Definitely getting old ...

One day later - still ow.

What's actually the damage ? My actual shoulder seems ok. My arm and fingers are fine. Not saying it would support bowling or throwing but it's not the bit that's causing pain at the moment.

No - it's more higher ribs area, intercostal muscles near the back. I think it's actually a second injury that joined the shoulder injury when I bought my last telly. Humping a 28" CRT (the old big type) from its box on to its stand, on my own, was probably not a good idea :-). There's also damage at my front where the pecs link to arm.

I'm wondering if it's one reason I'm having issues with my breathing at the moment. I have full running power available, which is a burst that draws off anaerobic respiration*. However, it's taking a while to get the breath back after one of those bursts.

*Anaerobic respiration - muscles do work without oxygen. Makes a byproduct called Lactic acid, which is where a "heavy legged" feeling comes from. It's a (weak) natural poison that's telling us to take a breath.
Aerobic respiration - muscles do work with oxygen. If you get enough oxygen in, the muscle can work for longer.

It's the reason why a sprinter can cover 200 metres in 20 seconds but it takes 100 seconds to do 800 metres and 2 hours+ to do a marathon. (Marathon = 42km, 2 hours = 7200 secs, so that's about 5.8 metres per second). We can do a burst of high energy output but the cost is that lactic acid that tells us to slow down, plus we need to replace the oxygen in our cells with the oxygen from the air.

I've always been better at the burst of energy thing than the running for miles thing.

Tonight's game got cancelled early as the rains rolled back in again at about 3.00pm. I've got mixed feelings about that - the selfish side goes "phew! easy night, no more cricket damage -> chill out" but the team side is sad that 22 guys won't get to have some fun on the cricket field.

That's something - always be true to how you're feeling. If you're having bad thoughts like the selfish one above, recognise it, own it, accept it. It's ok to admit that you're in two minds about something. Doubts are part of all of us. The important thing is to act and not be owned by the doubts.

You never know the answer unless you ask the question !

Oh my - I must be feeling lightheaded for all this deep thought to be coming out :-) I must have bumped my head when I fell backwards yesterday.

Back to the cricket - the getting older thing is creeping up on me with it being harder now to bounce back when I get hurt. I can still run Very Fast, including having the sprinter change up (which is awesome). My eyes when they're not streaming are still good (when I trust them). My heart & mind are in the best shape they've been in for years, now that I've laid to rest a few ghosts.

So yeah - it's feeling harder to bounce back after I do damage. That's where I'm having the hardest job of adjusting. I've done things in the past like twist my ankle before a game so badly I could barely walk for the next week. Yet I played a full part in that game including bowling my 10 overs. I bent some fingers into a Vulcan salute (missed a catch) and then bowled faster ...

I've done a few things like that - take damage, ignore it, bounce back quickly. That's always been my way. Accept the pain, don't let anyone else see it.

HOWEVER !

With all that mopey stuff about how I'm feeling old, what really makes up for it is two things :

Getting smiles from Pretty Ladies (visited the old team today)
And getting indulged in my favourite amusement of "Guess Pete's age"

Yep - someone else today thought I was under 30. Can't be bad :-)

PS Charity links - they need your support ! CQ's Race For Life and Thumper's Avon Foundation walk.