I cancelled frisbee practice today. I needed a mental health day after 5 hours of grading on memorial day. I also squeezed in a 1.5 hour bike ride, and a 35 minute run, and a quick circuit of single leg squats, chinups, dips (jogging from station to station, 3x).
Came home, slept, ate, and did a 30 minute workout. 10 minute warmup up to the college, 4x2min hard effort stair sets (stairs that run from the bottom of campus to the top, got my heart rate up to about 185, which is pretty high. By my age, guestimate, time, i think my heart rate max is about 193. So, that was a decent set.
felt really good. like i could have done at least a couple more: I'd do as many as 10 of these on a bike, but the higher impact of running was taken into account. And it was, again, a long day.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
mining the rsd archives.
the initial wsj thread
scroll down to 14 to read the article.
questions for discussion. where do we go from here. how do we improve our image. what is the future of ultimate. but more significantly, go read RSD, and search wsj, and find the sweet posts. reply with links.
scroll down to 14 to read the article.
questions for discussion. where do we go from here. how do we improve our image. what is the future of ultimate. but more significantly, go read RSD, and search wsj, and find the sweet posts. reply with links.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
adfsadf
I haven't gotten much response from my question:
right outcome or 'consensus.' you decide. it's actually a significant personality point question, and I think it may be telling about the nature of different focuses ultimate frisbee players have. me, I'm a 'right outcome guy.' I try to balance this with self officiating, but for me, AS MUCH AS I AM ABLE, I prefer a right outcome.
if I see my coached players make a bad call, I just won't let them stand by it. if their ignorance is such that they make a bad call, that's unacceptable to me, as it's cheating. i, as much as possible, try to direct my thoughts on bad calls by the opposing team to the other coach, and not interfere with the game.
is this right? I think it comes to my question. i sincerely have a problem with teams going with the 'let them work it out approach' as I wonder, what is the virtue of someone who is in the wrong winning by 'consensus.'
I do, conceptually, appreciate the viewpoint that consensus and agreement is a positive outcome of a selfoficciated sport: but, and a significant caveat, if all parties are
1) objective
2) understanding of the rules
nuff about that.
Friday, I took off, slept 1.5 hours after school, went to bed tired, woke up tired, but got dragged out for a bike ride. Rode about 35 miles, recouped, then ran (tired and slow) 4 miles, and did a quick strength sesh. (14 chinups, 20 pushups, 23 100 pound squats (full parallel: it matters).
Cooked up some jambalaya, caught the end of the celts game, watched 300.
right outcome or 'consensus.' you decide. it's actually a significant personality point question, and I think it may be telling about the nature of different focuses ultimate frisbee players have. me, I'm a 'right outcome guy.' I try to balance this with self officiating, but for me, AS MUCH AS I AM ABLE, I prefer a right outcome.
if I see my coached players make a bad call, I just won't let them stand by it. if their ignorance is such that they make a bad call, that's unacceptable to me, as it's cheating. i, as much as possible, try to direct my thoughts on bad calls by the opposing team to the other coach, and not interfere with the game.
is this right? I think it comes to my question. i sincerely have a problem with teams going with the 'let them work it out approach' as I wonder, what is the virtue of someone who is in the wrong winning by 'consensus.'
I do, conceptually, appreciate the viewpoint that consensus and agreement is a positive outcome of a selfoficciated sport: but, and a significant caveat, if all parties are
1) objective
2) understanding of the rules
nuff about that.
Friday, I took off, slept 1.5 hours after school, went to bed tired, woke up tired, but got dragged out for a bike ride. Rode about 35 miles, recouped, then ran (tired and slow) 4 miles, and did a quick strength sesh. (14 chinups, 20 pushups, 23 100 pound squats (full parallel: it matters).
Cooked up some jambalaya, caught the end of the celts game, watched 300.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
thurs.
uh, wednesday, i went for a VERY slow 1.25 hour mtbike ride, a very hard 4.25mile run (about 7minute pace). then lifted weights.
today, played a mini tournament with the kids. so, 5 games to 3, the last against the 'stacked team' was 15 minutes long with lots of running.
next week we go back to practice seriously getting ready for district (the local tournament)... my joke with the kids, is, we peak for state, then we ramp back for districts. we'll have tryouts after that. i like everyone loose for tryouts.
then i had league night tonight. we won, running away, but it was chippy. i'm probably to blame: but here's where i got bent.
disc goes up, our deep deep (athlete, but novice player), holds his ground, and gets the sky. on the way down, or perhaps as both, basically stationary players go up, there is some minor contact. the offensive player calls foul. i don't yell, 'send it back', but i do turn to the captain and say, 'really, what do you think?' he says, 'hey just let them sort it out.' that shit just kills me, but what do you think?
what is a correct outcome:
let them sort it out?
or, is it correct to make the right call?
is it a 'no contact sport?'
i know where i stand, but i'm looking for feedback from the conflict resolution crowd.
I think we won 11-4, and i got a comeback block on game point. i was prety high on that, even if it was a mediocre block in the grand scheme of things.
today, played a mini tournament with the kids. so, 5 games to 3, the last against the 'stacked team' was 15 minutes long with lots of running.
next week we go back to practice seriously getting ready for district (the local tournament)... my joke with the kids, is, we peak for state, then we ramp back for districts. we'll have tryouts after that. i like everyone loose for tryouts.
then i had league night tonight. we won, running away, but it was chippy. i'm probably to blame: but here's where i got bent.
disc goes up, our deep deep (athlete, but novice player), holds his ground, and gets the sky. on the way down, or perhaps as both, basically stationary players go up, there is some minor contact. the offensive player calls foul. i don't yell, 'send it back', but i do turn to the captain and say, 'really, what do you think?' he says, 'hey just let them sort it out.' that shit just kills me, but what do you think?
what is a correct outcome:
let them sort it out?
or, is it correct to make the right call?
is it a 'no contact sport?'
i know where i stand, but i'm looking for feedback from the conflict resolution crowd.
I think we won 11-4, and i got a comeback block on game point. i was prety high on that, even if it was a mediocre block in the grand scheme of things.
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
updoc.
I wrote a post the other night about states. IN retrospect, I was a bit peckish (look it up, I was also hungry, in addition to being surly. To summarize: the winners deserved to win, we got what we deserved, I'm proud of my students for playing their best, and comporting themselves in a great manner. I feel that HS teams SHOULD be coached, and that supervision should occur as a few players on a few different teams were allowed by their coaches to act with bad sportsmanship, and the occasional bad call, but I bench my kids for the same. It is a failure of the game when players don't hold themselves to sportsmanship.
This is a different argument than Toad, etc.'s desire for Refs. I'd ref a HS game I wasn't coaching, but I think that sportsmanship: how you comport yourself in a game during a discussion is important, whether it's in a winning or losing situation. I think it's OK to react to bad behavior, but as kids, I want them to see the value of maintaining their cool, but sometimes, it's OK to disagree. It's very complicated, and kids need direction.
Sunday I played a few points of ultimate; I think I was mildly heat exhausted.
Monday I split my survivors into two roughly equal teams (they both won; i had very few 'jv' players there).
Today, we did a lightish practice, but it was so windy all we could do was dutch (pretty cool had a new player out there who was all about the no look behind the back passes and working hard... I'm all about ambition, If he keeps coming out, we'll talk about strategery later)... did a scrimmage after.
Then a 1.5 hour pickup scrimmage. I did some goodstuff, some bad stuff, but i tried. Just frustrating to play in a mediocre game. But workout wise, a good day.
This is a different argument than Toad, etc.'s desire for Refs. I'd ref a HS game I wasn't coaching, but I think that sportsmanship: how you comport yourself in a game during a discussion is important, whether it's in a winning or losing situation. I think it's OK to react to bad behavior, but as kids, I want them to see the value of maintaining their cool, but sometimes, it's OK to disagree. It's very complicated, and kids need direction.
Sunday I played a few points of ultimate; I think I was mildly heat exhausted.
Monday I split my survivors into two roughly equal teams (they both won; i had very few 'jv' players there).
Today, we did a lightish practice, but it was so windy all we could do was dutch (pretty cool had a new player out there who was all about the no look behind the back passes and working hard... I'm all about ambition, If he keeps coming out, we'll talk about strategery later)... did a scrimmage after.
