115.5

A review of this year's blogging tells me I clocked up about 115.5 miles of running this year (chances that I'll get out again before New Years Day are slim-to-zero).

Not as much as I might have hoped, but celebrated by treating myself to a new pair of headphones anyway.

My Body is a Temple....

but that won't stop me filling it with plenty of delicious Thai food at tonight's kung fu/tai chi/kick boxing christmas meal.

I still feel quite grotty actually but I think I'm going to dose up on cold remedies and head out anyway, as tonight marks the end of the martial arts year for me - Monday was the last class 'til the new year as I won't be making it to the kids competition on Saturday, too much else going on. I always say I'm going to make time to train by myself through such breaks, but I almost never do. And since it is currently snowing here, I'll probably use that as an excuse.

Come rain or shine

2.5 miles this morning despite a fine freezing cold drizzle. I felt very virtuous afterwards...and very tired also.

100 kpm

Saturday was the last proper kids session of the year - there is going to be a class next weekend but T has decided it's going to be a special - some kind of team competition featuring speed kicking, balancing, stick sparring and forms. But to make it not too competitive I think we're selecting the teams to ensure a good balance from the tinies up to the teenagers in each one, so the result should be a draw. Sounds like it will be chaos to me. Unfortunately the chances are I won't make it anyway as next weekend is shaping up to be quite busy as the christmas social season kicks in properly...

So quite a bit of practicing forms with the kids this week, and also a rehearsal of the speed/endurance padwork. Turns out I can do 100 kpm (kicks per minute), which pleases me..not that I'm competitive about this type of thing, obviously (see earlier post about letting go of the ego, per my zen strivings), but none of the other adults or teens can do that many. Reckon if I were a little fitter I could get it up to 2 kicks a second, as currently I tend to fade in the last 15 seconds.

And through the wonders of the internet I learn that apparently 100 kpm means I can kick along in time to "Dirrty" by sweet little Christina....

A Dancing Wu Li Master?

Last Thursday night training session of the year, so I was mostly focussed on the going to the pub afterwards. I did manage give a little educational chat to the teenagers about physics/conservation of momentum (what do they teach them in schools nowadays!?). The parting shot from one of them was to ask me to explain quantum mechanics to them....a bit more tricky to find examples relevant to kung fu for that one. Perhaps I need to re-read this?

Bog Trotting

With a great effort of will I managed to force myself to go for a run Wednesday lunchtime despite the dank weather. I made the mistake, however, of deciding to make it an off-road one - only to discover that the ground was really soft and boggy. Caked in mud up to the knees, and cold, wet feet. But another 2 miles clocked up....

My New Hobby

Small is Beautiful

I don't know why, but for some reason both classes on Monday night were quite small - especially the kickboxing. But T seemed to be feeling fairly relaxed about it so both classes were actually really enjoyable - no absolute beginners in either which meant we could focus on intermediate-type stuff, and plenty of individual attention for everyone.

T quickly spotted that I'd been practising my flying turning kick quite a bit since Saturday, so I must have made progress with it. I still need to work on getting some height if I want to look really impressive though. Of course it's not really about how it looks, but how powerful it is...I think I still have a way to go before I've lost enough ego not to care about looking flash...maybe next lifetime?

(The cognoscenti amongst you will of course note that this is a flying side kick, not turning kick)

Even N didn't make it so after the class it was just me and T, we went through Ee Sen Tee quite a bit (although I declined to do the cartwheel to get out of the throw on the grounds it would probably hurt my hand too much). Then we went through the 2-person butterfly knives which has had a few more subtle changes since we last tried it, that I think make it make a bit more sense

Up and Running

Went for a run today for the first time in ages (I suppose I could review some old posts to find out exactly how long). Just a quick 2-miler, didn't feel too bad afterwards - I might try to go out mid-week one lunchtime if I can fit it in. My ipod had a flat battery, so borrowed my daughters and maxed out on poppy R'n'B. Her headphones are better than mine though.

Today we let the little ones spar for the first time....

....they loved it!

Got It Taped

Strapped up my fingers for last night's kung fu and tai chi, it worked pretty well so I think that will be the norm for the next couple of weeks. N and I got free choice during the class instead of doing any teaching, which made a nice change, so we went through li pi quite a bit, then some wing chun 2 person stuff.

