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A little impatient.

2007-04-25T02:00:35Z

I was feeling a little impatient during my pre-ultimate workout today. I felt like I was in a hurry to get to the field, which was kind of funny, because I was actually ahead of schedule. But I did want to practice a little bit before the game, which was probably the cause. However, rushing the stretching workout is a bad idea, so I managed to restrain that impulse, and go through the entire normal mini-workout collection. My left hamstring was feeling a bit stiff at the beginning, but I loosened it up during the workout, so that was good. Ultimate was pretty good, had another good turnout tonight. I'm regaining some of my instincts for when certain throws are going to be made, which I'm quite happy about. I probably didn't really start getting those down until late August or early September last year, so it'll be good to have them already going this early. After most of the people left, tossed the disc around for a while longer. I'm trying to get my backhand down again... I rely too much on the forehand. I still have a strong backhand, but it's somewhat erratic, and I'm trying to fix that. Had some success while tossing, so that's an improvement. Came home and took a quick shower, then went for a hip flexibility workout. It was a bit of an odd choice, but I've been having a hard time getting it in, and it actually did a decent job. Probably could have used a little more stretching of the calves, but other than that, it wasn't bad. Didn't try to really push anything today, but I thought I had some decent flexibility. I need to make sure to get the workout in periodically, keep working on the hip flexibility. Tomorrow's an off day for cardio... I might get an abs workout in if I'm inspired, but then again, I might not. My big concern is that I've been having trouble getting the abs workouts in, so perhaps the off day might be a good time to do one. We'll see how I feel tomorrow... I might just take the whole day off, since ultimate was fairly brutal today. That's all for now, probably either an abs workout tomorrow, or a stretching workout before ultimate on Thursday.

More running.

2007-04-23T20:05:35Z

Went for another run today. I decided that unlike Saturday, I wanted to actually do the full 2 miles continuously, so I expected to have somewhat of a letdown in terms of times. It wasn't actually too bad... 15:18, 06:59 split. I would have liked to get the whole thing in under 15:00, but considering that I pretty much finished the last quarter mile on willpower alone, I can't complain too much. If I don't injure myself again, I should improve fairly rapidly, at least in the beginning, since that's how it normally goes. Then again, I started off at a somewhat higher level than I often begin such things, so it's a little hard to say. Anyway, after the run, decided to do the flexibility workout. I was originally going to do stamina, but decided to challenge myself a little more. It actually was a bit of a challenge... these runs still take quite a bit out of me. Still, made it through with little difficulty, so that was pretty good. I might get a hip opening workout in later, if I'm feeling properly inspired. I do want to start getting them in again, although really I should have done it after running, since it's a little easier on the body if I'm already nice and warm. I was feeling a little too tired for that after the flexibility workout, though. For tomorrow... I'll probably get back to the YCfA mini-workouts before ultimate, and hopefully some light stretching afterwards. It'll probably be more necessary, since I imagine we'll play the full time tomorrow. Hopefully I'll do a better job of hydrating, and avoid leg cramps again. I have the last two times, but we only played for around an hour both of those times. So that's the plan for now, hopefully I'll be following through on it.

Quick workout.

2007-04-22T18:46:57Z

Ended up waking up somewhat later than I expected today, so I went with a quick free form workout to warm up for ultimate. Pretty basic, just did my normal free form things, not quite as completely as I sometimes do. Probably skipped a few things, too, although not much. It was a bit of a smaller game, with some new people, but it was still fun. The weather was pretty excellent, which was the main motivation for playing today, anyway, since the weather is supposed to be far less excellent by Tuesday. I'm really starting to look forward to full summer, when the usual forecast is for hot and dry. Only did a little bit of stretching afterwards, but since we didn't play that long, it didn't feel like a problem. I still plan to try and get an abs workout in tomorrow at some point, and possibly something else as well, depending on how I feel.

Running again.

2007-04-21T17:41:15Z

Slacked off again yesterday. I'm having trouble getting back into the routine right now. I'm doing some other stuff, but I used to get the workouts in as well. I just don't have the dedication right at the moment, but I am working on it. Today, I went for a run. Did a few light stretches before the run, and then some more afterwards. The run was pretty good... just under 07:00 for the first mile, which was pretty surprising since it's been a few weeks since I ran, and I really didn't do any cardio for about two of those weeks while my hamstring healed. I took a short break, and then did another mile in 07:46, which was also pretty surprising, since I thought I was fairly slow during it. It almost felt like the times were too good, but that seems fairly unlikely. Anyway, definitely better than I was expecting. Afterwards, started off with the entirety of the running mini-workout, appropriately enough, and then just did a bit of free form to finish the workout off. Not quite as strong of a workout as I'd have liked, but I was definitely feeling some fatigue from the run, so I wanted to keep it fairly simple. I'm planning on playing some ultimate tomorrow, so I should definitely be getting a workout in then. Hopefully one on Monday as well, start getting back into the habit of regular workouts. I'm going to try and do abs on Monday... I think that was the plan back when I started forming a plan at the beginning of the season. Now that I'm healed and the season is starting in earnest, I should figure out the plan and try to stick to it, to make sure I get everything in. That's all for now, probably some more light stretching on tap for tomorrow.

