Here's something I think about a lot, but haven't really acted on in the past 9-12 months... Fitness. Well, fitness specific to Ultimate.
Everytime I get into any conversation about fitness with an Ultimate player in these parts, they like to talk about their 5-mile runs and all this pish-posh endurance exercise. It's all well and good, but we aren't exactly trying to play a game at 60-70% max speed are we?
Here's what I feel about Ultimate-specific fitness: It involves explosive movements that rely on the ability to recover quickly so as to repeat these explosive movements as many times as possible in an hour and a half.
Sprinting to a disc, blowing past an opponent for a 'd', and getting vertical for a disc are not endurance-related movements. Work your sprints with increasing lowered recovery time, manage your plyometric exercises so you are working at maximum effort for every rep, and workout for the sport you play. If you can't run 5 miles it doesn't mean you can't be a good Ultimate player. I'd take the guy that can play every other point 100% over the marathoner that can survive a full game at 65% any day.
I suppose this fitness blurb ties in a bit to the situation you play in. If you are someone who the team needs on the field for 75-80% of the points then it's going to be hard to stay "explosive" through the season, but if you've got a deep team and you can sub in and out freely, there is no reason for you to workout at that 60-75% level. Practice to where you want to play.
The only way to play at 100% is to practice at 100%. Next step: stop talking and start doing....
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
22-12
The college Ultimate season is officially over and Bad Habit has finished the Spring with a record of 22-12! HUGE improvement from 4-13 of a year ago!
We are losing one weapon from this year's team, but I'm sure we will grow stronger next Fall with the addition of our incoming freshmen. If we get anything like a Peter or a Lemon we will consider ourselves extremely lucky!
D-III Nationals was a mixed experience for me. I had a great weekend overall: There was a lot of spirited play, great competition, my deep throws were pretty much on all weekend, we played a great game against Carleton-GOP (who ended in 3rd place), Dave did a great job calling lines and keeping everyone fresh, some guys who sometimes get overlooked really proved that they could come in a fill big roles when needed (Sonic and John are two that come to mind), and there were some huge plays by the rest of the Catholic team.
There were also some frustrating moments: Losing universe point to Stonehill (we definitely should've beaten these guys), I had a few points where I just made big mental mistakes and I think I dropped more discs (3-4?) than I've dropped in any other tourney this year, and I didn't want to be 15th place. We had two shots at breaking seed (we were 15 coming in), but we didn't take advantage against Stonehill or Vassar.
I'm very happy with our season and I can't thank the guys enough for their hardwork. Of course this means we're going to have to work harder next year, but it's nice to have such a successful season to help us grow and draw inspiration from.
We are losing one weapon from this year's team, but I'm sure we will grow stronger next Fall with the addition of our incoming freshmen. If we get anything like a Peter or a Lemon we will consider ourselves extremely lucky!
D-III Nationals was a mixed experience for me. I had a great weekend overall: There was a lot of spirited play, great competition, my deep throws were pretty much on all weekend, we played a great game against Carleton-GOP (who ended in 3rd place), Dave did a great job calling lines and keeping everyone fresh, some guys who sometimes get overlooked really proved that they could come in a fill big roles when needed (Sonic and John are two that come to mind), and there were some huge plays by the rest of the Catholic team.
There were also some frustrating moments: Losing universe point to Stonehill (we definitely should've beaten these guys), I had a few points where I just made big mental mistakes and I think I dropped more discs (3-4?) than I've dropped in any other tourney this year, and I didn't want to be 15th place. We had two shots at breaking seed (we were 15 coming in), but we didn't take advantage against Stonehill or Vassar.
I'm very happy with our season and I can't thank the guys enough for their hardwork. Of course this means we're going to have to work harder next year, but it's nice to have such a successful season to help us grow and draw inspiration from.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Thinking Ahead
As D-III Nationals gets closer I'm starting to look past it for some reason. I guess I do this a lot.... Maybe it helps my tourney anxiety or something. Oh well.
