December 19th, 2008 Workout – Snowboarding
Went out after work in the middle of Snowmageddon for my 4th snowday of the year!
What should have been a 15 minute drive in normal conditions took 90 minutes. The roads were horrendous and it was rare to actually see any asphalt under all the muck. I stopped for food on the way there and as I was about to leave, someone got stuck in the driveway blocking me in, ha!
It was all worth it though – there was close to a foot of fresh powder on the hills at Glen Eden. It felt like gliding through clouds. I don’t think I’ve ever had more fun boarding than I did last night. The lifts were pretty bare and I never had to wait in line. Popped on some music and just went for run after run after run.
By the time I left, all of the roads had been plowed so it was at least a fairly normal drive home. It sucked pulling up to a completely unshoveled driveway after all that snow, but oh well. It took me just over an hour to get it all completely shoveled out. Lucky for me I had my tunes and was nice and warm in my riding gear.
Took a nice long shower after that and ate some soup, then had an amazing full 8 hours of sleep. I don’t even feel the slightest bit sore today! I might get out boarding again on Sunday night, but for sure Monday night / Wednesday morning.
December 15th, 2008 Workout – Misc
Did a body weight workout at home today. All together I did 100 push ups, 100 squats and 25 pull ups. After that a bunch of core work. I’m going to start researching balance boards so I can improve my balance and coordination as well.
All the hills are finally starting to open full time now, so I plan on going boarding at least twice a week after work. Hopefully traffic won’t be too bad between work and Glen Eden!
December 8th, 2008 Workout – Muay Thai
I finally made it back into Muay Thai class. It’s been way too long and I’ve missed it so much. I’m gonna stick to beginner classes again for a little while until I get back into it. Gotta get my basics refreshed!
We did our normal warmup and then did different variations of a cross fighting drill. It would start with throwing a jab and a right thai kick. The partner would catch the jab and block the kick, then come back with a kick of their own and then a cross. We did this drill for a while and then added on to it as we went.
For the conditioning part of the class, we did kicks on the heavy bag. Three people to a bag with one holding it, one doing left kicks and one doing right kicks. The kickers would do 50 kicks each and then rotate – we kept going until we had each done 200 kicks total. Combined with all the kicks from the class, my big toes are starting up with some fresh new blisters – I guess that’s my punishment for being away this long!
December 4th, 2008 Workout – Yoga
Today I had my first Yoga session. A friend of mine proposed that we trade off once a week – he’s going to show me some Yoga and I’m going to show him some Muay Thai. I’ve done a bit of Yoga before and I know it’s really good for energy levels, core strength and flexibility – all of which I’d like to improve, so I jumped at it.
We started off by doing a quick intro to some of the terminology and ideas and some of the basic positions. We then did meridian stretches and breathing exercises while in different positions. Some of the positions were really tough – especially when being held for 3 minutes at a time.
I really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to learning more – my energy has been in the dumps over the last couple of months, but right now it’s almost midnight and I feel wide awake!
December 3rd, 2008 Workout – Misc
Got another workout in at home – did a warm up, then multiple sets of push ups and pull ups. After that I did some stretching, then did a bunch of thai kicks and squats. For the kicks and squats I followed the pattern of 1 rear right kick, 1 squat, 1 rear left kick, 1 squat, then repeat from 2 to 10. I then worked my way back down but did lead leg kicks instead. Finally I did a bunch of core work.
I want to get some kind of balance board to work on my core strength and balance more – it can only help out with snowboarding. I’m going again on Sunday – can’t wait!