Today's fitness

Not at work today so no cycling. Here's the fitness I did today:

1.5 mile run
Hill exercises (up a small hill (10 m at about a 30% incline):
2 footed jumps * 3
1 footed hops * 3 per leg
15 m jog to base and then jog up * 1
15 m jog to base and then run up * 2
15 m jog to base and then sprint up * 3
15 m jog to base and then run up * 2
15 m jog to base and then jog up * 1
small step run down the hill then run backwards back up it * 3
High jumping down the hill * 3

0.5 mile run back

Didn't time the runs but this exercise felt pretty good. Will try to do hill exercises some more.

Time to step up!

The last few weeks I've been a little quiet on the fitness front with injury and illness. Luckily I was still able to step up at Tour 1, but I was still absolutely exhausted even though I only played one day.

I started this blog so I could keep an eye on my fitness and ultimate performance. I also felt that by writing posts it would keep the pressure on myself not to slow up, which up until now I felt it's done. Just think it's time to step up to make the most of this season.

Monday- 2 miles cycling

Tuesday- 4.2 miles cycling and Kapow training.

At Kapow midweek we ran a short warmup after some throwing, then moved on to running some drills practicing the offensive patterns. This was because we didn't always connect on our deep shots at Tour 1 running from the patterns. The drill went well but everyone agreed that it would different with defenders in game situations.
We then moved on to our endzone play, which was another area that we didn't do so well on at Tour 1. We played it with defense and generally it went well, but again would be very different in game situations.
Lastly we played some mini (3 on 3) with 1 point per swing scored on a completed scoring pass. This was good for breaking the mark but we could have had harder marks at times. This is another thing we will be working on in the future.
Good training though.

Today will be cycling 3 miles and going to the gym.

EDIT: So Anna wasn't feeling great tonight so we've postponed our weekly gym session this week.

Will do 3 lots of the following core work:

1 minute plank
1 minute side plank right
1 minute side plank left
10 sit ups
10 Thoracic Spine Mobilization Exercise on both sides (info here)

Tour 1 wrapup

This weekend served as a very interesting start to the Open season. 

Saturday recap:

As predicted, even though Ka-pow only had 9 players they muscled through the group, beating Burro and Leeds, but ultimately fell short against a strong DED squad of over double the number of players. DED went on to finish 9th overall proving the strength of their squad. 

Sunday recap:

Turned up Sunday morning and was one of the first to the pitches. We had limited warm ups all day to conserve energy. First game was against Wessex. Nick (Wessex) unfortunately went down to a very bloody nose early on in the game which was a shame as the game could have been even closer with him in it. Was very close until near the end when we managed to pull it out. Final score was a W for Kapow 15-12 (I think).

Next up was Tooting Tigers. They had another big squad and we knew they were all fit and athletic and well drilled. The first half was a little one-sided and we lost it 8-4, the second half we managed to stifle their cuts and play well, and we won the second half 8-7 but ultimately couldn't make it close enough and keep up with their less tired legs and they took the win 12-15.

Lastly we played Devon. We played them last weekend at Fog Lane under similar circumstances, they again had a big team and we didn't and again we managed to pull out another hard fought win. Pure grit and our zone working well meant that we could get a few turns and put in our O most of the time. Can't remember the final score but this win meant we finished 19th overall.

Good start for a very small team playing in blazing heat in cotton shirts (eugh). I've said this before but I have a really good feeling about this squad, this season. Bring on tour 2.

I thought I played ok, got one run through D and made some good break throws. Also, got some nice scores, assists and high grabs and played deep defense pretty well but it was hard to play really great due to tiredness. No layouts so didn't aggravate my knee and should be fine from now on, but will continue to wear my knee pad for a while, just in case.

Interesting talking points from this tour: 

Fire 1 and Fire 2 switched their squads completely after Fire 2 finished higher at Fog Lane than Fire 1. In an interesting turnout, Fire 1 (which was Fire 2 originally) again finished higher. 