Then a 1.5 hour pickup scrimmage. I did some goodstuff, some bad stuff, but i tried. Just frustrating to play in a mediocre game. But workout wise, a good day.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
state, league night
lessee, friday, i think i rested. i coached the track team, but they were running late season sprints, and it was at the local juco, where they were having alt-ed day. so i picked up a neck massage, and called it good. Saturday, I skated 40k, and biked for 1.5 hours (about 25 miles), so a sweet 50m day. but wasted. i took sunday off. monday, biked for about an hour. tuesday, ran drills with the kids for 2 hours (including 30 minutes of JV (plus me) vs. Varsity, jv gets a point for every Varsity turnover, game to 3. I think we won 4-2 (so, it was a 2-2 tie). Wednesday, 30 minute run, 1 hour bike, 30 minutes weights. Today, throw around session, finalize rides to state, figure out (I know it's crazy) how many kids were going to state. The final numbers are based on girls. We have 14 girls going, not enough for 3 teams (it's 4-3) for 2 days in 85 degree heat (I know that sounds sissy, but we're going from 40-60 degree temps for 3 months to this. I can't do it responsibly: I'll limit numbers to the varsity team, but I just can't afford to have 4 girls play for 2 days. Then I biked to league play. The plan was to bike to the game (30 minutes) drop off the game bag, bike for 30 more minutes. But I flatted, and my spare was bad. Luckilly, a buddy of mine (parent of kids i coach) lived less than a mile away on this sweet, weird, runway that's kind of down town. If it sounds like a weird setup, it is, but i got a patch kit from him, (oh, and he's invented all sorts of weird things like a pen that writes like a spirograph, and a ball that turns into a frisbee. and a former rescue Parajumper. crazy guy). But my tube wouldn't take air (ANOTHER HOLE. CRAZY BUT IT HAPPENS). So rick gives me a ride to the fields, warm up, and we play. 4-1, 4-3, then 10-3. Weird. I threw some golf discs today, I don't know if it matters, but I was overthrowing everyone. but weirdly, the pulls were the best i've pulled in a while. After an embarrasing line drive to the goal line, it was 5 straight coffin corners that led immediately to goals. But tons of long overthrows. shanks and errors. weird. But several 'ds' and played every point until 10-3. I was embarrassed to see my team go with the 'all upside down point' when receiving 10-4. I feel that sort of shit dishonors the game, and mocks the other team. Respect, for me, is respecting the game, and playing to win cleanly, and fairly.
In school, I told my seniors I was giving a test on 'senior skip day'. The rich, entititled kids were apoplectic with rage that i would dare make them accountable. I said, skip the class, you take a different test. And it will be harder. Come in in the morning, take the easy test. Come to class and take the test. I don't care. I actually test prep before every test and READ THE QUESTIONS to the students: All year, 3 kids have taken advantage of this. So, I'm not impressed, but despite my anger at their awful, white bread, juvenile behavior, i tried to use reason. They were having none of it. I was mildly pissed, and yes, it's punitive, but the bottom line is that It is inherently discriminatory to reward kids whose parents will lie to make an excuse, where other parents allow kids to do what they want.
How will the kids do?
Well, first of all, my coaching strategy is to let them do the playing. No screaming, no marionetting from the sideline. Alex Fergeson, not Bobby Knight. I will make sure they don't get 'cheated' on any kind of egregious bad calls... but, I'll make adjustments.
The Varsity team could play great. They looked fluid and brilliant Monday at scrimmage: ladder cuts, dumps and swings, opportunistic long throws. If they play like that, we could maybe make the semis for the first time ever in the 10 team pool. But it's high school, and if heads hang on defense, or if the couple throwers fall in love with their throws... then...
Well, we'll see. I'm taking 40 kids camping. Luckily, parents are going. But, we'll see how it goes. My policy, is that if any kid breaks a rule, the tournament is over for all kids. I'm blessed in that everyone of my kids is generally respectful. But I'll stick to it.
In school, I told my seniors I was giving a test on 'senior skip day'. The rich, entititled kids were apoplectic with rage that i would dare make them accountable. I said, skip the class, you take a different test. And it will be harder. Come in in the morning, take the easy test. Come to class and take the test. I don't care. I actually test prep before every test and READ THE QUESTIONS to the students: All year, 3 kids have taken advantage of this. So, I'm not impressed, but despite my anger at their awful, white bread, juvenile behavior, i tried to use reason. They were having none of it. I was mildly pissed, and yes, it's punitive, but the bottom line is that It is inherently discriminatory to reward kids whose parents will lie to make an excuse, where other parents allow kids to do what they want.
How will the kids do?
Well, first of all, my coaching strategy is to let them do the playing. No screaming, no marionetting from the sideline. Alex Fergeson, not Bobby Knight. I will make sure they don't get 'cheated' on any kind of egregious bad calls... but, I'll make adjustments.
The Varsity team could play great. They looked fluid and brilliant Monday at scrimmage: ladder cuts, dumps and swings, opportunistic long throws. If they play like that, we could maybe make the semis for the first time ever in the 10 team pool. But it's high school, and if heads hang on defense, or if the couple throwers fall in love with their throws... then...
Well, we'll see. I'm taking 40 kids camping. Luckily, parents are going. But, we'll see how it goes. My policy, is that if any kid breaks a rule, the tournament is over for all kids. I'm blessed in that everyone of my kids is generally respectful. But I'll stick to it.
Thursday, May 08, 2008
thursday.
as usual, tired, from the weekend, ramping it up.
Monday, Varsity vs. JV, as Mt. View Played bend. A disappointing showing by varsity, with too many turnovers. I put my psycho freshman on my main handler, and told him to harrass at the mark, and get crazy. It was hilarious, and successful.
tuesday: Light turnout, kids worked on my beloved 'stanford handler weave'... with mixed results. i'm really high on the drill as a cutting drill, it's designed to reinforce the value of dump, swing, give go and LOOKING OFF THE CUT STRAIGHT UPFIELD. It also looks really cool, and there is a lot to be said for a cool looking warmup drill to get you feeling good.
most importantly, it's totally relevant to ultimate. this drill has affected the cuts I make at frisbee, as i refresh my own love of the game, and it's a great set up for handlers, and how to clear and reset the stack.
thursday: all zone, all day. I tend to wait really late in the year before introducing zone. my goal is to teach the kids to be good frisbee players. I find that if i introduce the zone early, the lack of disc skills makes the zone TOO effective as the turnovers are too easy to generate.
personal: monday: rest day. very hard to do. it was beautiful, but rest was due.
tuesday: city pickup, and i tried hard.
wednesday: a 1/2 personal day, so i took care of my banking and etc., then after a 30 minute run with the track team after school, skated 20km, then tele'd a bunch, then lifted weights. whew. big day.
thursday: coached (played a little) then went to the city league clinic, took them through a basic handler cut, a continue cut, and an away cut (3 different drills) then did a cycling flow drill with a handler cut to an out and in cut to an away cut. then scrimmaged for 1.5 hours.
I was tired and flat: 3 days per week of ulti, plus the running, skiing, weights is hard. Hard to get fired up to dive at everything, but I made an effort to play some defense, until the 3rd or 4th turnover each point.
Monday, Varsity vs. JV, as Mt. View Played bend. A disappointing showing by varsity, with too many turnovers. I put my psycho freshman on my main handler, and told him to harrass at the mark, and get crazy. It was hilarious, and successful.
tuesday: Light turnout, kids worked on my beloved 'stanford handler weave'... with mixed results. i'm really high on the drill as a cutting drill, it's designed to reinforce the value of dump, swing, give go and LOOKING OFF THE CUT STRAIGHT UPFIELD. It also looks really cool, and there is a lot to be said for a cool looking warmup drill to get you feeling good.
most importantly, it's totally relevant to ultimate. this drill has affected the cuts I make at frisbee, as i refresh my own love of the game, and it's a great set up for handlers, and how to clear and reset the stack.
thursday: all zone, all day. I tend to wait really late in the year before introducing zone. my goal is to teach the kids to be good frisbee players. I find that if i introduce the zone early, the lack of disc skills makes the zone TOO effective as the turnovers are too easy to generate.
personal: monday: rest day. very hard to do. it was beautiful, but rest was due.
tuesday: city pickup, and i tried hard.
wednesday: a 1/2 personal day, so i took care of my banking and etc., then after a 30 minute run with the track team after school, skated 20km, then tele'd a bunch, then lifted weights. whew. big day.
thursday: coached (played a little) then went to the city league clinic, took them through a basic handler cut, a continue cut, and an away cut (3 different drills) then did a cycling flow drill with a handler cut to an out and in cut to an away cut. then scrimmaged for 1.5 hours.
I was tired and flat: 3 days per week of ulti, plus the running, skiing, weights is hard. Hard to get fired up to dive at everything, but I made an effort to play some defense, until the 3rd or 4th turnover each point.
Sunday, May 04, 2008
weekend.
Thursday, lightly attended practice (as threre was a big school charity function that night). drills, playing. then I helped coach the local league deal. sparsely attended, but productive.
