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sen
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Re: sen

Post by sen » 25 Jul 2018 14:19

Well. Shin Splints suck. And I forgot how much they suck. I'm also surprised they returned THIS fast. 3 sessions in and I end up on the floor in pain. I bet 12 hour shifts in work boots on concrete have kept them close. Is that a thing?

Anyway, I didn't finish my drills or my session today. A lot of frustration in life boiled over into the session and the pain accentuated it.

On life, I could offer a quick update I suppose. We have 2 daughters now. One 5 and one 2 years old. I'm still working at Frito Lay making Doritos, but I'm on a weekend shift now. The good part of that is that I get 4 days off every week. But I hate working weekends and I'm coming to hate working nights more and more. My sleep schedule is so screwed it's not even funny at this point. But, the four days off have allowed me to start up a business I've wanted to for a long time. Y-Not Tech Services, computer repair, technology tutoring and stuff. I enjoy it and would love to do it full time, but working a full time job leaves me with little motivation to REALLY get it off the ground. Sometimes I take my laptop to work and write blog articles and stuff on my coffee breaks because I'm most motivated for my business while working a job I hate.

We planned a trip to Walt Disney World for next January. Bought plane tickets and everything. However, we got a little surprise... Wife's Pregnant! So now we need to cancel the trip. She's due while we would be at WDW. Today I was dealing with trying to sort out the travel insurance for cancellation and it is SO frustrating. Incredibly so.

Session:
Time - 1:11
121 avg HR
159 max HR
749 cal

Highlights:
none

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Re: sen

Post by Ryan_Morris » 25 Jul 2018 18:04

Congrats on kid #3! There sure are a lot of Dads on Modified these days...

Shin splints definitely suck. Doing exercises like toe lifts have helped me manage them, but I'm also not on my feet nearly as long as you.
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Re: sen

Post by boyle » 26 Jul 2018 02:23

Good luck with the shin splints, I've been generally lucky with them to never get them too badly, but I know plenty of others who have really struggled. Thinks like toe lifts, and also some strategic icing and this kind of thing.

Good luck with the new addition - I've found it a lot harder setting aside time for kicking going from 1-2 I imagine that would be another step with another one. That sounds like a great idea to get your business up and running. It's good if you can use some work time in your "regular" job to start building up the other gig. It's always hard to get to the point where you are confident enough to just make that your only thing though, especially with a family. Great to see you kicking again!

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Re: sen

Post by Muffinman » 26 Jul 2018 05:02

Congrats Tony!
For shin splints, what everyone else said has helped me too. Buuut, what I think has helped me the most are these 3 things:
-good, supportive, shock-absorbing insoles
-compression sleeves (like super tight shin socks that keep the muscles tight so youre less likely to develop shin splints, and the ones you already have are more easily endured
-foam rolling -- using a foam roller to tenderize/condition your shin muscles on a regular basis

What are your thoughts on the upcoming Clone Wars season??

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Welcome back

Post by C-Fan » 26 Jul 2018 06:49

Welcome back Tony, good to see you back in the game. Also congrats on the impending 3rd rugrat. Boy, girl, or surprise?

I've had a lot of success keeping shin splints at bay by primarily doing 2 things. First is toe taps. If you can do them at work, when you're sitting down doing something else, etc. that can really help. The trick here though is you need to let your shin splints heal up first, before going into hardcore toe tap mode. The second thing that helped me is making a point to rotate out shoes more promptly. I used to wait til my tread was completely bald, but now I am better about throwing shoes out once they've served their time.

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Re: sen

Post by sen » 26 Jul 2018 10:49

Session:

Time: 1:00
116 avg HR
152 max HR
565 Calories

I hardly did any dexes. In fact, most of the hour was spent simply kicking. I didn't even look at my drills list. Ultimately, I really only played because I want to stick to my plan. I NEED to lose weight again. I had figured that playing Footbag would be a fun way to get cardio in. I hadn't counted on my body rejecting it so hard. Before I get into that, I'll wrap up my session thoughts. I spent some time working on heel stalls. Why? I'm not sure. But I have always liked seeing the [uns] thrown in mid-string and I would love to be able to incorporate that into my (eventual) runs. The player(s) that always stick out for [uns] is Nick (Landes and Polini) and I just enjoy watching them most when it gets weird. I don't see me ever having the flexibility to get Landes weird, but I could see me throwing in a heel stall here and there.

Oh, fun Nick Landes story! My sister (34-year-old with two kids) lives with my mom and one day she found an essay I wrote in Jr. High School about Footbag. In the essay, I mentioned some players including Nick Landes. Well, my sister decides to post this essay on Instagram and Nick Landes finds it and comments on it! I thought it was funny.

