DATE |
RESULT/
ACTIVITY |
COMMENTS |
BALL USED-ball
inflation
SHOES USED |
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4/20/07
Friday
Waltham YMCA
415-820 PM |
Running Rainbow Kick Drill 235 minutes |
Wore ankle guards both ankles, shin pads,
long thicker, black, Adidas soccer socks.
Before practice, had one cup green tea
double strength two teabags no cream or sugar, once cup green tea double
strength two teabags with cane sugar and non-dairy creamer,
wheat-germ/cod-liver/fish oils, tangerine juice, mineral pill,
vit E pill, one piece Borowsky 12-grain bread, a little Baja Fiesta
Trail Mix from Hannaford. No brewers yeast. No
barbecue-chicken/substantial-food.
Segment 4 on sipped "Powerade" drink between
segments.
I felt that I was doing very well in terms of
total score for the first ten segments. Then in segments 10 and 11 I fell
apart had a bad streak. Today the new FS method distinguished itself as
did the new "natural" method that was introduced yesterday. Seems that I
am making progress in terms of starred successes plus simple successes
total, while the progress in starred successes is slower--as I predicted.
Method L is distinguishing itself in competition with J to be second
fiddle, has been steadily improving, and could even possibly displace
method B as first fiddle.
My ideas for accelerating improvement in
starred successes: do some practices without keeping score; do some
segments concentrating on achieving a star as opposed to simply a success;
try slanting the dribble left and rainbow-kicking the ball on a slant
right (when I do the rb kick I roll the ball up my front foot with my
right foot, I am left footed).
Again today the successes that were not
starred were mostly hit too far but not to the left or to the right too
much. These misses missed by less than they did yesterday.
Segment 2 I noticed it seems that heeling the
ball more softly, and slowing down the speed at which the ball is dribbled
when it is RB-kicked, increase the number of starred successes.
After segment 3 I noted it seems fatigue,
lack of rest between segments reduce number of starred successes.
During segment 5 I could see how minimizing
forward slant at the beginning of the RB kick increases stars, while
paradoxically insufficient forward slant causes failure.
Segment 7 a good segment was witnessed by
this white boy with a mustache and glasses--he looks like a boy except for
his mustache. He seems to be grade school, he is short and young looking
(except for his mustache) and plays with the grade
schoolers--but he has a mustache. He did not say anything.
Today one of the RB kicks was knocked out 12
yds in front of where it was kicked from I forgot to note by what method I
did this.
Today during some good segments the white
lady who works behind the desk came in to the gym a few times with a
couple of people. They watched me. Seems she would turn to the people she
brought in and say, "see" or something like that as they watched me. I
guess she was showing these people the gym, and secondarily she was
showing me to them. Wearing earplugs I dont hear everything perfectly, but
I can naturally read lips, movements, facial expressions.
A Spanish looking gray haired guy with a
mustache, and an East Asian guy briefly discussed what I was doing with
me. The Spanish guy wanted to know the name of the trick I was doing. I
told him it was called a rainbow kick. We briefly talked re how
Pele does not do this trick. Segments 10 and 11 while I screwed up, a few
grade school boys and an early grade school girl were wandering around,
getting in the way, as I got frustrated over my failure these segments, I
confess, I got annoyed with them. The whole gym was free for them to play
in, but they kept shooting from right in front of the direction I was
running as I would do the RB kicks. And I was there before they got there.
Results today were as
follows: 12 minute segments
half-success equals ball via rainbow
kick gotten up but not in front or ball gotten in front
but too low; success equals ball gotten up and in front but not
reached before it hits ground; starred success equals ball gotten up and
in front and gotten to before it hits ground.
Segment 1 Method
L-variant natural slow pace
ball rolled up front
calf with outside of rear foot
whatever movements of
the leg come naturally
half success:
4
success:
7
starred success:
10
total score:
19.0
AD:
0
BAD:
0
In this segment 1, I
equalled my personal record for total score in a
slow-paced-segment/any-speed-segment regardless of method. This
segment also was a new personal record for total score non-B
method at slow pace, and equal to personal record for starred
successes slow pace non-B method. All this despite the fact that L-natural
is a new variant for L introduced yesterday, and despite the fact this was
the first segment of the day, the first attempt this segment being the
first time I did anything with the ball with my feet all day.
Segment 2 Method B
variant natural medium to brisk pace
whatever movements of the leg come
naturally
half success: 5
success: 12
starred success: 3
total score: 17.5
AD: 0
BAD: 0
Segment 3 Method L
variant natural slow pace
ball rolled up front calf with outside of
rear foot
Leg angles whatever comes
naturally
half success: 4
success: 10
starred success: 4
total score: 16.0
AD: 0
BAD: 0
Segment 4 Method B
variant FF brisk pace
Emphasis on lower leg leaning forward
beginning of rainbow kick, lower leg slanted forward end of
rainbow kick half success:
2success: 13
starred success: 4
total score: 18.0
AD: 0
BAD: 0
Segment 5 Method B
variant natural brisk pace
Whatever movements of leg come naturally half success: 4
success: 11 starred success: 5 total score: 18.0 AD: 0 BAD: 0 Segment 6 Method
L variant F/S slow pace
Ball rolled up
front calf with outside of rear foot
Emphasis on lower leg forward slant beginning of rb kick, lower leg minimal forward slant end of rb kick half success:
5
success: 6 starred success: 12 total score: 20.5 AD: 0 BAD: 0 In this segment 6, I put into
effect a new method that I discussed yesterday. This was the first segment
ever with this new method. yet still amazingly, in this segment 6, I set a
new personal record for: total score at a slow pace non-B
method; stars at a slow pace non-B method; total score at slow
pace regardless of method. And I equalled my personal
record for stars at a slow pace regardless of method.
Segment 7 Method B
variant F/S brisk pace
Ball rolled up front calf with front
top of rear foot
Emphasis of forward slant of lower leg at beginning of rb kick and minimal forward slant of low leg at end of rb kick. half success: 3
success: 10 starred success: 6 total score: 17.5 AD: 0 BAD: 0 In this segment 7, for the first time I used the new F/S
variant I discussed yesterday at a brisk pace. Nevertheless the starred
successes were 6, only one less than my personal record for starred
successes at a brisk pace; and the starred successes plus simple successes
was at 16.
Segment 8 Method B
variant S/min-F brisk pace
Emphasis on lower leg slanted minimally forward at beginning of rb kick, and slanted minimally forward at end of rb kick also. half success: 4
success: 10 starred success: 5 total score: 17.0 AD: 0 BAD: 0 All five stars came in the second half of this segment 8. The
method/variant applied has not been done in a long time.
Segment 9 Method L
variant S/min-F slow pace
lower leg minimal forward slant beginning and end of rb kick half success: 3
success: 7 starred success: 9 total score: 17.5 AD: 0 BAD: 0 Segment 10 Method B
variant S/F brisk pace
Whatever movements of leg come naturally half success: 5
success: 7 starred success: 3 total score: 12.5 AD: 0 BAD: 0 Segment 11 Method B
variant FF brisk pace
Whatever movements of leg come naturally half success: 5
success: 10 starred success: 0 total score: 12.5 AD: 0 BAD: 0 Segments 10 and 11 were loser segments. I got
into a rut of failure, I got frustrated, I stopped having that relaxed
happy frame of mind I have been applying over approx the past week. Might
have to do with fatigue, B segments not having been done too
often this late in a practice featuring lots of fast tiring brisk
pace attempts. Seems in frustration I began rolling the ball up too hard
when pulling the ball up to the front calf with the rear foot, and in
frustration I began to lift the front heel up off the ground too early.
Seems the antidote for such ruts is to do a segment at slow pace. Seems
muscle soreness and stiffness also played a role. This was the twelfth day
in a row that I had practiced this RB kick, on one of the twelve days
instead I played in a game. My hypothesis is that I need a day off from
soccer at least once every eleven days if I am going to perform well on
segment 10 and segments that come after segment 10..
Segment 12 Method L
variant SF slow pace
Ball rolled up front calf with outside of
rear foot
half success: 3
success: 10 starred success: 6 total score: 17.5 AD: 0 BAD: 0 Next up:
Mentally concentrate on
achieving
stars 1 warmup L variant (as natural)
slow pace
outside of foot drags ball to rear of
front calf 2 warmup B variant (as
natural) medium-brisk pace
front top drag
3 B natural brisk
4 B FS
(new) brisk
5 L FF slow
6 B S/min-F brisk
7 B SF brisk
8 L natural slow
9 B FF brisk
11 B natural brisk
12 L FS (new) slow
order sminf, sf, ff, nat, F/S
*** |
Shoes Adidas Bracara Indoors
Ball
Replique
7.5 psi |
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|
4/23/07
Monday
450-630 PM
Waltham YMCA
800-815
Park at
Willow &
Grove
840-1100
Leary Field
|
swimming (4/20)
Shooting, air-dribble
rb kick
jogging while dribbling |
On Sunday 4/22, I swam 1500 yds
alternating between 50 breast-stroke and 50 crawl in 37 minutes 45
seconds.
A key issue is: how smooth are the
field that are used by the important soccer teams? A bumpy
outdoors field is a real problem when it comes to doing rainbow
kicks.
Looks like: I will be able to use the rainbow
kick in a refined accurate way in Futsal games fairly soon and
could use it now in a coarse way (using method B variant natural); I can
do every 3 paces type air-dribbling now in Futsal in a coarse way, and
should be able to do it in a refined way soon; from approx 15 yds I should
as of now try to get closer to the goal and/or use my left foot not my
right.
At Y: Segment 1 12
minutes
Shots from 16 yds at target 4 feet
high and 2&2/3 feet wide, using LEFT foot.
If ball reached target without
bouncing first, scored as a hit.
TOTAL: 8 hits
Many near misses (missed by foot or less). I
have gotten used to shooting air-balls or bouncers as opposed to balls on
the ground. When I was doing the rainbow kicks, I fired balls at this
4 by 2.7 feet target as a way of capping off a starred rainbow kick, and
had a higher rate of hitting the target than with the stationary ball.
What I have gotten used to is shooting a ball that is in the air or has
bounced after I have done a rainbow kick. I've been doing very little
practice involving simply shooting a ball.
Segment 2 12 minutes
Shots from 16 yds at target 4 feet high and
2&2/3 feet wide, using RIGHT foot.
If ball reached target without bouncing
first, scored as a hit.
TOTAL: 2 hits
a few near misses
Segs 1 and 2, I forgot about the trick of
stretching the toe out more when kicking a size 3 Futsal. I did not seem
to be more accurate than I was in the Futsal game and practice at Oak Sq
last week. Seems the pressure of a game, focuses your mind both before the
game and during the game. Segs 1 and 2 the shots had plenty of power, but
were somewhat off in terms of accuracy.
Segment 3 12
minutes
Air-dribbled 8 yds, touching the ball
every 3 paces with alternating left and right feet. Counted as a score if
traveled 8 yds air-dribbling with ball not touching ground but kept under
control, touching ball every 3 paces with alternating left and right
feet.
Score: 9
In seg 3 the first five minutes there were
zero scores. But things heated up after that. Almost all of the 8 yd runs
went 12 yds at which point I was stopped by the wall. Had no problem
backspinning the ball despite small size of Futsal and despite shoe-laces
swerving off to the side of the foot instead of running down the middle
(every indoor shoe I could find last time I checked had these swerving
kind of shoe-laces). It is encouraging that after so many months without
practicing air-dribbling, the skill should return after only five minutes
of flubbing up.
Segment 4 12
minutes
Rainbow kicks, method B, variant
natural, off slow pace forward ground dribble
Half-successes
2
Successes 9
starred successes
7
total score:
17.0
Seg 4 notes: First 4 minutes (this is first
time I have ever attempted RB kick with size 3 Futsal ball) there were
successes no starred successes. All seven stars came in last eight
minutes. The "star forward" on my team at
the Oak Sq Y declared that rainbow kicks are especially difficult with the
small Futsal ball. This segment did not show such to be the case. Then
again, practicing with the normal size 5 ball lately all the slow pace
attempts have been done with the method L that I have been grooming to be
second fiddle to method B. Could be method B for slow pace with the size 5
has progressed to a high level without me knowing it. Interesting that at
the beginning there was only four minutes of flubbing up.
Segment 5 12 minutes
Rainbow kicks, method L, variant natural, off
slow pace forward ground dribble
Half-successes 5
Successes 5
starred successes 3
total score: 10.5
Seg 5 notes: L method is second fiddle method, using outside of
trailing foot--B uses top front of trailing foot. With method L, I did
significantly worse with the small Futsal ball compared to results using
method L at slow pace with the size 5 Replique. With the first-fiddle
method B, in seg 4, I did about equal to what I score at slow pace with
method L using the replique.
Park at Willow and Grove:
Segment 6 12 minutes
running rainbow kicks off slow pace dribble outdoors on bumpy
field
half successes: 3
simple successes: 0
starred successes: 4
This was done using the size 3 Futsal. I should have been using the
size 5 Replique since I was outdoors by I had gotten obsessive about using
the size 3 Futsal since tomorrow is Futsal game day. Seems percentage
success rate might be better, when doing the rainbow kick outdoors on a
bumpy field, if ball is stationary when rainbow kicked, or dribbled at
brisk as opposed to slow speed when rainbow kicked. When ball is dribbled
at brisk speed, the bumps on the field cause less lateral deviance per
unit of ball forward movement. But this showed the trick can be done
outdoors, it was for some reason a great feeling to do these
starred successes OUTDOORS, reaching the ball before it hits the ground
after the rainbow kick, having led myself perfectly with the rainbow kick.
