Monday, January 19, 2009

Delay of the Black Belt Candidate

I spoke with my sensei tonight, and I'm going to skip this Sunday's test and wait until May to test for black belt.

I've lost too much ground with my current illness; sensei said he wouldn't be able to sleep if he sent me to the test and I got hurt because I wasn't in condition.

The plan is:

1) Get healthy.

2) Improve my eating habits. On days when I'm training in the evening, maybe have two meal substitutes/small meals in the evening instead of a dinner soon before training, and then some protein afterwards.

3) Get back to class and train regularly.

4) Cross train by doing bag workouts, including sprint-like punching/kicking sessions. This substitutes for the interval sprinting I used to do to prepare for competition/testing, and which I can't do anymore because of plantar fasciitis (painful soles of my feet).

I would have gone if my sensei said I should, but I'm relieved I'll have more time to really prepare.

Wicked Virus, Bad Timing

I am on my 10th day being sick, and my black belt test is in less than a week.

I haven't had a virus like this in a long time. I AM getting better, but it sure is slow. Last night, I got up at midnight from bed and moved to the living room couch because my coughing was waking up my wife. I don't want her to be sleep deprived and then become sick as well.

My brother, who lives in another state, had the same thing and he said it took him two full weeks to kick it. I'm blaming him for giving me the virus over the phone.

I haven't been to a martial arts class since TWO Thursdays ago (it's Martin Luther King Day as I write this) and I haven't been doing such basic prep for the test as cardio, push-ups and sit-ups, let along grappling training, etc.

I'm going to speak to my sensei tonight about what I should do. Given how I feel at the moment, I will only be slightly disappointed if he tells me I should put off the test.

It has been difficult the past nine or 10 months to put in as much training as I'd like. My job has been relentlessly demanding; combined with my three-hour round-trip commute, finding time and energy for family and life necessities has been tough, let along martial arts. I put in a burst of extra training when I decided to try again for the black belt, but this illness has derailed that effort.

I don't know what's going to happen at the moment.