Last workout of 2008

'Nother awesome workout today, this time with ben and ryan but also with my good friend Erin Whitbread and some Foothill ultimate peps.

"Gotta Break the Mark Even When Tired"
3 rounds for time of:
Sprint 200m
Threeman marking x 12 throws total
10 Pushups
Sprint 200m
Three man Marking drill x 12
1 Stadium

Total time: 17:30

---Throwing---

"For Lisa "
5 Rounds for time:
10 squats
7 burpees
5x 5kg medicine ball throws behind you (in groups of 3)

8:00

---Throwing---

4 sets of:
1x100
15 situps
1x100
2 Stairs (up down)
Walk 20m for rest

8:20

---Throwing---

Max rounds in 13 minutes of:
1x50m run
10 pushups
1x50m run
10 power jumps (half burpies)
1x100m run
15 crunches

Score: 6 rounds

---Throwing---


4 rounds of:
3xStairs (up down up down up down)
20m shuffle runx2
15 crunches

8:21
---Throwing---


Maybe Ill come up with names for the workouts later, but I realize long names for the workouts arent that cool. One or 2 words are better.

Got home, made a bomb-diggity tuna fish sandwich. Showered. Zonked out.

Squids: Im gonna smoke your asses at track come Monday.
Rest of the Southwest: your ass will have to wait till SB invited to get smoked

Beware-Ho Hat Tourny this Saturday

Yo
Hat tourny in Hayward this Saturday. Its been really sweet in the past.

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Yesterday's workout

The amazing workout I spoke of yesterday started with me in bed, rereading a book I finished 2 years ago. Blink, by Malcom Gladwell, is an extended essay on the realities of our split-second decision making capabilities.
My brother Ben informed me he was leaving for a track workout at our old high school in a little bit ; I stayed - I was feeling lazy and the book was good. But 15 minutes later I finished a particularly relevant passage and instantly felt so overwhelmingly compelled to work out that, I jumped out of the bed, ran out of the house, and sped to the high school. I had a blink moment.

Ben, his friend, and I did a total of 4 workouts with throwing and stretching before, in between workouts, and afterwards:

"Gotta Break the Mark Even When Tired"
3 rounds for time of:
Sprint 200m
Three man Marking drill x 12 throws total
10 Pushups
Sprint 200m
Three man Marking drill x 12
1 Stadium

Total time: 17:13

"The D Line goes on a 3 Point Run"
4 rounds for time of:
Sprint 100m
4 burpees , 1 start the sprint from the ground
Sprint 100m
5 burpees
20 second rest between rounds

Total time: 6:56

"Get Down on the Pull"
As many in 12 minutes total time:
70 yard sprints holding 5 pound weights in each hand. (Rotating so that only one person was running at a time. Then the next person goes when the latter person finishes).
When not sprinting, use a disc to practice pivoting and faking.

Total sprints done: 52

"Hit the Jackpot"
As many rounds in 7 minutes:
21 yard sprint
7 pull ups
21 yard sprint
7 squats
7 burpees

I finished my 4th round in 7:15


Afterwards I felt totally euphoric from the exercise high, made myself an awesome salad, took a long shower, and promptly collapsed on my bed for a nice 100-hour coma.

I am going to write an essay about the concept that clicked in my head causing me to jump out the door - something about Galdwell's passage in Blink about narrowed focus in police officers made lots of my ideas about focus, in the zoneness, and high intensity crossfit training fall into harmony. I feel a great piece of writing welling up inside of me, waiting for some spare time in my busy schedule of lazing around the house to make its jump to words. Until then, peace.

1130-1500

I just had the most glorious 3 and half consecutive hours in recent memory - perhaps even in the last few years. I am going to take a shower now but i want to write about what happened later.

