Friday

Spent the day in the field - got back late, smelling bad - decided to shower and go to bed rather than train. Slack I know!

Saturday

Woke up all ambitious ready to make up for Friday and also wanted to visit my sister so decided to get there on foot.

Walked about 30 mins to the nearest pharmacy to buy a knee brace and an eye patch.
I keep my other knee brace at the gym and I didn't want to run without one for a while.

Still doing the eye patch thing. I'm wondering if I overstrain my left knee because I think I'm standing up straight but I'm actually a bit to one side? My driving instructor always says I think the middle of the road is further right than he does - just slightly - although it's lucky the poor guy has brakes on his side of the car too

Seems you can choose between the soft and hard eye patches. I've got a soft eye patch at the boxing gym but I thought I'd try a hard eye patch for this run to see if it doesn't get as sweaty and is still comfortable. I've decided I like the soft eye patches better. (that was dodge - just had to change the words one and ones to eye patch and eye patches so it didn't sound porno!)

After reaching the pharmacy and putting on my new eye patch and knee brace I ran the next hour or so to my sisters house. The pace was slow and my knee didn't all together like what I was doing to it but have only felt muscle soreness since which I think is a good sign. Usually if I do something that genuinely irritates the knee it hurts afterwards.

Sunday

Meant to run home but spent the day with family instead. Had muscle soreness. Yes very bad - two days off in one week. Plan to make the coming week better though. I can understand why the osteopath told me to rest but unless I get a new injury I don't think I'll take an extended period off again. I'll alter how I train to avoid particular activities but stopping completely for a week makes it too difficult for me to start again. Yes that was a poor excuse and I'm slack

Monday

Morning walked flatmates dog for 30 mins. She's away and I'm babysitting. She doesn't walk him much so I'm not obligated to but I'm hoping a bit of a walk makes up for the fact I'm not home as much to spend time with him like she would. I also aim to get into the habit of using that time for some sort of exercise before breakfast.

Lunch - went for a 30 min jog on grass. A more comfortable surface than the footpaths on the way to my sister's house - can definitely feel the difference! The aim was just to jog easy to get a bit of the lactic acid out of my legs. I think it helped.

Boxing - From about 6:15 to 8:10pm

Stretch - took about 30 or 40 minutes. I can feel how much I need to stretch after Saturday's run. Hamstrings seem to really need it.

Wore eye patch for technical work and since the stop watch was being used I had to go by the gym bell which is 2 min rounds with a 1 min break.

6 rounds shadow
6 rounds bag

I think I'm overthinking again. i need to nominate training days when i don't think and I just go for it. I need days when i really work at a high intensity. At the moment I'm getting bogged down with technique and trying to work out if things 'feel right'.

resistance training

Abs - normal crunches X 30 reps, oblique crunches X 30 reps, plank hold 1 minute
Back - mat back dumbell exercises both sides X 15 reps, back extensions on stand thingy X 15, chin ups whole body weight X 8

Did the above as a circuit - 3 sets.

Balanced on medicine balls moving across the ring twice and then did 15 squats (off balls) X 3

My balance is crap with stiff legs. I also noticed that with the oblique crunches (one leg straight, slightly off the floor and other bent at a right angle) I tend to want to angle my foot (of the bent leg) in as I get tired. Definitely a few form and flexibility issues I need to correct there.

15 squats seems piddly and it is but i am an infamous squats sissy. Give me hill sprints any day over squats. I'm not sure why I hate them so much but I know that when i was running a lot I couldn't bend my legs easily at all. I think I let them stiffen up too much. Now I want to aim to include some squats to maintain my full range of movement.

Cycled to the pool.
Easy 30 mins swim. I've worked out when I get dizzy. it's when i swap from freestyle to backstroke. i guess spinning in circles makes you dizzy whether your body is horizontal or vertical. I feel silly for not realizing that before

Tuesday 14th of August

Woke up early to catch bus out to the campus where my field trial is. Bus leaves at 7 and gets there at about 8:30. Then I have a coffee and check a few things on the student computers before walking out to my field which is about a 25 - 30 min walk.

Was out there for the rest of the day bending over and using a SPAD meter to measure chlorophyll concentrations but when I was sick of that I took 30 mins off to swap my boots for my running shoes and take a jog around the paddocks.

By the time I'd finished and got home again the earliest I could get to training would have been about 7 pm which I've done before but after an early morning that would also mean a late night so rather than stuff up my training for the rest of the week I decided to have an easy night. Took the flatmates dog for a walk to the supermarket to pick up some rye bread and milk which took about an hour.