What I'm thinking is that there are going to be some guys we will miss a ton next year. It's been a great two years getting to play with Heureux and Buatti, and I know the team is really going to miss their skills next year. It is actually funny saying this since there are only two players who won't return for the 08-09 season, but they are two that make a huge impact on the game when they are around. Buatti is a special case since he really didn't attend too many tournaments or practices over the last two years, but he managed to show up and impress on occasion, and I'm so happy he did.
Arin, on the other hand, is a beast on defense and will leave behind some very tough shoes to fill. His height, field sense, ability to come down with any throw that comes his way, and his intensity are all things that have carried us through tough situations this year. He is a constant play-maker. There are a few who would try to fill his shoes, but none will truly make that same impact.
So I guess this post is a little sad; maybe reminiscing a bit with under currents of "we are only really missing 1 player from our successful 07-08 squad"... Definitely things to look forward to. Can't wait to share the field with you one more time!
What I'm thinking is that there are going to be some guys we will miss a ton next year. It's been a great two years getting to play with Heureux and Buatti, and I know the team is really going to miss their skills next year. It is actually funny saying this since there are only two players who won't return for the 08-09 season, but they are two that make a huge impact on the game when they are around. Buatti is a special case since he really didn't attend too many tournaments or practices over the last two years, but he managed to show up and impress on occasion, and I'm so happy he did.
Arin, on the other hand, is a beast on defense and will leave behind some very tough shoes to fill. His height, field sense, ability to come down with any throw that comes his way, and his intensity are all things that have carried us through tough situations this year. He is a constant play-maker. There are a few who would try to fill his shoes, but none will truly make that same impact.
So I guess this post is a little sad; maybe reminiscing a bit with under currents of "we are only really missing 1 player from our successful 07-08 squad"... Definitely things to look forward to. Can't wait to share the field with you one more time!
Monday, May 19, 2008
Advice I don't follow
I've been really thinking a lot lately about adopting some form of a diet to help get myself into shape this summer. As I continue to struggle with this, I'm trying to write a bit to maybe help convince myself that it's easier than it seems. Sweets are by far my biggest vice... I probably enjoy 2-3 20 ouncers of Mountain Dew, at least 1 type of candy bar (or Reese's Big Cup in the 2-pack...my personal fav!), some ridiculously large lunch that generally ends with a stomach ache, and I'm currently polishing off an OU cup (big 32oz cup from football games back in my UG) filled with chocolate milk...
So, once I finish this chocolate milk I think I may take a little good advice. I read recently that liquid calories are the ones that hurt the most. You drink without concern and generally don't get full. Drinks tend to be the most empty calories you consume in any given day. Beer, soda, chocolate milk, Gatorade... you name it, it's probably got tons of carbs and sugar.
New plan: eliminate soda and cut back on beer for starters (only mentioning the beer since I've been to a slew of receptions recently. Hell, the beer was free, what do you expect?).
Oh, and D-III Nats preliminary pools are up. Final pools will be posted Wednesday at some point!
So, once I finish this chocolate milk I think I may take a little good advice. I read recently that liquid calories are the ones that hurt the most. You drink without concern and generally don't get full. Drinks tend to be the most empty calories you consume in any given day. Beer, soda, chocolate milk, Gatorade... you name it, it's probably got tons of carbs and sugar.
New plan: eliminate soda and cut back on beer for starters (only mentioning the beer since I've been to a slew of receptions recently. Hell, the beer was free, what do you expect?).
Oh, and D-III Nats preliminary pools are up. Final pools will be posted Wednesday at some point!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Success!
It was a long weekend that I am still feeling the effects of, but I'd say it was a success.
I suppose I'll start with Friday...
I got out of work around 5pm and wasted an hour or so in front of tv before I really got to work on my party prep. Three different Safeways and a Giant later my fridge was filled with all sorts of goodies for Sunday's cookout. I had sent a feeler out earlier to see if I could find someone to see Iron Man with and Dave came through around the 2nd quarter of the Wizards game. I was planning on meeting up in time to watch the end of the game, but somewhere around 6 minutes to go Dave deemed that unnecessary (poor, poor Wizards...), so we headed out to Chipotle to get some dinner before the movie started. Iron Man = best action movie I've seen this year. If there's one movie you're going to see this year, Iron Man would probably be a decent candidate (although Run, Fat Boy, Run was pretty hilarious...).