Fusion suffered a severe tumble this tour, narrowly avoiding relegation to B-Tour, finishing 21st after starting the weekend as 13th seed.

Clapham beat GB Open in the Quarter Final, to put GB Open out of the top 4 and behind three other National teams: Germany (1st), Sweden (2nd) and Austria (4th). GB and some other national teams have stuck around the grounds to play some friendlies today again.

GB Masters won their last game against France Open to take 7th overall.

This week and Open Tour 1 preview

Been another slightly slow week fitness-wise. Knee swelled up after last weekend so not been doing anything on that all week, and on top of that I got some sort of illness on Wednesday that is just clearing itself up.

Monday: 3 mile cycling
Tuesday 3 mile cycling
Wednesday: Ill
Thursday: 3 mile cycling
Friday: 3 mile cycling

Saturday will be at a wedding and Sunday will be playing Open tour 1 with Ka-Pow!

Open Tour 1 Preview:

I will be missing Saturday's games, but if pre-season stuff is anything to go by I expect Ka-Pow to win their group which includes LeedsLeedsLeeds and Burro Electrico before their crossover so we can play for 9th (if we win) or 17th (if we lose). This is a pretty big gap and it looks like they will have to play a strong team in this game. The pool we cross with looks tough (Fusion, DED and Cardiff). Fusion have traditionally been strong but have not been competing in Tour finals for a few years, DED we know from pre-season games to be dangerous and Cardiff are young and know each other very well. I would expect Fusion or DED to win the group so they'd end up playing whoever came in second. This makes a big difference as (since there are 7 national/foreign teams at Tour 1, 3 at Tour 2 and none at Tour 3) playing for 9th is almost like playing for a european qualification spot at nationals whereas playing for 17th would be more like playing for top 8.
However, I'm realistic and know that we will have a depleted squad, partly through injury, partly through players playing for other teams (GB Masters, GB Open) and I know that another player as well as me is missing Saturday. I'd love to come on Sunday and be playing for 9th, but I'll play hard whatever.

Sunday Preview: No idea! If we're playing for 9th I'd predict to be playing in the same bracket as the following teams:
Fusion, Fire 2, Tooting/Devon, Brighton, Austria/Fire 1, Orange, Ranelagh 1.
This is mostly guesswork though as I don't know about most of the teams there and anything can happen at this first event. If we're playing for 17th I'd predict to be playing in the same bracket as the following teams:
Tooting/Devon, Cardiff, Wessex, Burro, Strange Blue, EMO and Leeds

Both brackets will be tough and will be a good start to the rest of the season. Good Luck to Ka-Pow tomorrow!

One last thing: New track for my psych up playlist. Scott Pilgrim vs the World is one of my favourite movies and I came across this gem on twitter. It's a remix of the 8-bit version of "Threshold" by Sex Bob-omb from the Scott Pilgrim Soundtrack and "How Low" by Ludacris and is pretty awesome!
Link!

Fog lane cup!

Pretty interesting weekend with Ka-Pow in terms of what happened play-wise and in terms of the other teams there.

Saturday

Game 1 vs LeedsLeedsLeeds: Won pretty convincingly, played pretty well. I got a layout block which unfortunately aggravated my knee. It was fine to play on but was a little swollen by the end of the day.

Game 2 vs DED: Lost by a few points, played pretty well until they threw a zone on us. This would be a little bit of a theme for Saturday, not playing well against zone.

Game 3 vs Clapham: We started pretty awfully against Clapham. Took a time out, started a bit better after that and got some points off them but they were a lot better than us in terms of individual matchups. We got them to throw away deep quite a bit and our defense was quite good. I think I played ok for most of the points I was on but did get D'ed a couple of times as well. This could've been a good game for us but they really stopped us from running our systems with good defense. Clapham went on to win the tournament pretty convincingly and they will do well this year when they have their full squad (not missing their GB players).

