Pike Double Practice

Pike had a double practice today with drills and focused scrimmages in the morning and a scrimmage to 11 in the afternoon (with random double-scores thrown in).

Practice went very well and deserves more attention than I'm giving it here. Too bad.

Half-Filthy 50

Just the right thing for the day after yet more poolside shenanigans and the day before a big practice...

Warm-up:

10:00 Elliptical Machine (125 Calories)
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: 8:09

My goal is to be able to go full bore through this whole workout - no resting. I'm getting close. Today I made it 2/3 through the burpees before I had to stop and then I rested again at 18 K-Jumps.

2:00 Rest

Treadmill:

5:00 @ 8.5 mph (plus some 3mph to get to an even 100 Calories)

Tabatas (push-ups, treadmill, lateral bounds) and Core

Warm-up:

10:00 Elliptical Machine (125 Calories)
Active Stretching

Tabata Push-ups:

41, 40, 34, 21, 14, 11, 11, 10

Tabata Treadmill:

10 mph @ 7% incline

Planks:

1:30 Plank
1:30 Right-side Plank
1:30 Left-side Plank

Tabata Lateral Bounds w/ 10lb Dumbbells (reps are per leg)

12, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 13, 12

Additional Core:

4 sets of:
15 x superman back extensions
30 x crunches

Throwing

Mel & I walked the 1/2 mile to the local ballfield to get some throwing in. We spent much of the walk discussing the merits of this week's the-huddle.org topic re: catching. The dark combined with the passing cars and sickly yellow arc-sodium street lights made catching, even just seeing, an exercise in concentration and anticipation. While throwing I focused on staying on my toes, even while extending my pivots, remaining balanced, and on throwing with touch, even after a quick fake or pivot.

Work:

1/2 mile walk
30 minutes of throwing
1/2 mile walk

DB Snatch, Chin-ups, SL Squat Work

Warm-up:

1 mile @ 8.5 mph
Active Stretching

21-15-9 (untimed):

Dumbbell snatch, right @ 20lbs
Dumbbell snatch, left @ 20 lbs
Chin-ups

Single-Leg Squat Workout:

2 sets of 10 x Single-Leg Squats per leg
2 sets of 15 x Bulgarian Split Squats per leg
2 sets of 15 x Step-ups w/ 15lb dumbbells per leg

Quick Core:

20 x Back Extensions
100 x Crunches
20 x Back Extensions
100 x Crunches

Pike Double Practice & Pool Party

Pike had a double practice in Princeton today followed up by a BBQ & Pool Party at Kyle's place. Practice saw a lot of short and focused scrimmages with much emphasis placed on scoring in the first possession and suitable punishments doled out to the losing squads. We also ran through a couple of drills targeted towards key aspects of our offense.

All in all, the team is doing much better at bringing focus and intensity to practice which will only help us in the series. Personally, I'm really feeling pressure to bring it to every practice since this fall's wedding schedule means I'll be missing some key weekends going forward.

The pool party was great. Lots of good food, good folks, and outrageous shenanigans. The diving board was put to good use and we all got some good work on our shoulder high, 360 degree, flipping layout grabs into floating pool furniture. Hey! If you don't practice it, how can you expect to pull it off in a game?

Workout:

Double Practice
Poolside Shenanigans

Tabata Workout

Warm-up:

10:00 Elliptical Machine (125 Calories burned)
Active Stretching

Tabata Workout:
Pull-ups:

14, 10, 6, 4, 4 w/50lb assist, 4 w/70lb assist, 4 w/90lb assist, 4 w/110lb assist

Lateral Step-ups (per leg):

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

Push-ups:

38, 36, 23, 20, 12, 12, 10, 10

Overhead Squats w/ 35lb bar:

13, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 11, 10

Crunches:

30, 31, 32, 34, 34, 34, 35, 34

Cool-down:

6:00 Elliptical Machine (65 Calories burned)

Suicide Workout

Warm-up:

10:25 run - 3 laps of the Rutgers Intramural Fields (~1.5 miles)
Active Stretching

Suicide Workout:
4 x 200m Suicides (0-15-0-25-0-40-0-40), 1:45 between each

:33.95
:33.48
:33.19
:33.19

3:00 rest

6 x 120m Suicides (0-15-0-25-0-40), 1:15 between each

:19.58
:19.97
:18.97
:19.59
:19.05
:19.22

Let's pretend for a minute that the cones, which I paced out, were perfectly placed, and my timing was spot on even though I worked my own watch while trying to sprint full out.

