Well my ankle isn't better, though a LITTLE better. I tried to clipper a bit ago and the bag didn't roll off my foot.
I really wanted to bike for 45 minutes every single day this month to get in shape. But after three days my knees feel raw as all get out, and it sucks, and I tried to bike just now, but too painy. So I am going to get flab and no footbag
I at least hope I can play footbag again by Worlds. I just wanna spin and duck. That's all I ask.
wow Erik i think your Asking for to much. jk
i hope you will be able to shred even sooner and get that ankle cranked back in to shape. i felt odd seeing you us only one side on Canada day for you stepping sets. thats not the Erik im us to seeing. gett welll sooon Erik and i hope you dont get to flabby.
I'm really glad to see you stretching after every session. That is how you prevent ending up like me. Especially hamstrings, I think. I NEVER stretched when I started playing until I got first got seriously injured. Since you have so much money to burn, too, I recommend picking up some nice insoles to make your life easier in the long run (Especially since you had shin splints for a while there -- proper insoles totally make those stay away!!) It's crazy that you can play, like, 4 times a week.
aww. Yeah our ankle situations sound really similar. It sucks to HAVE to play one sided, eh?
I hope you are a-ok for world's. I have faith that you'll be alright, as long as you're careful and smart about it. Which I THINK you will be. Listen to Andrew!
And don't you know? It's a physical law that: Erik Chan = ducking/spinning.
I think it's also true that Erik Chan ≠flab.
So... don't worry about it. Science is on your side.
Camille Surovy
The Footbag Association of Toronto (F.A.T.)
I have been juggling a bit the past couple days to stay in shape as best as I can (since my knees have been killing me, and recumbent stationary biking, even with my braces, is too intense). Well, juggling with bowling pins, which weigh 3lbs each (lots heavier than juggling clubs) -- It feels like a good workout for my arms (and maybe more? -- I am so clueless). Anyway, I tried a bit of light hacky. Just some alternating clippers. My ankle is strong enough to support, and I did, I dunno... a bunch of alternating clippers. But after just that it was quite weak. I'm gonna abstain until I leave for Europe (well gauge it weekly-ish), and hope that I can play by Worlds).
I made up a tentative budget for my trip, which is exciting. I thought $2000 would be way tight for a month in Europe, but I'm so gonna manage it. 9 days in Prague is totally gonna help, on account of the cheapness. It's kinda rough, and most things are waaaay over-budgeted, which is awesome -- mostly the two Munich costs, since I am gonna be eating the majority of my meals as leftover sandwiches from Marita's coffee shop (oh, squalor), and since I plan to avoid paying for stuff like subway, in favour of walking whenever possible. So I've budgeting eating for every single day, and subwaying with a day pass, every single day... that should leave me with half of that budgeted money leftover. But aside from that, I still have half of my allowance to spend on traveling with Marita! We want to go to Paris (MAAAYBE in the first week, since my future roommate (starting in September) will be there with her family and wants me to visit and stay with them), and she really wants to go to Greece (that one seems a bit more pricey, but surely overall it is a cheaper country... just getting there will be a pain.)
TOTAL BUDGET ALLOWANCE: $2000 CAN = $1230 EUR
WORLDS
-$50 registration for Worlds
-$200~ Mitzfahren to Prague? ($100 each way?)
-$100~ hostel (Pension)
-$100~ eating @ Worlds for 9 days (including provided meal for 7 days)
MUNICH
-$500 (~100 Euros x3 weeks) for eating food while in Munich
-$160 for transportation within Munich (5-euro day pass x20 days)
__________
$1110 CAN
So, yeah. Wicked.
Oh yeah, this is after my plane ticket too...
But yeah, I guess on that note I am finally moving out (for a while anyway) in September, and I am pretty excited about that. Rent is super cheap, I have a radical roommate, and all of my best friend's old furniture and STUFF. Well, basically the deal is that my best friend is moving to Britain for about a year (she doesn't know, and bought a one-way ticket), so I am taking her place, and then her roommate is moving/traveling for a while after that, and so I am going to be the interim roommate and keep the sweet apartment for us. Should be fun. Also, the living room carpet seems to be ideal for shred...
Thanks Ken.
Yeah, I'm totally not even expecting to be able to play at Worlds. It will just be nice if I can. I wish you were gonna be there too though! Marita was particularly excited about meeting you and Dave, and neither of you are going now
Thanks.
Yeah, I'm excited to meet you too finally, Bjoern.
I post in your guys' blog, but I feel invisible there I arrive on the 31st, so I will spend the first few days with my girlfriend, while she has days off, and then I will be bored during the day until Worlds. I hope to shred with you guys. I'll also be in Munich after Worlds for all of August.
