Pre-season pains being kept to a minimum
I will spare you the moaning I had anticipated would come from our first week of pre-season training.
I'll be honest and say that our manager, Harry Cairney, has been pretty kind to us so far.
I won't go as far as saying our first three sessions have been easy, but I've been pleasantly surprised; or maybe I've just come back to the club fitter than I thought.
The boys all came in last Thursday and the whispers started with everyone trying to second guess what Harry had in store for us. I tried to tell them that it wouldn't be as bad as they imagined.
I've done a few pre-seasons with Harry and he has never been one for hitting you hard in that opening session. I think he realises that when you come back the muscles are sore and if you do too much the chances of a few boys missing the next one are greater.
At our level we don't have the luxury of the recovery methods that bigger clubs have, so we have to do our own thing to prepare ourselves for each day.
We are obviously advised by the physios but whether the players take that on board is another thing. For example, I was really struggling on Saturday with my hamstrings and had to step out of the session (it was ball work at the time so I never missed the hard stuff) for Ross Goodwin to give me a rub.
I went back and finished training but was advised to have a warm bath that night. We went for a game of golf in the afternoon and I was exhausted by the time I got home and needless to say I never had that bath; luckily for me I was okay for Monday night.
It's an individual responsibility at this time of the season to prepare your body and allow yourself to recover properly between times. I've previously mentioned that I'm not all that fond of pre-season training but I tell you what I would hate it more if I were to miss out.
There is nothing worse than having to play catch up when your team-mates are kicking the ball about. The running is always hard but it's a lot harder when you're doing it on your own.
This is the most important period of a season for any player to get to a level of fitness that will get you ready for that first game of the new season. From then on it's all about maintaining that level throughout the season.
We normally do a double session when we are in on a Saturday but Harry allowed us to arrange a game of golf as we didn't get a chance to do anything together at the end of last season.
Everyone was there apart from the players that are still on holiday. Some of the boys are players and some of us not so much but we all took part apart from Graeme Bell - Belly had the very important job of driving the buggy around the course supplying the refreshments.
Those of us that are looking after our bodies chose to stick to soft drinks but there wasn't much room in the cool boxes for my coca cola after Belly had packed in the cider and beer for John MacBeth!
I was grouped with Andy Aitken, Johnny Jamieson and David Cox. We had a poor front nine but turned it around on the way home with four birdies on the bounce to come in at one under par.
I have to say that I'm not the best golfer but some of my drives were incredible. So incredible that the group in front stood on one of them and threw another one away as I drove past them.
I'm not going to mention any names as I'm led to believe it is an unwritten rule where golf is concerned. Besides he would probably only make me run further at training on Thursday night...
Hi there, I'm Chris Jardine, midfielder with Scottish Third Division side Annan Athletic. I hope, throughout the season, I can give you a good insight into life at the newest Scottish League club and maybe even a few laughs along the way.
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