Feeling better.

2007-04-20T01:05:26Z

I was thinking about doing a workout yesterday, but then remembered that I was planning on making Wednesday my day off, so I decided to go ahead and do that. I was feeling a little sore from ultimate on Tuesday, but not too badly. Today, went with the usual mini-workouts sequence to warm up for ultimate. Not much to say about that, other than my right hamstring still feels a little tight, but it seems to be fine other than that. Ultimate was good, although a little bit short. To make up for that, I came home and played some Stepmania. Didn't do anything too exciting there, except for finally passing Xepher. Which was pretty exciting. Did a little bit of stretching afterwards, but not all that much. I should have done more, really... I need to start getting in the habit. It's harder when I'm not really feeling the need to stretch. Anyway, planning on getting some conditioning in this weekend, possibly running again, and hopefully will have some good yoga workouts to go with that. So until tomorrow...

Back on the field.

2007-04-18T00:34:34Z

Went with a free form workout today before ultimate. Incorporated most of the running mini-workout, some stuff from total body, parts of the all sports workout, as well as my standard sequence for free form workouts, consisting of triangle, side stretch, warrior II, and backbend lunge. Ultimate went pretty well... I didn't really go full out, since I'm still trying to be a little cautious, but I was able to play pretty hard, and didn't have any problems with the hamstring. I did have some trouble with my calves starting to cramp near the end... I really need to start getting more water while I'm playing. One of my friends suggested having water by the endzone, which I think I might start trying. I did some stretching on the field afterwards, to try and help alleviate soreness. Just a few basic stretches, standing forward bend, backbend lunge, and the opening stretch from running. Oh, and downward dog as well. I should have done a few more stretches on the calves, I think, but didn't. Something to remember for next time. Anyway, that all went pretty well, so that was good. Supposed to be a little cooler on Thursday, but as long as I stretch adequately I think I'll be okay. Not sure what I'll do tomorrow... maybe I'll try to get in the hip flexibility workout, since it's been a while since I did that, maybe something else as well. I'll figure it out as I go along. Until then...

Getting back to it.

2007-04-17T13:37:19Z

I seem to be experiencing some difficulty with returning to a regular schedule of workouts. That's always the frustrating thing when I get off schedule... getting back on tends to be a pain. Anyway, I intended to do this workout last night, but then ended up falling asleep early. I did do some Stepmania last night, and that went pretty well. Well, the dancing itself wasn't that great, but I was able to do 9 footers, and my hamstring was okay with that. So that was good. I did a touch of stretching afterwards, but not enough to consider it even a short workout. Decided to go ahead and get some abs in today, since I had been neglecting them somewhat even before the hamstring injury, and haven't really done any since. It went reasonably well... I thought my abs might be a bit sore from the Stepmania, but they were fine. I'm not sure I'd consider it an inspired workout by any means, but it wasn't bad. I'm planning on playing ultimate today, so I plan on getting another workout in before that, a short stretching workout, of course. So until then...

Loss of schedule.

2007-04-13T12:38:56Z

My schedule has gone completely haywire the last couple of days. My own fault, of course... I meant to cycle to something normal, and managed to blow right through it. I'm now attempting to cycle through again, but we'll see if I manage to hold out for long enough to do that. It's possible I'll make it, since I did get a few hours last night, even if it was early. Well, not early relative to when I got up, but early relative to normal sleeping hours. Anyway. I decided to get some Stepmania and a workout in today, to start getting back into the groove. Unfortunately, I didn't get all that much dancing in before I felt something in the right hamstring. I didn't actually think it was serious, but I decided that it wasn't worth risking it, so I stopped. I decided to go ahead and get in the yoga workout anyway, though. Went with py:stamina. It went fairly well... I didn't have trouble getting into the poses. I could feel the hamstring a little bit, but I'm having a hard time telling if it's really anything, or just fairly normal behavior that I'm currently especially sensitive to noticing. Anyway. Not quite sure when the next workout will be, but hopefully pretty soon. I think I'll try some more Stepmania tomorrow, provided the leg seems recovered, which I expect it will. So quite likely then.

Healing.

