Routine Post

• I have joined the Fitness Fervor bandwagon. Learn more about its objectives here. The list of fitness cabals I'm a part of grows further.
  

• March comes to an end. It was an excellent month for running. For the first time, my monthly running mileage has crossed the 200 KM mark.
  

• I officially announce that I quit my kickboxing classes at the beginning of this month. BAM! Take that!

• Now that I no longer have kickboxing to occupy myself in the evenings, I need to take up some other activity.
  

• I have been watching the video below at least 5 times everyday since Sunday morning. Always makes me want to go out and run more.
  

Routine Post

• I have been having a nice relaxed long weekend. Yesterday and today, I have done nothing but stay at home, eat, sleep and play the guitar. It has been a long time since I completely lazed out on a weekend, and I was missing it.
• Songs which I have been trying to play (and sing along) are "Make You Feel Better" and "Desecration Smile". Both by Red Hot Chili Pepper and are beautiful songs. The chords are pretty simple. It's just that I suck at singing. Interesting side note: a few days back I thought I had "invented" a strumming pattern (rhythm) of my own, just to discover that it's actually the same as the one used in "Desecration Smile". Anu Malik, I empathize with you.
• I saw the movie 13-B on Saturday at PVR. Looks like the recession has hit the movie goers as well, because we booked the tickets on the same day (earlier you could never get weekend tickets, unless you were booking on Wednesday) and managed to get it! The movie is supposed to be a horror movie, but the director has tried to squeeze in comedy, songs, family-drama, sex and violence. It's three hours long and I actually felt that it was a good time-pass (although that could very well be because I was in a really good (crazy) mood). Is it scary? Nah.
  
• I'm having serious doubts about continuing my kickboxing classes. The pain in my right shin, from the last sparring session, is still there. The cuts which I got on my lips haven't healed, but have turned into mouth ulcers which hurt me with every gulp of water or food. The risk of injury weighs quite heavily on my head.
  

First sparring session

I had my first sparring session, in my kickboxing class, today. After training for almost two months I got to spar only now. I was confident of doing it almost a month back, but every Wednesday -- which is supposed to be the day when the sparring sessions happen -- there would be a shortage of people bringing their boxing gloves. Well, today was not so.

The rounds were of 1 minute each. The rules, though unsaid, were simple: two persons to a fight; kick and box; nothing below the waist. Ashwin was keeping a watch.

After my first round, I was asked if I was tired. I said "No". So I was asked to go against another new opponent. After that got over, I was asked to go against another opponent. So three rounds continuously for me, on my first day. The first two rounds were against guys, the third one against a girl -- where Ashwin told her, "Finish him off; he is tired". Reassuring.

The three rounds were decent, and I was content for having landed a fair number of punches and kicks, while not being completely dominated.

The fourth round which I fought -- after letting others have a go at it -- was against a towering, potent guy who holds an orange belt. I don't remember as much as touching him, but I got my ass whopped. People watching commented that I have good defence technique and thank god for that.

Things learnt:

1. While sparring don't get angry and fight. The person whom you are sparring against is only your opponent, not your enemy. You don't want to go all out.

2. Thinking while fighting is hard. You can't do something like, "OK, so ... ummm ... let me do a left jab, right hook and follow up with a roundhouse kick ... oh no wait ..." BOOM! You get hit.

3. Keep your guard up; protect your face; all the time. I think I was left standing in the fourth round, only because of that.

4. Don't turn away. I saw many people doing this. They would throw some punches, kicks, get tired, turn and walk to create some distance between them and their opponent. When you show your back, you are giving away free hits. You keep guard in front of you, not behind.

5. Running helps. I'm in pain, but not tired.

6. Sparring is not pretty to look at. You might get some solid knocks, but there won't be people doing cartwheels and kicking you at the same time.

I like sparring, but I don't want it to affect my running. My right shin has been paining for more than an hour. So is my right arm. I have nice little red marks on my face. I hope everything becomes all right by tomorrow morning.

This water is delicious

Warning: Long fitness related, sometimes (mostly?) self-appreciatory post.

Last Sunday I managed to cross the 21.1 KM distance threshold. Our long distance run in GKVK ended up being 24.5 KM covered in a little over 2 hrs 30 mins. Although we started early (6:30 AM) the sun was out in the latter half of the run -- damn you global warming! The run ended like most of the long distance runs: relief with a sense of accomplishment -- followed by calmness throughout the rest of the day, because you don't have the energy to get irritated. And yes, the water was delicious.

On Monday I received, by post, the second book on running which I had ordered online: Chi Running. I love receiving things by post -- bills and bank statements excluded. It's unexpected and always holds a surprise. But anyway ... where was I? ... yes, Chi Running. The author of the book -- Danny Dreyer -- claims to combine the teachings of T'ai Chi into running, making the activity enjoyable and injury-free. How cool is that? So, during my (free) Monday evening, I proceeded to imbibe 100 odd pages of the book. I was all excited to try out the new running form and mystical things such as 'body-sensing', 'cotton and steel' etc.

Today was going to be the day. I had planned a 12 KM tempo run with a pace of 5:27/KM (11 KM/H), and I was going to do it Chi Style! I warm-up and get on the treadmill. I push in the numbers and the belt starts moving. I'm thinking of relaxing my legs, tilting my body forward, focusing on my breathing, using my Chi (whatever that means). I'm running in a new posture. I look at the distance: 300m. And suddenly it happens: a seething pain in my left knee. I push some more, the pain doesn't go away. I stop the treadmill. I try again the pain still comes back. Dejected, I retire and have an early lunch.

I won't blame Chi Running for my failed run (yet). It was stupid on my part, to try out a new style at a challenging pace without resting properly after my longest run till date (I have always given 2 days rest after all my half marathons).

Evening arrives. I have my self defence class. There was going to be a yellow-belt test (you know right, martial art levels ... white, yellow, orange ... lot of other colours in between ... black). The test is split over two days, with the first day testing your endurance and the second day testing technique. Today being the endurance part. Given my knee issue, the rational part of my brain decides that it would be foolish to take the test. But no, stupidity reigns supreme. When the class started and instructor asks who all are taking the test, I find my hand raised.

The test was one and a half hours of exhaustion, pain and dehydration. Here is what all we did:

• 20 minutes free running -- Different from regular running in that you have to jump over obstacles, take a roll, jump again etc. It's more tiring as well.
• 30 pushups -- Wasn't too difficult.
• 2 minutes ironman
• 100 crunches
  
• 100 leg raises
  
• 1 minute side bridge on each side
  
• 100 squats
  
• 200 counts bouncing cross
  
• 500 punches
• 500 kicks -- At 200 kicks, I was wondering whether I would collapse.
  

At the end of it, I was proud to be standing. My clothes were drenched as if I had been out playing Holi. I came back home and the water was delicious.

One more straw

Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to learn some martial art. Rakesh would teach me few things -- him being a karate kid -- and I would go practice it on other friends during the lunch time. We would have these contests where we would try and do splits -- we called it 'stretching' at that time. After going home, I would practice spinning kicks, drop kicks, flying kicks on my brother. But all that time, I never went to a martial art class. I thought, maybe I could just learn it on my own. Every martial art movie I watched, would leave me in a violent excited state ... still does.

After all these years, I decided to join a martial art class. There are bunch of guys who teach kickboxing near my house, and I went for a trial class tonight. It was decently strenuous and I have decided to join the classes. My daily routine just got denser: the classes are from 8 pm - 9 pm on weekdays. Did I mention that I'm not giving up my afternoon treadmill runs?