To owe the body a rest

All in all it became a very active week - nine days altogether, with some kind of physical exertion every day. Sunday saw me confirm my theory of the possibility of skiing from the back door all the way to the sea, I would have done the same on Monday and Tuesday too considering the weather was just as stunning then, but having had the week I did, and knowing I was to be the trainer for Monday's iaido, and go to Tuesday's Kali Sikaran, I felt I had to forego skiing those two days...

Which is a pity, as there probably shall be no more skiing this winter. But there you are.

 The skiing tour took me over those glorious golf fields - glorious only because they are covered in snow and I don't have to see them, nor am forbidden to go right across them in winter. I followed a small brook, or perhaps a stream, on the northeast side of it, going past a house or two and then across field after field, interspersed with trees and the occasional track from the local wildlife. Actually... there was quite a lot of tree, both beside the stream and around, but everywhere the land was flat enough, there were fields. Eventually I saw the castle (a rectangular, tall building looking like a large house, to be honest, but I've nae been inside it yet), and noticed that I had some time to go yet before the bus would take me back. Now, I'd not normally have taken the bus, but as I said, I knew I had to let the body rest a little, even if I didn't want to.

So I walked (taking my skis off) across the road, put them back on, and found my way the last bit beside the stream and out to the sea, going past a picturesque red house or three on the way, delighting in the feeling of skiing right across another snowed-over golf course, seeing a couple of other skiiers in the distance (they, unlike me, seemed to do some sort of active effort of going fast and getting into physical shape, whereas I mostly... explore, and enjoy the nature around me...) and eventually finding a small collection of wood probably meant to moor boats by in the summertime. The sea was covered in ice, that was covered in snow, and I toyed with the idea of going out across it. It looked solid enough as far out as I could see, it was a rather protected little cove of a sorts, and there was a bus an hour later too... but I didn't have any sort of ice safety equipment, and therefore decided to just ski back to the bus.

Once home, I took a long shower, and, still grinning like a happy maniac, made myself some food. Because one really, really does need to eat as soon as one can after such an extended period of physical exertion.


After Monday's practice, I stayed behind a little and did some Chuden kata from Musou Shinden Ryu, just to work my leg muscles a bit more. ...yes, you can probably see the flaw in the plan here, you too. It wasn't really a bad plan, not really... but maybe I could have done some other kata, that weren't quite that taxing for the legs. The day after I definitely felt the strain and the lack of a whole day of resting them. But I knew the Kali practice was unlikely to be very hard on the legs, and I was right. So they didn't feel worse after that, just "as bad".

This influenced my decision to be a "roller" rather than a "carrier" when I packed my bag - I didn't want to put any unnecessary strain on my knees, and to be a bit careful about them. I went to my lovely Chalcatraz, and spent the Wednesday in good company. Thursday, though, I flitted about, here and there all over town, on a bike and on foot, and Visby may be lovely, but flat it is not. So I do count that as a bit more than the normal kind of everyday exercise!
Yesterday and today saw quite a bit of walking, and I haven't really felt I've missed the training, but that could be because of the resident cat... and the soreness in my stomach muscles after about 140 crunches in succession on Tuesday's Kali practice...

Well, all in all, nine consecutive days of glorious exercise certainly felt like a treat. I still wish I would have dared to go skiing on Monday and Tuesday too, but, I have learned the hard and bad way to listen to my body, and so I had to do this time also.
Have you ever foregone practice purely or mostly because you know your body probably could take it, but shouldn't? Or have you used it as an excuse, feeling a bit guilty - or, perhaps, felt guilty despite having a very valid reason?
I know I've been guilty to that very last part quite a few times.
Listening to what the body tells you is important, though it is important to know the difference when one can push through, and when one really needs to go a bit easier.