mischief08

random paul thursday practice

Book page Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 20:21 on 16 September 2008

Paul workout when practice doesn't happen on Thursdays.

warm up, basic sprinting drills
3x accelerators
100 m race
6x W runs
3x10x40 on 35 second intervals (throwing in between)

track workout 2008 08 12

Book page Instead of being asleep at 19:11 on 12 August 2008, kitt created this: 

warmup:
800m jog
form running (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, etc.)
stretching

strength / plyos:
2 sets of 15 pushups
2 sets of 60 crunches
2 sets of 15 rocket jumps

4 sets of 5-10-5
2 sets 20m lunges
2 sets 20m frog jumps

sprints
2 sets A shuttles (2-3-4-3-2, 4-4-4, 3-4-3-4, 4-3-2)
10x40m 30 seconds rest between reps

cool down lap
abs

track workout 2008 08 05

Book page Posted by kitt at 14:12 on 5 August 2008 

warmup:
800m jog
form running (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, etc.)
stretching

strength / plyos:
2 sets of 15 pushups
2 sets of 60 crunches
2 sets of 15 rocket jumps

4 sets of 5-10-5
2 sets of 25 single leg ankle raises
2 sets of 20 single legged 12 inch bench hops (hop up 12" stadium
bench aprox 15 times each leg)
2 sets 10 box jumps (jump up aprox 20" onto a box/bench)

intervals
4x200m
6x100m
10x40m

cool down lap

track workout 2008 07 29

Book page kitt decided around 16:43 on 29 July 2008 to publish this: 

warmup:
800m jog
form running (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, skips, etc.)
stretching
4x100 at 50%

15 push ups, 75 crunches
4 sets of 15 rocket jumps + 40m sprint (this means, do 15 rocket jumps
and immediately sprint a 40, do 15 more jumps + a 40, do 15 more jumps
+ 40, and do 15 more jumps + 40)
4 sets of 15 tuck jumps + 40m sprint (as above)
15 push ups, 75 crunches

2x40m lunge twist to the open side
2x40m frog jumps (standing broad jump land and jump again)
15 push ups, 75 crunches

10 sets of 5-10-5

10x40m

cool down lap
abs

track workout 2008 07 22

Book page Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 15:01 on 22 July 2008 

warmup:
800m jog
form running (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, etc.)
stretching

strength / plyos:
2 sets of 15 pushups
2 sets of 45 crunches
2 sets of 15 rocket jumps

2 sets of 5-10-5
2 sets of 25 single leg ankle raises
2 sets of 15 single legged 12 inch bench hops (hop up 12" stadium
bench aprox 15 times each leg)
2 sets 10 box jumps (jump up aprox 20" onto a box/bench)

alactic speed endurance
3 sets of 10x40m (30s rest/rep, 5min between sets)

cool down lap
abs

Over before it began

Blog Instead of being asleep at 17:16 on 18 July 2008, kitt created this:

You know, I've had my share of injuries over the last decade and a half of playing ultimate. I've rolled my ankles more times than I can count (and enough times that I don't donate my crutches, even months after I've healed). I've had discs thrown at my face. I've been crushed by male players, and broken my ribs under some. I've had my knees crushed, my hands kicked, my feet stomped on, my shoulder broken, my back seize.

This one, however takes the cake.

Early in this season (you recall, the season I "took off" by becoming a practice player so that I could concentrate on my confidence, my skills, my fitness and my health), I started having problems with my left achilles heel. I didn't think much of it, to be honest, having had pains with one or the other achilles tendon off and on for the last few years.

Lisa purchased an ankle stretching aid for me four or so years ago. It was one that Ben thought was dumb, given that it was only a piece of nominally unneeded, shaped plastic, he thought. "Just use the wall to stretch your achilles!" he'd say, but I loved it. I used it regularly that season, and ended the season with some other bizarre injury.

You know, I think it's to the point that people I've known for years will meet me on the sidelines and ask, "So, what is it this time?" with the understatement of, "why didn't you retire when it was still fun?" I can't say I'd think differently for anyone else.

