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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
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 Saturday.
He has no answer for that - says we'll go next week.
I leave - I think they know I'm annoyed. Perhaps i should be more patient. I just look foreward to the weekends so much I hate to waste them waiting around for people with no shortage of time to dawdle.
Opps in all that ranting i forgot to mention the key things George said i need to work on Friday night. I have a habit of switching my feet over a second when I'm getting my balance after rebounding off of a heavier opponent. bad habit - messy - not necessary waste of energy.
I have a double right I like to throw and he wants me to stop that. I think I just throw it from too far way and end up over reaching a lot with the second. I will have to pick the times I use it more carefully. I can see his point that in many cases I'm better off throwing a single right and following through with the left hook so I'll try to do that more.
My slips are often too big, trying to calm them down a bit to make movement more efficient and direct. I think I get hit a little more often trying to do this but that's because i haven't worked out how to make my slips smaller and end up not slipping at all. Something balance related I have to work on.
I've been meaning to set up a slipping bag like Mike Tyson used so i might work something out for training next week. So many little gadgets from this forum still waiting to be made at home!
Sunday
Rest day except for a walk to the supermarket. Lots of sleep and not doing anything too exciting but I feel a flu coming on. it's been going around and I thought I'd escaped. Started in left nasal passage this morning and already spread to my chest by this afternoon. Have to go out to the field a few days this week which will mean 6:30 am starts - I feel a shit training week coming on. I guess when have the flu shouldn't try to be as aerobic but would be a good time to get my weights and resistance training routine sorted.
Monday
Nose still running like a tap but not feeling too bad by the afternoon. Went to boxing training just to show I'm training still and haven't decided to skip for the hell of it. Coach George likes to see people show up as much as possible and he's always there when he says he'll be so I don't like to let him down.
Did a light session as still not well. Worked with gym bell 2 min rounds 1 min breaks.
Skipped 3 rounds, stretched between.
Shadow 4 rounds - chin ups in breaks (8 reps, bodyweight)
Partnerwork with Kristine - Abs in breaks after first 5 rounds, back extensions after next 3 rounds
A few more rounds not doing anything in the breaks.
We worked on a lot of drills for movement to slip a jab or defend against a combo after throwing a combo, body shots holding pad for each other last 4 rounds.
Kristine is a trooper. She's completely forgiven my bitchy behaviour on Saturday. She has a great attitude for this sport!
Kristine rated my body shots power wise for me as I threw them. Strange how hard it is for me to tell what is a good one versus what is a bad one. Most other punches I can feel the difference. Don't have a clue with bodyshots!
Cycled home - clear conditions. However I did feel some pain in my left shoulder on the way home leaning on the handle bars. Still a bit sore from whatever happened to it Saturday. Odd. Don't feel comfortable lying on my left side either at night.
Did get some news Monday night - the show they nominated me to fight in was cancelled as they couldn't get enough fighters to nominate. next show will be the state titles in October. State titles are no biggy here but it does mean I'll have to pick a definite weight class and if I choose the wrong one I won't make it to the nationals which could suck. Something to think about.
Tuesday
No training today. Left to go out to the field at 7 am got back 7 pm - showered and ate - still have some sorting of samples etc to do before bed and doing the same again tomorrow. Not a bad day to be unable to train though I guess since it's not likely to be great for my cold and no trainers at the gym on Tuesdays anymore.
One thing that does suck - me and my small Asian supervisor are totally incapable of getting through the same amount of soil coring 2 big burly men can even with expensive air compressor driven equipment. Being a midget sucks sometimes but i officially forgive my supervisor for all the times he's been an obstinate ass since he's out there suffering with me today!
Wednesday
Didn't finish up sorting the soil samples and doing up labels for Wednesdays soil coring and gt home until 2:30 Wednesday morning. I'm going to get everything prelabeled and sort as I go for the next harvest. Why do I always learn these things the hard way - I'm such a disorganized twit!
I think for next big harvest morning workouts might be the way to go but didn't get up in time to do any exercise before having to leave Wednesday. Up 6:30 left at 7.
Soil coring was much better today as worked out all the little teething problems but still don't return until just after 7 pm. Decide to do all the sample sorting next morning - need to record soil colour before passing on samples for DNA analysis. Absolutely stuffed - I guess it's physical work but I'm dissappointed we got back too late to get to the boxing gym (closes at 8ish, takes 40 mins to cycle there). Wednesday night is the night coach George can help me with mit work etc and all he knows now is that i didn't show. :(
Went to bed at 8 pm, slept for 12 hours!
Thursday boxing
warm up 3 rounds shadow - 2 min rounds 1 min break used to stretch
Then 16 rounds 2 mins with 20 to 30 secs break except for a 1 min break when swapping bags after 8 rounds. First 8 rounds without patch 2nd eight rounds with eye patch.
Wanted a longer warm down for shadow but as coach Arthur needed to close up early could only do a 5 min round of shadow in the ring blindfolded.
Coach Arthur picked up a few things on my uppercuts to the body to work on. I'm telegraphing them a bit and not really fluent throwing them in a combo so I'm going to work on that. I realize that we may have very different styles in some ways but he still has a few things to add.
Cycled to aquatic centre. Got there early enough to book a session with staff for 11:30 Sunday morning to get my weight program planned. Then did some light leg weights. Upper body tired from soil coring and boxing training. I might get a split program and always do upper body weights except abs and lower back in the mornings since seem to tired to make the most of it at night.
Cycling conditions - windy on the way to boxing but not too bad, a little rain but no wind heading back home.
Friday morning run
I've just got to uni and my hands are shaking from the buzz :) :) :)
I met up with my old Friday morning training buddies.
