Remembering why we're here

Last night, after a pretty intense practice that saw quite a few guys fail to finish the last sets of our 300-yard suicides (to the 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 and back each time) for one reason or another (I'm not getting into that), Josh brought the team together and told us one thing:

Don't forget why we're doing what we're doing.

It's important that we don't get so caught up in working hard, getting stuck in a routine, that we forgot what we decided our team goal was a few months back. It doesn't even need to be said because anybody who's anybody reading this knows what we want this season.

What happened last night set off quite a few talks from players on the team (there's a BBoard post based off what Josh said and Eddie talked a little about it as well).

Josh wants us to be the best conditioned team this year at nationals, that's a goal that's been said time over time with the A-team. And while I'm sure they've tried their hardest at accomplishing that goal, this team is different.

Josh knows it. Geoff knows it. We all know it.

Which is why we also need to be the most mentally tough team. We can't afford to take our mind off what we want because we need to be focused to get there. Whether it's practice, track workouts, scrimmages or tournaments, we all need to be mentally tough enough to handle any situation that we're given.

This is turning into a rambling, but I just wanted to say what I thought and get this out there because it's true. Gotta stay focused.

And part of that mental toughness will come with working hard at and away from practice, as evidence by Geoff's frustration and short talk with the guys who were on the sidelines of the sprints. We're working our asses off to get well-conditioned, which will pay even bigger dividends whenever we remember that. That's part of being mentally tough.

Gearing up for the spring season

Three weeks from now I want to be in a van — maybe even myself driving it — back from North Carolina with a tournament win. It would this team's second of the season and second in a row after winning Wilmington 8s back in November.

That tournament? Queen City.

And there's absolutely no reason why this won't happen. The teams, pools or schedule haven't been announced but that doesn't matter. It's just Team 1, Team 2, Team 3, etc. I think this is the mentality for the team right now. The last tournament we played, we won - and we beat some great teams to do it.

We haven't slowed down since then, either. A lot of guys, especially the younger and newer players have been putting in some ridiculous hours at the track and gym working on getting stronger for the season. It's showed, too, because a lot of these guys are starting to breakout as good players on this team.

Eddie has a good post on his blog about a few of the players. And I agree with what he's said. It's great to watch guys just come to their own on this team. Everybody is really starting to figure out there role. All of this and we've only had a few practices that've allowed us to use a full field for scrimmages.

For me, the last few weeks have been all about pushing others to work hard. I'm doing that through pushing myself to work harder. Two guys on the team came up to me after winter break and said the only thing that got them to go on runs or head to the gym was seeing what I posted on the "Hard Work" thread on our BBoard. I know that there are more people working out than are posting on that thread - and they're not posting for different reasons - but I think a post on that thread does a lot more good than harm, especially if your workouts are detailed enough that others can work off it.

Over the last few weeks, too, I've really started to find a great workout group. Ari, Eddie and I are lucky enough to be within relatively the same weight lifting group and we all have the same free time for about 3 days a week. That's a huge plus because Eddie is probably the hardest working guy on this team. And Ari's helping me and himself get right up there with him.

Eddie's great when it comes to lifting. Ari's come up with some great plyometric workouts and both Ari and I have been pacing track workouts. It's a good situation we've got going on right now - for all three of us - and I can't wait to get on the field and show it.

After we come back from QCTU with our first tournament win of the spring season, we'll head to Stanford for what's becoming known as a big revenge tournament. That's all I've got to say about that for now. I'll let Pitt's hard work and on-field performance do the talking.

I hate holiday hours

Trees gym closed at 3 p.m. today. It was the only one open on campus today. I had a work meeting that went past 2 p.m. Because of that, I won't get to lift today. Not cool. Not cool at all.

The Spring Season and Drinking

I've seen guys puke at Saturday and Sunday morning practices because they drank the night before.

I've seen guys look like they're dying at Saturday and Sunday morning practices because they drank the night before

And I've seen a fair share of out of shape people - not necessarily on our team - because they do a lot of drinking.

Since my personal goal for this season is to be in the best shape I can be, I've decided to significantly reduce my drinking. It's actually been on a decline over the past few months. I ended the fall semester with a bang, but the spring semester is going to be even more controlled. I think a lot of it will have to do because of weekend practices, but a lot will also have to do with my own self-control to stay in shape and just not really feel even slightly hungover the next morning.

Now, that's not to say I won't go out and have a drink or two at a party or at the bar, but late night and excessive drinking are really going to be limited.

I've saved three days for longer nights of heavier drinking:
1. The beer pong tournament
2. St. Patty's day
3. My birthday

Working Hard

A month later and I see that Eddie stumbled upon my blog. The good news: somebody's reading. The bad news: I'm updating very infrequently and didn't even see the comment until just recently.

So, in an effort to keep me more motivated for the upcoming spring season, I'm going to also get motivated to post more and keep people updated.

My personal goal for this season is to be the best conditioned person on the field. I want to motivate my teammates and outwork my opponents. I want to literally leave Wisconson in a few months knowing that there wasn't anything else I could've done better because I was in the best possible shape. Yes, I will work on my throws, but I've always been just a mid-range thrower. And, yes, I will work on my game and field sense.

But when everything comes together at Nationals, I want to be the best conditioned person on the field. That's my personal goal.

This past month wasn't all that bad in terms of working out. Both the week leading up to and including Finals Week wasn't nearly as busy as others, so I was able to get in at least 3 solid workouts per week. And I even have a gym membership back home, so I was able to workout up until the day after Christmas. But now I'm back in Pittsburgh and today was the first day that a gym opened on campus (Trees for now as the rest will open on Wednesday, I believe).

As senior in my last semester of school, it looks like I will have a very nice schedule for upcoming season: 2 classes on Tuesday and Thursday, 1.5 (the half is a one-hour per week, 3-credit internship class where I just meet and discuss) and an online/Saturday class. With practices on Tuesday and Thursday (and the weekend eventually) that leaves Mondays and Fridays open and enough time to workout Wednesday.

That's good. I'd like to see my day-by-day workout go something like this:

Monday: 1-2 mile run warmup, stretching, hard lower body workout, core/abs
Tuesday: 1 mile run warmup, stretching, shorter shoulder and back workout, core/abs, practice
Wednesday: Track workout
Thursday: 1 mile run warmup, stretching, shorter arms and chest workout, core/abs, practice
Friday: 1-2 mile run warmup, stretching, hard plyo workout, core/abs
Weekend: 2-3 mile runs and stretching, practice (if we have it), rest and recovery

I like the idea of having lower body and leg workouts on Monday and Friday because if we have a tournament, I won't be working out on either of those days, but I figure I'll be getting a leg workout anyways as I play in the tournament.