7-14-17 (Friday) Pickle-Ball + Foam Rolling.

7-14-17 (Friday) Pickle-Ball + Foam Rolling.

PICKLE-BALL DAY!!!

No skipping Pickle-Ball!  Joe and I were not looking forward to playing in the sauna-gym though.  When I went in to set the net up, it was actually feeling a bit cool.  But once I started moving, the heat and humidity made themselves known, and the sweat started to pour.  And that was just from setting up the net, around five minutes.  We didn't play until about thirty-minutes later, and by that time, I could feel the temperatures in the gym had gone up at least two degrees.  Sweat started forming from the moment we stepped into the gym.

The first game was a battle.  A lot of service changes.  A lot of great shots.  A lot of gazelle-like running for shots.  We wanted to make the most of our energy as long as we had it.  Neither of us jumped out to a big lead in the first game.  The biggest lead either of us had was three points.  But the behind person always caught up.  There were also a lot of lead changes.  When the score was around 11-12, I started to feel a little gassed out.  My footwork started to noticeably slow down and I was needing a bit longer to recover after long rallies.  But in the end, I took the game, 16-14.

The second game was much easier in terms of the play.  I took the game 15-4.  But it was a lot closer than the score would let on.  There were a lot of service changes in this one as well, but I was able to take advantage of my opportunities a little more than Joe.  The Third game was more of the same.  I actually ran out to a 14-1 lead, then something switched off and I lost a bunch of points mixed in with a few service changes.  During that stretch, I was feeling really gassed.  But finally, I closed out the game 15-8.

The last game was more competitive, for sure.  There were a lot of lead changes and service changes in the early stages of the game.  The score was pretty close until about 8-6.  Then I just leaped out and extended the lead.  Then a dry spell.  Another period of several service changes and battling for every point.  But I finally closed it out 15-9.  I was very happy because this is the first 4-game sweep when both Joe and I were on equal terms.  The last time I completed a sweep was the week Joe got back from the UK.  But it was obvious that jet lag was affecting Joe's play, so I put an asterisk on that sweep, but today's sweep was clean.

My back was feeling really tight when I got home, so I took the time to roll out my back.  It felt so much better afterward.  My lower back from today's Pickle-Ball, and my upper back and on into my shoulders from the Complex Upper. Soreness was had.

In the end, I torched a good 1200+kcals.  We were able to play relaxed today because nothing was pushing our time.  No meetings, no appointments, nothing.  So we played as long as we could.  We were definitely both gassed and sopping wet with sweat at the end.  Can't wait for next week.