Leary Field:
Alternated between jogging a mile and walking a mile while dribbling
the soccer ball according to certain patterns. Minimal rests to record
times etc in between miles.
Mile 1: time: 25:10. Jogging style run. Lap 1 ball touched
every pace; lap 2 touched with left foot every other pace; lap 3 touched
with left foot every 4 paces; lap 4 touched every 3 paces alternating left
and right feet.
Mile 2: time: 25:20. Walked. Lap 1 ball touched every pace; lap
2 touched with left foot every other pace; lap 3 touched with right foot
every other pace; lap 4 touched every 3 paces alternating left and right
feet.
Mile 3: time: 19:45. Jogging style run. Lap 1 ball touched
every other pace with right foot; lap 2 touched with right foot every
other pace; lap 3 touched with alternating feet every 5 paces; lap 4
touched every 6 paces with left foot. Mile 4: time: 25:00. Walked. Lap 1 ball touched every other pace
with left foot; lap 2 touched with right foot every other pace;
lap 3 touched with alternating feet every 5 paces; lap 4 touched
every 6 paces with left foot.
Mile 5: time: 19:45. Jogging style run. Lap 1 ball touched
every six paces with right foot; lap 2 touched every seven paces with
alternating feet; lap 3 touched with left foot every 8 paces; lap 4
touched every 8 paces with right foot.
Mile 6: half a mile walked.
These miles with the ball dribbled, sometimes I used outside of feet,
sometimes inside of feet, sometimes alternation. sometimes I zig zagged
trying to stay within my lane on the marked track; sometimes I tried to
dribble exactly on a line that divides lanes. Problem is, that the track
is tilted towards the field in the center of the oval track, thus when
running counter-clockwise the ball keeps angling off to the left. Plus the
wind blows the ball around. Seems to me the dribble exactly on the line
type stuff should be done indoors, if indoors there is no significant
tileof the floor. |
Adidas Bracara indoors shoe Brine Lobo II size 3 Futsal |
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|
4/24/07
Tuesday
Oak Sq YMCA
730-1030 PM |
Indoor games on basketball court |
Remembering the underfed feeling last week, I
on the internet read up on pre-game meals. Idea is to eat basically
anything but fats, sugars, and protein about 3-4 hours before the game. I
had a banana, some potato salad, some spaghetti, some tangerine juice,
brewers yeast, a mineral pill about 4 hours before the game. Skipped the wheat germ oil, the fish oil, the cod liver
oil, the hemp oil, because they are "fats" that supposedly slow down
digestive absorption. Not sure skipping these oils was a good idea.
But I did not end up feeling underfed as I did last
time.
Seems the walking and jogging FIVE
MILES last night, was not a smart move the day before an important
game. Felt kind of sleepy and sluggish out there
today.
I started out surprised when, when I was
still doing stretching, this young clean sheaven black haired white guy,
and a similar guy he was with, loudly said, "that's David Hobbs" as they
walked off the court. Either they both said "that's David Hobbs" or one of
them did. I did not know either of these guys.
Part of the sleepy-sluggish thing I guess, is
that as this is my second indoor game at the Oak Square YMCA, it lacked
the novelty of the first one. Then there is the effect of psycho-social
problems generated by events during the week.
First there was a scored official game, our
team lost 7-6. The reason was that right at the beginning, the other team
put the pressure on and in the first five minutes or so got ahead 2-0, one
of the goals was scored while I was the no-hands-allowed goalie. This
was because for about half an hour before the game everyone was practicing
non-goalie type stuff as warmup, but nobody was practicing goalie type
stuff. Thus in these first five minutes, the offense had this advantage of
being warmed up and attacking goalies who were not warmed up for doing
goalie-work; and the other team's offense (not sure if it was accidental
or cleverness on their part) took advantage of this.
The 'official' game this time was played with
an underinflated size 5 green fuzzy tennis-style ball. Last time the game
was played with a size 3 Futsal ball. Yesterday I practiced with a size 3
Futsal I purchased to get ready. But they caught me by surprise
yet again. It was frustrating.
Before the game about 3 times I ran,
without doing any air-dribble warmup, about 17 yds across the gym
air-dribbling my size 3 Futsal touching it once every 3 paces
alternating L and R keeping the ball off the ground close to the
body. I would guess this was at at least ten miles an hour. Nobody else at
these games has demonstrated such an ability. Nobody said anything when I
did this. But I could not do a proper rainbow kick on about
three attempts using their underinflated tennis-ball-style green,
fuzzy-surfaced size 5 ball.
Had a kind of mediocre game in the
first official game. Mostly played defense and goalie. Got tired
out--another oddity in these games is that although in Futsal, there are
supposed to be five players per side on this size of 'field', what they do
in these games here, is have four players per side. Getting tired I
retreated to goalie and defense.
I felt mediocre in goal, but the fact is,
nobody out there at these games plays the no-hands-allowed goalie
position better than me. It is hard to get excited playing goalie. And the
guys on my team, they all think of themselves as tricky forwards, they do
not like to play defense or goalie--since they are not into defense, a lot
of pressure gets placed on the goalie. They seem to hide their
annoyance when the goalie lets one in, but when they themselves play
goalie things get even worse. In the last few minutes of the game, the
other team shot on me, the shot accidentally hit my hand, the other
team got a free kick, which consisted of shooting from half court at an
empty net. Tariq took the shot and scored. Thus they tied the game. Then a
guy on my team took me out of the game, they put a new goalie in, and the
new goalie clumsily kicked the ball into his own net (but he flashed a
relaxed white-toothed smile afterwards). Thus the other team
won.
The bright spot in the official game for me
today was that I got off good approx 20 yd passes with my right foot, and
made some good shorter passes with both right and left foot.
After the game we played unofficial games
without the score being kept on the scoreboard. Today, differently from
last week, these later unofficial games were full court. They started
out playing with a soft under-inflated size 5 Adidas with a soft
seat-cushion type surface. Then they decided to play with my new Brine
Lobo II size 3 Futsal. These games they played five on five as they are
supposed to. I like it better five on five, four on four puts too much
emphasis on endurance.
Things started clicking for me on offense in
the games after the first official one, when for basically the first time
in these games counting both last week and this week, I got out
of goalie or defense and went up to forward (is is tough for me to get
away from goalie in the official four on four games, because I get tired,
my team-mates do not like to play goalie or even defense, I am the
best goalie on my team, and there is pressure re the score). I got
two assists and two goals after the official game all of it happened
in less than half an hour. Once I dribbled past two defenders in
a row using the same trick twice--hit the ball off the sideboard at an
angle and catch up with it behind the defender--and then I passed to this
guy in the middle who scored (I had also used this trick to get
past the pink-cheeked tall athletic guy last week, this game he
was the star of the game). Another time I was trapped in a corner and I
heeled the ball into the middle to an open guy who scored--last
week I had also made a good heel pass. I made alot of good passes
that my team-mates did not capitalize on. I dribbled by a few people,
today seemed like I could consistently get by one defender but then would
sometimes lose the ball to the second defender I'd face. Today in both the
first and the latter games I noticed that I was developing this ability to
dribble by people in a messy kind of way, featuring the defender getting
his foot on the ball but not stopping me. Today I noticed a few times that
when I would get the ball and face the defender, the defender would lose
his balance and almost fall over in the process of attempting to
defend against me. I would get the ball, not panic, face the defender, and
then make slight movements as if I was going to do this or that, this was
enough to make them lose their balance and almost fall over--and these
were athletic young men, good soccer players. I am not using all these
stepovers, all this rolling the ball in and out with the sole of my
foot--but my dribbling method, which as opposed to deliberate feinting is
more like continually changing my mind re what I am going to do, with my
body reflecting these changes of mind, seems to work just as well as the
slick looking stepovers and rolling the ball in and out with the sole of
the foot.
I scored two goals today in a game after the
first official game. Once I blocked the other goalie's kick with my head
and simultaneously headed the ball into the goal; another time while
hanging around in front of the other goal the ball was passed to me in the
air and I volleyed it into the goal with my right. So the ability to
volley the ball with the right that I have developed with air-dribbling
exercises paid off.
Given the combination of certain
circumstances judging from what happened today, I can be as effective
a goal scorer/assist-maker as any of the other players.
These circumstances seem to be: I go up to play forward; the game
is five on five as it is supposed to be according to the official Futsal
rules, not four on four so I do not get winded; my team is not so weak
that it is unable to ever set me up with the ball at an opportune place
and time; and the ball that is in use is a ball that I have had a chance
to get used to (the goals and assists came while they were using my
new Brine size 3 Lobo II Futsal). I may not use fancy
stepovers and roll-in/roll-out; but I am as effective as the guys who use
these things when I get the chance. You do not see the defenders losing
their balance and practically falling over when they are defending
against these other slick guys you see that when they are defending
against me.
Today three times I became
temporarily crippled in the exact same way--in the process of deflecting a
hard shot with my outstretched toe, I hurt my
ankle.
Today a slick Short spaniard on the other
team scored a goal when I was goalie right at the beginning of the game.
He was dominating us, until I began to shut him down by charging him when
he had the ball and knocking the ball away. Then later I forgot the lesson
I had learned and "Tariq", a Jamaican-looking guy who is the organizer of
the thing, scored on me while I was in the goal and did not charge him. It
is instinct, when you play goalie in this game, to, as the last line of
defense, sort of stay as close to the goal as possible. What
excels this instinct, at least for someone such as myself, is to
aggressively charge the player with the ball knocking the ball away.
Made some good header passes
today.
I think some personal psycho-social problems
may have impaired my performance today.
This one guy, one of the best players, used
this move wherein he dragged the ball diagonally backwards and to the side
with the sole of his foot, sometimes followed by a change of forward
direction.
Looks like the prescription for me,
is endurance, endurance, endurance. You could be the most skilled guy in
the world, but if you are getting winded, the skills will not shine. The
first game is an under-manned four on four, and most of the players in the
games after the first game did not play in the first game, and are not
tired out from the first game like me.
NOTICE TO TARIQ, ORGANIZER OF OAK
SQUARE ALLSTON/BRIGHTON YMCA INDOOR SOCCER: ON A FULL SIZE BASKETBALL
COURT, THERE SHOULD BE FIVE PLAYERS ON EACH TEAM, NOT
FOUR!
IMHO as of now, there is too much
unpredictability and inconsistency in these games. People like me do
not have alot of experience playing with weird balls, under-inflated
balls. We have little experience playing indoors on basketball courts. The
combination of these two factors--the weird new basketball court playing
environment, and the strange balls in use--is a hardship that so far as I
can tell does not improve me more than consistency and predictability in
terms of what balls will be used would. I would prefer it if I could know
in advance, exactly which balls will be used in which games, and to what
psi these balls will be inflated.
Next time I want to remember to take
my gauge to measure the psi's of the balls the use.
Sometimes I wonder if what I am experiencing
(weird balls, 4 on 4 instead of 5 on 5) is an example of folks at a
home field toying around with things so as to give themselves an
advantage, like the Jamaicans making their home field a bumpy field which
minimizes skill advantages. |
Adidas Bracara Indoor shoes
underinflated "tennis" type (green, fuzzy)
size 5 ball;
underinflated size 5 with soft seat-cushion
type surface;
My Brine Lobo II Futsal
|
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|
4/25/07
Wednesday
Waltham YMCA
900-945 PM
|
Swimming 45 minutes |
Swam 1500 yds, alternating between 50 breast and 50 crawl, in 40:05. When my knees and my ankles feel sore and
stiff as they did today, when I feel tired as I did today, I go swimming.
Seems to me that when I feel sore and stiff and tired the thing to do is
go swimming. And it does seem to have a rejuvenating effect. After
swimming, my knees and ankles no longer felt sore and stiff and I felt
less tired. After swimming I felt as if my zeal and energy for practicing
soccer had been renewed.
Sort of reminds me of how I felt re the young
men I have been playing soccer with at the Oak Square Allston-Brighton
YMCA. You can see the faults in people, or you can see the 'god' in
people. Seems these guys at these Oak Square soccer games listen when I
talk, but they almost never have anything to say--which could be annoying
if you choose to dwell on it. On the other hand they are young guys, they
do not smoke, compared to alot of people such as people older than them
they have lived a relatively clean life; and they remind me of fresh clean
waves of the sea, rolling up on the beach--I feel as if I can see god in
them.
Today I got dressed up, there was supposed to
be an important meeting available with the YMCA directors at the Y. But
they cancelled it for some reason, they said there were schedule
conflicts. I felt dissapointed. I felt the meeting with the Y directors
was my chance to leap-frog the bullshit I have to endure form selfish
competitive personnel officers. I feel as if our society is worshipping
the selfishness of people, as if the selfishness of people was an economic
stimulant of some kind. I disagree. A selfish personnel-officer/supervisor
getting rid of someone smarter than them, more skilled than them
etc. screws up the productivity of the economy. The media wants us to
buy things that they advertise so we hear alot about how supposedly the US
economy is so good--they want folks to relax and buy. But the fact is that
the per capita level of exports by the US is quite small compared to say a
Germany. The problem with this sales oriented talk about how great the US
economy is, how great the US corporations are, is that it results in
things like employers being controlled in their hiring decisions by what
other employers have done in terms of hiring--the decisions other
employers have made are accorded a kind of sanctity. This hyper-emphasis
on experience (people get 'experience' when employers hire them) results
in a de-emphasis of important things. Generally speaking, the mindless
hyper-emphasis on credentials, experience, and on hiring those whom
the impolite refer to as 'dorks' results in a de-emphasis of important
criteria which impairs general economic performance and export
performance. Fact is that a large percentage of those who have experience,
are experienced simply because they had a connection and others did not.
