Combo Win!

Last night, I subbed in again for a match for our combo team.  My partner, Julie, and I won 6-2, 6-0.  Despite the league being 6.5 combo, we played two 3.0 women, and one of them was very inexperienced.  They really didn't have a chance.  Julie and I practiced coming in to the net, which was good.  I served the last game, and we were ahead 15-0.  During that point, I pulled my left calf muscle a bit.  This is something I've done in both legs, but many years ago.  It wasn't awful, but I really didn't want to play much more.  At 30-0, I served to get an error on the return, so it became 40-0.  I was serving to the weak player, so I figured if I didn't get an error on the return, I'd just hit until she did make an error.  And that was pretty much how it went...I hardly moved, but just hit several cross-court shots until she hit it out.  Then I limped to the bench and took a bunch of ibuprofen.  Julie got me some ice, and I iced my calf until the other matches finished.  Our team won one of the other courts, so we won the match overall.

This morning, my calf is feeling a bit better.  I'd wrapped it up last night before bed.  I'm still taking ibuprofen regularly.  I did P90X2 Balance + Power today, skipping any jumping or balancing on the left leg.  I burned about 170 calories.

Combo Sweep!

Last night our combo team won all of the courts!  Michelyn and I played on #1 doubles, and we played really well together.  We were always just behind our opponents in the first set until we caught up at 5-5, and then we won the set 7-5.  One of our opponents could not move very well, and as a result, I think, she had some really odd-looking strokes that took some getting used to.  In the second set, we did much better, winning 6-3.  It was a good night for the team.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Pure Contact.  After that, I did 3x6 plyo squats with one-arm presses alternating with reverse wood chops.  I burned about 170 cal.

Big Tri-level Win!

Last night our tri-level team won a match!  We haven't been very successful this season, so that's good news, but the even better thing is that we beat the team that has been undefeated so far and was undefeated all last tri-level season!

Terri and I played on the 3.0 court.  We played some very consistent players, but they did not have a lot of hard shots or great angles.  One of them tends to hit higher, floaty balls, and Terri and I both hit a lot of them out of the air and put them away.  We won the first set 6-1 that way.  Our opponents changed sides in the second set, which let one of them hit a much deep groundstroke; that worked for them in the second set, plus we made some errors, so we lost the set 2-6.  In the match tie-breaker, we started out behind, but caught up to 8-8, and then won it 10-8 to win the match!

Our 3.5s lost their court, but our 4.0s won, so we won the match overall!  On the 4.0 court, they split sets and started the match tie-breaker with about 10 minutes left in the match.  However, there was a miscommunication with the facilities guy that was supposed to hit the buzzer to call the end of the match, and he didn't do it until late.  If the buzzer had gone off on time, our 4.0s would've lost the tie-breaker.  But because of the delay, they finished the tie-breaker and won it!  A very satisfying match win!

This morning I had to be on campus by 7:30am, so I didn't do a workout.  I'll do today's workout on Friday.  I need some sleep - I got to bed extra late after last night's match, and didn't sleep very well.

Monday Night Doubles

Last night I had my usual Monday night doubles tennis at TCCP.  I played OK.  In the first round, my partner, Michelyn, and I lost 6-3.  We had been down 4-0, so at least we made a small comeback.  We really needed to get more aggressive at the net.  In the second round, I played singles against Whitney, who is an excellent singles player.  I got down 5-0, but then came back to 5-4 before losing 6-4.  I was very happy with that.  In the last round, we only played 5 games.  My partner, Anda, and I lost 4-1.  We really should've done better, but had some unforced errors.

This morning I did Insanity the Asylum vol. 2 Agility Tutorial followed by Ab Shredder.  This is a good combination, because the tutorial really gets you sweating with all the fast moves, and then the ab workout prolongs it.  I added on a 90-s plank on the stability ball when I was done.  I burned about 200 calories.

Windy Run

Yesterday afternoon I did an easy pace run outside on the Sligo Creek Trail.  It was chilly, in the mid 40s F, and really windy.  I thought I'd run better with it colder, and I wore a long-sleeved shirt, but it did not turn out that way.  I ran about 3.89 mi in 41:29, which worked out to be about 5.6 mph.  My legs were also still a bit sore from P90X2 on Friday, so maybe that contributed.  I'm trying not to worry if my easy runs are too slow, but it does bother me.

This morning I did P90X2 X2 Total Body, with additional arm raises, like I did last Friday.  I improved a bit on some of the moves.  Hopefully I won't get as sore from it this time.  I burned about 205 calories.

Mixed Combo Loss

Last night Bill and I played on #1 doubles for our mixed combo team.  We played a 3.5/4.0 pair; we knew they both from TCCP.  It was a really fun match, but unfortunately we lost.  We lost the first 6-4.  In the second set, we got up 5-1, but then let our opponents come back and even it out.  We eventually won the second set 7-6.  Then we lost the match tie-breaker pretty decisively.  Too bad!  Our team did not win any of the courts.

Overnight was the change from daylight saving time to standard time, so we got an extra hour of sleep.  I slept for about 9 hours, which was awesome!

This morning I did my usual boxing class.  A lot of push-ups and crunches today. I'm still sore from P90X2 on Friday, but I did OK.

Tri-level win!

Last night Terri and I won our court in our tri-level match: 6-7, 6-4, in a timed match.  The first set seemed to go on forever.  We were down 1-4, and then we got ahead 5-4.  We had so many long deuce games.  Unfortunately we lost the set tie-breaker pretty badly.  In the second set, we were pretty even until our opponents got ahead 4-2.  We managed to come back and win the set 6-4.  At that point, we only had about 8 points left to play the match tie-breaker.  The match tie-breaker timed out when we were ahead 5-4, so it didn't count.  Terri and I won because we'd won more games in the match.  So close!  We played pretty well.  Both of us are fast and cover the court really well.  Terri did a great job getting overheads and so we didn't get into long lob rallies.  It was a really good win!

Fortunately, our team won one of the other courts as well, so we won the match overall!  This is only our second match win for tri-level, so it was good for the team.

This morning I canceled tennis practice because it looked like it was going to rain.  I went to a boxing class instead.  I was moderately sore from my P90X2 workout yesterday, but even so, the class felt harder than it should have.  I have been really tired lately, so I'm sure that's part of it.  I'm not sure whether the tiredness is just from the fact that I've been so busy lately, or if I'm still not over my anemia.  I need to get another blood test for it, but I haven't had the chance.