Theres 2 groups a slow group which run the same course every Friday which is easier on the joints because it's uphill but winding and not too steep coming back down. There's a faster group I used to race against every Fri morning but they run harder courses and I'm not sure I want to push the knee YET  ;)
I have cycled there and while fiddling around changing my cycling shoes with my runners they head off. I just look up and they're gone! I'm sure it's not 6 am yet - cheaters!
I catch up with the slow group and overtake all except one of them going up, then pass him going down. I'm taking it easy going down not wanting to push the knee and see him creeping up behind me again - then being the bitch I am I can't let him catch up - I take off and completely blitz him  :)
Yes I'm a bit shallow getting all proud of beating a slow group runner but it feels so good to be striding out again and racing people  :) :) :).
We go to coffee afterwards. Ken the 81 year old who chooses the track for the faster group every Friday morning asks us all what we got him for father's day.
I hear about how some of the fast group runners went in the marathon on the Sunday just gone. Dean my old nemesis did really well! It's going to take something for me to catch him again but i threaten him anyway  :) :) :)
I hear about who's last man standing for the Adelaide marathon. Every year since it started - something like 29 years there has been a small group of men who did every one. The last 2 in that group entered this year and only one finished. It's so inspiring to hear about someone completing that marathon every year for 29 years.
I love this group - I don't think they have any idea of how much i really missed them. Feels great to be back and immediately I'm thinking about the boxing nationals. I knew my running gave me confidence to be competitive in boxing but I'm suprised at how much i feel it now. the blood is boiling and I can't wait!  :) :) :)
I blame Gally for taking marathons on the board yesterday making me wanna come out and run with them again. If I don't have something more exciting coming up in 2008 to train for I want to do the Cadbury Glass marathon on Hobart in January and aim for a good placing.  :)
Planning some track work Saturday morning and sparring int the afternoon. Long run on Sunday morning - maybe with a group and weights at 11:30 to set my programs. No need for a day off this weekend since the start of the week was such a waste!
Morning weight for Friday = 56.2 kg. Only 2.2 kg to loose by October. I think I can do it - will try for bantamweight which means I have an idea of who the competition is which is good to know. :)
Friday night boxing
Cycled to gym
All rounds about 2 mins, 30 secs break
3 rounds skipping, 1 footwork alone, 1 footwork leading and following Micheal in partnerwork, 12 tagging game with Micheal. Micheal is a 14 year old kid in the gym who's very eager.
About 3 shadow, 6 bag
Padwork with George.
He says that my right cross and hook are getting stronger.
We practice uppercuts to the body with big round pad thingy. I ask him to rate my bodyshots because I can't feel whether they're good or bad.
Left uppercuts range from "S***" to "not bad". Right uppercuts are only rated as "worse than S***". George thinks it's weird because he thinks my right should be my natural hand but I tend to think that these days everything with the left hand works better.
Got to Aquatic centre
Stretch
Do Abs and lower back then start feeling ill. Perhaps the protein shake I bought at the boxing gym was off?
Try to call a taxi home but am left on hold so long I run out of credit on my phone (prepaid). I end up cycling home slowly but feel better after a few hours. Just had stomach cramps.
Saturday
No morning run - still feeling a little off
Afternoon sparring - cycle 45 mins to the gym in Somerton
Get to spar 4 rounds which is plenty really because it's 4 rounds continuous with 3 different guys all close to my weight. I really didn't expect to see anyone my weight and am thrilled. There will be two more guys for me to spar next week. Both pros who are close to my weight! This is the only time I have not felt like a freak for being light in South Australia.
One of the coaches thinks I have longer than average arms for my frame. That's nice. I've never thought I have any physical features which help my boxing at all!
I find that with some of the guys I'm not running backwards much but the one who moves me around the ring the most is actually the lightest! He's got an unusual way of using hooks and overhands to counter etc. It's a style coach George would be totally against (as he reminded me to forget overhands on Friday night - which he still doesn't know the name of) but this guy has it working very cleanly and controlled. I have a long chat to his coach who is actually from the UK to get an idea of how he's using it.
I'm really looking foreward to next Saturday because I learnt so much!
Sunday
Ran to aquatic centre - a bit over an hour - then went through program for weights with an instructor there. We discuss it for over an hour but run out of time.
Will continue tomorrow morning. I'm very demanding and he's really thinking about everything I ask for and all my muscle imbalances, making sure I do things with the correct technique etc. I'm impressed since I did not expect him to be so thorough.
He recognized my model of heart rate monitor too and showed me some functions on it I haven't seen before. Handy! I think perhaps he's fairly into whatever his own sport is which helps.
I catch the bus home which thanks to our amazing public transport service takes about 3 times longer than running would but my nose is still dripping like a tap after a week so I don't want to push it. The instructor commented on my cold as perhaps being a sign I'm overtraining.
I don't think I overtrained but since it came on at the end of the week when I was tired I think perhaps if I'd managed my time to allow more sleep etc during the week it wouldn't have been an issue?!
Geez time management - I've NEVER been good at that!
Fortnightly cook up
3 curries - beef, chicken and sliced up sausage meat (been frozen for ages needed to use them) with extra vegies added and Basmati rice. Also bought some Up and Gos. Not as good as protein shakes but cheaper and since I usually have to at least cycle 40 mins home after I'll be drinking one i could use a few carbs.
Monday Morning Weights
Cycled to aquatic centre
Did back and chest. Still haven't completely finished getting the program set but have an appointment next Wednesday to review what we've worked out and talk about whether or not it's a keeper.
Will usually do chest on a different day - we're just setting the program for it today.
Chest once a week, back and legs twice a week all different sessions. Not completely settled on how we're going to do abs yet.