That dog's lucky he got to go though because he's a brat and before I was organized to head off to the supermarket he'd already had me sprinting intervals up and down the street. A door knocking phone company representative came to sell me something and the dog - Napoleon - escaped.

We then spent the next 10 minutes playing his favourite game of "I can sprint either direction down your street and I know you'll chase me because theres a busy main road at the end and I don't understand that cars will squish me".

The phone company dude waited patiently just watching me chase him in bare feet so he could try to sell me something. If he wasn't a nervous teenager and it wasn't his first job I'd have been annoyed at him for not helping but under the circumstances I didn't have the heart to snap at him.

The unplanned sprint training ended with Napoleon running into a neighbours yard, being scared by their dog and quickly running straight to me for protection. Little BRAT!

Revising My Program

I'm at the stage now where I think I've gone past just aiming to keep active and do what I can with an injury. I still get niggles and a bit of pain now and then but I'm not so limited in what I can do that I can't follow a periodized program.

I think it's time to inject a little more structure into my training. I can only do this to a limited point because whether or not I get to work with a trainer and what they plan to work on with me is not usually planned ahead of time. It's fairly spontaneous and can be light, technical work or pad work designed to kill me. I'm not exactly going to turn it down though because I like getting some direction occasionally.

Anyway for the times when I can set my own program I think I need a plan. Some days I do a fair bit and aim to do something similar all week but that's not the smartest way to train. I end up doing a lot of endurance workouts and loosing the intensity.

I'm going to put it in here - if anyone has any comments or suggestions I'd love to hear them.

So here is a brief summary of what I'd like to make a standard week look like:

Monday - Hard - muscular endurance
Tuesday - Easy
Wednesday - Hard - Power
Thursday - Easy
Friday - Hard - Aerobic endurance
Saturday and Sunday - Easy

Alternating with this - having one extra power day instead of muscular endurance.

Monday - Hard - Power
Tuesday - Easy
Wednesday - Hard - Power
Thursday - Easy
Friday - Hard - Aerobic endurance
Saturday and Sunday - Easy

I guess I expect boxing training and swimming to work my muscular endurance a bit so it's not as high on my priority list as the other types of hard sessions.

Also my recovery from aerobic endurance workouts is pretty good and I need it just to keep up my cycling transport to training and ability to practice technique as long as I need to - so I think I can benefit from that being a regular part of my program.

Power stuff is really important. I might try to include half a power workout on one other day as long as doing it doesn't muck me up for the rest of the week. I'll start with the above first though.

I plan to go to boxing training still 5 days a week but I'll probably cu down the length of the session or make those sessions stretching nights so I still box but not for as long. I'll still go swimming afterwards because that has helped my back big time.

Fridays are a good day for aerobic endurance because that takes a long time and would mean a late night but i can sleep in the next morning.

For muscular endurance days I was thinking I'd do a whole body workout doing weights to failure and continuous boxing rounds with relatively short breaks. I'll have to do half of the weights program in the morning to make sure i have time to get through it all.

On Power training days I'll add plyometrics in gradually as my knee allows me to do them. I'll also up the weights but reduce the reps in my resistance training and attempt some explosive rounds on the bags. I figure if I end up doing some technical work with a trainer on that day and the boxing session is not a long one I'll make sure i do explosive sprints in the pool afterwards.

Depending on what I've got happening on the weekend I'll aim to take either Saturday or Sunday off but I don't want to get into the habit of having more than one day off a week.

So any comments? Any advice welcome

Wednesday 15th August

Walked the dog for about 20 mins in the morning - yes it is a short stingy walk which the poor dog gets because I slept in!

Lunch run - total time 30 mins including a 15 minute warm up and 5 short sprints with an unmeasured jog recovery between and cool down.

Night Boxing - did the complete seesion wearing the eye patch.

Skipped! the first time I've skipped without pain since my knee injury. I have to consciously stop myself from stiffening my left side. Must still be a bad habit I have from nursing the knee.

I only skipped for about 5 minutes and then stretched.

Stretched for about 15 to 20 minutes - noticed that my right quad and left hamstring were the tightest muscles.

Rounds were 2 minutes long and had a one minute break as we went by the gym timer.

Shadow boxing in partner work with Kristine - 2 rounds. Was fun

Burn rounds on the bag with Kristine - basic idea is we throw ten lots of a combo while the other person holds the bag and then we swap. We dis this for the full 2 minute round but if Kristine started the round I always finished so we both did the same amount even if it meant completing it after the bell.

Round 1 - jabs
Round 2 - crosses
Round 3 - any 2 punches
Round 4 - any 3 punches
Round 5 - any 4 punches - from this round we only did 6 of each otherwise the bag holder gets too much rest.
Round 5 - any 5 punches

In hindsight I probably could have done 5 ot 10 burpees in the break betwen rounds since we sort of get a break while holding the bag anyway. I like these burn rounds though. They are simple but the keep the intensity up with was what I wanted to achieve in this session.