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N/A |
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April 26
Thursday
Waltham YMCA
700-945 PM |
Shooting/passing drills
Jogging
Weightlifting
|
I have repeatedly had to play with
under-inflated size five balls, both at the field at Willow and
Grove in Waltham and at the Oak Square Y. Seemed to me that one thing that
is practiced better indoors in a gym as opposed to outdoors is
shooting/passing, because the wall bounces the ball back to you. So I
decided to do some shooting passing drills with a size five underinflated
ball. I got the ball to the level of softness of the balls they use at
Willow & Grove and at the Oak Square Y. Believe it or not,
this level of softness is only approx 3.0 PSI!
One thing I realized today, is how easy it is,
to slip up and fail to do the conditioning work you need to do in order to
get in shape for a game. Seems it is unwise to do conditioning work the
day before an important game, or on the day of the game prior to the game;
and after a game you do not feel like doing conditioning work. Thus if
there is one important game a week, you have five days in the week on
which to do the important conditioning work. A couple of days of laziness
and before you know it, you only have three days in the week to do the
conditioning work!
Segment 1: 12 minutes Took LEFT-FOOTED shots at target 4 feet high
and 2.7 feet wide from 16 yards. Used under-inflated size 5 ball, inflated
to 3.0 psi. If I hit the target without the ball touching the ground
first, I counted it as a score.
SCORE: 6
Seg 1 note: Only a few of the shots were way off.
Average number missing by a foot or less
Segment 2: 12 minutes
Took RIGHT-FOOTED shots at target 4 feet high and
2.7 feet wide from 16 yards. Used under-inflated size 5 ball, inflated to
3.0 psi. If I hit the target without the ball touching the ground
first, I counted it as a score.
SCORE: 3
Segment 3: 12 minutes
Took LEFT-FOOTED CHIP-SHOT/PASSES at
target 6.5 feet high and 2.7 feet wide from 16 yards. Used
under-inflated size 5 ball, inflated to 3.0 psi. If I hit the target
without the ball touching the ground first, AND THE BALL
REACHED A HEIGHT OF APPROX SEVEN FEET DURING ITS TRAJECTORY, I
counted it as a score.
SCORE: 5
Seg 3 notes: Missed too high (but not off to
left/right) alot; the shot/passes hit the target wall only about 1
foot below the maximum height they reached during their trajectory. The
tendency for these chip shot/passes was that they missed by hitting the
wall too high. Seems like if you try to chip the ball to a
target from 16 yds, the ball reaches the target only about a foot below
its maximum height during its flight--at least with an under-inflated size
five ball inflated to 3.0 psi this seems to be the
case.
In segments 1 2 and 3, I took the natural number and
type of steps approaching the ball, the method was to glance at the target
and then glance at the ball while kicking it. One day I intend to
experiment with looking at the target while kicking the ball at the
target. After sucn an experiment I will at least feel confident that my
eyes are focusing on the right things when I kick the ball.
Segment 4: Ran a mile at 3.5 mph, then walked a mile at
approx 2.1 mph. Wore the indoor soccer shoes, the shin-guards, the
ankle-guards, and the soccer-socks.
Seg 4 notes: I had gotten up to 5 MPH
on the mile when I did conditioning for a week in March; but I decided to
start out slow to find out how much I had degenerated since this week of
conditioning work in March. This time the mile run at 3.5 mph was child's
play compared to what it was like when I did conditioning March 15-23.
Compared to when I started doing jogging conditioning work for the first
time in years in March last month, I sweated very little, there was
no problem whatsoever in terms of being winded--believe it or not, in
March, I would sweat alot, and have to breathe pretty hard to run a mile
in 3.5 mph, using the jogging as opposed to the walking style of movement
of the body--it was generally speaking fairly tiring for me. But I
noticed that the pain in the calves had now returned. Previously in March
I had overcome this pain in the calves by doing calf-strengthening
weightlifting exercises. So I decided I should return to doing
weightlifting exercises to strengthen the muscles involved in jogging.
Looks like the games played at the Oak Square Y on April 17 and April 24,
and believe it or not the rainbow kick drills, have had some positive
impact on my conditioning level. When I do the rainbow kick, pulling up a
ball that I am dribbling at approx 6 mph, once the ball is heeled up and
out, I often accelerate to a sprint or near a sprint level to catch the
ball on the fly or on the bounce. Then I slow down gradually at a jog
after shooting it at the wall. Thus the rainbow kick drills can involve a
surprising amount of speed and running. On the one hand you could say the
running rainbow kick is a slow jogging type of drill and act; on the other
hand you could say it is a sprinting drill/act because of how I accelerate
to get to the ball once I finish the rainbow kick. People think of the
rainbow kick as something done when the ball is stationary or slow, but
the way I do it, I often accelerate to maximum speed after I do the
rainbow kick, to catch the ball on the bounce or on the fly after I
rainbow kick it. Then you have the fact--as I recall--in high school this
phys-ed teacher told us about how when you first start weightlifting
the muscles break down and you get weak, then, they begin to build up and
you get stronger (and you could say jogging is a mild form of
weightlifting). If so, looks like the breakdown part is ending and the
buildup phase has begun. I was thinking of running at 6 mph or 6.7 mph,
because I figured that since I get tired when there are 4 players on my
team (3 outside the goalie), but do not tire when there are five players
on my team (4 outside the goalie), this means I require a 33% increase in
endurance to succeed in these games at the Oak Square YMCA. Then I
realized that first I have to figure out what my level of endurance is
now, before I attempt to increase it by 33 %. Obviously my level of
endurance now is way better than 3.5 mph except for the pain in the
calves.
Segment 5: WEIGHTLIFTING: 35 reps calf-raises toes
straight, 90 lbs; prone leg-curl, 12 reps, 80 lbs; 35 reps calf-raises
toes pointed outwards, 90 lbs; prone leg-curl, 12 reps, 80 lbs; 35 reps
calf-raises toes pointed inwards, 90 lbs.
|
Shoes: Adidas Bracara indoor shoes
Nike T90 under-inflated to 3.0 psi |
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April 27 07
Friday
Waltham YMCA
800 PM-945 PM |
Jogging conditioning weightlifting |
Did my special type of conditioning which is, run a mile, walk a mile, run a mile, walk a mile, run a mile, walk a mile, for a total of six miles. Only since I ran out of time I was only able to do 4 miles. On the treadmill the first mile I ran at 4 mph; 2nd mile I walked at
2.5 mph; third mile I ran at 5 mph; 4th mile I walked at
3.5 mph.
So I rapidly got down to the fastest time I did in my one week of
conditioning in March, 5 mph. This is the first time I have done
conditioning since March 15-23, and the week in March was the first time I
had done conditioning in years. This was the first time in this
year's few days of conditioning that I ran the 5 mph not in the first mile
by afterwards. Still it was easier in terms of getting winded
than the 5 mph mile in March, I sweated a moderate amount but not
alot, and there was little pain in my calves. Likewise the 4 mph mile I
started with today was easier than the 4 mph miles in March. Possible
reasons for such phenomenon: my 'hypostatic' strategy of alternating
mile run and mile walked is working; the calf-raise/prone-leg-curl
exercises are beneficial; I switched today to using the Adidas
'Powerline' cross-trainers while jogging instead of the Adidas Bracara
indoor shoes; I managed to be clever enough to run in a way that miminizes
pain in the calves (keeping legs straightish, maximizing contact of heel
with the ground (treadmill surface). Funny how it sometimes takes a while
to figure out how to do something simple. In March it somehow
escaped me, that modifying form while running could reduce pain in the
calves. When you think of the ideal greek-god type athlete
jogging, you think of a motion featuring the heel rising off the ground
and forward impetus provided via the toes on the ground while the heel
rises upwards. But such a greek-god type motion puts stress on the calves
that my calves are not ready for. I get the feeling that I have hit
on something that will produce impressively fast improvement in my mile
times, in this alternating a mile run and a mile walked with only minimal
pauses (re-setting the treadmill settings) between miles. When you walk a
mile after jogging a mile, you are resting while you are exercising and my
my hunch is that such 'hypostatic' combination of rest and exercise is in
a mysterious way especially healthful.
Then I went and did the weightlifting: 35 reps calf raises toes
straight 90 lbs plus bar; 12 reps prone leg curl 80 lbs; 35 reps calf
raises toes pointed out 90 lbs plus bar; 12 reps prone leg curl
80 lbs; 35 reps calf raises toes pointed in 90 lbs plus bar; 12
reps prone leg curl 80 lbs;
After the workout I shaved and got dressed up in my 'Cesarani'
tweedish grayish suit-and-tie type jacket, my dark brown 'Country
Gentleman' hat that is like a small cowboy hat, my sleeveless gray sweater
and my green shirts and my light brown pants and went to Franco's on Moody
St. in Waltham. I looked in the mirror while sitting in the bar, seemed to
me looking in the mirror behind the bar that I looked handsome,
seemed I am getting better looking as I get in better shape (I realize
that I am a prejudiced judge, judging my own self's looks, but if the
person I was looking at in the mirror was someone other than myself I
would have thought him to be handsome anyway). At Franco's the when you
sit at the bar is such that you get the even kind of light that it seems I
look best in.
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Shoes: Adidas Powerline Crosstrainers Ball: N/A |
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4/28/07 650-800 PM
Waltham Y |
jogging/running
conditioning
weightlifting |
Before workout, had some Baja Fiesta trailmix, a banana,
tangerine juice, fish oil, hemp oil, cod-liver oil, wheat-germ oil,
mineral pill, 'B-50' CVS vitamin pill, vitamin E pill.
Did my special type of conditioning which is, run a mile, walk a
mile, run a mile, walk a mile, run a mile, walk a mile, for a total of six
miles minimal pauses between miles to adjust tread mill settings.
Only since I ran out of time this time I was only able to
do 2 miles. On the treadmill the first mile I ran at 6
mph new personal record; 2nd mile I walked at 2.0 mph for 0.1
mile, and 3.5 mph for 0.9 miles.
The 6 mph mile was not painful in the calves or legs,
but I sweated a fair amount, and I was breathing hard, alot of heavy
breathing. As soon as I finished the mile, not before I finished it, I
developed a cramp in the right side of my torso. My
advice to myself is to now plateau at 6 mph until 6mph is easy, or to
retreat to 5 mph until 5 mph becomes easy. About two hours after
I ran the 6 mph mile today I realized how much it had tired me out. I feel
too tired to do anything this evening except nurd out write in my soccer
blog, listen to music, watch TV, and go to sleep. I feel like the 6 mph
mile took a toll on my immune system, I feel like I could come down with a
cold pretty easily right now. I wore the cross-trainer Adidas 'Powerline'
shoes, no shin pads or ankle guards, normal type socks not soccer
socks. I jogged the mile in a style that put minimal stress on the
calf-muscles.
Psychologically I got through this 6 mph mile, which at
my level of conditioning was difficult for me, by not scaring myself and
demoralizing myself by demanding from myself that I must run an entire
mile in 6 mph. When, going at 6 mph, I saw the clock
three and a half miles after I started the mile I felt like giving up and
slowing down or stopping before running an entire mile. But I just asked
myself to go 0.5 miles giving myself the option to slow down before
finishing an entire mile. Then I asked myself to go 0.6 miles, giving
myself the option to slow down after finishing 0.6 miles so as not to
psychologically demoralize or panic myself. Then I similarly gave myself
the option to go 0.7 mile, 0.8 miles, 0.9 miles, while leaving open for
myself the possibility of slowing down the speed before completing an
entire mile.
I think I have devised an intelligent method for
improving time in the mile, judging from my results so far. In 9
days I got myself from 4 mph for the mile to 6 mph for the mile. Thus
conceivably, if I threw caution re pushing myself too hard to the winds,
I could be at 10 mph for the mile--a six
minute mile --18 from now days on my 27th day of running/conditioning
training, and at 15 mph a 4 minute mile 41 days from now my 50th day
of running/conditioning.
I suspect judging from the principles of
auto-suggestion etc., that the kind of day-dreaming of the sort displayed
in the preceding paragraph, plays an important role in terms of rate of
improvement, and level-improved-to.