I also spent quite a while chatting with S, who is having a baby and was keen to get my advice on what to do and what not to do in terms of training whilst pregnant - looks like I'm a role model!

In tai chi my sword technique was a little bit hampered by my strapped hand but it was still manageable except for the most twiddly bits. I guess Anakin must have found it similarly difficult after he lost his hand in a light sabre duel....

Quick Catch Up

Didn't manage to log Monday's training before I flew off to Germany for work, so here goes, better late than never.

Relatively big kick-boxing class which seemed to fly by quite quickly, working on elements of the stuff for blue sash but struggling to remember some of them - really need some time to work on them with T consistently over a few weeks for it to sink in. Managed to hurt my fingers within a couple of minutes of starting, I need some way of reminding myself not to use that hand for any kind of weight bearing - I think I might try taping my fingers together and see if that works...

Taught chang chuan again in kung fu, followed by a bit of application work with the beginners, but I declined to be the throwee/victim in any of the throws as it would potentially aggravate my finger. Then worked on a small change to char chui number 1 which makes it make a lot more sense. No time for any extra practice at the end as I needed to get home to pack...

Evens it up a bit

Happened to catch sight of a reflection in the window at Tai Chi last night and noticed that I am more than a foot shorter than anyone else in the class. They are all unnecessarily tall. And then there's little me. Still, none of them would want to take me on in a pole fight....

Waiting for the third

I was in two minds about going to kickboxing and kung fu on Monday as my finger was still painful and I can't make a proper fist, but decided to go along anyway. So we get to the pad-work section of kickboxing and because I can't punch I get to hold the big kick pad....and proceed to get kicked right in the jaw by someone who I would have expected to have enough control by now to avoid aiming about 2 foot higher than expected!

It was a pretty powerful kick, T who saw it happened was convinced I must have a concussion, but although I did feel distinctly nauseous and dizzy for a while I was OK after 10 minutes or so...and no teeth loosened as far as I can tell.

But my grandma always used to say that accidents come in 3s - so what's the next one going to be?

Cracked Finger

Took a kick to the hand in kids kung fu this morning, right on the tip of my middle finger. A combination of an unexpected flying kick from one of the kids (I didn't even think he could do that!) and a half-arsed block by me, and now from the swelling and bruising (and pain!) I think it might have broken the "distal phalanx". Or maybe I'm just obsessed with the thought of broken bones and it's just very badly bruised....anyway it didn't stop me completing the class (although it did make me swear like a navvy and I hope he doesn't mention that to his mum) and then doing quite a bit of wing chun with T afterward. But it is inhibiting my typing a little...

Packing them in

Thursday night was organised chaos - twenty plus people in the tiny room because the footballers were in upstairs, across around 7 grades including some on their first lesson. But actually I think between us we managed to keep all the plates spinning, although those doing the weapons forms had to work on something else because there was definitely no room for swinging bokkens or poles. Afterwards went through bokken vs pole a few times, then off to tai chi. Worked through a bit more of the straight sword, clarifying a few things for me but there's still a sketchy section I need to consolidate a bit more. Then the first few moves of the pole set I learnt at a seminar about 3 years ago and have hardly practised since. Again since there was so little room in the hall we ended up practising one at a time while the others watched and offered criticisms - no pressure there then!

The Fear

Last weeks training schedule suffered a serious setback when my youngest, "Danger Girl", broke her arm again - the second time in 4 months, same arm, somewhat more serious this time. Quite badly displaced fracture and they thought they might have to put in some metal work to stabilise it, but looks like we've got away without that - just weekly visits to x-ray to check it's not moving....she'll glow in the dark at this rate!

She managed to get this injury not at kung fu, or gymnastics, where you might expect an element of risk, but at her ballet dancing lesson. Obviously the sooner I get her signed up for free-running classes the safer she'll be...

Anyway, after I'd received a phone call telling me she'd hurt herself, and probably broken several speed limits to get to her, I was faced with dealing with her arm which looked very, very wrong and was making me want to vomit, without showing any of my fear and upset to her. It looked like she had an extra elbow in the middle of her forearm...I just hope I never have to see anything like that again - especially on my kids, I think it would have been easier if it were my own arm (in fact I know it would - when I did a similar thing to my lower leg/ankle so that my foot was on back-to-front I found looking at it quite fascinating rather than toe-curlingly awful).