So, this season, I've been struggling with my achilles. I figured the problem was with my shoes. When I originally purchased the style of cleats I wear now, the heel cup was so high that it pressed against my achilles tendon and caused some horrible pain. I figured out that issue fairly quickly, and cut a V into my cleats, removing the achilles hot spot. I do that with all of my cleats now, so I knew that wasn't my current problem.

After a few practices having the pain in my achilles, I started putting topical analgesic on my achilles, and kept playing. Clear case of "ignoring the problem and hoping it will go away." I mean, haven't all the other problems eventually gone away? Ribs heal, bruises heal, ankles heal, it all heals, just give it time, why not this one, too?

I gave up last week, and decided to have it looked at. I described the problem to my doctor. A few pushes here, a few prods there, and I was diagnosed with a crush injury to the ligaments and tendons around my achilles. "So the decision to continue playing on it was probably bad, eh?" I asked. "You could say that."

Since the problem is recurring, over many years actually, the doctor suggested I consider different shoes (since the thought of stopping playing ultimate wasn't even suggested, even by the doc). Originally, he told me to lay off running for three or so days, and start again after that. That was last week. When I couldn't walk at all the morning after this Tuesday's track workout, he told me that all running was out.

So, here's my recovery process, what I'm supposed to do to heal my achilles, given that ligament healing takes longer than muscle healing and this is going to take a while:

1. Stop running. Stop sprinting. Stop jumping. Stop all ankle impact exercises.

2. Keep the cool looking kinesio tape on as long as I can (wondering what kinesio taping is all about?), probably three days.

3. Heat my achilles for 30 minutes every 2 hours. That's a lot of heating.

4. Walk. Swim. Exercise in ways that not only don't hurt, but also don't aggravate my achilles.

5. Lots of vitamin C.

6. Wear sandals.

7. And stretch, as long as it doesn't hurt and doesn't aggravate the injury. Any discomfort at all and I'm supposed to stop.

That, and in 3-4 weeks, and I can try running again.

Three to four weeks.

THREE to FOUR weeks.

That's 21 to 28 days from now.

No running.

No, this isn't going to be hard, why do you ask?

I've been trying these last few months to go with the flow of life. Instead of forcing things to be the way I want them to be, I've been trying to accept things for what they are, to make things as good as I can given the way things are outside my control.

For the record, I need to say I've been trying this without much success. This injury is an example of how I just couldn't accept that I was done for the season, this time in June. I didn't want to believe it, I refused to accept reality, and managed to make my injury even worse.

And now I have to accept it, because I can't walk from my bed to my desk in the morning to get to work. I struggle to the bathroom in the middle of the night, knowing that any step in going to wake me up fully with a rocket of pain up my leg. I need a long time to get going after sitting for any time greater than fifteen minutes, as my ankle stiffens up so quickly.

Sandals. Like my feet aren't already cold enough.

Today's track workout

Blog Yeah, kitt finished writing this at 22:08 on 15 July 2008

Having not gone to yesterday's velocity because of a migraine (an annoying, frustrating, painful, bothersome mirgraine), I desperately wanted to do something today. The headache was still lingering, though, so, really, not much was going to happen again today. Except that, crap, something, anything, right?

So, when Doyle sent out today's track workout, I figured it was an omen. I went.

I missed the warm up run, but managed a quick lap, and jumped in the with form running. My achilles was hurting a LOT on the warm up lap, and the form running was nearly impossible. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

The plyos were straight forward, and pretty short, with the single leg ankle raises being really the only problem I had (well, and the girlie pushups, but I'm saving myself for tomorrow).

2 sets of 15 pushups
2 sets of 15 lunges each leg
2 sets of 20 squats
2 sets of 15 tuck jumps
2 sets of 25 single leg ankle raises
2 sets ice skaters of 14 leaps, 7 each leg

Next came the real reason we were here, eh? The sprints.

Four each of five different sprint lengths, types and rest times.

