Not So Fast

I returned to the court today, much more Festus than Willis Reed. I dragged my sore leg around to a 1-2, to finish the year at 38-46. The sore leg was all consuming and demanded my complete focus, although I wasn't distracted enough to make, rather than miss, lay-ups. I was unable to defend, or move at all really.

Although when I stopped playing, and apologized to all for my horseshit play, the reaction was something like, "looked like your regular game."

A couple of positive notes, however:

1. There is always next year, which starts, in this case, tomorrow (although I won't try to play again until next week, at the earliest).

2. I am much better off than Arun Sandhukha.

No More Excuses

Time to get back on the court. My leg is much better, and I've had a number of quality indoor rowing session. Last night I tested it (my sore right leg) with a full body kettlebell session. Full body includes squats and lunges, and the leg feels good this morning. It is, after all, a leg injury, not a ripped scrotum, like this poor bastard, or a busted testicle.


Time to get after it! Just need a little testicular fortitude.

Keeping the Doctor Away

10K a day keeps the doctor away. Maybe. With my leg on the mend I've turned to my old friend the Concept II rowing machine for non-weight bearing exercise. I've "rowed" 10K each of the past two days, 2 X 5K yesterday, and a straight 10K today.

This regime will keep me fit. The problem is that I've started to think about competing: grueling 2K races that require nasty interval training. I need to talk myself out of this idea before I talk myself into it.

A Setback

Minor, I hope: during the game Saturday (2-1, now 37-44) the side of my knee collided with the knee-cap of a geezer moving at full speed. Instant debilitating pain. It still hurts and limits my mobility (it is Monday morning). The good news is that I was able to row this morning so I can maintain fitness until I can get back on the court. I'll try a kettlebell workout tomorrow, and I haven't completely written off this coming Saturday's game, although I'll need a lot of improvement (like being able to walk normally) before I'll attempt it. I thought I was much better by yesterday evening but upon furthher review I now think my temporary feeling of wellbeing was related to the 6-pack of Torpedo Extra IPA I drank while watching the football game.

I am feeling much better than Kim Jong Il, who passed during the night. The fashion world will suffer but there should be no impact to basketball.

Improving Fitness

A shortage of geezers yesterday (Thursday) morning resulted in me jumping in the fullcourt game. After two trips up the court I was stunned by just how long the court is. I started daydreaming about golf, the sport 56 year old fat dudes are supposed to be playing (check out the photo of pro golfer John Daly working out). It went okay, though, after the initial shock. I was 2-1, and I was somewhere in the middle of the pack in terms of my ability to contribute to my team.

I'm going to pencil in the Thursday morning fullcourt run as a regular weekly event. It will help improve my overall fitness level, and it is fun. I assume that my body will adjust to the additional running (versus the halfcourt game) if I make it a regular thing. My feet should recover just in time for the Saturday morning game, and the rest of my body is fine.

I'm on a 12 day in a row workout streak, with this morning's full body kettlebell workout (with push-ups and pull-ups) in the bank. I need to keep it going. Next day off is Christmas day!

I'm enjoying the workout variety: basketball; kettlebell; and the rowing machine are all in the mix.

Desperate Measures

In an effort to satisfy my body and my soul, in my pursuit of basketball mediocrity, I got my Canadian beer fix by reaching for, then quaffing, the end of the world (La Fin du Monde), if my bad french comprehension is correct.

And to fix my constantly ailing feet, a recent meal included chicken feet. Upon reflection, sore feet aren't such a bad thing, given the remedy.

The Canadian beer, by contrast, was delicious. A Belgian style tripel that is bitter and sweet, spicy and just right.

And best of all, the world was still here when I woke up this morning.

Jonesing

Canadian beer, eh. Tomorrow night (I'm on my monday hiatus). Or at least before the end of the world.

