Recovery Workout

I actually felt pretty damn good from a physical standpoint. Aside from a little upper back/shoulder soreness, which I blame at least in part on the car ride, and some sore arches, I felt great. Anyway, as has become my post-tourney custom, I headed down to the gym during lunch for a light cardio workout.

Workout:
Treadmill

1 mile @ 8 mph plus some fast walking for 135 Calories

Elliptical Machine:

8:00 for 70 Calories

Exercise Bike:

8:00 for 65 Calories

Rowing Machine:

8:00 for 90 Calories
(Yay! The display magically works again!)

Boston Invite, Day 2 (team thoughts)

Well, the 2008 Boston Invite was a rough one for Pike. We ended up going 1-6 on the weekend and I lost to several teams that I've never lost to before in my career. Statistically, things looked pretty bad. Still, there are many things for us to draw encouragement.

This was the first tournament at which we ran official O and D lines and I have to say, I was very impressed by the on-field chemistry. I think the the offense might actually be better this season than the last two. I'm not saying that 'cause I'm on it either. We've got some vets behind the disc and added a couple of new young studs to the line-up that have made an immediate positive impact and Art's returned as an absolute beast after another year of experience. There's a lot to be excited about here. We definitely have some strategic issues to iron out (hell, we haven't even talked about anything but the most basic strategies) and we need to be better at getting discs back after a turn and, more importantly, at maintaining our focus for the entire game.

I think the D had a rougher time as they were missing several starters this weekend. They did well at generating turnovers, but had a lot of trouble converting them. Missing two D handlers really hampered their disc movement, and missing two strong downfield cutters put even more pressure on the handlers. Even so, this meant younger guys saw more points and more responsibility at an early point in the season. That's something that never hurts a team.

As I said, going 1-6 was a huge disappointment, but somehow, I feel better about the team than I did at this time last year. Maybe it's because we were in every single game we lost (I don't think we scored less than 10 points) or maybe it's just more faith in the leadership ...

Today's workouts:

3 games of ultimate

Boston Invite, Day 1 (personal thoughts)

The 2008 Boston Invite served as my first real test as a full time O player on Pike. I've put in a lot of work in the off season and in the spring since deciding this was something I wanted to do. While I believed I could be successful as a 'go to guy' on O, I felt a definite need to prove it. I can't tell you how many people laughed and thought I was joking when I said I was an O player this year. Well guys, I'll have you know, for the first time in my 13 year career, I went through an entire tournament without playing on a single D line! (OK, I did sub in once after an injury, but the D line was on O at that point and we scored [despite my best efforts] so it doesn't count!!)

My main goals for the tournament were: 1. Initiate offense rather than waiting in the wings and picking my spots. and 2. Be a throwing threat and not just a receiver. Overall, I was pleased with the way I met these goals. I thought I did an excellent job of taking what the defense gave me and in the end, I'm fairly certain I threw more goals than I caught. Every once in a while I found myself 'spot picking', so that still needs work and I did have a couple of lapses in focus which is just immature and intolerable. Execution errors are OK, but mental errors just gotta go. Oh yeah, and I need to get out and throw more flick hucks off of a pivot since I sometimes find myself arming it down the field instead of engaging my hips and getting my weight behind it.

By far, the best move of the day was Raphe's and my decision to eat dinner with Wicked. While Pike had some vague plan to magically find an Olive Garden after showering, Wicked had reservations at a classy Italian joint and were heading there straight from the fields. From what I heard, Pike ended up at some pizzeria somewhere at around 9pm. I ended up having Bruschetta, Calamari, and Risotto with Beef Tenderloin. FOOLS!!

OK, that's my story for the Invite. Perhaps I'll get over myself and write something about Pike tomorrow.

Workout:

4 games of ultimate.
Sadly, 0-4 on the day with loses to PoNY, DoG, Mephisto & Bohdi

Mercer A League

Big Stick vs. Rutgers

I went into this with the intention of getting a little running in and some work on my throws before the weekend. Unfortunately, our numbers were a bit low, so I still ended up playing almost every point. But I showed them dammit! I totally dogged in on D all night! Ha!

It wasn't the prettiest of games, but Stick ended up getting the win over the Rutgers crew despite the efforts of several new Pikes on their roster. Must've been the boost we got from former Mercer All Star, Mike Jaeger's presence on the sideline.

Workout:

a jog
a summer league game
some throwing

Speed Workout

The Highland Park track is closed for construction so I headed over to the neighborhood ballfield to run some sprints on its crushed stone warning track. Alas, some damn local team was using my spot for baseball of all things. As a last resort, I found a straight flat stretch of road and, using 2 telephone poles and a fire hydrant, paced out my sprint distances.

