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Well, I actually did it this morning. I got up and went out to the track with my husband and son. Four laps is a mile on this track, so that's what I went for. I'm seriously disappointed by my performance. I made my mile in 25 minutes. I was aiming for at least 15, knowing that I haven't run recently. I wasn't expecting the slow result. Here's what I did:
Lap #1. Walked. It was a slow walk until almost at the second end of the track, when I tried to speed up my walk.
Laps #2, 3 and 4. These were walk/run laps. I walked all the way around the end of the track and ran the back straightaway. I stopped when I got to the other end of the track and walked, then ran the front straightaway.
I noticed that I was severely huffing and puffing by the end of the run cycle. That is NOT good, so I asked a friend, who is a runner about it. She said that I was breathing too shallowly, which meant I was not inflating my lungs fully and caused me to fatigue and run more slowly. I asked for a way to train myself to breathe better and she gave me some pointers, so I'll work on that.
I'm probably going back out tomorrow, sans youngest child. I didn't feel that he was much help to me. I spent a lot of time trying to get him to walk faster, to actually RUN and try to keep me going. He's not interested at this point, so I'm leaving him out of MY training. I'll do my best to help him, but until he realizes that he won't be testing for any tests if he can't run a mile, there's not a lot I can do for him.
I'm treating this like a test preparation. I am not testing, but I may as well get serious enough to treat it like it is. This will help me focus and get myself to that "place" I need to be in order to work hard and see results.
"The best laid plans of mice and men..." have gone astray here. I had every intention of getting off my rear and working out every morning, despite loaning my Wii out to a friend. Did that work? No. So much for my public accountability, right??? I fell flat for 3 days. Oh well. If you fall down, get up, brush yourself off and get back to what you were doing.
So. My plan is this: I'm going to the track tomorrow morning. It's the first of the month, first workout of the month. I'm going to start trying to run. No more of this "I hate running" thing I've had going. NO MORE telling myself "I'm allergic to running." All that does is perpetuates the negativity about the act itself. If you tell yourself something often enough, you internalize it and that's the last thing I need. What I NEED to tell myself is "I can run that mile in ten minutes."
Now that I've let it slip, may as well come straight out. As an adult of "advancing years" (44), I need to aim to run a mile within ten minutes, thirty seconds. I am overweight by a good 100 pounds too, but I WILL get to that ten minute mark!! It'll be good for me to get out and run.
After all the whining and moaning about how I had "forgotten" my forms, I wound up showing Master F my version of Bassai on Tuesday. I had an ear to ear grin on my face when I finished. I need to put myself into my own little world and just focus on me and not anyone else. If I don't, I will continue to mess up the forms. Another thing I need to remember is to relax. That will do wonders for my forms.
I feel like I've been re-earning my belts, if that makes sense. Being a Dan is not an isolated experience at BTK. You're part of a greater whole. If you need help, all you have to do is to ask and someone will help you. There is always room for improvement in anything you do. I've been trying to get my forms "fixed". I wasn't doing them wrong, just differently. Different schools have different styles. It's not "my school is right, yours is wrong."
One thing to work on is my push up requirement and my crunch requirement. We did pushups in class on Thursday. I HURT! My arms are so sore, it's not even funny! I gave myself two days off, but am going to attempt to do pushups today. I have to get my requirement in. I have to run too. I don't mind putting my running requirement on my blog...it's a mile in 10:30. My son, who is 9, has the same time requirement as me. Now if I could just get him to actually RUN around the track and not just goof off and try to roll around on the infield.
I've been doing some exercise with my Wii in an effort to work on muscle strength and toning. It's the EA Sports Active...there's a 30 Day Challenge on it. I hit 14 out of 20 workouts today. 6 more to go. There are a lot of lunges in it, which I think helps some. I hate the running part of it. If I was in a bottom floor apartment, I wouldn't have as many issues with it, but...oh well, I'm still doing it. Real life running is next on my list.
Today I officially ran. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it WAS a run. My son likes to race us, so today, he raced me from the mailbox to our building. It was a five minute run, but we moved. I guarantee you, I feel better for having moved!!!
It's supposed to be very cold tomorrow and rain is forecast, so I may not get out walking or running at work. I will say without a shadow of a doubt that I will NOT go outdoors if it's cold and wet. I'm crazy, not insane.
I have started walking in an effort to make myself get out and about. I have a goal in mind...I'm eventually going to start running. When I do, I want to be able to run a mile in under ten minutes. Running and I are not friends. I truly despise running. However, it's something that I'm going to work on because I know it'll help.
I've been given a few pointers...I've been told to time myself. Walk a minute, run a minute. Repeat multiple times. Then I can increase my running time. Walk a minute, run two minutes. Ideally, it'll be a building up to being able to run from the get-go instead of just walking. I have a couple of friends who have tried this technique. I wonder if Run On recommends that? They have a running course I may have to inquire about sometime next year. As long as it doesn't interfere with my Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'll be fine.
