Frisbee chicks are (relatively) hot

Yo,

So, Marty called me up Monday night and offered me tickets to State of Origin. I was already considering whether I was ready for my first Kai session and had my doubts, so it just forced the issue a bit sooner than Wednesday afternoon. No regrets - it was a great game and the best state won.

To make up for it, I committed to a sprint session last night (Thursday).

Put out the email for some company at ES Marks but didn’t get any response. Sad. Messaged Abra who is always up for a sprint session but he gave me the cold shoulder and a rebuke for not having a life outside Frisbee and work, but inspired me with his closing remarks “solo sessions at es marks are fun. You will be great”

Unfortunately, it was getting pretty late at work and I was missing my 7pm nominated start time for the track session. A long public transport ride home, stopping off to buy some screwdrivers to fix my computer and got to my car at 8pm and it wasn’t looking good since the track closed at 8:30pm. The temptation to pull the plug was strong my friends.

Backup plan: drive around and find a lit field and do track on the side. This would also mean less impact on my ankle by avoiding the tartan. I drove past Waverley Oval and the lights were on, a couple of gaelic football teams were training there.

Ground very dodgy, strapping tape on, pop a pill.

Did a quick lap of the field. Warmed up with a set of ABCs and some dynamic stretching.

Measured out about 40m in the in-goal area of the field, some undulating ground but not too bad, actually better than the field itself. Navigated a path with no major divots. It was slightly uphill-downhill, so I was kind of doing resistance work in one direction and overspeed in the other.

Between sprints, I had about a 30m runoff area and then walk back to start the next.

After about 6 sprints, my right shoulder really started hurting, it had been annoying me all day, but now I thought I was starting to do damage. Note: this is a remnant sand-boarding injury. Solution: bit of a stretch and suck up the pain and keep going.

Now, beside me on the field were a bunch of girls attempting to play gaelic football. Oh my god we have it good in Frisbee - not just looks, these girls were so uncoordinated they could neither catch nor kick. No wonder a bunch of Frisbee players joined gaelic in Brisbane and became stars. No distractions at the Waverley Oval track tonight.

40 sprints is a lot on your own. After each sprint I was still breathing extremely heavily before I started the next one. Many thoughts of finishing at 20. But I wasn’t dying, I could keep going.

When running in one direction, the floodlighting projected my shadow in front of me. I looked at myself and became increasingly aware of my loping gait, especially as I got more tired. After about sprint #24 I decided to take action.

“Jonathan,“ I said to myself, “you know how you did those ABCs at the start of the session? Maybe you could incorporate some of that into your sprinting?”

“Hmmm, good idea”, I responded, “perhaps concentrate on driving down more quickly and a slightly shorter stride.”

Oh baby, I am a genius. A new lease of life and a bit of extra speed through the late 20s.

Harder work though, and by about #30 I was starting to feel it in my calves, probably from the increased stress of driving down into the ground. By 32 I decided to quit to avoid any niggle.

Short warmdown and long ice when I got home. Ready for the weekend, and Kai next week! See you out there boys.