Nice work, you live in aus don't you? One of the boys from my gym just went to nationals as well. How did you go?
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Nice work, you live in aus don't you? One of the boys from my gym just went to nationals as well. How did you go?
Hi Salty - where are you from? How did your boy go?
I didn't win but felt like I was having an easy time of it and was really shocked when I heard the decision. Last year the scoring was sensitive but consistant - I don't know what you made of it but this year it seemed really difficult to understand what the judges were really looking for. Every bout seemed to be scored differently.
I only registered about 3 clean hits but her punches really scored well so I'm not sure if I was just hit with a lot that I didn't feel or something else was going on. Someone said to me that if you step back to make your opponent miss judges behind you will think you've been knocked back by punches.
It didn't work that same way for her though. In the second round I put her on the ropes twice - pushed her back with my punches and they scored that round it 8 zero her way?! She never got me on the ropes at all and had a habit of falling foreward so sometimes ended up with her head leaning on my chest.
I guess that might have made it look like she was putting a lot of weight behind her punches but in reality I got through it without any marks or bleeding at all which I often get pretty easily in normal sparring. Felt like I travelled there for a bout which felt three times easier than anything I get in sparring to loose without understanding how or why.
From what I remember she would start with a big left hook which (after the first one) I could see coming and follow it with a right hand. All I had to do was step diagonally back to my right with my rear foot as she threw that combo and I would see it miss by a mile and step back in to counter.
I watched the video quickly after the bout but didn't get a copy. At some stage I'd like to see it again in case I did something really dumb I'm not aware of.
One stupid thing I know I did is I cracked my neck. I have a habit of doing that and was not feeling like I was under any pressure so I just did it without thinking which I guess might have made the judges think she had shaken me somehow. I could slap myself every time I think of that but I had no idea of was doing it!  ::**
Anyway more boring crap I just want to log here so feel free to zone out at this point Salty!
Chiro Visit today Friday 4th of January
My back is better than before but there's still one intercostal which refuses to be adjusted on the left hand side. My upper back is tight on the left side and my lower back is tight on the right. She adjusted my lower back both ways and the right did move but not as easily.
She did say that it's unlikely my upper back will ever be loose but she also said that's because of my post Schermanns disease which stops tightening the back after about age 21. So theoretically the way I see it is I should be able to get my back as loose as it was when I was 22.
I am eager to loosen the intercostal tightness I have on my left hand side which I'm pretty sure was caused by me forcing a twist to the left with a stick on my shoulders too far and too long which was meant to help train me to throw a hard cross without a pivot.
I did that under orders of an ex coach who took the lack of movement in my upper back as something muscular I could improve by trying to force it without understanding that we're limited in this movement by our bone structure.
I haven't done this for a long time and that intercostal doesn't want to move so just not doing the original aggravating exercise is not going to be enough. The only advice I could get from the chiro was to lie on a tennis ball with it positioned slightly left of my upper spine (the tight area) as this is known to help allow the ribs to open up again when then have been closed by rotational movement as mine has. I'm going to start doing that every night or morning until my next chiro appointment in 5 weeks and see if she can get it to move next time!
People have told me that the upper back does not normally effect the lower back but I'm wondering if in my case because I have post Schermanns disease which causes excessive tightness and rigidity in the upper back that it can. Perhaps tightness in my upper left hand side of the back is causing the tightness in the right side of my lower back?
I'm from WA, the bloke from my gym lost his first round match to a queenslander, quite frankly he got killed by this guy after watching the fight. From what my trainer said pretty much any jab which looked like landing they scored and all other punches were about 3 hits to a point. It would be mighty annoying thinking you've dominated a round but the stupid refs don't even score you a point. I think you really have to get their head snapping back to score consistently, but in reality thats pretty hard to do. Congrats on getting to the nationals though, i guess next time you'll be ready for that kind of scoring. I hope your back sorts itself out as it's a real shame to happen to anyone let alone a dedicated sportsperson.
Yeah that's the impression I got from the scoring last year but this year I found none of my jabs scored and I landed a lot of them. The judges of my bout didn't like jabs but I know other fights seemed to be scored differently. I admit I didn't load up on her as much as I probably should have but I hit hard enough to push her back and I don't remember having my own head snapped back and I don't think she threw many jabs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Salty
One thing that did seem to work for all the judges was the fighter who went in with an inpenetrable guard, using guard more than movement for defence. I don't think with my back issues that will ever be a tactic which will work for me. I'd rather move and make punches miss completely but if that means they think I've been hit anyway it's obviously no good.
I'm not going to bother going to the nationals again. The SA team had to pay it's own travel expenses and it all ends up being a really expensive exercise. I'd rather compete against opponents i know are going to make me feel like I'm under pressure.
It's stupid I know but I think a good opponent pulls more out of me and that's what I really want to experience even if I end up having half the number of fights as a pro I'll feel like the experiences are more real.
CC for the encouragment Salty - I'm sure your boy will do better next year :)
You had to pay your own way? wow that is dedication! Yeah defently just stick with it, even if the scoring system is buggered up. If you do go to nationals im hoping maybe i will see you next year if i am lucky :)
Salty that's really nice and I really appreciate the encouragement but I'm finished with the amateur system.
I'm a 27 year old woman and i can't waste the last few good competitive years i have left on amateur boxing the way it is.
Last year I won the state title and a girl from my state who'd won the national title in my division before decides she wants to compete. She hadn't fought at all that year and she knew 54 was my division so she says she'll fight at 52 kg. I doubted she could get much skinnier since she was skeletal as it was and taller than me.
We had a bout around 4 weeks before the nationals against each other as a warm up for the nationals. I weighed in a bit below 54 kg - within my division and she weighed in at over 55 kg. I won easily - the bout was scored something like 31 points to 16.
After that she realized she couldn't make 52 kg so she decided she wanted my division. Despite that fact that she couldn't even make bantamweight when we fought and she couldn't beat me Boxing SA had a vote and decided she should be allowed to go as a bantamweight and I would have to move up a division to fight the featherweights. I was told I had to give up my weight division to a girl I mopped the floor with who hadn't even proven she could make 54 kg.
I was 'allowed' to go since Boxing SA didn't have money to fund our travel and since she'd just gone on holiday to Queensland (missing several state trainings to do it) she couldn't afford to go.
It shouldn't have been a case of me being 'allowed' to go. I earned it and i earned a fair shot at the title. As did all the other girls there in my division that were also ripped and many of the guys as well.
I've learnt to expect difficulty with management in local competitions etc but I didn't expect the nationals to be that crap too. I've totally had enough.
Maybe I'll go and watch as a spectator one year so I can heckle the judges :) I am pretty noisy :)
Chiro Note
The chiro explained to me that part of her diagnosis of my post Schermanns disease is the presence of things called Schmorl's nodes on my x-rays. I googled it and found out a few interesting little facts i thought I'd share in case anyone has any thoughts:
Schmorl's nodes are considered to be vertical disc herniations through the cartilaginous vertebral body endplates. They can sometimes be seen radiographically, however they are more often seen on MRI, even when not visible on plain film x-ray. They may or may not be symptomatic, and their etiological significance for back pain is controversial.
Schmorl's nodes were observed on MRI in 19% of 400 patients with back pain, and in only 9% of an asymptomatic control group. Plain film x-rays only revealed about 33% of the nodes identified on MRI. They also found a high incidence of nodes in the teenager group who had complaints of lower back pain and an increased level of participation in contact sports.
In younger patients, it seems to be more common because the annulus is strong and intact, and thus nuclear material herniates through the weaker endplate. As the annulus degenerates with time and age, transverse or posterolateral herniations are more common.
Patients with symptomatic Schmorl's nodes had pain on percussion, and manual compression of the vertebra (taking punches on guard?) was involved. Back pain was exacerbated by axial loading and extreme lumbar ROM (bending?).
Symptomatic Schmorl's nodes represent a fresh fracture of the vertebral endplate, which allows vertical disc herniation and nuclear migration(I don't get this - does that mean they disappear over time since they say it's a 'fresh fracture' rather than an old one?).
