Sharla's Log

[Sharla]

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.

[Scrap]

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.

[Chris Nagel]

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.

[Sharla]

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!

[Sharla]

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!

[Chris Nagel]

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.

[Sharla]

Really! I didn't know that - glad it's not as unorthodox as I thought!

[Sharla]

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!

[Sharla]

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!

[Sharla]

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!

[Sharla]

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

[Sharla]

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!

[Sharla]

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.

[Sharla]

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.

[Sharla]

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!