This guy has a theory that you can work a muscle once a week really thoroughly and then provided you eat enough protein it will still allow to you have strengths gains. Freaky - I always thought twice a week minimum and preferable 3 times a week per muscle group!
Cycled home
I think a lot body builders follow that philosophy. I used to get an e-mail newsletter from this excercise website a few years ago, there was one in particular where this guy was adamant that you should only train each muscle group once week very thoroughly, he believed it took at least a week for the muscle to repair the 'damage' (he claimed to be a biochemist, which may have been true).
I followed this routine for a while (a few years ago now, before boxing), I felt myself getting a little bigger, but I didn't really progress much with the amount I was lifting, though I'm sure if it's done correctly it does work.
Anyway, the only real worry I'd have if I'd incorporate something like this into my training is that each muscle group may be sore for a couple of days after being worked hard and then affect the rest of my training.
Keep up the good work. ;)
Good Points Thanks for the input CC Bomp :)
Monday night boxing
Cycled there, warmed up with 3 rounds footwork stretching between rounds (2 min rounds 1 min breaks), 1 round on wobble board (feel very unco)
Rest of night used timer set by training partner for 2 min rounds 20 to 30 secs breaks
4 rounds shadow
16 rounds on bags - 4 different bags
1 round shadow
3 rounds of shadow on medicine balls alternating with about 3 mins walking the balls across the ring.
Still sick. Tonight accidentally spat a big yellow friend onto the bag. Luckily was able to wipe it off before anyone saw (i think).
Decided to go straight home from boxing to get an early night and to take Tuesday off. Having symptoms of this cold thing for 9 days is enough.
Took Wednesday off too and slept in Thursday morning. Still snot nosed and tired. Bought some nasal spray from the chemist though - hoping it'll settle things down a bit.
Aim to do something Thursday lunch and get to boxing training tonight.
Thursday
Went to chiro in the afternoon. She's fairly happy with my progress but we've got another appointment in 6 weeks to make sure everything is still going OK. There were a few tight points in my upper back and neck which she adjusted.
She doesn't want me to train hard after the appointment and my nose is still dripping like a tap (makes facing down on the chiro table awkward :-[) so i only did an easy boxing session afterwards.
No bag work but 2 min rounds, 30 sec breaks of lots of shadow with a few rounds skipping and some stretching to warm up. Some light ankle weight leg exercises at the end. Then cycled home. Fine cycling conditions.
Friday Morning
Burnside road runners run. Went up Mt Osmond. Not sure yet whether or not that was smart. My heart rate was pretty close to max most of the time and I wasn't able to control things very well on the steep descent. Lower back feels tight now which makes me think i need to strengthen my core and have a good routine in place to get back into these hill runs safely! My pace is OK though and Dean is pretty happy with me - although he'd probably run faster if he wasn't recovering from a marathon a couple of weeks ago and some of the other faster runners were there.
I'm never sure of how to train when I'm sick. Always unsure whether I'm going too light or too hard. I hope I haven't done anything stupid or not done anything I should have!
Oops - haven't filled this in in a while.
To be honest this week has been a bit dodgy - I'm forever rearranging things and after thinking it was a good idea to do weights at night after boxing i now think those nights were too late for me and I function better waking up early rather than going to bed late.
Anyway this is what i can remember
Friday night
Warm up - skipping and a few rounds shadow
One 25 min round on the bag. liked it. Get really tired but seem to be better at working my fluency and balance in a long round. I think i pick up more technically without the round break. I think i don't mentally engage straight away so the longer round has my attention to detail more - odd!
Went to the aquatic centre - did back weights routine and then cycled home.
Saturday
Cycled to the club in Somerton for interclub sparring, about 45 min bike ride. Warmed up while the heavier guys sparred, then had my sparring. Sparring posted in Ask the trainer section. I have a few ideas of how i want to improve from that. Maybe making my feet slightly narrower will give me more control when pivoting and moving sideways and I can reduce this huge bounce back thing i have putting me too far out of range all the time. I think I can be much faster than that too so that's the goal for next week - to speed things up and stay inside more without getting my head knocked off.
Mum came to watch me sparring and gave me a lift home - you can probably hear her in the vids - she's loud! :)
Sunday
Off - still hell sore from run on Friday morning - lower back and legs from the steep descent. Also aim to run more often next week to make Friday mornings less of a shock!
Also grumpy - one thing I'm just getting now is that I can't spend all my spare time on the weekend cleaning without turning into an absolute she devil. Nearly evicted a flatmate (not the legend who sometimes tapes my sparring who owns the dog but the other one who complains about mess all the time but never cleans) for being late with rent money and she's still not talking to me!
Aim to do more during the week to stay sane. It's boring but I think part of managing training time and keeping morale up so the time spent training is enjoyed rather than feeling like a big sacrifice.
Monday
Good news is that my cold seems to be pretty much gone now - at last!
Lunch - warm up jog about 10 mins then 8 X 200 m sprints walking back between, cool down
Boxing - speed emphasis - not many rounds but tiring because all at 100 % fastest pace I could do - about 4 shadow warming up, 6 bag, 2 floor to ceiling and another 3 on the bag, finished with some balancing on a wobble board.
Went to the aquatic centre for a 30 min swim to cool down.
Tuesday
Lunch run - about 45 mins easy
Cycled to boxing
Boxing - lazy night. Tired but not sure why - perhaps just being a lazy bum since the gym is so dead and day at uni has been busy. :-[
Shadow work, a couple of rounds on the bag, lots of balance work on the medicine balls and the wobble board.