Yochum3 states that Schmorl's nodes may be caused by numerous factors: trauma; hyperparathyroidism; osteoporosis; Schuermann's disease; osteomalacia; infections; and neoplasm. (great could mean just about anything!)
Week Summary for Jan 5th to 12th
Eventually I want to work out the fastest time to load my heart rate monitor data on here because it's a little more informative - especially for comparing one week to the next but for now typing it in will have to do.
Morning Conditioning Workouts:
Mon - Walk/run to uni. I think it took about 1 hr 20 mins. A decent 20 min warm up then until I reached uni I did intervals of a 2 min run, immediately followed by a 1 min faster run (to work on my kick) and then 1 min walk. Was up hill all the way.
Tuesday - An easy workout similar to Monday's, covering the same distance. 2 min run intervals, 30 second walk intervals between.
Wednesday - off to sleep in
Thursday - Walk warm up, 40 min tempo run (hard), walk cool down.
Friday - walk warm up, 20 min run, 20 min walk, 20 min run, walk cool down. I've designed this workout since seeing MD's post about how 2 shorter aerobic intervals with a 20 min break between them burns more fat than one long one. It might not work because I'm still walking but we'll see.
Night Boxing workouts:
Boxing every night Mon through to Friday and Saturday morning. Not sure when Judo starts again. Whether or not I go back to judo will probably depend on how likely it is I can get paired up with someone my weight just to be on the safe side for my back.
Plyometrics to warm up for 20 mins Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It's a hard 20 minutes and keeps my heart rate up very high but it feels good to do something like this because i haven't been able to for so long!
Monday - Partnerwork with Kristine. Footwork has gone to shit after having a few weeks off. Did a lot of simple partner work drills to work lateral movement. Starts feeling slightly better by the end.
Tuesday - Partnerwork and sparring with Kristine and coach Paul. Coach Paul is 6 foot 6 and while he doesn't use all his weight he does this thing where he leans on you to push you away and then takes a huge step back out of range so short shits like me have no hope. I might be sussing a few ways to handle this but still need to develop them a bit. If anyone has any ideas you can PM me - that'd be great!
Distancing also needs some work since I've had a break but it's gradually coming back to me.
Wednesday - trained alone doing shadow and bag work and footwork. Sore so it was a light session.
Thursday - It was 41 o C and since the gym doesn't have airconditioning it was very quiet. Total of 5 people trained. Two women who are good friends and just train in the gym for fitness and bring their teenage sons along, me, Kristine and Theo. So apart from Theo all the dudes in the gym are officially sissies when it comes to training in the heat!
Kristine and I worked on drills for footwork and distancing and finished with body shots holding a round pad for each other. I'm not sure I like that pad. I don't think it allows you to visualize where on a human body a body shot should be aimed. What do other people use? Suggestions anyone?
Friday - Paul gave me and Kristine a lesson on holding pads for each other. This is good. We hold the pads in front of our own faces so we catch the punch or get hit so really the way we do it makes us improve our boxing skills even as pad holders. I'm hoping we can get good enough at this to really kill each other :)
It occurs to me that catching a punch feels easier than holding a guard and you don't have to move your hands much to do it. I wonder why we don't train this much in our gym since the focus has always been guard number one, parries with movement number two and we're only barely made aware of the idea of catching a punch.
Saturday - Session with coach Paul and Kristine in the morning. Emphasis on footwork and guard. I have to say i think this is the first time I've been taught the guard in a way which makes it work without having to raise my hands too high.
Part of the success goes to the way Paul got Kristine to use the pad to train it as an exercise where the tensing and relaxing can become automatic rather than a flinching type thing. It also worked because I was reading some old technical notes the night before from my time training in Japan. I read something about putting your horns foreward and thought of that when practicing the guard. It seemed to reduce the whiplash I usually feel.
Also remembering Scraps idea of the heel being the brake I let my rear heel ground itself to help me brace. I'm trying to remember this in my footwork when I want to change direction quickly along with Paul's idea of making sure you move your head in the direction you want to move to allow you to more faster. Those things all helped a lot and made my guard comfortable!
It's freaky how differently the Japanese gym did things but in a way there's only a little which contradicts what I'm taught now. I think the emphasis was on power then and it's defence now. Now I have gained the habit of attempting to move to avoid being hit whereas before in Japan we really did have a kamakazi style - all attack - a ruthless attack but not enough self preservation. Now I need to fine tune my defence and get the power i used to have back. part of that will involve my back therapy of course but I'll be so happy when I have consistant power again!
As far as weight training goes i kinda dropped the ball a bit. I think i need to do that in the morning as again i thought I'd do it at the gym at night but we keep running out of time. I've been through this before - why didn't I remember that it just doesn't happen! I did get in one Abs and Gluts workout on Wednesday and noticed my right side is weaker in many ways than my left. I think it's time I looked seriously at my uneven weaknesses and uneven flexibility. Realistically i can't expect my back to be the best it can be without first evening things up a bit!
OK I've been a bit slack so now have to update for 2 weeks rather than one.
Basically have managed to stick to the same cardio sessions and add a few more resistance workouts for my back and shoulders or my core.
Some days I get to fit both in but I think usually it's just going to have to be one or the other and I'll alternate since I run out of training time.
Cardio is going well and feeling good. i have not increased the mileage yet but the pace is picking itself up naturally and the workouts are not really tiring anymore. After this week if my body is still happy i might up the mileage and make some sessions a little more intense.
Plyometrics are happening about 3 times a week and since I include normal, clapping and one-handed pushups in my routine I think that's plenty of resistance for my chest. I won't bother doing any chest weights.
I am including squats and lunges in the plyometrics routine as well and am paying particular attention to my form when I do this because with squats in particular i have a tendency to lower myself incorrectly. Right now I guess I still have to focus on what I'm doing and going down for the squats is quite slow but it's getting easier.
Boxing is going well although i have to meet up with Rods lot at some stage to see how I go sparring Omar again. I think I've improved at least in physical condition and I'm curious to see how I go against him.
I have been sparring Kristine and Brent. Brent is a guy in my gym aiming to fight - he was meant to have his first bout last year but injured his thumb. It's going well - Brent has a way of keeping sparring intensity high without adding much power which is good for me because he has some weight on me. I have some experience on him so sparring seems to work well for both of us - technically at least.
Kristine is getting damn good at pad holding and since we know each other's moves, signals and mistakes off by heart now this is proving to be great for both of us to iron out some of those little things you need a slap in the head with a pad for before you understand when your dropping your hands etc.
I am working on getting power back in my right cross. So far I can see 2 things that are out sometimes and am beginning to 'feel' them so hopefully i can correct them. One is that I over-rotate with my right cross instead of directing the punch foreward through my opponent it moves across my body a little too long and goes off to the left. Two - i like to throw a heavy hard jab - my jab can often be just as hard as a cross which is nice - but I still want a cross and I might need to focus on making the jab faster to better set up the cross.
I missed 2 boxing sessions last week to finish a job application and had some short ones the week before to make time to interview prospective new flatmates. I've found a new flatmate who is great (last one bought a house) and hopefully will be faster at writing up the next lot of job applications so hopefully my training won't be interrupted much more for a while now.
Still training to go pro and physically feel good at the moment. Time will tell though - really need to focus for the next two months to work out whether or not that's going to happen. Need to iron out a few little things my coach has brought up which will hopefully not be a big problem.
Another goal I have for the end of the year is a holiday. I'm thinking the Reggae marathon in Jamaica. Or the half marathon - either way I intend to run in a race somewhere exotic.
If I can do the full marathon fast and safely then I'll do that - otherwise I'll go the half. I won't do the extrem number of kms I used to do but in hindsight I don't think I needed to do that much to get the same results. I think I can run and do myself less damage than i used to do. Hopefully do no damage because I well and truly flogged my body for a long time before it gave up last time so i like to think it has some resilience. Either way it's one more thing to look forward to which keeps me motivated for ALL of my physical conditioning training.
