practice: week of 08/02/09

Friday I thought I could run home from work and in about 2.5 hours finish up getting all of our stuff out of the apartment. That didn't work. It took more like 6 hours, which was a big sucky sucky cause we were trying to get to an engagement party, which we ended up about 2 hours late for. The engagement party went till after 1 am and by the time we got parked, into our hotel room and made a poor food delivery order it was 3:45 am.

Up at 7:15 am for practice, nice to know you Boston Sheraton, and off to bachelor party things for same engagement party at 3 pm. Volleyball, wiffle ball, more stump and at Foxwoods by 9 pm. Lost $100 in the first hour. Didnt play for an hour or two. Back to even by 12:30 am. Up $100 by 2:30 am. Another terrible food decision and we weren't asleep till 6:30 am. Up at 8 am for practice. On the road to Brooklyn by 4 pm. 1.5 hour nap around 84. Cruised on into Brooklyn at 8:30 pm. 3/4 of the stuff unloaded by 10:30. Asleep at 11:30. Up at 9:30. Breakfast. Back to sleep at 11:00 am up at 2 pm ready to start my New York life.

Practice was good. I made some bad throws on decent decisions. I got to just let it rip. On the two completions I did just that. On the three throw aways I tried to guide it in which is not my game.

I managed to severely stress my ankle and achilles on my left foot. I am hobbling around right now with an ankle brace and icing constantly. I think this is my body's way of telling me to ease up for a bit. My back has also been bad for two weeks, which has been excasperated by all this moving. Im using this evidence to take a light week of workouts on so I am ready for next weekends practice and ECC the weekend after that.

practice weekend: 10/19/08

Last tough practice weekend of the year. It finally got windy for us, which was a nice preview of Florida. Gusty, multi level wind coming from every direction. It was fun to get some touches in with adverse elements. We also got out all of the stupid shit we would have done on Thursday morning.

I'm working on my schedule for the next two weeks.

practice: week of 10/05/08

Last practice before regionals. Lot's of stuff to gel on and never enough time to do it.

This week:
Mon - Gym
Tue - Throwing
Wed - sprint workout
Thurs - agilities
Fri - game film (aka Mighty Ducks 2)

practice: week of 09/21/08

Well into September and it feels good to be playing ultimate. We had two perfect days of weather this weekend and we can only hope it stays this beautiful for this weekend sectionals and next weekends regionals. I really look forward to every opportunity to play ultimate these days. Whether that be sectionals, regionals or nationals.

I have moved away from analyzing what I have been doing well and what I need to work on mostly cause I got a little self conscious about who was reading this thing. I've been a little banged up recently, well for about a month and a half, with what has been diagnosed as tendinits in my ankle. I gave up all exercise for two different two week periods and although the rest did me well, I am stiff very uncomfortable at times. I will continue with my streghthening excercises over the next few weeks and hope it doesn't limit me come regionals.

This week:
mon: gym (explosive then heavy)
tue: an active and throwing
wed: track
thur: spaq
fri: an active and throwing

practice weekend: 8/9-10/08

Two 4 hour practices.

Practice: Saturday and Sunday 08/02/08-08/03/08

I was not to optimistic that my groin would be ready to go. During summer league I never felt right and then I tried some sprints on Friday night. I got to about 95% and felt funny so I stopped and doom closed in around me. If I take this weekend off that leaves me one weekend to practice before Chesapeake. If I play this weekend there is a chance I would set myself back till Chesapeake. I was really frustrated, but it was all for naught as I started warming up. I felt fine if a bit behind in cardio after limiting myself for almost two weeks.

Saturday was ugly. Lots of turns as guys got used to each other again and try to shake off summer league impulses and the rust of taking a month off. The practice was cut to about 3 hours due to lightning and a downpour.

Sunday was less ugly. Decisions were a little better and throws a bit crisper. The rain held off till sprints.

Practice: 06/15/08

The morning weather was sloppy, but not sloppy enough to account for our sloppy play out the gate. Things got cleaned up as the day went on, but I feel like we should be at a higher level. You have to give some of the credit to our sloppy play to the fact that although we have had a core of 15 out for everything 20 other dudes have been floating around in and out of events.

