The Ref Stop

Viruses, asthma and fitness

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Wolf_Ref

Wolf_Ref

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Level 3W Referee
So - so far this season I’ve been working on my fitness. Unfortunately due to viruses and asthma deciding to beat the life out of me, I’ve been on steroids for 2 months and weight has increased and fitness decreased.

My main questions and points here are:

- any tips for gently building up fitness without going too far?
- I hate asthma and steroids suck and this has been the worst man flu I’ve ever had!!
 
The Ref Stop
There's no easy answer. So far this season I've had Covid, a really bad case of Shingles, and then Bronchitis. I've only refereed one game, and I will only go back once I feel confident enough to do so.
 
SurreyWolves said:
So - so far this season I’ve been working on my fitness. Unfortunately due to viruses and asthma deciding to beat the life out of me, I’ve been on steroids for 2 months and weight has increased and fitness decreased.

My main questions and points here are:

- any tips for gently building up fitness without going too far?
- I hate asthma and steroids suck and this has been the worst man flu I’ve ever had!!
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Impossible to know what you can or can't do, only you know that. Only thing we can advise is to be very smart with what you eat/drink to start losing the weight that you've gained. That is completely controllable (although that doesn't make it easy).
 
RustyRef said:
There's no easy answer. So far this season I've had Covid, a really bad case of Shingles, and then Bronchitis. I've only refereed one game, and I will only go back once I feel confident enough to do so.
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Firstly get well soon.

Secondly, I think the mental aspect with any injury and/or illness is important.

No good, at any level, going back if the injury is going to inhibit you physically, obviously, but also mentally - easy to not bother running towards that neutral corner, or assuming no one is near to offside when on the line or pausing before sprinting - sure we can all think of many other examples - I hate going into a match thinking I'm not 100% - like you I will not do i
 
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SurreyWolves said:
So - so far this season I’ve been working on my fitness. Unfortunately due to viruses and asthma deciding to beat the life out of me, I’ve been on steroids for 2 months and weight has increased and fitness decreased.

My main questions and points here are:

- any tips for gently building up fitness without going too far?
- I hate asthma and steroids suck and this has been the worst man flu I’ve ever had!!
Click to expand...
Some long, slow runs should do you the world of good for building your fitness up again. If you have a HR sensor on your watch, try and keep your heart rate around the 130-140 mark, if you don't then just try to keep to a gentle jog where you could maintain a conversation and you're more or less avoiding getting a sweat on. Particularly as you've been unwell lately, you'll probably find that you need to walk occasionally to drop your HR, which is fine. Ideally do at least an hour if you can.
 
SurreyWolves said:
So - so far this season I’ve been working on my fitness. Unfortunately due to viruses and asthma deciding to beat the life out of me, I’ve been on steroids for 2 months and weight has increased and fitness decreased.

My main questions and points here are:

- any tips for gently building up fitness without going too far?
- I hate asthma and steroids suck and this has been the worst man flu I’ve ever had!!
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear. All strength to you chief!
 
PinnerPaul said:
Firstly get well soon.

Secondly, I think the mental aspect with any injury and/or illness is important.

No good, at any level, going back if the injury is going to inhibit you physically, obviously, but also mentally - easy to not bother running towards that neutral corner, or assuming no one is near to offside when on the line or pausing before sprinting - sure we can all think of many other examples - I hate going into a match thinking I'm not 100% - like you I will not do i
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Thanks, almost over it all now and I've made myself available for January appointments.

You have to be true to yourself, but also the teams. As I was recovering from Shingles I thought I'd be OK, it is after all just a painful rash, so I accepted games. As it got closer to the first game though I realised that due to Covid then Shingles I'd done no exercise for months, and it just wouldn't be fair on the teams for me to referee them after that lack of inactivity, so I spoke to the RefsSec and came off them. Would I have been right mentality? I think I would have been OK, but then if I'd been blowing out of my rear end after 10 minutes that would clearly have played on my mind, and that is when mistakes start to happen. Although Bronchitis then came along and made the decision for me anyway 😂
 
RustyRef said:
Thanks, almost over it all now and I've made myself available for January appointments.

You have to be true to yourself, but also the teams. As I was recovering from Shingles I thought I'd be OK, it is after all just a painful rash, so I accepted games. As it got closer to the first game though I realised that due to Covid then Shingles I'd done no exercise for months, and it just wouldn't be fair on the teams for me to referee them after that lack of inactivity, so I spoke to the RefsSec and came off them. Would I have been right mentality? I think I would have been OK, but then if I'd been blowing out of my rear end after 10 minutes that would clearly have played on my mind, and that is when mistakes start to happen. Although Bronchitis then came along and made the decision for me anyway 😂
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A mate of mine spent 14 years in the 1st Yorkshire Regiment. Hard as nails but he had a nasty bout of Shingles and it floored him for 3 months.

I don't pull out of games. There's been times I definitely should but it's just me. I dotcall in sick at work and never missed a match when I played. It's not clever, it's actually a bit stupid but that's me sometimes! I was assigned a game for last night. I've had covid a couple of weeks ago and I still feel lousy. I was doing the game but when I got the call it was off I was relieved.
 
I’m a fellow asthma struggler and as a result, I’ve always found building fitness quite demoralising mentally as progress can be painfully slow.

The best thing for me was the couch to 5k app. A nice slow and steady progression (can almost feel too low at the beginning) but was a really good way to feel like I was gradually improving my fitness in a way which didn’t push me too quickly
 
Funnily enough I’ve just taken myself off all games until further notice. Just seem to be constantly ill and haven’t been the same since had covid 12 months ago
 
Right! Tomorrow is the day I start training again!!

No more steroids! Cough still just about around, but much more minor…

Going to try 1KM tomorrow and see if I manage to do it without needing a defib! Have a friendly on the 2nd so that should be a nice bit of a run around too!
 
SurreyWolves said:
Right! Tomorrow is the day I start training again!!

No more steroids! Cough still just about around, but much more minor…

Going to try 1KM tomorrow and see if I manage to do it without needing a defib! Have a friendly on the 2nd so that should be a nice bit of a run around too!
Click to expand...
Sounds like we are on a similar path. I'm starting a diet, alcohol ban and the resumption of exercise on 1st January (fair play to you for starting on New Year's Eve 😂). Can't say I am looking forward to it after months without exercise, but needs must as I am way out of shape.
 
Stopped Alcohol about half way through lockdown and have had barely a drop since then. No more than one, on about a handful of occasions.
Don't miss it at all. Never been a heavy drinker frequency wise anyway, just too much every now and again. All the same better without it.

Starting a new training plan this new year which I started tonight.
 
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