Tag Archives: tired

Fresher? I Wish!

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For some reason I’ve not been able to get any proper rest for days and days now. I sleep, but i wake up with my head already spinning with stuff and it feels like I need to go back to bed immediately. I’m convinced that a combination of this, the changing light and the fact I can grow hair just about anywhere (the first one to mention the top of my head gets a beating) is an indication that I may in fact be part bear. I’m not sure what the other part must be, but sadly it doesn’t seem to be shark, and I don’t feel 7000% deadly.

I attended the Freshers’ Fair yesterday at the college closest to my hopeful catchment area for my branch of the club, and it went as well as I’d hoped for. We were a bit out of the way, stuck up on the first floor in a small room with the NHS, a bank, the Samaritans and people like that (including a stand for a local nightclub with a girl in hotpants who really looked like she had no idea where she was, let alone what she was meant to be doing there), but the students seemed to come through in small herds. I’m pretty sure the collective noun for a group of students is a herd. What was nice was that most of the people who put their names on our sign-up sheet seemed genuinely interested. I’ve contacted them all now, just to let them know that a) I’m not some weirdo collecting peoples’ details (I’m not!), and b) that I’ll be in regular contact until the club opens. I’m indebted to those who came along to support me, I think if I was there on my own all day it would have been a bit more nerve-making, not to mention a lot less fun :) .

I’m hoping to have the club up and running in around four weeks, and with a venue that already seems likely I’m starting to get excited. I’m not starting until then as it gives me a chance to sort out all the things I’ll need to get going, and also gets the British Championships out of the way. I wouldn’t want to get everyone in for a lesson and then immediately lose the momentum by buggering off for a week. The British should be good fun though, I’m really keen to compete again, even if my nerves at the time will be jangling and my stomach doing somersaults. The good thing about being a Dan grade at these events is that I tend to have to help out with running the mats now it seems, which gives me less time to worry. There’s probably an argument to say it gives you less time to prepare too, but as far as I’m concerned all of the preparation will be between now and the day. Trying to go over forms too much on the day of a competition normally results in me forgetting the simplest of things, I work a lot better when I’m in automatic mode.

I feel like I should give Murphy a little shout out as he doesn’t get many column inches here these days, but he’s been an absolute little star at agility lately. He seems to have come on in leaps and bounds (oh the punnery!) over the last couple of months, and with the exception of some particularly smelly places on the field, nothing seems to distract him any more. When we started training there were a couple of small Cocker Spaniels who he was head-over-heels in love with, so much so that I had to change classes as he wasn’t getting anything done other than ignored by the focal points of his adoration. But now I think he’s just about ready to get officially measured (to see if he goes into small or medium classification) and entered in a competition. The only thing I’m not too convinced about is his entry into weaves. Dog agility has a lot of different obstacles: Jumps (including jump-through tyres), tunnels, A-Frame/dog-walks, see-saws and weave poles. Weave poles are quite easy once they’re in and going, but finding the entrance is the hard part. Your dog has to enter the very first pair from the right, anything else counts as a fault, and Murph has trouble finding that first pair at full speed or from an angle. Once we crack that though, look out world.

I say ‘world’, I mean the relatively small world of local dog agility.

Novice division.

My golden boy taking a well-earned break on Monday evening

:)

A Long Week

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Well, it’s Friday, and it’s the Friday at the end of a very long week. I’m not sure why it’s felt so long, but I swear it’s lasted about ten days so far. With the squad training session on Sunday, dog agility on Monday, training Wednesday, teaching/training on Thursday and more training tonight (all on top of a very stressful week at work), it’s been quite tiring. There’s a Gup grading on Sunday which sees two people go for first gup, and that’s a big step, so I really feel for them. Don’t get me wrong, I feel for anyone out there currently sweating and dreading the thought of standing up and showing us what they’ve learned since the last grading, but at first gup it feels like a really big step, especially as it’s your very last gup grading ever.

One of the second gups I mentioned above is about to turn the big four-oh, and in celebration (commiseration?) of the fact she’s hired out a local venue tonight for a big party. Hog roast? Check. Bucking bronco? Check. Licensed bar? Check. Karaoke(!!!)? Check. All signs point toward a great evening! I don’t envy her having just the Saturday to recover before her grading though, but then I kinda know the feeling, I took my Dan grading the day after a week in Germany ‘sampling the local cuisine’.

I’ve had the pleasure of teaching the Falmouth class for the last few weeks, and I’m just starting to realise the enormous feeling of satisfaction you get when something you’ve taught comes together. I’m not nearly vain enough to claim that it’s down to me of course, I’ve only been there for four or five weeks, but seeing the little differences take hold is a fantastic feeling. The lower (I hate using that word, it sounds so condescending) gup grades especially have taken everything on so well and given the limited time back a lot of them have had, I’m impressed.

Plans for my own class (eek!) are coming together, I’ve got an appointment this afternoon to see the owner of a local studio with an eye to hiring it. The nearest Freshers’ Fair is on next Tuesday, so I’m hoping with a bit of help from some of the friendly faces we’ve already got training I may be able to get some on board, all ready for the first night. Before all of that though, I’ve got a serious amount of unwinding to do tonight, and a cocktail of beer and karaoke is just the ticket :D .

Good times ahoy, and good luck to everyone grading this weekend. You’ve done the hard work, enjoy the day.

(yeah, right! ;) )

Dipping Into The Reserves

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I’m absolutely knackered today.

