Back on Grind

Nice to be back at school...really like all of my classes so far and its good to see all my friends again.

Tuesday I planned as an off day for traveling and unpacking however I got an email from coach that we had our first indoor game that night. So I got on to campus, ate, unpacked, and headed up to Williamsburg for our first match.  We won against one of the top teams in the league...I played well and had fun (also counting the game as 1 mile of running for my 2012 mileage count)...no official comment from me as to why indoor will be more enjoyable this year, but I'm really glad I'm doing it for my last season.

Wednesday was the first day of classes so I used that as my off day and then got back on the grind after class this afternoon.  Did a 7 mile tempo run out to the Noland trail, all the way around the lake, and back.  Took a total of 49:10 and I felt good, although still sore from this week's earlier activity.  Trying to keep the mileage count up while transitioning back to school....team lifting will start next week.

A Solid Weekend

After coming down with a tough head cold this past week I wasn't sure what to expect heading into the weekend. I knew it'd be a busy one.

Friday I woke up and drove with Denny up to Williamsburg for CNU soccer's golf tournament fundraiser. We played 'best ball' with a team of 4 and I was happy dad could come up and play on the team with us. I'm terrible but it was fun nonetheless...learned a few things and shared some good laughs and company. Jumped in the car from there and had a nice dinner with Nana and Pops at a local steak place.

Saturday morning I headed out to Kalee's track meet where she had a great day, setting a new personal best height of 10' 7" and a third place position on CNU's all-time list. Saturday was also our alumni day. We (current players) had a good time playing with the old guys in some small sided games. Good to see some old friends again that I've made from recruiting trips and freshman year. Also had a good time that morning giving Nana and Pops a tour around campus, I was really glad they could come up and see everything. Our spring game got pushed back to Sunday afternoon and it was a good thing it did after seeing the intensity of the storm that came through. Glad everyone at home was safe after numerous tornadoes touched down in NC earlier in the day.

A shout-out to Meredith and Brian and Morven in all their events on Saturday as well. I heard some good things from Meredith about her competition and I'm excited the rest of the team had a great showing in their short triathalon in preparation for their big race in May. Well done guys!

Sunday we had our spring game against William and Mary at home under the sun. It was great to start and play some good minutes...I had the first shot of the game that I thought was going to be a goal... but those will come next year. Felt good out there, it was nice to play a real game again in front of our fans. We ended up in a respectable 0-0 tie. In all a good way to cap off the spring as school winds down with 2 weeks left- 1 of class and 1 of exams, then summer.

Indoor Misery and Lifting Rolling

The lighter routine of exercises continued today, although after a sad game of indoor last night. Since I am lucky enough to have my own car, I am blessed with the privilege of driving half my team up to Williamsburg for our 10:15 pm start time. That's ok, gotta be a team player, although it is very frustrating when freshman are running late making me and the team wait. We get there, have only one sub, and are playing against the other CNU squad (which is loaded with veterans). I played well posting two of our team's four goals, but it was not enough to counter their 11. Oh well...

This afternoon's workout, good lift with Colin as usual:

Ab routine warm up

Bench- 10 reps at 115 lbs, 8 at 135 lbs, 5 at 145 lbs, and 6 at 135 lbs.

Standing BB Push Press- 3 sets of 6 at 95 lbs

BB row- 3 sets of 8 at 95 lbs

Dips- 20, 16, 14

Incline DB press- 3 sets of 6 with 40 lbs

Hanging Body Pulls- 3 sets of 12

Ended with 1 set of 7,7,7 shoulder series

A good day today, headed to a birthday dinner for Bridget tonight. Also still lots of school work to stay on top of, we'll see if we get any snow here tomorrow morning.

Indoor and Testing Cont.

Last night we had a late (10:15 pm) 7 v. 7 indoor game. It's in an adult league that our CNU squad plays in every winter. CNU is divided into 3 different teams of 10 players to compete in the league up in Williamsburg. We won handily in a game against an adult rec team (as we should've). I have a bet with Denny about who will score more goals this season. Denny posted 4 last night and I had 3, it will be a close race! (Loser buys lunch at the winner's favorite restaurant). It was also nice to catch up with Brian some on the phone yesterday.

Then this afternoon we hit the weight room for more testing. Today was squats and bench. I maxed the squat to 3 reps of 265 lbs (which mathematically works to about a 290 lbs 1 rep max). Needless to say, my legs were tapped after that! Then we hit the bench. After warm ups I did 155 lbs easily and then jumped from there to a 165 lbs 1 rep max. My all time max at Activedge was 170 lbs, so I was pleased with that after only one serious month of lifting prior to this. More testing to come on Friday and then we start doing full workouts. Looking forward to making improvements!