the rehab routine

Hey guys, this is Cody, and I’ll be a guest writer from time-to-time to give a first hand account of all things minor league baseball.

On April 9th 2014, I underwent the surgery that every pitcher who plays baseball worries about. Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction or more commonly known as Tommy John Surgery. This surgery brings about anxiety amongst players because of its drastic recovery time. A player who undergoes the surgery is usually cleared after 1 year. Yes, 1 year. That’s an entire season down the drain and replaced with endless shoulder, forearm, and wrist physical therapy. Not to mention a lingering 6 inch scar on the inside of the elbow. Sometimes I think it’s cool, like some sort of battle wound and other times it makes me wish I didn’t play year round baseball as a kid. Lesson to the kiddos, take care of your arm! Take some time off! Anyways, before I rant on about that, I mention this because this is the reason why I am in Florida in late January. If you know anything about minor league baseball you will know that Spring Training starts in March but I’m here in January. As is protocol for the Marlins players who undergo a major surgery or end the year with an injury, they have to report back earlier than usual. This makes sure the organization can oversee your recovery and implement its programs to get you back on the field.

So that brings us to now. Today is currently January 22, 2015 and I’m writing from the business center of the Marriott hotel in Palm Beach Gardens Florida. This is the team hotel for the Marlins and will be my home for the next two and half weeks till my amazing, wonderful, beautiful wife drives across the country to meet me. Did I mention how incredible she is?  Well she is.

Having said that I wanted to give you guys a little peak into my life and describe what a typical day looks like for me.

6:30am: Wake up and make the most delicious cup of coffee you have ever tasted in your entire life. That’s sarcasm if you didn’t catch it. My wife has made me into a bit of a coffee snob so hotel coffee doesn’t exactly scream single-origin pour-over.

*6:30am-7:30am: Read and pray to get my day started. I put an asterisk by this to indicate that this normally doesn’t happen because usually I have a roommate. And to be courteous to my fellow rehabber I don’t want to wake him up early when he would like to sleep longer. So I would normally read later in the day or at night. But for right now I have the room to myself. Which makes my normal morning routine quite nice and enjoyable.

7:30am-8:00am: Eat Breakfast. Free at the hotel. Score.

*Another asterisk. If it wasn’t for the Toth’s I would have to get a ride from someone with a car. But they have graciously allowed me to use their car until my wife comes! Thank you! Nothing like awesome friends who love the Lord and are ready to serve. Hope we can return the favor!

8:20am: Get to the field and get changed into my work clothes. Dryfit shirt, shorts and athletic shoes. Can’t complain about that.

8:30am-9:20am: I use this time to do my stretching everyday. Which includes various types of foam rolling, band work, and lots and lots of hip exercises/stretching.  Many people and especially athletes do not realize the importance of mobility stretching and training. It’s crucial for peak performance and is extremely helpful for your body!

9:30am: This is our team stretch. Everyone meets on the field and our strength and conditioning coordinator takes us through a methodical routine to get loose.

10:00am: Begin throwing with my partner. I’m coming up on 10 months post surgery so I’m almost back to playing shape so there are no special restrictions here. That being said, we usually long toss every day to about 180 ft.

10:30am-10:45: If I don’t have a bullpen that day, I will begin our conditioning program right after throwing which varies everyday. If I do have a bullpen, I will throw my bullpen and then do the conditioning after. Today was 100 yard shuttles for time. This after a while can make your legs feel like Jell-O.

11:00am-11:30am: Depending on if I have a bullpen or not, we will get back into the clubhouse around that time. If I have a bullpen it’s probably closer to 11:45am-12pm.Then I will cool off for a bit, catch my breath, see my phone and miss my wife then scroll through instagram and twitter.

11:45am-12:30pm: Then to end the day we workout. We workout everyday except Wednesday which is a day to recover.

12:40pm: After showering the day is over. I know that’s crazy. I finish work around lunch time. There will be days where we are finished by 11:30am too if things are going really quick.