Anyway after spending a day or two at the hospital, including a general anesthetic to reduce the fracture, she is back home now and seems quite well - in fact keeping her still is proving something of a trial, but she's under strict orders that she must do nothing but sit still for the next couple of weeks - she can't even go back to school til she's had it checked out at the end of the week.

I did manage to get out to kickboxing and kung fu last night, both quite busy lessons, T is teaching me a bit of the more advanced kickboxing syllabus and in kung fu I got to teach biu jeet, which is a good challenge. The only trouble was that throughout the lessons I was constantly dwelling on how fragile the human body really is - to the extent that I was being very careful all evening. Hope this fear wears off soon....

Two out of Three ain't bad

Monday night the chinese kickboxing class was brightened by a guy I know from the Tai Chi class showing up to give it a try. It's an unusual combo, most people in the school who train in more than one do tai chi and kung fu, or kung fu and kickboxing, (I'm the honorable exception by doing all three!) but he's decided to go for the kickboxing rather than kung fu because he reckons his brain is full just learning tai chi stuff, the kung fu would be a step too far whereas the kickboxing is fairly simple to learn and gives him a bit of a cardio workout. It was nice to pair up with him on something that's more my home territory, since he kicks my ass at pushing hands every time we try it at Tai Chi.

Kung fu later was mostly wing chun for me, then a bit of mantis. More good news - it sounds like J and A are going to start coming along on Saturdays after the kids class to train on the higher grade stuff with me and T, it will be good to have a couple more people to try stuff out on....

The Measure of All Things?

Good set of kids lessons on Saturday, I seem to be making connections with some of the kids that had been more stand-offish with me 'til now.

Also 3 new people in the older kids class which is good, one of them is an ex-karateka who is obviously quite proficient but will have her work cut out a bit re-learning some of the stances in a more kung fu style.

After the kids had left went through some stuff with T for a while, the Wing Chun 2 person drills are coming on although I somehow don't seem to be able to remember them at all, just react on instinct to whatever T does and it seems to work.

I need to start trying to write some of the stuff down, but it is very hard to describe effectively in words and my anatomical drawing skills aren't up to sketching it instead.

Forgotten Steps

Thursday night kung fu, I got to take the higher group initially and teach them the single person bokken drill. Then a bit of time with the beginners (mostly kids now) working on Char Chui 1.

Quite a few rounds of sparring which made a nice change.

Then a brief run through of Li Pi with T - all my problems solved just by the addition of a forgotten step in 2 places. I must write it down this time while it's fresh in my mind.

Went through bokken vs pole a few times with N, which was just as well because when we went down to Tai Chi D asked us to give a demonstration of it to the rest of the class. After that lots of time working on pole which is always fun, then the 2-person pa kua - starting to get quite reasonable I think, providing I'm paired up with someone who can keep their end up.

Grabbed D at the end to run through the first part of the Chen style that was getting a bit rusty. As we were leaving D asked me if I wanted to start going to the Southampton training days. I'm quite keen except it means using up lots of precious holiday days at work. I'll have to try to figure out how much I can spare.

Lost It

Snatched a few minutes to practise this lunchtime, but to my great distress discovered I seem to have forgotten a large part of the Li Pi Mantis set. Where's that gone? Maybe my brain is full and something has to go for each new set I learn.

Shake it baby, shake it

Usually when we train on Monday night we are in the small hall and the belly dancers are in the main room. But last night their teacher was ill and the class was cancelled. So we took our chance and grabbed the bigger hall. Meanwhile a steady flow of trainee belly dancers kept turning up. We managed to persuade one to stay and train with us...and she was a natural! I guess it's not that surprising that a dancer should be well co-ordinated, but she picked up what we were doing in the kick-boxing really quickly. And she enjoyed it so much she says she'll come again. And no she wasn't scantily clad....

Got to teach 2 things I've never taught before last night too - the single person miao dao (bokken) drill and the "mantis grasps cicada"

Stick with it

Kids kung fu this morning, didn't feel much like going especially since my two were not around, but dragged myself down there anyway. Turned out to be not too bad - couple of new kids in the tinies class who were trying really hard and having lots of fun, then the new style combined over 8s class which was fairly well behaved.

