My hip continues to feel decent as my workouts have progressively become longer and even more leg-intensive. I've begun alternating weight-lifting days with basketball days. For example, last week I worked out on five consecutive days: Wednesday I did a half-hour of Death Machine followed by sit-ups, Thursday I did an hour of weights, Friday I played 5-on-5 for an hour in the morning, Saturday I did thirty-five minutes of Death Machine and a bicep/tricep set, and Sunday I played an hour-and-a-half of 1-on-1. Finally I took Monday off, but started again Tuesday with an hour of weights, an hour of 5-on-5 Wednesday morning, and today I did more Death Machine and sit-ups. Tomorrow, Friday, is the senior/faculty basketball game, which I'll call my workout for the day... but I'll be back in Saturday!
I'm excited and nervous about the game tomorrow, but I get nervous every morning walking up to school and even as I'm walking into the classroom. I learned a while ago that I can't do anything about my anxiety but dive right into the situation, trusting I know what I'm doing. Hours of preparation make this possible of course, and it's the same situation for a game like tomorrow. I've only played 5-on-5 twice though, and I'm not a big guy so I can't just overpower or run over other players a la Shaq. But I've been getting better at creating shots for myself - I knocked down a three and a jumper yesterday morning, six steals, and a couple of assists. Still, I can't help but be nervous, as we're playing in front of the whole upper school. Ah well, at least I picked out a badass nickname for myself: "Mitosis" Morris, cause I split the lane like cell division. Damn straight I said that.
The quest for verticality continues as always, and I've got some real improvement! I finally got around to marking out some measurements on my bedroom wall, and gave it a go just now: I can vertically jump, without shoes on, to 8'8", or 104 inches off the ground. Standing with my arm stretched up, I can touch 7'4", or 88 inches. So, my new vertical leap is... 16 inches!!! That's about an inch greater than in January. Not a big deal, I know. I haven't started any squats (with weight) or leg presses, which would probably offer me a greater increase in leg muscle than what I'm currently doing. I'm confident that my running jump is improving as well. The basketball net is 15-18 inches long, and I can hook the bottom of the big loop hanging down from the rim - call it half the net, or 8.5 inches below, which would make my running jump top out at 9'3" or 9'4", getting me two feet off the ground...
Progress, she is a slow to come, but it's a year-long resolution, and I'm ready to use all 365 days to get there.
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