mischief

track workout 2008 07 22

Book page Instead of being asleep at 15:01 on 22 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 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

Today's track workout

Blog Posted by kitt 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 Posted by kitt at 19:48 on 8 July 2008 

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

track workout 2008 07 01

Book page Posted by kitt at 21:30 on 1 July 2008 
warmup:
800m jog
form running (high knees, butt kicks, side shuffle, etc.)
stretching

plyos:
2 sets of 12 pushups
2 sets of 25 single leg ankle raises
2 sets of 15 tuck jumps

intervals:
4x200
4x100
8x40

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."

Boston Invite 2008 - day 2

Blog Posted by kitt at 16:17 on 29 June 2008

Okay, today was no where near as good as yesterday. I mean, aside from the fact I kept getting plowed into by my defenders yesterday, I didn't have any serious physical problems. I didn't think I was doing particularly better at making sharper cuts and stopping quickly to change directions, but the actions of my defenders said otherwise, as one after another ran into me on the field.

Today, however, I was knocked on my ass from a pivoting thrower who lowered her shoulder into me. Warren and Wade told me to step back, as she was deliberately drawing the foul, which I did, but thought I just made it easier for her to throw all of her throws. I probably should have contested the foul instead of accepting it: if I'm knocked on my ass, I'm pretty sure I didn't initiate that contact. If we had observers, I would have asked for their opinions.

That was, however, the least of my problems today. I woke up with stiff lower back that I couldn't loosen. I knew what was going on. I knew this was a physical manifestation of the frustration I've been having with myself. Knowing this does not make accepting it any easier. I tried to continuing playing, until I ended up dropping two very easy catches that I was WIDE open for, catches I rarely miss.

Eventually, however, my back completely seized on me, making even standing nearly impossible in the waves of pain. I stopped playing and took off my cleats.

And watched from the sidelines as yet another team cheated in a way that COMPLETELY infuriates me didn't help my mood any. Didn't help so much that I actually ended up in a fight with a guy from the other team about their cheating.

"We're not cheating."

"You have four people within three meters of the thrower. How is that not cheating?"

"There's another player in that three meters."

"Which means you get TWO players, not FOUR."

"They're allowed to be there."

"You know you can't have two people within three meters of the thrower right?"

"Yes."

"And your players are within three meters of the thrower, right?"

"Yes."

"And your players know they aren't supposed to be there, right?"

"Yes."

"But they're there anyway, right?"

"That's the way they play."

"So, they know they're not supposed to be there, but they do it anyway. That's the definition of cheating."

"Not if they think it's okay to be there."

"It's still cheating."

"No, it's not."

"How is it not cheating to have four people within three meters, all of whom know that only one person is allowed to be there? It's not like they're 10 feet away, they're like four feet away. The tall guy can touch the thrower!" I cursed here. "That's cheating."

"No, it's not."

How do you argue with blindness? How do you argue with people cheating? Worse, how do you accept a loss to a team that so clearly cheats, and thinks it's okay?

I couldn't. I walked away. I called Kris, waking him up at 7:30 AM, crying because I didn't know how to handle this confrontation, given how upset I was with the moron with whom I just had a screaming match.

To my surprise, the team noticed I was gone. Few people knew why, so I might not have been screaming as loudly as I feared I did.

We lost that game, and the last game of the tournament.

Boston Invite 2008, day 1

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 21:55 on 28 June 2008

Today was strange. The tournament this year is the same as last year, in that it's a round-robin tournament where we play all the other teams. I note that I didn't write about it last year, despite Kris bringing me two cakes for my birthday. Oddly, I didn't have any tournament pictures either. Strange.

I didn't play much today, but that's not surprising. We have nine women, which is plenty. The team was very encouraging about my playing time, cheering me on when I did go in, which makes me smile every time. I nearly always hear Steffi and Will ("Go, Kitty!"), both of whose cheers make me want to play hard.

We ended up losing the first game to Hooray for Ultimate, Hooray in our first game, which was in the second round. Yes, it's easy to say, "Well, we had a first round bye, they didn't" and "we were still on West Coast time," and any number of other excuses you want to bring, but the reality is they played better than we did. Yes, we had some odd, uncharacteristic turnovers (the one I recall most vividly was Mark dropping a disc on an in cut, uncovered, while still looking forward (i.e. not looking to throw before catching the disc, which is the cause of many uncharacteristic turnovers)). Yes, our energy was low. We lost.

We heard later, after Hooray had lost every other game today, that they said they played out of their minds against us. I like stories like that, where the underdog plays with such intensity and drive that they beat the expected winners. That's why you play the games, because you can never be completely sure of the victor.

My only memorable point in this game was when I was cutting deep to set up an in-cut, and had turned for the cut slightly too soon. Someone had thrown to Lyndsay along the sideline, with the throw it was slightly too far to the outside when she went up for it. The disc bounced off her somehow, and macked up. I adjusted my cut and caught the disc low, with my signature thunk. I turned to see Mark cutting deep at an angle toward the cone on the sideline I was on, his defender right on his inside hip. I put up a loopy forehand that was high and around his defender, which Mark caught seemingly effortlessly. DanO later told me that he was thinking, "No! Conservation of greatness!" when I made the throw, but, eh, know your receiver: Mark's awesome, he'll catch it. Mark did, then threw for the score. Everyone erupted from the sidelines for me.

Doyle did say I ran for a few steps with my arm outstretched, his thinking "Don't run with your arm outstretched! Get there then reach out!" Emily Biss used to catch that way, running with her arms outstretched. It looked funny. I hope I don't get into that habit.