The history of my jogging
conditioning work so far this year the year 2007 (this year is
the first year in many years that I have done conditioning work) (indoor
treadmill unless noted):
DAY 1 March 15: 2 miles jogged at 3.5 mph
DAY 2: March 17: Jogged mile at
4 mph; walked mile; jogged mile at 3.5 mph; walked mile; jogged
mile at 3.5 mph; walked mile--all with minimal rest in between miles for
resetting treadmill controls. Plus calf raises at 90,
110 lbs
DAY 3: March 18: Jogged mile at 4 mph; walked mile;
jogged mile at 3.5 mph; walked mile; jogged mile at 3.5 mph; walked
mile--all with minimal rest in between miles for resetting treadmill
controls. Plus calf raises at 90 lbs
DAY 4: March 19: Jogged mile at 4 mph; walked mile;
jogged mile at 3.5 mph; walked mile; jogged mile at 3.5 mph; walked
mile--all with minimal rest in between miles for resetting treadmill
controls. Plus calf raises
and prone leg curls
DAY 5: March 20: Jogged mile at 4 mph; walked mile;
jogged mile at 3.5 mph; walked mile; jogged mile at 3.5 mph; walked
mile--all with minimal rest in between miles for resetting treadmill
controls. Plus calf raises
and prone leg curls
DAY 6: March 21: Jogged mile at 4 mph; walked
mile; jogged mile at 4.0 mph; walked mile; jogged mile at 4.0
mph; walked mile--all with minimal rest in between miles for resetting
treadmill controls.
DAY 7: March 23: Jogged
mile at 5 mph; walked mile; jogged mile at 4 mph;
walked mile; jogged mile at 4 mph; walked mile--all with minimal rest
in between miles for resetting treadmill controls. Plus calf
raises
and prone leg curls
DAY 8: April 23: On outdoors track: Jogged mile doing pattern
dribbling in 25:10; walked mile doing pattern dribbling in 25:20; jogged
mile doing pattern dribbling in 19:45; walked mile doing pattern dribbling
in 25:00; jogged mile doing pattern dribbling in 19:45; walked half a
mile
DAY 9: April 26: jogged mile at 3.5 mph; walked mile at 2.1 mph; plus calf-raises and prone-leg-curls; DAY 10: April 27: jogged mile at 4 mph; walked mile at 2.5 mph; jogged mile at 5 mph; walked mile at 3.5 mph; plus calf-raises and prone-leg-curls; DAY 11: April 28: jogged mile at 6 mph; walked mile at 3.5 mph; plus calf-raises and prone-leg-curls; Plus there was swimming 1500
yds on March 3-8; March 11-14; April 22, April
25 Today after the treadmill work, I went and did weightlifting: 35 reps
calf raises toes straight 90 lbs plus bar; 12 reps prone leg curl 80 lbs;
35 reps calf raises toes pointed out 90 lbs plus bar; 12 reps
prone leg curl 80 lbs.
|
Shoes: Adidas 'Powerline' crosstrainers |
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4/29/07
Outdoor track
ended 1:35 AM 4/30
|
Outdoors Running jogging conditioning on
track
|
Approx 4 hours before workout, had some Baja Fiesta
trailmix (Hannaford), a banana, tangerine juice, black tea with cream and
cane sugar, 1 lb Hannaford Bourbon barbecue chicken
drumsticks
Did my special type of conditioning which is, run a mile, walk a
mile, run a mile, walk a mile, run a mile, walk a mile, for a total of six
miles, minimal pauses between miles to adjust record times.
This time the running was outdoors. A long sleeved
shirt and sweatshirt were worn on top of a sleeveless T-shirt, indoors
only the sleeveless T-shirt is worn. Shorts no sweatpants on legs.
Mile 1 jogged: 17:03; 17 minutes 3 seconds; 3.5 mph
Mile 2 walked: 22:00 2.7 mph
Mile 3 jogged: 16:37 3.6 mph
Mile 4 walked: 20:16 3.0 mph
Mile 5 jogged: 15:48 3.8 mph
Mile 6 walked: 19:30 3.1 mph
Times for mile 2 and mile 6 are estimated. I walked half a
mile on the track, and then walked what I estimate to be 1000 yards
back to my house for these miles. I estimated the times by doubling
the half mile times.
I did not do my leg and calf stretching
exercises that I always do before starting the jog. Mile 1 I felt
pain in my calves, I felt like they were swelling up from the stress of
carrying some heavy weight. At the end of mile 2 I did the
stretching exercises. Mile 3 again I felt pain in my calves, but
the pain set in at a higher speed than it did in mile 1. Mile 5 I did not
feel pain in my calves, I did not feel winded, but I just felt a lack of
energy in my legs as if I was carrying a heavy weight.
Looks like running on ground as opposed to a treadmill
exercises muscles differently than a treadmill does and takes some getting
used to. Noteworthy since soccer games are not played on a
treadmill. Looks like stretching provides an
advantage.
My idea is to wear ankle-weights and a weight-vest. I
sort of regret not wearing these for everyday life or exercise earlier,
then again it is probably wise to exercise without them for a while before
using them.
You get overoptimistic predictions if you expect the
amount of time that is shaved off of a mile time ( how long it took in
minutes to run the mile) in a day to continue daily forever, because
this would mean an ever-increasing daily percentage increase in speed when
in fact one can expect the opposite. Likewise expecting the percentage
increase in mph speed experienced during a day to continue in the
future is over-optimistic. But if you project the current absolute level
of increase in mph to continue in the future you begin to get
appropriately pessimistic because such involves a reduction in the
percentage increase in speed with each passing day.
Today my speed on the walked miles kept getting faster,
I suppose because I was getting used to walking on ground not a treadmill.
And today my jogging speed went up 0.3 mph from 3.5 mph the
first mile to 3.8 mph the fifth mile even though you would expect
fatigue to decrease speed. At a speed increase of 0.3 mph per day,
I would be up to 10 mph from my current 3.8 mph in 21 days, and I would be
up to 15 mph in 38 days. Such a prediction is very similar to the
prediction derived (see previous entry) from projecting a future
increase in speed that is daily the same as the current absolute level of
increase in speed on the treadmill.
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Adidas Powerline crosstrainers |
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4/30/07
530-630 PM Waltham Y
Night-time outdoor field |
Shooting/
Passing
60 minutes
Dribbling patterns (AT/simple)
115 minutes
field goal size |
What I forgot to note in the previous entry, is that
yesterday, during the walked miles I concentrated on using my
calves, lifting my heel off the ground while walking. This seemed to get
rid of the pain I would feel in my calves while jogging miles.
I think I learned something about shooting/passing
today. Seems that switching from one kind of ball to another
throws off the shot/pass. Seems one might improve faster if one stuck with
one kind of ball for an extended period of time. Seems I should experiment
to determine: does getting the knee over the ball when shooting improve
accuracy? Does shooting hard line drives as opposed to softer shots
improve accuracy? Does following through with the foot ending up pointed
at the target improve accuracy? I thought of experimenting re
whether approaching the ball from behind the ball on the line connecting
the ball and the target is better compared to approaching the ball from a
45 degree angle relative to this line; but then again, in games you do not
have much choice re whether you approach the ball from a 45 degree angle
or from behind the ball, so you could say both should be practiced and it
is irrelevant which of these two choices produces a higher
score.
I think today I also learned something re dribbling
practice. I used to fret re how I had figured out just the right pattern
for practicing the tricks used by the all-time greats, but had forgotten
exactly what this tremendous pattern was. Today I learned that
there can be advantages to running different variations of a pattern as
opposed to just one specific pattern--you can learn something, move on to
a wisdom that is greater than the previous wisdom, experience different
types of dribbles, through such variations. Today I
learned that attempting to adhere to an exact choreographed
footwork/ballwork pattern, in which an exact pattern down to how many
paces are taken between dribbles, is adhered to, can be a
disadvantage. Less exact adherence to a pattern allows
you to experience different speeds, different new patterns.
Today I learned that trying to bundle too many different tricks
used by all-time greats into one dribbling pattern can be a mistake--the
better alternative can be to put some tricks into this pattern and some
tricks into that pattern and practice a few different patterns.
Today I learned that it can be advantageous when doing
dribbling-pattern work to combine the simple patterns I have long
been acquainted with, such as kick ball every three paces with alternating
feet, with tricks I have newly discovered to be characteristic of all-time
great soccer players.
Segment 1: 12 minutes
Took RIGHT-FOOTED CHIP-SHOT/PASSES at
target 6.5 feet high and 2.7 feet wide from 16 yards. Used
under-inflated size 5 ball, inflated to 3.0 psi. If I hit the target
without the ball touching the ground first, AND THE BALL
REACHED A HEIGHT OF APPROX 6.5 FEET (WAS SEVEN FEET LAST
TIME) DURING ITS TRAJECTORY, I counted it as a
score.
SCORE: 3 (2 hit target without arching
enough)
Lots of misses missed target by less than two feet.
Seemed to be real improvement compared to last time right foot
used. Segment 2: 12 minutes
Took LEFT-FOOTED shots at target 4 feet high
and 2.7 feet wide from 16 yards. Used size 3 Futsal inflated to 7.5
psi. If I hit the target without the ball touching the ground first,
I counted it as a score.
SCORE: 5 (3 missed by less than half-width of
ball)
A few missed by less than two feet. I could feel how
switching from the size five ball under-inflated to 3.0
psi, to the size 3 Futsal properly inflated to 7.5 psi threw me off. The
first shot and about three other ones were way off, too high, and off to
the right (my right). I could feel that this was the result of switching
balls. During this segment it occurred to me that hard line drive
shots might be more accurate than softer ones.
Segment 3: 12 minutes
Took RIGHT-FOOTED shots at target 4 feet high and
2.7 feet wide from 16 yards. Used size 3 Futsal ball properly
inflated to 7.5 psi. If I hit the target without the ball touching
the ground first, I counted it as a score.
SCORE: 3 (2 hit less than half-width of ball away from
target; 3 hit after bouncing at least once)
Many hit the wall the target was on, too high and off to
the left (my left); I could feel this was due to switching balls--this was
similar to the results in 2, except reversed as I was using my right foot
this time. This despite the fact that segment one with the big soft ball
was left-footed. I began to hit the target when I concentrated on
getting my knee over the ball when kicking it, approaching the ball from
behind the ball instead of from a 45 degree angle, and following through
with my toe ending up pointing at the target I was aiming at.
Such brings to mind possibilities for experimentation with different ways
of kicking the ball.
Segment 4: 55 minutes
Outdoors did ground-dribbling patterns using the size 3
Futsal inflated to 7.5 psi. These patterns combined tricks that I saw were
used by the all-time greats in my study of the all-time greats, with
simple patterns such as touching the ball every 3 paces. This included
work using the sole of the foot on the top of the ball.
Segment 5: 60 minutes
Outdoors did ground-dribbling patterns using the
size 5 ball under-inflated to 3.0 psi. These patterns combined
tricks that I saw were used by the all-time greats in my study of the all
time greats, with simple patterns such as touching the ball every 3 paces.
At the beginning of this segment I felt a clumsiness
induced by switching from the 7.5 psi Futsal to the 3.0 psi size 5. This
included work using the sole of the foot on the top of the
ball.
It might be interesting to note, by way of
comparison, how the target aimed at by college and pro
American-style-tackle-football kickers, compares with the targets I am
aiming at. The target aimed at by the tackle-football kickers
(college and pro) is 18.5 feet wide, there is no vertical limit.
Even assuming a 20 feet vertical limit on the target this comes
to 370 square feet. In comparison, the small target I am using,
2.7x4= 10.8 feet, is in size only 3 percent of 370 square feet; and
the larger target I am using, 6.5x2.7=17.55 square feet, is only 5 percent
of 370 square feet.
As for technique, I have read internet gurus who opine
that when kicking a soccer ball you should use the shoe-laces area of the
foot, but this does not seem natural to me, I have been using the
right side of the approx front four inches of the left foot when kicking
with my left, and the reverse when kicking with my right.
Today in the passing/shooting practice there was no lack
of power and speed or accuracy in a general loose sense in the
shots/passes. But I can remember when I started getting back into
soccer after a layoff of a few years, my shots at first were extremely
weak, it seemed I could not even hit a wall hard from ten yards.
It was as if my leg was some kind of wet noodle that would bend when it
hit the ball so the ball would not travel hard and fast.
After segment five a nice-guy Waltham cop
(I sometimes find myself secretly regretting that such types cannot
be counted amongst my current friends) informed me that technically
speaking it is trespassing to use a public park/field after the sun sets.
But he did not arrest me or give me any kind of ticket. Thus I
have reason to start thinking of alternatives to practicing in public
parks after nightfall. |
Shoes: Adidas Bracara indoors shoes Size 3 Futsal 7.5 psi
Size 5 Nike T90 under-inflated to 3.0 psi.
|
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Tuesday
May 1, 2007
Oak Square YMCA 730-1030 PM |
Indoor games on basketball court |
Did not do conditioning yesterday; had potato salad,
banana, 'oriental' (what the store labels them) noodles from
Hannaford , slice multi-grain bread approx 4 hours before the game;
had tangerine juice, wheat germ oil, cod liver oil, hemp oil, vit B
pill, mineral pill, approx 2 hours before the game.
Had-unusual-approx 12 oz black coffee approx 45 minutes before game. Seems
the coffee might not be a good idea, but I heard of some top athlete who
drinks coffee before games.
Before the games I measured the psi of the balls that
were produced. Andrew (he is the guy I called the 'star forward' on our
team in a previous week), had a ball that was I guess a
size 5, with a seat-cushion type surface, its under-inflated
psi was 5.0. There were two size 3 Brine Lobo Futsals belonging to the Y,
one at a under-inflated psi of 4.5, and another at a psi of 7.1.
There was a tennis ball style size 5, the one we we ended up
playing with, fuzzy green surface, extremely under-inflated
at 3.5 psi.
