We won 24-18, but I think the game was all-around crappy. We didn’t play well and didn’t really deserve to win, but they sucked more. I found out later that they were missing their top 4 or 5 cutters, so it makes sense that their O was sluggish.
I had two turnovers (one to Leon in the end one that popped up from the wind, one on a fast break with 5 seconds left in the quarter when I rushed a throw). I also threw one assist. Very mediocre in general. I was close on everything but no Ds.
Interesting article about how rep ranges are not the right way to think about workout targets. I think the article doesn’t go far enough. Even thinking in terms of time spent exercising isn’t the best. He briefly mentions energy systems but doesn’t spend much time on them. I think that’s the key.
Went 48th and Woodland and threw with Patrick for an hour. It was very windy so we tried to throw crosswind the whole time. We went through parts 1 and 2 of Kung Fu Throwing but had to stop early because throwing 30 yard hammers in the wind can really tear up your flick finger.
Did the usual Spinners gym workout, then watched the first quarter of our game against CTC. We made a LOT of mistakes in the beginning. I think we turned it over on just about every possession we had that quarter. We need to start our games more focused and make better decisions (every single turnover was our mistake, not their D).
AMRAP in 6 minutes:
Rest 4 minutes
Repeat
I got 5 full rounds the first time, 4 rounds + 5 pull ups the second time.
We’re on the road again this weekend, this time in Connecticut at their home opener. We played fairly well, but were behind the whole game and lost 29-23. We played well for the most part but our offense struggled and our defense didn’t get enough turns back. The goal was to guard the unders and force their throwers to throw bad hucks against straight-up marks. We did that pretty well, but they ended up catching a lot of bad deep shots, sometimes even after we got a hand on the disc. We also didn’t cover the incuts as well as we should have.
Personally I had one layout d and another jump d that didn’t go far and got caught. Also, a turn on a dishie pass against a zone. I didn’t get burned much on D (a few in cuts) and played well on dumps. I’d say my biggest problem was not pulling the trigger on a few bids. Gotta be a bit more aggressive (also more physical till the refs call it). And I could always be in better shape.
My parents came out to watch the game, take some pictures, and take me out for sushi after. Also saw a few old friends: people from college and Dono (hey buddy - you’re this blog’s only reader).
Worked on stopping the pull play, tight faceguarding on the mark, dragging the mark. I really need to work on my throws. It’s a bit embarrassing at this point.
Various exercises. Pushups, tuck jumps, burpees, plank pushups, hip planks, scissor jumps, etc.
Played 36 holes at Sedgly (18 from blue, back back 9, front 9 from yellow/red). I’m still learning how the Comet works. It glides better but wants to go more left than the Shark. I had some nice drives but my putts still suck. That’s by far the weakest part of my game. On the plus side, I hit the chains on 21 from the red on my first throw. I actually think it went in and bounced out, so that’s the closest I’ve come to a hole-in-one (also my first birdie from red).
Woke up at 4:30am to drive to RI for our first away game. Bus ride was pretty fun. Dustin knows a LOT of puzzle games.
The game was a lot of fun. The weather was way better than expected. It got cold after dark, but it was I need a long-sleeve shirt cold, not 40 and raining cold as predicted. There was a bit of wind, but nothing serious. The game went about the same as our last two games. We started off playing pretty poorly, got better in the middle, and owned at the end. We had at least 5 drops in the first quarter and could not figure out how ultimate works. The cold may have had something to do with it. In the second and third quarter, we got our shit together. In the last quarter, we killed it. Final score was 30-22 us.
Personally, I had no turns, caught and threw a goal, and had several Ds including a full-extension layout catchblock on an in-cut. I got bumped up to D1 for the second half, so I guess I was playing good D all around. My O on the turn was lacking though. I moved the disc well but missed at least one good huck-for-a-goal opportunity and could have thrown a better huck in a similar situation later on. I think we’re working on D-line O for our next practice, so that should be good. As a team, the main adjustment we made was to force backhand (mostly because of Muffin) and to force their two main cutters under. They tried to huck it deep anyway and we got a ton of Ds, at least one in every two deep shots.
Did a bunch of things that we usually do, but modified it somewhat to account for my own gym yesterday. Here are the highlights.
I need to come up with a consistent format for listing my rounds/sets/reps. Then write an extension for Markdown to parse that and make it look nice (and easier to export later if I need to).
Watched the first 3 quarters of our game vs CT. Very instructive. I learned that I do a good job of staying with my man and of executing the mark we practice, but I need to adjust more for the other team’s known deep threats. I got burned deep by Korber because I was fronting him (as practiced) when I should have adjusted and pushed him under. Also, I still need to figure out how to guard dumps better. I’m starting to realized that there are more nuances to dump defense than I thought.
(Did dips and cleans together (alternating sets) because we were late for disc golf.)
After the gym, went played 36 holes at Sedgely (18 blue, 18 yellow). Did not do so well on the blues, but played a lot better on the yellows. Cuatro and I beat Norm and Reznick. I lost my Shark, but bought a Comet (supposed to be just like a Shark but a bit faster and glidier). We’ll see how that works out.
Spent most of the morning practice working on marks. Here’s the plan: flash for one full second, then 0, then 10, then no-around at 3-4 seconds. The no-around is 100 degrees, but think of it as a 10 mark but rotated 90 degrees. You still have to stop the IO, but only allow the dump to go directly backwards. As for guarding the dump, when the dump is on the open side, force them upfield (the no-around mark won’t be very helpful here, so force the harder throw). When the dump is on the break side, do NOT give up the upline (mark is allowing it) and force them directly back. When they are back there, give them 2-3 feet of cushion to bait the floaty dump, then get the D. Make sure to play close if the dump is even with or in front of the disc to prevent the IO.
After practice and a nap, played against CTC. We won 22-16 but I did not play well (or play much; only 5-6 points or so). I overthrew Dustin in the endzone once and threw a Ben a throw that I should not have (his defender was fouling him but he was still close and it was not a good choice). I also let Korber beat me deep, won’t let that happen again.
Practiced on the upper field at Temple. Worked on marks and moving the disc. I got in a little work on boxing people (Art) out.
Ran stairs at the Art Museum with Miggs, Glazer, Patrick and Leon.
5 min rest
Up one landing, jump onto the ledge, sprint into jump/climb over the pillar, down the pillar, up the next pillar, sprint into jump/climb over the pillar, jog down the pathway. At the bottom, do 20 pushups, 30 full bodies, 30 squats. Do that whole thing 3 times, finishing with 50 squats on the last one.
Throw for 10 min. Bike home.
First Spinners game. Massive crowd, over 1700 people. We beat the Buffalo Hunters 26-14. No Ds for me, but I did catch 3 goals and played reasonably well overall. Got beat deep once.
Definitely need to work harder.
Gym workout with the Spinners. It’s hard to get a real workout in with so many people and with having to move from station to station.
Played 36 holes at Sedgely (18 blue, 18 yellow). Had some really nice birdies and hit-the-chains-but-dont-sink-it near-birdies. Also had some horrible scores because I went for it too aggressively. But hey, that’s part of learning.