In my old age I've learnt the hard way that for me at least I can't run without core work and back strengthening to keep me going and plyometrics make me faster.
I have been stretching a little but really need to get that into my routine more and I keep forgetting to do the fitness tests I planned. Will have to pick my game up with those!
Feb 1st chiro appointment
Overall I think things are a little better.
She did not need to adjust my neck at all which is a good sign. Maybe I've managed to relax a little more and relieve some tension lately.
Still couldn't adjust the left upper side of my back but she gave me another idea of how to loosen that up. I will have to try both the tennis ball (which she already told me about) plus the same lying stretch she gave me ages ago with the new addition of a rolled up face towel under my upper back.
She found knotted areas where the feeling had gone out of the muscle because they are chronically tight. These corresponded to the most built up muscular parts of my back and the part that she can not adjust - in the upper back, on both sides but especially the left. She checked the sensation in the skin over these areas to make sure it wasn't anything else. I'm not sure of what to do since massage, accupuncture and suction cup therapy have not been able to loosen them up either! They are in my rhomboids. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!
She found the spot in my lower back on the right side was still tight and needed adjusting. I'm secretly convinced this might have something to do with my upper back being tight on the left side. I have been trying to watch how i am sleeping but am probably still relaxing that right knee out to the side since my muscles are tight in a way which encourages it. I find when I'm sleepy I'm not able to be as conscious of what my body is doing which doesn't help either!
She also sold me a pair of more cushioned inserts to put in my running shoes. they are almost exactly the same shape as the inserts which came with the shoes just a bit softer with very slightly more arch support and cushioning under the toes. So far they feel good. They are Sorbothane insoles which are supposed to absorb 94 % of impact shock and are accredited by NATA (whoever they are!).
Another thing which twigged after watching how feral my right cross is looking lately (taped sparring) is another benefit of Scrap's resistance band work. I can't believe it never dawned on me before that it actually works to help straighten punches rather than just encourage the muscles to relax and help build speed. I still have bands at home set up to use but I think I might move them to the gym where I will use them more regularly as a programmed part of my boxing training.
I often say I'll do a bit of this or that at home but in reality i have 2 hours a night at the gym plus cardio 4 mornings a week minimum and the last thing I want to do at home is more exercise because there I'm in relax mode.
I also noticed I have other bad habits and poor 'flow' of movement and tempo when sparring heavier people and I'm not sure quite how to fix that. Since most people I spar will always be heavier I want to learn to fight my best fight no matter who I'm in the ring with rather than develop bad habits. Still have to study my sparring vid a bit more to work it out and see if I can't do better in a few weeks time.
So tonight I have off training as recommended by the chiro but will be training both Saturday and Sunday with Kristine since she's leaning towards doing one less session during the week as she's been very busy weeknights since starting her new job. I like that I now have the option to go to the gym any day as it gives me some leeway if things get hectic during the week as well.
one more thing that the chiro mentioned which I realise now I've been doing wrong is looking sideways while doing weights rather than straight ahead. I have been checking that my back is straight by looking in the mirror to my right side whenever I do back weights and often push ups or plank holds as well. I have to just minimize that to an occasional glance and stay facing the front mostly to avoid messing with my neck and back.
OK weekly summary time
Didn't train Friday because had chiro appointment and assumed that I'd be training in the gym on both Saturday and Sunday as previously arranged with Kristine. Unfortunately something came up and she had to cancel on me today so I only managed 5 boxing trainings this week.
I am thinking about Scraps resistance band stuff in a new light though so plan to spend a bit of time looking at that tonight and do some core work. After that I want to go and try Hitmandonny's 'changing the oil' sauna and water drinking thing at the aquatic centre. I might go for a swim as well but haven't been for a couple of weeks because for some reason they cut the pool opening hours on us in January to times which were not convenient. Hopefully that was just temporary and I can start going back again soon.
Today I got up early and I brought my long run back. I woke up in a sweat after having a nightmare about having to go back to my former job working at Mc Donalds and really needed to run off some nervous tension! Actually it is currently a 30 min walk to warm up before a 1.5 hour run but I'll gradually build it up to a solid 2 hours and then hold it there for a while so i can build speed. This is adding an extra cardio session but I think it'll be ok. No soreness yet and it's the afternoon now - I didn't even need to sleep afterwards so i can't have worked too hard!  :P I finished the last 7 mins 30 secs fast, 30 secs slow just to let the muscles remember a slightly faster pace than I ran with for most of the run too.
Did my weekly cook up yesterday - a beef stirfry with pearl barley and lots of veggies and cashew nuts (very happy with this one) and a chicken rice and veggies thingy. Last cook up was a creamy pasta with bacon and chicken plus some other rice, veggies meal which I forget - anyway still going through them so I'll have 4 different meals to choose from for a while. I think the past one is a bit too high in carbs relative to veggies but am reasonably happy with the rest. I also decided to put a limit on my indulgence in my dark chocolate addiction. I read recently that dark chocolate is high in antioxidants which help reduce the rate of aging etc by scavenging free radicals - same as vitamin C but even more. I have since decided I LOVE dark chocolate with 85 % cocoa but was sometimes having a whole 100 g block in one sitting. So I bought a few blocks, broke them up and rewrapped them separately in 25 g portions so I'll have only one portion a day.
lol. Dark chocolate is an acquired taste, I made the switch from milk chocolate last year and never looked back.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sharla
Ok I have 2 weeks to update again. Sunday afternoon I did do the core work and go to the sauna as I sadi I would. Tried to stretch while I was in there which was goo. I like it! :) that's a good idea of hitmandonny's!
First week was pretty bad.
I kept up with my running but couldn't do much else because was really busy with a uni report I had to get ready. I didn't recover well from the running workouts either because I didn't have time to get enough sleep.
It's easy for me to run when time limited because I can make it my method of transport at a negligible time cost but I really need enough sleep, stretching and the strength workouts to make it safe.
Got the biggest, ugliest blister I've had in a long time too. I think it's my feet getting used to the new orthodics. I think it got infected. I had to soak it in warm salt water and then the skin on top fell off easily so I peeled it off, put some antiseptic ream on it and it's now healed up nicely.
Week 2 is slightly better but not great because I got asked to apply for a job Monday morning and had to write up my application Monday night to hand in Tuesday.
Wednesday and Friday I went back to Judo. Boxing Thursday and Friday night (1 hour after Judo) and Saturday morning - going tomorrow as well.
Thursday night was a short session because I got my elbow banged and had to stop and ice it. Used that time to plan a training program with Kristine which I'm really glad we've done. It'll allow me a structure to plan my other training around.
Judo has been awesome! Have a gi on loan to me so I didn't have to buy one. The coaches have also taken my back into consideration and are watching carefully now to make sure I get paired with other small people who know how to be good ockies.
Friday was a technical session for Judo and I was really impressed when the head coach asked me what I wanted to get out of Judo. Better posture and balance were 2 things I mentioned and he gave exercises aimed at that all session. I liked this session more than I've liked others because we went through things a little slower so I could keep up with the techniques we're learning more easily than the other nights. :)
I could use my arms fine for Judo because it was mosting pulling actions but Friday night boxing I basically went on the bag and only worked my right arm. It didn't like the jarring of a jab action. Thismorning it's better again though. Did sparring. Chose a third of the ring to work in to force each other to work moving sideways more than back and it helped show us what we need to work on.
Homework tonight is to think of drills for tomorrow. I'm taking in bands like Scrap has shown before so we can train ourselves to pull our punches back without dropping them.
Attempting to continue this in User CP Blog section but not sure how readable it is ........
OK I'm back to this system since it just seemed a little obtrusive to have all my training blog entries listed individually in the Blog section. I think I like this system a little better anyway.
So I've put myself on a no internet for personal use ban. It was meant to be a 3 week ban but I'm sick right now anyway so I'm on today and will start the 3 week ban from the beginning again tomorrow.
