Pike Practice

I'm not going to go into details, but we had an excellent practice today. We did some work on resets, end-zone, and the basic tenants of the horizontal stack. My team lost the focused scrimmage at the end which meant I got to do twice as many push-ups and burpees. w00t!

Total Workout: ~ 4 hours of practice

Look, Ma! No Turn-overs!

Tonight was the first A-League game of the season for MCUDL Summer League. We (Big Stick) faced off against the famed Mud Sharks in a re-match of last year's hotly contested quarter-finals match-up. They came out in their traditional zone D, but the perfect weather and our patience made it tough for them. At the end of the night, we came out on top 15-3 and played flawless offense as evidenced by the team combining for 0 turn-overs. I think that's a first in my career. Walt and I capped the night off with a half hour or so of throwing.

I gotta say, I'm glad they came zone 'cause after yesterday's workouts, my hammies and adductors were sore as hell!

Red Fish Run

Warm-up:

5:25 run to ball field
Quick stretch

Tabata Sprints:

10 x :20 sprint, :10 rest

full rest (walked the perimeter of the ball field)

40/40s:

10 x jog 40 yards, sprint 40 yards

Cool-down:

2:00 walk
4:25 run home

Chin-ups, Dips, 5x20 Circuit

Warm-up:

1 mile @ 8.5 mph
Active Stretching

5:00 of 2 x Chin-ups, 2 x Dips for max reps

16 reps completed

5 x 20 Circuit:

3 sets of:
20 x Push-ups
20/leg x Lunges w/ 20lb dumbbells
20 x Burpees
20 x Kettlebell Swings @ 25lbs
20 x Box Jumps
Total Time: 18:32

Rowing Machine:

100 Calories in 7:25

Housework

I don't know if it counts as working out, but I spent a good chunk of the weekend doing it so I'm putting it in here. Over the course of the weekend, Mary Ellen and I did some serious work on the house including:

painting
4+ hours of sanding the floor
1+ hours cleaning the floor
2+ hours polyurethaning the floor
spreading mulch
sweeping the driveway and the walkways
stacking wood
hauling trash
haggling with home depot
BBQing
Disc Golf @ Princeton

Tabatas: Lats, Shoulder Press, K-Jumps, Power-overs, V-ups

Warm-up:

8:00 @ Level 10 exercise bike (90 Calories)
Active Stretching

Tabata Sets:
Lat Pull-downs @ 75lbs:

12, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 8, 8

Shoulder Press w/ 35lb bar:

27, 25, 17, 12, 8, 8, 8, 9

Kangaroo Jumps:

20, 19, 18, 15, 15, 12, 14, 15

Power-Overs:

9, 9, 9, 8, 7.5, 6, 6, 5

V-up Sit-ups:

17, 16, 14, 12, 11, 10, 10, 9

Mostly Cardio

I tagged along with Mary Ellen to Studio 808 in HP tonight with the goal of burning at least 400 Calories.

Treadmill:

7:30 @ 8 mph
2:30 @ 3 mph
Tabata Set @ 12 mph
(I ran an extra cycle and a half at the start since my arm caught the emergency shut off and stopped the treadmill on me.)
2:00 @ 3 mph
1:00 @ 6.5 mph
1:00 @ 7 mph
1:00 @ 7.5 mph
1:00 @ 8 mph
2:00 @ 3 mph
Total Calories: ~300 (the emergency shut-off reset the counter)

Elliptical Machine:

6:30 @ Level 8
Total Calories: 77

Rope Climbing Machine (I saw it there and had to try it):

3 sets of 2:00 on, 0:30 off @ 170lbs @ Level 1
I kinda felt like the Man in Black climbing the Cliffs of Insanity. I have a strange feeling I'm going to be very sore tomorrow.

Sit-ups w/ 9lb medicine ball toss:

30 regular sit-ups
20 oblique sit-ups

Rowing Machine & Burpees Circuit

Warm-up:

8:00 @ Level 5 elliptical machine (70 Calories)
Active Stretching

Crossfit's WoD for 05/20/08 - For Time:

1000m Rowing Machine
25 x Burpees
750m Rowing Machine
50 x Burpees
500m Rowing Machine
75 x Burpees
Total Time: 20:40

Core Workout:

1:00 Plank
1:00 Left Side Plank
1:00 Right Side Plank

25 x Back Extensions
25 x Reverse Hyper-extensions

RDLs, KB swings, Thrusters, Jump Pull-ups, and Standing RTs

Warm-up:

1 mile @ 9 mph
Active Stretching

21-15-9 for time:

