The Ref Stop

Pre-Season Training

Big Cat

Big Cat

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Level 4 Referee
This may vary by a week or so either way, but 8 weeks until the 24/25 season kicks-off for NLS Refs

Thought it worth starting a thread to discuss pre-season training activity / ideas etc...

I've been nursing some overuse injury (aching pains, but nothing that stops activity), so I took a week off before x-training over the last 4 weeks. Gym and swimming has entirely replaced running over the last month and I've intentionally been taking it easy

Looking to resume a bit of low load/intensity running as of tomorrow, which I'll build up towards the start of the season. My primary goals are to pass the fitness test (timed sprints) (which I assume I will hopefully) and to lose half a stone to offset hitting the big 50 last month. There were a few games last season in which I was working hard, but knackered (when it was hot weather in particular)

As usual, I won't engage in many pre-season friendlies... typically one middle / one line (late July)
 
The Ref Stop
I'm about 5 sessions into my pre-season.

Currently all Pitch Based HIIT, just to try and build on existing stamina, and maintain the improvements I've made over the last season. Ultimately testing myself by running the fitness test, but doing other timed runs etc. to benchmark myself.

Once my schedule eases up, I'll likely try and get in the gym for Strength & Conditioning too.
 
I've been incorporating some short hill sprints in to my long runs to try and help the sprinting part of my game. Could do with some S&C too!
 
I've been doing OK, ticking along. Few aims for the rest of the year from a 5k / 10k and looking to continue to reduce my Body Fat % (26.8% in January, down to 19.3% the start of this month) and incorporating hill sprints / box to box runs as part of my usual exercise.

Was all going great, then tweaked my calf earlier this week on a Bouncy Castle of all places!! (There's a joke in there somewhere I'm sure)
 
Alongside my normal running/running club I've started to arrange group sessions with local referees. Had a couple of sessions now.
We've done a pitch base high intensity run and for level 4s and above the email that the FA sent we did session 2 which was a a tough old session.
 
Id back up what @JamesL is saying. Running with a group is the best advice I could give to maintain fitness.
I do a couple of interval sessions with my running club each week - having company always helps and you definitely get dragged along by faster people.
I'm 43 and set my mile PB on Wednesday (4m47s) so it seems to be working for me!
 
Went jogging for the first time in over a month. Knee ached afterwards. Self-diagnosed degenerative meniscus injury. I've had an arthroscopy on the same knee for an acute minor meniscus tear a decade ago and x-ray shows no sign of arthritis. It's the only diagnosis that fits because some people with this injury are able to continue with running activities, albeit with aching afterwards. By far my biggest concern for next season is age related injury and fitness. Over quite a short period of time, my mindset has gone from one of promotion aspiration, to simply maintaining active L4 status.
The knee thing is not a showstopper as it ain't arthritis and all ligaments are in-tact. It's just reflective of age-related setback and disadvantage
 
Big Cat said:
Went jogging for the first time in over a month. Knee ached afterwards. Self-diagnosed degenerative meniscus injury. I've had an arthroscopy on the same knee for an acute minor meniscus tear a decade ago and x-ray shows no sign of arthritis. It's the only diagnosis that fits because some people with this injury are able to continue with running activities, albeit with aching afterwards. By far my biggest concern for next season is age related injury and fitness. Over quite a short period of time, my mindset has gone from one of promotion aspiration, to simply maintaining active L4 status.
The knee thing is not a showstopper as it ain't arthritis and all ligaments are in-tact. It's just reflective of age-related setback and disadvantage
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why not get the knee done?

Ive had 4 athroscopies ( both twice) and it definitely helped.

Last time i was fully functioning 3 to. 4 weeks later (5 years ago)
 
Kent Ref said:
why not get the knee done?

Ive had 4 athroscopies ( both twice) and it definitely helped.

Last time i was fully functioning 3 to. 4 weeks later (5 years ago)
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I will do
Betcha any money my diagnosis is right. Not only do I know everything about refereeing, I'm also a budding Physiotherapist and walking MRI machine.
I played golf the day after my previous arthroscopy. Recovery time was basically nil
I have private health insurance, so just a question of when to get it looked at / fixed

Point being though, it will no doubt interfere with pre-season training (which I can't really afford), or I'll miss a bit of the new season. Or I may just get culled by the timed sprints as the injury perhaps stops me sprinting 100% as I only feel it when going full speed. Aches afterwards though
 
Kent Ref said:
why not get the knee done?

Ive had 4 athroscopies ( both twice) and it definitely helped.

Last time i was fully functioning 3 to. 4 weeks later (5 years ago)
Click to expand...
It isn't necessarily that straight forward. When I had keyhole surgery 10 years ago the plan was to trim away the loose cartilage and then do microfracture, which puts holes in the knee which cause blood clots that eventually turn into a kind of replacement cartilage (I've probably over simplified that somewhat 😂). When the surgeon came to see me after I'd woken up he said that once he'd gone in he'd found that the damage was much worse than the MRI scan showed, and microfracture wouldn't have worked.

That left me two options, a partial knee replacement in my early 40s, or put up with the occasional pain and accept there'd be limitations on what I could do. I chose the latter, as replacement knees have a limited time span and they don't recommend them for people that young. Which is fine, I won't be running any marathons but I can run smaller distances and referee at lower levels. It would certainly have killed off my time at L3 had I not already decided I would be going at the end of that season anyway.
 