Friday, ran 6 miles, lifted, swam 20 minutes.
Saturday: Skated 1 hour, biked 50 minutes.
Today: Toured for 2.5 hours, (probably 1.5 hours of climbing), biked for 1 hour, played ultimate for 2 hours.
Ultimate was frustrating: My mindset at these pickup games is, don't make calls, and my biggest pet peeve, is, if you don't know if the opponent is in or out, just call it in! So right off the bat, the calls are coming from the other side (i'm not so one sided as to think that there is only one way to look at the universe, i'm just saying, Further adding to my low blood sugar ire: as more skilled players showed up, they all stayed dark. We should have gotten killed in the Game to 7, instead, down 4-3, went to 5-4, then 5's, 6-5, 6's, then we scored on a give go, a down the line pass, and a hammer.
But, they had more throwers, and should have dismantled us. They had 5 guys who could all throw, plus 2 subs. We had a slightly stingier approach: and in the end it was enough.
I just don't like ticky picks and tight line calls and violation calls at league play. But I mean, that's just me. And I was exhausted. Probably the longest training day of the year.
For the week, 6 hours of cardio, 4.5 hours of ultimate, 2.5 hours of strength/core.
This week, Varsity v. JV in the scrimmage. If it gets out of hand, I may bring in a returning player (brother on the team) and / or play a little, and make it a zone practice day. Might ride tomorrow, but I'm thinking of running a 5km trail race tuesday. Probably not worth doing if I don't take a rest day tomorrow.
Friday, ran 6 miles, lifted, swam 20 minutes.
Saturday: Skated 1 hour, biked 50 minutes.
Today: Toured for 2.5 hours, (probably 1.5 hours of climbing), biked for 1 hour, played ultimate for 2 hours.
Ultimate was frustrating: My mindset at these pickup games is, don't make calls, and my biggest pet peeve, is, if you don't know if the opponent is in or out, just call it in! So right off the bat, the calls are coming from the other side (i'm not so one sided as to think that there is only one way to look at the universe, i'm just saying, Further adding to my low blood sugar ire: as more skilled players showed up, they all stayed dark. We should have gotten killed in the Game to 7, instead, down 4-3, went to 5-4, then 5's, 6-5, 6's, then we scored on a give go, a down the line pass, and a hammer.
But, they had more throwers, and should have dismantled us. They had 5 guys who could all throw, plus 2 subs. We had a slightly stingier approach: and in the end it was enough.
I just don't like ticky picks and tight line calls and violation calls at league play. But I mean, that's just me. And I was exhausted. Probably the longest training day of the year.
For the week, 6 hours of cardio, 4.5 hours of ultimate, 2.5 hours of strength/core.
This week, Varsity v. JV in the scrimmage. If it gets out of hand, I may bring in a returning player (brother on the team) and / or play a little, and make it a zone practice day. Might ride tomorrow, but I'm thinking of running a 5km trail race tuesday. Probably not worth doing if I don't take a rest day tomorrow.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Pretty light week.
Scrimmages:
Summit Varsity: 15-4 (now 2-0) over Mt. View (Pretty good team, skills, they need some tourneys).
Summit JV 7-9.
Varsity is shaping up, It was windy, and they handled it pretty well, throws and decisions shaping up. Focus was on playing sharp, and overcoming our habit of watching throws as thrower and team. Slows flow.
JV: Not dissappointing, as they are shaping up: a little frustrating. I have decided to minimize my during game coaching, especially in match play local games, be more like sir Alex, and less like Bobby K. There was a little more involvement from the other sideline (making calls (OUT) on a variety of throws. I explained my position to my teams, all the calls that they didn't make (in calls, line calls, foul calls), and said, my intention in not babysitting you is that you learn from the consequences. For example, one of my players clearly caught it in, (but a little tight, catch with foot down, step (in) third step out). I stepped back from the line, just pointing in, the other members of the team were all in the far sideline sort of yelling IN IN, but the kid trusted someone. Yes, a call for refs, but coaches aren't refs. The lesson to the kids was, spread the sidelines, and just point if it's honestly in or out, but let the kid only use that as a guideline, especially if no PLAYER (of the 14) is in any position to be making calls on an unlined fields. Also, one of my kids made a call, but play sort of continued: he, and the team now knows to just stand there hold your hand up, make a call, and as team mates, to stand there, stop, and echo the call. Learning. Teaching moments. The other team ran a zone, and there was lots of double teaming: between points, I explained the double team rule, but also said, I CAN"T CALL THAT FROM THE SIDELINE. Lesson learned. There was also the usual, occasional mystery point discrepancy. I said, you have to keep up with that yourselves.
Honestly, in a game, at 'state', i'll advocate more actively, but I want them to learn the rules. read the rules. stick up for themselves.
Tuesday, in truly shitty conditions (38, snow, 30mph wind), we did 2 new drills, and the 2 basic drills, but with the focus on never looking at your throw. Some improvements were made. I intended to do some other drills, related to cup, 10' rule, and mark breaking, but we ran out of time since i wanted to do a little dutch for a workout.
Wednesday, oh wait, that's a track day. Coached in cold, cold weather, kids did fine. A girl turned in a 2:18 800 (1:06 split, no one to run with. beat the pack by 20 seconds. A skier, 1st 1500 of the season, went 10 seconds off a PR, it was cold.
Personal: Monday, I was tired. So I just lifted. Solid, decent weights.
Tuesday: Practiced pretty hard. Meant to do some additonal cardio. Call it 1.5 hours.
Today: After coaching, I ran 3 x 1000's. here's the history.
9/29/2005 3:42, 3:49, 3:49, 3:49, 3:34.
10/3/2005 3:41, 3:38, 3:38, 3:40, 3:30
9/20/2006 3:37, 3:25, 3:21, 3:20, 3:16, 3:16
9/19/2007 3:45, 3:35, 3:30, 3:25, 3:30. Plus 2km warmup, 1.5 km cooldown
9/26 3:40 3:35 3:30 3:25 3:30 3:40
4/30/2008 3;30 3:30 3:30 (only 3, but i was tired, cold. ran them in heavy sweats. short recovery (2-2:30). Actually a very good workout, but the feet, muscles, started hurting, so that was plenty. Actually a very good workout. It'd be nice to hit some of those faster times this fall (3:15), but, if I could do 3:30 x 5 with short recovery, I could legitimately start looking at a sub 18 5km, which would be a great goal. (I need to run an average of 3:35 to go 17:55. So I can get faster (and it is VERY early) or stronger (shorter recovery) or both. Not going to be easy.... but.... but I was pretty happy with the effort, and the consistency of the workout.
I'll be shooting for an in season (or sooner) workout of 3:35, 3:30, 3:30, 3:25, 3:20, 3:15. With short recovery, that should get me right at 18. If I can hit that by mid summer, I'll look to shave 5 seconds off all those times.
Then weights, light squats/lunges, pull down, dip press (machine takes weight off), pushups, vert row, military press.
Tommorrow, coach, then go run a city league coaching clinic. don't know who's showing.
Scrimmages:
Summit Varsity: 15-4 (now 2-0) over Mt. View (Pretty good team, skills, they need some tourneys).
Summit JV 7-9.
Varsity is shaping up, It was windy, and they handled it pretty well, throws and decisions shaping up. Focus was on playing sharp, and overcoming our habit of watching throws as thrower and team. Slows flow.
JV: Not dissappointing, as they are shaping up: a little frustrating. I have decided to minimize my during game coaching, especially in match play local games, be more like sir Alex, and less like Bobby K. There was a little more involvement from the other sideline (making calls (OUT) on a variety of throws. I explained my position to my teams, all the calls that they didn't make (in calls, line calls, foul calls), and said, my intention in not babysitting you is that you learn from the consequences. For example, one of my players clearly caught it in, (but a little tight, catch with foot down, step (in) third step out). I stepped back from the line, just pointing in, the other members of the team were all in the far sideline sort of yelling IN IN, but the kid trusted someone. Yes, a call for refs, but coaches aren't refs. The lesson to the kids was, spread the sidelines, and just point if it's honestly in or out, but let the kid only use that as a guideline, especially if no PLAYER (of the 14) is in any position to be making calls on an unlined fields. Also, one of my kids made a call, but play sort of continued: he, and the team now knows to just stand there hold your hand up, make a call, and as team mates, to stand there, stop, and echo the call. Learning. Teaching moments. The other team ran a zone, and there was lots of double teaming: between points, I explained the double team rule, but also said, I CAN"T CALL THAT FROM THE SIDELINE. Lesson learned. There was also the usual, occasional mystery point discrepancy. I said, you have to keep up with that yourselves.