It worked well before I got sick. Instead of procrastinating I found myself using my computer to work which was a minor miracle!
So I haven't really kept up with my training blog much so I'll just put the highlights here.
Might be competing in July but not sure since this cold has put my training back another week and things were already really difficult to juggle between uni work and training without more setbacks!
Ironically I think I could have fought off the cold before it set in but I had a late night harvesting an experiment at uni - root washing - getting wet and cold and then came down hard with thsi cold. Typical - i work late to try to get on top of uni work and come down with a cold which sets me back a week anyway!
Ok the highlights:
- I've realized I kinda have an itchy trigger finger. My back foot skips foreward when I'm stepping foreward with the jab. This might explain the fact that I have video footage of myself actually getting airborne in sparring a few weeks ago without even knowing! I was trying to land an overhand right and it did land but still - there's no way a punch can have any power behind it without having at least one foot to anchor it. That's my desire to be tall acting out in the extreme! Sooooooo stupid lookin!
- My solution to this is to think of dropping the heel as putting a break on so sometimes I'm going to attempt to lower the heel of my grounded foot - having said that I think if I overthink it i'm likely to develop a new bad habit.
- So my solution might be to use Scrap's bands which standing on a wobble board - I haven't tried it yet but I'm thinking I'll be forced to balance the foreward momentum of the punch by using the suspension in my legs. Will post again with how it goes.
- Went to the chiro this morning - she said my right Quadratus Lumborum is tight and gave me a stretch to deal with it. I might look for a few more too. I think that's all messed up with my Psoas because I feel the tightness in the front of my hip too but I'm guessing stretching the both together will have more than an additive benefit.
- Have started swimming with my old swimming club twice a week again. This is partly just because swimming is good for you, partly because their winter pool is at the aquatic centre which i have membership for and partly just to get a bit more social interaction since my PhD work seems to be quite solitary and all consuming lately.
- I've also started running with the road runners again just once a week for their speed trainings. I suck compared to my former self but it feels good. I'd like to add another morning or two with them at some stage when I've worked out how to juggle it.
- I made a list of all things which I think contribute to good health. On that list was destressing since we all know stress can have deliterious effects on your health through increased blood pressure, suppressed immune system etc etc. Then I thought I'd list all the things which you can do to achieve those things which are good for your health. I started listing things you do to destress and found that it was identical to things you do for good health stuff like - sleep, exercise, meditative stretching and maintaining good nutrition etc etc. So now eliminating stress has become my primary health goal.
- I've decided that my main source of stress is worrying about my income. So to take that out of the equation I've decided to see if I can budget to survive on the doll. It's pretty damn tight but my way of cutting down my expenses might be good for me anyway. I don't live a frivolous lifestyle as it is so pretty much the only place I can save money is on food.
- No more little trips to the cafe for lunch, no more diet coke fixes or buying coffees. I don't think I'll be shopping at my local supermarket either but instead getting up early to get to the markets to buy a lot of cheap fruit and veg.
- This will mean eating less meat and being more creative with my vegies and herbs and legumes to keep my meals nutritous. I'll still have meat in most meals but just halve the quantity. Ironically this will be cheaper, healthier if I do it properly and better for the environment even! I feel like as an agricultural scientist who believes in sustainable farming systems I'd be a little hipocritical if I didn't factor that in.
- One thing I'll need to be careful of is getting female athlete triad which is when women overtrain and diet and loose the ability to absorb Calcium etc. This is common with long distance runners and I've had this before. So I'm going on the pill to prevent this and just hoping it doesn't make it too difficult to keep close to competition weight. Funny thing about the pill is it makes me grow tits which I don't usually have which I'd normally like except as far as boxing's concerned it's a dead weight!
- I've had mum's car for six weeks which she's away on holiday and it's been great but I won't be buying one because it's expensive. ronically I did read in a health magazine the other day that there is more negative ions in the air outside than inside. These are apparently used to form seratonin which is a feel good hormone so being car dependant and not getting outside to cycle for transport etc might've been putting a slight dampner on my mood!
- The chiro did say that cycling might be bad for my back but I guess I'll have to look at how I can improve my cycling posture and keep using bag racks to avoid carrying anything on my back. It's winter here now and I WILL get rained on which sucks but I don't have many other affordable options really!
Well my training log is going to be extra boring to most people for a while now!
I had my last boxing session at my gym today - I quit.
Basically it was liked the coaches were retiring me without asking me because they couldn't be bothered coaching me or finding me opportunities to compete.
This year the female nationals were separate from the mens since the mens is being held in Sydney NSW where it's still illegal to box. Because of that the they were a few months early without the usual state squad organization etc.
So left to my coaches alone they really can't be bothered preparing me or organizing for me to go over. In reality I haven't had any consistant training or sparring organized by them for more than a year or two anyway. They know i'm fit and rely on that to avoid looking silly when they throw me in but they don't teach me anything.
The Judo club is a different story. Everyone is included and coached in every session. There is plenty of feedback and a lot of enthusiasm from all involved. There is a LOT more opportunity to compete or even just participate and a lot more people in the club as a consequence. Our little university Judo club is sending three people to the olympics this year!
So while boxing is my first love - I love the fluidity of the movement and the explosiveness etc - I'll probably stick to Judo while I'm in Adelaide.
There are not many boxing clubs around within a distance I could travel to regularly enough to train properly at. Some of them are a bit dodgy and unlikely to be any better- especially technically - than where I've been training.
Plus I have been told many times by my coaches that if you leave our gym and go to another gym you are a despised traitor type person and most coaches will not take you in anyway. Many gyms in Adelaide might not even let me walk in there for fear of ruffling feathers of my now ex coaches.
I am planning on running the Nottingham marathon though when i am in the UK in September. I really don't expect to run a good time because I found out about it after arranging to attend the conference with not enough time to really train up for a decent time. I just want to prove to myself that I can do it though and I think it'll be fun. It's the Robin Hood marathon and I've promised friends photos of me running dressed up as Robin Hood ;D
It will confirmation to me that my knee is ok now and perhaps if I do another one in 2009 that'll be a bit faster. I have always promised myself that i'd go into running competitively when I wasn't competing in boxing anymore.
Distance runners seem to peak much later that athletes in more explosive sport - many world class runners are aged from their mid thirties to mid fourties. Looks like unless I move for work - which is not unlikely in the next few months - my running plans are going to be brought forward a little.
I spoke to kristine about it. I didn't actually need to bring the topic up myself because I think she sensed my disatisfaction a while ago and has been feeling the same way. She understood. In reality as screwed as it is she will get better training there now without me.
They will be forced to include her more rather than letting her and I baby sit each other. They'll need to let her spar a few of the guys so she has some variety and even if the coaches don't give her feedback Kristine and I are well into the habit of talking through out theories and where we might be going wrong or need to to improve with sparring partners.
In other words she'll get coached by the guys and will have multiple sparring partners which should make it less likely for her to form bad habits that seemed to multiply when we were mostly only working together.
Other times I've considered quiting and felt like a cop out. Like people have to stay in it for it to have an opportunity to improve and grow. I realise now that i could never really do it completely alone because apart from everything else you need a chance to compete.
Our gym wasn't even registered until May. We missed so many show we couod have been competing in. Apparently i won Boxing SA senior female fighter of the year award but never got to accept it because the gym was not conferring with Boxing SA and I didn't get to hear about it. There were rumours up until a month or so ago that the gym might actually close but now the guys (total of 2) are fighting again.
That's just ridiculous but if there was a match here now they'd give me one or two weeks notice and still no training or sparring with people other than Kristine and they'd throw me in. I want opportunites to compete but it's more than that - i want to chance to do it properly with some preparation and build up and coaching.
So anyway that's my little rant over. People not interested in running or Judo might want to stop reading my log for a few months. After that I might move and try again elsewhere but for now my boxing days are over!