Romanian Deadlift @ 125lbs
Kettlebell Swings @ 25lbs
Thrusters w/ 20lb Dumbbells
Total Time: 10:34

Tabata Sets:
Jump Pull-ups:

27, 25, 22, 18, 15, 12, 10, 9

Standing Russian Twists w/ 45lb plate:

7, 8, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7

Rowing Machine:

5:00 for 55 Calories

Muscle-up Training, Hanging DB Clean & Press, Step-ups, and RTs

Warm-up:

10:00 Rowing Machine (130 Calories burned)
Active Stretching

Muscle-Up Training:

4:00 of 2 Kipping Pull-ups, 2 Dips
14 Sets Completed

Tabata Sets:
Lateral Step-ups:

6, 6.5, 7, 7, 7.5, 7, 7.5, 8.5

Hanging Dumbell Clean & Press w/ 20lb Dumbbells:

7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 5

Russian Twists:

22, 23, 23, 23, 22, 22, 21, 21

Lunges, Push-ups, OH Squats, etc ...

Warm-up:

1 mile @ 8.5 mph
Active Stretching

Lunge/Push-up Circuit:

25/leg x Lunges w/ 20lb Dumbbells
25/leg x Split Jumps
50 Push-ups

1:00 rest

25/leg x 45 degree Lunges w/ 20lb Dumbbells
25/leg x 45 degree Split Jumps
50 Diamond Push-ups

1:00 rest

25/leg x Side Lunges w/ 20lb Dumbbells
25/leg x Side Split Jumps
50 Wide Push-ups

Tabata Overhead Squats w/ 20lb Dumbbells

14, 13, 13, 13, 10, 9, 8, 8

Seven Step Abs minus the leg raises due to a sore hip flexor

Rowing Machine

5:00 for 55 Calories

Recovery Workout

Treadmill:

1/2 mile @ 7mph
1/2 mile @ 8mph
135 calories

Exercise Bike:

8:00 @ level 10
80 calories

Elliptical Machine:

8:00 @ level 50
60 calories

Rowing Machine:

11:00
125 calories

Long/Slow Stretching Session

Pike Invite, Day 2

Interestingly enough, I felt far better at the start of day 2. Maybe that will teach me not to do dumbbell snatches on the Thursday before a tournament, but probably not. I should probably mention at this point that we lost 5 guys overnight, bringing our total roster down to around 10 guys. Ouch.

The first name on Sunday's dance card was the Philly Love/SAG combo team, Broad Street. They came out fired up and their wide-open offense quickly capitalized on our poor execution, allowing them to take a quick 7-3 lead. We took a timeout to settle things down offensively and re-think our defensive strategy a bit. Something resonated because we stormed back to take half and then the game 11-8.

From there, we walked across the street to face off with Ring. I love playing these guys. They play an aggressive and physical style of ultimate, and even though their emotions run hot, they usually give you a fun and fair game. This was no different. Even though the score wasn't particularly close in this one, we definitely played better in this game than in our other losses.

The last round of the day was against the ever-dangerous Boston Ultimate (not DoG!), my nemeses since 1998. We were pretty much spent at this point and Boston's team D and patient O were way too much for us. Mistake after mistake quickly came back to hurt us and we basically rolled over for them. Oh well, hopefully some of them at least worked up a sweat.

Total work: 3 games of ultimate

Pike Invite, Day 1

This year's Pike Invite was held at a youth soccer complex a bit north and east of Philly. The weather was nice, the fields were adequate and the competition was great. For the last time this season, Pike went split squads again, which, combined with the round robin format, meant lots of PT for all against some high quality opponents.

My squad started the day off against the young and dangerous Roots of Rhythm. They were a bit groggy from the previous evening and were short several guys so we were able to jump on them early and often. We ended up winning by a fair margin. Next up came Truck Stop and we soon found ourselves in one of our usual slug-fests. It wasn't the prettiest game, but it was clean and fun. We went up a couple of breaks early, but they slowly fought back and ended up taking the game by 2 at the cap. Somehow, the energy we showed in this game didn't carry over.

Game 3 was against a large and fired up PoNY squad. We were unable to match their energy and athletic play and went down 14-8 or so. Our energy problems continued as we headed over to our last round game against the other Pike squad. We ended up losing a very low-energy game in a fairly pathetic display of ultimate.