Saturday
We had scheduled a little round robin with GMU, VCU, and GW-B for Saturday, but late Friday night I was told that VCU was going to drop out. We only had 8 guys for the day, so I scrambled to get a message to Eli, VCU's captain, asking him to bring whatever guys he had to the fields. I don't think he got my message, but Eli and three other VCU guys showed up to pick up with us. We played a great game against George Mason that included some great grabs by Lemon and some stifling defense by Andrew (one of the VCU dudes), Stills, and Lemon. GW-B left a little to be desired on the defensive end, but we still played a tight game until the Hippos went on a run late and scored a Callahan to win the game. Definitely an exciting finish for them. I think there was confidence built across our team, and it was great to get to play alongside the Biscuit Villian's as well!
After the game I wound down a bit at home before heading out to meet up with Megan and her roomies for a little (in my case, a lot) Mexican food, margaritas, and a quick game of Jenga. Dion, one of her roommate's friends from Zimbabwe, was in town and he was absolutely hilarious. One of my favorites: "Pelosi is so liberal. She wants to legalize abortion up to age 8!" Turns out he knew a lot about American politics as well...
Sunday
Long day ahead! I got up early since I was a little worried about the temperature of my keg... A trip to Home Depot and 4 bags of ice eased my nerves, and I was ready for the Alumni Game. We somehow managed to get time on the nice turf football field here on campus, so we set up early and tried to get everyone organized. Alumni games are interesting because it's been so long since everyone's seen each other and we all just want to hang out and chat. The game seemed to be the last thing on our mind until a few of the guys who had to leave early began working on motivating everyone.
We started a little after 12:00pm and were faced with a strong wind that some thought might favor the older (more experienced?) alum. Using their experience early, the Alum won the flip and elected to start going downwind. The wind was pretty strong at this point, so I was a little concerned about having to actually work to get a lead in this game (it would've been so much easier starting the game in their place!). The game generally went as expected as we traded to 5-5. Then, we (I) lost a little focus and allowed the old guys a big break upwind. At 6-5 and up 2 breaks, things were looking pretty good for the Alum. I'm pretty sure they were salivating as they pulled downwind to us looking to extend their lead. Our secret weapon was then introduced into the game: Chilly handling. We had a zone offense that had been tested multiple times this year against Vermont, Georgetown, Towson, and Penn State, and we were ready for this. (Note: It may sound a bit serious at this point... that's because it was. The Alum are known to be much better at heckling than Bad Habit, and we were met with a barrage of heckles following that upwinder.) Long story short, Dave almost had a point-saving 'd', but when it was deflected back into the endzone, I managed to reel it in and ~40 throws later we were celebrating in their endzone. We stole another upwinder to go up something like 9-7 at half.
The second half was much of the same with a few exciting points. Mike Martini had a huge layout 'd' that was unfortunately during Frodo's time on the video camera, Arin had the same experience, but Kyle's upwind huck to Lemon to end the longest point of the game was captured by a better cameraman. There were some great plays on the Alumni side as well: Anya had a big layout/sliding grab to save a downwind point, Jimmy had some clutch foul calls (yes, and a layout that spurred an upwinder), Scrap lasered a pull that ricocheted off Jim's face, and they collectively played solid Ultimate despite not playing together for quite some time. In the end, Habit took over and finished the game 17-14, sending us all back to my place for chicken and beer!
There aren't too many things that could follow up a great game of Ultimate better than food, beer, and more heckling, so we cooked up some food, drank some beer, and heckled each other again while watching the vids from the game. Good times.
I'd just like to quickly thank the Alum for coming out and making this possible! Here's to doing it again next year!
I suppose I'll start with Friday...