2007-04-11T04:49:50Z

As I was hoping to do, I played some Stepmania tonight. I took it fairly easy, just sticking to 7 footers, but I didn't have any problems with the hamstring, so that's a pretty good sign. After that, I went for a free form yoga workout to keep stretching out the hamstring, trying to get it back to full strength. I incorporated pretty much the entire running mini-workout, but broken up into a bunch of parts as I inserted whatever felt right in between. So it ended up being a mixture or various workouts, with the overall goal of stretching the legs out gently. I could still feel some tightness in the right hamstring that I wasn't willing to aggressively try and work out of it. I'm still trying to be pretty cautious, especially now that I feel like it has been healing during the time I've been taking off. While it's possible that I might be able to play ultimate on Thursday, I'm pretty sure I'm going to stick with my plan of taking this week off, and provided I don't do something to aggravate the injury again, I think I should be ready to go for next week, pretty much back to 100%. So that's the plan for now. As for the workouts... I might take tomorrow off, depending on how the leg feels. Or I might try to get an abs workout in, since that shouldn't affect the leg much, and it'd be good to get one in. We'll see what happens.

Cautiously back.

2007-04-10T02:51:03Z

It's been a little while since I got a workout in, but for good reason. After the last workout, I ended up aggravating the hamstring injury last Thursday while moving a table. It was actively sore for a few days after that, so today was really the first day that I felt comfortable attempting to start doing something with it again. Even so, I was being very cautious with it, as I really just want to get it healed up as quickly as possible. I just did the running and all sports workouts, or at least as much of them as I felt comfortable doing. Pretty much every time I'd be stretching the right hamstring was only a partial stretch, because I didn't want to risk further injury. The only problem is that it's a little difficult to tell if I was feeling things in the muscle because of the injury, or just because I haven't stretched it fully in about a week. Even the left leg felt tight at first. After going through the workouts, I finished with a little bit of light one-legged forward bend, gently trying to stretch the muscle a little without damage. It's hard to say how effective all this was... I'll probably have a better idea tomorrow, when I find out if I seem more sore than I was today. At any rate, it felt good to get even a light workout in... the enforced rest has been pretty annoying. I do intend to take this week off from ultimate as well, since it's still fairly cold, and I definitely don't want to take a chance on the leg in cold weather at this point. I am hoping to start getting back to the cardio... I might try some Stepmania tomorrow night on standard, depending on how the leg is feeling. That'll definitely be a call I'll make tomorrow. So, hopefully I'll start getting some more workouts in, and be back to normal in a week or so.

More caution.

2007-04-03T23:35:54Z

Well, I tried to play some Stepmania yesterday, and discovered that the hamstring injury was a little worse than I had been thinking. Not a lot worse, but a little. So I stopped after just a few songs. Didn't end up doing any yoga. Today, I decided to do a little light stretching before going out to the ultimate field. I didn't actually plan on playing, but I figured a light stretch would be a good idea, and it would help in case I did end up playing. So I just went with the running and all sports workouts. The hamstring was okay, but noticeable during the workout, which pretty much told me that I shouldn't be playing on it. And I actually managed to be sensible and not play. Tossed the disc around for a bit, helped set up the field, watched for a while, but didn't play. It could be I'm finally starting to learn. Anyway, since I didn't play, I didn't really need any stretching afterwards, and I don't want to do too much stretching, so I didn't do any more. I'm not sure what I'll be doing in the next couple of days... I hate to do absolutely nothing, but I do need to let the hamstring heal. There almost certainly won't be any ultimate on Thursday, so at least that's not a temptation. I'm hoping that I'll be ready to go again by next Tuesday, which doesn't seem completely unreasonable, but it's hard to say. Hamstring injuries are bad news, so we'll see how it goes. I'll probably try to get a light workout or two in during the next few days, but I'm not really too sure what or when, so until then...

Caution and stretching.

2007-04-02T03:34:45Z

I was surprisingly sore today, all over. Not actually all over, I suppose, but certainly over a lot more of my body than I would have expected. Shoulders, lower back, and buttocks primarily, with other small bits of soreness in various places. Overall, my legs were feeling okay, though. I didn't really notice the hamstring much, although if I really concentrated I could still feel it a little bit. Decided to be cautious with it, anyway, and just do a yoga workout. Went with flexibility, hoping to get the soreness to lighten up a little. It might have been better if I had done something cardio beforehand, since I definitely noticed the hamstring a little more during the yoga, but I was careful not to strain too much. I think the workout did help with the soreness somewhat, although there still is plenty to go around. However, I'm feeling pretty good about the idea of getting some cardio in tomorrow. I'll probably go for a run, and possibly play some Stepmania, although I'm a little less certain about that, since I think there will probably be ultimate on Tuesday. I'm not thinking it's terribly likely for Thursday, so I'll probably start picking things back up then (unless I injure myself again on Tuesday, of course). I think I'll try to get an abs workout in tomorrow, unless the various cardio causes me to change my mind. Either way, I'll pretty much definitely do something, so until then...