Thanks for all the comments on both the new addition and the shin splints. We won't find out gender for a little while yet, but we don't do well with surprises so we always find out when we can.

I'm not sure what plan of attack to go with for the shin splints. Even with mostly just kicking today I could feel them. I think at one point I had decided I needed to lose weight before I started playing again because my body couldn't handle the stress, but I haven't been successful sticking to anything to get the weight off again. I feel like at the height of my fitness, footbag was the main driving force. I'd like to get back there! I appreciate the suggestions on what to work for with them. Ken, how important do you think having them heal fully before going to town on toe taps was? I think to heal, I need to stop playing, and I suspect if I stop playing... I'll be 40 before I start again. During today's session, I grabbed a resistance band and did some toe tap movements with it. Although I guess with the resistance on the downward portion that would be more calve strengthing than shin?

I think my G-Units are still in pretty good shape. The sole is starting to peel off around the edge in a few places, but they hardly have any wear on them otherwise. I'm positive I should replace the insoles though - I think they are still stock. I'll look into compression sleeve's and foam rolling as well. The budget is tight (it's always tight) so those might be tough to swing. Just remembered I got a wellness credit at work, so I should be able to get something. Woot!

Ken, during today's session I went to your YouTube channel and hit 'play all' - it's not a great way to actually WATCH your videos (or any videos), but I enjoy being able to watch between 'strings' and I've especially enjoyed your vlog videos. It's great hearing your thoughts on the sport! Also, I like the variety in the music you listen to while playing.

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Re: sen

Post by C-Fan » 26 Jul 2018 11:15

If you have time at work when you can read, you may find some value in reading Paul Gressett's old footblog: https://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=23527

He was a larger dude who had shin issues, but figured out a way to play that had nice results. Could be helpful/interesting/motivating.

sen wrote:
26 Jul 2018 10:49
. Ken, how important do you think having them heal fully before going to town on toe taps was?
I'm not a doctor, but my layman's understanding of shin splints is this:

:arrow: Your calf muscles and shin muscles share a bone.
:arrow: When these muscles are in proportion to each other, they are good neighbors.
:arrow: When your calf muscles get bigger but your shin muscles don't, then the calves start to pull on the shins. Almost like a spouse who pulls the sheets onto her side of the bed at night.
:arrow: When that gets bad enough, the shin muscles actually tear a bit. This is the pain of shin splints.

So the whole idea behind toe taps, is that it strengthens the shin muscles so they balance out with the calves, and they can resist the pull of the calf muscles some. In order to build up your shin muscles with toe taps, they need to heal first. In my experience, you can get them in good enough shape to do so after like 2 weeks.

Again, I'm not a doctor.

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Re: sen

Post by sen » 26 Jul 2018 13:30

C-Fan wrote:
26 Jul 2018 11:15
If you have time at work when you can read, you may find some value in reading Paul Gressett's old footblog: https://modified.in/footbag/viewtopic.p ... 23527octor.
I remember reading Paul's fblog back in the day. I'll find some time to give it a re-read! Thanks! I hate the idea of taking a few weeks off. Motivation leaves me so quickly. I picked up some compression sleeves today. I think I'll try to have some light sessions with them on next week to see how it goes. I'll just try to take it easy like I did today.

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Re: sen

Post by sen » 26 Jul 2018 17:31

Muffinman wrote:
26 Jul 2018 05:02
What are your thoughts on the upcoming Clone Wars season??
Forgot to comment on this. I am really pumped for it. In a weird way, I'm just really really happy for Dave Filoni. I know he handled Rebels really well and that he's got the upcoming Resistance show, but The Clone Wars is special to him, and for him to get to continue it must be huge. I'm excited to learn more about it. It looks like at least of the arcs will be Bad Batch, which was almost finished before the show got canned. I'm almost disappointed about that because I've already seen the arc, just in unfinished form. It also makes me wonder if they will also be doing the Utapua Arc that was released in the same unfinished way. If they do, then I've already seen about half of these new episodes. But from a production standpoint, they make the most sense in every single way so that is probably what we'll get. And it sounds like we are getting The Siege of Mandalore as well. THAT should be awesome. Dave talked about what the arc would have been after the show got canceled and he didn't think he'd have the chance to share it. He was on stage with some of the Clone Wars team. I haven't watched the video (because I thought we would get the story in some capacity and didn't want it spoiled), but as he was describing it, Ashley Ekstien (Ahsoka) started crying! We could be in for quite a ride!

OK, that's enough Geek for today. (well, enough Geek for this post...)