The mothers in the park had no idea what to make of me and I seemed to have caught the interest of an Edison police officer who circled the block twice before parking his cruiser at my finish line to better observe the proceedings. It's nice to have an audience! Makes me work harder. It also makes me wonder if perhaps I should shave off this scruff on my face. Eh ...

Workout:

8:25 run
Active Stretching and Plyos

3 x 90 yard accelerators (accelerate at an even pace for 50 yards, then maintain for 40)
3 x 90 yard sprint
3 x 50 yard sprint
3 x 25 yard spring

3:40 run

Half-Filthy 50 plus some core

This is one of my favorite tournament week workouts. Cut the Filthy 50 in half for a excellent full-body workout. It gets everything moving, without overly taxing anything.

Warm-up:

1 mile @ 8.5mph
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: 8:25

Nice! Knocked over a minute off of my fastest time.

Additional Core Work:

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

Seven/Thirty

Banged out a quick Seven/Thirty before bed.

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 Push-ups, right hand high, left hand low
30 Crunches with knees apart/feet together
30 Push-ups, left hand high, right hand low
30 Right-side oblique crunches
30 Knuckle Push-ups
30 Left-side oblique crunches
30 Push-ups

Pike Practice & Scrimmage

Dusty and Tim split the team into O and D for the weekend and I found myself on the O team for the first time since my old NY days. I'm pretty excited about the switch and the new challenges it puts on my game. I felt decent this weekend, but in need of a lot of improvement. I also feel like there are a couple of integral roles that need filling in our O and I'm really pressuring myself to fill them. With so much to work on, it's gonna be a fun year for me.

Anyway, Saturday broke down like this:

~ 3.5 of practice
(30 minutes of flutter during the lunch break)
~1.5 scrimmaging O vs. D

After a strong run early on in the scrimmage, the D took over to come back and kick our asses. My win/loss is not looking good in practice thus far!

21-15-9 (Jump PUs, Romanian DLs, Horizontal PUs, Dips, Back Ext.), Abs, and Rowing

Warm-up:

1 mile @ 8.5 mph
Active Stretching

21-15-9 for time:

Jump Pull-ups
Romanian Deadlifts @ 105lbs
Horizontal Pull-ups
Dips
Back Extensions
Total Time: 12:11

7 Steps Abs:

7 x30 Crunches in different variations

Rowing Machine:

5:00 @ moderate pace (damn display is busted)

Tabata Rowing Machine (counting strokes):

13, 14, 14, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13

Chin/Step/Push-ups, OH Squats & RTs

Warm-up:

6:00 exercise bike (random hills @ level 10)
Active Stretching

Tabatas:
Chin-ups:

13, 10, 8, 4
60lbs assist: 5, 3
100lbs assist: 5, 4

Step-ups (knee high bench):

10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10

Push-ups:

37, 33, 22, 20, 17, 18, 14, 11

Overhead Squats with 35lb bar:

14, 16, 15, 14, 14, 13, 14, 13

Russian Twists with 25lb plate:

17, 16, 16, 14, 15, 14, 14, 13

MCUDL A-League

Big Stick vs. Roots: 16-17

In a re-match of last season's finals, Big Stick faced off against Roots in what has become a great MCUDL rivalry. After leading the majority of the game, we faltered towards the end and Roots was able to grab the lead and the game after running off two straight in the dark.

This was a fun game for me as I kept drawing the speedy Beaches while on O and definitely had to work to get open. He seemed hell bent on not letting me go deep which helped me out in my quest at becoming a throwing threat by giving me good looks underneath. It also didn't hurt that the throwing gods were smiling on me tonight as I threw a bunch of hucks throughout the game and all were completed (including a lofty hammer to Officer K. and partially hand-blocked backhand to Spanish). Man, throwing is fun ... almost as much fun as catching goals.

The legs n' lungs felt great too, even after a weekend at P-days. I think I played all but two points tonight and was able to run hard throughout. I wouldn't want to play a whole tourney like that, but one game ain't no thing.

Workout:

~ 5:00 run w/ some plyos thrown in
Active Stretching
~15:00 throwing

Poultry Days, Day 2

Losing our last game on Saturday definitely hurt us. This year, there was no point differential-based reseeding, just A1 vs B2, A2 vs B1, etc. Thus we found ourselves in a re-match of last year's finals in the Pre-Quarters. Nice! Our opponents (Chicken Fingers, I think) were a combo of Bravo-Rare Air-Sub-Zero and a few friends. Definitely high caliber. While the game was relatively close, they were on top the whole way and we ended up falling 13-10ish.

I definitely picked up a few strategic ideas from watching these guys run their spread/German offense, and it's always awesome to match up against big name athletes such as theirs. Unfortunately, continuing with the scaled back organization theme, there was no scheduled consolation bracket meaning our P-Days play was over. However, BVH's never-say-die attitude landed us in a fun game with Texas.