I tried doing warmups air-dribbling across the
gym using the Nike T90 I own, underinflated to 3.0 psi because I had
guessed judging from last week that the size 5 tennis-style ball they use
was at 3.0 psi. Results were not as good as the air-dribbles performed
last week using my size 3 Futsal inflated properly to 7.5 psi. Do
not know exactly why. Seems a change in size of ball does not throw
you off as much as a change--underinflation--in psi of ball when
air-dribbling. In the past my air-dribbling practice has been with a
properly inflated ball not an under-inflated ball.
The mystery re what ball would be used in the
first game, the official timed scored game (using the scoreboard) was not
revealed until the game actually started. Lo and behold and
surprise, it was the size 5 fuzzy green tennis ball like ball, which I had
found earlier in the evening to be at 3.5 psi.
In the first official game we lost 9-8.
It was a four on four, they surged ahead in the first half, we were
serious about the score all game, there were no substitutes to play on our
team, I would despite the previous week's emphasis on
conditioning quickly get tired when I would go up to play a position
other than goalie, so I played little outside the goal (when
there are subs this shakes things up so I get to play outside the goal
more). I made a lot of great saves; also, they made alot of great
shots, like hitting a Futsal-ball size target from 10 yards or
closer. When they can shoot so accurately and I cannot use my
hands, it can be almost impossible for me to stop them. Offensively
speaking it would appear that a good practice for this kind of indoors
soccer would be shooting at a futsal size target at an elevation not
higher than four feet, from distances of ten yards and closer. The other
team would get these situations where there would be two of them rushing
in on me, the only defense being me in front of the four feet high five
feet wide goal. I would "do something wrong" and they would score. then
sometimes I would get it right and they would not score. Looks
like it is not always wise to as no-hands-goalie charge a
threat who has the ball as it sort of seemed to be last week.
It got to the point where they the other team were peppering me
with shot after shot after shot, as if my team was not trying to block
their shots--I think what it is is that the players on my team, who as
they think they do, really do have good offensive dribbling and
shooting skills for this kind of game, put so much energy
into offense that they have no energy left for defense. At
least three times I made great saves, diving to block the shot without
using my hands! These were dives in which the head and shoulders
end of the body were thrown in the direction of the shot ball, as opposed
to throwing the feet end of the body in the direction of the shot ball. It
has to do with the need to cover a horizontally large area, without using
your hands--sometimes the dive gets you to the blocking point quicker than
staying upright and moving a leg--seems if I had not dived in these
instances but instead used the conventional approach of staying upright,
they would have scored. There are defensive spots you can get to quicker
(even without hands), by diving, as opposed to say taking a step, moving a
knee out to the side, moving a foot out to the side; and when the dive
option is used you can use your feet to cover one side of the goal and
your diving body from the ankles on up to the chest to cover the other
side of the goal.
Despite all the attention I paid to conditioning and
pre-game food and a light day of practice prior to the game, I did not
feel much improved in terms of endurance in game 1 compared to the
previous games. This would seem to back the theory, that
treadmills are different than normal ground for jogging conditioning, and
soccer games are played on normal ground not on treadmills.
But later when I was playing in a three on
three full court, in which I got out of playing goal a fair
amount of the time, I noticed improvement in my abiltiy to after
having already played for an hour, sort of constantly chug
around the court at about half the speed I should be moving at, running to
all the places I should be running but slowly. The difference could be
that the players in the 3 on 3 were not as well conditioned as the ones in
the first 4 on 4, so it was not so hard to keep up with them.
Generally it seems that the actual level of game-endurance has
improved some, but not in a proportion anywhere near what one would expect
judging from the improvement in my time for a mile on the treadmill (down
to ten minutes last week).
I could see, or er it seemed to me, from
the way I got winded and tired in my muscles, that conditioning will
ultimately have to involve more than just jogging/walking, it will also
have to involve intermittent sprints, and changes of
direction.
I could see how getting tired would
impair my ability to dribble by others, steal the ball from others, defend against others as a fullback as
opposed to a goalie. But tiring did not impair my ability to
pass.
Again this evening I could see that I can
dribble past defenders when I am not too tired out.
Game 1 before I got tired, When I as a goalie got the
ball, I dribbled up the middle past one opposing player, then dribbled
past a second opposing player even though his foot touched the ball. When
I did this a team-mate cleverly dropped back to play goalie. I forgot what
happened after I dribbled past these two guys, but it showed that in an
untired state I can confidently take risks and dribble by people. It shows
my team-mates can be wise re what to do when I do such things. It takes a
good amount of confidence, panache, or aplomb, or whatever you call
it, to, when playing goalie in a serious scored-on-the-scoreboard game,
instead of passing just dribble up the middle by two people on the other
team. When I get tired I feel cowardly re attempting to dribble by
people--sometimes I wonder whether unfortunately I am just a coward--but
it seems that the cowardice and lack of self-confidence is caused by
fatigue as opposed to some dire defect of character.
Some of the guys are very slick dribblers but
seems I should note that slick as they are, they compared to me are not as
good at actually moving the ball forward past defenders while keeping
control of the ball, as they are at the art of keeping the ball away from
an aggressive defender by moving it around.
Like a repeat of last week (except last week I
exploded during a 3 on 3), when after game 1 I momentarily got a
chance to play in a less tiring game featuring less square yards of
playing space per player involved, when after the first game we played 3
on 2 half-court, in about 15 minutes when I was on the team with
3 players, my team exploded for four goals, two of which I assisted on and
two of which I scored. I scored one goal with a push-shot motion,
first touch on a ball passed to me, into the goal from approx 8 yds. I
scored a second goal dribbling past one defender, then dribbling past a
second defender by setting my body to pass to a team-mate and then
changing my mind and dribbling forward (not exactly a fake I was actually
thinking of passing but changed my mind)--the second defender was juked
out of position when I set up for the pass I changed my mind about--then I
dribbled onwards and shielded the ball from another defender who
materialized from behind me with my body and shot accurately into the goal
8 yds away with the top-of-the-big-toe area of the foot I had been
practicing with earlier in the week. Also I assisted on one goal as part
of a wall-pass routine with a well-led side of the foot push-pass; and as
in the previous week, and again bringing to mind the use of
the heel in the rainbow kick--I assisted on another goal with a
perfect heel pass--I knew where the pass recipient was from hearing him
shout, and I heeled it to him without seeing him based on what I heard,
the heeled ball rolled on the ground like a bowling ball, in a fast
straight line directly to the team-mate 15 yards away who scored. All
this happened in about 15 minutes in a brief half-court interlude.
To my astonishment and chagrin--last week I was im this
soccer blog complaining about on full court playing four on four
instead of the five on five I prefer--they decided when they had enough
players for a 3 on 3, to play full court instead of half court! One of
them said he wanted to run his paunch off as he slapped his belly. I was
shocked--I had thought that four on four was like running the marathon,
and now they wanted 3 on 3. Like a replay of game 1 as the game began I
dribbled past a couple of defenders up the middle. Then I got tired and
the dribbling exploits ceased.
One thing I did well all evening was
accurate chip passes, ranging from approx 8 to approx 25 yds in
length. The new thing from me this game was lots of short chip
passes around 10 yds in length. It can be difficult to chip-pass to
someone who is nearby as opposed to far away.
In a previous game (I forgot to mention this until now),
I once passed a perfect "Sombrero" type pass to a team-mate about 3 yds
away from me--I chipped the ball that was on the ground, right over a
couple of defenders who were directly in front of me to a team-mate only 3
yds away.
I remember I had approx seven months ago on
one evening, studied how close I could get to a crossbar about six
feet high, or a fence top even higher, and still chip the ball over the
height. That was a long time ago but I learned how it is possible to chip
the ball over say a six foot high cross bar even though you are very close
to it. Seems that a little practice doing something you are good
at, can have long-lasting positive consequences.
Generally seems a fair number of the players I have been
playing with are by nature and by way of free-will/environment,
the type of player that does well scoring goals with small
goals and a no hands goalie. The trick of scoring in such a game is sort
of like half of dribbling by someone, the half of it that consists of
getting the ball passed the defender--but the half of dribbling
that consists of meeting up with the ball beyond the defender is not part
of it. This kind of scoring involves extreme accuracy at short distances
with the ball kept low for the entire shot.
Seems a key determinant of how good you are at scoring
in games with small goals guarded by goalies who cannot use their hands,
is how much experience you have attempting to score on a small goal
defended by a goalie who cannot use his hands. It is kind of a
weird activity, such scoring on small 4 feet high 5 feet wide
goals defended by no-hands-allowed goalies. It is not exactly like
dribbling, and it is not like the kind of shooting that is common in games
featuring larger goals such as the nine foot wide six feet high
official Futsal goal, or the 24 feet wide official outdoors goal.
I got one compliment from one of my usually-silent
team-mates. The Spanish-looking-guy ( he is very short and thin,
not strong, probably not a fast sprinter, but he is also very
skilled--the indoors small goal type of guy) was threatening me
in the goal and I charged him and took the ball from him then worked my
way past him out of a corner to pass to a team-mate. I forgot what the
compliment was sounded like some kind of British-type lingo used to
describe a good play. But in the end I sensed today that
last week I was being over-enthusiastic about charging the threatening
players instead of staying in the goal. Looks like as I get better at
blocking shots, staying back becomes a better choice compared to charging.
But then again, the charge is made in impossible situations such as two on
the other team threatening me all alone in the goal, so the charge can
look worse than it actually is, because as the situation is almost
impossible to begin with, the end result is often
failure.
All evening I was wondering whether the garlic
in the curry I cooked and froze that I have been eating almost every day,
was slowing my reaction time. Recently on the internet there has been talk
about how garlic slows down a persons reflexes rendering the person's
reflexes three times slower than they would be in the absence of garlic,
as a result of which supposedly test-pilots who fly
new aircraft have been told to not consume garlic within 72 hours of
flying the aircraft.
Before this game in an email to relevant Oak Sq Y
personnel I was pleading for some kind of predictability and normality
with balls. But again until the last minute we did not
know which ball we would use, the ball we used was very
under-inflated. I guess they under-inflate because the ball gets
so bouncy on a basketball court. But they could use hard properly inflated
Futsals--my experience is that under-inflation is a bigger problem than a
small ball. The ball problem could iin a way be solved with a size
five ball that is low bounce but hard like the size 3 Futsal ball--guess
what for some reason such balls apparently do not even exist--what a
brilliant world we live in. I had pleaded for more players per
square yard, what I got was less players per square yard than we
have ever had--I felt like whatever I asked for in my email to them, I got
the exact opposite. Tariq was saying that they were planning on
heading into the great outdoors soon as if such justified the high square
yds per player ratio. Another guy wanted the full court three on three
game because he wanted to run off his paunch. However common sense
declares, that in this situation when players get together to play soccer
indoors on a basketball court, the emphasis should be on skill development
through a lower square yards per player ratio, not on conditioning through
a higher square yards per player ratio. In our environment the
finding players to play with on a flat smooth surface is the
rarity, only one evening per week is scheduled for indoor soccer
at the Oak Sq Y, nobody shows up for the Waltham Y indoor soccer
hours--the other games available during the week for people like me are
outdoors on extremely bumpy fields that mess up dribbling .
By way of contrast in our environment we can do conditioning work
anytime we want to, on our own. Where is the common-sense? The opportunity
to play with other players on a flat smooth surface is an opportunity for
development of skills such as dribbling, IMHO it is folly to squander such
an opportunity on high-square-yards-per-player conditioning.
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Shoes Adidas Bracara indoor soccer shoes Ball: size 5 tennis-ball-style at 3.5 psi.
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Wednesday
May 2
Waltham Y
730-945 PM |
Notes re May 1 game
Jogging running weightlifting
135 minutes |
RE playing no-hands goalie in a 3.7 foot high,
4.7 foot wide goal as I did yesterday.
Re the game yesterday, the third weekly game at the Oak
Square Allston/Brighton Y, and the dimensions of the goal--I spend alot of
time guarding the goal as a no-hands-allowed goalie--, I can now provide a
more accurate estimate of the dimensions of the goal: 4.75 feet in width,
from middle of 2.5 inch wide vertical goalpost to middle of second 2.5
inch wide vertical goalpost; and, 3.7 feet in height, from floor to middle
of 2.5 inch wide horizontal goalpost. Earlier I had been saying, that the
goal was "five feet wide and four feet high".
In comparison to this small-sized goal we have been
playinhg with, which is a goal 56 inches wide and 44 inches high
(estimates)-- from my ankle to my knee the average width is 3 inches; from
my knee to the top of my thigh the average width is 5.5 inches, and the
width of my torso from the top of my thighs to my belly button which is at
the height of the small-size goal used in these indoor soccer games is 14
inches. The vertical height is 22 inches from the floor to my knee, 16
inches from my knee to the top of my thigh, and 6 inches from the top of
my thighs to my belly button equal to the height of these goals.
Thus, the width of my two lower legs from the shin
on down cover only 6/56=11% of the width of the goal; the width of my two
thighs from knee to top of thighs covers only 20% of the width of the
goal, and the width of my torso from the top of my thighs to my belly
button the vertical height of these small goals covers 25% of the width of
the goal. Furthermore, from the sole of my feet to my knee vertically
speaking covers 50% of the height of these small-sized goals, the
vertical height from mid-knee to top of thigh covers 36% of the height of
these goals; and the vertical height from the top of my thighs to my belly
button which is at the vertical height of these goals covers the remaining 14% of the vertical height of these
goals.