- Rereading Blink
- Second Level Learning with Blink concepts and Focus concepts
- Motivation to work out
- 4 crossfit style workouts with my brother and his friends separated by throwing
- Out of this world healthy salad
- Recognition that I had just had such an awesome few hours

Nerd

Exactly as I expected





I think "nerd" is a great compliment. It is a mesh of intellectualism, fervent interest in a particualr subject and self awareness. May you all find your inner nerd.

Leafs Leave

I dont really understand why my father has spent the last 2 hours using a electric blower to remove the fallen leaves from our property. Hes been at it for a while and the leaves are off the lawn and in the street...but why?.
There will be more leaves in the future - in fact, the ones he blew into the street will probably be redistributed back onto the lawn.

What a mystery. Then again, I just spent 3 hours removing all the junk from my car and cleaning the interior. Still runs the same, probably gonna put half that junk back it the car.
Human motivation is more than confusing.

A promise to myself, to my team

I wrote this up and printed it out to motivate me over the winter break. In the past, many players returned from the misused break in poor physical shape only to injure themselves in practice.

Not me, not this year. I am going to return at 110% of the fitness I ended with. Rehabbing my shoulder sucks nuts but thinking about this promise to my team makes the work a little easier.
Here it is:
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Promise to my Team, Promise to Myself

I __________________ promise to not let the work of these last few quarters go to waste. I will use the strength and skills I have gained this fall as a base to build upon for the winter – I will not revert to previous levels of performance over the break.

Thus, I will stay in shape and even better myself athletically during the break. I will improve my disc skills so that I don’t require 2 weeks once we get back to have the same abilities. I will heal my current injuries and take preventative measures against injury in the upcoming season. In that vein, I acknowledge that if I do not prepare myself for the winter season correctly, I am not only idling, but increasing the chances that I will get injured when the competition is tougher and we will be asking more of our bodies.

I promise that when I am trying to decide between the easy option of sitting on the couch and doing the day’s workout, I will think of my dedication to the team and make the right decision. I promise that while running the 3 miles Kevin has encouraged, I will not do it lazily but instead imagine my teammates doing the same and pacing me, pushing me toward a more solid speed. When I could eat that bag of candy and what that third hour of TV for the day, I will remember last season’s Santa Barbra invite win and force myself to train, and train hard, because that’s what it will take to defend our title. I will snack on trail mix instead of candy bars. I will eat vegetables instead of popcorn. I will stretch daily. When I want to waste time on the internet, I will read Ultimate blogs, watch Ultimate videos, and post to the teams message board.

I promise to do my best for the betterment of my team.

Signed Date

--------------------------- -----------------------------

Go ahead and print this out, sign it and put it on your wall. Do work Squids

This I Believe

I have recently had a hard time recognizing what I actually believe. Heres a list though, even if it lacks pollish.

Things I Believe In:

• Wikipedia
• Third Eye Blind
• My Family
  
• Meditation
• Ultimate
• Yoga
• Intellectualism
  
• The fact that our society is really, really, fucked up
• Pick-up soccer
• Some things happen a certain way because of the way certain things actually are. [most cryptic thing I have ever written]
  
• Anarchism
  
• Crossfit
• Primal Living, Mark's Daily Apple
• PostSecret
  
• XKCD
• Freeganism
• Shoplifting
• Dumpster diving
• Michael Pollen, The Omnivore's Dilema, In Defense of Food

Well, there it is. Profound to think that these things, these specific things, hold a place higher than all the rest in my mind.

As if

God I love this idea

Its going down

Pick up tomorrow with LPC/YR/Eastbay people. 1 pm Castro Valley High School
19400 Santa Maria Ave, Castro Valley, CA

Beware-O 12. Saturday the 27th

Feelings, Injury

I have been feeling drained, tired, slothsome.
Maybe it is just me finishing getting over a throat virus.
Or a shitty quarter catching up to me.
Or indulgence in vice.
Or injury constantly preventing me from feeling ok.
Or the cold outside sucking my inner warmth.
Or dissolution with the ease of shoplifting
Or all the food ive been eating

OR it could be the Los Positas Ultimate practices Ive been going to. Despite the temperature being sub 40, both practices I attended were INTENSE. We ran, ran, ran , drilled, drilled, drilled and then played HARD. It felt good to push hard [the only way to stay warm] in the cold - one seems to not tire as easily when he is never at risk for over heating. I could cut and cut and cut and only feel winded, not hot and tired. The next day though: drained.

