Upper Body & Core

Warm-up:

10:00 Elliptical Machine
Active Stretching

21-15-9:

Dumbbell Bench Press, 40 lb Dumbbells
Bent Over Row, 40 lb Dumbells

21-15-9:

K2Es
Back Extensions

Tabata Mahlers:

5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Pike Practice

After getting the boot from the Princeton Fields, we headed over to Quakerbridge Road for practice. The fields were actually quite nice today albeit slightly hard (a terrifying thought since it rained all week long!) and even though Poultry Days and a PADA wedding depleted our numbers, we still ended up with a solid turnout. It's great to see folks are hungry to play! Practice itself was challenging and fun, and we even got some work playing in a downpour. I'm really starting to get fired for Boston and to see what Pike 09 can do.

MCUDL A League

Big Stick vs. Rutgers

I felt pretty much like crap tonight; not sure why. (Meow!) Still, we overcame my lackluster performance since our young studs played some sick D and worked hard all night to earn us a pretty comfortable win.

NB - The new cleats are awesome. For such hideous monstrosities, I can't believe how comfortable they are.

Upper & Core Work

Warm-up:

8:00 Elliptical Machine
Active Stretching

21-15-9:

Dumbbell Bench Press w/ 40lb DBs
Pull-ups

21-15-9:

K2Es
Back Extensions

Tabata Chuck Kellers:
13, 12, 11, 11, 11, 11, 11, 13

Barton Creek Hike

Carefully skirting the "Private Property" signs, my brother lead Mel, myself, Gregg, Matt and Anya through the Texas underbrush and live oaks to Barton Creek where we hiked along enjoying the impressive limestone carvings, pausing now and then to skip stones and point out good fishing holes. After working up a decent sweat in the Texas heat we hopped in the pool (unfortunately the creek was overgrown with algae) and soon chased everyone else away from poolside with an uproarious game of 2 v 2 kill the carrier.

Golden Dactyls

I headed over to Dripping Springs High School to throw around and play some hot box with my nephews' ultimate team. Man, it is hot as hell in Texas! We got a couple of hours of throwing in against a stiff breeze and a few rounds of hot box.

Tabata Ladder

I've been trying to get in some activity and avoid over-eating while down in Austin celebrating my eldest nephew's high school graduation. Last night I went for a 45 minute hike with my brother followed by a quick dip in the pool. This morning, I went for a walk with Mary Ellen and then followed it up with the following Tabata Ladder in the 'dry' Texas heat.

10 x Tabata Sprints (run :20, rest :10)

4:00 rest

8 x Tabata Sprints

3:oo rest

6 x Tabata Sprints

2:00 rest

4 x Tabata Sprints

1:00 rest

2 x Tabata Sprints

Nice Kicks!

I opted to eschew the gym today and instead went in search of some new footwear. About a mile uptown, practically in the East River is a great little mom n' pop soccer shop called Doss Soccer Supply that I like to patronize. The folks are nice and helpful and, while they don't have a huge selection, they always carry a variety of nice higher end cleats that you'll never see in a Dicks or Modells.

After much deliberation, I rolled the dice and bought my first-ever Nike cleats in lieu of ye olde Puma Kings. They're garish to the point of ridiculousness, but extremely comfortable and light _and_ they seem to have the added feature of not aggravating my plantar fasciitis. Plus, I like the cleat configuration. That said, I'm not sure I'm good enough to wear these cleats:

MCUDL A League

Big Stick v Illuminati

We started things off right tonight with an intersquad Atlas match-up (me, Tous & Ricky vs. Dusty, Jake, & Frenchy). Upon finishing I believe Dusty remarked, "Holy Shit! I might actually be warmed up... for a summer league game!!"

The ultimate game itself was a lot of fun. Though neither team was at full strength, each could field a very solid line of club players and Pike was well represented on both sides (Stick representing the ghosts of Pike past, of course). We traded thoughout most of the game, but Stick was more consistant in the end and we were able to capitalize on some unforced errors in the second half and take the W.

Central Park Run

I decided to pay homage to Jackie O and soothe my sore muscles with a light jog around the Central Park reservoir. The weather was perfect and the scenery was great. I started out on the upper jogging path and put in a circuit (precisely 1.5 miles) in 11:32, then moved onto the bridle path for a while before heading back to work. I ran at a moderate pace and kept it relatively short since this was predominantly a recovery workout.