Tough Mudder Training 16 – Open Court Basketball @ South Perth

 

 

 

Although the picture doesn’t do it much justice and you may be wondering why it’s called Tough mudder training in the title. This is because I am counting this as exercise. Saturday afternoon I had finished doing the grocery shopping for the week and when I arrived home I realised the weather was holding up and it was a around the 20 degree mark. The sun was still up so I decided to head on down for the first time to a set of courts near the causeway that overlooked the city. Let’s just say it was quite amazing to play basketball in the temperature that we were, with the decent number of people spread across the three courts.

Without much of a break 1.5 hours flew by. When it became dark I sat down and chatted I realised there were multiple miss calls from my wife, whom I forgot to tell I was out at the time and being on court meant I didn’t hear my phone go off. Leaving before the mosquitoes went crazy I headed home for a home cooked meal. Winning!

Tough Mudder Training 12 – Steady Improvement / Revised Goals

Unlike many proper athletes and fitness junkies. I find difficulties planning exercise, as discussed in previous posts because I am on call it’s hard to know when I will be called to work. This time last week I was at work til 8.30.

I called up Gab (same mate from Thursday) about 45 minutes before the intended run at 6.30, expecting him to say ‘no’. Rather he surprisingly said ‘yes’, his girlfriend was out and he was finishing work. Great timing!

Meeting at the same start position from the other day. I wanted to run the entire length rather than walking and running and walking etc on the way back from the bridge. This time I revised my own goal and paced out the first two kilometers aiming and seeing how I was feeling. My body still a little sore (muscle fatigued) but not showing the injuries experienced from the other day I pushed on and for the one and half kilometers it was telling that I would require some mental toughness.

My wife after a last minute decision prior to leaving took the dog as Rani (our boxer) was very excited and we took her. She ran and walked with the dog and on the return leg of the run I saw her and wanted to make sure she was doing okay. This is reflective in the picture of the pace (shown below).

 

I pushed on as my friend Gab inched further and further away as I did what I could to keep my feet moving. He was at 50 meters ahead and by every minute he was an adding to his lead til he was out of my view because of the winding nature of the river’s edge. Seeing the where I started, it’s a great feeling especially since I keep the momentum, running right the way through and adding and extra kilometer from the other day. Steady improvement, I’m keen for my next run, hopefully in a few days depending on the work schedule.

Tough Mudder Training 10 – State Youth Games

Rushing of the Western Suburbs after rushing away from work near the airport, traffic was good enough that I was able to run inside to get changed out of my smurf looking gear in to  something more appropriate for a weekend of sport with more than a few hundred participants. With the bus and trailer packed up, some of our crew there plus some high school sport enthusiasts. Driving from Perth it was getting dark and the start of the Winter and Western Australia Day. The first part of the journey was great with plenty of chatter as we made our way to Mandurah for dinner at KFC.From then on the feeling on the bus was more settled despite the popping infused chocolate being shared around the bus.

We settled in at the Hay Park Recreation Center in Bunbury ready for the days to come. Sleeping on the floor with a room filled with close to 30 young people after an opening ceremony with the other church groups wasn’t the best for a weekend of exercise but you deal with the circumstances.

The next day, I was woken up bright and early by one of my leaders to organise people for the day. I was assigned Netball for the morning session and Indoor Beach Volleyball in the afternoon. With it being so cool, my first perspective lesson is to warm up properly, not just a light job around the courts when the temperature was the coldest it had been so far this year.

As for our success rate as a team, let’s just say sometimes you just have to smile and enjoy the sport for what it has to offer. We ran hard and I attempted to understand the game, with the multitude of rules that doesn’t seem to end. Let’s just say basketball was my first choice, however this didn’t happen. Should have mentioned that the netball was played on open courts and I played a majority of the time with the identification position bib over my sports jacket as wind chill factor was a factor. After playing approximately 5 games of 5 minute halves that was enough, more so because of the grasping of all the rules and limitations involved.

Heading back to near our base it was time for lunch and we filled up with burgers before the afternoon. A new group of people as we headed inside to play a sport I had become fond with the year prior. Arriving there and despite the 6 courts being filled with participants and onlookers the coolness was noticeable. The lack of warming up near my groin didn’t help much either as I move about in my skins hoping that I wouldn’t cramp up. The games were 12 on court and we played 6 games total. It was encouraging to have a few wins, but in competitive fashion miss out on a finals position, ranking 9th out of the 24 teams that were competing. There was one moment at the end where I went down in to the sand on my knees and both legs; calves, thighs and hamstrings pained and felt tight as I felt the wave of uncertainty as I stood back up. 

So after one day, I knew I was not a spring chicken, cold weather and sport don’t mix well with me and the skins being worn were not assisting as I thought they might. Another night began and a swelling group of people occurred as more joined us for the Saturday events. They discussed the wins, loses and draws from the activities from the day such as boccie, ultimate Frisbee, bowling, badminton and more.

The evening was an opportunity for charity groups to come along and promote including; Compassion, Red Frogs and more. One of the events included a half court basketball shooting. Although I’m not sure exactly how it works, for every half court shot made a water purifier would be sent to a place in Africa. Not going to dwell on the detail as at least there was positive progress being passed on to a place in the world less fortunate than our own. Having a steak dinner for approximately 1000 participants and helpers would not have been easy but the organisers pulled it off. But for the displeasure for some mistook cheese for mustard. There was spluttering and a flurry of red faces in the crowd that night. Made me laugh. After a few hours and a guest speaker Morro, a Chaplin from the West Coast Eagles, a team in the Australian Football League with a some great acoustic inspirational songs our group left. 

Saturday night I slept well as my body and mind reflected the way I was feeling. Sleeping took place just past 11 PM as most people except for those under the 25 age brac  ket talked, messed around and eventually got the idea to go to bed.

The next day was not going to be as fruitful as today, things were about to change but at least I was going to receive close to 7 hours of sleep…

Waking up the mess, people were eager to go as one can be early morning. It was a reverse day with Beach Volleyball for half the day and Netball to finish. In the process I found out or Pastor/Team Leader was unwell and ended up in hospital, which by default the responsibility fell on me to have things organised. This including the logistics, teams, buddy system and generally running of the day as people went o their respective events.

The long story short is that I went to all events and it was similar to yesterday, except with a few more wins in Beach Volleyball and even more crushed in the netball. I struggled to move around the courts for all events. On the plus side I ran in to one of my former colleagues and had a chat to see what things had changed. Good times and yes plenty had changed.

Another BBQ in between the day but I was ready for an early night, which I did after I supervised some of the younger crew burning off yet more energy before they could sleep. Lights were out at 10PM.

We drove home the next day after a major pack up and mistakenly setting up my camera over night in winter, only to find no charge in the morning. Driving a majority of the way back to Perth one of the cars following had engine problems and subsequently needed to be towed approximately 120 kilometers home. My wife and I were shattered and decided to get a few things done around the house and sleep mid afternoon. What a weekend of sport. For which it took plenty of time for a majority of my recovery.

Thanks for bearing with me for such a long post! 🙂