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.

Having a treat

As you have seen, this week meant four evenings of quite intensive training, and I felt it would be good to let the body rest and rebuild the muscles on Friday. I did feel some tiredness in many muscles, but on Saturday I could not keep myself from strapping on my sandals and have a run. I haven't had one for so long! It was a rather glorious weather, a bit cool but sunny, and the autumn colours make running a joy. I started out going on the asphalt down to the bus stop and up the long and sloping uphill part of the road - one of those uphill stretches which are the perfect mix of long and ascending, meaning that almost anyone feels a little less energetic when arriving at the summit. I have a bit of a problem with pacing, I know that, because I enjoy the feeling of running so much I set out too quickly in the beginning, and only slow down if something big comes along, like said upwards struggle. I then jumped into the bushes and up and down in the rocky quarry, and felt again that even though my muscles certainly cooperate, my breathing and stamina isn't up to par yet. No surprise, perhaps, but annoying all the same. There had been a little change in the forest, a tree had fallen up on the bare rock, but otherwise it was as pleasant a part of the run as always. Coming down onto the gravel road near the farm again, I felt I had more to give, and kept running past the small pathway that would take me back to the apartment. I found a random path, and decided to explore it. It wound alongside fields and took me past places I didn't know was there, sandwiched as the area is between the tiny town(ish) and the motorway, but it felt like being out in the countryside. Parts of the path were rather muddy, but easily traversed, and I had a fun time dodging thistles and head-high grass. Eventually I wound up on the back side of a school, and decided to wing it, taking a path that led off into a small cluster of trees. And voila, I had found the gravel road, quite close to the runic stone, again! Out in a field someone was flying a tiny model airplane, I met two riders on horses and then, for the last stretch before turning up through the forest, I gave the road what I had, running like the wind and grinning like a maniac at the joy of it. That did take quite a lot out of me, and I am happy to say that I felt almost exhausted, but I still jogged on until I got home and by then I had recovered and would have been able to try it again. To finish, I did some stretching exercises and took a cold shower, which today rewards me with far less muscle soreness than I otherwise would have had. All in all the run took a little over half an hour, and I am astounded at how quickly I traverse random stretches of countryside. I'm going to have to find that supposed pathway underneath the motorway and start running longer, if this keeps up! (Yay!) I did also do some easier exercises with the red rubber band, for my shoulder, but I refrained from doing anything else. It felt more like treating myself to something nice, like chocolate, than forcing myself to go out and exercise. In fact, it most often does. And that is what is so marvellous to me. I liked running for its own sake, I just found it dead boring to do so on roads or in school, and I couldn't do it very well because if I did, I would invariably have to use crutches or other walking aid the day after. If I could walk at all. It felt so heavy, instead of light and easy. It was a chore, no matter how much I knew that good stamina is important. And then, I read "Born to run" and especially chapter 28 (I think, could be 26 - I've mentioned it earlier though!) and put one and one together with how I do iaido, and, tadaa. Suddenly I find the joy of running. No pain, no chore, just pure joy. Grinning like an idiot, like I said before, is standard facial expression from when I get out the door to when I get in the shower. I also had my first comment a few days ago, hurrah! From a fellow "barefoot runner", which, I think, shall be the name I use for it in the future. "Barefoot running", even though we use shoes. Now, this has been a fairly standard post about my own training, but tomorrow a post shall go up which deals with stretching, the ever so important part of training. I know it is said that there is no scientific evidence that it does either good or bad, but for the majority of people I have met, and certainly for myself, stretching helps build flexibility and dexterity, helps alleviate muscle soreness and that is a fact. I feel at once the difference when I wake up the morning after a heavy training session and have not done any stretching, as opposed to when I have. And after that, I shall touch upon a subject which my first commenter has pointed out - how they, when young, probably ran "barefoot style" but was told (like I remember being told!) to put heels down first and roll the feet forward. I also have a friend who runs (and even at times walk) on their forefeet, "barefoot style", and explained many years ago that it feels a lot better. And they have never had a day of trouble with their feet, no matter how worn their shoes have been, or how much they have been out and about, running in that supposedly "wrong" way. I was going to write about motivation, but that too shall have to be for a future post! And that I look forward to, because it is such a diverse subject, and rather dear to me. Is there something special you readers would like me to write about? And, do you like the unchanging nature of wherever and whatever you practice, or do you prefer changeability and seeing how things evolve/devolve over time?