How About Softball For Cross-Training?

Yesterday, I added one more weapon to my cross-training arsenal. I played my first softball game with my agency’s B- level, slow-pitch softball team: the Spin-Offs. They are so called because they were a spin-off team from the A-level, fast-pitch team: the Flyers. The Spin-Offs are laid-back and positive; it’s great if we’re winning, but it’s more important to be positive and have fun.

A perfect night for softball. Jason from my agency takes on the Quakes' pitcher.

Channon from my agency prepares to swing. Can you get a better backdrop than the Washington Monument?

The timing of the games could not be more perfect. They are on Thursday evenings - the day when I do upper body work and the night before my scheduled cross-training. Because of this, I imagine that some recreational softball could help my overall marathon training.

Practice started out well. When close, I noticed that throwing the ball to my teammate was like riding a bike; it did not take me too long to get my arm back. Of course, the further away we moved, the more erratic my throwing got. I had a few balls in the dirt, which I guess helped my teammates to get practice fielding grounders. When I warmed up hitting, my swing came back second nature. The only item that did not was how the ball connected with the bat.

This week, we played a team called the Quakes - which I guess is an intimidating name if you’re in San Francisco or Japan, but to me it just evoked the thought of Quakers. During the game, I was assigned to second base. I was in full support of this, because I would not be required to do any heavy sprinting for fly balls that might compromise my running during the week. I had some key plays in fielding grounders and getting outs, but for the most part the ball was hit to the left side of the field.

When it came time to hit, I was delighted to find that there were no strikeouts and no walks in the B-level softball. Each player would attempt to hit until s/he got a hit. I likely had the most strikes of anyone on both teams; it took me a while for my bat to connect with the ball. Regardless, I did have good form - and it should be easier in future games to make contact than to correct my form.

All in all, the Quakers were about equal to us. This made it a close game until the 6th inning, when they scored 8 runs against us. I think that if the matching were unequal, it would not have been as fun on both teams’ parts - so this definitely added to the enjoyment. Unfortunately, this meant that the game ran pretty long, which meant I didn’t get to bed last night as early as I was hoping.

When I woke up this morning, I was noticeably sore in various spots. Not surprisingly, my right shoulder was sore. I also noticed that my legs were sore. How could they be sore on a Thursday? Then I thought about it: I had done a mid-length run in the morning of 7 miles,walked to the field, played a game, and walked with teammates to the car. The different movements may also have something to do with it. I was doing more than running at pace; at times, when running the bases, I was sprinting. This may be the only downfall of doing softball on Thursday nights. Until my body adjusts, I may not be in tip-top shape for each Saturday’s long run. Clearly, this is why I take cross-training on Fridays: I want to line up everything perfectly to ensure success for Saturday. If my body is still feeling sore tomorrow, I might reconsider how often I do softball (and maybe only do it during stepback weeks).

For recovery, this morning I did half of the time on the elliptical, and I skipped my lower body weight routine. I added in an ab routine, because I had to skip it due to softball last night. My nutrition is still focused on eating carbs for tomorrow’s long run, so I cannot do too much diet-wise to adjust for soreness today. (Anybody have any suggestions for foods that are anti-inflammatory and good for digesting the day before a long run?) I may take a dip in the pool or ice my legs, because that seems to help whenever they are sore.

The team has games scheduled once a week from May through September. If all goes well this week with the rest of training, I’ll consider becoming a regular on the team. I hope it does, because it sure was fun last night.