Am sorry to hear your gym problems Sharla. I hope it doesn't keep you from doing something you enjoy. I can empathize some in the lack of sparring that I experienced with my first club. It really was no fun, but your situation sounds even worse in that they would have you fight in an unprepared manner. Plus why be in an environment you do not feel good about.
You sound like you'll still be more then busy. I wouldn't believe them with the "you'll be called a traitor if you go elsewhere" blah blah huff huff. If you still have the desire and other clubs are out there, I'd go for it. But judo and running seem to also be a passion for you. Not sure how you find the time for it all with school as well.
Good luck in whatever you do and hope you'll still add to the training section. I enjoy reading your posts. And I'll still read your training log. :)
Thanks Youngblood :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Youngblood
You actually put a really positive spin on it and you're right - even without boxing I'll always have an uncanny ability to over-fill my time! ;D
I re-wrote my training program up this weekend and still felt like I wasn't really fitting in everything i think i should - without factoring in busy study times or a day off! :p Still nutting it out!
I'm gonna take some time to see who's around here for boxing but I think I know most people and most clubs unless we have some newcommers.
The best are a bit far away for me to travel to and boxing in SA is very political so i think what my coach said is only half BS.
I did kickboxing before boxing and when my gym closed down for nearly a year I couldn't go into any other gyms for training because they didn't want to PO my closed gym!
I think boxing in SA would be better if it could be more integrated but i think it'll be a generation or two before that happens.
Overall I think I've done the right thing for now though.
If I don't move for work I think Judo will be the way to go because of the club atmosphere and great coaching. I always leave feeling positive even if I'm still very much a clumsy beginner! ;D
Glad you'll still find my training blog interesting :)
Hope you keep posting, they';re fun to read.
From the tone of your posts you seem dissatisfied with the trainers for a while, and it sounds like they've taken you as far as they can. The break may be good for you, and a fresh start in a new place in a few months may be exactly what you need.
When you come over bring your gear
Thanks Bomp :) I think it was time for a change and I've probably known it for a while but just not faced up to it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bomp
In reality being honest with myself about it finally can only be a good thing!
Will do thanks Scrap! :) I'm really looking farward to it actually -Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrap
At the very least i had planned a lot of quality time with my wobble board, light weights for my back, stretching and some resistance band work over the next couple of months -
I wanted to turn up with half decent posture after all the free advice you've donated me over the last couple of years! :)
Seeing whats happening is and showing are a little bit diffirent I think you will enjoy.
That sounds incredibly frustrating. Best of luck to you.
I think i will - i just hope i'm intelligent and/or observant enough to see and understand what you show me!Quote:
Originally Posted by Scrap
I can shock myself with how easily I can't see the forest for the trees sometimes! ;D
I'll try not to embarass myself or frustrate you though!
Thanks sourpuss :)Quote:
Originally Posted by sourpuss
I think things will work themselves out one way or another eventually though and after chucking my initial sooky la la I'm really happy to be moving on now!
Still in the midst of trying to write up my new training program. I'm a bit nervous that I might be biting off moer than I can chew choosing to do the full marathon at relatively short notice.
My intial attempts to build the kms relatively quickly had me hobbling for a couple of days 2 weeks ago. I had to ease off.
Not I'm thinking I might have to train the long run with a long cross training session - say about 4 hours - and just gradually up the proportion of time that I spend running.
I'd like to run the marathon in under 4 hours but I think if I'm cross training for half the session with cycling and/or swimming then it's less specific with less shock to the joints and going a little over time might pay off.
It also means I have an excuse to eat 2 of those little energy gel thingies and I LOVE the chocolate ones. :)
Plans for the rest of the week are not set in cement. Monday morning I did a long warm up followed by 5 X 600 m intervals with a 300 m walk break between them.
My warm up is now a 5 stage warm up as discussed in the conditioning thread:
1) walk - about 20 mins
2) static stretching
3) dynamic stretching
4) sport specific exercises (in my case long strides, but kicks, knee highs, sidestepping)
5) another short walk or light jog
This is a little time consuming but I have to admit I don't think I've been getting as much muscles soreness since I've started including it.
Monday night I cycled to Judo but it had been called off because the University had to redo the floor in the gymnasium so i went home to nut out my training program instead and I'm still struggling with it!
I am considering putting a session with treadmill/track intervals, weights and plyometrics into one workout like I used to and doing that twice a week to cover a lot of key conditioning work in one session.
I'm hoping that won't reduce what i want to get out of it since it's not like I'm trying to mix up endurance and strength or things which are totally different?!? :confused: I did this for a while earlier in the year and it was hard work - probably too hard to do more than twice a week - but I think it was good.
Right well I've been crap at maintaining this - probably because my training has not been as good as I'd hoped lately but I'll try to remember the main points.
Judo is great but I haven't managed to get there very much lately :-\.
Trainings for people at my level (utterly clueless ;D) are combined with the whole group on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.
Last Monday as I mentioned training was called off because the floor needed fixing.
Wednesday I planned to go but miscalculated how long a lab job was going to take and started it in the afternoon. I thought it would only take an hour but took 3 hours and was not the sort of thing I could get away with pausing halfway. My bad time management is just ridiculous!
Friday i went and it was good. Only thing I have to admit to is that while I've always hated breast guards and thought they were crap and unneccessary I take it all back now!
Since going on the pill I haven't gained a lot of weight but what I have gained has pretty much gone straight to boobs that previously didn't actually exist.
I used to be able to get hit in the chest without even noticing - no I'm wishing we had a Judo equivalent since depsite the fact that I was only working with a fairly small girl practicing hold downs when they got us to do a drill changing over from one hold down to another in a clockwise direction it was just pure nipple cripple hell!
So Ok I admit it - breast guards do actually serve a purpose for women who actually have some amount of cleavage - unlike myself when i'm not on the pill!
I can't really remember my cardio sessions for early in the week now - damn - need to log more often. Did a ten km run on Friday morning.
Basically I haven't been able to train as hard as I wanted to because i was getting knee pain again despite running on soft surfaces with new shoes. I actually put it down to my back.
Saturday was a physical day but not really training wise. I intended to train but left it for the afternoon partly because I wanted to let my knee calm down from the day before. Then I ran out of time because I had to attend to grocery shopping, bridesmaid duties (for my bros wedding since I ran with his fiance) and cleaning someone else's house for some extra cash. It was only meant to take 3 hours but took 6 because it was so dirty - they paid me double time though. :)
On Sunday I did a fun run with an old running buddy and her new apprentice. It's funny - i started my friend running and originally she just didn't even think she could ever run more than 20 mins.
When her personal trainer tried to get her to do it she threatened to throw her in the river. ;D She said I would ask her too nicely so she couldn't get that angry with me otherwise I'd be in the river too! Now she's passing on the sickness to others. ;D
Her apprentice didn't really enjoy the 8km run though. It was cold and despite us doing a warm up hre calves cramped up plus she had a stitch for the first half. She finished but not in the best spirits and she had to walk jog some parts. Me and my friends have always had a theory of not leaving anyone behind - especially on their first run of a certain distance so we all ran at her pace and by the time we finished I was just really really frozen and I could feel it in my hips.
I cycled home after that which made me even colder and after warming up spent the rest of the day doing my fortnightly cook up. I cooked a Pad Thai which i'm pretty happy with although it doesn't quite taste like my local Thai restuarant Pad Thai. Plus a risotto with vegies (leek, broccoli, peas, zuccini) and ham which also turned out well.
I've been soooo hungry since uping my running I also made an Anzac slice to serve as sort of home made musili bars which help fill me up.
I'm cooking my own breakfast cereal these days too - third each of brown rice, rolled oats and pearl barley all cooked separately, mixed in with some saltanas and a little golden syrup (just enough to take the edge off) and refrigerated. I cook a weeks worth at a time so I just add soy milk, nuke it and add some tinned apricots, glucosamine powder and flaxseed oil in the morning.
