Next up to share his lockdown training regime and fitness achievements is Men's 1st team forward Jamie Oakes. Jamie has been at the club for over 5 years and last season had an incredible goal tally of 18 and many assists.
This is what Jamie had to say: This year has been hard work physically and mentally. I wouldn't say this has been a journey but more of a necessity! Being part of the Men’s 1st team that continues to develop and gain more success with each season, means that expectations increase every year on the individuals and as a team. Me personally, being now on the wrong side of 30 with a lot of younger fit, talented and hungry players coming through means I either have to keep up and stay sharp or move aside, and I'm not going to let my fitness be the reason I would need to move aside just yet! One thing I could work on over these unprecedented times.
Lockdown happened, we knew it was coming but literally a week out from the end of the season was a weird time, we were lucky to get our final game on and in doing so winning the league, a great moment. I ended up on furlough like a lot of people in the UK, which gave me a unique opportunity in the midst of the horrible pandemic to not only have more time with my young family but also to put a programme in place and stick to it as much as I could and really try to be the fittest I could be coming into pre-season whenever that would be. I kept hockey in the back of my mind but in all honesty at the beginning it was to keep me sane, with the only place to ever visit was Tesco for an essential shop, this fitness was key for positive mental health!
Normally out of season I would be playing the odd summer league game, going on park runs sporadically and trying my hand at running on my own (which I find mega boring!) but this time to get me into action I got the spark from our friend and yours.....Joe Wicks.
I started with my eldest, P.E with Joe HIIT sessions that went live across the nation when lockdown struck. The 9am routine got me out of bed, dressed and at it from the word go, a break from potential boredom and the drive to carry on. That just gave me the bug to get on with my next steps, mass walking and running. I started to take my kids on 5-8km walks and then it became 10km and then 15km, this was daily and it meant we used 1000kcal per walk.
I started running, 3km three times a week, it was horrible at first, I hate running and this was just a painful exercise. After 3 weeks I started to realise I was getting better at it and upped one of the runs to 5km, then a week after started to run one 3km and two 5kms. I then had a target, I wanted to now prove I was fitter by beating my Parkrun PB from last summer 22.31.
12 weeks ago I began doing 'lonely' Park runs at Blackpool and Preston on Saturdays dragging 1's skipper Simon Major with me. He does like running and it helped me to watch him run away into the distance giving me something to attempt to chase. He can sometimes help on a motivational front too. I'm a forward so running for chasing through balls and for tracking back is essential, one part of my game I wanted to work on, with hockey now being more fluid than ever. I can't sit and play target/poacherman in the 'D' and need to be able to play across the front three and fitness is key to that role.
4 months have passed since lockdown and I’m made up with my achievements. 52 runs totalling 218km, I’ve walked over 500km, completed 85 HIIT sessions, cycled 100k in 7 days thanks to Fylde's cycling expert Jay Currey. My original weight was 88kg and now is 80kg. I’ve knocked 3 minutes off my February 5K time which is now 22 minutes and I think the Fylde 5K is a great way to challenge yourself using the Strava app.
I'll take the banter from the lads for the photo above but honestly very happy with where I am now from where I was. My goals were to lose weight and get fitter for the season. I've got the bug and now lockdown is easing, I am back working, I haven't changed much in my routine, exercise just comes before and after work in evenings.
I even get invited to the gym by Jordon Payne, one of my strike partners (you do have to be invited!) not for him to train me though, as I can keep up (slightly!)