I then accosted coach George to catch the medicine ball for me. I caught it - twisted to one side, threw the ball back to him with that hand and he threw it back to me to repeat. did this 15 times on each side continuously for 3 sets - no break between sets. I'm trying to use this to work my core but I'm not sure I'm doing it properly. I guess having to practice a bit of hand eye co-ordination isn't a bad thing though with the catching etc.

Then got in one set of 8 clapping push ups and 15 squats before getting to do pad work with coach George. Pad work went well. Coach George is not a giver of compliments easily but he does also think I'm better with the eye patch on! Freaky!

I also worked out part of the reason my right cross is s**t - George tries to motivate me to hit the pad harder for the right cross by slapping it in harder. I feel like I've missed my chance to hit it because it's pretty close by the time I get to hit it and I detect a little twinge of fear seeing it come in.

I'm not sure where i get that from - maybe anxiety because I'm sure it's going to be a crap punch, maybe I think I'm going to bend my thumb back on the pad or jar something? Strange to notice a feeling like that but not remember where it came from!

I have to imagine his pad is someone walking into a punch though and let it rip and push it through i think. i would do that in sparring an enjoy it so it seems so ridiculous that I get a twinge of fear doing PADWORK!!!!

Maybe I can practice a smothered right cross on the bag. Seems weird to practice that when I'm ususally trying to keep my distancing correct on the bag. Maybe if I set the bag swinging? Even then I'd usually time it so I hit the bag when it was further away! Odd Odd Odd!!!

By the time we'd finished pad work there was no one else left in the gym so I didn't get to do any more resistance training. Will definately have to move that to mornings.

Went to the pool. i had forgotten my googles but the pool guy lent me a pair from lost property. Googles are a must for me because my eyes tend to be sensitive to the chlorine. Unfortunately the googles wouldn't seal properly.

So after attempting awkward head out of water breastroke and a few backstroke sprints, banging my hand on the end of the pool since I'm squinting too much to avoid the splash to see the end of pool rope - I decided to stop. Swam for about 23 minutes and did about four 25 m sprints. I then went to the spa for the next 15 minutes to stretch my hamstrings and gluts before cycling home.

Thursday 16th August

Took the dog for a quick walk but it was raining and while I took and umbrella the dog doesn't have a raincoat and didn't seem to be enjoying it - seriously what kind of dog is this! - so it was only about 30 mins.

It's meant to be an easy day so when I went to go for my lunch jog and realized I'd forgotten my runners I was annoyed but maybe not as much as usual. I swear I'm going to have to start pinning checklists on the front door to make sure I don't forget stuff. A lot of the time i pack it into one of a few bags to go into my bike bag rack and just forget the whole bag. Being disorganized is my worst trait!

Night boxing.

Stretched a bit and used the tennis ball to massage some sore points in my back. I guess it's a good sign that I made myself a little sore from Wednesday night's session. It means that I managed to get away from doing the same thing every night. I won't say I'm at my peak or doing wonderfully well but with me lately it all seems to be about baby steps.

had a short session since coach Arthur had to close the gym early tonight. Did about 10 mins skipping and about 10 rounds shadow boxing - both wearing the eye patch - until I had to leave. Wasn't tempted to do hard bag work but the shadow boxing felt good for loosening sore muscles. Felt like I wasn't just throwing arm punches which I'm happy with.

Cycled to the pool, ate and then jumped in.

Once in I was tempted to do a longer swim since the gym closed early but I knew I was training endurance Friday so decided to keep it to 30 mins easy. Forgot my towel - typical!

I'm glad I did because cycling home took a lot longer than normal - it was pouring with rain and I had to cycle into the wind most of the way.

Friday 17th August

Lunch run - Fing forgot my clothes but went home to get them - I'm working over the weekend so  don't feel bad about taking the afternoon off anyway.

Ran 1.5 hrs easy. So far no signs of pain in the knee butstill wearing the brace. The knee brace itself is a little irritating - it has a padded circular part around the hold the knee sits in but seems a bit tight. I might try cutting it a little so it has more give. I want to build the length of this up to 2 hours but might decide soon to move it to a Saturday or Sunday morning since I just want to sleep afterwards.

Night boxing

stretched, Skipped. Still only 10 minutes. I cycle 40 mins to the gym which is enough of a warm up for my legs I just want to get used to the jumping movement again before I try anything as dramatic as burpees. It'd be typical for everything to be going OK and then I just land badly or something! Especially the latest theory RE my knee is that it moves due to ligament laxity when I twist on it.