I decided to try my endurance session on Monday instead (the one I had planned for sunday but got too cold to go on with whent he 8 km was so slow). The plan was to include my transport cycling and Judo and just go to the aquatic centre gym afterwards to make the longer session.
Then I got a flat tyre and didn't have my tube repair kit with me! I didn't see the flat until I was about to cycle to Judo and then it was too late to make it by bus. So I ended up busing home instead and going to the aquatic centre but with buses being as shitty as they are in Adelaide i didn't get to the aquatic centre until 8 and it closes at 10!
So i just did 2 hours. I alternated 20 min treadmill running sessions with 10 min stepper session continuously. The sessions on the stepper seemed to stop me from cramping up totally and allowed me to keep going I guess because I worked in a different range of motion. I was pretty happy with how I felt energy and strength wise. Of course I'd struggle with a longer session but not enough to fail based on that type of conditioning. I did feel my hips and lower back just getting tighter and my stride more restricted as I went on though.
Tuesday morning I had a chiro appointment:
So basically i need to stretch my right side more. i don't know why it would be tighter. I had a theory that part of it might be that my right foot being bigger (half a size) than my left is heavier and therefore the right side of my body tires more quickly.
- She needed to adjust my lower back and hips
- My lower back was really tied up apparently - the right side worse than the left
- She found a trigger point in my shoulder which really really Fing hurt!
- She thinks I might be over-stretching that left shoulder forward when I sleep.
- I also have tight muscles on my sides and until she showed me an exercise and i tried to do it both sides I didn't realize how much more limited my movement was leaning to the left than the right!
I've since discarded that theory though. i think it must have been strained at some stage? I also fell heavily on my right hip at one point when I was knocked off my bike by a car - twice actually.
The reason i have gotten past that idea is that theoretically it wouldn't be a problem to swim.
Tuesday I had off as per chiro instructions.
This morning I tried to swim for 2 hours but only did 1 hour 20 mins since I could already feel my lower back locking up again. Swimming having a bigger foot is actually and advantage so that shouldn't aggravate the problem!?!?
Oh and another thing - my great idea of sitting on a fit ball is not so great after all. Apparently you have to be careful doing this because while it's good in some ways with no back support at all you are more likely to slouch forward! - Which along with practically everything apparently - even sitting with good form - can mess up your lower back!
As you knnow, the knee pain could be from anything. Just a suggestion of what it could be from experience, if you run on the same side of the road all the time it's possible that some added strain is imposed on the leg which is higher up on the slope (most roads are sloped outwards for drainage purposes). Even though this slope is tiny it still can have an effect, running on the other side of the road when you start feeling the soreness MIGHT help.
Anyway, have fun swimming in circles with your giant right foot ;D.
Sharla, you crack me up. ;D
hi bomp, thanks for your input. I'm actually 99.999999 % sure the knee pain is from my back. It's old and only flares up now when my back is bad - not at any other time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Bomp
Plus I do deliberately try to varying my running surfaces so hopefully I don't still subconsciously favour one cambour - fingers crossed anyway!
Thanks - i try ;DQuote:
Originally Posted by sourpuss
So to update:
Still crap at getting to Judo - had my best friends birthday dinner Wednesday night and while I'd skip most birthday dos for training I wasn't prepared to skip hers and getting there late wouldn't have really worked.
Friday night - disorganized with time again - took too long to finish a job in the afternoon that I couldn't just drop. Really need to get my arse into gear with that.
I actually ended up doing nothing at all on Firday since I left my workouts to the arvo and ran out of time. I had promised to meet my sister to see the new Batman movie later that night so I couldn't even do a late session at the aquatic centre. :-\
Saturday was a similar story - trying to get my cleanining, shopping, washing and cooking done aswell as someone else's (for money of course :)) and train on the same day has proven difficult. I'll have to get organized to do more of my stuff during the week again.
Still on the home made cereal but decided to add crushed almonds - I could have save time by buying them already crushed but it was cheaper to buy them whole and i figure the husk is probably what contains most of the good stuff so I chopped them myself. Note to anyone who tries this at thome they will become projectile objects so beware!
Forgot to add a while I ago I'm buying lemons and squeezing one whole into a mug and then filling it half way full with hot water to have with my breakfast every morning. Apparently one lemon supplies 1.5 X of your daily Vitamin C requirements. I'm also finding it's good to ward off cold symptoms and to help clean out the sinuses. :)
OK so my weeks efforts were so crap I had been feeling guilty which motivated em to make up for it on Sunday. I went to the aquatic centre at 5 pm forgetting they closed the gym area at 5 on Sundays.
Hotty gym instructor/ manager dude expressed his regret and I was tempted to hang around and discuss alternative ways he could make it up to me but I felt too guilty to put off training and returned my bag of gear home again and decided to attempt a long run.
I put my bum bag on with drink bottle, jelly beans (for long run fuel), keys and epipen in it. I always carry a bum bag because I need something that will hold my epipen. I have it in case i get stung by a bee since i'm fatally allergic and have to stab myself in the leg and hot tail it to emergency if I get stung. I like the waterbelts you can get with small bottles spread around the belt but they don't come with pockets big enough for my epipen unfortunately.
So I was doing my walk warm up with my bum bag as standard - over my bum and came up with a new theory. Perhaps all these years of running with a bum bag with weight on my ass was developing muscles which would tip my pelvis forward to counter balance it?!?! Along with some stuff I've discussed via PM with Andre it's my best theory so far.
I moved the bum bag around the front and consciously used my muscles to resist the weight. No significant back pain! I ran intervals of 5 km with a 500 m walk between them plus a walk warm up and coold down. I'm pretty stoaked with how it went - and relieved considering the marathon isn't far away. I got through 30 km of running and 35 km on my feet.
Then i went home, tried at very wossy attempt at stretching, drank some water, a protein shake with L-carnitine in it and another sports drink for electrolyte replacement and went to bed.
This morning my legs hate me but not as much as I expected them too and I have no knee pain so I'm really really happy! :) :) :)
I also have a little soreness in my lower stomach muscles which I had to tense to hold my pelvis back against the weight of the bum bag which I'm taking as a good sign. :)
Well I was very, very sore for the next couple of days after my 30 km run on Sunday. Didn't recover as quickly as I would have liked.
I think when I had a more regular long run it never took more than one day to recover from it but this week my legs have utterly HATED me!
Unfortunately I had a heap of uni work to do which i could not put off because I made last minute plans to visit my bro interstate for the next week.
He's under the weather since he's just had an operation but he refuses to take time off and he's short of workers so i'll be working out bush with him. He's a shearing contractor and I'm going to be a rousabout on the crutching trailer for a week.
Had so much uni work this week i didn't get to train at all Monday through Friday and stayed overnight at uni Monday and Wednesday night. I may not have recovered as well as normal partially through lack of sleep i guess.
Took overnight bus from Adelaide to Melbourne last night (Friday night) and am taking another bus out to a place called Deniliquin and getting a ride from there out to a small riverside town that will be our base for the next week.
Luckily Melbourne bus / train station has decent facilities. I was able to leave all my stuff in a locker and go for a long run and then come back and pay for a shower.
At least I have tomorrow to get over my long run before I start rousabout work which I'm expecting to be really tiring. Did walk warm up then the following intervals running with 500 m walk between: 5 km, 7 km, 7 km, 4 km, 7 km and then a walk warm down. So as last Sunday I did 30 km running and something like 36 km on my feet including the walking.
I was considering uping the distance to 35 or 40 km this week but considering how long it took to recover from last weeks long run and how much pain I was in as it was i decided that was suicidal!
Was able to make the running intervals an okish pace but I'm still a little worried about how much it hurts. Ideally I'd like to be able to run 30 km relatively pain free before attempting the 42 km marathon. :-\
Im curious what your diet is like Sharla. What you eat, especially pre and post workout can have a big effect on your bodies ability to recover.
