Matthew Bates

IT’S been a few weeks since my last piece, but the time has flown by. It couldn’t have gone quickly enough for me.

I’m going back out to America a week today, and I’m hoping to be able to start my running, which is something that’s been on my mind for a while.

Bill, my trainer over there, does the running slightly different than I’ve been used to. I’ll be going almost flat out from day one instead of doing things slowly and building everything up over a period of a few weeks.

We’ll be pulling weighted sledges, which is effectively a normal sledge with weights attached on the back. You have to run while pulling the extra weight behind you, and it should help your speed and strength.

I feel ready for it now, and I’m hoping to come back to England a lot further ahead in my rehab than when I leave.

I’m going to see my surgeon in London on Wednesday for a check up.

I’m hoping he will be pleased with how everything is going, and give me the green light to start the running.

I’ll be travelling down with Grant Downie, the head physio, early on Wednesday. And I’m talking 6am early – I’m not a great morning person!

JUST to take you back a few weeks to Christmas and New Year – it’s a very different experience for a footballer.

It’s a little bit different for someone who is injured like me, because you get a bit of time with your friends and family.

But it’s a lot different for the fit lads. For them, it’s the busiest time of the season, and there are very few days of around the Festive period, if any.

We played Scunthorpe at home on Boxing Day, so at least that meant they had Christmas Day at home - if there had been an away game on Boxing Day, they would have been travelling on Christmas Day. That’s never easy, especially for the lads who have children.

WE’VE had a few new faces around the training ground this month with all the new signings coming in. I think there could be a few more today.

Like I said before, this month has flown by, and even though I’m injured, I think all the business of the transfer window might also be a reason.

There’s an extra vibe and air of expectancy around the place. Hopefully, it could kick start us for a late push up the table THE running in America is the next thing on the agenda, but I’m hoping that when I’m back at the training ground come the end of February, I’ll be able to start doing a bit with the ball again. If I can, I can progress from there to doing some light noncontact training.

I’ll be starting with the Academy lads. Mark Proctor and Dave Parnaby are very good like that.

They understand it’s a good steady progression for players coming back from long-term injuries.

I’m hoping to get a couple weeks of full training in by the end of the season, just to set me up nicely to go full steam ahead in pre-season. These are just my hopes at the minute, so we’ll see. But I will be certainly pushing Grant to let me!

I’ll be in America for just under three weeks. I hear it’s absolutely freezing out there, and full of snow, which I’m not looking forward to at all.

People in Vermont expect snow every year around this time, so they are fully prepared for it. It doesn’t stop normal everyday life like it did for a while over here.

I’ll be back on February 27, and I think this is going to be my last trip over there.

There’s a lot to do in the three weeks, but I’m looking forward to coming back with yet another new programme for our physios to steal!