Jersey #9: Kentucky's Journey

Since the apocalyptic weather seems to have passed, the normal chill of February announced to me this morning during my workout that it would be sticking around a bit longer. Let me just say, I hate running. I mean, jogging through the woods - yeah, it's fun. Running while chasing people or a ball or whatever - also fun. But running just to kick your own ass is kind of bizarre. In reality, I believe it to be an exercise in mental strength more than physical. After all, it hurts (sometimes it hurts a lot) and there is no one out there blowing a whistle or yelling or anyone racing you for some prize. And yet, a few times a week I get out there, put my toe to the goal line, and blast off for a leg & lung torture session.

Today was one of those days.

Last night I knew I was in desperate need of building an aerobic base beyond that which is accomplished by interval runs....so I came up with this little diddy:

4 x 100
3 x 200
2 x 400
1 x 800

(1 min. rest between reps, 2 min. rest between sets)

Total meters: 2600

Okay, so it didn't sound that hard. I mean....it looks so tiny and simple on a sheet of paper. But couple those stretches up and down the field with sore legs from heavy lifting, lots of wind, and some serious lung freeze from the cold air...and well, it's hard. I'm not saying I'm in the the best aerobic endurance shape ever or anything (because I'm certainly not), but I like to think that I still have a pretty decent base built up. At any rate, I'll want to complete a few more workouts like this on a weekly basis to prepare myself for the pre-season. After that I can start shortening the distances and focus a bit more on speed and speed endurance (which will be about %1000 more fun).

After my torture session, once my legs had solidified from their jello state and my brain freeze had subsided, I managed to get in a bit of kicking. Brutus is always pretty thrilled about that and provides a formidable opponent when attempting drop kicks. I've gotten pretty good at side-stepping his block/kill-the-ball attempts to slot one through the uprights, though. I'm kinda feeling like this could be the season for my first 3 pointer if by chance I get any runs at flyhalf - J-Wil, you'd better watch your back ;)

Other than that, I did a bit in the way of box kicking, but my legs were pretty shot and weren't really up to it. I decided to call it a day when black clouds took over the sky and chilly rain droplets began to compliment the wind.....brrrr...I guess I've been spoiled by the nice weather we've been afforded up here in Philadelphia - though at the great expense of our southern brethren who were beaten down pretty bad by the tornadoes. Hopefully those kind of storms won't be a sign of more disaster to come for 2008. In the meantime, I think I can handle a bit more cold weather, lung-freeze or not.

Today's workout went pretty well. I felt strong, uninjured, and cheerful throughout the whole ordeal - all three of which are hard to accomplish at the same time. Anyways, here are the results of today's workout:

Deadlifts: (reps x lbs)
5 x 95
4 x 135
3 x 155
2 x 175
1 x 185
1 x 190
1 x 200 (PR)
2 x 185 (F@1)
3 x 155
4 x 155
5 x 155


DB Bench Press: (reps x combined lbs of DB's)
5 x 50
5 x 80
5 x 90
5 x 90
5 x 90
5 x 90

BB Shrugs:
10 x 95
10 x 115
10 x 115

Chin-ups:
3, 3, 3


I had planned on finishing up the workout with V-Sits, but the whole ordeal was taking longer than expected and I needed to get home so I will add abs to my outdoor running, etc. tomorrow. No passing today...woke up too late =( . Maybe if I get a lot of work done early I'll head out and get in a few reps before it gets dark.

Adios amigos...

Brutus had a seizure tonight....it hasn't happened in a really long time, but when it does it's really scary - for both of us. The last time he had one was over a year ago, so I had hoped that it wouldn't ever occur again, but I guess I was wrong. So far as they know, it's nothing treatable - probably epilepsy, so I just have to wait it out if it happens.

Unfortunately tonight's episode lasted a long time. He shakes and loses control of his limbs and I'm pretty sure he loses his eyesight as well. The problem is, when it happens he'll do anything to get to me, which includes tripping over things and falling all over the place, risking injury. He seems to have come out of it now...but I'm still up keeping night watch because usually when he has one, another one follows.

There are a lot of things that I could handle losing in my life, but Brutus just isn't one of them. Sure, his day will come someday and I won't be ready then, either. But right now he's young and happy and healthy...and needs to stay that way for a long time. He's my best friend, my protector, and my constant companion....the very first day I picked him up from the animal shelter I remember saying that whatever happened from here on out, it was me and him...we'd do it together. Since then, we've seen a lot. He lived with me in student housing for a few months, then in my own apartment at UK. When I made the move to Iowa, he came with me and endured all of my random 12 hour drives home - just happy to be by my side. When I decided to make the trek to Pennsylvania, he was with me again - sleeping in the truck with me and all the belongings I had to my name before finishing the 16 hour drive to the east coast.