I wish I could say it’s because I had this wild weekend and am still recuperating, but it’s nothing as glamorous or hedonistic as that. After training on Friday I was all geared up and ready for the local Rock Night, which is my favourite night out and I hadn’t been for the previous three months. Well, now we can make that four months. I had a frantic call as I finished training to tell me that the taps in the new bathroom had broken and that water was basically pissing out behind the bath, through the floor and down into the kitchen. Water was running off the light fittings (eek!), out of the extractor fan, and there were huge damp marks on the ceiling where the joists meet the plasterboard. That little disaster put paid to any thoughts of going out, so instead I got an early night.

It was a good idea on the face of it, the kickboxing class on Friday night had been pretty hard and even today I’m still feeling the ill effects of trying to lift someones bodyweight with my shoulders in a sit-up stylee. I got asked at late notice to help with a grading on Saturday afternoon – a second Dan grading at that. It’s very rare to get a chance to see what happens at a Dan grading, so I took the opportunity to help out and to have some of it treated as pre-grading tests for my own Dan grading in the winter. It was a bit of an eye-opener and I can’t say it’s made me want my turn to come any faster. It was reasonably tiring even for me for various reasons, but mostly for a lot of no-pads sparring. There wasn’t anything in the way of pulled punches that afternoon.

I only had a few hours to get my dobok washed, dried and ironed again before I was back at the dojang at Sunday lunchtime, this time for the Gup gradings. It was relatively small compared to previous events, but all of the tension and nervousness was still present. Everyone did admirably well, but with all of the sparring, the big lesson after and then teaching the kids’ class afterwards I’m feeling shattered today. I’d have given just about anything for another hour in bed this morning.

Tonight’s not going to help me much, as Mondays are by far the busiest and most hectic with dog agility and BJJ almost straight after work, and then getting home at 10pm. I am looking forward to dog agility though. Although there’s quite a bit of running about and the chance I’ll land on my ass in the middle of a cold field again, it makes Murph so happy it’s worth it. He gets all happy and squeaky when we get near the place, and the fact that I have a big bag of cheese in my pocket tends to do the trick too. I’m thankful this is only a four-day week for me this week, as I’m off to London to watch the Prizefighter tournament on Friday. I can’t wait to watch the bouts and to sit down and do nothing for a few hours. Sprott’s pulled out, but I still hope I get to see Williams and Harrison knock lumps out of one another.

What I’d do for forty winks about now…

Pooped

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Last night I took myself along to the kickboxing class the club has started running in an effort to keep up with my promise to myself to get my cardio fitness better, and I’m not half feeling it today. Actually I think I’m feeling the effects of no training for the best part of three weeks, then training three days out of four. After Friday that figure will be up to five out of six and I think I’m really going to be needing Saturday to soak my weary bones. My parents gave us vouchers for the local spa so I think a trip there over the weekend to soak my aching bones is in order. It was a great class though, high intensity and hard work strength-wise too. My skipping seems to be getting better which is good, and somehow I was able to throw the hardest roundhouse kicks I’ve done in a long while. It was especially nice to see plenty of new faces there too.

As a direct result of all my fun and frolics I feel totally drained today, not mentally, but my muscles feel like they’re running on empty. A good lunch shortly will sort that out. I have an induction at the gym where we host our kickboxing and Friday evening classes tonight, which is nice and cheap and give me an extra reason to drag my ass out of the house. Unfortunately when i get home from that a mass clean-up of the house is on the cards, as we have an estate agent coming on Friday to value the house. We’ve seen a great place a few miles away and the builders are offering us part exchange on it. Fingers crossed!

The Irony Of It!

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I had a lovely big post worked out here, detailing my minor annoyances and niggles and how they seem to bog me down, and typically WordPress refused to save it and I lost nearly all of it…. someone up there is having a good giggle at my expense.

So instead here’s a good old-fashioned whinge.

I’m absolutely shattered today, I think it must be two pretty tough training sessions in three days combined with a lack of food. I’m on a bit of a healthy eating kick as Christmas is just around the corner now, and the likelihood of me being good over that holiday is slim at best! I’ve also set myself a goal of losing another stone before my next grading which is now only two and a half weeks away! Either way, I feel as weak as a kitten today, that same feeling you get after your first training session back after a bad illness. My knees, shoulder and elbow are hurting (the elbow’s my fault, hyperextending during punching drills – stupid!), and I managed to open my knuckle doing knuckle pushups last night.  Over the holidays though we’re encouraged – nay, ordered – to do nothing training related in order to give our bodies a chance to rest and repair themselves. It’s a nice treat and really helped last year. I only wish I had it now, I have a class on Friday, a Drew Neale Sparring seminar Sunday lunchtime, a class Sunday evening followed by an hour of extra sparring training.

*gulp*

Once More Unto The Breach

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In about an hours time I’ll be starting my first session in over a week. I’m still knackered and have no energy whatsoever, but I’ve missed too many now and am starting to go stir-crazy! I have the feeling it’s going to absolutely kill me, especially because we have a fight squad training session directly after. On the plus side though, we get our new uniforms tonight too, the newly re-designed ones for the team. I know what they look like in theory, but to see them in the flesh is quite an exciting prospect.

I’m geed up for some sparring anyway, after the amazing fight between Calzaghe and Kessler last night. It was a brilliant techinical fight and I can’t wait to see how Calzaghe does when he steps up to light-heavyweight for his last year of fighting.

I’d better go and make sure I have everything I need for my impending exhaustion, plus the niece and nephew are coming around for fireworks in my absence, after the big local display was cancelled last night at the 11th hour due to some problem with the insurance apparently. Let’s hope I’m still able to make post number 5 tomorrow.