Just finished up a bowl of Oatmeal after our 9am morning skate today and as I look out my 4th floor window, I see clear blue skies. In Briancon we get about 300 days of sun and as the year has gone on, I think I have been taking it for granted a bit. So from now on I will appreciate every sunny day we have here! What a great day for hockey we have as well. I am making my return back to the lineup after missing 5 games with a shoulder injury. We will be leaving for Morzine in 2 hours, a place where I have had some success in the past. In 2 games there, I have tallied 3 goals 1 assist (including the Shootout winner last year). Hopefully that trend will continue tonight as we face a pretty good team.
Over the last 3 1/2 weeks, though being hampered by my shoulder injury, I have been trying to do as much as possible to get my mind clear and my body ready for my return. I was on the ice immediately, just skating and avoiding pucks because the urge to fire some shots was just too strong. My focus was my skating, position specific movements and especially conditioning. It is tough to replicate game situations and keep your body in game shape during an injury but being on the ice everyday was a priority to make the transition back to the games a bit smoother.
Right from the start I was in the gym either riding the bike or doing unilateral training. Focusing on one side and trying to keep my strength on my good side, rather than lose strength in both due to the injury. Also, research shows that during unilateral training, there is an 8-10% strength transfer to the contralateral side. Any edge I could get I was going to take it! Plyometrics and speed training were also a focus and I actually feel a bit better on the ice right now in terms of acceleration and changes of direction.
Any hockey player will agree that watching your team play while you are unable to help them on the ice is one of the hardest things to do. You just want to be out there so badly to help your team compete and win. To deal with this tension and frustration, I began meditating. My mom has been telling me for years to try to meditate a little be each day, just to clear your mind and keep you in the present moment. Sometimes when things come from your mother, no matter what it is, you are just a little bit resistant to comply. It was as if she was telling me to clean my room. So, until about 2 weeks ago, I put it off and never listened to her. Since I have started meditation, I have found it to be helpful with dealing with stress and to avoid the constant clutter of thoughts in my head. For hockey players, the last thing you want to do is to be thinking on the ice. We want to be reactive. Even during practices this past week, I have seen a difference in my game and decision making. This may be due to the physical work I have been putting in, but I believe that it is the mind that separates two players with equal amounts of skill and work ethic. As hockey is just as much mental as it is physical, training the mind/body to work as one can only have a strong correlation in your game.
Also during this time, I took advantage of gaining my weight back. If you are unaware, early in October I became really sick with an intestinal infection. After being in the hospital 3 times in 2 days, I lost 15lbs (7kg). Since hockey is a demanding sport, trying to gain back that weight during the season is virtually impossible. With my normal playing weight being 200lbs (91kg), the highest I got back to was about 187lbs (85kg). Some people didn't even recognize me when I went back to Epinal during our December break. However, with less calories being expended during these 3 1/2 weeks, I continued eating the way I do (Constantly) and also started taking a weight gainer to see if I could put some mass back on. So what are the results????
I am tipping the scales right now at 195lbs (88.5kg). We are getting closer but I am happy with that!
I am excited to be back in action and looking forward to coming back even stronger than I was before. Mentally and Physically.
Stay tuned for the results tomorrow!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment