Hit the track in the rain on Wednesday night. Not pleasant out so shortened the recovery period to shorten the session. Don't think it really affected me as, due to the wet track, I wasn't going at true 100% pace. Obviously I put in 100% effort for the conditions, but I didn't see any negative effects with reducing the recovery time.
Warm up:
400m jog with full stretching routine
Main session:
6 * 50m sprints (recovery: 2 minutes)
Warm down:
400m jog with full stretching routine
Track routine changes up again next week as we build towards the Open tours.
Didn't go to Yoga yesterday as I had the afternoon off. Going to the gym today and got a full Ka-Pow! weekend this weekend with training on Saturday and the DED 1 day invitational on Sunday. Will do a Sunday preview at some point hopefully. Looking forward to the first real competitive outing for Ka-Pow! in the 2013 season.
Friday, 12 April 2013
Wednesday, 10 April 2013
Mixed Tour 1:Recap
Herd 1
We had a mixed weekend. We won 2 and lost 4, dropping 4 seeds from 6th to 10th. We beat Meeple and Scarecrew; teams who we have beaten relatively consistently in past games, but who have the players to push us into tough fought contests. We lost to one of the GB world games teams, which I predicted we would lose to, however we did go 5-2 up against. We also lost to Bristol who were my underdog of the tournament, and who, after a very strong first three games lost a tough contest to the eventual highest finishing club team Black Eagles to drop out of the top 4. We also lost twice to Cambridge; in the first game I feel they started stronger than us and we weren't able to close the gap on the lead they gained and in the second game we should have won but personal errors cost us throughout and we couldn't close it out.
Personal errors seemed to be a theme for the weekend for our team and I have no doubt that it cost us a lot of points and probably some games as well. These errors meant that, whilst we might have had runs of good points in games, we weren't ever able to put together that one consistent game where we played to the best of our abilities throughout, that could have been a turning point on the weekend or a statement of intent for the season. Even when we went 8-0 up against Shiny Happy Meeple, we allowed them to get themselves back in the game and when you give teams like the GB world games team, Bristol and Cambridge the disc over and over they are going to take games from you.
The top 10 (and an observation on each team):
1. GB World Games B: won the final 15-5 and from those I spoke to looked the stronger team of the two all weekend
2. GB World Games A:
3. Black Eagles: After losing to DED in their group, Black Eagles went on a great run started by beating Bristol in a tight quarter final and finishing with them taking the top club spot behind the two GB teams by outlasting Brighton in the 3v4.
4. Brighton: Coming into the tournament with only 13(ish) players and also notching 1 win and 2 losses in their group were able to come top of a 3 way tie and beat DED to grab a top 4 spot. After Brighton lost their first two games they went into the rest of the weekend with a relaxed attitude and a "give it our best shot and see how it goes" outlook, which completely complemented their players and play style. Brighton and the two GB squads show that Quality will top quantity a lot of the time, however they did run out of legs in the 3v4 against Black Eagles.
5. Bear Cavalry 1: Bear Cavalry went into this season having lost 2 games in the Mixed Tour in the last 2 seasons, and had not entered a Mixed Tour or National competition that they didn't win. They were without two of their best players and three games into Saturday they had lost as many games as they had in the last two seasons. Coming second in a three way tie means that they weren't able to cross back into the top 4 but they finished as highly as they could by the end of the tournament and will be looking to get back to winning ways in their goal of winning Europeans and competing at Worlds.
6. Royal Goaltimate Society: They came 3rd in their group behind DED and Black Eagles, only losing in Sudden death to DED. But they got their revenge by absolutely spanking them in the 5-8 bracket semi final. This team doesn't train but features strong players of both gender and they appeared to have found their rhythm after their first tournament.
7. DED: Won their group with their only close game coming against RGS, but couldn't contain Brighton in the quarter final. Beat [PEEPS/SCARECREW] to stay top 8 and Bristol to finish 7th, but like Bear Cavalry, DED will be looking to rebound in Mixed Tours 2 and 3.
8. Bristol 1: Climbing from 13th to 1st after 3 games was a great achievement, unfortunately for Bristol they couldn't stop Black Eagles in their Quarter and, after beating the Herd to stay in the top 8, couldn't notch any more wins. Climbing 5 places is still a strong start to the season for Bristol 1.
9. Cambridge 1: A strong team who had to face GB World games A in the group and the stronger GB world games B team to break into the top 4 and couldn't manage a win in either game. They also lost to a RGS team on their way to 5th place, but finished top of the 9-12 bracket.
10. Herd 1: Rounding out the top ten with a slightly disappointing weekend that could've been dramatically altered by a couple less drops.
Good/Bad Personal points:
+ I had no aching legs on Monday after running hard all weekend and this being the first two day tournament of the year.
- I did, however, have a slightly aching throwing shoulder (feeling fine on Wednesday).
+ I thought I personally had a good weekend playing wise, and had serious fun shredding a couple of teams zones throughout the weekend.
- I did however throw a couple of turnovers against zones showing that, whilst most of the time my zone offense is solid, I occasionally make mistakes against it. I have confidence in my zone offense abilities but can still be better.
+ My defense was pretty strong all weekend, I don't recall getting scored on at all, I created turnovers on defense and even got 2 point blocks
- However, I didn't get any layout blocks despite getting close a couple of times. Still something to work on with defense then.
We had a mixed weekend. We won 2 and lost 4, dropping 4 seeds from 6th to 10th. We beat Meeple and Scarecrew; teams who we have beaten relatively consistently in past games, but who have the players to push us into tough fought contests. We lost to one of the GB world games teams, which I predicted we would lose to, however we did go 5-2 up against. We also lost to Bristol who were my underdog of the tournament, and who, after a very strong first three games lost a tough contest to the eventual highest finishing club team Black Eagles to drop out of the top 4. We also lost twice to Cambridge; in the first game I feel they started stronger than us and we weren't able to close the gap on the lead they gained and in the second game we should have won but personal errors cost us throughout and we couldn't close it out.
Personal errors seemed to be a theme for the weekend for our team and I have no doubt that it cost us a lot of points and probably some games as well. These errors meant that, whilst we might have had runs of good points in games, we weren't ever able to put together that one consistent game where we played to the best of our abilities throughout, that could have been a turning point on the weekend or a statement of intent for the season. Even when we went 8-0 up against Shiny Happy Meeple, we allowed them to get themselves back in the game and when you give teams like the GB world games team, Bristol and Cambridge the disc over and over they are going to take games from you.
The top 10 (and an observation on each team):
1. GB World Games B: won the final 15-5 and from those I spoke to looked the stronger team of the two all weekend
2. GB World Games A:
3. Black Eagles: After losing to DED in their group, Black Eagles went on a great run started by beating Bristol in a tight quarter final and finishing with them taking the top club spot behind the two GB teams by outlasting Brighton in the 3v4.
4. Brighton: Coming into the tournament with only 13(ish) players and also notching 1 win and 2 losses in their group were able to come top of a 3 way tie and beat DED to grab a top 4 spot. After Brighton lost their first two games they went into the rest of the weekend with a relaxed attitude and a "give it our best shot and see how it goes" outlook, which completely complemented their players and play style. Brighton and the two GB squads show that Quality will top quantity a lot of the time, however they did run out of legs in the 3v4 against Black Eagles.
5. Bear Cavalry 1: Bear Cavalry went into this season having lost 2 games in the Mixed Tour in the last 2 seasons, and had not entered a Mixed Tour or National competition that they didn't win. They were without two of their best players and three games into Saturday they had lost as many games as they had in the last two seasons. Coming second in a three way tie means that they weren't able to cross back into the top 4 but they finished as highly as they could by the end of the tournament and will be looking to get back to winning ways in their goal of winning Europeans and competing at Worlds.
6. Royal Goaltimate Society: They came 3rd in their group behind DED and Black Eagles, only losing in Sudden death to DED. But they got their revenge by absolutely spanking them in the 5-8 bracket semi final. This team doesn't train but features strong players of both gender and they appeared to have found their rhythm after their first tournament.
7. DED: Won their group with their only close game coming against RGS, but couldn't contain Brighton in the quarter final. Beat [PEEPS/SCARECREW] to stay top 8 and Bristol to finish 7th, but like Bear Cavalry, DED will be looking to rebound in Mixed Tours 2 and 3.
8. Bristol 1: Climbing from 13th to 1st after 3 games was a great achievement, unfortunately for Bristol they couldn't stop Black Eagles in their Quarter and, after beating the Herd to stay in the top 8, couldn't notch any more wins. Climbing 5 places is still a strong start to the season for Bristol 1.
9. Cambridge 1: A strong team who had to face GB World games A in the group and the stronger GB world games B team to break into the top 4 and couldn't manage a win in either game. They also lost to a RGS team on their way to 5th place, but finished top of the 9-12 bracket.
10. Herd 1: Rounding out the top ten with a slightly disappointing weekend that could've been dramatically altered by a couple less drops.
Good/Bad Personal points:
+ I had no aching legs on Monday after running hard all weekend and this being the first two day tournament of the year.
- I did, however, have a slightly aching throwing shoulder (feeling fine on Wednesday).
+ I thought I personally had a good weekend playing wise, and had serious fun shredding a couple of teams zones throughout the weekend.
- I did however throw a couple of turnovers against zones showing that, whilst most of the time my zone offense is solid, I occasionally make mistakes against it. I have confidence in my zone offense abilities but can still be better.
+ My defense was pretty strong all weekend, I don't recall getting scored on at all, I created turnovers on defense and even got 2 point blocks
- However, I didn't get any layout blocks despite getting close a couple of times. Still something to work on with defense then.
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
Tuesday Gym
Felt pretty good at the gym today coming off the first major tournament of the year. No soreness at all in my legs which I think is due to all the fitness I've been doing, combined with rigorous stretching and warming up/down before and after games at the weekend, and the cycling I did yesterday and today which have kept my muscles supple.
Warm up:
1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling
Main routine:
{4 * Max Pull ups (18, 16, 12, 10
3 * 8 Standing Dumbell Push Press (2 x 10kg)}
{3 * 8 Seated row (64kg)
3 * 8 Lateral Step ups (12kg) - per leg}
4 * Max weighted press ups (10kg) (30, 24, 24, 20
{3 * 8 Single Leg Swiss Ball Hamstring curls (55cm swiss ball)
4 * 30s Dynamic Plank}
{3 * 8 Squats (75kg)
3 * 8 Split squats (70 kg) - per leg}
Warm down:
Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling
Full Mixed Tour 1 recap will be coming later this week.
Warm up:
1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (3 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling
Main routine:
{4 * Max Pull ups (18, 16, 12, 10
3 * 8 Standing Dumbell Push Press (2 x 10kg)}
{3 * 8 Seated row (64kg)
3 * 8 Lateral Step ups (12kg) - per leg}
4 * Max weighted press ups (10kg) (30, 24, 24, 20
{3 * 8 Single Leg Swiss Ball Hamstring curls (55cm swiss ball)
4 * 30s Dynamic Plank}
{3 * 8 Squats (75kg)
3 * 8 Split squats (70 kg) - per leg}
Warm down:
Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling
Full Mixed Tour 1 recap will be coming later this week.
Friday, 5 April 2013
Mixed Tour 1 Preview
This weekend is the first major tournament of the 2013 season.
I'll be playing with Thundering Herd 1, and we go into the tournament seeded in 6th out of 52 teams.
We start in group D with the GB World Games triallist team A, Cambridge 1 and Shiny Happy Meeple.
Game 1: vs Shiny Happy Meeple
I don't really know too much about this team, though when I played against them at the only winter league I attended this year we finished the game with a win, with what was a triallist team. They look like they're a mixture of ex-flump players with others and I know a couple of players on their team but not what they're squad will look like. In a warmup game against them a couple of weeks ago, Herd 1 beat them again. Though I missed this game, all this combined with the fact that they are the lowest seed in our group means we should win this. But it could be an edgy and tentative start to the season. Hopefully we should be using this game to get ourselves organised for the rest of the season though.
Game 2: vs Cambridge 1
Again, don't know too much about this team. Cambridge have a strong core of both guys and girls though. They finished in the top 8 overall last season and had their highest finish of 5th at Tour 2, which was above Herd 1. We should be aiming to win this as we will have no break between this game and the final game in the group stage against the GB World Games team.
Game 3: vs GB World Games A
This will be the toughest game of the day for us. However, the world games team shouldn't be looked at as unbeatable. The world games rules state that only 13 players are on the final squad so I don't know how large the team sizes of the two GB world games will be, but there can't be too many triallists left.
In all actuality though, we probably won't beat the stacked GB world games team but hopefully based on our first two results we should be safely in second place in the group before this game begins.
If all goes as above, it means we will have set up a top 4 crossover for the end of the day. This will be against the top finisher in the group of Peeps, GB World Games B, Golden Ants and Scarecrew. Though Peeps start that group seeded highest I can see that group being won by the other World games team, which will be another tough game.
My prediction for the final:
I think it's probably going to be a GB vs GB world games final with Bear Cavalry and DED pushing them hard in the semi finals.
Underdog of the tournament:
Bristol ultimate 1 start the tournament down in 13th place, but at Mixed tour 1 last year almost knocked Bear Cavalry out of contention in the quarter finals. Over the three tours their final ranking was 8th and though they never finished higher than 8th over all three tours they have a good chance to do well this year. They probably have the strongest contingent of women of any of the Mixed tour teams with Bristol's womens team qualifying for the European championships last year for the first time. If their men have kept up then they could see a large jump in the rankings by the end of this weekend.
I'll be playing with Thundering Herd 1, and we go into the tournament seeded in 6th out of 52 teams.
We start in group D with the GB World Games triallist team A, Cambridge 1 and Shiny Happy Meeple.
Game 1: vs Shiny Happy Meeple
I don't really know too much about this team, though when I played against them at the only winter league I attended this year we finished the game with a win, with what was a triallist team. They look like they're a mixture of ex-flump players with others and I know a couple of players on their team but not what they're squad will look like. In a warmup game against them a couple of weeks ago, Herd 1 beat them again. Though I missed this game, all this combined with the fact that they are the lowest seed in our group means we should win this. But it could be an edgy and tentative start to the season. Hopefully we should be using this game to get ourselves organised for the rest of the season though.
Game 2: vs Cambridge 1
Again, don't know too much about this team. Cambridge have a strong core of both guys and girls though. They finished in the top 8 overall last season and had their highest finish of 5th at Tour 2, which was above Herd 1. We should be aiming to win this as we will have no break between this game and the final game in the group stage against the GB World Games team.
Game 3: vs GB World Games A
This will be the toughest game of the day for us. However, the world games team shouldn't be looked at as unbeatable. The world games rules state that only 13 players are on the final squad so I don't know how large the team sizes of the two GB world games will be, but there can't be too many triallists left.
In all actuality though, we probably won't beat the stacked GB world games team but hopefully based on our first two results we should be safely in second place in the group before this game begins.
If all goes as above, it means we will have set up a top 4 crossover for the end of the day. This will be against the top finisher in the group of Peeps, GB World Games B, Golden Ants and Scarecrew. Though Peeps start that group seeded highest I can see that group being won by the other World games team, which will be another tough game.
My prediction for the final:
I think it's probably going to be a GB vs GB world games final with Bear Cavalry and DED pushing them hard in the semi finals.
Underdog of the tournament:
Bristol ultimate 1 start the tournament down in 13th place, but at Mixed tour 1 last year almost knocked Bear Cavalry out of contention in the quarter finals. Over the three tours their final ranking was 8th and though they never finished higher than 8th over all three tours they have a good chance to do well this year. They probably have the strongest contingent of women of any of the Mixed tour teams with Bristol's womens team qualifying for the European championships last year for the first time. If their men have kept up then they could see a large jump in the rankings by the end of this weekend.
Wednesday, 3 April 2013
Wednesday Gym
Hit the gym today. This will be the last fitness session I do before Mixed Tour 1 this weekend, though I will probably do a short stretching/muscle rolling session tomorrow and Friday. Also, lowered the weights and reps to lower the intensity slightly. Still felt tired after the workout, but maybe that's because I've generally not been going to the gym the day after going to the track or the day after another session.
Warm up:
1 * 15 Internal Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
1 * 15 External Shoulder rotations (7kg) - per arm
2 * 15 Single leg raised Glute Bridge - per leg
1 * 12 Press up holds (4 seconds)
1 * 12 Body weight squats
Foam rolling
Main routine:
{4 * 8 Pull ups
3 * 8 Standing Dumbell Push Press (2 x 10kg)}
{3 * 8 Squats (75kg)
3 * 8 Bulgarian Split squats (15 kg) - per leg}
4 * 20 weighted press ups (10kg)
{3 * 8 Seated row (50kg)
3 * 8 Lateral Step ups (10kg) - per leg}
{3 * 8 Single Leg Swiss Ball Hamstring curls (55cm swiss ball)
4 * 30s Dynamic Plank}
Warm down:
Hip abductor stretching
Hamstring stretching
Hip flexors stretching
Foam rolling
Tuesday Track
Hit the track last night and it was lovely and sunny even though it was a little windy and a little cold. Managed to get through the session and get some more throwing done afterwards. Really enjoying having the light in the evenings and should be able to work on my throws even more in the coming weeks.
Warm up:
400m jog and stretching routine
Main session:
50m sprint followed by 3 minutes rest 6 times
20 minutes throwing session.