Honestly, in a game, at 'state', i'll advocate more actively, but I want them to learn the rules. read the rules. stick up for themselves.
Tuesday, in truly shitty conditions (38, snow, 30mph wind), we did 2 new drills, and the 2 basic drills, but with the focus on never looking at your throw. Some improvements were made. I intended to do some other drills, related to cup, 10' rule, and mark breaking, but we ran out of time since i wanted to do a little dutch for a workout.
Wednesday, oh wait, that's a track day. Coached in cold, cold weather, kids did fine. A girl turned in a 2:18 800 (1:06 split, no one to run with. beat the pack by 20 seconds. A skier, 1st 1500 of the season, went 10 seconds off a PR, it was cold.
Personal: Monday, I was tired. So I just lifted. Solid, decent weights.
Tuesday: Practiced pretty hard. Meant to do some additonal cardio. Call it 1.5 hours.
Today: After coaching, I ran 3 x 1000's. here's the history.
9/29/2005 3:42, 3:49, 3:49, 3:49, 3:34.
10/3/2005 3:41, 3:38, 3:38, 3:40, 3:30
9/20/2006 3:37, 3:25, 3:21, 3:20, 3:16, 3:16
9/19/2007 3:45, 3:35, 3:30, 3:25, 3:30. Plus 2km warmup, 1.5 km cooldown
9/26 3:40 3:35 3:30 3:25 3:30 3:40
4/30/2008 3;30 3:30 3:30 (only 3, but i was tired, cold. ran them in heavy sweats. short recovery (2-2:30). Actually a very good workout, but the feet, muscles, started hurting, so that was plenty. Actually a very good workout. It'd be nice to hit some of those faster times this fall (3:15), but, if I could do 3:30 x 5 with short recovery, I could legitimately start looking at a sub 18 5km, which would be a great goal. (I need to run an average of 3:35 to go 17:55. So I can get faster (and it is VERY early) or stronger (shorter recovery) or both. Not going to be easy.... but.... but I was pretty happy with the effort, and the consistency of the workout.
I'll be shooting for an in season (or sooner) workout of 3:35, 3:30, 3:30, 3:25, 3:20, 3:15. With short recovery, that should get me right at 18. If I can hit that by mid summer, I'll look to shave 5 seconds off all those times.
Then weights, light squats/lunges, pull down, dip press (machine takes weight off), pushups, vert row, military press.
Tommorrow, coach, then go run a city league coaching clinic. don't know who's showing.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
recap.
Took a Boys a and B team, and a girls team, and well, the only team my varsity beat was the jv team, but this is nonetheless, an improvement. Why... you ask? Well, We're going up against teams that play longer, with more experience... so, I'm Ok with it. Our V team lost at the cap to a team.. We scored the last goal to lose 10-9, and on a run. This is a far cry better than the past. As an explanation, the tournament only includes, for the girls, studly Churchill, and for the Guys, a western bound south eugene, a churchill team that's a bit off from past years, and a CV team that was short handed, but game. (We only had 10 boys per team, but I felt that it was important to split the teams).
If things go to plan, we'll play BETTER at the co-ed states in 4 weeks, and then peak at our home tournament 2 weeks later. I'd love to be better sooner, but it's not really relevant to our season. In lieu of the 75 degree weather we played in corvallis, I look forward to a week of snow. Snow, snow, and more snow. and I mean, in town, not at the mountain.
Today, I road for 2 hours, then played ultimate for 2 hours of pickup, even, trying.
If things go to plan, we'll play BETTER at the co-ed states in 4 weeks, and then peak at our home tournament 2 weeks later. I'd love to be better sooner, but it's not really relevant to our season. In lieu of the 75 degree weather we played in corvallis, I look forward to a week of snow. Snow, snow, and more snow. and I mean, in town, not at the mountain.
Today, I road for 2 hours, then played ultimate for 2 hours of pickup, even, trying.
Friday, April 25, 2008
state
wednesday, 45min run, weights (core, balance, 2x10 squats (140), 2x10 single leg squats, straight dead lift, bench, chin, dip, latrow), 45 min on the bike trainer.
thursday, practice (30 min warm-up drills/dynamics/sprints, 30 minutes 5v5 dutch hard). 1:15 bike ride
friday: coached track (sprints (didn't do them, gave kids times), then ran to gym (25min, core, weights (:45 min), swam 800m (20 min), ran home (25min).
tomorrow: 40 kids on a bus, single gender state. 6:00 am. 3 hour ride. we're woefully unprepared, relative to the world (which has been practicing for much longer). my girls get the shaft: one game only. churchills girls after their likely win. by a likely large margin. have agreed to clinic / scrimmage for a round. Then I told my girls they could get games playing against the other guys teams.
my varsity team could be OK. I've split the teams into V and JV, probably 12 each, maybe a couple more. I have 1 legitimate handler (in that he demands the disc, stays behind it or near it), 2 guys who want to run deep more than they handle, 2 guys who are definite lane cutters, 1 guy who just wants to play 'd' and never turn it over, 3 legitimate mids who just look to flow and continue, and 3 sort of new to the game 'a' teamers. If I had ONE guy who was a legitimate take down guy, I'd feel we were very close to the perfect balance. as it is, if I can get some plays out of the boys, and encourage protecting the disc, we'll be OK. As I look at the team, we could have a great, 'flowing' team. but how quickly they buy into possession, the better. the basic disc skills are as good as any team i've ever had.
we'll see how it goes. we've never won a game at 'this' state tournament, but if it gets us closer to state, the better. my challenge will be getting us closer to success at the co-ed states...
our offense is a very basic V-stack. I stress a short stack, mixing handler cuts, and basic swings, and continuation cuts. i focus most on moving the stack back, and too the center. i like to stretch the stack in 'their' endzone, so that we can make endzone cuts to the front of the stack.
we need to work on crossing the field, avoinding throws into the traffic, looking off passes, cutting too soon.. in otherwords, field sense.
the girls are doing pretty good, we lack the take down receiver we've had, but we have throwers now who can deliver the pill up field, and varied cutters.
i'm looking forward to it.
thursday, practice (30 min warm-up drills/dynamics/sprints, 30 minutes 5v5 dutch hard). 1:15 bike ride
friday: coached track (sprints (didn't do them, gave kids times), then ran to gym (25min, core, weights (:45 min), swam 800m (20 min), ran home (25min).
tomorrow: 40 kids on a bus, single gender state. 6:00 am. 3 hour ride. we're woefully unprepared, relative to the world (which has been practicing for much longer). my girls get the shaft: one game only. churchills girls after their likely win. by a likely large margin. have agreed to clinic / scrimmage for a round. Then I told my girls they could get games playing against the other guys teams.
my varsity team could be OK. I've split the teams into V and JV, probably 12 each, maybe a couple more. I have 1 legitimate handler (in that he demands the disc, stays behind it or near it), 2 guys who want to run deep more than they handle, 2 guys who are definite lane cutters, 1 guy who just wants to play 'd' and never turn it over, 3 legitimate mids who just look to flow and continue, and 3 sort of new to the game 'a' teamers. If I had ONE guy who was a legitimate take down guy, I'd feel we were very close to the perfect balance. as it is, if I can get some plays out of the boys, and encourage protecting the disc, we'll be OK. As I look at the team, we could have a great, 'flowing' team. but how quickly they buy into possession, the better. the basic disc skills are as good as any team i've ever had.
we'll see how it goes. we've never won a game at 'this' state tournament, but if it gets us closer to state, the better. my challenge will be getting us closer to success at the co-ed states...
our offense is a very basic V-stack. I stress a short stack, mixing handler cuts, and basic swings, and continuation cuts. i focus most on moving the stack back, and too the center. i like to stretch the stack in 'their' endzone, so that we can make endzone cuts to the front of the stack.
we need to work on crossing the field, avoinding throws into the traffic, looking off passes, cutting too soon.. in otherwords, field sense.
the girls are doing pretty good, we lack the take down receiver we've had, but we have throwers now who can deliver the pill up field, and varied cutters.
i'm looking forward to it.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
update.
deleted the last post. sorry. didn't like it.
1 week later.