Also D turned up to use a bit of the hall to practice his stuff because he struggles to get to the weeknight classes, which meant I got to spend a little bit of the time helping him with choy li fut.

Went through the start of nam chuan towards the end, which I'm keen to get sorted - it was actually the first kung fu form I learnt all those years ago (coming up for 10 years soon!) - I'd been doing some lightweight tai chi for a few weeks when someone persuaded me to go along to a seminar with the head of our school where I got thrown in at the deep end with nam chuan which is a very bold and energetic form, very unlike the internal stuff I was used to - but I was instantly hooked!

Didn't stay for too long afterwards because both T and I are still recovering from a virus, but did manage to revise the second stick set and the 2 person mantis set ("Mantis grasps Cicada"). Slowly but surely getting back into shape....

Ahem

Two and a half hours of "projecting" (i.e. shouting) to make myself heard by the graders tonight, which has caused quite a relapse in my sore throat. I can hardly speak, but chances are I will improve enough to have to go to work tomorrow. Interestingly I found out that T has also been poorly while I've been away with very similar symptoms to me - so maybe its not something I picked up on the plane but something I was already incubating before I left.

As the man at the front T took plenty of opportunity to stand and watch tonight, unfortunately I couldn't really do the same so had to work hard even though it wasn't me who was grading....generally the standard was pretty good although some of the younger ones were struggling a bit with the kwok sau thay and chum ku.

T has decided we're going to go back to the old syllabus (the one that I did!) which I think is a good decision. He's also given me a copy of the chinese names and flowery translations of everything on the syllabus (like "mantis grasps cicada", "white crane demonstrates wings" and "spiritual tiger presenting claw" (that's the one that I rather more prosaically think of as "that one where you rip their face off")). How enigmatic I will sound once I've learnt all the new names...

Slight Return

Finally felt up to training today after a slow recovery from the virus I picked up on holiday. Lovely autumn sunshine for a swift half hour of kung fu at lunchtime. Felt reasonably OK afterwards, a good omen for tomorrow, when it's the adult's beginner/intermediate grading, which means a busy evening for me.

Grand Rewards for Special Occasions

Thursday night was the last class for a while as me and the girls are off on our holidays to the land where they grow Maltesers (at least that's what my youngest thinks - she's going to be a bit disappointed when we get there and can't find any malteser trees - maybe I should tell her we've missed the harvest?). Very busy class, probably because the grading is coming up. Tried to go through kwok sau thay with about 12 people which is not easy. Also taught a bit of pole (in kung fu, not tai chi this time!) and some chang chuan.

After the class T had to get straight off, but N and I hung around to go through a few things. Then down to tai chi which was almost entirely straight sword work - again a relatively busy class, so not much room to really go for it unfortunately.

No classes for me for a while now, and I'm missing it already. Hope the terrace of our apartment is big enough for some practice.

I don't need to think, I only need to do it

Unfortunately in this case the results aren't always perfect. Tried to learn a new kick last night (well, a new variation on an old one, anyway)- a flying turning kick from a standing start. I can do a flying turning kick with a bit of forward motion reasonably well, but doing it from a standstill is really tricky - instead of thinking about kicking I'm just thinking about how to get some height and then how I'm going to land without falling over. Needs plenty of practice I think. Wish I knew the secret of how to get some real height in my jumps fullstop really.

Junior Grading

Grading for around 30 of the "juniors" yesterday. Frantic and hard work (especially for me and T!). It went pretty smoothly on the whole, the kids all rose to the occasion and weren't too intimidated by the parents all turning up to watch their forms at the end. Some of the older ones are getting quite accomplished. My youngest did well and got the badge she was aiming for - halfway to her green belt now! The older one wasn't grading this time as she hasn't got very far in to the straight sword form she's learning yet.

After 2 hours of grading we then did a seminar on the broadsword "Butcher" set, which it was nice to revisit, although we only did the first section. Interesting to see how tired all the kids were by that point though - even the teens were definitely fading both mentally and physically by the end of 3 hours. Lightweights!

