Monday, January 14

Rhino Video (First Imp)

Having watched the video 1/4th of a time and without sound...

It's great because I'm in it! No seriously. I throw a couple goals, have a couple shitty marks, get a sure goal turfed to me and have a callahan caught on me. The last of which results in my flailing awkwardly to the ground. Yup. #79. Not the old #3. I think I might stick with the change...

Anyway, I hope to get a full viewing with sound later so I can say something substantive, but at least I can say I'm in a video doing something worthwhile and ultimate-related now. Nice. Now I just need to do it in a meaningful game...

8 comments:

kt said...

Dusty,

I read your blog way more than I should. You tend to use snazzier prose than your blogging contemporaries, kudos.

This comment is unrelated to your latest post.

I've been meaning to get into using the wobble board a little more (they have one at my gym). Could you post/comment reply/e-mail k.lee.terry at gmail dot com some of what you do?

thanks, keep up the good work that keeps me from doing any at all.

-kevin
u of minnesota ultimate

dusty.rhodes said...

I think your comment alone proves the first statement...

As for the wobble board, I'm no expert, but I've done just about anything I can think of involving standing or planting (aka things like lunges and squats) on a wobble board and found that to work well.

Just doing circles with the board slowly with both legs individually will really give you an idea of what you're up against.

From there, as the kids used to say and re now saying again, "The Sky is the Limit."

gapoole said...

Isn't every game meaningful at Nationals?

By the by, I finally did the "deck of cards" workout. It was loads of fun, but I am curious--do you ever stop for a sip of water, or do you blow through the whole thing without stopping?

dusty.rhodes said...

Yes...
and
No.

Define "meaningful."

I chose to define meaningful (in this context) as:

a) still relevant to determining the champion.
b) still relevant to determining bid allocation.

Following this, all games start out as equally meaningful. As the results fill in, games gain or lose meaning based on context within the tournament.

I suppose our Rhino game was our last definitely meaningful game, now that I think about it. The games after that had potential to be meaningful, but after we lost to Truck Stop, the games became meaningless *in the context of the tournament.* In the context of Pike's season and Pike's existence/experience/growth/whatever, those games are still very meaningful.

I don't think there are any holes in this ad hoc theory, but there could be. I think this sets up my personal belief about ascribing "meaning" to games at nationals.

Oh, Deck of Cards:

I make a point of not stopping for anything. Push through "as if my life depended on it." Tap into fight or flight. If, for some crazy reason, I need to stop or can't continue or need a drink or whatever, all of that time counts against the total time. I figure 30 minutes (max) of working out is a fine length of time not to have any water no matter how dry my mouth is. Much like ultimate, you don't ALWAYS have a chance to get water when you need it.

gapoole said...

I guess I was not looking at the games in the context of your goal, which I now assume was to win the tournament. Having never played at that level, I was thinking that the opportunity would be very meaningful, but I suppose the point is not just to be "happy to be there."

Since it was my first time doing the deck of cards, I stopped for 10 seconds for water at the halfway point, not sure if I could finish doing all the exercises with decent form. I decided to go for it anyway, finished in 34 minutes, including any breaks for water. I don't know of any point in Ultimate lasting 30 minutes, but it's a good point...in the future, I'll probably try to go without stopping.

dusty.rhodes said...

"in the future, I'll probably try to go without stopping."

That quote makes me laugh. I'm just not sure why.
---
Anyway, if it isn't clear, the opportunity (nationals) was very meaningful. The experience was as well. Those are things that you just can't get anywhere else.

That doesn't mean that playing big in the shitbox is the same as playing big in the semis.

Back to The Deck:

The Deck is not about form.** The Deck is about puching yourself as hard as you can. Just push. fight. Get angry. Get focused. Whatever it is that happens when you push yourself to the limit (it is definitely different for everyone) should be what happens when you do this workout.

As for 30 minutes... Well, I've definitely played 20 minute points... But that's not the point, at it were. The point is that at some point you'll want to quit. That's when you have to learn to push harder. It happens in ultimate. Do a mental check on times that you've NOT sprinted all out as soon as the huck goes up to someone else. Or the times when you've found yourself content to rest late in an important point. You've got to have more energy at that moment when you put it all on the line.

After training hard enough, you never wonder if you have it in you (as Gatorade says). You KNOW it is there and you TAP IN and DESTROY. It's there because when you last did The Deck (for example) you never slowed down. You tore through that shit and dominated. If you've worked as hard on your skills, there will be no hesitation when your moment comes. And even if you lose, you will have no remorse. No looking back and thinking that you could have done more. Nothing but calm amidst chaos.

** NOTE: THIS DOES NOT MEAN USE TERRIBLE FORM AND GET INJURED. Imperfect form is not the same as potentially damaging form. I can't tell you the difference other than I know the difference for myself. This is reason #75948 that I'm not an expert.

Tim said...

"The Deck is about puching yourself as hard as you can."

I don't know if you meant pushing or punching but this made me laugh, as the deck of cards is about both.

F that workout. It hurts so damn much, especially when you're sitting out on a dock fishing in the Poconos and Tous walks out of the house and says "hey guys.....who wants to play some cards..."

And if that kid Kevin thinks you keep him from doing anything productive by giving him something to read you should offer to email him as much as you email me.

I kid. But I think I'm going to go do a deck of cards now perhaps...

dusty.rhodes said...

Is it funnier that the amount I email/write/think about ultimate is voluminous or that you don't get enough of it via email alone that you need to come here to get your fix?

For better or worse, you don't kid at all.