Today, I didn't run. I DID, however, get out and go walking. Again, not a fast walk, but it *was* a walk. That counts as a start.
Balance is always important in martial arts. One of the main reasons is that you don't want to be kicking someone and fall flat on your bum or on your face because you can't maintain your balance or control your kick. Many of your higher forms require incredible control and balance. There is a part of Jin Do that requires a Ap Cha Nut Gi (jumping front snap kick). I had attempted this on one of the occasions I had to practice with Mr. Brown before I left my old school...and I fell flat on my rear!! You talk about undignified!! I didn't have my foot planted properly, so I fell. Part of that was for inexperience, part of it was due to lack of balance.
I have a new tool in my training arsenal that I HOPE will help me in the long run. It's a Wii Fit. I read BBM's blog and decided to go out and look for one the night I read it. It sat in the house for a week before I set it up, but now that it's been set up, I am using it. I have been working on the balance games. I had the silly thing set up backwards first of all, but my husband finally decided to correct it and now all is well. It's not as bad as it was the day before yesterday! I did find out that Master G was correct in telling me that I need to use my hips! I really, REALLY found out how much when I did the 'slalom skiing'.
I haven't tried much of the yoga yet. I have done a trunk twist with my virtual trainer and I've got issues with the Wii as far as what it says my weight is, but I'll suck it up and deal with it. I have other things on my mind, like correcting my balance. So far, I'm "unbalanced". I DID, however, find that I can do a couple of serious aerobic exercises for about 15 minutes and I'm winded. This is something I will definitely work on. I AM going to get into better shape.
Tomorrow I'm packing the kids up (as long as it's not raining!!) and heading out to the local high school. We're going to put the track to good use. I want to start walking a mile...and I'll time it. Once I have a time for my walk, then I can start working on cutting that time down. At some point I need to start running. There's nothing that says I have to LIKE running...but I'll be running. If I get to the point where I can run a quarter of a mile in 2-3 minutes, it'll say something for me. My goal is to run a quarter mile by the end of...how about a month ending in "y"? That's one of four months. I won't say exactly WHICH month it is, but I'm going to work on it. I definitely feel like I'm facing the correct path. I'm not fully engaged on that path, but I'm facing it.
I created a wish list that I think is a good start to making me a better martial artist. Yes, I'd dearly love to be able to have a heavy bag so that I can practice kicking and punching but that's out of the question in the apartment. Management would have a kitten if we put a heavy bag out on the patio, sooo...I'll make do with other things.
I'm working on my attitude and rearranging my goals. My first and foremost goal is to stop focusing on my belting. I'll get the belt whenever I get the belt. If I start worrying about "when am I going to test" instead of learning the material I need to know, I won't do well at all and they will laugh me out of creation. For that matter, *I* would laugh myself out of creation!!! December, for me, just got a LOT busier since I have a concert on the 16th that I HAVE to attend (oldest child), and my manager and director decided that they're having our department dinner on the 18th, so I won't be in class at all that week. Then the week after is Christmas. I HOPE we're going to be in class on the 22nd because I want to go.
My Christmas martial arts goal/wish list is as follows:
****TO DO MY BEST****
1. To learn my terminology for my karate class by my birthday (6 months, 1 week)
2. To learn Nahainchi Ee Dan and be able to execute it properly by March.
3. To learn my one-steps and Ho Sin Sul properly.
4. To learn to run and like it...or at least, just to run.
5. To learn NOT to focus on how heavy I am (yes, I'm heavy, but I'm working on it!).
6. To NOT stress out over "not working at the level I think I should be working at." It's not about anything but improving.
7. To learn the bunkai of the forms and be able to answer an examiner quickly and efficiently when questioned.
8. To learn to perform a form backwards. I know it can be done. I don't want to "over think" it, but I need to learn it because it will be a useful thing to know.
I have so many other things in my head that I want to do but I'll work on that a little at a time. I really need to print this out and keep it where I can see it at all times.
I think I need to learn NOT to walk when I'm angry. It is beneficial, yes, but at the same time, it *hurts* because I don't temper my stride. I have a tendency to literally pound the pavement. As a result, I do injury to myself.
Case in point...I was so stressed out yesterday that when I went walking, I walked with a hard stride. Not necessarily a good stride. I know it wasn't fast. It was just hard. My right foot now feels like it's "locked up". The instep is painful and stiff. Not what I want, especially since I want to go walking again. I have set myself a goal (almost typed "goad"!) of at least 3 miles a week, walking.
I may skip the walk today. I'm not sure. I haven't made my plans yet. I don't go to lunch until 11:30 and it's 10:15 now. If I go, I have to get out to my car and get my things.