And that describes my day as a baseball player. After that the rest of the day is free for the taking. Hope that was interesting and if not I’m sorry that you made it this far. Until next time, have a good one!

a brief separation

this little view is one of the biggest downsides of dating or being engaged/married to someone in minor league baseball....ugh. but, this time for us it was so different because instead of saying, "see you in a few months." we got to say, "see you in a few weeks." oh yeah, after two seasons of living lives 3,000 miles apart, this year i'm coming and he gets to deal with me all year long now, you lucky man you!

but alas, for the first three weeks i'll be in CA while he's in FL. and let me tell you, i didn't realize how much free time there was before marriage! (enter a chorus of 'duuhhhh ashley') so i'm taking advantage of that while he's gone, which consists a lot of seeing friends i'll miss dearly and watching a lot of gilmore girls while not making any dinner (don't judge, we have a lot of yogurt that needs to be eaten by next wednesday!)

but this pretty little view above is how cody wanted to spend his last night in california foorreeevvveerrrrr (kidding, but possibly we could just not move back and stay in FL all year, more on that at a later date) how do you spend your last day in CA? simply like this:

-try out an amazing little coffee shop in your town you've talked about for months
(Bear Coast coffee in San Clemente, get it to go and walk up and down Del Mar, ahhhhhmazing)
-make waffles for a late breakfast
-do laundry
(now aren't we exciting?)
-eat at in-n-out
(per cody's request, i might be one of the few who doesn't really care for it...but i do admit, they're the only one's who really nailed down a lettuce wrap)
-walk to the beach and down to the pier from your little studio to watch the sunset over catalina island
(sigh, i'm going to miss this place)
-pack up all your clothes in two suitcases
(yes, he fit ALL of his clothes, including shoes and various other things into a duffel bag and a medium suitcase, more power to ya, sorry my clothes take up your entire car....)

if you've never been to san clemente, you're really missing out, it has to be one of the most amazing and quaint beach towns in the world....i only was born and raised there, it's i'm not biased or anything....

so, anyway, the next few weeks i'm just chillin' husbandless and having to make my own coffee in the morning, which is the living worst....

write a blog? me?

well, here i am, sitting in our little apartment. newly married, enjoying some hot coffee with a dash of almond milk, switching between thoughts of: "i wish i made a latte..." and "what on earth am i going to write to these people?! is this even interesting?!" and then i realized, i'm not writing others, i'm writing for us, calm down ashley.

and so i welcome you to our little digital diary. and thanks, for whatever crazy reason you decided to spend some time reading my insane and probably scattered thoughts. i'm quite certain it'll be like family (hi mom!) and close friends who keep up with us, but if we get strangers (hopefully not the basement dwellers sitting in their underwear kind, but i mean, no judgement...) and maybe some new friends, then hooray!

now that you've gotten a little taste of my sanity, i thought i'd write some of the reasons for starting this here little blog, just so you can get a little understanding into what will be going on and also so i can remind myself when i get lazy or not knowing what to write about i can refer to this and be all like, "okay, see there's a reason, you'll get to go back and be all 'woah we did that, we're nuts."

okay, so, reasons for A Home on the Road:

-to keep a journal of sorts through our time in the minor leagues and maybe beyond of all the adventures we had, the love we shared and were shown, and for when times get a little rough the look back and remember the amazing grace God gave us.
-for our family and friends to keep track of where we're at and where we're going (if we ever actually know before we get there)
-for other couples who are in this crazy world of minor league baseball
-for everyone else, who maybe like seeing others put themselves through a crazy situation for a good time or are interested in learning about this sort of lifestyle; i.e: poor nomads, but one of which throws a baseball really fast (hint hint: it's not me)

well, you made it to the bottom of the first post, congrats! and i made it to the end of writing without having too many uses of the backspace button, yay me! so, get ready for lots of baseball, lots of moving, lots of crazy, maybe some laughs, and even some tears...okay, i'm a getting a little carried away here...anyway, enjoy, i know i will!