There was rum and beer and bag (o' wine) tag and chicken costumes and boas and lefty points and upside down points and upside down lefty points and an on-field tanked Tank Cam and other assorted shenanigans. Much fun was had by all and both teams clearly won in the end.


Workout:

some warm-ups
a bunch of throwing
a game (and a half maybe?) of ultimate

Poultry Days, Day 1

Mel and I returned to P-Days after a 4-year hiatus to play with WWBJD, a fun and competitive team with some old friends and new faces. The roster was a bit small, esp. on the female side, but extremely talented and tons of fun and besides, small roster = more playing time for me. I win!

At first I was a bit concerned because our schedule called for 5 straight games, but somehow, this ended up being the most leisurely 5 straight games with a small roster I've ever experienced. Games were only to 11 and the time between rounds was almost excessive to the point were you really had to work to get warmed up before each game.

When I have more time, maybe I'll add some more details, but this is a workout log, not a journal so don't hold your breathe! For now, I'll just say we won our first 4 games pretty easily and then lost our last game at double game point after falling short on a pretty large second half come-back.

Workout:

various warm-ups
5 short games of ultimate
lots of throwing

MCUDL A-League

Big Stick vs. Illuminati:

This fun match-up was a little watered down this time around as neither team had their full roster, but a good time was had nonetheless. We went up early, then lost half 7-8, then came out strong in the second half to build a lead and keep it. The first half was tough for me since A. I wasn't properly warmed up and B. I forgot my cleats and was wearing MJ's which were a size small (OUCH!). I played fairly well, but had a few poorly executed hucks and at least 1 terrible decision to even throw the huck. Second half was much better as B-Lo arrived with a pair of cleats that actually fit. Finally warmed up, I ran more strongly and got some confidence behind my throws.

Basically, my goal for this season is to be a threat both ways. For me, this mostly means coming under to get the disc more often and then beating teams by hitting the open man, no matter where he is on the field. Too often in the past, I've been content to simply cut deep and let others throw it to me. That's great and all, but doesn't help me develop as a player. Summer league is the perfect place to experiment and improve.

Workout:

Warm-up & 15 minutes throwing
Big Stick vs. Illuminati: 15-12
20 minutes throwing

Longest Mile Circuit, etc.

Warm-up:

1 mile @ 8.5 mph
Active Stretching

Longest Mile Circuit:

1:00 @ 10 mph
10 x Pull-ups
1:00 @ 10 mph
10 x Dips
1:00 @ 10 mph
10 x Burpees
1:00 @ 10 mph
10/side x Lateral Step-ups
1:00 @ 10 mph
10 x Wall Balls
1:00 @ 10 mph
10 x Kangaroo Jumps
Total Time: 11:19

Et Cetera:

5:00 Rowing Machine
60 x Push-ups

ETC Track: GBuhl 200s

Warm-up:

1 mile in 6:26
Active Stretching

GBuhl 200s:

(8 x 1 2oom sprint every 1:30)
1-2: ~:30
3-6: ~:32-:33
7: ~:34
8: ~:27 (really busted my ass on this one)

Walk 300m

4 x 100m sprint (rest = walk back to start)

1-2: strides at about 75%, concentrating on form
3-4: full sprints, concentrating on feeling good and running fast

Full Body Circuit

Warm-up:

1 mile @ 8.5 mph
Active Stretching

Full Body Circuit:

3 sets of:
10/leg x Dumbbell Curl - Lunge - Press Combo w/ 20lb Dumbbells
10 x Deadlift - Shrug - Heel Raise Combo @ 125lbs
10 x Push-up - Core Row Combo w/ 20lb Dumbbells
10/side x Corkscrew w/ 35lb plate
1:30 rest

A-League Game

I got to the fields a little early tonight so I was able to get a nice warm-up run in and a solid half hour of throwing before our game against Columbia. Nunez runs a tight ship and the Columbia kids played well, but Stick's experience was too much and our patient O gave them very few second chances. After the game, even more throwing. Exactly what I need!

Workout:

5:00 run
30:00 throwing
1 x A-League game
30:00 throwing

Recovery Workout

Elliptical Machine:

10:00 @ Level 5 for 85 Calories

Treadmill:

10:00 @ 7.5 mph for 160 Calories

Exercise Bike:

10:00 @ Level 10 for 103 Calories

Rowing Machine:

10:00 @ Level 10 for 115 Calories

Long and Slow Active Stretching Session

Pike Scrimmage & Mini

We split the team according to salary and played a scrimmage bright and early Sunday morning. After going up and staying up for most of the game, my team (Richie Rich) lost focus and fell to the po' boys 15-12 or so. Damn! Bad weekend for me and scrimmages.

Afterwards, a few of us stuck around for and hour or so of Mini. Good fun was had by all.