RustyRef said:
It isn't necessarily that straight forward. When I had keyhole surgery 10 years ago the plan was to trim away the loose cartilage and then do microfracture, which puts holes in the knee which cause blood clots that eventually turn into a kind of replacement cartilage (I've probably over simplified that somewhat 😂). When the surgeon came to see me after I'd woken up he said that once he'd gone in he'd found that the damage was much worse than the MRI scan showed, and microfracture wouldn't have worked.

That left me two options, a partial knee replacement in my early 40s, or put up with the occasional pain and accept there'd be limitations on what I could do. I chose the latter, as replacement knees have a limited time span and they don't recommend them for people that young. Which is fine, I won't be running any marathons but I can run smaller distances and referee at lower levels. It would certainly have killed off my time at L3 had I not already decided I would be going at the end of that season anyway.
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When I had my arthroscopy donkeys ago, surgeon commented that I had good Cartlidge so was of the opinion I'd be OK
Had the same aching last year, so had an x-ray. Again Cartlidge looked good but soft tissue swollen. But aching is a bit worse of late

Quite often surgery is no more effective than the conservative approach so I'll just see what they say when I get it looked into
No massive drama, I could ref a game at full pelt tomorrow if needed. Just that I have to pay a price for it
It's called getting old
 
Big Cat said:
When I had my arthroscopy donkeys ago, surgeon commented that I had good Cartlidge so was of the opinion I'd be OK
Had the same aching last year, so had an x-ray. Again Cartlidge looked good but soft tissue swollen. But aching is a bit worse of late

Quite often surgery is no more effective than the conservative approach so I'll just see what they say when I get it looked into
No massive drama, I could ref a game at full pelt tomorrow if needed. Just that I have to pay a price for it
It's called getting old
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I've actually had zero pain in my knee since I switched to barefoot trainers. Physio noticed I was rolling inwards on my right foot, probably compensating for the knee issue, with barefoot shoes you can't really do that.

Now just my hip is sore, and it is, as you say, just called getting old 😂
 
RustyRef said:
I've actually had zero pain in my knee since I switched to barefoot trainers. Physio noticed I was rolling inwards on my right foot, probably compensating for the knee issue, with barefoot shoes you can't really do that.

Now just my hip is sore, and it is, as you say, just called getting old 😂
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That's it then. I'll ref in bare feet
I think my affected knee rolls in or out. One of the two. I can't recall
 
Big Cat said:
When I had my arthroscopy donkeys ago, surgeon commented that I had good Cartlidge so was of the opinion I'd be OK
Had the same aching last year, so had an x-ray. Again Cartlidge looked good but soft tissue swollen. But aching is a bit worse of late

Quite often surgery is no more effective than the conservative approach so I'll just see what they say when I get it looked into
No massive drama, I could ref a game at full pelt tomorrow if needed. Just that I have to pay a price for it
It's called getting old
Click to expand...
I sympathise. Challenges with knees are pretty much par for the course as you age. I have what sounds like similar issues with wear and tear on the meniscus in one knee in particular - mine stem mainly from an ACL reconstruction many moons ago in my playing days. I had particular problems a year ago and thought I had found the injury that would end my ability to carry on at L3.

No-one is exactly the same, but the best thing I did was found myself a physio who understands sports injuries and the mindset of people like me who want to find a way to carry on. He gave me bunch of things to do, in my case
  • simple self-manipulation of kneecap to get it properly in line before exercise. Mine was a bit askew and that did wonders
  • replace long-distance runs with more more fart-lek type runs as my go to exercise. The constant pounding on roads was doing me no good. Still do long distance runs but less frequently and try to stay off roads
  • calf and hamstring strengthening exercises
It's worked for me - yes it still aches sometimes, especially the day after a game on 4g, but it's much better than it was and hopefully it's not going to be the injury that gets me anytime soon. Onwards for another season at least !
 
Quarryref said:
I sympathise. Challenges with knees are pretty much par for the course as you age. I have what sounds like similar issues with wear and tear on the meniscus in one knee in particular - mine stem mainly from an ACL reconstruction many moons ago in my playing days. I had particular problems a year ago and thought I had found the injury that would end my ability to carry on at L3.

No-one is exactly the same, but the best thing I did was found myself a physio who understands sports injuries and the mindset of people like me who want to find a way to carry on. He gave me bunch of things to do, in my case
  • simple self-manipulation of kneecap to get it properly in line before exercise. Mine was a bit askew and that did wonders
  • replace long-distance runs with more more fart-lek type runs as my go to exercise. The constant pounding on roads was doing me no good. Still do long distance runs but less frequently and try to stay off roads
  • calf and hamstring strengthening exercises
It's worked for me - yes it still aches sometimes, especially the day after a game on 4g, but it's much better than it was and hopefully it's not going to be the injury that gets me anytime soon. Onwards for another season at least !
Click to expand...
Yes, I rarely, if ever do steady state runs any more. A few miles at the most maybe. If I do put the trainers on, it's for shuttles or hills or similar. In the middle of the season, the last thing I need is more running. Indeed I don't want any high intensity training mid-season as I get enough of that chasing young'uns around the FOP. I want light x-training, stretching and Thai massage thank you very much

I've even declined the June fitness tests because they're right in the middle of the off-season and I prefer to take a scheduled break from it all
 
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