sessions. I personally believe that knowing how hard you can work in a sporting context is something that’s learnt. Some learn quickly, others a bit longer. Inevitably for some, they never get there. Of course being told by one consultant that I would never play hockey for England or Great Britain again, made me realise how much I wanted it and more determined than ever.

Back in the chamber Luke has been measuring my lactate levels, so between each set he’ll stab my ear and milk my lobe to collect my blood for testing. He’s even been monitoring my sleep with the use of a device I wear on my wrist. This recognises movement and so can tell how many hours sleep I get each night, which is massively important in how well I recover between sessions.

Sleep Monitor

Mentally it’s getting tougher as the final preparations are starting to take place. The team hockey sessions have occasionally been tough viewing; my main aim is to keep up with everything tactically and to not become isolated by contributing whenever I can. That will be even more important as we now approach a period of match play against various visiting nations.