All of the Ultimates!

Confusion is Key

"The best way to get better at ultimate is to simply play more ultimate."  -Tim "Replica Jersey" Hopp

"The key to building strength and power is muscle confusion." - Tony Horton, P90X

Two simple yet effective ideologies I agree with, but each only partially.

Googled "Tony Horton Ultimate Disc"...close enough.

There is no doubt that improving in the game of ultimate, much like many other sports, takes hours of on-field, ultimate specific practice. Additionally, on-field time, in my opinion, is the only way to improve the mental aspect of on-field ultimate awareness and anticipation. Sure, there are countless books you can read and brain exercises you can do, but the uniqueness of play (and more importantly the recognition of this uniqueness) on an ultimate field cannot be truly replicated in these ways. It can be aided by translating the lessons, but not fully develop the ultimate understand. Pun intended.
However, I would contend that the best way to improve on an already advanced ultimate skill repertoire is through ultimate specific training rather than simply on-field reps. The one-step directional changes while cutting, the constant lunges performed while stepping out on a throw, and the need for immediate pace changes at every position on the field are all  fitness challenges unique to ultimate when all combined into the playing of one sport.
Secondly, continually using new and atrophied muscle groups when lifting will build all-around fitness and strength. It's science. Personally though, I don't believe this to be the entire story of ultimate fitness. Or any general fitness for that matter, either. "New and atrophied" muscle groups are the key terms, here. Constantly changing workout regimens when already well into training for a specific goal might not be the best way to achieve success. Muscle confusion is merely a tool - one of many - that can be used to become more physically fit.
The best way to construct my argument as to why muscle confusion should be considered only a partial fitness tool is best illustrated by example:

In previous posts, I have mentioned training for the upcoming Horsetooth Half Marathon on April 13th. It's going to be brutal. The first 4 miles or so will quite literally be straight up, at an average of a 7% grade. It will be a unique test of distance running and distance climbing resolve. In order to be prepared for this real-life stair stepper, I am constantly looking for obstacles to hop over, climb upon, and jump onto to change the effort I'm asking of my leg muscles. All of this builds the new muscle fiber nerve connections needed to really attack the uphills. I have been training for over a month. Asking my leg muscles to not only be prepared for distance running, but also for short, random bursts could spell disaster in the way of an injury if I had done so from day one. Instead, I built on a base of muscle memory.
For the first 2-3 weeks or so, all I would do is run...nay, jog ever-increasing distances, but never the full 13.2 miles (another training mantra I subscribe to quite religiously that helps me personally, everyone is different). It took setting up a consistent training partner just to get my ass out the door for the first couple weeks. Now I can simply strap the shoes on and run pretty fair distances because I purposely trained my muscles to do so. Without the muscle memory of going from sitting on the couch to immediately out running gained in those first few runs, I would still struggle with motivation. Since tracking my runs using the Nike+ app, my average distance has increase by approx. 1/2 mile and I'm feeling better and better cardiovascularly each time.
It is my firm belief that if I had not first started with a solid base of muscle memory, I wouldn't continue to feel better and better with each successive run. Only after a solid muscle memory base is muscle confusion an effective fitness strategy. It is also my firm belief that had I tried to begin immediately with muscle confusion, by running different ways (sprints/shuttles/hills) rather than further/different distances, I would not feel as good as I do about my fitness currently. This would ultimately lead to less motivation to run, and certainly less motivation to run further and faster if my "new and previously atrophied muscles" were in pain from the get-go. Basically, both the mental and physical aspect of my training was set properly by starting with muscle memory, rather than confusion.

Therefore, in true Coit and ultimate fashion I will be taking the two parts of each quotation I like and combining them into one core training concept: Ultimate Confusion!

"The only way to get better at ultimate is through confusion." - Coit

For me, the most effective springtime, gear-up-for-tryouts-and-the-season training regimen involves...ultimate, duh. I'm not just talking about spring leagues, either, however they are certainly part of it. For the upcoming spring season, my ultimate training plan includes as many different kinds of ultimate as possible. Lifting, and of course distance running, will also supplement my spring training; this year more than ever. But it is the three different types of ultimate that will take most of my training time in the coming months: indoor, outdoor, and weekly mini-game tourneys.

Taking Down the Crown

Ok, so mark indoor down as akin to the first few run examples above when I still needed a training partner to get my ass in gear. 

