The Importance Of Vitamin D

I bet you read the title of this post and went "what's this got to do with athletics?". Well let me tell you, it has a lot to do with it! I didn't know how important vitamin D was until I was running low on it! I don't think most people will have vitamin D deficiency, but if you do, it's important that you figure it out right away! I will never understand why I am vitamin D deficient because you get vitamin D from the sun, and I'm outside more than I'm inside.

The first symptom I had was fatigue. I was always tired. When I ran track, I could hardly get through a 200 without feeling like I was going to pass out. It was absolutely terrible. Especially because it hit me right when I was doing three sports. I would go to track practice, then go right to softball or volleyball after that. Hardly any breaks in my week (I'm doing that again this year and holy cow is it so much easier with vitamin D!). I just wanted to sleep for the rest of my life. 

Another thing that happened was that my muscles were always sore. My legs were dead, my back was killing me, and even my arms would be sore. Apparently you need vitamin D to clear out the lactic acid in your body. Imagine the pain I went through. A whole track season with lactic acid just building up in my legs. I don't know how I finished the season to be honest! 

I think the worst thing that happens with vitamin D deficiency is that if you don't have enough vitamin D, you can't take in vitamin C, and that is EXTREMELY important. If you don't have vitamin C, your bones get really really weak. Unfortunately for me, I didn't know what was happening so my bones got really weak and I ended up getting scoliosis from it. If you don't want scoliosis or a bunch of broken bones, dreaming make sure you have enough vitamin D! 

Now that you've heard all the fun symptoms of vitamin D deficiency, make sure that you have enough. I promise you, it is terrible. Hopefully I have prevented someone from going an entire year with the pain I went through!

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Sore Muscle Remedies

No one likes sore muscles. Amirite? It hurts like no other and it hinders your performance. So how do you get rid of sore muscles? There's only two things I do; stretch and ice baths.

Stretching. Yes I know you all probably could have thought of that on your own, but it really helps if you do it at the right time. Right after you do something physically straining, you need to stretch. Everyday after track practice, my team stretches together. It helps keep your muscles loose, even when they really want to tighten up. Another thing you can do is get a rolling pin (or a fancy rolling stick thing that all runners have) and have someone roll out the sore spots. This is really effective for your legs. After a really grueling week of track, I have her roll my legs out. It is probably the most painful thing ever, but it really does help. You could probably rub some icy hot on there to get it real nice and loose while they're getting rolled. Before track meets, I spend at least thirty minutes just stretching. It's kind of funny how flexible I can get! 

Oh man who would ever want to do an ice bath? ME! I'm tellin you, they work miracles! I don't know what it does, but holy cow you feel like a new person afterwards! Yes, it is the worst thing of your entire life when you first get in, but after like two minutes, your body goes numb. If you're a first time ice bather, I would say only go right to ten minutes, but for all you pro ice bathers out there, kick it up to fifteen minutes! It really feels fabulous once your done! 

I'm sure there are a thousand and ten more ways you can relieve muscle soreness, but these are the two methods that work best for me. I do know that it's better than doing nothing, so if you have muscle soreness, don't be afraid to try these two things. Stretching isn't hard, but ice baths can be kind of scary. Once you get your first one done, the other ones won't be as bad. You just have to rip the band aid off and get it done!!

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Rain, Rain, Go Away

Who thinks it's terrible to play softball in the rain?? ME. These past two weekends at our softball tournaments, it has been constantly raining. This is bad for all sorts of reasons. First, it makes it hard to throw the ball. It gets all slippery and mistakes are made up the wazoo. Second, it gets more dangerous. When you slide it's easier to get hurt. Third, it's just plain uncomfortable. Everything is wet, outfielders feet get soaked, infielders get SUPER muddy, and it's just not anything to look forward too. I really feel bad for the spectators though.. They just have to sit there and get wet for no reason!

One thing I worry about a ton in the rain is if the pitcher is going to be able to handle it. Some pitchers can do it, but some can't. They use "the ball is wet" as an excuse and can't ever throw a strike. I always hope and pray that it will be the other teams pitcher that is like that, not your own. The other thing to worry about is control. It's not as bad in the infield, because for the most part, the dirt doesn't get too wet. But as an outfielder, I worry about my inexperienced players a lot. The ball gets absolutely soaked when it comes into the outfield and you have to know how to handle it in order to throw the ball in control. I asked my freshman right fielder how she thought she was supposed to keep it in control and she said "just grip the ball harder". NO. DON'T DO THAT. That will probably make it worse. It's actually quite simple. You just make absolutely sure that you finish waaaaaayyy down. Way further down than you usually would, and it helps keep you from launching the ball over the cutoffs head. 

I Hate with a capital H, having wet feet. It's not comfortable. After a while it even gets numb. And then your shoes smell terrible and it's just a mess. But if I can say for myself, I love sliding when it's raining. Not when it's like sticky mud, but when there's puddles of mud and water. You fly. I did a slide by last weekend right into a mud puddle and I just flew right by home plate and it was probably the funniest thing I've ever done in my life! The downfall to that was my shoes, batting gloves, and every other inch of my body was caked in mud. Mom had a fit when she saw my shoes😱

Usually umpires are good about calling games when it's raining so majority of the time, you don't even have to play in the rain. I think that's best because it's not real softball when you play in the rain. Too many mistakes to see who the real winner is. 

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