Matt’s Journal

New Tottenham 08/09 Kit

Posted by Matt under Sport

Tottenham’s kits for the 2008/09 premiership season have been unveiled, sporting a more minimal design. The look for the kits is an improvement on last year I think, the black/brown/gold one looks particularly nice. I am still not a massive fan of the blue one, never will be I think.

Anyways, take a look:

Lonely :(

Posted by Matt under Angry, Blogging, Funny, Sport

At 3am on Monday morning, Katie and her parents departed for Gran Canaria. It’s a new experience for me being so far away from Katie, especially as the biggest distance we used to be from each other in the past was say 8 miles, when we both lived with our parents and we had to drive to each other’s houses.

I have been a right old house husband, I have been feeding the fish, feeding the dog, cleaning the kitchen, loading and unloading dishwashers, things not massively new to me but weird when it’s you on your own.

Luckily, yesterday was a lovely day. Awaking early, doing the above mentioned processes and getting showered and ready, I drove over to my friend Luke’s house who was down at his parents for the weekend getting stuff to take back up to his flat in London. For an hour we consulted various friends as to what we could do for the day, the eventual winner being golf.

Meeting up with my other friend Bacon, the three of us hit the course with our various irons and putters, taking in the midday heat. Carding a round of 47, I came in the eventual winner four shots ahead of both Bacon and Luke, Tiger Woods has nothing on me (see below!):

Coming back for some dinner and to watch the football, we put our feet up and waited for dinner to digest before playing some Wii Fit and Wii Sports. We tried making some funny videos, I will upload them later and you can see what you think.

The thing was that after these guys had left, I was alone in this big old house with just the dog for company, it was very surreal. It really makes you thankful for the time you spend with the one you love because when they are not there, you feel like half a person.

The biggest annoyance since Katie left has been the dog, four times in the night he barked at what he thought was an intruder, I knew otherwise, the house is locked down tighter than Fort Knox.

One day down, thirteen more until she returns

Oh To Be English

Posted by Matt under Betting, Sport

We win something, we are the greatest, we lose and we are hated for all eternity. This is the rollercoaster ride that is english sport.

After this weekend, we have something to be happy about. The English football team did what they should have done and won and easy fixture against a weak Estonian team. The big news however, was that the England rugby team against all odds defeated a much fancied French team to reach the Rugby World Cup Final, putting themselves in the unique position to be the first team to successfully retain their title. This albeit against the same South African team that beat them 36-0 earlier in the tournament.

Luckily I am in the position to profit from this occasion, I had staked £2 on England to win the World Cup just after their defeat to SA, when the odds were 50-1, so I stand to win £100, I just wish I had staked higher! I also had put £2 on SA at odds of 6-1, so I am able to win even if England lose!

Good luck to the boys, I will be watching the game with great anticipation!

Making my own Sports Drink - Part One

Posted by Matt under Sport

I play a fair bit of sport, I typically play football 4-5 times a week, my blood pressure is a 120/70 and my pulse rate averages out about 46 at rest. When playing football, I always forget to take a drink for fluid top-up after the exercise. So thinking, instead of taking a flask of water, why not make my own Isotonic Drink from ordinary household items?

There are a few resources on this, many look a little shady and some look to hold more credibility than others. So, giving them all a benefit of the doubt, I will try three recipes and chart how each one makes me feel.

Obviously I dont have the equipment to properly chart how it makes me feel but I will factor in a few of my own symptoms after exercise. I play mostly evenings during the week and early morning on a Sunday. I will chart the following:

• How thirsty I feel before I get into bed after drinking a pint and a half of said sports drink (a rating of 1 to 5).
• How my body feels in the morning after sleeping and digesting said sports drink (a rating of 1 to 5).
• Taste of said sports drink.
• Cost of ingredients for said sports drink.

The three recipes will be as follows:

Recipe One

• 1/4 a carton orange juice
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon of lime juice
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt (Used to aid recovery for heavy or long workouts)
• Water

Recipe Two

• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 teaspoon lite salt
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• Water

Recipe Three

• 1 cup of Orange Juice
• 1 cup of Water
• A pinch of Salt.

The first step will be getting the ingredients, once made, each drink will be consumed in full after the exercise.

Im a geek ey?!

Muscular Soreness

Posted by Matt under Sport

My girlfriend says that football rules my life, I am inclined to agree with her.

The amount of football that I play tends to increase on a weekly basis, I play in the 1st team for a Sunday League team (obviously on Sundays) and I train with them on Tuesdays. I then train with the 2nd’s on the Wednesday, who my best mate plays for. I also tend to play five-a-side at 9pm on a Sunday also, in total I probably play about 5-6 hours of football a week. I also tend to watch football when its on TV.

I tend to really ache throughout the week, my legs especially. This is down to what’s known as D.O.M.S (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness), something that I have actually taken with me from my A-Level in P.E. D.O.M.S tends to be less painful than a muscle pull, more like a dull ache, it is typically caused by muscle fibres tearing after extensive exercise and lasts anywhere from 2-7
days.

For me, because I play so much, I am interested in getting rid of these aches and pains and playing football ache free. The recommended actions are as follows:

• Wait. Soreness will go away in 3 to 7 days with no special treatment.
• Avoid any vigorous activity that increases pain.
• Do some easy low-impact aerobic exercise - this will increase blood flow to the affected muscles, which may help diminish soreness.
• Use gentle stretching on the affected area
• Gently massage the affected muscles
• Don’t forget to stretch and warm up before your targeted activity.

Source: About.com

I have also been recommended to take an ice (or cold) bath to help flush out the lactic acid. Doing some cardiovascular exercises using the affected areas can also stimulate blood flow and help remove lactic acid. This is somewhat removed from the muscular soreness (i.e. the tearing of the muscle fibres) but in my case I think is contributing to my overall sluggishness when initially playing.

[tags]DOMS, tired, sport, fitness[/tags]

Famous [again] for 0.01324 seconds.

Posted by Matt under Sport

This weekend I played out of position for my team and played up front. I scored the only goal of the game!

Take a look @ Southend Sunday for Ralee and more importantly, my name!