Vegas - First Thoughts

Got back from Vegas this morning after taking the red eye flight out at midnight Vegas time, 3 AM EST. I got in at 8 AM and headed to the office after dropping a teammate off. So needless to say I am pretty tired. But the day is almost over and I can finally go home get some dinner and pass out.

But first I wanted to record some initial thoughts from the weekend. Game re-caps and such will come at a later time. First I felt pretty good and my new cleats feel sick. It's been a long time since I've felt this fast and agile on the ultimate field. The only complaint I have is that there is definitely no ankle support and there were a couple times I tweaked it on the mark on just running around. Also the groin was sore but felt good after a weekend where I played 6 games and was trying hard individually. In perspective the week after tournaments this summer I could barely walk the abductors were hurting so much. I also have PT twice this week on Tues and Thurs so hopefully we'll get rolling on getting this thing solved once and for all.

One thing I found that I had problems with was picking up the disc as a primary handle and getting the first throw off. I seem to have a mental block or something as I turned it over multiple times to open in cuts. Something to work on when I can get outside for some throwing sessions.

Tight like a Tiger

Had my evaluation and basically found out that I was really tight... everywhere. I mentioned in an earlier post that I want to put a greater emphasis on stretching the whatnot this year but sounds like I should make it the main emphasis in this offseason. The PT this morning was pretty good as they noticed that my left IT band felt like a rock and that would have some impact on my groin. They massaged it a little bit and stretched out my left leg a bit.

Will be leaving for Trouble in Vegas tonight and am looking forward to it. Bringing my camera so hopefully I'll get some good pictures out there. Unfortunately I checked the weather last night for the weekend and found that it was going to be raining! In the desert!?! But what can you do, I packed up some cold and rain gear. Taking the red eye back on Sunday night and will be back in Boston at 6 AM.

Mild Beginnings

This week I started lifting again following the program at Core Performance. It's a 15 week training regiment which is designed for football skill position players. I did this training last year as well but was working out at home which limited me to what equipment I had access to. Also this year this workout will not be the only thing that I do, but will supplement other things in to work on my weaknesses. The verdict after week one is that I'm pretty tired and sore. It feels good though to get back to some serious training. I've been trying to run a mile a day for the past week and my legs and ankles feel like they are getting back into running form.

I just realized this past week that going to Trouble in Vegas is going to prevent me from attending the UPCC conference in Newton. I attended last year and thought it was pretty awesome for ultimate's first ever event of it's kind. I learned a lot and am trying to get someone from the Wentworth team to go in my stead. Last year the best presentation was definitely Ben Wiggins on Marking strategies at high level ultimate and Brian Woo's training and conditioning for the ultimate athlete. Both are slated to come back to do presentations so I will look to purchase the audio or video through ultivillage at some point.

Back Home

Bleeh, had a great night of sleep last night after coming back from NYC but after I woke up spent the rest of the morning/afternoon hunched over with stomach pains. Not sure if it was something I ate last night or all the travel lately but it derailed my plans to hit up the gym before lunch time. Instead as I felt better around kickoff time of football's wildcard weekend I just did an abbreviated workout in my room. Tomorrows I will be hitting up some ultimate pickup at Danehy park which is pretty much in my back yard. Will be a good chance to try out my cleats if the field conditions look fine.

The Big Apple Day One

Although I was pretty excited to be going on my first solo business outing it fell at an inopportune time. On the day after New Years having to wake up at 4:14 AM to catch a 6AM shuttle is not very fun. Especially if your body just got used to staying up until past 2AM in the morning. As I was watching the over hyped Hawaii vs Georgia game on TV I looked up and saw that it was already 12:30 AM. I quickly finished up packing and got ready for bed and hit the sack. Sleeping didn't last for long before I was back up showering. Dropped Amy off and high tailed it to Logan. The flight was pretty uneventful except for the air blower vent was blowing cold cold air at my head during the whole flight so I didn't get to get a good nap in. This was pretty annoying as I could not turn it off or redirect it. Took a cab into midtown and made a rookie mistake of not getting a receit, grrrr. Got a quick bite to eat and headed off to the client site and pretty much worked all day until 6:30 PM.

Got back to the hotel at 7 and was looking forward to getting a workout in. Plans almost got offtrack immediately as I looked further into the details and found that it was not free for hotel guests. Even with a $279/night charge for the room they wouldn't let us use the treadmills and weights unless we paid another $18. I wavered for about half an hour thinking up good excuses why I should save the money but then said fuck it and decided that if I was going to pay $18 bucks I'll get a full work out in. Turns out the gym is really really nice, all the bikes and treadmills have their own little mini TV's so I was able to catch some basketball/football while getting some cardio in. Also they had a ton of free weights/medicine balls/stability balls and lots of space for people to use them.

Run 1 mile

3x8 Stability Ball push ups
3x10 Stability Ball Pikes

3x8 Romanian Deadlifts 50lbs/60lbs/60lbs
3x10 Lateral Step ups Bodyweight/20lbs/30lbs

2xtwo-arm-1-leg hinge 40lbs/40lbs
2xsingle leg squats Bodyweight/Bodyweight

Bike 10 minutes

Full Stretch

I then ate dinner down at the bar and had the most expensive Guinness and Chicken Quesadillas ever. I'm exhausted now so I'm going to watch a little of the WV/Ohio game and drift off to sleep. Keep up the the good work boys.

Welcome to 2008

Well I didn't get to get another post out before the new year but I guess we can start out the year on a good note anyways. So I did the usual for the night and hopped around a couple places before passing out late in the night. Overall a pretty uneventful night but now that we are in 2008 it's a personal reminder that the offseason is moving pretty fast and before you know it I'll be suiting up for another ultimate season.

On New Year's Eve I came back from a week off of rest during Christmas by doing the usual groin and ankle work, but at the end ran for the first time in months. This summer after my ankle and groin injuries I was sidelined to bike work except for playing so it felt pretty good to start up again, even if it was only on the treadmill. I only ran a mile but will be ramping up in the next couple weeks.

Tomorrow I will be heading to NYC for work and this will be the first time that I will be looking to workout when on the road. Staying at the Hilton in Midtown so hopefully there will be some decent facilities. The key is to work hard during the day at the client site, and then it's business time in the gym. A co-work once said on the ability to continue training on the road is that many times you will have the be the party pooper and just keep your mind on the ultimate goal.

After Christmas I stopped by Nike Town and picked up a new pair of Mercurial Talaria III FG's to try for next season. Going back to soccer cleats after reading good reviews of them my some ultimate players and from playing indoor soccer this winter. One of the best things that I like about them first off is that they weigh in at a tiny 8 oz. This is compared for the football cleats I had at the beginning of last season which were 20 oz and then my dependable Vapor TD's which are 12 oz. I'll test them out in winter ultimate as well as some soccer games but we'll see how the ankles fare in these slippers. Might have to get some ankle supports to wear in addition to shore up the support. I might use these for good weather/field conditions and keep my vapors for the rest.