Strength & Conditioning

So, these never really were exactly the strongest part of my athletic career. Never really cared much for the weight room, and cared even less for the various means various coaches devised to improve my stamina. Windsprints. Stairs. Hills. Suicides... You get the picture. And of course, as a kid, I never really noticed I was tired even when I was. Performance was all about "skills." And if I had the skills, why should I have to run or pump iron?

Of course, nowadays I'm much more sensitive to the relationship between conditioning and performance. And since my former is shit, my latter is following suit. Back this week in earnest for the first time since before the holidays. Monday night I knocked down my first shot from the field, and then it was a nightmare for the next hour or so...air balls, missed lay-ups, way too many stupid turnovers. Played OK "D" for awhile, and even blocked a shot while defending on the ball one-on-one, but my legs felt like lead and my shots landed like bricks.

Started to get a bit of a second wind with about a half-hour left to play, after making a FANTASTIC, play-of-the-night left-handed pass off the dribble and across the lane in traffic while leading a break, but unfortunately my teammate bobbled it slightly and by the time he found the handle his momentum had carried him behind the backboard. So, lots of oohs and aahs but no points and thus no assist -- but still, it gave me just the lift I needed to play with just that much more energy, and suddenly shots started falling for me -- including the last, game-winning "J" of the evening while my buddy Curly waited down in the lane on his heels, afraid to come out and defend me because he knew I'd go right by him.

Tonight was almost the exact opposite story. Got to the gym early enough to stretch and warm up thorougly, then got in with a group of guys who just had good chemistry and who played together well: good ball movement, good shot selection, good help defense. Won three in a row, and just felt great...knocked down my open looks, made some great assists, rebounded, defended, ran the floor. But as the night wore on and my legs started to go, suddenly I couldn't really keep up with the pace of the game any more, all my shots were short-armed off the front rim (or worse)...and then, at the end, missed a wide-open look at a three that would have won the last game, only to have my guy knock down the winner on the other end when I couldn't stay with him and fight through a screen.

But you know, win or lose, glory or goat, I still feel GREAT! No injuries, a nice healthy run, plenty of good plays and nothing too humiliating. So what could possibly cause me to complain?

I just wish I could somehow find within me the desire and the discipline to strengthen and condition more than what's left of my hair....