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Re: sen

Post by sen » 26 Jul 2018 19:42

As with most weekends, I won't be playing until Monday or Tuesday now. And I'm going camping during my days off next week. I'd like to play a bit, but want to take it EASY. Anyone out there have low impact drills/concepts at a newb level for me to work on?

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Re: sen

Post by Ryan_Morris » 26 Jul 2018 19:55

I like to try flappers when my legs hurt. Also muted pixie sets.
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Re: sen

Post by boyle » 27 Jul 2018 04:28

This one I find quite good for a low impact type of thing - start on an inside stall, then wrap it around to a clipper. For each one, start in a low position, close to the ground, then raise it up to a higher position, do the wrap, low/high (hold it for a little while), then switch to the other inside stall and do it all over again. Really good for your balance

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Re: sen

Post by sen » 30 Jul 2018 08:30

I updated my goals from my first page post a bit. Mostly, just adjusting the dates so they don't show as due SIX YEARS AGO. Talk about a lack of follow through! Looking at it though, I can't do the ones I listed as being completed now. Maybe I should take away the 'done' and try to get them again?

ONGOING GOALS SECTION:
Will continue to update this section with new goals as I progress.

Footbag Goals:


:arrow: 40 tiltless consistently by Jan 1, 2019
:arrow: 10 contacts of Shuffle by July 1, 2019
:arrow: Learn to step by Jan 1, 2019
:footbag: Infinity x50 by Sept 15/12 done Dec 18/11
:footbag: 150 Clippers by Jan 31/12 done Feb 4/12
:footbag: pixie whirl > p Mirage rpt by June 15/12 done Feb 11/12
:footbag: 75 Tiltless by Mar 15/12 done Mar 23, 2012


Fitness related Goals:

:arrow: Down to 180 lbs by May 28, 2019
:arrow: Do an Assisted Hand Stand Push-Up by Jan 15/19
:arrow: 5 assisted Hand Stand Push-Ups by Feb 15/19
:arrow: 50 Decline Push-Ups by Mar 31/19
:arrow: Hold an unassisted Hand-Stand for 10 Seconds by May 15/19
:arrow: 100 Push-Ups by June 30/19
:footbag: Complete Insanity by Jan 15/12 Done Jan 8, 2012

Footbag Goals (Fall Winter 2018):
1. 75 tiltless
2. 40 tiltless consistently
3. play a few times a week while focusing on fitness
4. Shut Down > P mirage rpt
These goals deadline is Mar 15, 2019

Heading out to go camping later today. Hope to get a few sessions in. I'll work on:

:arrow: Flappers
:arrow: slow wraps
:arrow: may swirls (see how they feel)
:arrow: consecutive kicking

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Re: sen

Post by sen » 30 Jul 2018 08:53

Thoughts on World's 2018 from an outsider

I started playing and paying attention to the community a week or so before World's. As such I don't know much about the communication or planning of the event. I want to also point out that I have made approximately ZERO contributions to this sport on any level so the following criticisms should be taken very lightly. That's why I'm writing about them here in my fblog. It's unlikely the organizers will ever see this, but I'd love to get some other player's thoughts. If an event organizer DOES stumble upon this - Thank you for putting in the time and effort to host Worlds! I can't fathom the amount of work and planning that takes. Please don't take the following thoughts personally in any way. I have never organized (or even attended) a major event like Worlds, so I'm talking out my butt here.

:idea: The venue didn't sit right with me.

I only have videos to go off of, but it didn't look at all professional that the highest level of competition in the sport performed at the World Championships with other competitors warming up behind them. And Net matches (or practice?) happening behind them. It was all very distracting. Not to mention footbags ending up on the 'stage' while the players were performing. The venue did look like the venue for a World Championship.

:idea: Vasek Missing From Finals

On the best players in our sport missed Finals because the schedule was changed. At least that is what I've heard. Finals were scheduled for one day, he booked his flight the next day and then the schedule for Finals was changed. How can this happen? Who is going to take this sport seriously if top competitors can't plan to attend the World Championships successfully without Event Schedules being changed last minute? I don't know when the schedule was changed. Maybe it wasn't 'last minute' but even so, once the schedule is announced, it should pretty much be written in stone so that player's can confidently finalize their travel plans.

On a more personal level, I look forward to getting back into the online footbag community more. I really only recognized a few names. That's kind of embarrassing for me. I wish I kept up with things better. I'm not a good player, but I would really like to be a good fan of this sport.

I look forward to other folks thoughts on Worlds. Especially thoughts from those that actually attended, but also from others that viewed it from afar like me. I can't comment much on placement, judging or BAP because I'm not familiar with the current level of play.