Our next game was against the British National Team, which is going to Worlds. We won the game 15-10, with my only memory of the game being of a very tall Englishman commenting that we were an arrogant bunch after the team rushed the field chanting "I see red!". I have to admit that I sometimes feel uncomfortable when the team does this, especially when the team doesn't really need it to psych itself up. However, I don't mind enough to actually care one way or the other.

Our next game was with Slow White, our cross-country rival since 2006. During the game, in which I played maybe three points (but was QUITE happy with those three points), I started talking with another spectator on the sideline. He commented to me, while pointing to the Mischief seven on the line, "that team isn't well know for its spirit."

I responded with, "You mean, around here, because they beat that team," while pointing to the Slow White seven on the line. I was particularly annoyed by that man's comments, sure he had some connection to Slow White, as I watched the Slow White players spike the disc time and time again after they score. Okay, so, we may cheer "I see RED!" but we don't spike the disc our way to a 15-11 victory.

I did have to wonder, though, if, because Mischief was a top team, that we were becoming Donner-like. Were we the Donner Party of this tournament? Of course, that brought up the speculation that perhaps Donner wasn't as awful as I thought they were, that maybe I was just annoyed/frustrated/spiteful because they were the better team.

Of course, the Donner thought is not new to me.

Our last game was against Puppet Regime, and was also quite unmemorable. We won 13-10.

Tomorrow we play another three games, against Bashing Pinatas, Team Fisher Price, and AMP.

Still learning those lessons

Blog Written with a loving hand by kitt some time around 21:04 on 22 June 2008

You know, there are times when I utterly despise my womanhood. Completely and utterly despise it.

Today is one of those days when I can't seem to function well. I can feel the strength returning to my legs, I know that I'm (finally) getting stronger, (finally) moving more quickly, and (finally) developing some endurance. So, what a crappy time to have to deal with that huge issue of being a woman, of needing to find a restroom to change some dressing to minimize the ongoing gush of iron from my system.

How's that for an introduction to how crappy practice was for me today?

Not that practice was crappy, quite the contrary. I'm enjoying practices as a general rule. They're well run, well organized, and very focused. I have only one complaint (that focused throwing happens before warmups, which means that, if you actually throw as you would in a game, you're stretched out much farther than your muscles are warmed up to, and GREATLY increasing the risk of pulling a muscle or other soft tissue), which is pretty good. I like that the team is also very focused and willing to listen and learn. It's a BIG change from the Rippit days when, at the start of a drill, we'd hear three or four voices whine, "but I don't want to drill, I just want to play ultimate. Can we just play now?"

I also like very much that Mark reminds us that we've all put in the effort during the week and even that day to make it to practice, so make that extra little bit of effort to make practice good, to learn something today, to become a better player.

And I also like that I hear a lot of Kris' lessons repeated in different ways with the team. Many of the ideas he tried to instill in the team have become near manifesto, which makes me all proud of Kris, even if he can't see the results of his effort, and the team doesn't remember the origin of what's being said.

What I don't really like, though, is being disconnected from the team. Having to dash off at the beginning of a drill didn't help. Being an afterthought in a discussion of defense positions didn't really help, either, in making me feel connected. There are times when I really think this practice player idea was the stupidest thing I've ever done.

And then I remember WHY I made that choice, why I wanted it, and why it is still the best decision for me.

Because I am allowed to make mistakes.

I need to make those mistakes to grow, to figure out what works for me again, to remember why I've spent the thousands of hours on this sport over the last 15 years, to understand why I'm willing to work out 3 hours a day to get back into the shape I was in 2004 and 2005, to realize why I've convinced several of my friends to throw with me, hoping to throw daily and fix the confidence issues I have.

Even if everyone on my team groans when I drop the disc on a dump swing because it RUINED THE WHITE TEAM's score, I need to care less. It's practice. Do you really think I'll miss that disc in a game?

Handling!

Blog Posted by kitt at 13:52 on 21 June 2008

Today's practice was at Baylands. There's one practice today and another one tomorrow, mostly to simulate tournament weekends, but also to give the team enough time to work on new concepts more effectively. Having not exercised yesterday in order to rest my ankle (well, achilles actually), I was fairly desperate to run around today, achilles be damned.

I played okay, but had stupid, intermittent problems, like overthrowing Lyndsay during the concentrated throwing at the beginning of practice, at throw 22 (of 25), causing us to start over, then following that up by turfing the disc at throw 11 of the next set. I also completely flubbed the start of the endzone play drill, until I figured out that TWO people cut for each swing. At least my throws had enough spin that the wind didn't affect them.

What I thought most interesting about practice, however, was that I was called handler a lot towards the end of practice, during the last scrimmage. I was puzzled about the call, given that I generally don't play handler and (hence) don't play it well. However, I did fine, receiving a dump a couple times, continuing the disc movement upfield appropriately, forcing only one teammate to layout. Fortunately, that teammate was Adam, and he caught it with grace.

Yeah, so why call me there in the first place? Well, eventually I realized that when I was called handler, the line consisted of two "real" handlers and five cutters. One of those cutters needed to handle. Now, recall that I'm a practice player. I'm not going to tournaments with the team (the one coming up being the exception to that statement), so, having me handle makes sense, as it allows the other four cutters to practice what they WILL be playing at tournaments.

Either that, or DanO is just my bestest friend and decided to call me handler because he knows that, even though I don't play the position well, I really enjoy playing in the handler position. Because DanO is good like that.

Oh, and I met Will's mother today. Given that she raised Will, and Will is awesome, she is, nearly by definition, awesome, too.

Pages