1. 0 to 40m sprint, rest 30 seconds in between
2. 0 to 25m to 0, rest 45 seconds in between
3. 10m to 0m to 40m, rest 45 seconds in between
4. 0 to 25m to 0 to 25m to 0, rest 60 seconds in between
5. 0 to 10m to 0 running backwards to 40m to 0, rest 60 seconds in between

Andy, Doyle, Shirley, Jason and Warren were at the track, with Tyler showing up for the sprints, who cares about the plyos at the beginning, eh?

I was, expectedly, the slowest of our group. If I tried really hard, ran all out, I could sorta, kinda, maybe, a little bit keep up with the group, where "keep up" means "finish withing 3 meters of the person in front of me." I realized fairly quickly that neither my achilles, nor my fitness were going to let me keep up that pace, with the achilles stopping me from where the heart wanted to go.

I tried stretching between runs and between sets, but wasn't able to get my calves and achilles loose. After the first three sets, I was ready to be done. I was just done. All the doubts, all the frustrations, all the disappointment of the last few months settled into my achilles, and I wanted to just stop.

I don't know why I kept running. I did. I finished the workout an embarrassingly far distance behind everyone else, but I finished.

Those first few steps back are hard. I hate that I'm slow. I hate that I'm perpetually injured. I hate how far off I am from what i was. I hate that I'm frustrated. I think that fundamentally, I hate that I ended up in the middle. I am, of course, on the decline. I was never a star, never more than an okay player, solid in most respects, weak in others, and never a star.

Of course, everyone can't be a star. "If everyone's special, no one is," or something like that. I don't even know if I'd like the mini-stardom being a great player brings. I would have liked, however, to be good at something, and have known that I was good at it. To have that feeling of complete self-assurance, self-confidence, and a complete lack of self-doubt.

Yeah.

Well...

I finished the workout. Good for me.

track workout 2008 07 15

Book page Instead of being asleep at 19:50 on 15 July 2008, kitt created this: 
warmup:
800m jog
form running (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, etc.)
stretching

strength / plyos:
2 sets of 15 pushups
2 sets 15 lunges
2 sets of 25 single leg ankle raises
2 sets squats x 20
2 sets of 15 tuck jumps
2 sets ice skaters x 14

short sprints (cones at 0, 10, 25, and 40 yards):

a) do four 40 yard sprints; rest 30 seconds in between
b) do four 50 yard sprints between the 0 and 25 yd cones (down to 25, back to 0); rest 45 seconds in between
c) do four 50 yard sprint as follows: start at 10, run to 0, run to 40; rest 45 seconds in between
d) do four 100 yard sprints between the 0 and 25 yd cones (down to 25, back to 0, down to 25, back to 0); rest 60 seconds in between
e) do four 100 yard sprints as follows: start at 0, run to 10, run backwards to 0, run to 40, run to 0; rest 60 seconds in between

cool down lap
abs

track workout 2008 07 08

Book page Instead of being asleep at 19:48 on 8 July 2008, kitt created this: 

warmup:
800m jog
form running (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, etc.)
stretching

plyos:
15 push ups / 75 crunches
2 sets of 25 single leg ankle raises
3 sets 5-10-5

intervals:
3x100m
2 sets A shuttles (4 cones at 5m apart, 4 shuttle runs of 2-3-4-3-2,
3-4-3-4, 4-4-4, 4-3-2 returning to cone 1 after each)

cool down lap
abs

Post tournament fun

Blog kitt decided around 19:28 on 29 June 2008 to publish this:

Of COURSE there was the ro-sham-eat.

At the sports bar, where we went after the last game to watch the EuroCup finals, a thunderstorm came rolling in. Being last June, and wonderfully warm as the rain came pouring down. Several teammates ran out into the rain to celebrate.

Well, celebrate isn't necessarily a great word, but the ladies did have fun.

I found the reaction of the other three sports bar patrons interesting. All three of them walked outside to "smoke," where "smoke" means ooogle at the half naked women prancing in the rain.

Prancing, at least, until the lighting started flashing with the booms less than three counts afterward. Then "prancing" became "mad dash back indoors."

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