Last week:
Wednesday, ran 35min (track)
thursday: frisbee, then a 1 hour ski hike
friday, 50 minute run, then weights, and a 30 minute swim(track)
saturday, coached all day at a track meet.
sunday: bike 45, run 55 (7miles), swim 25 min (900m)
mon: frisbee coaching: JV loses 13-4, varsity wins 15-1. weights (core, proprioception, squats, chest, chinups)
tues: oh, that's today. 2 inches of snow on the ground, then pouring rain all afternoon. cancelled practice, but 14 or so varsity players showed up, and i got roped in. 1 hour HARD scrimmage (i even dove twice) working on covering the current best player (a new player with a great soccer/football background who's very quick. so i'm able to focus on quick movement right now, and slowly start ramping up the big runs. since i'm also running track practices, i'm working 'back to the middle' with quick movements and longer movements moving towards an open field game. good practice. how is the team? we'll see. this week is the 'single gender states'. we're usually lucky to score goals.... i mean, take a team of skiers with 1.5 months of practice, and stack them up against a bunch of teams with year long play. it's just a tough go.
personally, I AM playing poultry days, with PAX. Winners of every even numbered year since 2000, the pax is older, older, and older. but, this may be the year. one for the thumb. it's the first year that teaching hasn't conflicted, and I'm psyched to see the old crew, many of which are former college roommates/team mates. go PAX.
summary notes: the weights are going well, tommorrow is a 50min run, swim, bike, lift. My goal for the week is 11 hours of training. we'll see. thursday is practice and team BBQ, friday, 50min run, saturday, big yellow bus and coach all day.
uhm. i thought this was for sure a 'rebuilding year' for HS team, but it's looking more and more like a reloading year. I'm only losing a few, and the young guns are bringing it. the challenge: not enough tournaments for HS kids. The UPA Westerns makes it great for the elite, but is currently making it hard to break into the elite. What to do?
Shaaa, I dunno. Word is the count is coming to poultry days. That will be good for laughs and entertainment, even if our teams don' meet. Unless your looking for a team, count?
1 week later.
Last week:
Wednesday, ran 35min (track)
thursday: frisbee, then a 1 hour ski hike
friday, 50 minute run, then weights, and a 30 minute swim(track)
saturday, coached all day at a track meet.
sunday: bike 45, run 55 (7miles), swim 25 min (900m)
mon: frisbee coaching: JV loses 13-4, varsity wins 15-1. weights (core, proprioception, squats, chest, chinups)
tues: oh, that's today. 2 inches of snow on the ground, then pouring rain all afternoon. cancelled practice, but 14 or so varsity players showed up, and i got roped in. 1 hour HARD scrimmage (i even dove twice) working on covering the current best player (a new player with a great soccer/football background who's very quick. so i'm able to focus on quick movement right now, and slowly start ramping up the big runs. since i'm also running track practices, i'm working 'back to the middle' with quick movements and longer movements moving towards an open field game. good practice. how is the team? we'll see. this week is the 'single gender states'. we're usually lucky to score goals.... i mean, take a team of skiers with 1.5 months of practice, and stack them up against a bunch of teams with year long play. it's just a tough go.
personally, I AM playing poultry days, with PAX. Winners of every even numbered year since 2000, the pax is older, older, and older. but, this may be the year. one for the thumb. it's the first year that teaching hasn't conflicted, and I'm psyched to see the old crew, many of which are former college roommates/team mates. go PAX.
summary notes: the weights are going well, tommorrow is a 50min run, swim, bike, lift. My goal for the week is 11 hours of training. we'll see. thursday is practice and team BBQ, friday, 50min run, saturday, big yellow bus and coach all day.
uhm. i thought this was for sure a 'rebuilding year' for HS team, but it's looking more and more like a reloading year. I'm only losing a few, and the young guns are bringing it. the challenge: not enough tournaments for HS kids. The UPA Westerns makes it great for the elite, but is currently making it hard to break into the elite. What to do?
Shaaa, I dunno. Word is the count is coming to poultry days. That will be good for laughs and entertainment, even if our teams don' meet. Unless your looking for a team, count?
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
sabe
Lessee, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I participated in a nordic ski/coaching clinic. Lot's of good drills, Lot's of tips, video work, discussion of weights. Really valuable.
Friday, I ran 45 or 50 minutes, and lifted. Saturday, I biked 1.5 hours, and helped set stuff up at the frisbee party for the tournament I missed. Weird, I love playing frisbee, there are just things, after 18 years, that i love doing more... at times.
Sunday, another 1.5 hour bike ride after the clinic.
Monday, Practice. 75 degree weather turned to cold and snow during the day. There are some really good things going on. Kids are moving down field and clearing the line suprisingly well. The throws are flatter and flatter. I'm getting decent moves and throws on the pivots. In what I thought was a total rebuilding year, we're moving towards having a nice year. Probably 35 kids.
then I hiked mt. bachelor (total climb time, 66 minutes, plus ski time down). then the usual... kids in the room at 7am, and no downtime until the end of the day.
Tuesday: 30mph winds early, so i changed from one of our first full field scrimmages to some dutch, 4v4 in an endzone area, teams divided varsity boys (plus one girl), girls, boys. The divisions were their own. I just said get into groups of 10 or so. Only about 25 kids. Then scrimmage, and the wind dropped, and the scrimmage improved. Then I ski-hiked for 40minutes, and ski'd down.
We'll start scrimmages next week with the Central Oregon League. We'll see what we see. In the past, we've been too proud, and it takes tournaments to round us out. We've lost to other city teams in the early season, as I try and develop offense and defense and the other teams just huck it and f##4 it. But we'll see. Now, we have as many as 50 players, and the other 3 teams have 10-12 players each, so I'm not sure how I let teams play. No rhythm if i play everyone, hard to hold the starters out... what to do...
tommorrow night, coaches meeting. the COL sched will be set.
Friday, I ran 45 or 50 minutes, and lifted. Saturday, I biked 1.5 hours, and helped set stuff up at the frisbee party for the tournament I missed. Weird, I love playing frisbee, there are just things, after 18 years, that i love doing more... at times.
Sunday, another 1.5 hour bike ride after the clinic.
Monday, Practice. 75 degree weather turned to cold and snow during the day. There are some really good things going on. Kids are moving down field and clearing the line suprisingly well. The throws are flatter and flatter. I'm getting decent moves and throws on the pivots. In what I thought was a total rebuilding year, we're moving towards having a nice year. Probably 35 kids.
then I hiked mt. bachelor (total climb time, 66 minutes, plus ski time down). then the usual... kids in the room at 7am, and no downtime until the end of the day.
Tuesday: 30mph winds early, so i changed from one of our first full field scrimmages to some dutch, 4v4 in an endzone area, teams divided varsity boys (plus one girl), girls, boys. The divisions were their own. I just said get into groups of 10 or so. Only about 25 kids. Then scrimmage, and the wind dropped, and the scrimmage improved. Then I ski-hiked for 40minutes, and ski'd down.
We'll start scrimmages next week with the Central Oregon League. We'll see what we see. In the past, we've been too proud, and it takes tournaments to round us out. We've lost to other city teams in the early season, as I try and develop offense and defense and the other teams just huck it and f##4 it. But we'll see. Now, we have as many as 50 players, and the other 3 teams have 10-12 players each, so I'm not sure how I let teams play. No rhythm if i play everyone, hard to hold the starters out... what to do...
tommorrow night, coaches meeting. the COL sched will be set.
Friday, April 11, 2008
frisbee content, at last.
for the younguns of the world (cultimate, dk jr (dude, your brother should MAKE you add my blog to your blogroll, if you don't know, just ask him), I actually have some ultimate content.
it's just a drill, but one i think is good for HS, or college. I call it the 'stanford handling drill'. I call it that because it reflects my belief that the 'stanford' 'o' with it's handler set, tends to have handlers hovering around the disc (this is old stanford, not any H stack, which I think is great, but has limitations). The point of the drill is to teach players basic understanding of movement in the 'backfield' or near the disc. I'll put a link up to a flash demo in a couple days, but, here's the basic.
3 players in a short vertical stack. 1, 2, and 3. 1 with the disc. 2 cuts for a swing to the line and receives a pass. 1 cuts give and go. 2 cuts right past him calling for the pass. This is the cut Mike G has referred to as 'the worst cut' in that you are cutting for a pass straight up field with the defender on your hip, and NO ANGLE. I accept that there are time that you should make the pass, but my HS kids are constantly seeing any upfield pass as a good one.
So, 1, to 2 on the swing. 1 goes for,and receives a nice give go on a 45 degree angle (or if the the swing was really wide, takes the defender with a few steps straight towards the sideline 2 receiver, jab steps, and goes upline for the give go. then 1 runs straight by them and cuts back to the middle for the dump/swing. Pass thrown. At this point 3 (who has ideally 'backed the stack up by walking slowly backwards) cuts to the far sideline for a gain. Now 2 cuts for the give go and the process repeats. 1 drifts to the middle (front of stack) and backs up slowly, getting into their position for the next swing after the whole 'give-go', 'dump swing'.
