Return to power

Dear me, but I have let this blog fall asleep. Well, there was a lot going on, and I had rather better things than sit down and type...

The Kali Sikaran Christmas camp in Gothenburg was a blast, of course, and the ensuing soreness was glorious. I struck up an old friendship again, the person who once mentioned the very thing of Kali Sikaran to me in the first place. That was really nice, and we are a rather good team as far as practice and sparring goes. It was clear to me that my talent this far lies mainly in unarmed combat, "chaining" techniques, knives or improvised weapons. This is a nice thing as the movements for one can usually be used for the others as well... Karambit was inordinately fun to learn, although apparently it is not a very good idea, juridically speaking, to protect yourself with them in a real-life situation... (Open-palm slapping however, is, to my great pleasure, as I have also proven to be quite adept at using open hands rather than closed fists if applicable).
It was also rather cool to see the advanced classes and those I did not participate in - and there were a few, and oh, how hard it was to choose at times! Good fun, all in all, and great to have many different partners of varying skill levels and body builds.

And as soon as I got back, the very day after, I went to iaido practice, of course. To my disappointment, the holidays, during which I had been rather looking forward to going skiing a ridiculous amount, went... well, soggy. One good long ski tour was had, but then the weather changed for the worse. And of course, bad enough that it wasn't possible to have a good run either, until later, and when I did, well, I borrowed mother's shoes, and had blisters that are still healing (not hurting anymore, though, just... the last loose pieces of skin are falling off). But damn, it went well! I had to slow myself down again and again to pace myself, and not come back home completely exhausted. So, of course, I did have energy to spare when I had completed the run, but... well, I think my lungs still thanked me.

I had a go at being ill in mid-January, to my great unhappiness. It was no fun at all! Just when the training had started up, too!
Buuut, then, I hit the ground running and have been keeping it up since. The muscle soreness is a joy to feel, and this week, there's been a lot of it. The two arts truly do complement eachother well regarding my muscles. My shoulder has not been giving me too much trouble apart from a brief spell around the time I was ill, when I could hardly sleep for the pain in it, and the rest of the neck - I am uncertain as to why this was, but, it passed, and I now sleep with a plastic teeth-protection-bit-thingie. This helps my jaws to no end, and I no longer wake up with my front teeth in a new shape every morning....

For me, it was easy to get back into training after the involuntary hiatus over the so-called holidays. I occasionally run to the train just for the hell of it, or, jog, at least, as I can't run properly in my big boots, I challenge myself in every training session, and I am working on my cutting technique in iai, and, well, whatever is thrown my way in Kali. I have really started to have the various pieces fall into place, even double stick. Today's practice was a joy, with and without sticks. And it's not just me who find that speed is one of my strengths - one of the others grinned and muttered that it'd be far easier to "hit" me were I not so quick. ("Hit" because it was warmup, and all about a light touch to the shoulder or knee, rather than a punch). Also, today I had a truly epic smoothie after the training. I usually only take a sandwich with inordinate amounts of cheese, sausage or something such, usually with salad on top, but I had the chance to mix up a pure-fruit smoothie, and so I did. Strawberries, raspberries, an orange, a banana, an apple... ecologically grown, too, or as locally grown as I could get them - because it damn well tastes better, and is better for the environment too. And, I added a dash of that powder (Gainer or Whey-80, can't remember which and can't be bothered to go and have a look right now) from StarNutrition which I used for a while when I went from pretty much easy workout to four days of hard training a week and very little sleep - it saved my health and I am not ashamed to use it, though I do not use it as a substitute, but rather a complement to the food I eat, a dash of extra help to avoid muscle soreness and promote muscle growth. It's Swedish made, tested for pretty much everything and one of th brands with the best reputation there is, as far as I have found. And if I take just a dash, and blend it into a LOT of other things, well, then I can hardly taste it, and I can stomach getting it down. So tomorrow, I shall see if it has helped the muscle soreness somewhat! I will not overuse it, but, like I said, use it as a complement to give that extra little bit that my body needs. I didn't slack off too badly muscle- or fitness-wise over the holidays, but I am certainly not going to let my evolution stall here...

Over to you, now - was it easy getting back into stride after the holidays, or did you just not stop doing your regular routine?

I hope you're going to follow me yet again, because I am back, and so should you be! Oh, and that enormous blue blotch on the inside of my knee, pay it no heed. That was caused by a well-placed heel, and is now being treated with a very helpful gel, hopefully to be vanished soon...