A lot of things have changed for me since the time Brutus has been in my life. There have been new cities and new schools and new jobs and new teams. There have been a lot of lonely days, hours, and weeks as well - but no matter what, Brutus has seen me through them all. Honestly, I don't know what I would do without him. He's the glue that holds my life together - the one constant. I just really hope he's okay...


"A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself" - Josh Billings

What began as a fairly sluggish and disappointing workout ended well enough. I decided to start the week over from the beginning so as to stay on track...here goes:

Back Squat- (reps, lbs)

5 x 95
4 x 115
3 x 135
2 x 155
1 x 170 (Fail)
1 x 165
1 x 165 (Fail)
1 x 155
2 x 150
3 x 150
4 x 145
5 x 145 (F @ 4)

Pull-ups -
4, 3, 3, 4, 3

Hand Stand Push-Ups (with legs propped against bar) -
8, 8, 8, 8

Barbell Curls -
7 x 55
10 x 50
10 x 45

MB V-Sit Tosses -
20, 20, 20 (6 lb ball)



I was a bit disappointed I couldn't hit the 170 mark with my squats today, but I came in feeling more than a shade under spry, so I guess it wasn't that big of a deal. I will definitely hit it next week. I am curious about the use of heavy negatives when it comes to squats and building strength...I plan on looking it up and reporting back, but if anyone out there has any experience with this, let me know. I have dead lifts and front squats coming as my other major lifts this week and I'm really hoping that building my strength in both of those exercises will help me to improve my cleans when I move to power training.

At any rate, I found a spare patch of grass and a tall fence on La Salle's campus after I was done with lifting and decided to take a few passing reps. It actually went better than I expected considering the performance of my right hand on Saturday. Then again, I'm fairly certain that my hands aren't to blame for any of my passing woes - more likely my feet are the culprits. When passing with my left hand to the right, my right foot seems to be cooperating more with pointing in the direction of the pass than my left foot is when going the the other direction. I have a tendency to want to torque my body around, which has worked well enough for a while, but I know that I'm losing a degree of power and accuracy by passing that way. I'm sure I'll figure it out...it just takes time for the body to learn new tricks I guess.

All right. Time to work - have a good day, all.

In the spirit of renewal, I thought it might be time to update this blog a bit. I added an extra column, a rugby news feed, some fancy-shmancy slide shows, and a couple of my favorite RWC montages. Hope you enjoy...I'll probably be looking at some other gidgets and gadgets to include in the coming days....if you log on and things look kind of in a mess, well...it's probably because I'm screwing around with the format, so try again later.

In other news, the past couple of days have been spent working and catching up on my fitness a bit. After my heavy workout Thursday, I was looking to get to do a little bit of work outside but the rain stamped that out so I did about 35 min. of interval work on the treadmill instead. My legs were pretty angry after that so I spent the rest of the day friday working and using the rainy day to catch up on some reading, etc.

Yesterday I was a little bit on the sluggish side, but I made it out to the field nonetheless and actually managed to get in a pretty decent amount of skill work. Oddly enough, my drop kicks seem to be the part of my game which have improved the most. I don't really practice them very often, so I'm not really sure what that's all about, but oh well...maybe it'll help me along toward my life's goal of scoring a drop goal in a game =).

Working on my passing was also a little weird, because for some reason, my left handed pass has become a bullet, whereas my right handed pass is...eh...not so much. I worked on it for a long time and my right arm is screaming today from the effort, but hopefully I can catch it up to snuff with the left one again. Although, chances are at the beginning of the season I'll have to change my passing form completely so it won't really matter anyways - we'll see though.


As for today, "Stupor Bowl Sunday". Well. Yeah.

I watched a 6N game this morning - Ireland vs. Italy, which provided decent entertainment, even though my fave midget Peter Stringer wasn't wearing the 9 for Ireland. Since then I've just been messing around online...and then I'll probably go for a hike outdoors. And then, well, Brutus and I will probably settle in to watch the Pats and Giants and see what goes there. I don't really have an opinion on the winner, except that it might be cool to see the perfect Patriots stay that way...or I guess it could be cool to see the Giants break their hearts. Whatever I guess - it's something to do. I am quite a fan of Super Bowl parties but most of my friendsies are living in far off lands these days so I suppose I will enjoy the event with a couple of my less-talkative buddies (Brutus & P-Nutt).