On the topic of practice, I really liked how they ran it. Same ol throwing..warm up... drills...playing. Yet they seemed to have a more intense practice. That is certainly something that is going to be very important for our A team practices in the winter and spring.
To play intense, we must have intense practices.

Also, I thought some of their drills were good. The Cissina catching drill, tumble box, and the give and go drill are effective teaching instruments and i hope to bring them back to San Diego.
[they do sprints collectively for everyone's screw ups in the drills. I ended up doing 35 forty yard sprints on tuesday thanks to some of the less experienced players.]

My throwing shoulder is messed up. It sucks. I hate it. I want to scream when I think about it messing with my throwing capabilities. But what is there to do? Wait.

Crossfit, simplified

My last post about Crossfit, the fitness program I align my personal fitness philosophy with, may have been somewhat complex, poorly worded, or otherwise confusing. I want to clear that up.

What is Crossfit?
Crossfit is
-High Intensity
-Constantly Varied
-Functional Movements
Learn about these in 3 parts of the Crossfit prescription here:
What Is CrossFit, Andy Stumpf
What Is CrossFit, Pt II, Andy Stumpf


I feel the imeadiatly salient portion of the philosophy is the focus on Intensity. What is intensity as related to exercise? The answer is Power. The power referred to has an exact physic's definition:

Force X Distance = Work Work/Time = Power Exercise Intensity = Mean Power Output

Crossfit aknowledges the drastic importance of intensity in all fitness goals; this is the concept I most deeply align with.

Make sure to understand the explanation of the importance of intensity; watch this well put together video.

Combine this prescription with a implementation that is one of competition and sport and you have Crossfit.

Third Eye Blind

They are my favorite band. I love their music from deep inside my heart. I believe in the goodness of their music more than I believe in most things. I like them so much that I have decided to actually pay for their music (a big step for me). Im going to their concert this thursday, i paid for the tickets, and I am actually going to buy their forthcoming album, "Ursa Major"


The new stuff is a tad different from the 3eb you remember but you must remember that it has been 11 years since the self-titled album which had "Semi-charmed Life" and "Jumper" and its been 5 years since they have put out any music at all. Still, their music maintains its power, drive and passion (even if it seems softened) that made me love songs like "Red Summer Sun" and "Slow Motion".

You can go to their Myspace or Facebook to hear a bunch of their new songs. The video for the new song "Non-Dairy Creamer" is here

"Don't believe a word, just keep on breathing, oh pretty soon that good King George will wake up screaming"
-Dont Believe a Word

"Whats it gonna be, are you real to me, or are you non-dairy creamer?"
-Non-Dairy Creamer

And 2 gay guys got married and brought the family to its knees, how did they blow us to smitherines? Just a couple of queens... How did they do it, im telling you now, they brought marriage to an end.
-Non-Dairy Creamer

Sick Vid

Damn, this is a sick remix of 2007 Club Nationals highlights:

Wish I was there

3:05 - Nord. Is. Sick.

3:35 - Catch your D's

... all of it is sick

The Inner Game of Ultimate

Remember when I was praising the writing of Jim Parinella (of Boston DOG fame) and I linked to his blog but couldn't find the link to the essay I really liked? Well here it is:

The Inner Game of Ultimate

This was the essay that got me really thinking about the power of focus (broadly conceived). I know that if any of use thinks about it, we have seen and experienced the situations Jim talks about. Confronted with his analysis, and the recognition of the importance of Focus, it is just willful ignorance to not aim to improve aspects of the mental game in addition to the physical game.