Crane Spreads Wings

More kids than ever on Thursday night, they're virtually outnumbering the adults now which gives a very different feel to the whole session. Trying to manage 2 groups doing siu lim tao and one doing chang chuan all at the same time was something of a challenge, but fortunately it didn't last too long and I then got to do the single person and two person choy li fut sets. After the class S, J and me went through biu jeet with T, then J and I went over it a couple more times. It's starting to feel quite powerful now for the main part, although there's still a couple of sections I need to work on some more.

Down to tai chi to find them playing "guess the application" with a section of the yang short form. I was able to contribute the Crane Spreads Wings throw that we've learnt in kung fu. Led through the pole a couple of times, then we did a lot of rows of Hsing-I "pi" practice with P.

After the class I had a long talk with D about whether his "Tai Chi on Prescription" class would be suitable for my little brother - sounds quite promising....

Two Lunchtimes

I'm a little behind on my blogging, so just a quick one to log two lunchtime practice sessions at work - the first dedicated to wing chun and the second running over the kids syllabus in preparation for the grading this Saturday. I just have to hope that T doesn't ask me to lead through the Nam Chuan because I can't remember it at all!

Sick List update

The patient has taken a distinct turn for the better today - to the extent that a few minutes ago she asked if we could do some kung fu practice for her grading this weekend! I think she'll be back to school tomorrow

Sick List

Monday morning started early being woken by the youngest arriving by my bedside to tell me she was about to be sick....so one very quick dash for the bathroom later it was obvious that one of us was going to have to stay at home with her as she wouldn't be going to school. And it was my turn. After a fairly long day of cleaning up (although to be fair she is pretty good at getting to the bucket in time!), I was happier than usual for the other half to arrive home after work to take over while I slopped off to kickboxing and kung fu.

Having done next to nothing except sit by a sick bed all day I had plenty of energy to burn off through both sessions and through the sparring at the end. Taught siu lim tao, biu jeet and stick, then the first mantis 2 person set that I can't remember the name of.

Afterwards went through char chuan and bokken vs pole, then had a long conversation with the hall caretaker about iceroad truckers, which although I've never seen it is probably going to get much more relevant to me when I get sent out to the frozen far north of Canada next winter for work....

While the outside is moving, the inside is silent

Probably never been as happy to set out for a run as I was this morning - a houseful of pre-teen girls is hard work, especially the seemingly constant shrieking, which went on 'til at least 1:30 in the morning and started again at about 5:30. So leaving them with my other half to reconstruct the wreckage of the bedroom and sort out which particular bit of clothing/jewelry/make-up belonged in which suitcase while I went for my constitutional felt like heaven. Why is it exactly that they scream so much, either in laughter or mock distress (or at any other excuse)? I'm sure I wasn't like that (but then again I was always an odd child).

3.5 miles in very pleasant clear cold conditions, thinking about Master Wu's calligraphy which I think says something about being still and silent inside even when engaged in battle.

And home just as the mothers started arriving to pick them up. Ideal.

Baby Remember My Name

Last kids class before the junior grading, so lots of form practice - and my work on yang fan chuan at lunchtimes paid off - I remembered it better than T I think. We've decided to move the senior juniors (!) on to the adult syllabus once they've finished the straight sword, so started teaching some siu lim tao to the older ones.

Afterwards we went through bokken vs pole again, both sides all the way through, it's starting to fit together in my head now. I suspect we looked fairly good going through it because I noticed at one point that we'd gathered a bit of an audience, since we were in the sports hall with a viewing gallery above. Good job we're not paranoid about people stealing our secrets! We also went over biu jeet, then some more of the wing chun 2 person sets, including one that teaches the way to escape from one of the chin na wrist locks, which is something I've been wondering about for a while.

After class home to the un-mitigated joy of my 10 year old's sleepover birthday party, part of which featured a visit to the cinema to watch "Fame". I was struck mostly by the dance sequences, and in particular the dance classes, which have more than a little similarity to martial arts training (but with less bruises? Or maybe not)

More lunchtime fun

Got a good 45 minutes in today, followed by some stretching. If I'm not mistaken, I think I've actually managed to get my side kick a little higher. Still can't do full box splits though.

Later got in a couple of miles brisk walk, so don't have to feel too bad about not running today. Must go out on Sunday though.