Some laziness, more ultimate.

2007-03-31T16:27:31Z

Through a combination of weird timing and laziness, I managed not to do a workout yesterday. I'm a little annoyed about it, since I was going to do an abs workout, probably pilates. I've definitely been slacking off on the pilates abs lately. Anyway, before ultimate today I went with a pretty similar workout to the one I did on Thursday. Trimmed it down a little bit due to time constraints, but only a little. Ultimate was okay... it was a practice, which was good, 'cause I got to learn some stuff and do some drills. I was also really trying to work on my defense, which was somewhat effective, but it was also a good cardio workout. The bad things were that my skills were pretty off today, overall, and I strained my right hamstring a bit. It doesn't seem too bad, so I think it should recover pretty quickly. I spent some time stretching it out at the field after we were done, and then did another free form workout when I got home, with an emphasis on stretching the hamstrings. Not sure how effective it was, but it certainly seemed to be helping on the field, at any rate. Not quite sure what my plan is now... I was going to at least play Stepmania tonight, but now I don't think I'm going to. Definitely better to rest the leg. No idea what I'll do tomorrow, as it will most likely heavily depend on how the hamstring is feeling. So, I guess I'll get back to the workout whenever I feel ready. Until then...

Regular rest plan?

2007-03-30T01:15:02Z

Took yesterday off, which I think was a good thing for the body. My legs feel fully recovered today, which they haven't felt since Saturday or so. Not surprising, considering I kept working them out through that period. I'm considering making Wednesdays a day of rest, and working hard the rest of the week. We'll see how that goes.
Went with a free form workout before ultimate today. Started off with the intro to Total Body, then after the second downward dog switched into my normal free form series of triangle, side stretch, warrior II, and backbend lunge. Switched into a mixture of the running and all sports mini-workouts after that, getting a little more leg stretching in. Ultimate itself was a bit of a disappointment tonight, since we only had 7 people show. No idea what the problem was tonight, as the weather was clear, if a bit cool. Anyway, got some good running in, as we decided to play some double hot box. That was pretty tiring, but also really good for conditioning, so I wasn't too disappointed by it. By the time I got home, I was feeling somewhat recovered, so I decided to play some Stepmania for a while. That went surprisingly well... I can definitely tell I've improved quite a bit, just in the last couple of weeks. Even though my legs were somewhat tired, I was still able to pass some 9's that I hadn't passed before, and fairly easily passed another one that I had barely passed before. After that, I cooled off with the running and all sports mini-workouts. Decided that I didn't really need to do swimming, since I wasn't feeling particularly in need of the stretching, and I had already done plenty of cardio for the day. Not sure what I'll do tomorrow... I think maybe I'll try and get some abs in. Getting the abs in twice a week might be the way to go. Can't push myself too hard tomorrow, though, since I agreed to play ultimate Saturday morning. Although abs certainly doesn't stand in the way of that. Maybe I'll just run and do yoga, and pass on the Stepmania until Saturday some time. Well, I guess I'll figure out how I feel tomorrow and work from there.

Getting out there.

2007-03-28T00:03:27Z

Got in the normal set of YCfA mini-workouts today before ultimate. Focus wasn't very good, largely because I was wondering if we were going to play. There were some thunderstorms that passed through about an hour before game time, but we still ended up being good to go. Unfortunately, the advance thunderstorms seemed to have scared most people off, so we ended up with only 6. And there was some confusion with the cones, so I ended up running back home to get them and then running back, so I got in an extra mile run. Although we only had 3 on 3, it turned out to be a lot of fun, actually. We played some regular ultimate, then played a little bit of hot box. I got a cramp in my right calf during the second game of hot box, so that pretty much ended things for tonight. Which actually worked out okay, since it started drizzling a little bit harder just after we stopped, which probably would have ended things anyway. When I got home, I decided to do the py:stamina workout in order to try and stretch out the muscles a bit, and also hopefully help the muscle that had cramped. Focus wasn't the greatest for that, either... guess I was just a little off today. I think I did help the muscle somewhat, and of course got some general stretching in, so that was good. Tomorrow... I'm not sure. I might take the day off, since I've been working pretty hard the last couple of days. Of course, I might be addicted to the exercise now, so I might not. I am anticipating ultimate in Southfield on Thursday, though, so... I think I'll take it fairly easy tomorrow, and then start going hard again over the weekend. So, perhaps a workout tomorrow, perhaps not. Until next time...