Good morning all! A lot of stuff to get through this morning so let’s get right to it!
Personal training session today. This will be #19 out of the 24 or 26 session package I bought (kind of sad that I don’t even know how many sessions I purchased) so the days of having a trainer kicking my ass twice a week are slowly coming to an end. That means I have to start thinking about transitioning from being guided by a trainer to doing it on my own. I like to think I’ve learned a lot from her but I’m worried about a) continuing to do circuits or sets that hit all the major muscle groups and b) keeping the intensity at a high level when there’s nobody there to keep me in check. I think this will be a real test in keeping myself accountable to myself!
I got a big time reminder of the benefits of stretching this week. I finished a 4.25 mile run on Tuesday and completely forgot to stretch afterwards. The consequences were almost immediate as I started feeling stiff that afternoon and, worse, my knee started hurting again. It feels good today again but it’s abundantly clear that I need to stretch good after EVERY workout to keep the muscles loose and the body feeling good. Especially since there’s such small room for error when it comes to my knee.
Tonight will be a big night as I prepare for my wife’s birthday tomorrow. Every husband knows that this is a day not to be forgotten so I’ve got a couple of surprises in store for her (hopefully ones that she likes). It’ll be fun though. This weekend is her birthday. Next weekend….our 9th wedding anniversary!
A quick karate update…….graduation is scheduled for Thursday, April 1st – 3 weeks from today. This will hopefully be the day where I move up to brown belt which will be just one step below my eventual goal for later this year of reaching black belt. Black belt candidate classes could begin as soon as six months from today. After doing this for almost three years, it’s exciting to see the end goal finally coming into sight!
Some bad news though. On my race schedule, I had the Blarney Run 5K listed for this coming weekend. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to run it on Saturday. Family obligations came up and I won’t be able to make it to the race. I’m a little disappointed as I would’ve liked to get another race under my belt but I’ll get plenty more opportunities as the weather continues to improve.
Tomorrow I’ll post the answers to the “Guess The Lie Challenge” from yesterday. I’ve scanned through some of the guesses so far and I don’t think anybody has guessed all three of the lies correctly thus far. I think you might be a little surprised!
See you on Friday!
Filed under: 5k, Fitness, Health, Martial Arts, Personal training, Running, Weight Lifting | Tagged: 5k, anniversary, birthday, black belt, blarney run, brown belt, circuit, Fitness, Health, karate, knee, Martial Arts, Personal training, Running, stretching, treadmill |
The Ultimate Fit Challenge 
Sorry to hear about your non stretching soreness. Come to think of it, that’s probably why I have been in so much pain this week. Our trainer didn’t do proper cool down stretches on tuesday. I thought about doing my own, but it was so cold outside I hit the road. I am surely feeling it now. I agree with you on the importance. And hey, goodluck on your karate!
Thankfully the soreness was just a one day thing but it was a good reminder of what I need to do after EVERY workout.
When I started playing city league soccer right out of high school I laighed at the “old people” for stretching. By my mid-20s I started stretching and now in my 30s stretching is mandatory. 🙂
Good luck on your brown belt and great job at following through on long term goals.
That is so cool that you are becoming a black belt. It reminds me of my Dad. He got his black belt when I was about 8 years old. I remember him coming home from sparing lessons with black eyes and once he had broken ribs! But he did it and then he proceeded to teach me and my brother karate! We took classes…Tai Kawn Do and I got to yellow belt before deciding that I wanted to do gymnastics full time! 🙂
Very cool! I did separate my shoulder once sparring but that was the only major injury I ever had to speak of. My daughter’s old enough now that when she sees me dressed up to go to karate she says “Daddy’s going to hi-ya!”
Oh that is a cute….
ive been recently reminded of how awesome stretching is. it feels soooo good and i totally notice how my nagging aches disappear!
Ah yes, birthday’s are very important. My bf jokes that the only day of the year that isn’t my birthday is his birthday. Apparently I get very excited about it.