This may be one of the top 3 the most important paragraphs of "Mental Game" writing ever:

The brain needs to keep out of the way of the body. The individuals need to remove judgment about whether something is good or bad, and just be aware of it happening. Trust in yourself, and allow the body to perform actions that it knows how to do. Remember, you learned how to walk pretty well without needing to make conscious statements about how straight your leg should be or where to position your arms. After enough practice, your muscles develop memory of how they should be acting. Equally important, the brain needs to practice winning. Visualize events before they happen. While practicing your throws, visualize the path the disc takes, see the label spinning as it releases from your hand, and see it going directly to your target, all of this happening in your mind before it happens. Then execute the throw exactly as you had envisioned it. Similarly, picture yourself winning a big game, and catching the winning goal, and then going on to win your next contest against another team that is supposed to be better than you.

He explains clearly. It seems hard to misconstrue what he means and harder still to not get anything useful out of the writing.

Check out his exacting synthesis of offensive ideas. I love the five rules:

BASIC RULES

On an extremely simple level, offense can be broken down into five rules:

1. Take what they give you.

2. If you really want something they're not giving you, try to fake them into giving it to you.

3. If you’re not sure exactly what you want, fake until they give you something, then take it.

4. Actively get out of the way when someone else is making a better cut.

5. Make smart choices with your throws.

Both the mental game and offense ideas seem a little too simple. "Everyone already knows that" you might say. Yeah right. These simple concepts ARE not obvious and people do NOT know them. They only seem obvious now that Jim has pointed them out because he is so correct. I know that most everyone will improve dramatically if the actually think critcally about these things and not just assume we all know how to think about the game

Wensdays Fran, Crossfit

Well, I did it. I completed the Fran workout I promised myself I would do. It almost got sidetracked because I was being a wimpy procrastinator, but in the end, I forced myself and glad for it.

25.33

Yes, ill say that again, 25 minutes, 33 seconds. That is how long it took me to complete the workout .

"Fran"

Three rounds, 21-15- and 9 reps, for time of:
95 pound Thruster
Pull-ups

Fran is killer, the 95 pound thrusters were near the top of my overhead push capabilities and I am still working on my pull ups. Most every movement had to be broken up into sets of 3 or 4. Some of the pull ups were even singles. That being said, I am very proud of myself: I completed the WOD {work out of the day in crossfit speak} as RX'd {prescribed}. I did not reduce the weight, all the pullups were legit - I completed a workout that the best athletes in the world struggle with. I will get better, faster and more fit. Beating my time by 5 minutes is my goal for the next time I do this WOD.

Its great to know there is a lot of improvement I can make on this workout. The best in the world do this in a little over 2 minutes. Now thats power, strength, and fitness. Wanna see what program can produce this type of amazing fitness and what has become my wholeheartedly embraced fitness philosophy?
Check out Crossfit . Its for real.

One of the big reasons I love Crossfit is that it's trainers teach exercise philosophy, not just movements.


Here are the 10 Components of Overall Fitness:

1. Cardiovascular/respiratory endurance- The ability of body systems to gather, process, and deliver oxygen.

2. Stamina - The ability of body systems to process, deliver, store, and utilize energy.

3. Strength - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply force.

4. Flexibility - The ability to maximize the range of motion at a given joint.

5. Power - The ability of a muscular unit, or combination of muscular units, to apply maximum force in minimum time.

6. Speed - The ability to minimize the time cycle of a repeated movement.

7. Coordination - The ability to combine several distinct movement patterns into a singular distinct movement.

8. Agility - The ability to minimize transition time from one movement pattern to another.

9. Balance - The ability to control the placement of the body's center of gravity in relation to its support base.

10. Accuracy - The ability to control movement in a given direction or at a given intensity.

Crossfit acknowledges and targets all of these components.