Warm down:
400m jog and stretching routine
The Ka-Pow! track regime is starting to ramp up as the open season draws close.
This weekend however, is the start of the mixed season as Herd look to compete for spots at Europeans and Worlds through the Tour and Nationals. My priority this year is open with Ka-Pow! but I've always enjoyed playing with the Herd and even disappointing play/games/tournaments have been enjoyable because of the team I've been playing with and we're usually competitive.
The first major tournament also gives me a chance to write one of my previews, which I will hopefully get a chance to do once I've seen the schedule.
Warm up:
400m jog and stretching routine
Main session:
50m sprint followed by 3 minutes rest 6 times
20 minutes throwing session.
Warm down:
400m jog and stretching routine
The Ka-Pow! track regime is starting to ramp up as the open season draws close.
This weekend however, is the start of the mixed season as Herd look to compete for spots at Europeans and Worlds through the Tour and Nationals. My priority this year is open with Ka-Pow! but I've always enjoyed playing with the Herd and even disappointing play/games/tournaments have been enjoyable because of the team I've been playing with and we're usually competitive.
The first major tournament also gives me a chance to write one of my previews, which I will hopefully get a chance to do once I've seen the schedule.
Tuesday, 2 April 2013
Monday Fitness
After a nice three day weekend, I felt I ought to get some fitness done yesterday.
I thought about hitting the track, but felt it may be a bit more beneficial to do some fitness on a grass field, seeing as up until now almost all the training I've been doing has been on 3G, a track or in the gym. With Mixed Tour 1, the first big tournament of the season, coming up this weekend I definitely felt like running on a (not very well maintained) grass field was beneficial in reminding me how uneven the ground can be.
I ran a session from the Ka-Pow! cardio regime which I haven't looked at before, but hopefully now that evenings are lighter I can look to do a session a week on top of track/gym/yoga/training. I cycled over to the fields and back as a warmup and did about 20 minutes throwing in some pretty strong (and cold) winds to finish it off which was also useful. I remembered the session incorrectly which resulted in me doing one more set than listed, but it wasn't too difficult at the end so it wasn't the end of the world.
Warm up:
1 mile cycling and a short jogging and stretching routine
Main session:
(30 seconds running (85%), 15 seconds rest * 10 reps then 5 minutes rest) * 3 sets
20 minutes hucking in strong wind conditions practice
Warm down:
Short stretching routine and 1 mile cycle
At work today and tomorrow, but off Thursday and Friday this week, so will be a short week in the office. Means less cycling, but I will be in the gym tomorrow and will hit the track tonight as well so this week will be shortened with a short rest before Mixed Tour this weekend, but I won't be as idle as I was in the weeks before tournaments last year. Last year I aimed to not do anything too strenuous in the build up week before a tournament, but this year I am just going to power through. It's how I've been training and in the long run should be beneficial to me as long as I don't push myself too hard.
I thought about hitting the track, but felt it may be a bit more beneficial to do some fitness on a grass field, seeing as up until now almost all the training I've been doing has been on 3G, a track or in the gym. With Mixed Tour 1, the first big tournament of the season, coming up this weekend I definitely felt like running on a (not very well maintained) grass field was beneficial in reminding me how uneven the ground can be.
I ran a session from the Ka-Pow! cardio regime which I haven't looked at before, but hopefully now that evenings are lighter I can look to do a session a week on top of track/gym/yoga/training. I cycled over to the fields and back as a warmup and did about 20 minutes throwing in some pretty strong (and cold) winds to finish it off which was also useful. I remembered the session incorrectly which resulted in me doing one more set than listed, but it wasn't too difficult at the end so it wasn't the end of the world.
Warm up:
1 mile cycling and a short jogging and stretching routine
Main session:
(30 seconds running (85%), 15 seconds rest * 10 reps then 5 minutes rest) * 3 sets
20 minutes hucking in strong wind conditions practice
Warm down:
Short stretching routine and 1 mile cycle
At work today and tomorrow, but off Thursday and Friday this week, so will be a short week in the office. Means less cycling, but I will be in the gym tomorrow and will hit the track tonight as well so this week will be shortened with a short rest before Mixed Tour this weekend, but I won't be as idle as I was in the weeks before tournaments last year. Last year I aimed to not do anything too strenuous in the build up week before a tournament, but this year I am just going to power through. It's how I've been training and in the long run should be beneficial to me as long as I don't push myself too hard.
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