Training Log Archive: iansmith

Biked from Davenport to MaRS to pick up squash rackets, then took an interesting route home via Church St, Mt. Pleasant, past Eglinton to Duplex and home. Mt. Pleasant is surprisingly pleasant for bicycling, though the shoulder is limited.

Squash with Katie, session 3. It was quite warm today, so the conditions were especially draining. I think it might be better to play squash in the mornings during the summer at Hart. We rallied for a bit, then played a few games. With standard rules (I'm allowed to serve), I won 11-0, 11-3. We then switched to Katie serving every point, which I think gives a better environment for learning - rather than me serving aces 60% of the time. I won, but more narrowly - 11-8, 11-5, 11-10. We then decided to break for basketball.

After a few months of trash talking, Katie and I decided to answer who was the better basketball player. Hart House has an indoor court - which unfortunately is not cooled. There were two other people practicing shooting, so we joined on the court.

We started out with a shoot around, then played the "around the world" shooting contest, did free throws, played one-on-one, and ended with HORSE. I lost rather spectacularly at all of them. In the free throw contest, I made 13 on 60 attempts, while Katie knocked down 24/60. One-on-one, I lost 11-6. Her layup was too quick for me, and while I was able to get close to the hoop, my finishing was atrocious. My go-to shot was a Kareem-esque skyhook, but my accuracy was woeful. In HORSE, while I got her to HORS-, I was already at HORSELLAMARABBITPENGUIN, i.e. I had failed to repeat 23 of her makes while she only failed to repeat 4 of my makes. I must improve.

Team expedition to Sunnybrook Heights. We walked around for about four hours.

Got a flat on the way home and took the subway.

Squash at Hart house with Katie! Our second session; we started on the yellow ball immediately, rallied and practiced serves for about 30 minutes, then played 11 games. I won all three standard games handily - with significant help from my serve. I've worked on my serve enough that Katie can't reliably return it, so I get aces about half the time. We then played eight games where she served all the points, and split them 5-3 in my favor. She plays very aggressively, and basically always goes for the kill shots. It was good practice for me, as she's quicker than my usual partners. Her instinctive racquet skill seems to have translated from ping pong. A good session. I tweaked my back a bit, but it's nothing serious.

We had hoped to shoot some hoops, but the court had been reserved previously.

Walking around Sunnybrook with Katie. Total time was about two hours, and it was not strenuous. I'm logging to note that we did this. The park is scenic, but a mix of medium to narrow trails through woods (similar to single-track) and large sports fields. We stopped for timbits on the way home.