Any cut up line is into a great position for a long throw to a cutter, or to someone cutting underneath. And I want my throwers to hit those. But I'm trying to develop a concept of active cutting, moving the disc side to side. Yes, I could just line them up 3 accross in an H stack and put the worst handler on the backhand side (since everyone forces flick), but I'm trying to teach full field play. In a perfect world, once you were 'out of the play' you might break deep... but that's for later. I realize written descriptions are inadequate, but it's a really cool weave drill that I'm sure someone else out there is doing, I just can't find it online.
I found out on wednesday that the local tournament is this weekend. That's pretty funny. But true. So far am I removed from playing right now, I could infact give you far more details of upcoming college and club tourneys (which I'd be more likely to play) than of my own local tourney. So tomorrow after day 2 of the coaching clinic (which is really sweet, and informative) I may bike ride out there. Oh, we had 2" of snow tuesday, and it was 75degrees today, and awesome.
Instead, I'm still skiing, just took my studs off, drove to school in 2" of snow tuesday...
I'm a lot more focused on coaching than playing right now, but I'm slowly training up on the off chance I play club this year.
This week was my 'rest week' for the year. Sunday I graded papers for 8 hours. Monday I had an orthotics fitting appointment, changed my studs out, graded for 4 hours, and spent a couple hours at school prepping for the sub. And I coached, and got in a light workout of 20 min running, throw, and played a little dutch. And weights. Tuesday, I just coached, very light workout. Wednesday, coached track and ran 45 minutes, and weights. And 2 hours grading (grades are due this week, so I have gobs of reworks and last minute submissions). Thursday, Frisbee (very low key for me, mainly coaching, little workout, and a 1 hour ski tour). today, I took a coaching clinic for 3 hours (for skiing), worked at the office for 3 hours (It's a teacher work day, so I owe another hour of 'clock time (which is stupid to me, since I work on average 50-60 hours per week, and this week 70)) then coached track (50 min run) (i'm a half time track coach, and the speed workouts are usually on frisbee days, so it works out GREAT). Then lifted weights.
I've done one set of pacing 1000's, but I'll do two 30 min tempo runs, one per week, and then add in more intervals. I'll also do increasing dynamics and sprints (which I do with the kids, but the 40's I'm currently striding, not sprinting as I try and slowly limber up my 28 year old hamstings).
Gave myself my semi annual haircut today (which involves shears, newspapers, and 10 min).
it's just a drill, but one i think is good for HS, or college. I call it the 'stanford handling drill'. I call it that because it reflects my belief that the 'stanford' 'o' with it's handler set, tends to have handlers hovering around the disc (this is old stanford, not any H stack, which I think is great, but has limitations). The point of the drill is to teach players basic understanding of movement in the 'backfield' or near the disc. I'll put a link up to a flash demo in a couple days, but, here's the basic.
3 players in a short vertical stack. 1, 2, and 3. 1 with the disc. 2 cuts for a swing to the line and receives a pass. 1 cuts give and go. 2 cuts right past him calling for the pass. This is the cut Mike G has referred to as 'the worst cut' in that you are cutting for a pass straight up field with the defender on your hip, and NO ANGLE. I accept that there are time that you should make the pass, but my HS kids are constantly seeing any upfield pass as a good one.
So, 1, to 2 on the swing. 1 goes for,and receives a nice give go on a 45 degree angle (or if the the swing was really wide, takes the defender with a few steps straight towards the sideline 2 receiver, jab steps, and goes upline for the give go. then 1 runs straight by them and cuts back to the middle for the dump/swing. Pass thrown. At this point 3 (who has ideally 'backed the stack up by walking slowly backwards) cuts to the far sideline for a gain. Now 2 cuts for the give go and the process repeats. 1 drifts to the middle (front of stack) and backs up slowly, getting into their position for the next swing after the whole 'give-go', 'dump swing'.
Any cut up line is into a great position for a long throw to a cutter, or to someone cutting underneath. And I want my throwers to hit those. But I'm trying to develop a concept of active cutting, moving the disc side to side. Yes, I could just line them up 3 accross in an H stack and put the worst handler on the backhand side (since everyone forces flick), but I'm trying to teach full field play. In a perfect world, once you were 'out of the play' you might break deep... but that's for later. I realize written descriptions are inadequate, but it's a really cool weave drill that I'm sure someone else out there is doing, I just can't find it online.
I found out on wednesday that the local tournament is this weekend. That's pretty funny. But true. So far am I removed from playing right now, I could infact give you far more details of upcoming college and club tourneys (which I'd be more likely to play) than of my own local tourney. So tomorrow after day 2 of the coaching clinic (which is really sweet, and informative) I may bike ride out there. Oh, we had 2" of snow tuesday, and it was 75degrees today, and awesome.
Instead, I'm still skiing, just took my studs off, drove to school in 2" of snow tuesday...
I'm a lot more focused on coaching than playing right now, but I'm slowly training up on the off chance I play club this year.
This week was my 'rest week' for the year. Sunday I graded papers for 8 hours. Monday I had an orthotics fitting appointment, changed my studs out, graded for 4 hours, and spent a couple hours at school prepping for the sub. And I coached, and got in a light workout of 20 min running, throw, and played a little dutch. And weights. Tuesday, I just coached, very light workout. Wednesday, coached track and ran 45 minutes, and weights. And 2 hours grading (grades are due this week, so I have gobs of reworks and last minute submissions). Thursday, Frisbee (very low key for me, mainly coaching, little workout, and a 1 hour ski tour). today, I took a coaching clinic for 3 hours (for skiing), worked at the office for 3 hours (It's a teacher work day, so I owe another hour of 'clock time (which is stupid to me, since I work on average 50-60 hours per week, and this week 70)) then coached track (50 min run) (i'm a half time track coach, and the speed workouts are usually on frisbee days, so it works out GREAT). Then lifted weights.
I've done one set of pacing 1000's, but I'll do two 30 min tempo runs, one per week, and then add in more intervals. I'll also do increasing dynamics and sprints (which I do with the kids, but the 40's I'm currently striding, not sprinting as I try and slowly limber up my 28 year old hamstings).
Gave myself my semi annual haircut today (which involves shears, newspapers, and 10 min).
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
spring break 08
woo hoo.
let's see.
this week we had 30 on monday,and 14 today, which is not bad. we got chased off our fields (well, not chased, our fields were in use by a softball tournament) b/c we're on borrowed ground what with our entire multi-acre facillity falling into a sinkhole and being part of a 6 million dollar recovery effort. i'm not exaggerating.
i prefer very little structure over spring break. i do keep things moving, move the kids through games (dutch, mini, full field), and today, i regulated the scrimmage with drills (brief) and discussion to try and get crisper play.
we started with 50, i suspect, i'll take only one boys and one girls team to state, but possibly a jv boys team.
we'll have for shure an A and B co-ed team, but maybe an A and two JV teams (i'll probably weight them evenly, or on academic years to give the froshies some developmental play).
i'm going to play vertical stack, b/c i think it improves overall field sense more than H-stack, and the valley teams ALL play H-stack, so why, in our shortened season, develop a weaker version of the game the teams we'll play will play.
personally, my race season is basically over: ski'd a terrible 25km this weekend (Actually, an awesome course, etc). I finally got a battery for my heart rate monitor, and found that I was training too hard on my easy days, which is really bad. But fair is fair, last year, I never had a bad race, always felt sharp. This year, I always felt flat, and never had a good race (hampered by injury, i thought, but now, I know, I blew my training).
spring break, today, i skied (truly easy) for 2 hours, 20 or 25km, ran for 20 minutes during practice, lifted. yesterday, ski'd for 1.5 hours, lifted legs. sunday rest, saturday race, friday, ran and played ultimate (too hard) (duh, dumb), thursday, frisbee, and skiing, wednesday, ran 5 miles hard, drills, ski'd (toured) hard, set a new PR on a climb up the slope on skis (dumb on race week)... etc.
if it snows more than 4 inches tonight i'm skiing early, otherwise, sleep in and swim.
let's see.
this week we had 30 on monday,and 14 today, which is not bad. we got chased off our fields (well, not chased, our fields were in use by a softball tournament) b/c we're on borrowed ground what with our entire multi-acre facillity falling into a sinkhole and being part of a 6 million dollar recovery effort. i'm not exaggerating.
i prefer very little structure over spring break. i do keep things moving, move the kids through games (dutch, mini, full field), and today, i regulated the scrimmage with drills (brief) and discussion to try and get crisper play.
we started with 50, i suspect, i'll take only one boys and one girls team to state, but possibly a jv boys team.
we'll have for shure an A and B co-ed team, but maybe an A and two JV teams (i'll probably weight them evenly, or on academic years to give the froshies some developmental play).
i'm going to play vertical stack, b/c i think it improves overall field sense more than H-stack, and the valley teams ALL play H-stack, so why, in our shortened season, develop a weaker version of the game the teams we'll play will play.
personally, my race season is basically over: ski'd a terrible 25km this weekend (Actually, an awesome course, etc). I finally got a battery for my heart rate monitor, and found that I was training too hard on my easy days, which is really bad. But fair is fair, last year, I never had a bad race, always felt sharp. This year, I always felt flat, and never had a good race (hampered by injury, i thought, but now, I know, I blew my training).
spring break, today, i skied (truly easy) for 2 hours, 20 or 25km, ran for 20 minutes during practice, lifted. yesterday, ski'd for 1.5 hours, lifted legs. sunday rest, saturday race, friday, ran and played ultimate (too hard) (duh, dumb), thursday, frisbee, and skiing, wednesday, ran 5 miles hard, drills, ski'd (toured) hard, set a new PR on a climb up the slope on skis (dumb on race week)... etc.
if it snows more than 4 inches tonight i'm skiing early, otherwise, sleep in and swim.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
thursday practice, etc.
