This morning I went for a walk in the beach. The water was calm, so the fish were going nuts, swimming and jumping, to oxygenate the water. That was really cool to see.
This evening was a Krav night. Eddie led class while Michael and I studied. After that, I came home and showed a few skills to my curious friends.
This morning I walked to the pier and back (I did on Monday too but forgot to mention it). Every step was murder on my shins and calves. I guess I was away from the coast for awhile because I am not used to walking on sand. I also went for a swim, but that was less exercise and more splashing around and cooling off.
This evening I went to fencing. I got to fence almost everyone at practice. I’m still readjusting to concepts like point control and keeping my weight balanced, but it’s coming along. I didn’t hurt anyone, but I’m also hesitant to come in quickly or otherwise be aggressive. I did short sets and took frequent breaks (legs were killing me – from not fencing or from beach walks?). I’m really glad to be back.
I came home from CIC 2 and rested a little bit before getting back on the road for Bonnaroo.
That trip involved a lot of walking and dancing (my fitbit logged over 20K steps one day!). The multiple climates, elevations, and pollens were unkind to me, so I have a sinus infection (it started bothering me on Day 2). Other than that, I had a great time and saw a lot of amazing acts!
Fyi, when I left for CIC 2, I weighed 202.2 lbs. When I came back, I weighed in at 201.2 lbs (keep in mind that I was carrying some water weight). After Bonnaroo, the scale read 195.4 lbs. I think I may have been a little dehydrated from the road, and I know I was walking off more calories than I was eating because festival food is expensive, and most of the camp food was fruit. That being said, if I can stay below 200 lbs and make sustainable changes to my diet and exercise, I think I can make some permanent changes to my body and health.
Today I was a little listless, a little unprepared. However, I made it through most of the day without using my inhaler (more on this in a bit, but I’ve been using it preemptively once or twice daily), and I felt pretty good about the techniques we trained.
The class that I taught went pretty well, but I was out of my comfort zone. I’ve been teaching techniques on how to deal with a situation in multiple steps (defending against a front choke or defending against someone covering your mouth with both hands). Today I focused my lesson on straight punches. There’s actually a lot to cover with a simple technique, and it was a challenge to break down something simple and cover the material in a dynamic way.
At the end of class, we did a drill called EVA. We were given two lists of numbers: 150, 120, 90, 60, 30; and 50, 40, 30, 20, 10. The first column was jumping jacks, and the second was situps. This exercise is timed. I got partway through the list and had an asthma and/or panic attack. I’ve never experienced this in my life. I was wheezing, but I was keeping up, but then it was harder and harder to breathe. I eventually bailed out to get my inhaler and jumped back in, but I didn’t get any better. My classmates were trying to cheer me on, but then I started to tear up, so I got worse. I did a half of the third set (45 jumping jacks and 15 situps – she told me to cut the sets first) before the instructor pulled me. One of my classmates had some canned oxygen, and that helped. I was super embarrassed. Everyone was super nice and supportive, but I still cried a little bit (during the exercise and when she pulled me but not after we left). Apparently, at CIC, Day 4 is when I cry.
That being said, if last year is any indication, I will come back tomorrow stronger, and even though the work will be hard, I will get through it.
My roomies are here!
I was awake when they got in last night. I’m sleeping a little better. It took me awhile to fall asleep, but I stayed asleep. I’m making a point to not take a nap today so that I can go to bed early tonight.
Today we bought groceries and found our way to the gym where we’ll be training.
This afternoon, Eddie and I went for a walk around the neighborhood. He convinced me to run. We ran about 4 minutes, took a break to walk, and then ran another 6 minutes. Cardio warmups take 3-4 minutes, so we wanted to hit that range and push a little further. Now I know for sure I can do it.
That being said, the run was fairly unpleasant. I did my best to control my breathing, but I still couldn’t get enough oxygen. At the end of the four minutes, I couldn’t feel the end of my nose. At the end of the six minutes, my ears felt all stopped up. As uncomfortable as that was, I stayed on my feet, I didn’t stop moving, and I didn’t pass out.
Day 0 of CIC 2 is a success.
I had trouble sleeping last night. I don’t know if it was because of noises in the hotel or discomfort from elevation or what. I know my sinuses felt plugged but also dry? It was a weird sensation. Anyway, since I was kind of up and down all night, I slept in a little bit this morning.
After I finally got up and had my coffee, I visited the pool. I swam (head out of water) for just under 30 minutes, and then I hit the hot tub. I packed up and checked out, and Kevin from Loveland Krav Maga came to pick me up. I got to see the place where we’ll be doing CIC. It’s getting real!
I’m all checked in at the AirBNB and resting. I took a long nap and have been generally chilling out. I have one more day to hang out, and then the journey begins on Friday.
Today I tested out my lungs in this new and unusual land. I was on the elliptical for about an hour and felt pretty good. I had a light headache, but managing my breathing wasn’t too bad. Here are my stats, but I didn’t keep my hands on the heart rate monitor the whole time.
What astounded me was that my sweat actually evaporated instead of drawing more moisture to my body. My shirt was the same color after my workout as it was before!
After a short rest, I changed and hit the hotel pool. I swam for about 20 minutes (head out of water) and enjoyed the hot tub for 5 more.
I didn’t push myself super hard today, but I’m feeling optimistic.
Yesterday I hit the gym and had chest day with Nik. I’m sticking with the low weight with high reps. I don’t have a set list for you because…
…I’m in Colorado! I got on my plane yesterday evening and arrived safe and sound around midnight. I have a couple of days to acclimate to the elevation and utter lack of humidity, and then it’s time for CIC 2!
My plan for the day is to take it easy, maybe check out some stuff in my 5-mile radius. My hotel has a fitness center and a pool (with a hot tub), so I’ll be making use of those at some point as well. I’d like to try a little cardio up here to see what I’m in for before I’m in the thick of things.
This morning I walked on the beach and swam in the gulf.
I didn’t make it to Krav tonight. I have some major blisters on my feet, and I think a high intensity workout would rupture them. The last thing I need is open wounds on my feet for CIC. I want to be healed enough to train on Wednesday.
I did put on shoes long enough to go to the gym and lift. Here’s a set list.
One of my fencers wrote an exercise program for us, so I’m trying that out with some minor modifications. I added some ab work, and I’m doing more reps and sets at a low weight. At the end of the workout, I was ready to take off my shoes, but my blisters were still intact.
After that I swam laps for about half an hour. I heard swimming is a good way to train my body to work out with minimum oxygen intake. Plus I don’t need to wear shoes. That’s a huge benefit.
I feel really good! Maybe Nik will want to swim and lift tomorrow.
Let’s see… I’ve been slacking with updates but not with exercise.
Last Monday I had a good Krav class. I don’t remember if I went to the gym or not. If I went, I did cardio.
I did go to the gym Tuesday. It was arm day. I cut my workout a little shorter than Nik’s so that I could run.
On Wednesday I did chest and abs and then went to Krav. That was a mistake. Conditioning was agony that day.
On Thursday I was sore, and we had company, so no workout for me. I skipped fencing on Friday because we had different company.
Saturday made up for it. I did a Krav seminar in the morning. Then I helped with a fencing demo in the afternoon and walked a 5K (in armor) at sunset.
I might go to the gym today; I don’t know. It depends on whether I can coax my feet into my sneakers. I have some pretty impressive blisters from yesterday.
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