A Man Reborn

The weather just did not want to co-operate with me tonight.  I was looking forward to a nice long run, but as I was getting into my shorts, I heard the ominous sounds of thunder in the skies.  Panicked, I ran downstairs and took a look outside.  A little bit of drizzle, but nothing too bad.

One ziploc baggied iPod later and I was off.  I made it about 3/4’s of a kilometre when it really started coming down hard.  I was feeling the running vibe real strong at that point, so I decided to keep going.  The rain felt really refreshing on my skin as I took each stride.  I turned my iPod off and ran while listening to the sounds of the storm - just really taking it all in.

It was an amazing run.  I cut it short after 2.5km as I didn’t want to risk my iPod getting water-logged.  I loved it and I’ll do it again, but this time with the iPod left at home.  I’ve already had one die a watery death :(

I’ve been in a somewhat pissy mood today since finding out it’s going to cost $500 to fix my car window that got smashed while I was in Ottawa.  But after getting to Muay Thai class I feel a lot better and got my head straight.  I’ve had a lot of good things happen in my life lately and it can’t always be up - there’s always balance.

The down parts are only as bad as you let them be and I let this bother me too much.  I had a really great weekend with some great friends and that was worth the cost of getting the window fixed.  Stuff is just that… stuff.. it can always be fixed or replaced, but experiences and memories are there forever.

I was supposed to post about my workout here - I think running has been helping my endurance a lot - today’s class didn’t seem as taxing as it usually does.  We did a lot of focusing on the jab today with different drills that all started with the use of the jab.  We then did a few rounds of sparring which is always fun.  My reactions are getting a lot better and I’m starting to figure out my kicking ranges, especially with the teep.

Work ran longer than I expected and I couldn’t make it into Konditioning class today, so I did some work on the heavy bag here instead.

I did a quick warm up of jumping jacks, crunches and knuckle pushups.  Then I did six three minute rounds on the heavy bag with one minute of rest in between each round.  Started off with just footwork and jabs and then jabs/crosses.  For the rest of the rounds I used all weapons.  I tried to work a lot on simulating defense while working with the bag.  I figure that the more I work at it, the more natural it will be to quickly come back with an attack of my own after blocking/parrying/catching one of my opponents attacks.

After I was done with the bag, I did a couple of sets of clapping push ups - not fun after all that punching!

I went running today and I hit my 9 week challenge goal already!  When I started a couple of weeks ago the most I ever ran was 2.2km.  Today I went out and ran 4.7km and only stopped once!

I adjusted my running technique a bit and now I feel like I run forever.  I could have kept going today even, but the dog got tired and pretty much refused to run any further.  I actually out-ran the dog - which is amazing to me because he’s incredibly hyper.

I wonder if it’s all because of the technique change, or because I started thinking about it differently as well.  In the past I thought about running as something I was just plain bad at.  The last couple of times I went out, I felt really confident and had a really positive inner dialogue before going out running.  I completely believed that I could run longer and I did.

If that’s not proof of the effectiveness of positive self-talk / attitude, then I’m not sure what is.  It makes me think about what else I hold myself back from doing because of the way I think about it in my own mind.

This morning I woke up and I felt good - I got a full night of sleep and ate really well yesterday.  I’ve been running to work on my low-intensity endurance and so far my longest run has been 2.5km.  I watched some videos on proper running form the other night and now it feels like something just clicked in my head.

This morning I ran 3.2km!  I just walked in the door a few minutes ago and my heart rate and breathing already feel back to normal.  Watching the videos made me realize that I was wasting a lot of energy by keeping my hands up too high and keeping my upper body a bit slouched over and tensed up.  I set my goal for the end of my current 9 week challenge at 4.5km and I feel like I could have run that today.  I wanted to just keep going, but I had to reign myself in as I’m leaving soon to help some friends move to a new apartment and I don’t want to be useless.

I feel really good right now - like I just smashed through a mental barrier that was holding me back.  Or maybe I’m finally feeling the runner’s high for the first time?  Either way, I like it.  On Monday morning I’m going to get up early and run 4.5km.  I’ve already set aside Monday as a mental clarity day completely to myself, but I’ll write more about that later.