I took a measuring tape to the basketball court near me. Turns out that the basketball court has a bit of a tennis box or something inside the court that is exactly 10 yards width and double that in length. So it’s perfect for the 10 yard shuttle test by TSC. Is this Albert Hayneworth’s nightmare? I dunno.

Anyway, I warmed up a bit and ran it like this:

Attempts:
1st: 00:15:92
2nd: 00:15:64
3rd: 00:14:92

Between each attempt, I took a 2 minute rest but tried to stay limber. The side to side action I feel is where I’m the slowest. Straight ahead speed and acceleration really doesn’t help you much. Really the hardest part is stopping the clock when you’re running backwards at the end.

I’ve also been playing basketball everyday to see what my limit is. It’s 7 days. I tried to play some one-on-one yesterday (on the 7th day) and never been so stiff after taking a short break. I’m currently doing shin splint stretches to try to reduce the shin ache.

This also nearly is the one year anniversary when I promised myself I’d get fit again. It was kind of a slow ramp-up of learning, getting used to the gym and starting a routine. I started running, then hit the gym exclusively, then started doing intervals, then screwed up my ankle with tendonitis and now I’m on a basketball kick.

It’s all for myself. Nobody cares. And that’s ok. That’s been the advice for a while. I blog for myself, I workout for myself. I’m getting better at basketball (even if I’m short) for myself. Case in point, working on my shot. I got into the zone and hit 6 three pointers in a row. The net snapping, perfect spin, exactly where I wanted to put it. The playground, field and court are full of people. Nobody noticed. I laughed to myself: “nobody cares, do it for yourself”.

My one-on-one game sucks. I lost 05-13 and 02-11. Can’t guard the layup moves. I have no layup moves. I miss the hard shots and only have hard shots. My speed can’t blow by the defender without tiring me out. I think another year of random pickup games and screwing around and my 1v1 game might give the former HS/College players more of a 07-13 loss-feel. For now, I suck. I’m ok when I’m the medium to tall guy in a 4v4 full court game. I just take hard shots that barely miss. Two bounces on the rim, miss. I need to work on my under-pressure game.