Cycled home
Wednesday
30 min lunch run - easy, all on grass - some aching in my knees - I think I'm overdue for a really good stretch.
Boxing
warmed up with a few rounds shadow and footwork, stretching between rounds. Then did 25 min round on the bag and followed with ab work and back weights. Wanted to get home early so crammed everything in at the boxing gym instead of going to the aquatic centre.
cycled home
Thursday
Got up at 5 to go for a 30 minute jog before leaving early to work in the field today. Just using the mini soil corer so less physical than the deep soil coring. Not too tiring except I forgot my sunscreen and got burnt to a crisp (red like a tomato!) and then to top it off rain came in late afternoon so while catching bus back home heard that thunderstorms are predicted and people have to be very careful on the roads tonight.
I've decided not to go to the boxing gym tonight since one of my bike lights has been broken recently and the other is a bit dull and with bad weather might not be safe. Will try to rehydrate and hope I don't get blisters from my sunburn!
Going home now - might use tonight to stretch although it looks like another early morning tomorrow to go out into the field again (hopefully won't be raining in the morning) so can't run with the road runners this week :(.
Friday night boxing.
A quickish session. Warm up with about 6 rounds footwork and shadow. Did some very light partnerwork with Kristine (forgot my mouthguard so very very light). Worked on slipping, countering, ducking. Trying to defend and move and counter without bouncing back across the other side of the ring. Did about 10 two minute rounds with her then finished off with about 5 hard rounds on the bag. Wanted to get speed out but for some reason couldn't get it but felt like I had more power than usual.
Saturday
Morning jog - about 40 mins over hilly terrain - more effort going up and emphasis on control going down. Avoiding letting my hips slip forewards and my back actually feels good when running up hill. I think maybe a lot of my intermittant back pain and knee ache is due to my hips slipping forewards partly because of my running style.
Afternoon
Cycled to interclub sparring (45 mins). Warmed up with skipping, shadow, etc for about 20 minutes, then got into the sparring. Sparred 4 rounds.
First with the taller southpaw. Damn it I keep walking straight into his cross - just haven't practiced moving left enough i think. When i walk into his crosses I feel them but overall the intensity is OK.
Second round with 60 kg Nigerian pro fighter - he's very easy on me and I don't disrespect that. It's very light barely touch sparring and good fun.
Third and fourth with Nigerian pro guy who is 53 kg - pretty close to my weight. He's the opposite to his larger training partner. Absolute Ahole. I finish the first round with a bloody lip. 2nd round i feel concussed despite maybe taking a few less punches because I am getting that I can go hard and he's hitting me hard regardless of how hard I hit him anyway so i have nothing to loose.
I'm not really too impressed by his skill. Apparently this is only his first week back in training after taking some time off and he's been eating too much McDonald's. Still I would have thought that he didn't need to prove he was stronger than me.
I forget that he's my weight and I can actually push him back until near the end of the second round. Up until then I'm mostly just hitting him with one and two punch combos and backing off. Next time I'll have to remember to push through him more because the two times I do it - it works. I can also move back slightly and be out of his range because I'm taller than him but I think I need to mix it up a bit more. He mostly catches me with hooks - I'm not sure why. I must be very open for them.
Cycle home concussed - wanted to do shopping at shops near by after sparring but didn't take a spare shirt and had blood all over it. Would have freaked people out if I tried to go shopping in that!
His coach Rod doesn't mind that he bashed me - he says Omar can't control his power and i know Rods making a big effort to include me as an equal to the guys so I don't argue with that or show that I'm not feeling the greatest.
The other coach there who was supervising sparring was not impressed but Omar didn't listen to him saying to go lighter. Perhaps Omar doesn't answer to anyone but Rod.
I don't get to sleep until very late Saturday night. I don't like that sort of vague, dizzy, achy feeling I have - freaks me a bit. Perhaps part of it is adrenalin though and the heat. I haven't been drinking a lot of water.
Sunday
Day off. Perhaps not necessary but I'm still not feeling completely OK. A bit headachy.
Monday
Did lunch run. 10 mins warm up jog then sprint intervals with 100 m walk recovery (using HRM to measure distance) 400 m X 2 , 200 m X 8. Cool down joggin for about 10 mins.
Boxing at night
Still headachy but perhaps it's just mental. I've been stewing on getting bashed by Omar. Did a light session of shadow boxing and the floor to ceilings ball - total only about 40 mins.
Tuesday
Off - went to get blood tests done and rather than train after loosing blood for the second time this week I decided to have the day off to completely recover. Feeling much better by the end of the day.
Tell the coaches youre not sparring with the arsehole, explain to them why if you dont tell them they will never know. sharla you are being stupid forget ego. a man your size is a lot stronger.
I agree with Scrap on this one. It's not going to help you to spar with a guy that has no self control. It's a pity there isn't a good pro in your gym that could teach that guy a lesson. At the least you can stay as far away from that ahole as you can so you don't have to worry about a headache.
Thanks for the concern Scrap and Chris CC.
I have to admit I have been thinking about sparring him again because I like to think that if I'm ready for it I have a fitness advantage even though he's strong he's not aerobically fit and also a few illegal tricks i can use against him 'by accident'. I don't think he wears a cup.
I admit though that's pretty immature and realistically I could never hurt him without taking enough from him to be hurt myself.
I bringing my older brother to sparring on Saturday to put some fear into him - he's going to take him aside quietly. My brother is 6 foot 4 and a hundred kgs of muscle from Judu so scary enough to intimidate a little Ahole who has something to prove against a female amateur.
