Made the big time...

Sometimes it takes years, sometimes it takes months... we all dream about hitting it big and making it to the next level. When you get a break and it happens, you feel on top of the world. I've managed the feat once before when I won the Mr Average award at the Winding Trails race in 2007!

Yes, I was invited to play with the "A" team in Racquetball in the mornings!!


Note, while the above is a bit of sarcasm, I am indeed playing Racquetball tomorrow morning with the group of guys that have been playing for years. I'm really looking forward to it, it's been nice to have a regular game with Eric on Thursdays, and this will give me the chance to play even more.

The critical question??? Lefty or Righty?

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More injury updates...

Wow, I can't even lift my arm up today without a lot of pain... guess I shouldn't have tried to play Racquetball last night!

It was a pretty frustrating day at work yesterday, so I wanted to get to the gym after watching my daughters Chorus concert. I was going to do a Crossfit workout, but most of the usual Monday night Racquetball crew was there so I decided to jump into a game. I ended up playing for a few hours and got to run around a lot which was good. The other good news is that even though I forgot my ankle brace I didn't really notice any issues with my left ankle. The sprain is almost entirely healed. It's still sore, but improving a bit everyday. It's still noticeable when pushing off, my power is reduced a bit when cutting or jumping off my left foot, but I can make do.

I'm rather anxious to get back on my bike, it's been a while, so it's good that my ankle has healed enough. It's probably better for my elbow to use the bike to get my exercise as well. The other good news is that I've gotten into the Lake for a Swim twice already have been at least running with the Track club so I'm not a total slug!

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Volleyball 3/23

Decent result last night, we went 2-1 for the evening...

On a personal note, I played fairly well except for the fact that I can't set at all anymore without getting whistled for double hits. I need to work with Eric a bit this week perhaps on what I'm doing wrong. I did get my best spike of the season in, I had my legs under me and really timed it nicely.

I also have ended up playing over 4 hours of racquetball over the last couple days, and haven't gotten much better. It's been a lot of fun, but it's taken it's toll a bit on my right elbow as swinging hard as been bothering me more and more lately. I need to take it easy with it, and perhaps get a bit of support from an elbow band or something similar for during my games.

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Racquetball form et al...

I've been spending quite a bit of time playing Racquetball lately, and although I suspect it's at least partly to blame for my sore elbow, I can see it improving both my game and my fitness.

I was able to play for almost 2 1/2 hours yesterday, mostly with my uncle and cousin, but a bit of 2 on 2 with another gym member. Reading the ball of the wall correctly and maintaining footwork have become the keys for me. My tendency in the past was to overrun the ball a bit instead of reading the bounce and letting it come to me. That typically would result in not only a poor hit, without good extension on the swing, but likely putting me in a poor position to get to the next ball. This ties in directly with good footwork, reading the ball and getting set lets me set up the swing and take a smoother and harder swing. Focusing on footwork and good follow through really helps you take advantage of each shot and allows you to put the ball in the right area to make your opponents work.

The corollary to Crossfit or any other activity is clear: Form is critical to developing mastery. Reading Starting Strength lately, I've come to realize some of the form issues I have with Squats and Deadlifts. I suspect that I'm not going to be able to correct all of these issues without at least some coaching if only because I can't always "see" what I'm doing while I'm doing it. In any case, I need to continue to focus on form if I truly want to see some big performance gains.

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Racquetball is definitely a workout

I spent a little over an hour this morning playing racquetball with my uncle and at the end I could tell that I was working for sure! It's basically aerobic threshold work as you are constantly jumping in and out of an anaerobic state sprinting after returns. I forgot to wear my heart rate monitor this morning, but I'm curious to see how things would register over the whole workout. It's definitely more fun than a session at the track although clearly the track work is more specific training for triathlon. The good news is that I'm still far enough away from my first race that the workout will have some benefits for me.

We're signed up for next Thursday again, I'll report back then how my heart rate was affected.

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Sore

I got in a few games of Racquetball and Volleyball last night, as my wife was having a bridal shower for a family friend and I needed to get out of the house. It was nice to get to a second night of play in, but I'm paying for it a bit today.

I'm definitely a bit sore, so I think today is going to be a bit of a recovery day. I wasn't too disappointed that the storm and school closing put the kibosh on my morning run with Leah. We'll do it tomorrow morning instead.

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Racquetball results

Had a few good games last night. I lost both games of cutthroat, but then when we played 2vs2 I was on the winning side both times. I've been thinking of getting some new shoes though, the games have been beating up my legs pretty good. Perhaps some basketball like sneakers would be better than running shoes for the cutting and jumping that is necessary for racquetball and volleyball as well.

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Almost 3 hours of Racquetball

Yeah, it's a workout! I'm a bit stiff and sore this morning, both from running around like crazy and all the crashing I did. Had a good time though, it's always nice to get a good workout in the form of sports. It's definitely easier to keep moving when you are playing a game!

I played for a while with my brother and then my uncle and cousin showed up. It's interesting the differences between 1vs1, 2vs2 and 1v2 or cutthroat. One on one is a lot more work, and you get pretty tired because you have to get to every shot. The rallies are shorter however, so it's more bursts of energy and less endurance to some extent. Two on two leads to really long rallies, and you need to try and make shots instead of just returning the ball. You're not going to win a lot of doubles games by playing defensive.

In some ways, I think 1vs2 or cutthroat may be my favorite. It's a good mix of intensity with a little bit longer rallies. As a defender, you are trying to make good shots and stay aggressive since you have a partner to cover for you if you get out of position. When you are on offense, you need to play a bit more defensive and maintain good positioning but still take a chance when you have a good shot. There's a bit more strategy in the 1vs2 game, since you need to know when to take your chances, you don't have anyone to cover for you if you get out of position.

Would have been a perfect evening if the Redskins had managed to hold up their end...

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