3:00 rest

10 x Body Builders

7 Steps Abs

7 x 30 crunches in various positions

3:38 run - 1 lap of the fields

Where's the Beach

I spent the day at the Jersey Shore with my brother and some good friends and while I'm not sure this truly counts as a workout, I was definitely sore in the morning. At the very least, I got in a lot of good throwing in a very stiff breeze, swam a few laps in the Spring Lake pool, and don't underestimate just how much work it takes to body surf all day!

MCUDL A League Finals, Game 3

Big Stick vs. Roots of Rhythm

Energized after they big win last night, Roots came out strong to start the game. If memory serves, they went up 4 or 5-1 before Stick could right the ship. Stick made a few strategic adjustments on O and D and managed to close the gap. However, Roots remained patient and again stepped it up at the end of the game to take the Mercer Cup 15-12.

MCUDL A League Finals, Game 2

Big Stick vs. Roots of Rhythm

I've been delinquent in my posting and so my memory fails me a bit. Roots definitely came out strong after Stick stole game 1. We traded a couple of breaks in the first half, but when Stick managed to break to go up 11-10 in the second half, I admit, I thought the cup was ours once again. Alas, it was not to be. Roots came back strong, put on a 5-1 run and took game 2 15-2.

MCUDL A League Finals, Game 1

Big Stick vs. Roots of Rhythm

Tonight marked game 1 of the best-of-3 and ended up being a rematch of last year's finals in which Big Stick came out victorious. Roots won both regular season match-ups and so come into the finals as the 1 seed. However, Big Stick has a winning tradition and a love for big games. Overall, I'd say the teams are pretty evenly matched. Big Stick has much more experience but a smaller roster compared to the young and athletic Roots of Rhythm who bring a full line-up of fire and intensity to every game (though tonight they were missing at least Ricky and Beaches).

Stick came out strong, scoring 2 straight, but Roots rallied to tie it up after I doinked a sweet huck from Walt off of my fingertips. The game went back and forth like that forth like that with Stick scoring 1 or 2 and Roots answering to tie. Stick came out strong in the second half and built a 12-9 lead. As is their trademark, Roots refused to die and, after a strategic timeout, they pulled their best Cool-hand Luke impression to roar back and tie the game up at 12s. At this point, Stick answered with a timeout of their own, regrouped, and stormed back onto the field to run off three straight and take the game 15-12.

At this point, I need to give props to Billy Kiefer and B-Lo on Stick and the Saul Brothers on Roots for raising the level and getting involved in nearly every success for their respective teams. And I gotta give some love to Mellen who ripped down a sweet huck in traffic at 13-12!

As for me, I played 'OK' but not great. My legs were definitely a bit leaden and I blame this on the number of Burpees the O-Team earned yesterday at practice. It was good practice for me though, since I had to rely on my set-ups to get open rather than simply overpowering people. I was able to get the disc pretty regularly, largely in part to the Roots' strategy of "back Dono by 15 yards," but my defense was sluggish and involved a lot of "being content to contain Noah as much as possible." Anyway, tomorrow's a much needed rest day, so we'll just have to see what Wednesday brings.

Workout:

Extended Warm-up
1 x MCUDLA A League Finals

Pike Practice etc.

Despite the rain and the tornado warnings, we got in a good hard practice this afternoon at the Edgely Ball Fields. We put in some work on man-to-man defense, marking, dump resets, and ran scrimmages designed to work on a few weak spots on either side of the disc. All in all it was a lot of fun, even though the O ended up doing way too many mandatory push-ups, sprints and burpees (the D stepped up and did the same amount, but theirs were voluntary). Still seeking that 'calm intensity.'

Afterward, a half dozen of us stuck around for some Mini and, since the rest of the team left in fear of the rain, we were in full compliance with the First Rule.

