The road back to recovery from my back injury continues at pace. Due to the recent cold snap, most of my riding has been indoors on MyWhoosh but I did get out last week over to our Birmingham store again. I took the GPS this time so I could compare some Strava segment times to guage where I’m at. I actually felt quite good. My endurance was fine, just lacking a bit of strength on the climbs but my time for the main 14% climb en-route was only a few secs short of what I was pumping out last October. Happy with that and my FTP is getting back to normal on the turbo. I’m less than 10 watts away now which backs up how I felt on the road so happy days.
I’ve continued my situp regime and now upto 80 situps a day. The plan is to reach 100 (I’m adding 5 per session, 3 days on then a day off) and then I’ll keep it there daily but add some extra exercises in like plank and leg raises. I can definitely feel the difference.
I’m also into, I hope, my last block of weekly visits to the Chiropractor. It’s been an expensive episode (circa £1000+) but worth it given how bad I was at the start. So time to give him a shout out I think. Andrew Robson @ The Droitwich Back & Neck Clinic. He’s your man if you need mending like I did. I’m not a new customer. I last saw him about 8 years ago when I’d crashed on my bike in a race and twisted my pelvis. He sorted that and has sorted me this time. Highly recommended and worth the expense.
Darts Debut Disaster
My competitive darts debut hasn’t gone as well as my recovery. In the last few weeks I’ve played in my first ever online and real life tournaments and had my ass handed to me.
My first tournament was a paid entry online round-robin + knockout. It’s a monthly event which forms part of the low-key online league I’ve joined. It’s a simple format. Play each of your opponents online in your group and the top 2 qualify. If I’d played like I normally do I should or could have qualified but I didn’t win a leg in any match and my whole game came tumbling down in the end. I properly choked.
Next up was my first real life singles knockout tournament. It’s run annually by the local league I’ve joined with my new team and attracts some of the best in the area. I got a bye in the first round and then in round 2 got spanked 2-0. The only positive was the experience and meeting some of the league players. Some are really, really good! PDC standard. The 301 double in, double-out format best of 3 didn’t really give me chance to get going but it’s the same for everyone. I just struggled with nerves again and got there way too early (not my fault) and played too much warming up.
Then last Thursday was my second online tournament which was even worse to the point i got quite angry and just ended up throwing darts at the board in the end just to get it done ASAP. I didn’t enjoy it and my averages have been plummeting recently too. Something was up so I had to have a word with myself and remember it’s just for fun, not the World Championship or money. It seemed to work as I’ve now given up chasing averages. No point, they don’t win matches. I think I was trying to use them to justify my place on the team but there is no need. We have better and worse players than me. They’re going up again now though and I’ve thrown some of my best darts this week the highlight being a 180 and a 110 finish. Not your usual T20, 18, D16 route though. No, I missed the T20 and ended up in T1 so I cleaned up on T19, BULL. Any pro would be happy with that!
Darts – It’s not just skill, it’s a mind game too
Tonight I’m playing the league’s annual doubles-tournament with a team mate. I’m definitely not going to take it too seriously this time now I know the score and then next weeks league debut has been postponed for a week as we have a bye but we’re hoping to have a friendly with another team from Redditch instead.
..and finally. My dream darts setup is literally labout to become a reality. It’s a reward for decorating my man cave/office this week and is on order. I should have it up and ready to go this weekend. I cannot wait to show you!
Adios