goodbye ultimate, hello hockey

As yet another semester winds down (and I've seen my fair share of semesters winding down) I'll close another successful chapter of Cal U Ultimate and begin my preparations for a summer filled with roller hockey. During my lunch break, I made the smooth transition into hockey season by buying some much needed hockey equipment. It's been a few years since I've needed to completely re-equip myself, so I'm happy that I'm only shelling out hockey equipment money on a semi-annual basis. Long story short, the last time I made a major equipment purchase was 2002/03 when I bought some nice composite sticks and a pair of rollerblades. Towards the end of last season, my sticks splintered at the base, rendering them useless. I also tore an eye-hole right out of the leather in my left boot, but managed to skate around it (heh).

So I got new blades and a couple of sticks. I sort of feel like Jordan Staal due to the magnitude of stick that I now wield. Its MUCH taller than my last few sticks. What's more, is that I'm going to need to get used to my new rollerblades quickly. I've got about a ten minute warm up before the game starts on Saturday, and I'll need every minute of it. New skates are awesome, but they take some getting used to.

I've also made some preliminary decisions as to how I'm going to train this summer. I think I'm going to go back to doing a lot of wind sprints rather than doing distance running like I did last year. I'm also going to incorporate some cardio on the stairs outside of the student union. It worked for Curtis Martin in 2004. I've been doing sets of lunges across Rotary, and they've helped incredibly with my short-term stamina - I'm definitely keeping those! Maybe I'll finally own up and get a bicycle too, so I can vary my cardio a little more. Man... I can't wait til it gets unbearably hot out. Thats' what I live for!