Thus you can see what a tough job I have
when I get peppered with shots from ten yards or closer by the other
team, shot after shot; also how difficult it is for me when two members of
the other team come in on me unmolested as I try to guard the 4.7 feet by
3.7 feet goal without using my hands.
My lower legs up to the knee
cover 50% of the vertical height of these small-sized 4.7x3.7
foot goals, but they cover in terms of the average width of
both of the lower legs, only 11% of the width of these goals.
My two thighs
from mid-knee to the top of the hip, cover 36% of the height of
these small-sized 4.7x3.7 feet goals, but together the width of my two thighs covers only 20% of
the width of these goals.
My torso from the top of my thighs
to my belly button covers 14% of the height of these small-sized 4.7x2.7
feet goals but this section of my torso covers only 25% of
the width of these goals.
Thus you get these "theatrics", in which I dive
and block the shot without using my hands, theatrics which if left undone
would end up allowing the other team to score. And thus you get the
"theatrics" involving me charging the offensive player and stripping him
of the ball, when one or more than one of them attack me in the goal with
nobody on my team there to help me--again "theatrics" which prevent goals
from being scored.
And so looking at the widths of the lower and
upper legs and the torso alone, it would seem that shooting at
a height equal to the no-hands-goalie's shins provides a good chance of
success. But then you have to take into account, that the lower legs can
be moved farther more quickly than the upper legs or the torso.
Unfortunately this reminds me of tragic history, such as machine-gunners
in WWI aiming their bullets at the enemies' knees to mow them
down.
RE practice today
I estimate the basketball court at the Y has outer
boundaries a rectangle 18 yds wide, 30 yds long. Estimated circumference
96 yds. I estimate 18 laps of this court is a mile, 59 lengths is a mile,
98 widths is a mile. Did 5.5 miles non-stop, with minimal stops for record
keeping, alternating mile run, mile walked.
Mile 1 run, 18 laps clockwise outside perimeter of
basketball court. Time: 16:02
Mile 2 walked, 18 laps clockwise outside perimeter of
basketball court. Time: 21:08
Mile 3 run, 59 lengths of court, touching end-lines with
foot and turning around. Time: 17:23
Mile 4 walked, 59 lengths of court, touching end-lines
with foot and turning around. Time: 20:54
Mile 5 run, 98 widths of the court, touching end-lines
with foot and turning around. Time: 18:24
Mile 6 walked, half mile only this time, 49 widths
of the court, touching end-lines with foot and turning around. Time: 11:13
extrapolates to 22:26 time for mile.
Weightlifting
35 reps, 90 lbs + bar, calf-raises toes straight; 12
reps, 80 lbs, prone leg curl; 12 reps, 90 lbs + bar, shallow squats (bar
lowered one foot);
AND
35 reps, 90 lbs + bar, calf-raises toes out; 12 reps, 80
lbs, prone leg curl; 12 reps, 90 lbs + bar, shallow squats (bar lowered
one foot);
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Adidas 'powerline'
crosstrainers |
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Thursday
May 3
|
Notes re May 1 game |
More retrospective notes re game on Tuesday May
1
Come to think of it, you have to take into account how long a game
goes on for, when you evaluate how many goals are scored, and when they
are scored.
Game 2 at the Oak Square Allston/Brighton YMCA, went on for at least
75 minutes best as I can recall (two 20 minute halves regulation time plus
overtime), and the other team scored 2 goals on me in the first five
minutes. The other team won game 2, 7-6. Thus, in game 2 in
the first five minutes we (most of the time I am the
no-hands-allowed goalie), allowed one goal per 2.5 minutes and after
that the rate in terms of goals we allowed was one goal per 14
minutes maybe lower. In game 3, in the first 20 minutes we fell
behind either 5-2 or 5-1 I am not sure which, and after that in the next
50 minutes (the game this time went on for 70 minutes although 40 minutes
is regulation time), the score was in our favor at least
7-4 our favor. Thus in game 3 we gave up a goal every four
minutes in the first twenty minutes, but thereafter we gave up only once
every 12.5 minutes.
After game 2 I had sent an email to the Oak Sq / Allston Brighton Y
in which best I can recall I talked about and gave the link to this hyar
log where I had talked about the other team getting ahead in the first few
minutes of game 2. They proceeded to do the same thing in game
3.
Beyond what I said in this hyar soccer log in the entry
after game 2 where I mentioned how the no-hands-goalies in these games do
not get warmed up like the fullbacks and the forwards (and what one might
call mid-fielders), 'Tariq' who is in charge of these games, was
according to my instructions, supposed to get a copy of the email I
sent to the Oak Square Y that referenced this hyar soccer blog, after game
2. Strange that the other team would accomplish the same trick
they accomplished in game 2 in game 3, putting all their energy into an
offensive burst early in the game. Plus you have the fact that 'Tariq'
plays at a loud volume this Jamaican-sounding reggae music that puts me
the guy playing no-hands-goalie to sleep. Plus you have the fact that for
a guy like me who fancies himself a player outside the goal, a defender or
midfielder or forward, playing no-hands-goalie is a sleepy boring dull
experience.
Then you have the fact (I think I know this from the games in which
we had substitutes and the other players on my team spent more time in
goal) that the other team gets all psyched up to score when I
am the guy playing goalie. It's like getting psyched up to score
on Cicinho (Brazil national team fullback). It gets I suppose the
adrenaline running.
Then you have the problem that I as of now one of the four guys on my
team am out of shape (I run the mile on normal ground at 15
minutes, on treadmill at 10 minutes), is exacerbated by the fact
that one of the guys on my team, a guy that frankly seemed to me (a person
who lacks perfect wisdom) to be a white Jewish guy, was as I saw
with my own eyes playing in a basketball game, five on five or four
on four, an energy-consuming game, before he joined my team for the
official soccer game we lost 9-8. He was the only guy on either
team that I saw doing something tiring like playing in a basketball game
before our soccer game. It is reasonable for me to suspect, that
the fatigue that this guy feels as a result of playing in hard-fought (but
admittedly half-court) basketball games before joining our soccer team, is
a factor influencing the final score in games that our team plays.
Generally speaking I feel that my team would never
lose, if my team did the following: train for at least seven hours a week
putting half the time into conditioning and half the time into practicing
defense--combined with putting more energy into defense in games.
My team concentrates on offense and they play an offensive style that
requires plenty of energy. Then when they are on defense they it seems
slack off and let me the no-hands goalie carry the load. To tell you the
truth IMHO as of now, it seems to me that my team, needs to get into
better shape; and it seems to me that my team, good as they are at being a
"tricky forward" type, does not put enough attention, time, and energy
into playing defense.
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5/3/07
Outdoors track
700-900 PM |
Outdoors
Jogging/walking 120 minutes |
Before the run, all I had was one or
two cups black tea, with non-dairy creamer and cane sugar. Dont remember
if I used one or two teabags in the cups of tea. The result was a
good run, similarly I accomplished my best time swimming the 1500 yards,
in March, when all I had before swimming was a couple of cups of green
tea.
Did my special type of conditioning which is, run a mile, walk a
mile, run a mile, walk a mile, run a mile, walk a mile, for a total of six
miles, minimal pauses between miles to adjust record times. The
running was outdoors. A long sleeved shirt was worn on top of a
sleeveless T-shirt, plus shorts. The first mile only, I wore a
sweatshirt and sweatpants also.
Times today May 3:
Mile 1 jogged: 16:05; 3.7 mph
Mile 2 walked: 18:40; 3.2 mph
Mile 3 jogged: 15:13; 3.9 mph
Mile 4 walked: 17:39 3.4 mph
Mile 5 jogged: 14:12 4.2 mph
Mile 6 walked: 16:57 3.5 mph
Previous times:
I also did some running May 2 indoors on basketball court, estimated
distance run. Times April 29
Mile 1 jogged: 17:03; 17 minutes 3 seconds; 3.5 mph
Mile 2 walked: 22:00 2.7 mph
Mile 3 jogged: 16:37 3.6 mph
Mile 4 walked: 20:16 3.0 mph
Mile 5 jogged: 15:48 3.8 mph
Mile 6 walked: 19:30 3.1 mph
Analysis:
There was sharp improvement today in all six mile
times. Again, third mile run was faster than second mile
run, which was faster than first mile run; and third mile walked
was faster than second mile walked which was faster than first mile
walked. Such flies in the face of the idea, that times should slow down
due to the effects of fatigue.
Apparently my individual situation, is such that for me it takes
alot of running/walking warmup to get to the point where the effect of
pain in the calves is reduced or almost eliminated. Thus you can see how
the alternating mile jogged mile walked approach (an approach I dreamed up
on my own, my own invention), is an appropriate solution for me, that
keeps me aware of the fact that despite the pain in the calves in the
first mile run, there is hope for me. If I had been simply
running one or two miles, I might have ended up concluding that there
is no hope and given up--or I might have concluded that the problem was a
medical problem requiring expert medical insight, which could have led
into mistakes in diagnosis and therapy and distracted me from the real
solution.
Before I instituted this approach, things were at a very bad point--I
could not even run an entire mile without stopping to walk, because of the
pain I would feel in my calves and also in the soles of my feet. So as of
now I feel I have hit on a wise approach, the six miles alternating a mile
run and a mile walked.
My current rate of improvement in absolute terms,
is 0.2 mph per running session. At this rate I will be at 10 mph in
29 days, and at 15 mph in 54 days.
A good strategy for me seems to be to go as fast as I
feel like going, relatively fast in the first lap, slow down to the
threshold of calf-pain the second and third laps, then speed up the fourth
lap and end with the fastest speed of the mile run for approx the last 100
yards.
Basically I got to the pathetic level as a jogger that I am
trying to climb out of, due to years of not doing any jogging and little
walking.
Nice cool sunny day outside today. Near one corner of the track some
young white adults were doing things like calisthenics involving standing
in one spot and moving balls around with the arms without throwing or
kicking the balls. As I ran past them I felt they empathized with me or
secretly rooted for me, wanted me to succeed--I was going really slow but
I look athletic, and my face has been getting more and more handsome with
the conditioning work. One of these folks was this pretty yellow haired
tall slimly built young adult white female, who had a longish narrowish
face. I think as she walked in my direction, she said, "yes!", but I am
not sure. Afterwards I was thinking, what is it with these people who love
to say derogatory things about beautiful nice good white females, all
because the middle class type people of this nation are facing a dangerous
and difficult financial future? Is such the proper approach to take
with regards to persons who are not rich who face financial problems in
the future because their nation's leaders have messed up? What kind of
people are these critics, do they bow to a trinity composed of wickedness,
ugliness, and wealth?
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Adidas 'Powerline' cross-trainers |
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5/4/07 outdoors track
730-930 PM |
Outoors jogging/walking 120 minutes |
Before the run, all I had was
one cup tea made with one green tea bag plus one black tea
bag, with non-dairy creamer and cane sugar.
Did my special type of conditioning which is, run a mile, walk a
mile, run a mile, walk a mile, run a mile, walk a mile, for a total of six
miles, minimal pauses between miles to adjust record times. The
running was outdoors. A long sleeved shirt was worn on top of a
sleeveless T-shirt, plus shorts. The first mile only, I wore a
sweatshirt and sweatpants also.
May 4-sleep deprived, 2.5 hours sleep only
Mile 1 jogged: 15:45;
Mile 2 walked: 18:59;
Mile 3 jogged: 14:39;
Mile 4 walked: 18:35
Mile 5 jogged: 13:33 4.4 mph
Mile 6 walked: 18:10 Previous times:
May 3:
Mile 1 jogged: 16:05; 3.7 mph
Mile 2 walked: 18:40; 3.2 mph
Mile 3 jogged: 15:13; 3.9 mph
Mile 4 walked: 17:39 3.4 mph
Mile 5 jogged: 14:12 4.2 mph
Mile 6 walked: 16:57 3.5 mph
I also did some running May 2 indoors on basketball court, estimated
distance run. Times April 29
Mile 1 jogged: 17:03; 17 minutes 3 seconds; 3.5 mph
Mile 2 walked: 22:00 2.7 mph
Mile 3 jogged: 16:37 3.6 mph
Mile 4 walked: 20:16 3.0 mph
Mile 5 jogged: 15:48 3.8 mph
Mile 6 walked: 19:30 3.1 mph
Analysis: Despite getting only 2.5 hours sleep instead of the
usual approx 8, the best time for the mile today was 39 seconds faster
than the best time yesterday, 0.2 mph faster. Looks like a worthwhile
workout can be gotten in even when there has been unusually little
sleep. Yet again the story was, that the pain in the calves did
not stop being a factor impeding pace, until after two miles had been
walked and two jogged. If I was not using the alternator approach a mile
jogged, a mile walked etc etc, my daily best time would be
slower over the given distance than what my daily best time is with the
alternator approach. Without the alternating approach I would not even
know, about how I have to do four miles just to get over the calf cramps,
I would not even know that I am faster once these calf cramps have been
gotten over.
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Adidas 'Powerline'
cross-trainers |
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May 5 2007 Outdoor track
810-1010 PM |
Jogging running conditioning 120 minutes
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Before the run, all I had was two cups tea
each made with one green tea bag plus one black tea bag, with
non-dairy creamer and unrefined-type . Seems I was so enamored
with the wisdom of just consuming two cups of tea immediately before going
out to go running, that I forgot about how it is important to get
potassium through things like bananas approx 3 hours before going running
so as to reduce things like calf-cramps.