I just had a weekly "test-my-ankle" test.
To recap, I was playing hack that day I shot my last video and near the end of the session on a really basic spinning trick, my foot that wasn't even hitting the ground popped. Like... I don't know what it was. A torn tendon or something I think Andrew wagered. So yeah, it's been about a month since I've last played, and I've had no strength in my ankle to support the weight of a footbag on my flip clipper.
I tried some clippers and stuff. Well first some toe stalls and inside kicks. I didn't bother to put on my knee braces or my metatarsal insoles, 'cause I knew I would only be playing like, like, literally 2 minutes. The lack of the really bulky insoles was weeeeird and I was missing toe kicks. Haha. That felt so silly. As soon as I started inside kicking, I got this huge smile on my face that has still yet to go away! I did some clippers, and they were okay. About 40% just rolled off of my foot on the one side, but that's okay. I did a couple spinning clippers... and... like, the joy I got from that one simple trick is just indescribable. It felt amazing.
Even if I can't play hack at Worlds, I am feeling very optimistic about the future. I will lay off of higher impact tricks (I will try to ACTUALLY do this) and just have a blast with spins and ducks for as many months (years???) as physically possible. I can't wait. It's gonna be a blast!!!! I can't believe how much fun I just had in those 2 minutes doing absolutely nothing!!
♥♥♥
I was just reading some old blog entries, trying to find my Worlds '07 write-up. It's weird being constantly injured sometimes, because I'm always in a constant flux of physical ability, you know? Like sometimes my body just hurts so much I can only spin and duck, sometimes my knees hurt so much I can't reverse whirl, sometimes my ankle hurts and I can only do toe moves, sometimes my hips hurt and I can't do drifters or nuclear... it's interesting to have to rely on so many different styles at different points in my "career".
So I was browsing some old posts, and this particular session's highlights made me go, "What?? I've done that before??":
Erik Chan wrote:Shred session: 071006
We had our first indoor session today. It was kinda lame. Playing inside makes me feel like an animal in the zoo... There's no freedom, no fresh air or sunshine... It's kind of depressing and uninspiring. I played kinda crap, but I think it's 'cause I wasn't terribly inspired by the hardwood environment. Here's some stuff I did:
-alpine blurry rev whirl > rev whirlygig
-alpine blurry rev whirl BSOS (dropped on rev maelstrom or something)
-pixie ducking symp rev whirl > handcatch > other side
-spinning rev whirl > twirl [both sides] (almost BSOS)
-2-bag ducking clipper > handcatch > other sides
-2-bag stepping rev whirl > handcatch > other side
-2-bag juggling foot-change (second time, almost other side)
-9 2-bag juggling flip, 16-ish good side
-backside spikehammer first try
Mostly at the backside spikehammer. And in my last video I thought that was the first time had BSOSed blurry ducking rev whirl. Haha. I guess not Alpine blurry rev whirl > rev whirlygig sounds cool too! I'm very impressed with myself Haha. I might go to try play lightly for a few minutes again. I am ridiculously bored with no work for the summer. My two closest friends in the city are out of town and I don't really have many others, so I seriously do a LOT of nothing. So bored. So, so bored.
haha Erik that's exactly how I feel about my blog entries 2 years ago -> what, I've hit that??
I'm in a similar condition as you are -> I've had major calf problems,
then the knee, then my back, then my knee again - still I just can't
stop playing. (I hope you can give me some pointers on spinning, I
just don't get it )
I played for 10-15 minutes today.
First clippers.
Then far legover > osis [repeat].
Then clippers, osii, and few ducking/diving clippers.
Spinning osis once each side to make me happy.
No pain.
I wish I KNEW stuff.
Because part of me thinks that playing a little here and there is probably good to redevelop the muscle/break-up the scar tissue/whatever. I'm sure that doesn't apply to every injury, but it feels like it makes sense. In any case, I'm feeling more and more hopeful for Worlds.
I was reading old highlights again and saw that I hit alpine reverse whirlygig > reverse montage
Well yeah, sometimes exercise can help an injury, if it's the right kind.
My ankle still bugs me a bit but I think that it feels better when I play. It warms it up and stretches it out a bit, so as long as I avoid anything that could twinge it, it seems alright. But of course, with freestyle especially, it's hard not to accidentally do something detrimental to the injury.
Anyway I hope it's alright and I can't wait to see you Wednesday on your way to Worlds!!!
Camille Surovy
The Footbag Association of Toronto (F.A.T.)
gett welll sooon Erik and i hope you dont get to flabby.