Upper Class

Managed to get out at lunchtime and do some practice - quite an intense session with quite a bit of wing chun and a couple of more open forms.

Then Thursday night kung fu - I got to teach the senior students, first taking everyone through choy li fut, then splitting them up and rotating round the different groups. I think I handled it fairly well, the trickiest bit was teaching part of the biu jeet that's really hard to explain (although physically not the hardest part to do, strangely enough). Then afterwards more bokken vs pole with T, this time with me trying the pole part - quite tricky!

Down to tai chi, went through a small section of the sword in fine detail, then practised the

relevant applications. Went through the 2 person pa kua set too. D slipped in the promise of some revision of the tai chi fan in the near future which I'm looking forward to.

Hard Work

Hard work running this lunchtime for some reason - within about 100 yards I wanted to stop, but I managed to persevere through about 2 miles.

On The Rack

Lots of partner stretching on Monday night at both the kickboxing and kung fu. Still feeling it slightly this morning, so maybe I've actually been taken beyond my comfort zone for a change.

Taught some biu jeet for the first time too - another promotion!

Bokken vs Pole afterward, right the way through both parts, it seems to work but now I need to figure out the other side.....

..and home in time for vespers and bandages.

The Mighty Atom Returns

My youngest made it back to kung fu today for the first time since she broke her arm. Just to be on the safe side I strapped up her wrist with some old kick-boxing hand-wraps I've got, which she was really chuffed about. I was concerned she would be a bit cautious and not try stuff out of fear it would hurt, but I needn't have worried - she was full on straight away!

After the kids classes T and I went through some stuff, working on the 2-person choy li fut set and the 2-person butterfly knives. Then T showed me some of the stuff he'd learnt on his trip down to Southampton last Friday - some good wing chun stuff. Also apparently he's discovered that the bokken vs pole that we've been trying hard to revise is in fact only half of the set - so lots more to work on there.

The Search Continues

More lunchtime kung fu today, long fist forms again to try to consolidate. I felt a little less self-conscious today and the passing runners didn't seem particularly curious about what I was doing prancing round like the Karate Kid.

I think I may have found somewhere I can use when the weather gets wetter too - perhaps even while it's actually raining if I stick to wing chun forms and tai chi. Need to think about shoes though - don't want to use the shoes I usually train in 'cos I make an effort never to wear them outside. But all my other trainers are really a bit too big and heavy. So the search for the perfect training shoe is back on again.....

Lunchtime Ninja

First lunchtime outing to my new secluded training ground today. Didn't have long but spent around 40 minutes doing some of the "long fist" forms I know, from both the adults and the kids syllabus. Most enjoyable. A bit tricky to do the low sweeps properly on grass though.

Then a normal Thursday evening of kung fu and tai chi, S and her boys were back today, the 2 young ones are so keen to learn it's a pleasure to teach them! Went through bokken v pole afterward with T and N, we've got most of it now although the end is still a bit sketchy.

Sword, pole and pa kua in tai chi. More training tomorrow lunchtime too I think, as not enough time for a run before a meeting with some big cheeses.

New Toy

2 miles at lunchtime today in the company of my birthday present - a new ipod. My old shuffle was dying (needed charging after every use), so now I have a new companion with a lot more capacity and hence more options for variety. Wonder if I should treat myself to one of those nike things that measures how fast and far you're running?

Dusting Off the Archive

Message from T asking me to look out any notes I might have on bokken vs pole for the Monday class because it's back on the syllabus. Fortunately it's one of the seminars that I made extensive notes on, so I was able to unearth them and have a quick look through. Despite not having done the set for at least 3 years some of it seemed a little familiar and when we tried going through it after the class it mostly made sense - just a bit rusty

.

Good classes generally on Monday, although the kickboxing was down to a select few again - but at least that meant I got to teach some of the 2nd set to N. Wonder when I'll go over the 3rd set with T?

Bonus

Sunny Sunday morning, lie-in and breakfast in bed because it's my birthday.....then a short notice invite from R and A from tai chi to join them in the University Park to do a bit of practice with them.

So a run through the long form and plenty of pole revision. The funniest bit was a crowd of chinese students stopping to watch us and take photographs - probably to show to people back home and laugh at the strange westerners who think they can do tai chi.

