Toolman

Keep a diary of what you're hitting, what's frustrating you, and your goals.
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mtoolan
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 28 Jun 2013 18:07

Still playing 4-5 times a week pretty consistently for at least 90 minutes (post shred workout and stretching not included). Bike rides on days off and eating much healthier. Although I've slipped slightly in that regard recently it's still much better than it used to be. But I'm redoubling my efforts. I've lost a great deal of fat that I've had on me, and, to my surprise, seemed to have exceeded my old weight with new muscle. I feel really good.

My sessions have been productive, coming up on some good fearless links, mostly involving spinning and stepping. I still very much lack atomic and double downs, but I'm not going to stress about it. I'd rather get to a good comfort level with the things I've already spent time on than only spend a little time on stuff that I won't have consistently by worlds. I'm confident this will get my game to at least a semi-respectable level for competition.

It feels very good to be playing regularly again. I have made very positive decisions regarding some bad habits I've picked up since high school and it has improved my outlook greatly. I'm setting goals and feel motivated on a daily basis. Major motivation comes from my fear of falling right back into these old habits. Every time I pop out of them, I feel good for a while but I slowly slip back into them, justifying to myself that it's not as bad as it used to be, until it is again. Worlds has helped me hold strong and I've set goals post-worlds that will help me continue. I definitely feel it's time to grow up.

Nick Polini has been a great help in all of this, without him even knowing it. The guy exudes motivation and positive energy. I feel our weekly sessions have kept me more motivated footbag-wise than the actual prospect of going to worlds. He will go far in anything he does in life, and in that respect he reminds me of Dave. Singular focus, incredible determination, infectious enthusiasm. Big props to you, Nick Polini, for working so hard to achieve your goals. You are inspirational.

Until next time.
Mike Toolan
Penn State Footbag Club

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slapdash21
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Re: Toolman

Post by slapdash21 » 02 Jul 2013 06:13

:lol: your blog is so uplifting compared to the boston one. stay determined good buddy, seeya soon
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Re: Toolman

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 03 Jul 2013 09:01

Wow man. I'm touched... not like the Sandusky type of touch (It's ok, people I graduated from Penn State, I'm allowed to say these things), but like I'm about to tear up reading that. That is probably the nicest thing anyone has said about me. One of my many footbag goals is "Inspire many" and I guess I'm doing it without knowing it. I'm glad I've been inspiring you. You've also been inspiring me, especially with drilling. Usually when i hear that you had drilled, I go out and drill right away, just so we don't let each other down in that respect. I'm glad you've been clean from the bad habits, too. Keep off of those bad habits and good shit will continue to happen. Can't wait to shred with you again. I need to let my legs recover, I've been drilling like every damn day and my legs are in desparate need of a break. Pixies have totally improved though, thanks to your inspiration. My new job gives me Mondays off every week, and that's it :/ I do birding tours/hiking trips/canoeing with birding trips/some mixture of wildlife, canoes, birds, and teaching (lolol) every other day though. Some days we don't have any canoers signed up, so Wednesdays or Fridays could potentially free up. Definitely wanna shred with you again soon though. Keep up the good work dude. Can't wait to see where we are by the time Worlds hits! (btw, WTF are we doing for the trip up to Worlds?!?! lol We should all discuss that soon.)

Peace, love, and hamburgers.
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman

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mtoolan
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 09 Jul 2013 18:36

Shits going well. Had a session with the large crew sunday night down by Polini's place. It was Corey H, Corey G, Ben, Taylor, Nick, Jeremy, and myself at some school or something. The day before I'd gotten stung by a be on my ankle, which wasn't a problem until i was getting ready to leave work Sunday to go to the session, at which point it decided to swell up something awful. I was worried I wouldn't be able to play but surprisingly it wasn't terrible. I think we got there around 7pm, right before a pretty sweet thunderstorm rolled in. I filmed with my new camera through the thunderstorm until the batteries gave out, went and bought new ones, filmed a little more, saw a cool rainbow, and ate some trail mix. After that I played and set up the camera on a ledge. Played alright, a couple good strings here and there and I think I hit whirr cleanly but I still need to check the footage. Nick hit some phat shit. If you haven't already read his blog he hit alpine marius both sides after I told him to try it. It's on film. I'm working on sorting through the footage but the computer I currently use is a chromebook so it's taking me some time to get used to the app required to edit video. Finally getting the hang of it though.

Played again with Corey H today at the park. Hit some good shit like smog bsos midstring, spinning whirl bsos midstring, some really long runs, and some more good looks at whirr. It was a really good night for shred. Had a lit pavillion, the temperature was pretty perfect, and lots of foot traffic although we only got one comment. Some girl passing by told us we were really good while I was in the middle of a string, but I didn't see her until she was a bit far away. She looked good from behind but Corey assured me she was jailbait. Better luck next time.