Did my special type of conditioning which is, run a
mile, walk a mile, run a mile, walk a mile, run a mile, walk a mile, for a
total of six miles, minimal pauses between miles to record times. The
running was outdoors. A long sleeved shirt was worn on top of a
sleeveless T-shirt, plus shorts. The first mile only, I wore a
sweatshirt and sweatpants also.
Today was the second day in a row run after
being sleep deprived the night before the run. The best time
today was only 12 seconds faster than the best time yesterday, only
0.1 mph faster; however the time for all 3 miles put together was 42:16
(4.3 mph) today, whereas yesterday for all 3 miles the time was 43:57 (4.1
mph).
Looks like I need now to jog a mile and walk a
mile just to loosen up my calf muscles to the point where calf-cramps do
not impair my running ability.
Results today:
May 5-sleep deprived again, 3.5 hours sleep
only
Mile 1 jogged: 15:17;
Mile 2 walked: 18:37;
Mile 3 jogged: 13:21 (4.5 mph);
Mile 4 walked: 18:30
Mile 5 jogged: 13:38
Mile 6 walked: 18:19 May 4-sleep deprived, 2.5 hours sleep only
Mile 1 jogged: 15:45;
Mile 2 walked: 18:59;
Mile 3 jogged: 14:39;
Mile 4 walked: 18:35
Mile 5 jogged: 13:33 4.4
mph
Mile 6 walked: 18:10 May 3:
Mile 1 jogged: 16:05; 3.7 mph
Mile 2 walked: 18:40; 3.2
mph
Mile 3 jogged: 15:13; 3.9 mph
Mile 4 walked: 17:39 3.4 mph
Mile 5 jogged: 14:12 4.2
mph
Mile 6 walked: 16:57 3.5 mph
I also did some running May 2 indoors on basketball
court, estimated distance run. Times April 29
Mile 1 jogged: 17:03; 17 minutes 3 seconds; 3.5
mph
Mile 2 walked: 22:00 2.7 mph
Mile 3 jogged: 16:37 3.6 mph
Mile 4 walked: 20:16 3.0 mph
Mile 5 jogged: 15:48 3.8
mph
Mile 6 walked: 19:30 3.1 mph
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Adidas 'Powerline' crosstrainers |
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May 7 2007
Notes on Futsal Goalkeeping |
Written commentary |
Interesting Facts--Futsal Goalkeeping Compared to Soccer Goalkeeping (Football) Futsal and soccer allow goalies to use their
hands the type of Futsal/soccer I have been playing does not allow me to
use my hands as a goalie
At the 2004 Futsal World Championships, goalies
allowed to use their hands gave up approximately one goal every 14
minutes; they faced a shot on goal approx once every 3 minutes. Approx 20
percent of the shots on goal were goals (http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/FutsalGoalScorers/0,3977,FUTSAL-2004-T,00.html).
If the number of goals-per-minute and shots-on-goal-per
minute at the 2006 eleven on eleven Soccer World Cup had been the same as
at the 2004 Futsal World Championships, there would have been at
the eleven vs eleven World Cup approx 6 goals scored by each team per
game, and there would have been approx 30 shots on goal faced by each
goalie in each game.
In reality at the 2006 normal eleven vs eleven full
field world Cup in 2006 (2006 FIFA World Cup), 29 goals were scored in 16
games from the round of 16 onwards ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_FIFA_World_Cup
). That computes to approx one goal per team per game. Thus you
could say that in Futsal goals are six times as common as they are in
normal eleven vs eleven full field soccer/football.
These FIFA 2004 Futsal Championship hands-allowed
goalies guarded goals 9.9 feet wide and 6.6 feet high; as no-hands-goalie
I've been attempting to guard a goal 4.7 feet wide and 3.7 feet high.
By stretching out one's arms to one's sides one
can add approx 5 feet of wingspan so to speak to one's reach; by
reaching a hand as high upwards as possible one can add approx 2 feet
vertically above one's head to one's reach. The top Futsal goalies tend to
be long-limbed. then you have the fact that a goalie can make better
use of the dive when he can stretch out and use his hands.
The best Futsal players in the world ( http://www.fifa.com/en/news/feature/0,1451,104737,00.html?articleid=104737
) ( http://www.fifa.com/en/news/feature/0,1451,104628,00.html?articleid=104628
) are professionals who specialize in playing pro Futsal, even though pro
Futsal does not pay as well as pro eleven vs eleven soccer. Seems
that Falcao ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alessandro_Rosa_Vieira
), sometimes rated as the world's best Futsal player, tried to succeed in
pro eleven on eleven soccer gave up and went back to five on five Futsal.
Looks like the guy rated second best at the 2004 Futsal World
Championships plays on FC Barcelona's pro Futsal team not on its pro
soccer team ( http://www.fcbarcelona.com/web/english/futbol_sala/temporada_06-07/plantilla/jugadors/javirodriguez.html
). It has been said that the top Futsal players are rarely able to
transition into playing eleven on eleven soccer on a full sized field (
http://www.soccerpulse.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t30158.html
).
You can find DVDs on sale that devote specific sections
to warming up Futsal goalies in preparation for the game ( http://www.howtoplaysoccer.com/proddetail.cfm?CFID=623&CFTOKEN=72598523&ItemID=1018&CategoryID=2
).
Seems what is required in a Futsal goalkeeper is
technique and quickness.
Some outstanding articles/links that at
least in part mention Futsal goalkeeping:
http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/index/0,2442,104565,00.html?comp=Futsal&year=2004&articleid=104565
http://www.kinnane.com/pridefc_training_julio_franco.htm The Styles of Play that Succeed In Slash Are
Developed By Futsal:
My overall estimate re the rank of all the teams at the
2004 World Futsal championships ( http://www.fifa.com/en/comp/futmatches/0,3919,FUTSAL2004S12,00.html
) is:
1
spain
italy brazil argentina portugal czechoslovakia ukraine usa paraguay, japan, egypt, iran; cuba, thailand, Taipei 16 australia Comparing the normal soccer rankings at http://www.fifa.com/en/mens/statistics/index/0,2548,All-Apr-2007,00.html
to the Futsal rankings at http://www.futsalworldranking.be/
and, looking at the ranking I estimated for the 2004 World Futsal
championships, it appears that Futsal is Latinish, eastern-europeanish,
and un-western-european; generally Eastern European nations rank higher in
Futsal than in normal soccer, major normal-soccer western european powers
rank surprisingly low in the Futsal ranks, the normal soccer Latin
powers are also at the top in Futsal. There is some indication the eastern
european nations at the World Futsal Championships depended on their
defense.
It appears that: the Latin
(Spain/Portugal/Italy/South-America) type offense skills succeed in Futsal
and are developed by Futsal; the eastern european type defense skills
succeed in Futsal and are developed by Futsal; western european type
soccer skills relatively speaking are not as applicable to Futsal or as
developed by Futsal.
Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, Hungary, Slovenia, Belarus,
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovakia, all do significantly better in the Futsal
rankings than they do in the normal soccer rankings. Whereas, Germany is
not ranked in Futsal at all, and England and France are at shockingly low
ranks in Futsal, eastern european nations like Czechoslovakia, Ukraine,
and Poland, are ranked in normal soccer approx at the level they are
ranked in Futsal.
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May 7 2007
Outdoors jogging around the block |
120 minutes jogging running |
Before the run, all I had was two cups tea
each made with one green tea bag plus one black tea bag, dont
remember sugar creamer details.
Also before the run had two bananas.
Did my special type of conditioning which is, run a
mile, walk a mile, run a mile, walk a mile, run a mile, walk a mile, for a
total of six miles, minimal pauses between miles to record times.
The running was outdoors around the block running on the
sidewalk. A long sleeved shirt was worn on top of a
sleeveless T-shirt, plus shorts. Entire time, I wore a
sweatshirt and sweatpants also. Twice around the block is 0.84
miles which counted as each mile run/jogged today.
Night after May 5 I was sleep deprived approx 3 hrs
sleep; night after May 6 prior to the workout today I the got normal
amount sleep.
Results today:
May 7- around block twice, which is actually 0.84 miles
counted as 1 mile
Mile 1 jogged: 13:48;
Mile 2 walked: 16:46;
Mile 3 jogged: 13:51
Mile 4 walked: 16:55
Mile 5 jogged: 13:46
Mile 6 walked: 15:52
13:48 for 0.84 miles run on the sidwalk today,
would be equal to 16:25 for 1.0 miles. This is a slowdown compared
to previous times on the rubber track.
Course run today is the same course, twice around
the block, which I could not run a non-stop mile on, a few years ago,
without slowing down to walk because of the pain in the calves and
the soles of the feet. Could be that indoor soccer shoes simply do
not provide enough padding for such runs on the sidewalk--today I used the
Adidas 'Powerline' cross-trainers.
Today the first mile I ran, there was plenty of
pain in the calves and in the soles of the feet (on the rubber track the
pain is in the calves not the soles of the feet); but this pain
was only slightly present in the second and in the third
miles I ran.
Compared to rubber track the sidewalk is slanted
sideways, it is a hard surface, for long stretches there is a significant
upwards incline and for long stretches there is a significant
downwards incline, corners are sharp 90 degree angles instead of gradual
curves.
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Shoes--
Adidas
'Powerline'
cross-trainers |
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May 8 2007
Oak Sq
Allston/Brighton
YMCA
730 PM - 10:30 PM
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Indoor games on basketball court |
During the game today I showed an ability to
shoot long accurate hard left-footed 20-30 yard shots, even though I have
not recently been practicing these shots or been having a chance to
take such shots in games.
During the warmup I decided to join the other guys in their warmup, they were passing around a size 3 Futsal. I concentrated on one touch passes, kicking the ball that was passed to me to a pass recipient without stopping it first, usually kicking roller passes. I noticed that the whole technique of making accurate push-passes came back to me, a technique I had refined in grade school and high school but had worked on very little since. I suppose in high school I concentrated hard on
doing simple things like one-touch push passes well--a one-touch push pass
is a great way to not get into trouble with coach, team-mates or fans when
you are scared and do not know how to dribble or shield the ball and plus
have no right foot and are a slow runner such is what I was in grade
school and high school.
Believe it or not, the positioning of the arms has for
me alot to do with making an accurate push pass with my feet.
During the warmup I made alot of accurate hard
fast rolling on the ground one-touch push passes that traveled 15-20 yds,
mostly with my right foot even though I am left-footed, the
passes involved all different kinds of angles between the line of approach
of the ball to me and the line it would take when I passed it away from
me. Looks like the volleying, air-dribbling work I have been doing
with my right foot, has had a positive side-effect of somehow
developing things like the right-footed side-of-the-foot rolling
push-pass.
Although I had basically no right foot in high school
and college, today I was one-touch push-passing the ball with the side of
my right foot as if I had been born right-footed and been push-passing
with my right since I was two years old. I flicked my foot on these push
passes with my right in a surprisingly natural way. This was while
passing the ball around during warmup with the tall Moroccan who
wears the Oak Sq Soccer crimson-ish shirt, who I always play against in
the official games, and also Andrew, who plays on my team in the
official games and wears the green Oak Square soccer shirt. I was during
these warmups able to turn air-balls into accurate grounder push-passes on
one touch. I did some air-dribble and chip-volley stuff too.
We played 99 percent of the time today using an
underinflated approx size 3 lobo Brine Futsal, inflated to about 3.0 psi.
In the first official game, scored on the electronic
scoreboard, it was as usual us most of whom wore green Oak
Square Y Soccer shirts, against them most of whom wore Crimsonish Oak Sq Y
soccer shirts. We lost 13-5. The game started as a full court 3 on
3. Tariq over-ruled Herod--Herod is the name that I give to the
"Jewish-looking" guy on my team who I saw playing basketball before
playing soccer with us. Herod wanted to play half court 3 on 3. Tariq,
decided it would be full court 3 on 3. Whereas what I prefer full court is
5 on 5 and what we have been playing is 4 on 4. I like Herod would
have preferred 3 on 3 half court to 3 on 3 full
court.
I started out in goal. I had no warmup, the tall
Moroccan on the other team, and the tall pink-cheeked guy on the other
team, kept getting opportunities against me the goalie, me by myself
against one or both. The extremely loud reggae music was putting me to
sleep. The simple act of playing no-hands-goalie was putting me to sleep.
Maybe my earplugs were putting me to sleep but the Reggae music was
incredibly loud with one earplug removed. Tall-Moroccan and pink-cheeks
are in my eyes both like pros when it comes to scoring on no-hands-goalies
such as myself defending small goals. In the first 5 minutes they
scored 5 goals on me. A goal a minute. Tariq took over in
goal on my team replacing me for a couple of minutes as we switched to a
four on four game, they scored two goals on Tariq in two minutes,
a goal a minute again--and Tariq is good at
dribbling and shooting and defense. The other approx 33 minutes
of the game they scored 6 more goals on me a goal every 5.5
minutes as they slowed to a more normal rate of scoring. It
seemed as if I was worse than usual at goalie/defense but Tall-Moroccan
and Pink-cheeks were doing a boffo job of attacking me and scoring on me
and were only lightly defended against.