Then a picnic lunch in the park with the family. Why aren't all Sundays this good?

Cat Stance

We had the fire doors open in the training hall yesterday morning during the kids classes. Just after we'd started training a cute cat wandered in and sat to watch us for a while, much to the amusement of the kids. I was surprised it didn't run away- my own cat at home seems to freak out when I practise - generally he will hide behind some furniture for a while and then after he's screwed up his courage leap out and attack my ankles, almost always managing to draw blood!

My new training regime started yesterday too, so after the kids T and I did an hour and a half of training together, going over choy li fut, kwok sau thay, some throws and chum ku in detail. Lots of little subtleties for me to think about.

(I've resisted the lolcats for a long time, but today I have weakened. Let's call it a birthday treat)

Location Scout

3 miles at lunchtime today (hard going), followed by a bit of hunting around for a good spot to practise kung fu at lunchtimes. I've decided I want to spend at least one lunchtime a week going through my forms, but I need to find a spot to do it that is reasonably secluded as I don't want people to stare.

I think I've found somewhere that's fairly suitable, not too overlooked, only problem is it's on a slight slope, but I'll give it a try.

The view is fairly industrial;

but, if I kind of squint at it, maybe I can convince myself it's similar to the Shaolin Temple's pagoda forest?

Setting the Pace

Mainly Choy Li Fut in Kung Fu, which made a nice change, followed by trying to teach the "two step" bokken set, which initially filled me full of dread as I thought it was pretty sketchy, but actually turned out much better than I'd expected and even got a rare "good" out of T when we showed him what we'd learnt.

A scary stick drill paired up with T that put my knuckles in a lot of danger, then sparring with the padded sticks at the end. For some reason I am absolutely hopeless at stick sparring, I think it's partly that I feel constrained by the limited targets you're allowed to aim for and partly that you're not allowed to use your free hand to grab or block your opponents stick. If it were a real free-for-all I think I'd do better.

Arrived at Tai Chi just in time for D to ask me to lead through the short yang form while he observed. This is a first in Tai Chi, and although it wouldn't make me bat an eye-lid in kung fu, and although I've been doing the yang form for longer than anything else in martial arts, this filled me with fear/paranoia that I was going to get it wrong. Thankfully after the first few moves I managed to relax into it a bit and concentrate on my tan tien a little, so I think it wasn't too bad. It was however at a (relatively) fast pace as I was still a little hyper from kung fu, which was commented on as a bit of a change for most of the tai chi guys who tend to take it fairly sedately. (I wish I knew the long form well enough to try to go through it at a faster pace. I've heard that it can be done in around 10 minutes if you step it up a bit....).

After that I taught one of the new-comers to the advanced class a portion of the sword set (teaching is another first for me in tai chi), then we all went through some drills from "Living Pole" which I haven't done for a long time. Anyway, by the end of the night I was feeling a little more confident about my Tai Chi than I have done for a while.

Bloke with a beard

3 miles at lunchtime today. On arrival back in the office slightly breathless and red-faced, one of my colleagues asked me if I'd been out chasing that bloke with a beard again (A does indeed have a beard). This fairly lame witticism cheered me up a little bit from the funk I've been in since yesterday evening.

(I'd just like to clarify that this is not actually my boss's beard or anything like it)

Aaaaarrrgghhhhhh

Bad end to tonight's training session that has seriously upset me - hence why I'm still up at this time of night. Don't think I even want to talk about it, suffice to say I think I have been completely mis-understood. Need to think through how to put this right....

Riding a Mad Goat? Not too sure about that one....

Kids classes today, three in a row which is pretty exhausting. When we were going through the stance training with the tinys, T was spinning some line about there being an invisible mad goat in the room which was butting people to make them wobble and fall over if their stances weren't right....god knows what their parents must think when they explain what they've been doing after the class...but I was going with it, playing along, until we got to horse stance when he said now we were riding the mad goat. At which point I got a complete attack of the giggles and couldn't stop snickering for the next five minutes. Tee hee.

The Friday Lunchtime Dash

Not to the pub along with the rest of the company, but for a 3.25 mile run with A around the local fields. I'm definitely starting to find it easier again, in fact I finished with a bit of a sprint because my legs still felt a bit bouncy.

