Sharla's New Log - Attempting to Avoid Becoming A Slovenly Pig

[Sharla]

First Session at the new kickboxing gym -

Was good

The coach was actually my first ever coach who I happened to run into at the supermarket before christmas. I was putting off going because of the price of the classes on the web but when I arrived I found out they are changing it to $10 a week with no contract from $13 a session - much better!

There is no sparring as far as I can see and no ring - it's all classes which would've turned me off at one stage. Now it works well as I can concentrate on technique myself but tend to get paralysis by analysis. Here i get good technical coaching but also a really good workout with good stretches etc at the end.

Also since it's kickboxing and I haven't kicked for years I'm a long way off of feeling co-ordinated enough to spar in kickboxing anyway. Boxing would be different - this however is kickboxing with knees and elbows. When I kickboxed before it was without knees and elbows at all!

Now I'm working the bag in combinations using knee and elbows as ordered - bringing me into a range I've never deliberately moved into before. It's quite foreign but i think that's what makes it fun - i'd probably get bored of the equivalent boxing class without sparring.

My shins need toughening up again - they didn't appreciate being slammed into the bag. My balance needs work too. I will enjoy trying to build that up again!

Rachel had a pilates class today and worked tonight so I haven't checked in with her though. I'm impressed with her attitude though - until now she's always been very reluctant to consider eating healthy. Today she went out and bought diet cordial .

[Sharla]

Thursday

Swam with Rachel. She sat down on the steps at one point between laps and noticed a heart symbol with an up arrow next to it on her heart rate monitor. She showed me thinking it meant something like her heart could explode at any moment. I told her no it means you need to get it higher - it's too low.

Geez did that work well! It was like something had bitten her on the arse then and she pumped out 357 cal worth of exercise ten minutes faster than it took her to burn 315 in the pool last time!

I swam with her without fins while she used fins. We also incorparated some running, squats, pull-ups using the pool ladder and push-ups at the shallow end on the side of the pool. It was an easy workout for me but I'm still sore pretty much everywhere from yesterday's effort so it was good to loosen up.

Rachel's food consumption si going well. As she is heavier her resting metabolic rate is higher at the moment than mine. I'll need to be stricter than her. I'm not eating any individual thing that's really bad but dinners cooked by other people are not always great. Will have to attempt to dominate the kitchen a bit more. Probelm is other people who cook at the moment are too helpful and make more than one night's worth at a time so if it's a bit fatty we're stuck with it two nights running.

Fri morning

Rachel came with us to burnside for Road runners session. I started with the main group to do a hillier run but my foot really hated it this morning. I think my trail runner which i was wearin exacerbate the problem a bit. So i turned back and did a walk-jog session with Rachel. She's getting better at pushing herself which is awesome!

Ken who organizes the runs and follows people on his bike was really warm and encouraging to her. We went for coffee with the group afterwards and people we're really friendly to her - even though most of them are disgustingly fit they didn't look down their nose at her at all. It was really nice of them.

I have kickboxing tonight which should be ok for the foot as that didn't bother it last time. Wednesday at lunch time I got around to buying a really cheap pair of supermarket shoe sport insoles and just put the left one in my bike shoes. That helped a bit I think. There is one thing left to try though.

I need to fiddle with the pedals so they release the cleats more readily so I don't have to twist as hard. This bike was my mum's before it was mine and she always uncleats on the right when she stops at lights etc whereas I uncleat on the left so i can put my foot on the curb. It's possible she's loosened the right over time but the left is tighter and being the one I use the most giving me trouble.

[Sharla]

Friday night I didn't manage to get to kickboxing - I decided to try finding a route with less traffic on the bicycle but just got lost - so did a longer than normal ride but didn't get there. That is probably not a good thing as my foot needed some time off.

Also rested it over the weekend and tried to get organized with uni stuf - why oh why did i put so much crap on random pieces of scrap paper!!

Went to see a physio on the weekend. Actually heard about them during a running clinic last year - they find your weaknesses and give you drills etc to improve your running and prevent injury. I like this idea - why wait until you're injured to go to a physio if you can prevent it all together! Still I put it off for financial reasons and because i wanted to know i could stick to a routine enough to do the exercises given to me before i started.

He did have some good things to say like I hold side plank higher than most people are able to, my form is good from T1 up and my ankles and feet are good - even though my standing arch is a little flat i have good arches in movement (i think from barefoot running).

The area I knew let my down though is my hips. I also have a very tight left ITB which suprises me. On video he showed me when i run my right hip drops which is bad but even worse my left hip just floats sideways past my left foot. This has the knee pointing in which si not good for that either.

This explains why i couldn't bring my left foot up easily when i was on Scrap's verti-run. It's not something i notice so much in normal running until i'm shown and now i notice it all the time. I'm using the wrong muscles to bring my left foot up. I have been given a program to follow 3 times a week and have another appointment in 2 weeks time to make sure I am doing everything correctly and get some running drills. He's also goign to measuer my calf strength then incase that is another factor.

Monday
Cycled to work, cycled to kickboxing - did the hour class and cycled home.
Some things still feel very un-natural and the combos are often very weird.

I'm still trying to work out how much of that is because i have been stale, because it involves knees & elbows and in a few cases possibly it's just not very realistic for most actual sparring circumstances and more of an exercise in balance etc. I'll reserve my judgement for now because some things that feel very awkward to begin with but then get easier.

What is very good is the stretching and the fact that whatever we do in orthodox we do in southpaw - each side is worked evenly which is exactly what i need! The atmosphere is also very friendly and I like that no one is really trying to prove anything to anyone but themselves here.

Tuesday Morning
Cycled to the gym - did my physio routine - took ages as i need to control things fairly precisely. Didn't get a sweat up but I figure as it becomes more familiar i will and it's worth it.