As for other guys in my gym there are no pros but there are plenty bigger than him who could bash him. My coaches weren't there that day - coaches present were from other gyms and the bigger guys had done some sparring the night before so my team mates weren't there either. I did say something to coach Arthur about it and I have a feeling a bashing will be coming Omar's way next time he spars one of our guys - although if he takes the same attitude with the bigger guys he probably gets bashed every time he spars anyway!
Wednesday
30 min jog at lunch
First Judo session with my brother at night 6:30 to 8:30.
Was really different but I can see that there are a few things there which will help my boxing within about 6 months.
Warm up was soooooo different. Lots of tumbling on mats. Soooooo dizzy -I can usually eat 5 mins before training and it really doesn't bother me. I love my food and have a stomach of iron but I'm so glad i went there with an empty stomach because I wanted to vomit big time!
My bro said it's normal to feel dizzy and I'll get used to it within 6 weeks or so and it'll be good for me because if i get knocked I'll know where I am and trust my feet more.
Also short sprints, weird pushups, push up burpees. i am happy I had no problems at all doing the burpees. i guess my knee doesn't mind plyometrics at all done on mats over a sprung floor!
One class with several coaches instructing people of different levels. I have my own personal coach for the night which is pretty cool and while my bro is coaching the advanced players he still comes to check up on his little sis occasionally.
First thing I have to learn to do is land from a throw safely. Also get to practice one throw and one hold to be used on the ground. It's pretty fun - I'm not going to change sports but doing this maybe twice a week will be good cross training for me. I'm looking foreward to having improved balance, timing and confidence working in close to an opponent because I think that will strengthen some of the weakest points in my boxing.
I also think it'll be good from a self defence point of view. Especially if sparring a bigger or stronger person is ever getting out of hand again - the good thing about Judo in that situation is that people put their own weight into punches and it's that which can actually be used against them easily as an average Judo player whereas I think it takes a lot more skill as a short boxer.
I never would have done this six months ago because i would have felt that missing a boxing training is unacceptable but now with Saturday sparring I have an extra session anyway and I think it's a different type of exercise I can do properly when I'm too tired to be explosive enough to feel I'm putting in a good session boxing. Boxing seems more aerobic and explosive while Judo at the beginner level at least seems to be more anaerobic and about strength holding and pulling. it might also be good to keep my back strong because it'll work the opposite muscles to boxing.
Thursday Morning
Went to speed training with the road runners - first time back since doing my knee in. The guys I used to run with were doing long intervals. Ian has bought a boat and read about nautical miles which are apparently longer than normal miles so that's what they were doing.
It's a fun group. Ian ran the City to Bay on the weekend as an elite (12 km road race - very big) and got a good time. They reported the results in the paper but got him mixed up with his wife. He's been getting emails saying - "you had a crap run but Tanya did really well" - and "you run like a girl!".
One of my mum's beginner runners (mum teaches the beginners) is a mum with 4 kids. She had to go to the doctor the night before to get an injection to stop her vomiting. She asked the doctor if she could still run the city to bay if she drank lots of water - his respone "Are you a moron!". Poor woman. The fact she still wanted to do it just goes to show that everyone has their own goals and just because someone isn't elite it doesn't mean they don't care. After all how do you become elite if you don't go through the crap stage first!
Anyway I didn't do the nautical miles - I'd be too tempted to try to keep up and want to run with the Burnside runners tomorrow so know from experience to try doing both of these sessions hard. I did 4 X 400 m repeats with a 400 m jog recovery between - plus a few laps warm up and cool down. Cycling time was 30 mins each way too. A lightish session but enough to have done something I can gradually build on. I like running with other people!
It's interesting that you bring this up because many years ago wrestling represented a staple in many great fighters training regimens. John L. Sullivan, to Jim Jeffries, all the way to Jack Dempsey saw wrestling as an essential part of their training.
Really! I didn't know that - glad it's not as unorthodox as I thought!
I think the Judo will make my arms stronger because I do have a few sore spots - muscle tiredness in my arms. Hopefully it'll help me to hold my guard more easily.
Thursday Night Boxing
Warm up some skipping, foot work and shadow boxing about 7 rounds all up.
Then 20 rounds on the bags. I feel slow and a bit off balance - need to start wearing the eye patch again for a few sessions. Perhaps something I'll need to do occasionally for a while. I can feel the difference now!
Cycled home. Perhaps I should have cooled down or something in hindsight but I guess at least my transport is a bit active!
Friday Morning Burnside RRs Run
I reset my alarm the night before but didn't set it for radio or beep which means nothing goes off! Woke up about 10 mins too late to get there in time to start with the group so I cycled there and did the slowies track - the fasties change their course every week and I never know where they are running.
It was an easy run (about 45 mins) and to be honest I didn't feel like I had a lot in my legs this morning. Perhaps the last couple of days have been more tiring than I thought. I would have really struggled running with the fast group.
I caught up with mum who left on time and pushed her along instead - yes I am a bitch and she did tell me that :)
Went for coffee afterwards and spoke to Peter a sixty/seventy something ex-ultramarathon runner. the stories about 24 hour runs and how it's a mental thing were amazing. Most people might underestimate how inspiring it can be to talk to the older runners - they just don't realize that they have some freaky amazing things to tell you about! Not to mention a lot of them are still running marathons a a good pace! i can't feel sorry for myself for being a slow coach since returning to running - I just have no excuse when i talk to people like this!
Friday Arvo - took it off of uni knowing I'll be working overtime in the field next week. Decided to use it to attack the 'garden'.
The 'garden' is a nightmare! Armed with nothing but an non-motorized push mower and my hands I worked for 4 hours trying to tackle the lawn and weeds along the fence line which have grown taller than me. Strange how they just blend in with the trees once they reach a certain size!
