Referee Inactive - Was it worth it?

10 weeks of my summer were spent running up hill and down dale in an effort to get ready for today's kick-off only for my best laid plans to go awry in the last 3 weeks as I picked up a calf strain.

I kept losing weight because of my change in diet and starting a new job but my training was on hold. I've managed to lose 26lbs (11.8kg) since the beginning of June. So it was with some trepidation that I stepped out on my opening 11 a side game of the season. I had some nagging doubts as I felt a bit of tiredness in it yesterday when I was working with a group of new referees on their Basic Course. As things turned out I had good reason to be wary as I managed to tweak the calf again in the warm-up and walked for most of the first half. In the second I managed what I thought was a few short jogs but in fact I travelled 4.4km and burned off more than 750 calories.

I enjoyed the game and despite a few mistakes I felt ok about the game afterwards (own biggest critic!). The reports have been done and sent in to the County FA. It's 3 weeks to my next game because of other commitments (football related) so hopefully the calf recovery will continue.

Continue reading...

 

[SM]

What exercises do you use to strengthen your calf?

Due to having problems with mine last season I found a couple on the Internet which seem to work. You may already know them or have better but just in case...

The wall push up

#1 Stand straight with hands against a wall. Push up into your tippy toes, lower and repeat x 30

#2 move slightly closer to wall and lower hands a smidge. Rock back on your heels pushing your bum out, pulling toes upwards. Back to original position and repeat.

And repeat as needed. Really beneficial.

Good to be back on in middle?

 

[MattyontheWhistle]

Stand with toes on edge of stair, heels hanging over the edge.

Stand on tippy toes, and slowly lower the heel as far as you can. Back up on tippy toes, and back down again. 20 repetitions a couple of times a day.

My physio gave me that one.

Also, place knee against wall, with toes touching wall as well. Keeping the knee against the wall, 'walk' the foot back as far as you can without lifting the heel. Hold there for 20-30s and relax.

 

[Mick.]

I have to admit that I am more interested in the diet. What diet were you using that lost you 26lbs in a couple of months and have you kept the weight off?

 

[Brian Hamilton]

Sorry for not replying but I forgot the blog got published here.

In terms of the calf exercises I know believe it was an attack of extremely bad cramp and when I tried to work it lose I got a mild strain. It cleared after about 3 weeks and I've managed 5 games in the last 3 weekends. In my last game I ran 9.9km and burned just under 1700 calories. I'm aiming for just over 3.1K calories and 18km for this Sunday's two County Cup games (one open age, one juniors).

For the diet, that's easy, I stopped eating a lot of bad foods and dropped my alcohol intake to zero for a few weeks. The bad foods were bread and chocolate, pizza and curry, as well as the sauces that make anything taste good. My day consisted of 4 weetabix plus a pint of semi skimmed milk for breakfast, two fajita wraps with plain chicken or ham in them, washed down with a couple of pints of water and my evening meal was usually pasta with a light sauce or more wraps. I dropped my average calorie intake from around 3,000 per day to 1,800-2,000 per day and drank a lot more water and I mean a lot more, maybe around 3 litres a day.

I found it was tough for the first couple of days but then because I was training so hard, I had little energy to make food when I finished training. I have managed to keep the weight off and at last measurement (this morning) I was 27 lbs lighter than when I embarked on my new lifestyle. I'm drinking alcohol again but rarely get anywhere near 20 units a week, which about half of my previous intake. I am stepping up my training next week after yet another double game Sunday and hope to get back on track towards losing another 16lbs by Christmas taking my total loss to just over 3st (20kg?).