Shadow 4 rounds, Bag work - about 8 rounds. Finished with one more round of Shadow. All rounds 3 mins with 20 to 30 sec breaks.

Not sore from Wednesday anymore and was reasonably happy with how my right was working compared to what it has been. I wasn't aiming for power - just to keep going and to be a little more fluent than normal over a longer round but more power than I tried to put out came out. Still no where near KO punches but it does make me suspect that I when I am trying to punch hard I'm tensing up too much.

Had a break before cycling to the pool for swimming but forgot to buy protein shake. typical.

Swam for one hour. That's a little short for an endurance day - will build it up to 1.5 hours eventually. I used the last of my pool visits so i upgraded my membership to use all the facilities. Am hoping that on the days the gym closes early I can use the aquatic centre facilities to make sure I still get my weights done.

Cycled home - no rain or wind this time but a lot of merry drunks asking me for ciggies when I am stopped at traffic lights. Luckily they believe I don't smoke because I'm cycling and they tell me to "keep the good energy up darlin!" Did stop on the way home to get food too - grocery shopping day Saturdays and don't have much food at home.

Saturday

Off

Sunday

30 min jog First 20 mins easy over undulating terrain mostly downhill. Last ten minutes 30 secs hard, 30 secs easy up hill. Knee felt unsteady going down hill but good going up. I got some good hard bursts out which opened up my lungs and felt good. Someone rightly made me realize that I've been a bit defeatest in my training attitude lately (thanks  ), just waiting for the knee to go again and that's a bad attitude to have. I have nothing against plonkers but I really don't want to be one! If it goes then i may have to change sports to something like only swimming but I really want to feel my heart pounding in my chest occasionally even when I'm old and grey!

If i was more organized I would have gone earlier and had more planned but had a lot on this weekend.

I have however made a real attempt to make sure the coming week is more organized. It occurred to me that forgetfulness sort of runs in my family - not Alzheimer's or anything too severe but just annoying completely disorganized ditziness. Rather than fighting that I'm taking drastic measures to be ultra organized.

I put a check list on my bedroom door listing all the things I have to take with me everyday and a rough plan for the week. Have all tomorrows gear laid out ready to go and aim to make getting ready for the next day the night before a rule. Doing it in a rush in the morning when I'm not awake yet is asking for trouble!

I did my usual fortnightly cook up for lunches too. I still have some pork stir fry and vegetable curry left in the freezer but the more variety the better. Cooked lasagna with beef, carrot and capsicum and a creamy chicken cabonara with lots of mushrooms, capsicum, pine nuts etc. I've also added a grilled chicken salad to take and eat instead of protein shakes after boxing. At $3.50 a pop I'm looking for substitutes.

The big aim for this week is not to forget anything and to push a little bit harder.

Monday

Up at 5 am

30 min jog - legs a little sore from previous night, knees not liking the down hill slopes - I think maybe because I have tight hamstrings. Had a busy day at uni so wanted to do it in the morning to save me mucking around at lunch.

Lots of bending over today to take measurements from plants - back doesn't like it.

Cycled to boxing.

Boxing 20 min stretch, then 2 min rounds 20 - 40 sec breaks.

4 X shadow boxing
6 X bag
2 X shadow
3 X bag.

power felt better than normal but not as fluent as I would like.

Cycled to pool (ten mins pretty negligible)

Ate grilled chicken salad (nice - I'm proud of this one - sometimes my cooking can go sooooo very wrong!)

Weights at the aquatic centre for muscular endurance
10 mins rower to warm up

Back - supported, seated row - only one bar - 30 reps, 30 sec break, 3 sets
(gym is too crowded to get off equipment and expect it to still be free for circuit training later)

Counterweight chin up and tricep dips machine
Chin ups alternating with tricep dips
32 kg counterweight - 15 chinups, 10 tricep dips
45 kg counterweight - 25 chin ups, 15 dips
50 kg counterweight- 30 chin ups, 20 dips

This was harder than I expected maybe because I used a narrower grip than I usually use for chin ups in the boxing gym without a counterweight, maybe tired from boxing. Still pretty heavy counterweight to get only a few more reps out!

Biceps curls - seated with dumbells, 20 sec break between sets
set 1 -10 pounds, 20 reps
set 2 - 15 pounds, 15 reps
set 3 - 20 pounds, 8 reps

shoulder press - one bar - 20 reps, 3 sets, 30 sec break

Hamstring curls - as with shoulder press

Leg extensions - as with shoulder press

I'm thinking this is a bit of a lame program but can get programs set for me for free with aquatic centre membership. I'm going to ask them for a whole body endurance, whole body power and split strength program. I'll ask for an emphasis on compound exercises that use core muscles and maybe work more than one muscle group at a time for time efficiency.