I got out of work around 5pm and wasted an hour or so in front of tv before I really got to work on my party prep. Three different Safeways and a Giant later my fridge was filled with all sorts of goodies for Sunday's cookout. I had sent a feeler out earlier to see if I could find someone to see Iron Man with and Dave came through around the 2nd quarter of the Wizards game. I was planning on meeting up in time to watch the end of the game, but somewhere around 6 minutes to go Dave deemed that unnecessary (poor, poor Wizards...), so we headed out to Chipotle to get some dinner before the movie started. Iron Man = best action movie I've seen this year. If there's one movie you're going to see this year, Iron Man would probably be a decent candidate (although Run, Fat Boy, Run was pretty hilarious...).
Saturday
We had scheduled a little round robin with GMU, VCU, and GW-B for Saturday, but late Friday night I was told that VCU was going to drop out. We only had 8 guys for the day, so I scrambled to get a message to Eli, VCU's captain, asking him to bring whatever guys he had to the fields. I don't think he got my message, but Eli and three other VCU guys showed up to pick up with us. We played a great game against George Mason that included some great grabs by Lemon and some stifling defense by Andrew (one of the VCU dudes), Stills, and Lemon. GW-B left a little to be desired on the defensive end, but we still played a tight game until the Hippos went on a run late and scored a Callahan to win the game. Definitely an exciting finish for them. I think there was confidence built across our team, and it was great to get to play alongside the Biscuit Villian's as well!
After the game I wound down a bit at home before heading out to meet up with Megan and her roomies for a little (in my case, a lot) Mexican food, margaritas, and a quick game of Jenga. Dion, one of her roommate's friends from Zimbabwe, was in town and he was absolutely hilarious. One of my favorites: "Pelosi is so liberal. She wants to legalize abortion up to age 8!" Turns out he knew a lot about American politics as well...
Sunday
Long day ahead! I got up early since I was a little worried about the temperature of my keg... A trip to Home Depot and 4 bags of ice eased my nerves, and I was ready for the Alumni Game. We somehow managed to get time on the nice turf football field here on campus, so we set up early and tried to get everyone organized. Alumni games are interesting because it's been so long since everyone's seen each other and we all just want to hang out and chat. The game seemed to be the last thing on our mind until a few of the guys who had to leave early began working on motivating everyone.
We started a little after 12:00pm and were faced with a strong wind that some thought might favor the older (more experienced?) alum. Using their experience early, the Alum won the flip and elected to start going downwind. The wind was pretty strong at this point, so I was a little concerned about having to actually work to get a lead in this game (it would've been so much easier starting the game in their place!). The game generally went as expected as we traded to 5-5. Then, we (I) lost a little focus and allowed the old guys a big break upwind. At 6-5 and up 2 breaks, things were looking pretty good for the Alum. I'm pretty sure they were salivating as they pulled downwind to us looking to extend their lead. Our secret weapon was then introduced into the game: Chilly handling. We had a zone offense that had been tested multiple times this year against Vermont, Georgetown, Towson, and Penn State, and we were ready for this. (Note: It may sound a bit serious at this point... that's because it was. The Alum are known to be much better at heckling than Bad Habit, and we were met with a barrage of heckles following that upwinder.) Long story short, Dave almost had a point-saving 'd', but when it was deflected back into the endzone, I managed to reel it in and ~40 throws later we were celebrating in their endzone. We stole another upwinder to go up something like 9-7 at half.
The second half was much of the same with a few exciting points. Mike Martini had a huge layout 'd' that was unfortunately during Frodo's time on the video camera, Arin had the same experience, but Kyle's upwind huck to Lemon to end the longest point of the game was captured by a better cameraman. There were some great plays on the Alumni side as well: Anya had a big layout/sliding grab to save a downwind point, Jimmy had some clutch foul calls (yes, and a layout that spurred an upwinder), Scrap lasered a pull that ricocheted off Jim's face, and they collectively played solid Ultimate despite not playing together for quite some time. In the end, Habit took over and finished the game 17-14, sending us all back to my place for chicken and beer!
There aren't too many things that could follow up a great game of Ultimate better than food, beer, and more heckling, so we cooked up some food, drank some beer, and heckled each other again while watching the vids from the game. Good times.
I'd just like to quickly thank the Alum for coming out and making this possible! Here's to doing it again next year!
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