CIC 2 Day 4

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.

Today I did my fitness assessment. As I suspected, I gained some weight (about 10 lbs from my last weigh-in) and some fat (1% from my most recent test). The trainer couldn’t measure the fat on my thigh because my quads are so huge. That was nice.

I was pleasantly surprised at my muscular endurance score. I did 40 push ups before losing form.

I don’t fully understand the cardio endurance test. I was supposed to keep a specific rate on the bicycle while the monitor measured my heart rate. Then the computer changed the resistance on the bike. It worked in 3-minute cycles. The computer told me I was done, but I felt like I could have gone longer. Then my report said my cardio needs improvement. I don’t disagree, but I also don’t understand why.

Improving cardio will help the other area that needs help – my fat percentage. I also talked to the trainer about weight lifting for burning day instead of weight lifting to bulk up.

My BP and heart rate (which aren’t bad but could be better) should improve in tandem with my cardio endeavors.

All that leaves is back flex. My plan is to do more yoga and lyra, but I’m not sure what I can afford this month since I need to make some repairs to my car. Yoga is free at UWF, but lyra (which is just so much fun) is off-site and carries a small fee.

Today was rest day, so I don’t have anything to report on that front. I ended up skipping fencing because I didn’t feel prepared for my real job tomorrow, so there’s nothing new there either. We’ll see what tomorrow has in store for me.