They'll have to spot my technique for me when they go through it so hopefully I won't have to stick to using the machines. Any more suggestions on what I should ask them for would be appreciated.

If they can't set me a decent program I'm considering asking my old swimming coach for one. I can pay her to set me something for the weights training and swimming aswell. That'd be great but it's also a more expensive option.

Swimming - 30 mins. next time I have a muscular endurance session I'll have to bring my hand paddles to make it harder work for my arms. I got out the pool at 9:55 pm and it closes at 10 pm so a longer swimming session after weight is not easy to fit in.

Cycled home - good cycling conditions - no wind or abusive traffic

Tuesday

Tired from Monday. It's taken me a long time to understand what athletes on TV are talking about when they say something like "my recover takes longer than it used to" - at least they're on TV because their still good and they have some sort of follow up comment like "but I'm better at listening to my body". Tuesday written off - no energy.

I do have better ideas for Wednesday thanks to some great input but this is what I did Tuesday.

No run.

Went to boxing for a light training session. I've decided it's important to show that I'm still getting to the gym and making the effort to work on my technique even when I'm too sore to be explosive.

Got there to find that no coaches were there - coach Paul's girlfriend had opened up. Coach Paul is apparently still "away". He's been "away" for a long time and I'm not sure when he's coming back. Coach Arthur is taking on some part time course for work so the 2 nights a week he's at the gym might not be possible soon.

Coach George is pretty committed to the gym but pretty tied up taking beginners classes. He told me himself he doesn't like to be in the corner when we fight because he gets too scared for us and he tends to stand back and let the other coaches take over when people are training to fight.

Our gym is pretty well kitted out with equipment and looks awesome with all the walls covered with posters of former boxing greats etc. Seems like such a waste to see it slipping away and turning into a non competitive gym. Many others would make more out of less.

Stretched, Skipped for 4 rounds, 3 rounds of light shadow, used speed balls in the cellar for about 4 rounds, balanced on medicine balls in the ring for 3 rounds, balanced on old wobble board for one round. The angle on it is too small but it was still challenging.

Was sore and didn't do very well but i guess it's better than nothing. If I wasn't sore maybe Monday's workout wouldn't have been hard enough.

Cycled home - clear conditions, nice

Got home to find a bird in my house - the feathered variety, hanging off the light fitting in front of the front door. Don't known how it got in - maybe fell down the chimney?!?! Maybe flew in very quickly as I was leaving for training but I didn't stand by the door with it open so if he flew in then he'd be a quick little guy! Ushered it out the front door gently using my flatmates large umbrella opened up.

Also found my Boxing Level 1 coaching license had come in the mail. I went to the coarse to learn a few things. Wouldn't coach anyone with competitive aspirations with my current level of experience but there were plenty there who would coach fighters with less. Maybe I'm negative but I think it's scary how easy it is to become a coach here.

Morning run

Found an oval. Small soccer oval. Did about 4 laps to warm up,
Ran between the soccer goals. Not sure how far apart they are but i don't think it's set up like a proper soccer field. They're not far apart. Strode out for the first 10 m speeding up for an all out sprint from there to the other goal post. Walked back to repeat 10 times, cool down jog and stretched.

Night boxing

Cycled there, skipped one round - not feeling as agreeable for the knees as it should but not really painful either - Anyway decided to move on with shadow boxing.

Shadow boxing - four 2 min rounds 1 min breaks but often kept moving in breaks to loosen the joints up and just practice footwork - in rounds I'm trying to remember to attack the body aswell as the head. I'm always fascinated with these people who love to attack the body and do it well because it still takes some conscious thought for me to attack the body.

Young Chris who trains pretty regularly but isn't fighting yet (i think he'll be good when he does) is doing a fitness leaders course part time while he finishes school. He asked coach George if he could teach the class and coach George agrees. Looks like it's going to be a regular thing so coach George can always work with those of us training to fight Wednesday nights. Ironic how this comes up when I'd pretty much decided to start looking for another gym!

Did pad work with George. Not sure how long the rounds are because we work according to coach Georges internal clock. Do about 6 rounds. I ask him if the power in my right is better since I've deliberately made an effort to accustom myself to his unique pad holding style. He says it's starting to come along. I'm happy with that - George would say if it was complete s**t and has many times before!

