I got another one of those free passes from a buddy that regularly goes to pickleball. I think it is a promotion on the part of the club, they want the people that my buddy brings along to also become interested enough to come on other days but in the meantime we get something that would normally cost $25 for free and well, who does't like that?
I live in a pretty expensive part of the United States that also gets brutally cold in the winter time. I don't mind donning my winter running and cycling gear but man, a winter in Chicago will truly test your dedication as far as fitness is concerned. Like with a lot of things, the hardest part about going to exercise outdoors is the first 100 meters or so especially if that wind whips off the lake and hits you in the face when you first start going at it.
So being able to got to an indoors and heated place to whack around the pickleballs for 2 hours was a nice break and I really enjoyed it.
The one friend of ours that is pretty good stepped it down a notch so as to not make us all feel silly about our abilities, but in the end we got into it and it felt a bit competitive towards the end. There were 4 of us and we managed to have every possible team matchup possible with 4 people, which would be 3 possible teams. None of the teams were dominant but I think a lot of that has to do with my friend Steve taking it easy on us.
I'm a pretty fit person, but that doesn't necessarily translate into wonderful pickleball skills and one thing that gets a bit tough to train out of yourself is that hitting the crap out of the ball isn't necessarily going to result in a good shot. In fact, most of the time it results in the ball going wildly out of bounds and rough-housing play like this can sort of annoy the neighbors playing next to us, that were FAR more serious about the sport than we are. No matter: Me and my friends are not jerks and two of us are relative monsters that nobody is going to mess with.
It was fun and I recorded it on my smartwatch using "tennis" as a guideline because pickleball, surprisingly, was not an option.
I'm quite pleased to be burning 500 calories per hour more than I normally would and while I do quite a lot of running and the running burns more calories than this, playing this sport was much more relaxing and we even took set breaks to cool off and have a chat.
I have been talking lately about how it is important, if you are trying to build up your endurance and conditioning, that staying in zone 3 is the "sweet spot." I'm heavy enough though, that no matter what speed I am jogging it is difficult for me to remain in that zone. I always tend to end up in zone 4. I think maybe it doesn't make as much difference as I have it in my head as being, but with pickleball with these 3 guys, Iwas mostly staying in zone 3 without actively trying to do so. It was just kind of the pace of what we were doing.
This works out very nicely because when I am running I feel as though I have to micromanage my steps or my strides constantly whereas with a sport, well, you run to the ball as fast as is necessary to run to the ball, right?
I really enjoyed this and it was fun to be doing it around friends instead of just trudging alone next to the lake on my own in the freezing wind. The downside is that if I was paying for this, it is $12.50 per hour per person, if 4 people are playing. I think now is a wonderful time to own pickleball courts I guess, because pulling down $50 an hour for something that requires like zero maintenance is a pretty fantastic earner!
I think after the few times that I have played this sport that it is probably a pretty good sport for almost anyone. While I could tell from the other people that were playing that there are definitely some advanced moves that could be learned, you can get in there on day one and have a smack around and not feel intimidated. Unlike tennis the ball can only move but so far away and I found it pretty easy to just pick up and play.
Now let's just wait and see if someone ends up horribly injured from this otherwise innocent seeming and relatively new sport :)
I drank 3 liters of water while this was going on and was completely drenched with sweat. I would have frozen solid outside so I am glad my friend reminded me to bring a change of clothes. haha. He knows me so well and realizes that without being told this, I would just walk outside soaking wet and then die from hypothermia and exposure.