X-men

Last night I made a awkward bid on a poach attempt. I was amped up because I was angry at how I was playing and how my team was playing. I landed hard on my side with my right arm fully extended above my head so that the impact hyperextened my shoulder. A sharp, piercing sting blasted through my shoulder for a millisecond........ and then it just hurt. And hurt. And hurt. And slowly subsided but maintained a baseline ache. Did the right thing and stopped playing, iced it, took anti-inflammatorys.

Went to the trainer today, they checked it out. Thankfully, nothing is torn, ripped or sprained. Its just inflammation and nerve pinching. If I treat it right, ill be better in 4 days.

This great prognosis confirms my suspicion that I am part of the X-men:

• I heal at outrageous speed. Did you see my bleeding ax wound at the Santa Cruz tourny? [no, not that one, the other one I got from laying out]. That wound is now completely gone. It was literally gushing blood and now the skin is merely a little discolored. I landed, with all my weight, on my very fragile rotator cuff and am going to be totally fine? I am Wolverine.
• I can fly. It really isn't a conscious thing. In fact, it subconscious. Whenever I think about wanting to fly, I don't seem to do it right. The instructions Douglas Adams gives in "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" on how to fly are spot on. You can't think about it. You just have to throw yourself at the ground and miss. When I am covering an in cut tightly and the thrower puts it up anyway, there is no thinking. My body just responds by throwing itself out there. The first time you fly, and you will fly if you want to play defense correctly, is absolutely amazing. You will be in the Zone [which is just a word to describe being 100% focused]. You will layout, be successful and then go on running. You will get up without noticing it as if your laying out was just a continuation of the trajectory your body had the whole point. Then when the point is over, you will go to the sidelines and get some water, you will slow your motor down a little, take a breathe and say to yourself: "Holy Shit, I Just Flew!" I am Rouge
  
• Blades, with uncanny and deadly accuracy, come out of my hands without me having to think about it. I am Gambit. [God he is such a badass.]

Ultimate allows me to be superhuman. When my laser beam locks onto my receiver and i blast a shot to him with supercomputer-precision, plastic-burning, and opponent demoralizing skill, I am reminded why I love this game so much: It makes me feel invincible.

Personal Ultimate Fault 1 - Forcing it

The biggest thing that I do wrong while I have the disc, is to get mad that an option isn't there that should be {or that I want to be there. I get angry the cut isn't in the right place, sometimes yell at the fish to make said cut, and sometimes throw to it just to proven that it was a good cut to have made.

This is THE definition of 'forced'. Sometimes I make the throw and feel very right about my thoughts about how people should cut. Sometimes, however, I turn it because I was not focused on the exicution of the throw but on my upsetness at the cuts that are coming. When this happens I instantly recognize that I fucked up [both in throw execution, judgment and focus]. Sometimes I swear at myself audibly. Phase 2 of this destructive cycle is to fixate on how its really the cutters' faults for doing the wrong thing. Then I get a little depressed when I remind myself to stop blaming my team mates and work on my focus. By that time Ive been fuming about the situation, in one way or another, long enough to TOTALLY remove any focus I had previously. Even when I 'force' a throw [yelling for the right cut optional] and it is completed, my mind gets wrapped up in what the cutters should/shouldn't be doing.

Angry Kevin [one of our coaches] said something really good to me last night. After a point with one of these occasions when the break lane cutter was just jogging his cut, probably because he didn't realize it was the right cut, and I shorted a flat-io forehand to him {and then openly yelled at myself for it}, Kevin said to me "You don't need to do everything for the team". This meant a lot from someone who makes it known he is a hard ass.

Forcing it sometimes scores goals but is ultimately unproductive. When its not there, its not there. Figure out what is there. There is no point in getting mad about the situation.

Lastly, a note on yelling at ones self. It is horrible. Stephen, stop that. It is totally the wrong way to practice or play.

R.I.P. "Clearing" Dec 3 2008

Never "clear" ever again.

Many players know the perscribed cuts taught:
-back of the stack in-our or out in
-front of the stack fill
-front of the stack continuation
-ect...

and they feel that the way ultimate offense works is that they make these cuts and then stop cutting, start "clearing" and wait until they are supposed to cut again.