Workout:

Full Practice
1 hour of Mini

Disc Golf

10:00 throwing
18 holes of Disc golf (w/ lids): -3

Seven/Thirty

Seven/Thirty:

30 x push-ups
30 x crunches
30 x diamond push-ups
30 x crunches with feet up & knees at 90 degrees
30 x push-ups with arms wide
30 x leg lifts
30 x push-ups with hands at waist
30 x crunches knees apart, feet together
30 x push-ups, left hand high, right hand low
30 x crunches knees apart, feet apart
30 x push-ups, right hand high, left hand low
30 x right-side oblique crunches
30 x clap push-ups
30 x left-side oblique crunches

ETC Track Report

The ETC picked up a new member today and he came on the scene strong and dominated start to finish. Jake Rainwater joined Mel and I at the Piscataway track for a little up and down ladder action. I posted times with which I normally would be happy, but Jake was well in front of me on every single one. My only consolation is that I was barely able to eke out the final 100m to avoid the clean sweep.

Warm-up:

1 mile in 7:00 (almost as though I was on the treadmill)
Active Stretching
Quick Plyo set focusing on running form

Up and Down Ladder:

100m: un-timed
200m: :28
300m: :45
400m: 1:08
400m: 1:08
300m: :46
200m: < :27 (missed the watch, but we were flying 'cause I really wanted to win this one)
100m: un-timed

15:00 throwing

Mercer A-League Semifinals

Big Stick vs. Illuminati

Mellen and I showed up early tonight to get some work on the agility ladder. If you can get some time with one of these, I highly recommend it. They are a fun way to improve your footwork and balance while in motion. There are so many different drills and variations that every workout is different.

After that, we spent some time throwing and getting ready for the semis which ended up being some sort of Dickensian Pike Past, Present, and Future affair. Big Stick definitely represents the Ghost of Pike Past with me, Walt, MJ, JT, Billy Kiefer and B-Lo out there on the line, although we also have Spanish, definitely a rising star on Pike's current roster. Illuminati's connection to the past was limited to Dusty Rhodes, but Pike Present and Future where well represented by Raph, Jake (the Jake), Ross, Bo Li, and, M.I.A. for the semis, Tom Quayne & Will Reed.

They definitely had talent to spare and took it to us early and often. However, Pike Past's big game experience (let's just say that summer league semis doesn't qualify as a big game for most of us) and hard-earned confidence proved too much in the end as we were able to overcome a 12-10 deficit and steal the win 15-13.

Workout:

Quick Jog
Active Stretching
1/2 hour on the agility ladder
~20:00 throwing
Mercer A-League Semis

Plyo Workout

Based on the team plyo workout of the week, with slight modifications due to space constraints.

Warm-up:

1 mile @ 8.5 mph
Active stretching

Plyo workout:

2 sets of:
1. 3 x 50 bent over ankle bounce
2. 4 x 6 kangaroojumps
3. 4 x 6 1-leg step jump
4. 1/2 Tabata Set, Elliptical Machine (4 x :20 sprint, :10 slow)
5. 4 x 5 pause lunges
6. 3 x 20/20 sprint **
7. 2 x squat jumps w/ 3 second pause

** A summer program was eating lunch in my gym so I ran sprints in their cafeteria. Take that!

FCS, Day 2

We lost our pre-quarter game to Wiretap 14-13 after being up 13-10. Ouch. We definitely need to get some consistency on the O side of things. After that, we won both consolations games, taking the Ninals in 1 point victory Pyrrhic victory over Boneyard.

Workout:
3 x tournament play games
1 x Chocolate/Cherry milkshake
1 x demoralizing rape by US Airways

FCS, Day 1

Don't have time to write much at the moment, but here goes:

Pike headed down to High Point, NC for the Furniture City Shootout. Awesome fields, good regional competition, and a chance to eat hush puppies, sweet tea, and CookOut milkshakes.

Pike was a bit streaky on day 1. While the D looked solid throughout, the O had some consistency issues (insert whiny excuse about 3 missing starters) and, as a result, ended up going 2-2 on the day with one really bad loss to Los.

Workout:

4 x Tournament play games
30:00 throwing with Wayne to iron out some huck issues
1 x 12-pack with Dusty & Wix
1 x Big Daddy Plate w/ Tabata Hush-Puppies