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Worlds

Post by C-Fan » 30 Jul 2018 12:47

I didn't follow this year's Worlds very closely myself, but here's some responses to your comments:

:arrow: Most years Worlds is hosted by either a Net club or a Freestyle club. Unsurprisingly, the years Freestylers host it the venues for freestyle tend to be better, and in years when a Net club hosts the net set up is a lot better and freestyle is a bit more of an afterthought. I don't think this is malicious, it just reflects that there's almost no cities in the World that have both a strong freestyle AND net scene.

:arrow: I heard the venue was changed less than a week before the event. I don't have more detail than that so I can't say who (if anybody) is at fault, but it would appear that the venue that was used was a backup location at best and not the place they had planned/hoped to use.

:arrow: The Vasek missing finals narrative is incorrect, and appears to have spread based on some incorrect speculating on the live stream. It appears instead that the schedule did not change, that Vasek scheduled his flights for when he did (not sure if on purpose or by mistake), and that people offered to change Vasek's flights for him but he refused. So the actual narrative is a good bit less sinister.

:arrow: Matt Kemmer was asked to be the freestyle director for the event, like 2 months or less before the event. And he doesn't live in Europe. We're lucky he agreed to run it, otherwise who knows what happens.

:arrow: Even if you weren't out of the sport for a few years, you still might not recognize many of the names who competed. Very few North American players attended, it was a net heavy worlds, and therefore a lot of the pools were less competitive than some other years which resulted in a lot of new names in Finals of various events that may not have made it in a year when a bunch of BAP were competing.

Hope some of that was of interest.

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Re: sen

Post by sen » 30 Jul 2018 18:28

That was all of interest! Thank you for taking the time to respond with that. I'll try to remember to come back and comment on them.

For now, quick session after setting up our camp site and cooking hot dogs on a fire. Took it easy as promised. Mostly kicks. Did some slow wraps too. Those are HARD!

Time: 34:06
126 avg hr
147 Max hr
382 cal

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Re: sen

Post by boyle » 30 Jul 2018 19:09

There was a lower turnout for both net and freestyle, although it was really noticeable with the absence of the big name North American players. I think just with one player (Landes, Penske, Gatesman etc), it would become a very different tournament.

I'm not sure about the scene there in Bulgaria - I'm not sure they have a huge net scene either, I have no idea actually.
I don't know exactly what happened, but the main planned venue was lost the week before the event. I believe that venue where everything was would originally have had just the net events. They also had very bad weather so there were going to be some outdoor events in the early days, but they couldn't do it because of the rain.

It's hard to run it all in the same space, and there were some complaints last year about noise between the freestyle section and the net area.

The main problem with the whole Vasek thing, is that Matthias, who was posting as the IFPA account, said that Vasek wasn't competing because of a schedule change. Sounds like that's not exactly what happened, but I remember thinking to myself, this is really amateur hour stuff. Jindra was another story, he was there in the building, but he didn't show up for his run. I said on the live thread that if he comes later that he should not be able to compete. He didn't in the end, it was really weird.

I thought Matt did a great job of being director (from the outside). It seems he is spending a bunch of time in Europe each year, which is really cool. That may be why they asked him to do it.

I think another issue was that it was quite expensive to fly there, even though it's a quite cheap country. When I was daydreaming about going, I found it really hard to find a direct flight there, it would have needed a couple of stops. Some people also mentioned it's not like a *wow* destination, like Berlin or Prague, where it just sounds cool to be there.

It will be interesting to see where it is next year. I know Paloma has said something about doing it in Mexico, but I think you really need a strong crew to do the organisation.

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Re: sen

Post by Muffinman » 31 Jul 2018 06:41

Good discussion. I didn't know about any of this stuff.

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Re: sen

Post by sen » 31 Jul 2018 11:14

More World's discussion. More based on rumours too! The best kind, right?

I heard it mentioned that Worlds might move to a once every other year format. It was just a random comment on a random facebook post, but I've been thinking about it.

I think that could be a really good move. But I think NA would need a better yearly tournament to balance Euro's. US Open hasn't been happening lately, right? I think US Open and Euros could then only take place in years without World's. That would give players that wanted and can travel something to attend yearly, but push Worlds to be bigger and something everyone can train and save for every two years.

Also, maybe instead of US Open it should be NA Open, or America's Open to open it up for Canada, Mexico and even South America clubs to host.

Thoughts?

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Re: sen

Post by sen » 31 Jul 2018 12:56

https://instagram.com/p/Bl6Pk4QAe-I/?hl=en

Camp Session

Time: 56:09
AVG HR 120
Max HR 148
589 Cal

Mostly just did kicks. Worked on flapper, wraps and swirl (or maybe reverse swirl?). I'm somewhat consistent with strong flapper, but flip absolutely eludes me.

:arrow: 100 consec alt inside kicks

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