Week 6 Boxing Update – The Hill

You guys and gals know how this goes, first I tell you about the bad, then I go on to the good. This weeks writing is no different. So here comes the bad bits.

I’m taking pain killers almost every day. Not for anything major just a little muscle pain, mostly groin. This is down to my own stupidity. Here’s why and how you can avoid it. I went for some hill sprints on Wednesday with some of the lads, rather than park a little away and do a warm up jog, I decided I’d park right at the hill. Clever eh? No 1 mile jog back to the car once were done.

This is the hill. Doesn’t look like much, trust me when I say this. It’s a killer. 5 of these, top to bottom, will have a seasoned athlete blowing out of there rear end. 

Anyway how I damaged myself. 

I like food, John and Paul like food. None of us have been eating the food we like for the last 6 weeks, so of course the first thing we do is talk about the meals we are all craving. For about 20 minutes. 😂 If I’d have met these guys at college or uni 15-20 years ago we’d definitely still be friends now. Very fat, very happy friends. 

After this little chat we decided to get started. The other two guys are fast up this hill, trying to keep up was pretty tough for me. On the third run, about 2/3rds of the way up I felt a pull in my left leg, just a little one but enough to make me pull up. I stretched off on the way down the hill, not a big deal, I’m just breaking my new muscles in. “Go again you big girl” I said to myself, nope, half way up it hurt, a lot. I can’t show it though, just a bit maybe, I’m with men. Ha ha ha, so we called it a day and walked back to our cars. A quick chat at the end and we’re all setting off. I sat in the car, pressed the clutch and it hurt. I’ve got 3 miles to drive like this. I’ll let them get a bit in front then pick the route home with the least stop and starting. 

My tip for the week – WARM UP, just do something that tells your muscles they are about to be stressed. It doesn’t need to be much but enough to target the muscles your about to use. Please, if there is anything I’ll take away from this experience it’s this. WARM UP. 

 A bit of background. I’ve spent the last 20ish years pushing a mouse about, sat at a computer screen. This however does not stop me from thinking I’m an athletics superstar. I am, all I need is a bit of rest. So that night I start to sleep on my back with the heals of my feet pulled up into my groin, my knees spread as wide as possible. That was nice, until I wanted to turn over. Hot poker stuck down the insides of both of my legs from testicle to halfway down my thigh. Get comfy, sleep it off, you’ll be fine in the morning. 

I wasn’t, but I have a day sat at my computer, no strain on any muscle other than my brain. I’m still hurting on the way home. Did I let this stop me? Not a chance. It’s training night, I was a little later putting the kids to bed, so I drove half way to the gym instead of running the whole way. I just did a mile. I thought I’d gone slower than normal but it was around an 11 minute mile which is very quick for me. So there are massive improvements happening. 

Completed the hour session of fitness, and technical, no sparring this time. Again another good session. Not to tough but enough to get me blowing and every fibre of my body to hurt. 👍🏻

Then got ready to set off back to the car. People had noticed I wasn’t 100%, and offered me a lift. I stupidly refused. The 1 mile back was much slower, 18 minutes dead. Not a great time. Small steps, so I didn’t stretch anything too much. I think I saw an old guy on a Zimmer frame moving faster than me on the other side of the road. I beat him to my car though. 😏 

I cried when I sat down in the car. You can’t imagine how stupid I felt, literally sat with tears of pain rolling down my cheeks in a busy restaurant car park. It was just the way the seat caught me as I first sat down. I can only imagine that this is what it feels like having a leg taken off at the the hip. It’s not, obviously, but for that split second nothing else existed but the pain. I turned myself into the seat properly and it’s eased off. Wow. Not good. Day off on Friday I think. 🙂

The Good. 
Saturday’s sparring session was brilliant, just brilliant. I’ve been practising avoiding a punch for about 4 weeks, just one dodge. I’m a slow learner. It’s a slip, and I managed to do it twice, not just twice, but twice well. It felt good. I still got punched, a lot, but I got those two slips in, progress. 

Progress every week, everyday, every minute. It does not matter how slow it is just that its there and I can see it. The sense of achievement, I can’t explain it, it  put a smile on my face for the rest of the day. 

Catch up with me on Twitter for smaller updates, I’m using Twitter more and more because I can cross post to Facebook easily. 

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