There are some Inceptors that have been #chasingindoorhat for months now over the winter offseason. Myself is not included in these special few. Instead, my indoor season began and ended with the Rocky Mountain Indoor Championships, put on by Trent. With a team graced by the talents of 2013 Callahan winner Claire Chastain, Molly Brown captain Lauren Boyle, Sweet Action captain LP, Sara "I still run circles around these younger lady-clowns" Major, Shannon "Better than previous Inceptors with my same last name" Waugh (Sorry, MW, couldn't resist), and of course a smattering of Inception players including captain Cal, the Chew Monster, The Saint and The Priest, Harry the Highflyer, and more, there was little doubt that we would sweep through the tournament with relative ease. There was a small window of time where the dream could have been dashed. The final saw the score 7-7 late in the game before a few crucial D's from the lay-D's (get it?) sealed it up. Final score: 17-10.

Going 6-0 through the tournament and coming out on the other side with a crown meant team..."pink" I guess was our name...qualified for Indoor Nationals in Trenton, NJ on April 12-13. Does anyone else get the feeling that Nationals are being held in Trenton because the city has the TD's name within it? I do. Unfortunately, $300-400 plane tickets means we will not be attending the event except for maybe Hopp, who don't give no fucks and is ready to slay some teams in the Garden State. The aforementioned Horsetooth Half is that Sunday, so I'm out as well. Congrats and thanks to everyone who played, anyway!

Oh Captain, My Captain! 

That's right, Kier and Natasha at MHU - along with the entire Twaffle crew - have screwed up again and let me captain the Monday Spring Team-based A League Twafflers. How quickly the ultimate gods giveth, and also taketh away! After an easy-going, undefeated run through the indoor regionals, I - and Twaffle - found ourselves on the wrong end of the results in the first week of the Spring season this past Monday night. The opponents, 8 Ball, were a fiery lot and forced turns from the very first point. Twaffle went into the mirror half down, 6-8. After a late rally from Twaffle that saw House do his best Coit impression and take down a layout Callahan, the game was tied at 8's. Unfortunately, mistakes got the best of us and a very solid 8 Ball team took advantage, besting their (once again) pink opponents in the end 10-8.
Not to worry, we have them right where we want them. Not only was Twaffle missing the likes of Nugget, Regular Joel, Brad "He did WAT!?" Cochi, and others, but we seemingly learned a valuable lesson: going undefeated in pool play is overrated. Since the last team to upset the almighty Twafflers - initially losing to us in a game mirroring the one from last night (including a layout Cally) - decided to bow out and not defend their title, the responsibility of taking down the pink players fell to the new up-and-comers 8 Ball. Smartly, rather than let history repeat itself and ultimately doom Twaffle in the final, the pinkies allowed the first game of the season to slip into the L column. This means we will exact our revenge in the same way Hot Cocoa did...when it counts for all the marbles.

Place Your Bets!

The third and final form of ultimate fittingly combines a combination of the first two. As I said, typical.
Also beginning this week is the 4v4, multi-team, mini-game, men's (but really Open) league put on by Kapoor. At the time of this publishing, the first week is complete and Teams 4 and 5 sit atop at 3-0. The remainder of the 8 teams all sit at 1-2. The entire league schedule can be found here. You'll notice that while there are 8 3-person teams, there are only two games going at a time. This is because the two 3-person teams combine to form one 6-person team, joining a different team each round (RD 1: Teams 1&2 v. Teams 3&4, RD 2: Teams 2&4 v. 1&3, etc). 4v4 on the field at any given time, typical ultimate subbing rules after each point.
Got it?
Good, because now that the format is set in your brain I'd like to propose some lots of side betting. I'll take any reasonable bet on any given result at any time. Next team to score, weekly records, overall winners, anything. The #1 betting media will be alcoholic drinks (or Arnold Palmers for the high schoolers), but buds, bucks, and general debauchery are all accepted forms of payment.

Here's my first wager:
I'm willing to bet that Team "Nice Sex Stache, Gee", aka Team 2, does NOT go 1-2 again in week 2 and instead gets back to a winning record at 2-1.
Price: First round at the bar afterwards.

Today is the first day of Spring. Spring training for ultimate, however, started many moons ago and will continue nearly until the first official day of Summer. With so much ultimate to train for ultimate, Inception should hopefully be nearly ready to play some ultimate by then. For now, we'll continue to train in ways that resemble ultimate.

BOUGH.