Then went to boxing training but was absolutely stuffed - pushing that gyromower is equivalent to a lot of pushups and pulling those weeds a lot of seated rows!
Just warmed up but doing some footwork with one of the beginners at Coach George's request and then did some light partnerwork with Kristine. My next opponent who I may be matched with in 2 weeks is not a southpaw but I'm worried most at working out how to handle the southpaws at interclub sparring. Kristine is a big help. She plays a southpaw for the night and I basically practice defence only while moving left.
Cycle to hardware store - accidentally overestimate how much I can carry in my bag rack and call my sister to rescue me who drives home. I must look really tired because I out of sympathy for me she volunteers to work a day in the garden with me on Sunday (YES!!!!!).
Saturday - Still at war with the garden. Spend all morning on it except for another trip to a nearby hardware store and for final doctors appointment to complete my yearly boxing checkup. Paperwork is due in Monday!
Have an hour sleep in the afternoon before getting ready for sparring. My bro Leonard picks me up and we put my bike in his car because he'll have to go straight to something else once it's finished and won't be able to drive me home.
When we get to sparring the first thing Leonard makes me do is go and tell them that last week was too hard. I hate this. I feel embarrassed like I might aswell walk in there wearing a pink tutu and an "I love Paris Hilton" T shirt!
I walk up and mumble something like "I might just do some light sparring today Rod I didn't pull up to well last week" and I shuffle back to my bro. He says in his big bro tone "Sharla you've got to communicate better than that!" and walks across to explain my concussion to Rod. I have to give Rod credit - he doesn't make me feel like I don't belong there at all and knowing I can't handle the same intensity as the guys doesn't stop him from including me which is really nice!
Sparring with Omar is lighter this time. It's borderline - i don't like the natural power in some of his hooks but it's much better and I don't feel close to getting hurt this time. I have a chance to see what's going on this time and I think the reason I have so much difficulty with him is part of the difference between a pro fighter like him and an amateur like me.
One - he's just got a lot more combos he can easily pull off than me and closes distance very easily. For example - he can move in throwing combos with BOTH left and right hooks (in the same combo)so I can't move sideways to get away, it doesn't matter if I move back because he can throw combos easily as he's jumping in (probably why some of the hooks land a little hard) and he soon has me close to the ropes anyway.
If i could see them coming enough to duck that would work but while I've practiced that sparring other people he's not as predictable as other people. I didn't think he was that skilled before because it's easy to land punches on him but now i can see more of what's going on I see some skills.
Two - he's quite happy to let me jab him in the face until the cows come home. He's going to ignore anything that isn't hard enough to hurt him because I guess unlike in amateur competitions he doesn't need to worry about the light ones in the pros - he just has to get in to unload.
At one stage during sparring he's nodding at me and saying something I just can't quite hear. People here don't get that i come from a loud family and you really need to speak up!
Talking to my brother afterwards he feels my main problem is that I don't keep my hands up enough. I know I don't. My brother has noticed that I do it well in shadow boxing but not sparring so he thinks it's just a mindset and might be more easily fixed than i realize. He wants to work on that with me for 15 mins every night after Judo trainings for a while.
We also notice that Omar isn't going all out - not when he's sparring me and not even the other guys. We think he might actually want to be hit hard though. i don't relate to that. I'm an amateur - whether the punches are hard or light I need to make them miss to avoid loosing on points so i don't need to be hit hard to want to avoid them. However, I guess i have had bouts where I won on fitness and by moving but didn't really unload any power and i should be able to turn that on if I want to - without being angry.
We think Omar is occasionally hitting me a bit harder wanting me to unload on him. He wants me to fire up but it goes against my instincts after years of sparring bigger people which say if I unload against a more powerful person I'll get worse back. I can spar so light it's like having a fly land on your face.
Before we leave Rod says that Omar lives very close to my gym and they are going to come in on Thursday night for some more sparring. Rods being very encouraging. Leonard's going to come too so we can discuss the possibility of me going hard at Omar if that's what he wants as long as my head isn't taken off in return!
Sunday
My sister and I are slaves to the garden. it's hard work - I'd classify it as being a day of high rep, low weight endurance resistance work. We make a pile of dead wood and weeds that's about 3 Xs bigger than the two of us put together.
Pity my spoilt princess flatmate who likes to pay the bills late can only clean up her room, spill salad dressing on the kitchen floor without cleaning up after herself and leave the rubbish from her room near the kitchen bin thinking it's my job to take it outside. The first conversation we've had since the one RE the rent a few weeks ago is me telling her to take her own rubbish out!
Monday
Working out in the field today. Bus delayed returning from field trial site means I don't have time to get to training. I go for an evening jog but get lower back tightness and a little knee pain - ITB i think. I was running downhill and despite it being a gentle slope that was enough to make it flair up. Annoying! Still I think it's just been aggrivated by the heat which I haven't fully become acclimatized to yet. Makes for a pathetic training day!
Tuesday 25th September
Left early for field work so no morning workout. :-[
Night boxing - 3 rounds footwork and shadow to warm up followed by a 25 min round on the bag.
Then cycled to the aquatic centre to do the speed workout I should have found time for yesterday or this morning -
2 X 600m, 3 X 400m and 6 X 200m intervals with walk recovery between.
Felt difficult but as this workout gets longer every week I'm reasonably satisfied with it.
Finished with abs and back weights before cycling home.
Wednesday 26th September
Got up at 5 and managed to get 30 mins jog in before rushing around like and idiot to get ready before being picked up to get lift out to the field.