30 mph winds, transitioning to sleet and snow at the end. 50 kids.
the plan involved 'looper' drills, short drills, dutch, and scrimmage in 'stations' with kids cycling through.
the winds made me shift to short pass drills and dutch, with some mini thrown in. i want the kids to feel success right now, and the high winds force me to revise things. it's actually going well. the large numbers of of kids are creating a 'positive feedback loop' and there is a lot of success in throwing.
the scrimmages (usually shortfield 6v6) are showing some good defense, in a relatively unstructured setting. i stress to the athletes that their focus should be on
throwing
catching
defense
we'll keep it pretty light for another week, then spring break will be the 'mini-camp' we'll increase field size, and focus on flow drills and full scrimmage.
track coaching (the other days) is going well, but mostly i'm just running 30 minutes with the kids. the sprint interval days are on my off days (the ones i coach frisbee) so i'm still doing my intervals on snow. 5x3min last week on some day i'd run sprints with the kids. so i'm not getting morbidly obese.
friday was a day off from school, so friday and saturday i would tour (hike up and ski down) for a few hours. total climb time, 1:45 each day, with ski time too. sunday (today) i did a total of 1:00 of climb time, then a 1:15 total time of skating. friday night i lifted core, pt stuff for foot (balance and foot excercises) (legs (squats, let extension, curls, calves)), today i did the same core/pt stuff, with upper body stuff (chest (push up and machine), pull (machine), pulldown and chinup, dip, millitary press, vertical row)... pretty wiped. up at 6 each day,
if i yearn for anything, it's the first saturday where i can't ski, so i can sleep until i wake up before excercising. of course, that can wait until june.
t
the plan involved 'looper' drills, short drills, dutch, and scrimmage in 'stations' with kids cycling through.
the winds made me shift to short pass drills and dutch, with some mini thrown in. i want the kids to feel success right now, and the high winds force me to revise things. it's actually going well. the large numbers of of kids are creating a 'positive feedback loop' and there is a lot of success in throwing.
the scrimmages (usually shortfield 6v6) are showing some good defense, in a relatively unstructured setting. i stress to the athletes that their focus should be on
throwing
catching
defense
we'll keep it pretty light for another week, then spring break will be the 'mini-camp' we'll increase field size, and focus on flow drills and full scrimmage.
track coaching (the other days) is going well, but mostly i'm just running 30 minutes with the kids. the sprint interval days are on my off days (the ones i coach frisbee) so i'm still doing my intervals on snow. 5x3min last week on some day i'd run sprints with the kids. so i'm not getting morbidly obese.
friday was a day off from school, so friday and saturday i would tour (hike up and ski down) for a few hours. total climb time, 1:45 each day, with ski time too. sunday (today) i did a total of 1:00 of climb time, then a 1:15 total time of skating. friday night i lifted core, pt stuff for foot (balance and foot excercises) (legs (squats, let extension, curls, calves)), today i did the same core/pt stuff, with upper body stuff (chest (push up and machine), pull (machine), pulldown and chinup, dip, millitary press, vertical row)... pretty wiped. up at 6 each day,
if i yearn for anything, it's the first saturday where i can't ski, so i can sleep until i wake up before excercising. of course, that can wait until june.
t
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
frisbee begins.
lessee, 3rd practice, something like...18 'varsity' and 30 'jv'... there was some overlap among the teams.
throw
run 800
jv throw, v marking drill
run 600
jv do handler cut, then continuation cut, varsity do 3 man flow drill (2 versions)
varsity scrimmage
jv scrimmage, with one group doing a conditioning (dutch) drill
i pretty much just let the jv play with little correction. trying to observe players, and see abillity.
varsity, i played a couple points, stopped after a bit to work on some things, ran an endzone drill, and talked about power positions.
thursday will be stations: scrimmage, drill, dutch, drill, mini. should be fun, and hard.
personally, skiing, still, went up after practice for an hour, then weights.
i don't know how much i've ski'd this year, i'm not logging it all.. 90 plus, i think... doesn't count 2 a days.
weight routine, right now, 3x per week, 3x light weights (ie., 3x15 130 squats, machines for upper body, or stand on one leg and do row and press). Next week, I'll move to 3x10, more like 150, then to 3x8, then 3x4... then back to 3x 15, hopefully more like 3x140 or so... ski wednesday, not thursday. conferences in the evening. maybe night ski.
throw
run 800
jv throw, v marking drill
run 600
jv do handler cut, then continuation cut, varsity do 3 man flow drill (2 versions)
varsity scrimmage
jv scrimmage, with one group doing a conditioning (dutch) drill
i pretty much just let the jv play with little correction. trying to observe players, and see abillity.
varsity, i played a couple points, stopped after a bit to work on some things, ran an endzone drill, and talked about power positions.
thursday will be stations: scrimmage, drill, dutch, drill, mini. should be fun, and hard.
personally, skiing, still, went up after practice for an hour, then weights.
i don't know how much i've ski'd this year, i'm not logging it all.. 90 plus, i think... doesn't count 2 a days.
weight routine, right now, 3x per week, 3x light weights (ie., 3x15 130 squats, machines for upper body, or stand on one leg and do row and press). Next week, I'll move to 3x10, more like 150, then to 3x8, then 3x4... then back to 3x 15, hopefully more like 3x140 or so... ski wednesday, not thursday. conferences in the evening. maybe night ski.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
let it begin...
It's the start of a new semester. And the halfway point to the end of the year. The end of HS Nordic. The start of frisbee and track. And hopefully, the start of my ski season.
The school year is going well. I've got a bit of a trouble class now, large (38ish), with a couple of attention seekers (loud silly answers to questions, but at least i'm a tallish dude. Talking with a woman who teaches, she mentioned the kids who like to yell penis everytime her back is turned). great. but I'm teaching US, a class I really like, and AP Gov, a good class, with great students.
The HS nordic team is sweet. The biggest issue is the set of kids who would prefer it to be a 'ski club' and their spotty attendance causes logistical probs. But there is a great group of kids involved, and we're on top of the game.
Frisbee is looking promising. 35 kids showed up to the first meeting, with a huge number missing. Big numbers are a 'good problem' and I'm excited about the year.
Track, well, I'm just along for the ride. I've been asked to coach on the questionable assumption that I'll be helpful with recruiting for the middle distance folks. I'm looking forward to the workouts, and the team will do fine (It's unusual for us to not win the district or to podium at state).
And my ski season is finally beginning. Odd to say, what, with something like 70 days of skiing, but I've been hampered by a foot injury since august, and it seems like i'm turning the corner. I'm not HAPPY with my results the past 2 weeks, but they show improvement, and I'm trying to 'peak' in march, so it's OK.
Today, I ski'd a 20km, finished midpack, with strong skiers in front of me. And I ski'd to work on form, and get a 'tempo' workout out of it, focusing on my form as I ski'd, trying to iron out form issues I've not been able to deal with lately. I just held my position for most of the race, and then went hardish for the last 3km, and gapped the group behind me a bit, and finished 'fresh'. So, a good 56 min workout. I'll do another 20km next weekend, then a 10km the week after that.
It's pretty interesting being a 38 year old, 'new skier'. Young skiers get to develop in shorter, 5 and 10km races: I get the 10-30 km races. When I'm focused to hurt, this is groovy, but like today, I just didn't have it in me to 'suffer mightily for 52-53 minutes, so I backed off to a tolerable level. The 10km that's coming up is one I'll focus on, taper a bit the week before, etc.