Practice: 03/16/07

warm ups
some agility stuff working on starts and coming out of cuts hard
For cardio we had 30 seconds to sprint the length of the gym and come back. If you do it in 15 seconds you have 15 seconds of rest. We did this for 4 minutes straight. On average i bet it took guys 17 - 21 seconds to make it there and back.
play
tabata squats: i went butt to the ground to set a good example; 17,16,17,13,16,18,19,16 or something like that. It is brutal and the good thing with this exercise is that no matter how good you are at it, it still sucks cause you just do more squats.

Practice: 02/25/08

My back is sore from playing basketball without stretching enough. How old am I?

warm ups
agility work: did a fun one with tapiocas into releases, did a bad one working on cutting with the outside leg
cardio: brutal backpedal suicide and ended with a lame sprint to stations (squat jumps knee to chest, mountain climbers, burpees) that ended up being impossible.

Practice: 02/15/08

Agility: 2 box variations and then a back pedal, release out on an angle deep, cut under, backpedal, release on a thrown disc.

cardio:
(3 laps) 3 person piggy back relay: A carries B 20 yards with C running along side, A drops B, B picks up C for 20 yards while A runs along side, B drops C, C picks up A for 20 yards with B along side, when they reach the next marker everyone sprints back to the beginning and starts over.

(2 laps) 15 yards two foot bounding, 15 yards lunge jumps, 15 yard sprint, 10 pushups, 15 yard sprint, 10 situps, 15 yard sprint, 10 squat hops knee to chest.

And there was gonna be one more, but the we ran out of time. I hope i get to do it next time.

Practice: Sat and Sun 10/20-10/21

Last two practices of the year and my last post before nationals. Friday I didn't have time to do my agility workout and Monday I am getting a massage so that is it for workouts. I plan on getting some throwing in Tuesday and Wednesday along with getting up to speed a few times on Wednesday.

Practice was all right this weekend. We are losing steam as far as being able to get fired up point after point for playing against each other. I think we peaked intersquad intensity wise right before regionals. Over the past two months we have played one tough game against another team and the rest of the time, 16 days, 5 hours a day, we have played against each other. We did get up for the last point of Sunday after O had rattled off three or so in a row and practice had been called. There was a "we can't go out like that" shout that went up after this debacle so we got one more shot and pulled to the O. We had a great point of intense d that resulted in a throw away, which we turned into a goal. I don't know if the O felt the added intensity, but it was nice to go out with a little spunk.

The goal is in sight. Anything less than quarters will be a severe disappointment. It is easy to look forward, to assume wins and think about potential match-ups. Today and tomorrow I want to focus game by game and not day by day. Pike. Rhino. Sockeye. What do I have to do to be successful? I have to shut my man down, but to do that I have to know how he helps his team most. Long throws? Deep cuts? and play accordingly. On offense? Move the disc quickly, hit the deep throws when open and high percentage, and get the disc off the sideline with chips and patience.

practice: sat and sun 10/13 10/14

Practice really wasn't worth talking too much about. I felt good and think I will stick with the schedule I made last week. We had three subs on d which doesn't seem like a lot, but you definitely notice the difference between 3 and 1. That in general makes everything so much cheerier. We ended on a sloppy double score drill to 5. The first 4-5 points were 0-1 turnover ultimate then at 3-3 it started getting ugly capped off with 3-4 and 4-4 going 4+ turns on each side mostly a product of scores and then being tired and trying to score on the same third with one stall count, which resulted in lots of tough throws. Despite d turning it so much I thought we were playing well and not getting down on ourselves in the sense that we after every turn we kept bringing pressure. Obviously 1+ turnovers/point is not gonna get us any breaks at nationals, but it is encouraging that we were all ready to stand up for each other and fight to get the d again.

