Training time is fast approaching

So last May I began a training regimen mixing 3-4 morning 4k runs a week with core and body weight exercises along with a stretching program to build a base of physical fitness that would help prepare me for our school's black belt test. After about 4 months of this I dialled back the running and focused more on technical aspects of my game to ensure I had a solid understanding of my curriculum. Along the way I had to devote a large amount of energy to teaching classes and helping to train my teammates. After five months I discovered that without intending to, I had dropped almost 15 pounds. By the time of my black belt test, I was down to a weight I hadn't seen since my last year in university. I gained a bit of the weight back over the last six weeks of my training when I sustained my calf injury (see my posts below). The whole experience taught me a great deal about training, about myself and about what I enjoy about the martial arts:

...If I get over 195 lbs I start to feel heavy and a bit sluggish. I'm not actually out of shape, but my body feels different. -- Guess what? I'm feeling a bit heavy, so I'm taking this as a signal to ramp up my training a bit...

...I get a lot out of training other people. So much so that I kind of lose track of the importance of my own training. One of my goals this year is to balance this out a bit more, giving myself time for my own training, asking for help from others, and concentrating on helping some key people achieve all that they are capable of.

...Determining a level of training that you can sustain over a long period of time, but which allows you to vary the intensity of the training is key to staying fit, and interested in achieving the goals you set.

...Studying the martial arts is ultimately about developing self-awareness. This is helpful beyond the lessons in kicking, punching and grappling. One important lesson I keep re-learning is to not take people for granted. Your family, friends and training partners are all concerned about helping you achieve your goals, but don't forget about what is important to them as well. It can't be all about you all the time...

...Kicking Dave in the leg is fun...as is working Tom until he falls over, running Paul until he collapses, and pushing Andrew until he is ready to faint. They take everything you throw at them and ask for more. What more could you ask from students and training partners?

...Bruce Lee believed that martial arts was a form of self-expression. You can learn a lot about someone by watching how they train, perform and work with others on the mat.

So, I'm now on a quest to develop a sustainable training program to keep me fit, to keep me from feeling sluggish, to develop some new skills and refine some old ones, and most especially: to keep me injury free. It all starts with road work, which means early morning alarm bells that I have to actually pay attention to...oh well, sleeping was fun while it lasted.

Time is Flying

It's been more than a month since I last posted which made me realize that I've become a little bit too obsessed with finishing my shed project.

Sometimes my penchant for obsession is a useful thing (like when I'm training for a black belt), but this summer I kind of feel that I've let my (supposedly) little building project overtake my life. Just about every weekend has been spent on some aspect of the build, which while fun, has been a little excessive. But major construction is now finished, and I'll be putting up shelves and moving stuff into the shed on the Labour Day weekend, so hopefully I'll feel less compelled to do work when I should be relaxing or playing or writing. It's really too bad when the crazy gene kicks in.

So, some thoughts I've had over the last month:

I love the internet. This may sound obvious as who would start a blog unless they loved the internet, but here's why. The internet allows me to become aware of interesting people, events and ideas both by getting reports about these things (from a really wide variety of sources) and by getting the unfiltered version of some of them.

Case in point: In July the US District Court for Northern California threw out the state's referendum mandating the bar on same sex marriages. This was widely reported online through mainstream media, blogs, forums, videos but most importantly through access to Judge Walker's written judgement. If you haven't read this yet - DO SO. It is, as one analyst said, the best summer reading you will find anywhere.

The ruling is historic, and is written in a way to make it almost bulletproof. It will be appealed and some say will likely be heard by the US Supreme Court. But what is beautiful and astounding about it is the manner in which Judge Walker, with cold-hearted precision and logic, demolishes all arguments against same sex marriage (and in so doing, shines a much needed light on the issue of discimination on the basis of sexual orientation). This is the Brown v. Board of Education ruling for our time, and I think, will be studied by law students for years to come.

I think I'll write more about this later, but why I think it's important, is because I feel that rule of law is the most fundamental aspect of my belief in freedom and liberty. It is the fact that people who have had discrimination and prejudice thrown at them have recourse before the courts that is the true defining characteristic of our democracy -- and for a poli sci geek like me, this was heaven.

Oh, it is also time to start training again. 5:30 am runs here we go...