What he does say I have to work on is not letting my elbows fly out. Apparently i do that when I spar but an OK during pad work and partner work. I've heard this before but been unable to correct it because I didn't know WHY my elbows were flying out. I'm pretty sure it was because I was forgetting to bring my back foot up under me and over reaching. Need to practice feeling the ball of my back foot behind my punches and hopefully not forget it in sparring. Always a risk that what I do in training might not cross over to sparring though I guess. Something I'll need to think about!

he also says i move around too much when doing shadow work - that I'm all over the place. Not completely sure what he means. I tend to think moving around is good but I must be doing it in an unrealistic way? Might need to ask my flatmate to video tape me again and get some show boxing taped too so I can see it for myself. i don't notice anything obvious when doing mirror work.

I am all inspired by the fitness of Scrap's guy being able to do one 25 min round (if I've read correctly) so since I've done some time with pad work already i decide to finish off with a 15 min round. I knew I wanted to put some sprints in every minute so took eye patch off which I had worn all night up until then. Can't see much with one eye.

Since the most I've ever done is a 3 min round this HURTS! Still manage to get ten seconds hard in every minute though which i like knowing that i can do even if most of the rest of the round is S*** because I'll know next time I'm feeling like crap in the ring that i can always pull something out of my hat when I need to. Also get to see the flaws that come out when I'm tired - punches getting lower and lower on the bag, hands dropping - and i can work on them.

Finish boxing - talk to George about what the story is with me being allowed to fight since mentioning it to coach Paul was probably not the greatest plan since he's still not in very much and not able to tell whether or not I'm giving my training enough to be allowed to fight. George calls the matchmaker right then and there and nominates me for the fights in mid October. About a month and a half to get ready and prove I'm ready.

George asks what weight and I say bantamweight or featherweight. Really I'm a little small for a strong featherweight and a little too big to not become weak making bantamweight so I can't choose one over the other. Usually I make bantamweight and find my opponent weighs in as a featherweight anyway so I'll let them choose the weight.

I don't really care as long as I can get back into competing again since the longer I'm out of it the harder it's going to be. George is fairly confident of my fitness being OK though - he just wants me to work on the afore mentioned technical issues.

I ask George if I should do some of his classes to get a bit more direction for partnerwork etc. He says yes of course and i wonder if all the trainers actually agree with coach Paul when he says "classes are for fat people trying to loose weight". I've seen George give guys who are getting better different exercises than others in his classes - tailoring it to their skill levels a bit. Maybe coach George doesn't mean to stand back as much as I thought he did.

I doubt he'll be my corner man when I fight but for now he's the best coach I have available even if I don't always understand what he wants. he's always there when he says's he'll be and I place some importance on that. He's also had more bouts than any of the other coaches. Apparently coach Paul spent some time in the UK training but not fighting and because the scene is so much better there he came back with a broader understanding of the sport. Still he's not here now and I can't rely on someone who's not here.

Leave boxing - go to aquatic centre for weights and swim

Do my own crappy weights routine. Am still looking at getting one made up for me - I read about the plonker doing an olympic circuit but not sure what that is.

medicine ball throwing from left and right side doing situps - 15 each side 3 sets (pulled in random aquatic centre employee to help me)

Leg raises on roman chair alternating with back extensions on stand thingy - 15 reps each 3 sets

Close grip lat pull downs

Seated leg curls

Leg extensions

Feel like I've forgotten something. basically all of the above done 3 sets, about 30 sec breaks at weight which allowed some effort but also speed for 5 to 8 reps.

Got in the pool easy swimming for 5 or 10 mins then 10 25 m freestyle sprints with slow swim back. Felt it in my legs perhaps because i did sprints in the morning.

Got out. Showered, cycled home. Another late night. Thing is I couldn't make it much earlier than this because the gym doesn't open until 5:30 and on some days I'll have meetings at uni and be unable to leave until 5 pm which means the earliest I can get to training is 6 pm. Still cycling conditions were good again. Soon it'll be summer and that'll be really nice since it stays lighter a lot later with daylight savings time.

Sharla the 25 min rds is a stroll its not hard its aerobic with 10 sec bursts. Olympic Circuit is6 excercises of 30 secs eg press ups pikes dorsals tricep pressups knee to chest burpees jumps as fast as you can correct form. Im going to pm that other thing promise

__________________
Pain lasts a only a minute, but the memory will last forever....

Thanks heaps Scrap That's a big help

I'll keep working on those 25 min rounds. Maybe I need to get better at pacing myself. I guess most people feel like running 20 minutes is hard when they've never done it before but it takes very little time to build up to it.

Thursday

Morning - nothing. Thought I was due for a relatively easy day but realized when I got to uni to check my computer that weights might have been a better option. Opps

I plan to do them on Friday instead and hope that will make up for it.
I might shift my long run to Sunday or Saturday morning since I know I'm gonna wanna couple of hours sleep straight afterwards.