Mon: total body weights
Tue: off
Wed: track
thu: off
fri: agility
sat: practice
sun: practice
mon: massage
tue: off
wed: throwing/light sprints
thu-sun: NATIONALS

practice: Sat and Sun; Sept 29th and 30th

Sat:

14 guys? Tough to handle, but because of the low numbers we were able to drill and talk more than we usually do, which I think was needed. There hasn't been to much time to think about individual skill this year as we try to gel together as a team. We play a lot more than we drill and its a detriment to skills, but for a new team the most important thing is to get everyone on the same page and on Saturday we improved. As far as my individual play my knees felt creaky for Saturday much like two weeks ago. I think I need to keep my legs loose all week cause I cant afford to feel like that on Saturday of regionals. Trying to find a level of looseness without feeling tired for Saturday might be a challenge.

Sun:

More energy and the d line is really starting to work together on offense. We still have a little trouble re-finding our rhythm once the disc stays in one persons hands for a full stall count. We also had a little trouble finishing points, but our flow and spacing looks great so the scores will come as we become more confident in each other.

I am ready to bust out this weekend.

Mon: Lower Body light explosive
Tue: agility
Wed: Track
Thur: off
Fri: 100's

practice: Sunday 9/16/7

I can't believe we are already into the 3rd week of September. This is the time when it shows who, in May and June, thought to themselves "I still have how long till the series? I can afford to take this week off." I think I did about 80% of what is necessary to be in peak physical condition for the series. I think if I did 100% I wouldn't have had my physical letdown on Saturday, but that being said the pop came back in my legs for Sunday and there was enough of a difference that a couple people mentioned it as well. I think it is due to that work in May and June even if it wasnt 100% of what I could have done. Starting out the season with 85 second 400's definitely takes you down a notch on the ol' pride meter, but as I continue to lean out and run harder and faster and longer I think it might have been worth it. I dont necessarily think the route I took to get here was the right one. If did it again I would mix in a bunch more cardio from Feb through April, but next year I expect to have a plan set up that will take into account all I learned this past year and I won't gain 25 pounds after the series ends.



Anyways. I might still be missing that last -ve in explosive, but I also realized that I am still scared to launch my body shoulder high at full speed. I had a pretty good shot on a swing to Wizzy that he ended up catching head high going full speed. I really don't know if I would survive a layout that high at that speed. I've seen guys do it, Will Neff always comes to mind, so I know not only can you survive it, but you can bounce up from it. I'm however, more of a "crumble" guy than a "bounce up" guy so I will wait till regionals to sell myself out for a block like that. I had a couple other good bids on d and played some good physical shut down d, but still give to much cushion at times and give up the deep ball. On O I feel great. I scored more times this weekend than in (fill in the blank) combined, which still isn't that much and had no deep turnovers. Our D O looked great this weekend and I hope it wasn't just because the O's D was weak, but because we used the ho-stack drills (Ive been pulling for those drills for two year)to our advantage. Our D needs to get better in a grittier, grind your teeth kind of way. We all have our individual moments of this kind of d, but if all 7 guys aren't playing with that in mind, it doesn't really matter. I want to make sure I bring that intensity to every d point I play at sectionals no matter who I match up against.



My quad tightend up while running down on the last pull of the scrimmage. I finished the point and thought it might not be a good idea to do the end of practice running, but it is impossible to see your whole team running and not participate so I did it.



mon: lifting (finally! there is nothing planned that will stop me from finally getting to the gym)

tue: throw

wed: something short and explosive, the long stuff 200's and 100's was what got my quad last week

thurs: throw

fri: TBD

sat: sexies

sun: sexies

practice: Saturday 9/15/7

Somedays you just don't have it and I definitly did not bring it on Saturday. I measure "bringing it" by how much D pressue I put on our offense. I am cutting on O better and better and making the O work hard on D helps them, but what helps them the most is being that shadow on their hip while they are cutting, that body in the lane when they want to cut and the hard mark denying them the throw they want and I just didn't bring that on Saturday. It was a big let down especially after how tough we played last weekend.

I should be keeping track of scores. I think O beat us 2-1 with us losing a game to 5 after being up 3-2 and on that point I dropped a swing on the goal line with an impending wide open break throw in the making cause I took my eyes off to look for the throw. That was my lone turnover on the day and I connected with a big forhand for a score, but again the big story for me was lack of defensive pressure.