Have just finished 3rd day of soil coring which was ok the first 2 days but now is really starting to cain my back - worst thing is I have at least 3 more days of this to look foreward to! Planning swim after training tonight to loosen up If i can stay awake for it :)
Wednesday night boxing
A short session. I got there late and explained to coach George it is because of travel time from Roseworthy- "you go all the way out there? You travel one and a half hours there and back by bus and then you cycle here - so you're wasting your life travelling. I did some maintenance work out there once and if they call me back again I won't go because it's too far!" George is a carpenter - i should have done a trade!
Boxing training was 3 rounds shadow to warm up and then 8 hard rounds on the bag. Then I cycled to the aquatic centre - did some ab work and stretched. Was just about falling asleep right there so decided to pass the swim.
Cycled to the city and locked my bike up and caught a taxi home. It was worth it just to get home earlier to sleep but also means I can get off of the bus from Roseworthy in the city and go straight to training from there. I'm theoretically meant to get my samples back to the cool room but a cool change has come in and my samples are not getting cooked as much now so I think it's safe.
Thursday morning
Slept in (until 6 when have to get up to catch early bus) - needed it!
Thursday Arvo
Lugged soil samples out of the bus in the city and cycled them to my bros house. From there he put my dirt and my bike in his car and i showed him the way to my gym.
Omar was meant to come for sparring which is why Leonard was there - to give me some feedback and to make sure we all could communicate properly about the kind of intensity we want to put into the session.
He was a no show though. Apparently he doesn't usually train for boxing on Thursdays - just runs so I guess despite Rod promising me he would show up I can't really blame him for not coming. Still it was a bit dissappointing after all the dirt lugging in the bike bags to make sure I got there on time!
Leonard went home and I made the most of my session which ended up being pretty good. I did some skipping, footwork and shadow to warm up for about 3 rounds each, some floor to ceiling ball and then kidnapped Theo for some sparring.
Theo is my height but much heavier being stocky in build. He's used to competing against taller guys so he has developed good countering skills and is fairly fast for his weight. He's also totally against girl bashing which annoyed me to begin with because sparring wasn't realistic with him - he'd take a lot and give very little back - but now we've found the right intensity. He let me load up on him and still kept me very much on my toes since his counters were quite fast. Was fun. Did about 5 hard rounds feeling pressure back without any risk of taking anything hard unless I walked into it. Was great.
Did some ab work with medicine ball throwing thanks to Theo again (I'm milking the - I have a fight coming up for all it's worth :)) and then to uni to drop off soil samples.
Am absolutely stuffed and cycling uphill with about 15 kg of dirt on the bike is NOT fun. Still I think I'm feeling pretty positive about tonight's session.
Friday morning
I feel like a need a really long stretch but am being picked up to go out to the field again today so don't have long. Did a 30 min easy jog - promising myself a good stretch before my next hard session.
Friday night boxing
Got to gym in time to do 3 rounds each of footwork, shadow, floor to ceiling and hard rounds on the bag. Stuffed. this week has been too long and physically with the soil coring. I can't wait for the weekend.
Saturday and Sunday off
I don't want to risk sparring too hard a week before my fight and my lower back hates me. I do try to stretch a lot but ultimately need time off. I think dieting doesn't do much for the energy levels either. Tuna or other fish, veggies and fruit are pretty much all I'm having.
Monday
It's a public holiday (YAY!!!) which means our gym is open. I do a 30 min backwards run in the park. Backwards because I've been reading up running mags etc and finally think I know that knee and back problems come from quads overpowering my hamstrings and but muscles. I've always had strong looking quads - without any weight training I'd get a lot of stares and comments on my quads but I think I just have a natural tendency to this imbalance which is ultimately not good for me. It's also common in runner who like hills and I've always liked hill running. Backwards running, more stretching and some serious but and hamstring exercises need to be planned I think.
Tuesday
No field work today - was able to get to the gym nice and early.
Went for a 2.2 km jog, had a good stretch, skipped a couple of rounds. Did some footwork, shadowsparring and floor to ceiling ball work while the guys put my teammate through some sparring (another guy in our gym is also going for the state title).
Then it was my turn. Sparred Theo again - 4 hard rounds at fight intensity.
I'm not entirely sure where my head's at right now. I don't know how I should feel going into this. I'm not as nervous as I was for my first ever bout but not feeling like I'm really confident and sure of myself either. Sparring went well. Realistically I know I can take whatever she throws at me and respond - I just hope I DO! My own brain works against me sometimes!
Anyway sparring went well. I'm sticking to relatively short, sharp sessions this week because I don't want to go in overtrained - especially while I'm dieting to make weight. I've wrecked myself pre bout before and I don't want to do that again!
Finished the session with some ab work and cycled home.
Wednesday morning
Went for a 30 jog - warm up to oval normal jog then next 15 mins backwards with about 5 bursts of 20 seconds fast forewards, then cool down jog home.
A short session with a little speedwork just to keep the fast twitch muscle fibres awake but not really stress anything. I don't want to stuff myself up for Saturday and at this point if I put a hard effort in it's going to be at boxing training not running.
Still backwards running. I think it'll be a regular part of my routine now. With cycling for transport I'm going to be prone to building up quad strength over hamstring and bum strength. Realistically there are probably better forms of aerobic exercise I could do more of such as swimming but I love to run and it's so easy to fit in. Soon summer pools will open though and I'll go back to swimming trainings 3 mornings a week at my local pool which is closer than the aquatic centre.
Weight after morning jog - 53.8 naked. Meaning I've made weight so all I have to do now is not put it back on! In hindsight I think a lot has been lost by avoiding salty foods which I didn't think about last time I was making weight. I'd have a salty vegetable soup and feel really stressed out and ripped off when my weight went up but this time with that in mind it's been easier.