Planning to work more on editing and do some drilling tomorrow. Time to get back at it.
Mike Toolan
Penn State Footbag Club

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slapdash21
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Re: Toolman

Post by slapdash21 » 10 Jul 2013 06:01

why does jailbait get such a bad rap??
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Re: Toolman

Post by h0ag3yb3atZ » 10 Jul 2013 08:21

^a very philosophical question
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Re: Toolman

Post by slapdash21 » 11 Jul 2013 09:23

perspective.
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mtoolan
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 22 Jul 2013 06:56

Almost fucked my shit up last week by rolling my ankle twice in the same session. I was really scared. I had just registered for worlds the day before and was hitting some good stuff until it happened. I've only played once since but it feels 100%, just trying not to do it again.

Anyway over the last week I've hit a few cool things. Far swirl>whirl rpt, blurry whirl>stepping whirl rpt, hit predator on strong side, and got to the point where rubberman wasn't too difficult, but that could have been flukey. The way I rolled my ankle to first time was trying a new 4 fearless: phoenix>blurry whirl>spin whirl>spin dlo. I had it on my foot for the dlo but my supporting ankle just collapsed on itself. I've never had any injuries like this before and even though it turned out to be mild it gave me a pretty good scare, I'll be approaching with caution for a bit.

Super excited for worlds.
Mike Toolan
Penn State Footbag Club

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Re: Toolman

Post by C-Fan » 22 Jul 2013 08:15

Ankle tweaks are the worst...I dealt with them for a couple years around 2007-9. You just got to rebuild your confidence and not be scared, but also make sure your form on certain tricks justifies that confidence. Anyway, glad to hear you're better already. Definitely excited to see you and shred next week!

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Re: Toolman

Post by DTank126 » 24 Jul 2013 13:16

What's the good word?
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mtoolan
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 23 Aug 2013 06:51

So, worlds was crazy awesome. So much to say, it flew by for me, so many new people, so much sick shred in one place, catching up/shredding with good friends, rooming with a sweet group in a sweet place, and not worrying about a god damn thing for an entire week. I played myself silly, ate cheaply, drank heartily, and slept comfortably (not the norm for me at jams). All of it was made a little more special by a very close call with my passport, but thankfully it worked out and I got to fulfill a longtime footbag dream. Thanks to everyone who was there, everyone I talked to, everyone I met, everyone I kicked with, everyone I watched kick. You get so used to seeing most of the same people at all the local jams, it was kind of overwhelming seeing all these players I had never met before, so, sorry if I seemed a little antisocial at times, I wish I could've gotten to know people a little better.

Back here in the real world, I definitely had trouble adjusting back to reality. It still stings, walking into work, dealing with other people's bullshit. I did come back with a fresh helping of motivation. Took a week off playing to recover, eased back into it. Now I have a brand new drilling method, and saw improvements immediately. Things are picking up club wise, Nick and his crew are only an hour away. All summer I had Corey and Ben to play with. Last night we had Ben's farewell session, as he will be leaving for PSU once again. He's gonna be good, just watch out. Corey heads back to school as well, but he's only 40ish minutes away, so between him and Nick I'll have easy weekly sessions, plus drilling every other day. Gonna work on some ideas for expansion. Taylor is still in town, gonna be hitting him up constantly, and we're gonna blow it up. Just saying.

East Coasts in a little over a month. Since I didn't end up competing at world's I get a little more time to work on my routine and not embarrass myself in comps again. Really looking at a turnaround here. The east coast will very soon be a force to be reckoned with. Watch out for PSU and eastern PA, we're coming for ya.
Mike Toolan
Penn State Footbag Club

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Re: Toolman

Post by Matt K » 23 Aug 2013 07:01

Are you trying hard when you drill?
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 23 Aug 2013 07:16

Mos def!
Mike Toolan
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Re: Toolman

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 24 Aug 2013 11:02

I'm excited for what our year holds in the rest of '13 and into '14. You've improved a ton since you started playing again. It's really great to see you go from where you were before PSU Jamps to where you are now. I'm stoked to see where you'll be in a month when you finish your first round of drills. East Coast is gonna rise up and fkshtp in the near future and we're going to be 2 of the catalysts (others being Hogan, and PSU). Looking forward to shredding with you on Monday dude. Let's recruit some East Coast new bloods.
Nick Polini

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman

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Re: Toolman

Post by DTank126 » 24 Aug 2013 16:00

Kick ass at East Coasts for me... and by kick ass I mean get drunk and act like an ass. :wink:
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 28 Aug 2013 19:57

Image
Mike Toolan
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Re: Toolman

Post by Dready09 » 02 Sep 2013 11:46

Mike you suck.., Love Corey <3
Corey Corey Corey Hahalis

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Re: Toolman

Post by DTank126 » 03 Sep 2013 07:55

Dready09 wrote:Mike you suck.
Agreed
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Re: Toolman

Post by mtoolan » 03 Sep 2013 07:56

People ask me why I stopped playing footbag so many times. This is exactly why.
Mike Toolan
Penn State Footbag Club

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Re: Toolman

Post by DTank126 » 03 Sep 2013 08:00

And yet you just keep coming back....
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