When I walked yesterday, I met two ladies who were out running. I'm assuming they have a route planned out. They ran past me as I was heading out, then I met them coming back...and they ran past me at a fast walk! That's when I felt like I was too slow. I tried to speed up to keep up with them and wasn't able to. They're in *much* better shape than I am and it showed.
I really need to stop comparing myself to other people, but I really have a hard time stopping myself from doing it. It's like comparing apples to oranges. Both are fruit, both can be sweet, but that's where the resemblance ends. One's got a rough outer skin, one's edible from the get-go. It's the same with people. No two people are alike. I know this but haven't managed to keep it in my head. It's the same with martial arts. I know that I'm not expected to keep up with the people who are higher ranked than me. They may have a different outlook on training, etc. I shouldn't look at what they're doing and say "I have to keep up with xyz..." It just isn't going to be possible!! I am me. I'm not in superb shape. I am coming off a long (7 month) hiatus where I haven't done much.
(This is changing, I'm not just sitting here bitching about it!)
I didn't do any push ups yesterday, so today is a bonus day--I get to do *4* of them! Hooray! I'm going to see if my son wants to do push ups with me. That way it'll be something we can do together. I need to do some crunches too to start working my abs. If I can find where hubby hid my bo, I'll be able to get it out and use it for ab work. I found an exercise on Shape.com that is a good abs-shaper. It uses either a broom handle or something along those lines. You hold it at shoulder level with your arms up across the back of it (think an old picture of a "milk maid" or something like that). Then you perform a trunk twist. The most effective way to do this is to sit down and twist. You can use a towel while you're sitting on the floor and you can do this while you're watching television if you're a television sort of person. I may have to start doing this on my nights that I'm off from karate. It'll help build up my obliques and abs and maybe, just MAYBE, I'll wind up with a shape other than round!!
I'm challenging myself to do new things. I did two 'guy' push ups this morning. Not a lot, but it was a start. I usually do pushups on my knees, so the 'guy' push ups I did is a good thing. I have a tendency to "sink" down in the middle and lead with my belly, so that's something to work on. Proper form is everything. It makes a difference, not only in push ups, but in kicks, punches, etc.
I have a book from BTK that gives my requirements for fitness for my next test. Now that I'm serious about it, here's what I have to look forward to:
Crunches, push ups, kicking and run/jog: all need to be done at the pre-test AND the test.
As a 43 year old woman, at the rank of black belt, I must be able to do 38 'right angle' push ups. I'd like to have this accomplished by December. I do my push ups on my knees, but by March, I want to do them all in the proper form...hence the "guy" push up goal.
Crunches: My requirement is 34. The requirement for men in the same age group as me is 42, so I think I'm going to push for somewhere in between.
Kicks: I have to be able to perform a turning hook kick and a hop hook kick three times on each leg at a HIGH level. I'm sure that I'll also have to do a turning side kick plus a jumping round kick. High level means that I should be able to kick at a range from the shoulders to the top of the head. (need to get the excess fat off because I can't kick if I'm fighting myself to get the foot up!)
Run/Jog: For my age and rank, I have to run a mile in 10 minutes. I'm working on that now. Ten minutes? Yep...I'll work on it. I SHOULD be able to accomplish that by March.
I've got a few other ideas in mind, such as creating a training log. I don't know how many of my instructors read my blog, but I think that setting these goals is an acceptable one. From a fitness standpoint, the fitter I am, the happier I am and the better I perform.
I have been stressed out at work so much that I am daily experiencing headaches. I finally went down to HR and talked to her about it. She told me to get myself out of the office at my breaks and lunch time, so I actually listened. Yesterday, I made sure I didn't stay at my desk during breaks and left the building with a friend for lunch.
Today, I had an early lunch, so I went out for a walk. I used to walk with DB before he got his new job (this was last year...haven't walked for about a year now!). We would walk about 1.9 miles, I want to say. That was round trip. We did that for a few months, then got adventurous and changed our route up a bit. I think our total distance was about 3 miles. I could be mistaken. (It's been so long ago, I have fuzzy memories.)
Today I went out and walked our original route. It took me 35 minutes to walk 1.9 miles from start to finish. I feel pretty great about that! I was able to get out, get back in, change clothes AND nuke my lunch by the end of my hour! I feel good about that! I am not walking tomorrow unless I do it after I get home, but I plan on walking on Thursday again. If I play my cards right, I should be able to repeat the 35 minute walk on Thursday. If I walk every other day, I should start building up my endurance and cut my time down. Master G said that I should strive for a lower number on the mile, so it stands to reason that I could walk a mile in 15 minutes or less. If I was REALLY smart, I'd actually start RUNNING, but...there's a lot of sidewalk to run on. Need to make sure the ol' legs are in better shape first so I don't mangle my knees with a run.