Tweaking Things Up

Reflecting on this-and-that over a Big A IPA (Smuttynose) at the Great Lost Bear, it occurred to me that by timing my shooting practice and sandwiching shooting between challenging exercises, I'm practicing missing shots--and I therefore miss a lot of shots during the games. So I'm going to slow down, turn the timer off, take the heart rate monitor off, drop the push-up (and other nasty bits) and just shoot--practice making shots--during my practice for a couple of weeks. Maybe that'll help me shoot better in games.

Anyway, I was 2-2 Saturday, continuing the .500 trend. But I can do better.

A good thing is that I'm getting in really pretty good shape. This lets me drop the fitness component in my basketball practice, provided I continue to hit all my other workouts. Right now I'm fit and fat. A 2012 goal will be to be just fit. And to play more than 200 basketball games and finish over .500.

Gaining Momentum?

After going 3-1 yesterday, quick fact checking indicates that I've been playing .500 ball since taking the unusual step of practicing regularly. So I'll stick with it, although I'm going to tweak it up a bit and emphasize skill improvement rather than fitness improvement.

I'm getting my fitness in elsewhere and am having a good week. Today is a bonus "no booze" day, so I'll have 3 alcohol-free days this week rather than the normal 2. And I'll be rested and raring to go for the geezer game tomorrow morning.

I need to focus on moving without the ball, on offense, and not taking any time off, on defense, tomorrow.

Okay, so much for the basketball-related naval gazing. The big question is, where will I have my first beer tomorrow? I haven't been to the GLB in a long time.

This and That

I have a hard and fast rule that I don't drink any alcoholic beverages on Mondays and Thursdays. To give you an idea about just how strict this rule is--I haven't broken it (the rule) since Monday, Nov. 21, 2011.

But if I did drink on Monday, I'd go to the East Ender, on Middle Street, in the old Norm's East End space. They have a terrific draft beer selection, and all their beers are $3 on Monday. In addition, they have great food items at a "buy one, get one free" deal.

Because I'm a bit of a masochist, I re-did the Nutripper again this morning. I shaved 19 seconds off my previous time. I loved the DOMS effect that had my entire posterior chain pleasantly sore as hell after the last workout, so I have that to look forward to. During the workout, it's the quads that seem to be under the most stress, however, if I had to narrow it down to one muscle group.

6:00 AM geezer hoops tomorrow morning! We'll see how that goes.

The Nutripper

My combined kettlebell and indoor rowing workout was, specifically, as follows:

I set the little pink prick (Gymboss) for 2:00 on/:30 off, and the Concept II rower at 5,000 meters. I rowed first, and when the pink jackass beeped, I moved to the kettlebell (20kg/44 lb), and when it beeped again (after 30 seconds) I swung (is that the right grammar? I did 2 minutes of kettlebell swings) for 2:00. For 9 rounds. On the tenth round I had 375 or so meters left on the rower. All in all, almost 1200 reps. Each 2:00 of rowing was 56 strokes (reps), each 2:00 of swings was 70 reps. Any swing (2-handed, right, left, hand-to-hand) is okay. It's a nutripper under any circumstances.

5K The Hard Way

The gym was closed today, hijacked by a damn craft fair. This is the second closure since we moved indoors, which means gym closure rates are greater than rain out rates. Anyway, it sucks on many levels. The Saturday morning game is both my best and my funnest workout of the week. And I had two good practice sessions this week and was feeling good about my game going into the weekly tilt. So I was really disappointed with the closure.

I replaced the workout with a session that almost killed me. It was no fun at all. Some background: one of my midweek workouts is 5K on the Concept II indoor rowing machine--20 minutes of mid-to-high end aerobic work that also works almost every muscle in the body. Bizarrely, the rowing motion is very similar, physiologically, to a kettlebell swing. So I combined the two. The result was a 46:20 nutripper of a workout.

I rewarded myself afterwards with an early Christmas Present: First the now mandatory pickle juice recovery, followed by a Double Old Thumper; then an early Christmas present and a real treat--the Double Bastard. The pickle juice was wrong--kosher dill is right. The Double Thumper is also too sweet. The Double Bastard is everything a beer should be. Flavorful, fullbodied, complex, malty, and kick ass.

After the reward, a nap ensued.