Practice: Tue 9/11/7

I ran with the Northeastern kids on Tuesday. I got sidetracked with work stuff on Monday and couldn't make it to the gym.

I made some cuts got some throws in and chased around a fast sophomore for a while. My quad has felt tight since this weekend and hopefully I can take enough drugs today so that it won't effect me during the track workout.

practice: sat and sun 9/8 9/9

Even though I wasn't satisfied with how I played individually I thought we had a great weekend of practices. Saturday was brutal. 93+ with tons of humidity and low numbers. Towards the end of practice I was feeling it.

Sunday was a lot cooler, but just as tough because although we were low in numbers everyone was bringing it. It's among the top 5 of the most intense practices I've been apart of. I don't think either the O or the D were as sharp as they wanted to be, but it was a charged atmosphere. Everyone was pushing, pushing, pushing. I hope we can keep this sense of desperation for the next couple weeks. We played a d-pull game to 9 where O scores were worth 1 and D scores were worth 3. We had the disc two or three times to win it and we blew it and at least one of those was my fault on a miscue that I shouldn't even have been looking to throw. I don't think I have ever been that disappointed after losing a game at practice. Offensive struggles aside I feel real good on defense. Mentally I feel like I need to fight a little harder when my body wants to rest, getting that position helps so much three seconds later. Physically I feel good. My ankle is a little weak but it didn't hinder me at all this weekend. I am still looking for that last explosive step that will get me 2-3 more d's a tournament.

I am going to get back in the weight room for the next 4-5 weeks 1 or 2 times a week working on explosive power. I bet I am right at 200 lbs right now 17 lbs lighter than where I started the season. I want to stay around here, but maybe I should drop 5 more pounds. I dont really know how to keep this weight on or off so we'll just see what happens.

Mon: full body weights
Tue: off
Wed: track workout
Thu: speed and mobility
Fri: off
Sat: practice
Sun: practice

practice: Sunday 6/17/7

Not great on numbers today either. White team had two subs for about an hour and then 1 for the rest of the day, maybe the same for dark. This isn't what you would expect from a team with 36 players trying out for 24 spots. (It would be interesting to see where commitment level fits into the percentages of importance as far as making this team. Would you take someone who gets a 9 as a player but only registers about a 3 for commitment? Or would you rather have a 7/10? And where does that ratio stop? What about a 6/10 v a 10/4 etc.

The teams I play on are not winning at practice and while in some aspects this is directly related to me (I had 2-3 turns in four 5 pulls ((alternating light and dark on O)) and a game to three), I feel like I am not doing enough to determine the outcome of these games/points, especially when I am cutting downfield. 8 of 10 of my cuts don't seem that effective and I feel like it is stagnating our O. It will be interesting to see how it plays out when we get our numbers up and our roles defined, but over the month of July I have to really focus on change of direction and exploding in and out of cuts and in August I need to work on seeing the disc when I am cutting.

I slacked and did not do my 2nd upper body workout this week. I should have encouraged pushups and situps after sunday practice, but it didn't come to mind.

Oh yeah and I got a d! A layout d! I hadn't really mentioned it, but I am carrying a bit more weight this season. About 17 pounds right now; add that to what I think is more important, not having played ultimate for 5 months, and the result is not being there to get blocks on discs I could have got at the end of last season. I missed on another attempt that I should have had, but did not recklessly toss my body at it like I should have.

this week:

mon: lower body
tue: track
wed: upper
thurs: lower body/tempo (probably 8 400's of sprint the straights, jog the turns)
fri: rest
sat: Invite
sun: Invite

practice: Saturday 6/16/7

It was hot and we had 13, then 11, then 14 working bodies so we took lots of breaks.

practice: Saturday 6/9/7

I felt much better than I did at last weekend's tournament even though I was coming off the devil workout from Thursday. We practiced forever. Maybe 4.5 hours. 3 v3, drill, 3 team 5 pull w/ man d, drill, 3 team 5 pull w/ho, drill, 3 team 5 pull w/zone, drill, game to 10, 3 full field down and back sprints, 7 cross field sprints, 1 Guinness shotgun.