Boxing Training

Was a relatively hard session for me but felt productive.

Didn't cycle today - caught the bus. Can never catch the bus home if I do catch it to training because the last one runs at 6 pm (our fantastic public transport system!). Still is a good option if I'm going somewhere afterwards - in this case arranged with Mum on Wednesday to crash at her house on Thursday. Lets me get in a driving lesson from her and catch up with everyone on a weeknight since the coming weekend looks a bit busy.

Warmed up with skipping 3 rounds

1st round easy, 2nd and 3rd rounds with sprints 10 seconds on ten off.

Then 4 rounds shadow boxing

8 rounds medium sized soft bag, 8 rounds heavier bag

All rounds 2 mins with 20 to 30 secs break except one minute break in change over between bags.

20 minutes shadow in the ring with blindfold

I start off thinking I'm holding the centre ring well but by the end it's pretty clear I've completely lost the centre because I find the ropes maybe 6 or 7 times.

Was a good cool down exercise since for some reason I didn't find it too physically tiring unlike the rounds on the bag which felt good because I think my balance and therefore power I can put out is improving.

Coach Arthur has noticed the improvement and is a bit dumbfounded hearing about dominant eyes etc.

Mum's been standing by the ring laughing when I'm all suprised at having run into the ropes for the last 10 minutes by the time I finish. In hindsight I should have asked someone to watch me and see where i was going but ran into the ropes both forewards and back rather than sideways.

Friday

Wanted to use my lunch hour but didn't get one since we had new post driver equipment arrive finally today and spent all day running around like an idiotgetting everything ready so we can take the little baby out to the field next week. Some many little things that need to be fitted with the air compressor the uni already owned, vehicle booking, OH&S crap etc - still working it out. Perhaps that's the plonker coming out in me though

Boxing

Got to the gym at 6:30 pm, held up at uni - too late to do George's class like I planned. I warm up with skipping.

3 two min rounds, 20 to 30 sec breaks - 1st easy, 2nd 20 sec on, 20 sec off, 3rd 10 sec on, 10 sec off.

4 rounds of shadow boxing - 2 min rounds, 20 to 30 sec breaks

1 round on the floor to ceiling bag - then I spot young Chris and remember i haven't had any sparring this week

Chris and I spar not sure how many rounds 2 mins on 20 to 30 secs break except for a few times he needs a drink or to adjust his mouthguard. I guess we were going around an hour.

Afterwards go to aquatic centre. Have a good 40 mins stretch. Feel tight in lower back and hamstrings so I really need it. Then do weights in a circuit (not may people there Fri nights) until closing time.

Sparring Chris
He ends up taking his mouthguard off which I think is a bit risky but despite getting hit a reasonable about he doesn't bleed from his lips or mouth which is unusual! Must have incredibly smooth, well aligned teeth!

At first since George is taking the class he just comments on a few things in between instructing his other victims. Then when the class is finished he comes over to watch properly and give us more instructions.

He tells Chris to tone it down a bit because he gets frustrated and only really knows how to spar the same way he hits the bag - hard. Luckily he doesn't land more than about 3 or 4 direct punches while we're doing normal sparring. His left hand is very low but his balance bad (leans back a lot not using his reach and is very open) so he's very easy to spar.

He also gets tense because some new guys are watching and occasionally cheering me on. I think that kinda sucks. He hasn't had a lot of sparring and they're only cheering for me because I'm a chick and they don't expect me to be able to handle myself. It's embarrassing for him and feel bad that he's angry with himself for not doing better. Seems like a crap night to have straight after his night coaching the beginners which he enjoyed so much which is a great help to our club.

We finish with a few rounds of body sparring only. Coach George is concerned that Chris is running into a few without his mouthguard and still throwing big ones at me. Coach George wants us to attack the body as hard as we can. Neither of us have KO body punches and i like being able to practice them without worry about my head. Still feel some that Chris lands but not too badly. Also have strange feeling afterwards in my forearms where I'm blocking them.

Discussion with Paul
Kristine has been skipping to warm up which I think is strange because it's late but then coach Paul comes in to work with her. I copy down details of a new interclub sparring day held on Saturday. I want to go and it's in the afternoon which suits me.

Paul sees me leaving with my headgear and forbids me to go to the sparring day. I'm a bit POd. The coach in charge used to have a small guy he'd bring to our club for me to spar and I had a ball because I don't often get to spar people my own weight. Guys my weight are great because they push me without being able to steamtrain me with their weight. I feel challenged but not shoved around. Love it, Love it, Love it!!!!!!