I've been continuing my weight training (good long term, but the muscles are feeling it), skiing 5-7 days each week, and most importantly for my injury, showing due dilligence on the PT stuff that heals through strength. This week, I skied a race sunday, skied monday for an hour, intervals tuesday, rest wednesday, ski'd as hard as I could up an alpine ski run on skate skis (30-45 minutes, i didn't time it, but that was really my race for the week), ski'd 1.5 hours friday night (up and down the pass on the closed highway), coached saturday (1.25 hours classic easy, then raced today).
I'm going to try to sell out next week, in the 20km, and really get after it the week after. Our HS team has state friday and saturday, so I'll either be rested or exhausted, depending on weather, and my workload. If I end up time trialing the HS races (5, and 7.5 km courses), I might be less than frisky sunday...
I find that the fact that I'm on my feet for the full day right now (dynamic teaching helps corral the kids) is leaving me a bit tired.
Back to frisbee.
For the varsity, we'll run a mix of vertical with isolations, H stack with basic resets, and fast break.
Defense will be basic zone, and man.
Freshman and JV, a mix of roll out the balls and skill focus, with a move towards integrating newer players.
The school year is going well. I've got a bit of a trouble class now, large (38ish), with a couple of attention seekers (loud silly answers to questions, but at least i'm a tallish dude. Talking with a woman who teaches, she mentioned the kids who like to yell penis everytime her back is turned). great. but I'm teaching US, a class I really like, and AP Gov, a good class, with great students.
The HS nordic team is sweet. The biggest issue is the set of kids who would prefer it to be a 'ski club' and their spotty attendance causes logistical probs. But there is a great group of kids involved, and we're on top of the game.
Frisbee is looking promising. 35 kids showed up to the first meeting, with a huge number missing. Big numbers are a 'good problem' and I'm excited about the year.
Track, well, I'm just along for the ride. I've been asked to coach on the questionable assumption that I'll be helpful with recruiting for the middle distance folks. I'm looking forward to the workouts, and the team will do fine (It's unusual for us to not win the district or to podium at state).
And my ski season is finally beginning. Odd to say, what, with something like 70 days of skiing, but I've been hampered by a foot injury since august, and it seems like i'm turning the corner. I'm not HAPPY with my results the past 2 weeks, but they show improvement, and I'm trying to 'peak' in march, so it's OK.
Today, I ski'd a 20km, finished midpack, with strong skiers in front of me. And I ski'd to work on form, and get a 'tempo' workout out of it, focusing on my form as I ski'd, trying to iron out form issues I've not been able to deal with lately. I just held my position for most of the race, and then went hardish for the last 3km, and gapped the group behind me a bit, and finished 'fresh'. So, a good 56 min workout. I'll do another 20km next weekend, then a 10km the week after that.
It's pretty interesting being a 38 year old, 'new skier'. Young skiers get to develop in shorter, 5 and 10km races: I get the 10-30 km races. When I'm focused to hurt, this is groovy, but like today, I just didn't have it in me to 'suffer mightily for 52-53 minutes, so I backed off to a tolerable level. The 10km that's coming up is one I'll focus on, taper a bit the week before, etc.
I've been continuing my weight training (good long term, but the muscles are feeling it), skiing 5-7 days each week, and most importantly for my injury, showing due dilligence on the PT stuff that heals through strength. This week, I skied a race sunday, skied monday for an hour, intervals tuesday, rest wednesday, ski'd as hard as I could up an alpine ski run on skate skis (30-45 minutes, i didn't time it, but that was really my race for the week), ski'd 1.5 hours friday night (up and down the pass on the closed highway), coached saturday (1.25 hours classic easy, then raced today).
I'm going to try to sell out next week, in the 20km, and really get after it the week after. Our HS team has state friday and saturday, so I'll either be rested or exhausted, depending on weather, and my workload. If I end up time trialing the HS races (5, and 7.5 km courses), I might be less than frisky sunday...
I find that the fact that I'm on my feet for the full day right now (dynamic teaching helps corral the kids) is leaving me a bit tired.
Back to frisbee.
For the varsity, we'll run a mix of vertical with isolations, H stack with basic resets, and fast break.
Defense will be basic zone, and man.
Freshman and JV, a mix of roll out the balls and skill focus, with a move towards integrating newer players.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
doldrums, mild ultimate content.
and so it begins. i feel like my personal ski season is just beginning (injuries), but nonetheless, the high school ski season draws to a close in two weeks, and my new commitments begin.
this year, i'm also coaching track (half time). in the past i've offered frisbee 5 days a week, and the result has been spotty attendence, and teaching the same concept over and over all week. my hope is that by only offering ultimate 3 days per week, i'll get better turnout, and therefore, better conceptual understanding and 'buy-in.'
it's the usual returning mix of freaks (and i mean that in the good way as being way too commited in the way i once was to frisbee), geeks (still in the good way, genius students who are finally trying some athletics), and... i don't have a rhyme. new players, some of great athleticism, just showing up. the 'a' team will be the freaks, and the returners, plus the odd late commer with mad athleticism. the 'b' and 'c' teams will be a mix of young 'c' team and new 'b' team. or vice versa. or a mix based on commitment/desire.
fields are an issue here. the field we will play on is still groomed for skiing. our own fields are in the middle of a multi-million rehab for sinkholes. half the team will be on the track team, which means off days will include running and throwing. i think for new young players, 5 days/week of ultimate is fine, with short practices, but we're not doing that this year. so, 5 days of throwing plus 2-3 days of ultimate... should be good.
i have a good motivated assistant, enthusiastic kids... supportive parents... should be fun.
personally, start of spring sports means 6 PM skiing. it can be a terrible time to nordic skiing as icing occurs, but i'll deal. oddly, it can also mean SUPER touring (hiking up mountains and skiing down), which has a crossover benefit.
the past 2.5 weeks since my last post have found me racing the WORST race of my life, some good training, improving foot health, and generally good cheer. i went to the boulder mountain tour and somehow had horribly slow skis. (there are reasons, i'll leave them for the comments page). suffice to say there are people i beat in a 12 k this weekend by over a minute who beat me by over 14 minutes in a basically downhill race. disastrous. c'est la vie.
i've been training OK, i feel i am in posistion to make a move in the next few weeks, i just am not having the results i want. i'm also struggling with form, and spending too much energy trying to fix minutiae, and losing time thinking when i should be hitting it.
still averaging 10 hours of skiing a week, looking to maintain that for a few weeks, and then add training hours in the form of running, swimming, biking.
that's all. except that the cracker song, the world is mine, in the commercial with tiger, federer, is sweet
this year, i'm also coaching track (half time). in the past i've offered frisbee 5 days a week, and the result has been spotty attendence, and teaching the same concept over and over all week. my hope is that by only offering ultimate 3 days per week, i'll get better turnout, and therefore, better conceptual understanding and 'buy-in.'
it's the usual returning mix of freaks (and i mean that in the good way as being way too commited in the way i once was to frisbee), geeks (still in the good way, genius students who are finally trying some athletics), and... i don't have a rhyme. new players, some of great athleticism, just showing up. the 'a' team will be the freaks, and the returners, plus the odd late commer with mad athleticism. the 'b' and 'c' teams will be a mix of young 'c' team and new 'b' team. or vice versa. or a mix based on commitment/desire.
fields are an issue here. the field we will play on is still groomed for skiing. our own fields are in the middle of a multi-million rehab for sinkholes. half the team will be on the track team, which means off days will include running and throwing. i think for new young players, 5 days/week of ultimate is fine, with short practices, but we're not doing that this year. so, 5 days of throwing plus 2-3 days of ultimate... should be good.
i have a good motivated assistant, enthusiastic kids... supportive parents... should be fun.
personally, start of spring sports means 6 PM skiing. it can be a terrible time to nordic skiing as icing occurs, but i'll deal. oddly, it can also mean SUPER touring (hiking up mountains and skiing down), which has a crossover benefit.
the past 2.5 weeks since my last post have found me racing the WORST race of my life, some good training, improving foot health, and generally good cheer. i went to the boulder mountain tour and somehow had horribly slow skis. (there are reasons, i'll leave them for the comments page). suffice to say there are people i beat in a 12 k this weekend by over a minute who beat me by over 14 minutes in a basically downhill race. disastrous. c'est la vie.
i've been training OK, i feel i am in posistion to make a move in the next few weeks, i just am not having the results i want. i'm also struggling with form, and spending too much energy trying to fix minutiae, and losing time thinking when i should be hitting it.
still averaging 10 hours of skiing a week, looking to maintain that for a few weeks, and then add training hours in the form of running, swimming, biking.
that's all. except that the cracker song, the world is mine, in the commercial with tiger, federer, is sweet
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