Anyways, Happy Super Bowl and Six Nations to all!

It's amazing what a difference the little things can make. One phone call. One kind word. Someone to talk to over a meal of much-needed Mexican food.

A few days ago, I was on the verge of jumping ship. A lifestyle I had invested myself in had turned its back on me. Friendships I had valued were all but dissolved. My passion for a thing I had loved so very much was impossible to detect.

And then, things began to change.

One caring individual took me out to lunch, bought me some comfort food, and reminded me that some people do care. He didn't have to say a lot. Just took some time out of his day to listen a bit and offer some general advice about life. It's not that it even mattered all that much what he said. I think sometimes we just need to be reminded that we are not drowning in the abyss alone - to hear someone say, "Your life sucks right now. I understand that. Only you can make it better, but I will be here cheering you on". I didn't eat a lot at that meal, but I did soak up the company and wisdom of another human being, which was of far greater value to me than the food. Soul nourishment, you could say - and I certainly needed it.

The next day, looking upon my world with slightly brighter eyes, I learned that perspective is a funny thing. When I first began playing rugby, I believed that I was an immediate rock star. I remember imagining (falsely, of course) that there wasn't a girl in the world who could take me down or whom I couldn't take down. I believed I was immensely strong, I thought my passes were amazing, and that my knowledge was unsurpassed. Five years and much criticism later, I see the opposite. I see my passing as weak and inaccurate, my tackling suspect, my strength inferior, my speed downright embarrassing, and my knowledge as verging on the non-existent. In reality, I have likely improved by 100% in every category since my first playing days until now. However, the competition was easier and my standards were much lower. Even so, I believe in all things it is easy to forget how far we've come when we still have so far to go. Luckily I was given a reminder of the value of reviewing perspective upon meeting a few college rugby girls in the gym. Having recently had a discussion about how desperately I needed to improve my strength, I was working very hard on the weights in the hope of making some strides in that area. I didn't say much to the girls, just asked them their names and positions and told them I knew their coach and was thinking about helping out in the spring....Upon returning home, my teammate and their coach tells me, "You are going to love this. One of my girls just returned from the weight room and was telling me about how she had met U23 such and such player at the gym. She says to me, 'ohmygod she's jacked!'"

After I recovered from a fit of laughter, I realized that indeed, perspective is a funny thing. Looking back through the eyes of a wide-eyed college player, I realize now how proud of myself I would have been for having made it this far, and how much I would have killed back then for the skill and athleticism I have managed to create for myself through hard work and dedication.
I realize now that I must keep playing, not only to fulfill the dreams of the wide-eyed freshman college player I once was, but to rediscover the kind of passion which bore those dreams in the first place. I played because I loved it. And you know what, I still love it.


In a case of good things happening in threes, I am also happy to report that some of the absentees from my life seem to be slowly but surely reappearing. It's interesting that only a couple nights ago I would blog about having reached the breaking point in dealing with my losses, only to experience a surge at just the right time as to save my sanity. There is no greater feeling than to hear the voice of a sorely missed friend, especially one whom you were not sure you would ever hear from again, sounding from the receiver of the telephone. It's even better when the words are kind, the temperament is jovial, and all seems to have reconciled without skipping a beat. If the lessons we learn from past mistakes are kept in place, then perhaps a renewed friendship could prove better than the original.



To sum all of this up....I'm on a roll right now. Nothing insanely inspiring or magical has happened - just the return of normalcy. A compliment from a stranger, the voice of an old friend, and the company and kind words of another human at mealtime - all things easily taken for granted when present, and devastatingly missed once gone. Proof that the meat of life lies in the little things. In ourselves. In each other. In being ourselves with each other. As Winston Churchill said,


"Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge"


Amen to that.

So...I've never really been a cat person, mostly because they had been the source of allergy misery for most of my life until I found Allegra. However, this isn't an infomercial about the miracles of modern medicine. I just wanted to say that, well....cats aren't so bad I guess. I've recently gotten pretty attached to my roommate's cat, P-Nutt. He attacks Brutus, tries to steal my food, and gets into the cabinets when I'm not looking...but hey, at least he makes happy purring noises when he cuddles. I even broke down and bought him a catnip toy recently because I felt bad that Brutus had so many toys and he had none. Oh well, I guess I'm going soft in my old age. Here is a picture of P-Nutt helping me work today...enjoy!