Instead Paul wants me to go to our gym on Saturday to work with him and Kristine, He says he'll ring Rod and find out about it - I'm not allowed to call Rod myself even though it says in the newsletter that anyone wanting info can call Rod. i don't think he intends to call Rod at all.

We used to do Saturday late morning/ noon sessions for a while until I started having driving lessons at that time. I know the drill. I show up at the agreed time, text them to say I'm here, I wait for half an hour or 40 mins outside the gym for someone to arrive. Sometimes they both arrive together, open the gym and they both finish their cigarettes while I go inside to get ready. Other times Kristine will arrive by herself and Paul with take another 30 mins or an hour to show. Other times Paul doesn't show at all and Kristine and I end up trying to coach ourselves.

Paul says he wants to get into a routine again and he's going to start coming in every night again. I think the reasons Paul has had for being "away" are too complex for him to suddenly being coming in every night especially before 8 pm.

I like Paul but I don't want to sacrifice my opportunity to get some variety in sparring on Saturdays to do a session with Kristine I could do any night of the week. Especially since interclub sparring will always be punctual and in a club close to the beach I could really enjoy hanging out near on a cruizy Saturday afternoon before cycling home.

Still I'm going to be working with kristine tomorrow but I'm going to call Rod and see if he can't arrange someone to spar with me next weekend. I insisted I can't change my driving lesson time so we're training at 4 pm. According to kristine they usually are at the pub that time so I'm hoping they just forget about this Saturday training next week and I'm free to have my interclub sparring!

Right - It's 12:23 pm here so now I've chucked my big sooky la la tantrum I should go home to bed. Want to do long run tomorrow morning so I can have Sunday completely off. Saturday trainings with Paul and Kristine are not physically challenging - more technique sessions - so the morning run won't stuff up the afternoon training.

Saturday 26th August

Get up and realize I'm not going to have time for long run before driving lesson - especially if I don't want to risk killing myself and my instructor by falling asleep behind the wheel.

I call mum and have a sooky la la to her about not being able to go to interclub sparring because i have to train with Kristine instead. She says what but they're always late - I know. We decide I'll get my run in by running to the boxing gym and she'll pick me up at 5:30. Gives us 1hr 30 mins to train which is plenty if they show up when they say they will otherwise it's not my fault if we don't have enough time.

So later I run to training about 1 hr 10 mins running with last 10 mins cool down walk to the gym. Lower back and hips still very tight.

Kristine rocks up right on 4 which is good to open up. I go in and stretch while she skips to warm up. She says Paul is on his way. We do shadow work and stretch and are more than warm by the time Paul arrive 40 mins later. He messes around in the office for another 10 mins before we get started. No explanation for him being so late.

3 rounds on the mits, 3 rounds shadow and then sparring.

For my own shadow before starting with Paul i had the timer set on 2 mins 20 seconds. I start it, wait for it to reach 2 mins and then restart it as soon as it goes off. Means I only ever get 20 or 30 secs break.

We go by that timer except when the timer goes off Paul switches it off and doesn't restart it until he finishes talking which is 1 or 2 mins and then still waits 20 seconds for it to count down to 2 mins before we start.

I'm in a bad mood which you can probably tell. Too much standing around talking about nothing i haven't heard plenty of times before with almost a whole hour already wasted before we even begin. I stretch in the round breaks rather than listening to him when I would normally hang on every word.

Then i spar Kristine. About 6ish rounds I think. I mostly throw single punch counters but they're hard and she fires up too. Somewhere in the second round my left arm decides it hates me. Not sure if it's something i did, Kristine did or just bruising aggravated from body sparring with Chris.

I want to practice being more aggressive in attack but can't get the tempo up and end up counter punching a lot. This is what I often do against heavier sparring partners ie. everyone but it's not how I fight when I compete so I'm wanting to learn to attack more.

Still I'm probably a bit hard on Kristine which isn't entirely fair on her and I'm a bitch. She gets me back a few times but not enough to be even. I see my sister's car roll up at 5:50 and say i have to go my ride's here. Paul asks for one more round but I say no. I think I'm not going to make my family wait even just for a 2 minute round when we could have started nearly an hour earlier anyway.

Then i feel really bad because Paul starts saying how we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking we need to go to other clubs to spar when we can do it here and Kristine sticks up for me. She says it's about getting experience with different styles.

He says that you don't want to spar in front of opponents coaches without your own coach present. I remind him that I don't have any opponents left in SA. It's the interstate girls I need to worry about who have a lot more opportunities to gain exposure to different opponents and their various styles than I do.

He says we don't want to loose what we were working on today and I point out that we could do this any day of the week and don't have to sacrifice interclub sparring to do it on a Saturda