Total Work: 4 games of ultimate

DB Snatch, Pull-ups, Dips, CKs, and Sit-ups

Warm-up:

8:00 Elliptical @ lvl 5
Active Stretching

21-15-9 for time:

Dumbbell Snatch, right hand @ 30lbs
Dumbbell Snatch, left hand @ 30lbs
Kipping Pull-ups
Dips
Total Time: 14:41

Tabata Sets:
Chuck Kellers:

12, 12, 11.5, 11.5, 11, 10, 9.5, 12
The fact that I hit 12 on the last means I was definitely slacking earlier. NG.

Sit-ups:

12, 13, 13, 14, 12, 12, 13, 12

Half-Filthy 50 plus some core

Warm-up:

100 x jumping jacks
Active stretching

Half-Filthy 50 for time:

25 Box Jumps w/ 18-inch box
25 Jump Pull-ups
25 Kettleball Swings w/ 25lb ball
25 Lunges per leg (stationary lunges)
25 Knees-to-Elbows
25 Push-Press @ 55lbs
25 Back Extensions
25 Wall Balls
25 Burpees
25 Kangaroo Jumps
Total Time: 9:54

Additional Core Work:

15/side x Side Bends w/ 50lb dumbbell
50/side Russian Twists w/ 20lb dumbbell
50/side x Bicycles
1:00 Plank
1:00 Left Side Plank
1:00 Right Side Plank

LiveLogic Shootout, Day Two

Two late nights in a row really took their toll on me. While I felt OK physically, keeping my mental focus was a constant battle in which I did not fair well. My legs and lungs were there but I made more execution errors and poor decisions in two games than I have in some entire seasons - at least, that's how it felt.

I apparently wasn't alone in this regard as day two was a rough one for Pike. We looked sloppy and slow today and while we put together a few runs where we looked really good, we just couldn't maintain the team-level focus we needed to put in a complete game. As a result, we turned out two disappointing losses - one to the other half of Doublewide and one to Grit.

Total work:
2 games of ultimate
1 dip in my brother's pool

My goal this season is to earn myself a starting spot in the O rotation by, to quote Dusty, "[being] a f*@%ing terror when [I] get the disc, not just before [I] get the disc." I went into this weekend with the intention of cutting aggressively and getting the disc in my hands, not just in the end zone as per my normal MO, but in the heart of the field and then, making aggressive and smart throws. I made a conscious effort to attack the break side of the field, to throw goals, and those hit deep shots that need hittin'.

Overall, I'm very pleased with how this turned out. I definitely had more turn-overs than normal as I felt out my limitations and as my teammates adjusted to my new style of play. I gotta say, being more willing to cut both ways makes you so much harder to defend. I love trying to keep the defense guessing all game long and I love working hard to be an all-around pain in the ass to cover. I've got a lot more work to do in this regard, but the seeds of confidence are there.

LiveLogic Shootout, Day One

Really quick recap:
Despite getting in rather late (early?) last night (this morning?) I felt pretty good going into this tournament. We started our day out with a nice win against Dallas' Grit, then got pretty well whooped by Toronto's Goat, rebounded to take Boulder's Johnny Bravo to 13-11ish, and then finished of the day in a sloppy game with half of Austin's Doublewide in which we dug ourselves a large hole before climbing our way out and eventually winning by a fair margin.

I felt good throughout the day with the exception of the last third of the Johnny Bravo game, at which time I began cramping really badly. I really need to pay more attention to diet and hydration during the day, especially when our numbers our low and I'm playing a lot points in succession. I was able to get some nutrients in me and to work out the cramps such that I felt fine in the last game of the day. Cramping up like that was embarrassing and disappointing, but at least I was able to rebound quickly and compete after giving my body the fuel it needed.

After that, we headed to Barton Springs to recuperate and to Billy's BBQ & Brew Pub to refuel. At this point, Mel and I split off from the team and went to a Del Castillo concert in downtown Austin with my brother and my two nephews. It made for a really late night, but goddamn, that show was AWESOME!

Total Workout:
4 games of Ultimate
1 swim at Barton Springs
1 meal at Billy's BBQ & Brew Pub
1 awesome show at Antone's

Just some throwin'

Met up with Vlad after work for a quick throwing session. Just a half hour or so to get things loosened up for Texas.

Seven/Thirty for time

A little something light leading up to LiveLogic ...

Seven/Thirty:

30 Standard Crunches
30 Push-ups
30 Crunches with Legs up
30 Diamond Push-ups
30 Leg Raises
30 Wide Push-ups
30 Crunches with knees apart/feet flat
30 Pike Push-ups
30 Crunches with knees apart/feet together
30 Push-ups, right hand high, left hand low
30 Right-side oblique crunches
30 Push-ups, left hand high, right hand low
30 Left-side oblique crunches
30 Push-ups
Total Time: 8:08