Scary

Thursday night kung fu. Spent the whole lesson with the kids and beginners again going through siu lim tao and the first stick set. I'm trying hard not to get frustrated by it, not sure I'm succeeding yet. After the class we went through Char Chuan briefly just to check I'd remembered it OK, then the first 2 bokken sets, which, as ever, I couldn't remember in isolation but managed fine as soon as I was actually paired up with someone, when instinct takes over.

On my way down to tai chi one of the teenagers, L, was in the foyer just being picked up by her dad, who had their dog with him - a young husky I think. Anyway, the dog was terrified of me! This was a first for me, usually it's the other way round - when I was a kid I was very scared of dogs, it's only after a few years of martial arts that I've started to feel a bit more comfortable round them (one of the happy side effects of studying kung fu does seem to be that it has generally made me calmer and more able to cope with things I used to be afraid of). The dog was cowering behind L, even though I wasn't conscious of being at all threatening - in fact when I saw how afraid it was I tried crouching down to make myself smaller and less frightening - but it didn't seem to work - it didn't want anything to do with me. Obviously I'm getting pretty scary!

Tai Chi was a little frustrating, we went through the sword form and the pole, but there were quite a few of us so space was extremely limited and in the sword form in particular we became so crowded into one corner of the room at one point that it was getting quite dangerous. We also paired up to practise the shoulder push, I was working with A who is a good foot taller than me so it was fairly difficult for both of us

Shoulders still hurting. Am I growing a new muscle?

3 miles yesterday. Who knew that running uses the muscles across the top of your shoulders and front of your chest?

Punching above my weight

or above my height to be more precise. In kickboxing last night T told me I needed to practise punching a bit higher than shoulder/face height, since most of my opponents would be considerably taller than me. True I suppose, but if I were really defending myself against someone bigger than me I don't think punching them in the head would be my first choice strategy - in fact I doubt very much whether I'd use kickboxing at all, it seems pretty much like a sport to me rather than a serious martial art (not that I don't enjoy it, cos I do...) if I were in a corner I'd probably use some Tai Chi or mantis. Anyway, cue twenty minutes or so of punching high wearing my heavy gloves, so today my arms and chest ache somewhat

Kung Fu afterwards was pretty good, went through some bokken/miao dao drills with the green sashes, then some basic Mantis stuff with the beginners. After the class I finally got to the end of the char chuan set I've been learning. I think it is a most fantastic set, I only hope I can

do it justice with enough practice. A big moment actually, since I think this marks the end of the official syllabus, from now on new stuff I learn will be what takes Master They's fancy/what he thinks is appropriate for me, rather than the standard stuff that

everyone learns if they stick around long enough. I'm thinking of it more as just starting out on the real stuff, rather than having "finished" anything

Pleasant Valley Sunday

4 miles this morning around the local town centre. Lots of people at coffee bars and taking their kids out for bike/scooter rides. The smells of coffee, various types of Sunday dinners (and breakfasts) cooking, launderettes and morning-after pubs all reminded me today that I am definitely a city girl - country smells and fresh air just can't compare for me. Although since the smoking ban pubs with their doors open in the morning just don't smell quite the same....

Normal Service is Resumed

T back from holidays so a "normal" Thursday training session today. I spent most of it with the beginners taking them through Sui Lim Tao and then the first 2 person set, glancing enviously at the choy li fut going on at the other end of the room. I have a bad feeling that the introduction of more kids into the Thursday session is going to mean I spend most weeks with the beginners. I hope not though, as I've always considered Thursday the day when I do training for me on the more advanced stuff, rather than as an instructor going over the basics - Mondays session is for that....

After the session D appeared and we went through Char Chuan a few times. He brings a slightly different flavour to it than T, which gave me a few things to think about. Then down to Tai Chi, and the long Yang form, which is slowly but surely getting better. I still have no idea what order things are going to happen in, but now at least I recognise each individual section. Spent a while chatting about the practicality of using Tai Chi in a real self-defense situation, then did some Pa Kua, in which I think I had a bit of a breakthrough moment on the latest 2 changes we've been learning. D is trying to organise a seminar with Master They later this year on Pa Kua, so I'm keen to get fairly solid on what I know so far.