Ouch busted! ;D I plann cook ups etc and healthy main meals but I really don't plan enough for the times I'm stuck late at uni or travelling. I was reading a bit about amounts of recommended protein and calcium for women. I probably need a little more protein than I get and DEFINATELY need more calcium!Quote:
Originally Posted by wesrman
The last week has been good! :)
I have a whole week to think about here so I'll try to break it down into doc points:
This country has big properties and the guy were working for has no less than 120,000 ha! he's a private land owner too - it's completely a family business no big investors so obviously i don't want to embarass my bro by being incompetant working there!
- Recovered from long run within 2 days which was good. - took Sunday and Monday off exercise and since it was raining and wet sheep are not shorn there was no work then either. Complete recovery - did me good I think.
- Tuesday I worked as a rousabout. We were a little understaffed so it was a long day. Stayed out in a little town called Moulamein and had to travel about 60 km out to work each day.
Let's just say it's been a while since i did this kinda work and my intial reaction was to want to dry reach when i was faced with a particularly festy bit of wool i had to sort on that first day. Soooooo glad i took work gloves! Anyway my point it I didn't want to embarass my bro so i dealt with it and it gradually got easier. it was much easier with the radio on to dissociate, wearing gloves and thinking about how good it must be for the sheep to have that wool off. it also became easier as I learnt to work faster and feel like i knew what i was doing.
It made me think of the sports psychology equivalent - if i feel like I'm progressing and improving and getting somewhere i'll be able to put myself through so much more. Perhaps also explains how you can fall into the trap of taking a hard punch to land one sometimes - a little success is a huge pain killer!
The equivalent of the work gloves would be my mouthguard - something familiar that subconsciously tells you you're ready. Music - well i think i underestimate it's effect for training - don't usually care much what's on the radio in the gym but now i'm sure it has a big effect!
Anyway left at 6:15 am and didn't get back until after dark that day so no run but lots of physical work - i never stand still for moer than 15 seconds doing this work!
Wednesday - a full day again but not quite so long - my bro is shearing to make up numbers though and he's fast so i'm flat out trying to keep up with my work. At the end of the day I'm stuffed but they have to pack up the trailer (portable shearing set up) so my bro lets me set off running while they do that and they picked me up on the way back. I get in a 30 min tempo run.
Thursday - it rained - oh no - that means a day off and I'm sooooo dissappointed ;D! I got in a monaghetti fartleck that day when it eased off a bit and it felt good - really felt like i was blowing off the cob webs!
Friday - another really long day since we have to shear at 2 different locations and help round up sheep in between. only running is after sheep and it's pretty dark by the time we get back. Not to mention i'm stuffed!
Saturday - no work - got in my long run. 31.9 km in the following intervals:
10.5 km, 13 km, 5 km, 1.5 km, 500m, 500m, 400 m, 500m.
I did the 500 and 400 m intervals as fast as i could pump out since i read in a womans health magazine (great rainy day amusement :)) that burst of intense cardio in between weights sets can reduce muscle soreness by boosting circulation etc.
I was really hurting by the end of the run but was really suprised to wake up Sunday with no soreness! Had Sunday off anyway since it's about 4 hours to get back to Melbourne and then an overnight bus trip back to Adelaide so spent all day travelling.
I'm very pleased with how much my rate of recovery has imporved though! Next weekend's long run with decide whether or not I register for the full or half marathon in September now - fingers crossed! :)
Ok so I haven't posted here for a while and I'm about to get back into it since I should have the internet connected at home! Yes that''s pretty monumental for me since it actually meant getting a home phone aswell! :o
One day I might even have to get a TV that I can hook up to a VCR or one of those modern DVD player thingies! ;D
So to update - i didn't do the marathon - I became stupidly busy the final couple of weeks before i had to leave for my trip to the UK since uni did pay for it and I had to prepare a lot plus finish off a heap of experiments i had growing - which unfortunately you really can't pause with plants growing!
I ran a 20 km training run earlier in the week of the marathon and it just didn't feel right so i decided I had lost some condition in those insane 2 weeks and wasn't quite fit enough. I could have finished but I would have been so sore the run would have put me back in conditioning and probably reaggrivated old knee and back issues wheras when fitter and well prepared I still like to think I can do it.
Instead of running the marathon I spent the weekend learning a few things from Scrap and got to see Donny in action training plus met Mrs Scrap and Adam GB and saw the Plonks fight his pro debut. One day everyone will be talking about him and I'll be able to say I saw his debut bout and I trained with Donny (also bound to be a big thing) and Scrap for a weekend!
It was a really worthwhile weekend and I learnt a lot. I then enjoyed the rest of my trip visiting labs etc and learnt the true meaning of relaxing whilst seeing Scotland with Bilbo (evolution is a banned conversation ;D).
Now I'm back and have just recovered from a cold I caught on the plane back I am getting organized to have a structured training program again. Fingers crossed I might be starting a new job soon and I have my PhD to finish over the next few months too so I'm budgeting 2 hrs of exercise a day plus transport cycling since we're coming into summer and the days are brighter for longer and the weather good for it.
So basically that's 2 hrs exercise plus 1 hr 40 mins cycling a day except on weekends which will have Saturdays off and not much cycling.
I've decided this is a good time to have a kind of reset which I think I'll do every year for about 1 or 2 months. I'm planning one hour of stretching first thing every morning with wobble board work throw in. I'll do 5 mins of wobble board balancing blindfolded, 15 mins of stretching X 3.
I am going wobble board nuts. The reason being I don't believe my hips stabilize me very well and I think that's the main source of any aches and pains I tend to get. I'm doing it blindfolded because I find that pracitcally impossible right now so need to develop it and i can understand that I am too right eye dominant.
In the evenings I am doing three nights a week cardio (half running including intervals - speed work, half swimming - mixed intensity) and three nights a week resistance work. Again with the resistance work I'm going wobble board nuts incorporating it wherever possible eg ander my toes while doing pushups with push up bars, under my feet for dumbbell squats etc.
I'm throwing in some ideas I got from Scrap provided I get organized with equipment which I won't describe. He can put those up when he's ready. I'll also be doing some shadow work and perhaps simple judo moves these nights at home. The things i'm relatively confident I can practice unsupervised although I will get my bro to spot me sometimes when possible.
I seem to have had great luck with people lately and it turns out that my flatmate used to be an elite swimmer. While i've known this for a while I've always had my own trainings at nights and never been to the pool with her until recently.
Damn it she KILLED me! But in a good way - stretched everything out and worked muscles I didn't know how to use without someone elite like her to make me do it correctly.I didn't even realise how tired she was making me until afterwards. It was such different exercise it really crept up on me!
I'll be using what she taught me and trying to get her to check my form every few weeks since she found things which I think also combat key weaknesses I have holding me back from enjoying other more high impact things as much as I'd like - such as running, judo and boxing etc.
I'll describe the sessions a little more as I do them.
I haven't worked out if and when I'll be getting back into the clubs yet. I suspect I'm better off leaving it until i have my PhD mostly wrapped up since juggling everything has been a bit too challenging for me at times.
Organization has never been my strong suit so to deal with this I've had my flatmate's help reorganizing my room. I mean a COMPLETE do over! So far it's working well - things are easier to find, get out and put away and trip me over less. Howwever, managing my time is the real challene as always.
I've bought an A3 size whiteboard which is my version of a poor man's personal organizer except I've decided it's better because I can layout everything on it ans see it all at once rather than just looking at one part of my life at once. I'm hoping that i'll be less likely to forget things in areas of my life I'm not thinking of in the moment. I've split the board up into parts - career/uni, Sport & Health, Domestic Chores and Finances.
I kinda wish I'd bought a bigger board but perhaps the limited space makes me keep things simple and I have managed to fit everything on there. It's magnetic so I can use fridge magnets to pin up specific stretching routines on a slip of paper too. I have 4 different coloured pens I use for heading like goals, To Do lists, Rosters etc for each section which make it clearer to read and less likely to just be a mass of black and white scribbles when I look at it. Fingers Crossed it works!!! :)
So I start my program officially tomorrow - just going to the pool tonight for a half social swim with my little sis and have done a bit of stretching today. I've been doing some cardio, resistance work and stretching over the past couple of weeks but not really had a structure to keep track of so now I'm organized hopefully I can make more use of my annual 1 or 2 month "reset" phase!