My problem is that I really do not know what to do when
guys who are in my eyes like pros at scoring on me, confront me with
the ball in their possession, me being the only defense to stop
them from scoring. Should I drop back into the goal, or should I
charge the guy with the ball? Sometimes I get scored on when I
charge, sometimes I get scored on when I drop back. Sometimes I make a
save, when I charge, sometimes I make a save when I drop back. I do not
even consider sliding on the basketball court.
These "pros" like Pink-Cheeks and Tall-Moroccan can sort
of hit a grapefruit size target hard from 10 yards, they know exactly
where to fire the shot to take advantage of a no-hands-goalie, it is
hard to stop their shots. Seems the mystery is (aside from of course how
things depend on the particular situation) that certain types of players
should be charged, and for other types one should retreat into the goal,
and as of now I do not know quite how to distinguish between the two.
I suppose the ones who excel at shooting should be charged and the
ones who excel at dribbling should be retreated on but I am not
sure.
Re the game today, Herod one of the guys on my
team, the guy who was playing basketball before the soccer game last time,
seemed as if he was tired out from playing basketball again. Andrew,
another guy on my team, had told me weeks ago that he runs 3 miles at
8-9 mph on the treadmill about three times a week for conditioning--but I
have learned personally that a ten minute 6 mph treadmill mile, improved
from a 15 minute 4 mph treadmill mile, has no significant effect in terms
of fitness for actual games. So I wonder whether Andrew relying on the
treadmill for fitness is getting him fit enough for these games. When I
was able to do a ten minute mile on the treadmill, I could only do a
fifteen minute mile on the ground track.So a guy who can do an eight
minute mile on the treadmill might only be able to do a twelve minute mile
on a normal track. In fact I found this website on the internet
that agrees with me, that treadmill is lighter work than normal running.
Again with the big emphasis on the score, and fallling
behind, and my team having little energy to play defense to help me guard
the goal, and the way I can retard the rate at which my team scores goals
by playing up instead of goalie by getting winded, I got to play up front
very little in the first game. The guys I play with in the first official
game, seem to give me less chance to get outside of goal than other guys I
play with later. Once I dribbled by Pink-cheeks, but then
star pro Tall-Moroccan in their goal got the ball away from me right in
front of their goal.
I was as goalie trying to draw their defender
towards me before I passed to a team-mate this was more difficult and
useful than a quick cowardly pass--there were successes, chip successes,
successes botched by the pass-recipient. Once as I was being indecisive,
dribbling out of the goal, waiting until Tall-Moroccan was on top of
me before passing, as I edged forward with the ball Tall-Moroccan got the
ball away from me.
Spending so much time in goal, and having done
little practice in terms of ball-skills, I felt clumsy and stiff out
in front of goal playing something other than goalie. Playing goalie makes
me sleepy.
Conditioning/fitness wise I noticed significant
improvement compared to last week, running on actual ground does alot more
for game fitness than a treadmill does. there was some slight
calf/sole-of-foot pain. I am still getting winded playing up front
in front of the goal (running mile in approx 13 minutes) , but I am
husting more, the fitness is noticeably better.
On offense I made some good passes. I fired a
long 30 yard hard line drive shot at the enemy goal that was temporarily
left undefended, the shot missed wide by a foot, it hit the backboard hard
a foot above the ground. At the end with approx 15 seconds left, I fired a
hard accurate line drive curve ball at the other team's goal with the
time running out from 30 yards. I hit the left side of the ball
with the front right area of my left foot. The ball curved inwards from my
left to my right as it raced at the other team's goal, like a curve-ball.
The other team's goalie, who I call Portugalsky, a clean-shaven white guy
who I thought looked Slavic, whose dad he said is Portuguese,
sort of raced backwards and to his right and leaning back managed to
deflect the ball at the last fraction of a second with his head--the
ball would not have missed the corner of the goal by more than a foot and
might have gone in had he not managed to deflect it with his head.
Looks like the drills that I did before I got
into the long distance running I am doing now, had positive effects on my
skills and on certain types of fitness used in games, positive effects
that I now miss. Positive effects like enhancement
of: ball control, quick anaerobic bursts of speed, confidence on
offense.
After the game I got to play with the team that I have
been playing against in the first"official" games scored on the
scoreboard, guys like Portugalsky (my name for the Slavic-looking
Portugal youth), and Tall-Moroccan, and the skilled Short-Moroccan who I
thought at first was a Spaniard. We played some guys who do not show up
for the first official games, but these latter guys are approx as good as
the guys in the first official games. The reggae music had turned off,
somehow I had woken up, and I was back to my usual respectable job of
stopping shots in goal, and of charging even the best players with the
ball to steal the ball or knock it away, both as goalie and on
defense.
Seems getting to play positions other than goalie, wakes
me up so when I play goalie I am a better goalie. Seems getting to
play positions other than goalie improves my morale so I play better
goalie when I play goalie. Also getting time outside of the goal improves
one's ability to play outside of the goal. Just like a baseball pitcher
improves his ability by warming up, it takes time to get used to playing
outside the goal.
Since Portugalsky habitually plays goalie, I got time
outside of the goal in thes latter games (we won most of them). In one of
these latter games, I fired a rolling-on-the-ground left footed
side-of-foot push-pass type shot at the other team's goal but hit the post
dramatically hard from 20 yards. Portugalsky complimented me on this
shot.
Watching these guys, I noted that they use alot of
stepover type moves, fake over ball with front foot, dribble with
trailing foot, lift into air with trailing foot, pass with trailing foot,
rainbow kick with trailer foot, shoot with trailer foot, you name it, all
after front foot in feint passes over the ball. They also dribble
alot with the sole of their foot on top of the ball. Crafty Short-Moroccan
flips the ball behind his back with the sole of his foot as a way of
eluding defenders. Tall-Moroccan does alot of stop and goes.
Again I noted, gold skills and lack of fitness get
outdone by silver skills and fitness. It is hard to do
gold-skill-type skillful stuff when you do not feel peppy. Seems a lack of
pep has more negative effect on gold skills than on silver skills so to
speak.
At least one of the guys at these indoor soccer
sessions, uses the soccer sessions to keep practicing his one on one
dribbling skills. Time after time instead of passing the ball this
one short white black haired clean shaven young man, attempts to
dribble past the defender. I can tell he is deliberately using the indoor
soccer activity to improve his dribbling and to hell with how many times
he fails or if it would have been technically wiser to pass. And nobody
complains about him or other such types. Maybe I should imitate
these 'ball-hogs' who treat the indoor soccer time as a
personal-dribbling-improvement-clinic.
At least a couple of the guys today told me that I was
"good". Previously Andrew told me I was good. I keep thinking they must
mean they think I am a good man, because I do not feel that I have been
playing well. Someone I asked about the meaning of them
saying that I am "good", thought they meant I was a good player not a good
person. I suppose I play well given the limits on my mobility produced by
my lack of fitness/conditioning.
The young white ladies who work at the front
desk--seemed to me that they liked me the way they smiled at me, as if
they thought of my as family or something cute; the way they looked at me
and smiled at me they made me feel like a teen heart-throb like Donnie
Osmond, a teen idol. I was thinking that the lighting in the YMCA lobby
must produce the kind of even light I look especially handsome in.
|
Underinflated (est approx 3.0 psi) Brine Lobo size 3 Futsal |
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May 14 2007
Outdoors jogging around the block 330-530 AM |
120 minutes jogging running |
RE the goals that poured in on me at the beginning of
the game May 8, after the game, Pink-Cheeks, one of the best players on
the team that plays against us, came over to me and said, "dont feel bad".
He said "your team is (unintelligible--did not hear exactly what
he said)" as he made a dismissive gesture with his hand. He said, "they
don't play defense". It was good sportsmanship on his part, which reminds
me that these guys seems perceptive enough (note my admirable
humility) to say that I am "good", even though I am out of shape and
end up playing goalie alot and getting scored on alot. Fact is,
defending these goals with no hands, when you are facing one or even two
of the players on the other team, with no defenders to help you, or with
defenders just lackadaisically going through the motions, is indeed highly
difficult. As I pointed out before, there are six times as many
goals scored in Futsal compared to Futebol or soccer. And of course even
more goals are scored in Futsal-type soccer when the goalie cannot use his
hands. And if you add to the equation, that your team does not play
defense, in the absence of some good goalie play you can expect very high
scores.
Alot of guys seem to use these indoor soccer sessions to
practice their offensive skills. They should remember that they cannot do
this if there is nobody to play defense on them--and they neglect to play
defense vs others.
I suppose the way I would go about testing out the best
method for no-hand-allowed goalie in these games, would be to alternate
between playing aggressively, charging the players attacking me, and
fading back into the goal, and keeping track of the results of the two
methods--but they say this indoor soccer league has only two games left in
this session that is not alot of time for experimentation--do not know
what happens next after remaining two games.
Problem with charging the player who is attacking me
with no defender to help me, is that when I charge him, he can get the
option to pass to a lackadaisically defended team-mate who comes up to
help him, then his team-mate has an open goal. If I do not have defenders
with me to cover goal when I charge there is a problem.
It is hard to figure out what to do there is no coaching
advice that can be found on the internet re how to play as a
no-hands-goalie. I previously said maybe the good dribblers
should be faded back on and the good shooters charged, but it seems a good
dribbler maybe also should be charged because if you fade back into the
goal they can sort of half-dribble the ball by you. Seems the players who
are not the best ones, are more likely to waste time so the defense can
catch up with them if you do not charge them and fade back. It could be,
that what has been happening is that my team has been getting worse and
worse at coming back to play defense and the other team has been getting
better and better at victimizing me when I do not charge--a problem with
going by past experience re these things is that things are in a state of
flux.
Seems it might be a good idea to do some kind of
dance, some kind of running in place while standing in front of the goal
so as not to sort of fall asleep.
Before the run, I ate an order of buffalo wings from
Dominoe's, green tea no sugar or cream do not remember how many
cups.
As usual, today May 14, Did my special type of
conditioning which is, run a mile, walk a mile, run a mile, walk a mile,
run a mile, walk a mile, for a total of six miles, minimal pauses between
miles to record times. The running was outdoors around the block running
on the sidewalk. A long sleeved shirt was worn on top of a
sleeveless T-shirt, and regular t-shirt, plus shorts. For
first mile, wore sweatshirt and sweatpants also. Twice around the block is
0.84 miles which counted as each mile run/jogged today.
Last few days, I have for some reason had little
energy to put into running. On Wednesday May 8, after getting no sleep
after the May 7 Tuesday evening game, I spent six hours mulching a lawn.
This was tiring, physical labor after a night with no sleep. Note to
Personnel Officers: People who are potentially top athletes, can get so
tired out by physical manual labor--to the point where their ability to
excel in sports is impaired. It can be quite wrong to treat one
type of person as a privileged class that is given cushy jobs in air
conditioned offices, while another less typical or less favored type is
sent out to do tiring physical manual labor.
There were also tiring psycho-social problems I do not
feel like getting into details on--seems events that do not involve any
physical expenditure of energy can be tiring if such events are not wisely
dealt with. I Have not had the usual daily dose of wheat germ oil cod
liver oil, hemp oil, mineral pill, brewers yeast for a few days. Perhaps
the fact that such does not seem to significantly improve speed when
consumed immediately before a run, hides the fact that consuming such
things causes health benefits that do not manifest themselves right after
the substances are consumed. Perhaps doing so many six mile sessions in a
week naturally produced a need for rest.
Results today:
May 14- around block twice, which is actually 0.84 miles
counted as 1 mile
Mile 1 jogged: 13:19;
Mile 2 walked: 19:23;
Mile 3 jogged: 12:47
Mile 4 walked: 17:48
Mile 5 jogged: 12:26 4.1 mph, equal to 14:48 for
exactly 1 mile.
Mile 6 walked: 16:45
The fastest time today on the 0.84 mile track was 80
seconds faster than the fastest time on May 7. It would be equal to 14:48
for exactly a mile, 4.1 mph. I extrapolate that the
12:26 on this around the block 0.84 mile track is equal to 12:04 on
the flat rubber exactly-one-mile running track. By way of
contrast my fastest time in the mile on the flat rubber track April 29 was
15:48. The fastest time last time running previous to today was
3.7 mph. So a week's rest followed by a practice got my speed up
by 0.4 mph. At 0.4 mph per week I will be at 10 mph for the mile in
15 weeks, and at 15 mph in 27 weeks.
Seems running just once a week (doing the six mile alternate mile run mile
walked routine) doubles the improvement per practice session but
slows the overall rate of improvement down to about a third of what
it would be running about six days a week.
This around the block course is slower than the flat
rubber track.
Results last time did running, same course:
May 7- around block twice, which is actually 0.84 miles
counted as 1 mile
Mile 1 jogged: 13:48;
Mile 2 walked: 16:46;
Mile 3 jogged: 13:51
Mile 4 walked: 16:55
Mile 5 jogged: 13:46 3.7 mph; equals 16:22 for
exactly 1.0 mile
Mile 6 walked: 15:52
Today the first mile I ran, there was pain in the calves
and in the soles of the feet (on the rubber track the pain is in the
calves not the soles of the feet); the pain was less on the second mile
and less on the third than on the second. I was able to go faster before
feeling pain today.
|
Shoes--
Adidas
'Powerline'
cross-trainers |