This is the wrong mindset. This is the mindset of : "I decided what cut to make, did it, didnt get the disc so now i go to the place where I que up till the next time I can get to decide what cut to make." This is the mindset of : " Now im ON, now im OFF, now im ON, now im OFF."

Let me clear this up: from the pull to the score, YOU ARE ALWAYS ON. You are always an option. It is critical for you to always be involved, attentive and aware. No more jogging back to the stack- tunnel vision set on exactly where you are suppose to end up.

No more "Clearing". The word implies that you are just getting out of the way. Saying "make the clearing cut fast" is redundant at best and defeatist at worst. How 'bout this: after your cut, make another cut and then another ect. all the while setting up the cuts with head fakes, jab steps, misdirection moves.

This is not to say that you should be sprinting always. There is a time for physical rest, but there is no time for mental rest aka being lazy. When it is obvious to your defender that you are taking that mental rest [and it is obvious to any good defender] he is able to play off you, poach the lanes and better adjust to cover you when you do decide to go back "ON". If you are always cutting, even if its purposeful walking, your defender's job is all the more hard and the offense flows better because all its players are paying attention.

break on through to the other side,
pumba

Fran

The Crossfit WOD is Fran. I want to do it as RX'ed. Gotta build up the balls first (gotta take my lab final beforehand)

Anyone want to join me?

http://media.crossfit.com/cf-video/CrossFit_SpealFran205.mov

Writing about Ultimate

I am going to write about Ultimate more, and hopefully, more consistently.

I have been very enamored with the great frisbee bloggers and have always wanted to be one.  My very open finals week and the holiday, combined with my complete and utter inability to focus on anything besides frisbee for over an hour, will hopefully allow me the opportunity to get all these ideas about disc out on the page. In addition, i want to become a better writer in general (yeah, way to wait until im almost done with school) - writing about ultimate, with The Elements of Style tucked under my arm, will help me do that.

I have yet to decide whether I should start a new blog for only ultimate stuff. If I do, i think ill call it "The View from the Breakside". Whata ya think? The tag line could be "Break on through, to the other side - The Doors" 

For my first post, I want to have a list of all the great frisbee blogs that have inspired me. Here is what I got off the top of my head:

• Dusty's Ultimate Journal - followed this through its prime when he was updating daily. he doesn't post much anymore, but this was the blog that really got me thinking deeply about the game. This is where i got the deck of cards. He is the reason I got into crossfit .
  
• Jim P's - the grandmaster, author of the essay "the mental game of ultimate", a brilliant   piece
  
• Matt Mackey's Thoughts - my current favorite. He is lucid, straightforward and clearheaded
  
• Match's- I always was a fan of high level ultimate. he showed me how to take my fanhood to the   next level
  
• Idris's - just found it recently but he has been writing at a very high level (he is a pillar of Jam's   offense) for years. The archives are a goldmine
  
• Peter Jamison's The Cultimate Opinion - he posts almost every single day. It seems   Ultimatetalk.com is just a nice way to collect his posts.
  
• 808's - good thoughts, its clear he loves the game very much. great photographer, great thrower (he was a potlach all star, half because he has amazing confidence and poise with the disc and half because he hits on and befriends any and every ultigirl, especially BLU ) and great guy
• lastly, The-huddle must be recognized for bringing some of the best minds together to write about ultimate. what they are doing there is awesome.

One thing that has worried me about writing about ultimate is that I won't be able to communicate my ideas effectively, as sometimes i find to be the case in life,  and will get frustrated. This, i think, is one of the reasons I haven't been blogging for the last few years (sorry LiveJournal) and I want my ultimate blog to help me with that problem, even if its messy.

Ok, im gonna end this entry. I think the links work but ive never used them before. 

-break on through to the other side,

Pumba

ps-its always fun to stumble across an old blog such as kd's or this . learn your history, youngins'

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