Sharla thank you for your kind words,if you need help with any thing give me a call, no strings no cost' Dave from the Cove Boxing Club.
Thanks Dave! I attempted - big emphasis on attempted since I didn't really mange - to keep up with the program Scrap was posting of your training and it damn near killed me! ;D
The dedication, hard work, brains and balls required to keep up with all that and what Scrap has you learning (i won't say teach since i think he likes to encourage people to work things out for themselves a bit and he doesn't strike me as a babysitting coach) really justifies respect.
I'll take you up on your offer of advice when I've worked out what Qs are important for me and I'll consider it a privelidge! :)
Dont worry about being nosey, i dont mind. :)
A wrist roller is a thick bar (or pipe in my case) with a rope attached to it and you roll it up and down using your wrists. A couple of these links have a demonstration (the best i could find, although they arent great imo), but i prefer to do it one way and then turn the roller around and do it the other way too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxN-AemiW4k
Wrist Roller Forearm Exercise
Wrist roller - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hopefully that helps.
Interesting thanks Wes.
Have you noticed an improvement in something(s) in your training since starting the exercise?
I'm trying to picture how it might improve boxing function and I'm sure it would since rolling up and down does both directions evenly plus it sounds like a compound exercise according to the Wiki link.
Also wondering what these kinds of exercises mean for people prone to carpel tunnel syndrome - would it be overworking those muscles or preventing the problem?
I love the wrist roller, but ive also done lots of palms up and palms down wrist curls, behind back wrist curls, leverage bar curls and twists etc. I have weak wrists so i have to work extra hard to strengthen them.
Forearm Training
Bodybuilding.com - Forearms Articles!
Im sure a strong forearm would help a boxer greatly by reducing the amout of injuries to the wrist.
If you're prone to carpal tunnel you will have to be cautious, but id image that it could help if you dont over do it. Im not a doctor though so this is only speculation.
If you are going to train your forearms, use high reps (15-100 per set), use a variety of exercises to make sure you dont cause an imbalance and make sure you use a full range of motion and never cheat. You dont want to injure your wrist (this is especially true for a boxer).
Bruce Lee trained his forearms all the time and used all kinds of equipment and exercises includingthe wrist roller, and he had the best forearms ever imo.
http://i522.photobucket.com/albums/w...celee4armm.jpg
http://i522.photobucket.com/albums/w...celee4arm7.jpg
Thanks Wes I hadn't thought about forearm training but I guess I'll have to look into it. There's always something activity or diet wise I haven't included in my training yet which I should - one day I'll catch up! :)
I don't think I'm prone to Carpel tunnel but i had noticed odd stiffness in my wrists occasionally so i think i might want to look into prevention just to be on the safe side.
Ok to update my log:
My training plan has changed yet again! Basically because of my uni workload over the next few months meaning I won't finish my days in time for night trainings. Also my membership for the aquatic centre expired and while I'm not sure of whether or not I got the job i was going for yet i don't want to fork out the money to update it.
They do have some casual positions coming up for work over summer at the pool which might be my solution since hopefully I'll be able to work hours which won't interfere too much with my uni work and I'll get free membership. I think i'll be absolutely stuffed at the end of every day but i'll manage especially since it's so close to my house.
Another thing I've noticed I have to be strict with is my stretching time. It's the first thing I do so if I have to do some other exercise afterwards I'll run out of time to do it if I stretch too long. However my 1 hr stretch sessions have turned into 1 hr 30 or 1 hr 40 min sessions. It just seems there's always another spot to stretch. I think ultimately I'll never finish a session feeling one hundred percent loose and stretched - at least not for a few more months anyway.
I've also discovered I have a fobia of doing weights without a cardio warm up so doing them from home means I need to run first. This week I haven't done any resistance training because after my stretching and run i run out of time. I have been cycling to and fron uni 5 days too so I guess that maybe counts as something (but not really).
I could get hold of my mums' windtrainer and start cycling as part of my warm ups again. I also have an idea or two of Scrap's I'll put into practice once I have the equipment sussed. I need to think about the best way to do that and keep my eye out for the right stuff at a reasonable price though so that could be a few weeks.
I'm still nutting it out but I plan to allow 3 hours to workout in the mornings - 1 hour stretch, 1 hour cardio, 1 hour resistance, ab work and skill and balance stuff.
Aims for the next few months:
The reason i think my lower abs might be weak is when being shown how to do a proper dolphin kick the other week I found i wanted to do a sit up in the water and I found it impossible to bend at my hips to kick my legs.
- Improve hip stability and balance (I always feel my hips tilt too far forewards)
- Reduce all my flexibility limitations
- Strengthen my weakest links - i think my lower ab & hip muscles involved with balance mainly to begin with
- All that will hopefully help me build a base which will make it easier for my body to tolerate long distance running because I want to get back into that again and if when my PhD hell is over with I'll look into club activities like boxing and judo again and make some decisions.
While sorting out papers stacked up in my room I found something I had printed out from a website Donny recommended. One of those things I fully intended to get to but didn't - now I think he was really onto something.
It is an ab exercises which also gently stretches the iliopsoas and does not allow you to bend the wring way called an "assisted heel slide" so I'm going to look into doing that and see if I can get it working correctly.
The other thing i've resolved to do before but will be more serious about now is to drink more water! I have now found things on the web which link lower back pain to dehydration since the iliopsoas will contract in response to dehydration!
In a way it's not unlikely for me since I'm a coffee addict and brought up on a farm with bore water never drank a lot of it. Plus before hurting my knee when i thought i was unbreakable I relied a bit too much on dehydration to make weight for fights sometimes.
I might not have known a few extra aches and pains could really be related to that which is scary because while everyone tells you to drink water no one ever teaches you to recognize the symptoms of dehydration other than feeling thirsty which can be misinterpreted as other cravings sometimes - like food in my case.
So I think i'd give myself maybe 6/10 for this last week - a bit crap - need to get my arse into gear and keep on track. I think my organization skills are developing though so hopefully it will get easier after a while. I'll be getting up at about 4:15 am to allow me 3 hours exercise before uni (leave at 8 am to get there at 9) so that will be the biggest challenge this week.
I might need to impose a weekend curfew on myself which sucks but I'm a daylight person and prefer to go out during the day than at night anyway.
It's Tuesday and while the week started off well (got up ar 4:30 Monday and Tuesday without pressing the snooze button) it looks as though tonight will be a late one which means my early start tomorrow will be extra difficult as will fitting in any training.:(
I'm at uni late finishing off some work so I can say it's done in a meeting with my supervisor tomorrow. There's never any sort of explanation accepted for something taking longer than expected so it's just more appealing to kill myself finishing it than to listen to him chuck a hissy fit over it.:rolleyes:
I will say that I am beginning to feel the difference with the stretching and with different stretches. After a good stretch my back just feels good and I'm beginning to feel like my hips are not always tilted forwards. Probably nothing to most people but it's a great victory for me. :)
I'm also getting an idea of what does and does not put pressure on and tighten up my lower back. I'm becoming pro stretches where my back is fully supported and against ones where it is encouraged to arch.
I have realized that Scrap whilst modestly showing me a couple of stretches in September had taken all this into account fairly well. Plus his ball hamstring stretch seems to - if i understand the theory - stretch the ilipsoas and work the correct abdominal muscles mre effectively than the heel slide exercise I found on the web!
I am nutting out ways to incorporate safe strength training now since when my hip muscles do start to release my midsection feels strangely weak. Perhaps I am paranoid - i have not pushed it yet - but I feel if i was to do real challenging resistance work straight after stretching I might reverse the effect of the stretches.
Perhaps I should have one week of stretching and very limited resistance work + cardio and gradually bring the resistance stuff back in once the stretches have had time to work.
keep at it.