Game 4 vs Fire 2: We played absolutely terribly all game. They played a zone against us and again we failed to break it. Pretty bad loss. Fire 2 did go on to beat Chevron in their Semi final so they were obviously strong and did have more players than most of the other teams but we made far too many mistakes to even make it competitive.

Sunday:

Game 1 vs Reading: Started a little slow and we traded for a little bit, before we turned it on and took it away. They were a lot better than everyone probably expected and were definitely only out of their depth when playing the top teams.

Game 2 vs Devon: Our D was really strong in this game and stifled their offense. We played pretty good offense as well, but their D was also pretty good. We took the win by a few points.

Game 3  vs DED: A rematch of Saturday's game and they were down a few players (to injuries and one guy who only played Saturday). We traded for a while and they built up an 11-8 lead before we staged a 4 point comeback to win 12-11. Showed a lot of character to not give up and played some strong D going into the late part of the game.

Overall a strange weekend, we suffered from injuries throughout the weekend and, at times played pretty poorly, but also played pretty strong D mostly, and at times played our offensive systems pretty well. Still got a lot to work on throughout Tour if we are going to go to Nationals and take a European qualification spot, but I'm very much looking forward to the open season.

Fog Lane Preview

Gym routine today (didn't have too much time):
5 minute cycle
3 * 10 bench press (45kg)
1 * 10 barbell upright row (20kg), 2 * 10 barbell upright row (30kg)
3 * 10 laterall pull downs (45kg)
2 * 10 shoulder press (23kg), 1 * 10 shoulder press (33kg)

No squats or other leg exercises as I didn't want to aggravate my knee.

Now on to the Fog Lane cup.
Hosted by Chevron Action Flash (based in Manchester) and named after their Manchester Training ground (Fog Lane) we are headed to just outside Bristol this weekend...

Schedule for Saturday looks like this:
First game against Leeds: This should be a good tough game to get us into the weekend. There shouldn't be any easy games as this will be a warm up for Open tour 1 next weekend. Leeds have been finishing in the 6-12 sort of area for the last couple of years but have plenty of experience coupled with some good younger players that can make them a tough opponent for any team.
Second game against DED: This should be a good rematch of the Final of the one day tournament in Thame, hosted by DED. In that game we won in sudden death to win the tournament and stay undefeated. I'm sure DED will be looking forward to exact some revenge.
Then after a break we have our third game against Clapham: This game will be a solid test to see how far we've come since the inception of Ka-Pow! For anyone that doesn't know, Clapham are THE powerhouse of UKUltimate. National champions for the last 10 years running, consistently winning Tours and forming the basis of GB teams. This will be a true measure of our team and I'm very much looking forward to it.
Game 4 and the last game of Saturday is against Fire 2: Despite this being a second team, this should also be another hard test. Fire 2 finished as high as fifth at Tour and never dropped below 9th place.

First game of Sunday is against Reading: A slight unknown quantity, they would appear to be out of their depths at this tournament with their highest Tour finish from last year as 26th and not gaining a Nationals spot. Still not a game to be taken lightly, Reading are entering under a new name into competitions this year and appear to be looking to take the next step. They entered this tournament for a reason so we will see what happens I guess.

After that, the pool stages are over and, based on whether you finished 1st/2nd, 3rd/4th or 5th/6th in your pool, you play a semi and a final to determine your finishing position.

I know it's still early in the season, but, with the aim for Ka-Pow! being to qualify for Europeans, we should be aiming for a top 4 finish this weekend. That would give us a bit more confidence going into the Tours and is where we want to finish, come August in Southampton at Nationals.

Let's go to work!
Europe!

Quiet week

Came back from Mixed tour with something wrong with my knee. Only hurt when fully bent so have had an easy week exercise-wise. Been resting knee in the evening as well as icing it and taking ibuprofen and it's feeling good for this weekend.
Fog lane cup preview to come.
Monday: no exercise
Tuesday: 1 mile cycling
Wednesday: 2 miles cycling
Thursday: 3 miles cycling
Friday: 3 miles cycling and gym at lunch (will post session later with Fog lane cup preview).