This is the first time I've managed to make weight so long before a weigh in without having had a fight to make weight for the weekend before or something. I like that I've been able to do it without killing myself completely but I'll still be going straight to get a big bowl of creamy pasta straight after the weigh in on Saturday! :) :) :)
Wednesday Night Boxing
This will be changed to Wednesday night Judo after the bout this weekend but for now I have to show up at the boxing gym every day this week just to let the coaches know I'm there and fit and well still.
Coach Arthur apologises to me because he can't make it to my bout. He has a wedding to go to which is fair enough - it's not like he can tell all his friends months in advance not to schedule their wedding day on the same day as the state titles - we don't even know the date that far in advance so it'd be pretty difficult!
Coach Paul is on holiday in Thailand with Kristine. Which leaves coach George to look after me. he is already nervous. I can see him already terrified for me. I'm just glad I'm not as nervous as him!
Stretched, Warmed up with 2 rounds of skipping, 2 rounds of footwork, 4 rounds of shadow and did 4 rounds of pads with coach Arthur.
I was happy with my speed especially for the shadowboxing. not so great with the padwork but this is the first time I've done padwork with coach Arthur so i guess I'm not fluent throwing the combos he wants just yet. Still he said it seemed fast and working well and he was happy with me.
Caught taxi home (bus there from field site). I'm starting to feel the positive effects of tapering and hoping that by Saturday I'll be the human equivalent of a jelly bean!
Thursday morning
30 min jog very similar to yesterdays. Back not complaining as much as it was last week so i think going easy for a while is helping. Didn't want to get out of bed to do it but caught some extra zzzs on the bus out to field trial site. Not soil coring this week - just scoring plants for maturity so it's not heavy work luckily!
Thursday Night
2 rounds skipping
4 rounds padwork with Coach Paul
He and Kristine have just returned from the holiday in Thailand and I get to see some really cool pics of tigers etc rather than do a long session. Paul makes me feel confident when some others can't. It's good to have him there! :)
Good luck for the weekend ;) .
Thanks Bomp CC - can't decide whether to be excited or nervous but hopefully I'll be hyped tomorrow night :)
Friday
Off - tapering. Did try to stretch a bit. Spent some time in the spa since I weighed myself on the aquatic centre scales to double check in case my own were out. Sleep the night at mums so I could have a lift to the weigh-in in the morning first thing.
Didn't eat or drink much all day - a little paranoid about being over. Scales can be out by 300 g so easily!
Saturday morning
Weigh in - scales were out - but light! I was 53.3 kg at mums before leaving and weighed in officially as 52.9!!!! They had fruit at the weigh in and I'd taken some very weak sports drink so started on that as soon as i had weighed in, go checked by the doc and then left.
On the way home we called my mum's partner who started making me breakfast. He's great for my mum and makes a huge effort to do stuff for the family and this was no exception! He's also a very tall, large German guy - so I came home to a LARGE German breakfast when I really would have been better off having a few smaller high carbohydrate meals that my stomach could handle after having a limited intake for the past few weeks. Still I had missed food and firends had commented that I needed 'eye fat' because my eyes had sunken in from making weight so I put in a good effort at breakfast :).
Brace yourselves - this is what I ate and I am a bantamweight female .......
4 rashers of bacon,
3 fried eggs,
3 mini croissants,
2 pieces of toast,
3 servings of fried mushrooms,
1 whole tomato sliced and grilled,
2 sausages,
a few helpings of mixed diced mushrooms, onion and bacon fried.
I can't say i didn't eat anything else for the rest of the day either and i tell you my digestive system didn't know what to make of it but the taste was almost worth it - I'll just save the gorging for post competition next time!
Saturday Night - Fight Night!!!!!
I won 15 points to 2. I have so much respect for my opponent because she had about half my experience and was very, very brave. At times i think i should have fought with a little more tempo but didn't have the lung capacity. Might be coming down with something or just too full of greasy food :-[
I am happy with my mental preparation though. I was more aware of what was happening in there than usual and less nervous. What made the difference for me was thinking that really everyone who steps into the ring is a winner because it's such a big thing to do - also that my main goal is to improve and competing is only one part of that so winning isn't everything. That allowed me to just think about what I was doing rather than fearing failure which tends to make me freeze up with nerves.
It's true too - Omar was at the fights and wished me luck - one of my big goals will just be to learn to spar guys like him better even if i know that I'll probably never be able to woop him - I'll always have something to aspire to with guys like that to challenge myself against.
Coach Paul came back from holidays just in time to be in my corner which was great because coach George HATES it. He was the second for the bout but severely unhappy about it! He did say it was the best he's seen me box though - i think because he's more into seeing a bit of power and rational thought rather than a lot of energy without much focus or direction which is my usual style!
Coach Paul hasn't always been able to be consistant in his day to day coaching. Other things in life interfered with that which I guess you can expect but DAMN he's good to have in the corner - made the fight so simple for me!
My opponent was a very good sport and I suspect I'll be seeing her again sometime. It's was a good night :). My mum dazzled everyone with her huge lung capacity - including her partner who now knows what i mean about "you've never heard my mum yell!" :) My bro came straight from a wedding in a taxi to come watch me - he looked pretty formal compared to the average spectator! He also has a strong voice but really no one can yell like my mum can - NOONE!
Sunday
Off watched my teammate compete and he won which was great - he won by 3rd round stoppage. Did really well. Also a few of Rods boys did well. I liked seeing some of my sparring partners win titles the night before because I knew it meant that I'd had quality sparring and it made me feel more confident. Also Omar was introduced to the crowd as 4 time South African Champ and a Commonwealth Games representative. S**t I'm blessed with sparring partners!
sharla, may i ask...
what made you start boxing?