Ok, week 1 is in the books.
Last Monday at the start I tipped the scales at 206lbs, this morning I am down 4lbs to 202lbs; -4lbs total, 22lbs to goal weight.
This week I drank no alcohol or bad/sugary drinks for 6/7 days. Only one cup of coffee M-F, and two cups on the weekend days because we went out for breakfast. Carbs were limited to 2 dinners, one small bowl of pasta and one small bowl of rice, I had red meat once, and chicken/fish the rest of the week.
I rode my bike only once this week, I'd like to get that up to 3x or at least 2x, so if I can't ride my actual bike because of weather or whatever, I need to just go into work 45 minutes early and ride in the gym for 30 mins before I start lessons.
I worked out twice, took it easy doing a lot of dynamic strength, power, and balance stuff. I felt a little sore and gooey for a few days after since I haven't touched a weight in about two years. My balance was still good and my legs were fairly strong still. Going to lift heavier since I don't have a real match this week so I won't care if I am leaking some oil. Looking forward to the 6 weeks of easy gains and rapid improvement, then I will reassess. Will probably go up to 3x weekly workouts after the first 6 weeks.
I had three practice sessions this week, one with my assistant where we worked on volleys, and serves; one with a strong 4.5 friend where we hit around, did some cross courts and some serving points; one with a 5.0 teammate we hit for 10 minutes up the middle, 10 minutes of cross courts each direction, 10 minutes of volleys and overheads, warm up serves, and played 2 10 point tiebreakers. I played pretty well, won both supers 10-2 and only double faulted once. Instead of general practices I would like to specifically work on my first serve, volley, backhand, and movement more specifically at least once per week.
I played 4 practice matches and one real match this week.
Singles Practice #1 W: 6-3, 6-1
I played a 4.5 pro from another club, big tall rangy athletic guy, good serve, attacking forehand, backhand that he tends to slice to extend rallies.
The club is a fast indoor hard court, with sub optimal lighting.
I focused on early prep for my groundstrokes and it was a huge asset especially in being offensive off his neutral slices.
I tried to accentuate the turn and sit on my serve to get my left hip and buttcheek into the court, seemed to add spin at the expense of pace.
I changed my mindset on return, fixing my vision into a cone of possibility. I will investigate this further.
Singles Practice #2 W: 6-3, 7-6(5)
I played a 40+ 5.0 pro from my club, prototypical all court player, fantastic touch.
The club is indoor clay, dry hard and skiddy.
I continued to focus on early prep, still needs work.
I changed the focus on my serve to peaking my acceleration just after contact and that added back the pace I had traded off in the first match.
I finished very well at the net, coming in when I recognized he would float a deep slice to neutralize my power shots.
Doubles Practice #1 W: 6-2, 6-2
I played with a 4.0 singles player against a good 5.0 girl and good 4.5 guy.
Indoor clay.
I served well, second serves were especially nasty. I struggled to keep a positive attitude and on paper this should be a match that we would be the underdogs in, but the force was not with our opponents this day.
Doubles Practice #2 W: 6-4, 5-4 (timed out)
I played with a 4.5 woman against a 5.0 woman and 4.5 man.
I was pretty confident we would win despite the scores being close, just knew I had to be patient and play ok and the cards would fall in our favor.
My serve was not as good as the rest of the week, my legs were a little tired and I was losing a bit of balance in the toss. I did not think this was a good omen as I had a full day of lessons and a hit with a 5.0 guy that day before my mixed match.
USTA Mixed 9.0 W: 6-4, 6-2
We played a 4.0 guy and a 5.0 girl. The guy was strong for a 4.0 and the girl was weak for a 5.0 so it was a little more like a 4.5/4.5 match.
Fast indoor hard court.
I served adequately though my legs were very tired and my balance was off, my netplay, midcourt game and improvisation were all good. I returned adequately maybe a minus for me but my return is my best asset.
The guy had an elephant gun for a first serve, and maybe I was too stubborn with my return position. I will consider moving back but it's really not who I am.
Overall I played really well, and my partner played great. It was my first USTA match since 5.0 ended in June, and my first mixed match in about a year.
Overall I feel really good, my back was hurting a bit last night but is ok now, my knee is doing better.
I need to keep getting my legs stronger so that I can train while teaching a full schedule of lessons.
J
