Bitter Coldness

I started the program this past week but fell off the wagon almost immediately as I had to go to NYC for a business and was not able to even fit in the 20 minutes needed to finish the workout. But I will continue this week and should be able to accomplish each day’s work.

On Sat I played some ultimate at the local Lemony Fresh Fall tournament, picking up with the WHUF in the coed division. They were low on numbers so I convinced Franchise, Bunce, and his friend Dan to join up as well. I was excited for a chance to play ultimate again as I had not really in the time after regionals. Also I wanted to try out taking pictures with my new camera.

Long story short is we rolled a couple college teams and then lost to the other ringer squad in the last game of the day. It was pretty cold and windy (mid 40s) but no rain as was indicated earlier in the week. Realized that if I wanted to take good ultimate pictures that I would need a much better zoom lens then the starter one I have. The pictures of action near where I was turned out pretty good but everything else just looked small.

In terms of injury I decided to wear an ankle brace to see if it would help out as there were some aches and pains throughout the past week just walking around and moving. The groin/inner thigh flared up after the first game after I stood around after a long point, but some IB and the prospects of a good last game seemed to fix that. I probably should go see a doctor to see if things are healing up fine in there or not.

I also started playing in my indoor soccer and flag football leagues last week. Football is awesome and I am really looking forward to playing again next week. Cutting/defending is similar but I need to work on some of the finer points (jamming the receiver and working out of a jam). Soccer though was pretty tough, we are kind of low on numbers in both leagues, and while in football there is a lot of standing around soccer was kicking my ass. Trouble is that I am probably in the upper part of the team in terms of general athletic conditioning on the team and I was feeling like I wasted to puke.

Beginnings

So first off is the obligatory look back on the past season. As far as the team it was a pretty successful year. This was the highest finish ever in team history (4th) with some great games and tournaments along the way. I think we made good strides in becoming a really competitive club team plus well positioned with the mix of older and younger players in the years to come.

Personally I had a great early season, but then ran into some injuries around Boston Invite (first a groin strain, then a pretty serious ankle injury) which held me back during the second half and during Sectionals and Regional’s.

The past 2 years I've trained extensively in the off-season and then have been hit with injuries during the summer months that sideline me and affect my overall performance. In '06 I had a herniated disc and this past season a groin and ankle injury. Both years have been frustrating and disappointing in terms of how I wanted to play and how I ended up being injured.

So as with years past my main goal in the off-season is to get healthy and to get stronger in order to prevent my annual mid season breakdown. I’ve tried different training methods as well in the past some involving little weights and lots of running to lots of weights and little running in the off months. But I haven’t found a combination yet that has really let me play to what I think is my full potential.

Getting back into it:
3 weeks – 6 days
10 pushups
10 sit-ups
10 dips
10 squats
10 calf raises
10 scissors
10 super-mans

For groin/ankle
3 weeks - 3 days a week
30 sec toe taps
30 sec heel taps
30 sec alternating toe/heel taps x 2
1 ankle alphabet – each ankle
5x30 sec 45 degree abductors hold with tennis ball
5x30 sec straight leg abductors hold with tennis ball
30 sec 1 legged balance