Blood Pressure: 138/67
Resting Heart Rate: 62
Weight: 10st 4lbs
My hear rate is a little elevated - that's probably due to the fifty miles of cycling followed by Karate that I did yesterday.
I cycled to work in the rain. I ate loads at work but managed to avoid the sugary stuff. I cycled home in the sunshine.
My weight lifting session was successful but I do seem to have strained my left shoulder a little when I was performing overhead presses. It has been aching all night.
I cooked a healthy vegetarian dinner of Mexican scrambled eggs and homemade wedges.
Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol.
Tuesday
Blood Pressure: 138/72
Resting Heart Rate: 63
Weight: 10st 4lbs
My aching shoulder got worse and kept me awake from about 5am. I crawled out of bed at 6:20. It's not too bad when I'm up and moving, just painful when I'm trying to lie in one position. I hope it doesn't affect my grading too badly. I managed to avoid the biscuits at work and then cycled home.
I realised on the way home that my shoulder had stopped aching! My legs felt like lead, however, especially as I was riding into a pretty stiff headwind.
Today, I was cheeky enough to message Sensei Gary asking him if we could practice some ju ippon kumite in time for the grading at the weekend. Of course, Sensei said yes and in tonight's session Sensei Mark and Sensei Lloyd spent the entire hour drilling us in ju ippon jumite! What a fantastic club.
I came away feeling a lot more confident with my kumite and with a large bruise on my right shin.
At home, I ate a healthy dinner, drank tea, and didn't think about beer.
Karate, no junkfood, no alcohol
Wednesday
Blood Pressure: 134/65
Resting Heart Rate: 54
Weight: 10st 4lbs
Although still too high, my blood pressure seems to be getting better.
My shoulder didn't bother me at all and I slept like a log. I cycled in to work in a light drizzle. I got lots done and then cycled home into a strong headwind.
The weightlifting went well - I didn't do any curls to protect my left arm before the grading.
I cooked a beef stir fry for the family and stayed up until 11:30 to meet Martha from work.
The weather forecast for the Tommy Godwin sportive on Sunday is terrible.
Weight training, no junkfood, no alcohol.
Thursday
Blood Pressure: 145/74
Resting Heart Rate: 48
Weight: 10st 3lbs
I woke up at 6:20 after dreaming about Minecraft.
As soon as I stood up, I became aware of a pain in my stomach. It wasn't a sharp pain - imagine having sunburn in your insides. I also felt terribly bloated. I made my way downstairs.
I found sitting very uncomfortable, it was less painful to stand. I couldn't finish my breakfast, so I went back upstairs to lie on my bed for a while.
When I did eventually get on my bike, the pain got worse for a while. Eventually I got used to it so I slowly made my way to work. I arrived at 8:25, nearly half an hour later than I usually do.
Throughout the day, the pain turned to discomfort which eased to irritation.
To make my day even worse, I had to work late until 7pm. By the time I'd cycled home in a powerful headwind, there was no time for exercise. I had dinner, did the washing up and relaxed.
No exercise, no junkfood, no alcohol.
Friday
Blood Pressure: 142/65
Resting Heart Rate: 52
Weight: 10st 4lbs
I was working at Digbeth in the afternoon. This meant about 8 miles of riding in rather windy conditions. It made for hard work on the bike.
During one of the boring meetings, I learned that the Tommy Godwin challenge had been cancelled due to the weather forecast. I informed the lads. I was disappointed and relieved at the same time - which sounds impossible but I managed it. I cycled home in the wind - the gusts knocking me left and right as I went. I'd cycled about 16 miles today.
Tonight's dojo session was awesome. I approached Sensei Russell before the lesson started and asked if he would go through ju ippon kumite with us. I got to practise it on Tuesday but only with my left side forward, not my right. So tonight, I went through ju ippon on the left and right side. Twice. With two different higher grades. I now feel considerably more confident about the grading tomorrow. Thanks, Sensei Russell!
A healthy dinner of fish and rice followed by a cup of tea while Lucy had a snooze on the couch. Another wild Friday night!
Karate, no junkfood, no alcohol
Saturday
Blood Pressure: 147/72
Resting Heart Rate: 50
Weight: 10st 2lbs
I woke up at almost exactly the same time that my alarm goes off in the week (6:20am.) After frantically trying to work out which lessons I was delivering today, and if I had planned them, I realised it was a Saturday! What a lovely feeling.
I enjoyed breakfast while watching the season 3 finale of Preacher. It was very entertaining!
I took a walk to the post office which was a rather pleasant experience in the crisp bright morning.
When I got back, I made bacon and eggs for Lucy and myself before digging a deep hole in the back garden for some sort of tree or bush she was planting.
Today was the day of the grading. I was grading for my next belt called a 1st Kyu Ho. Martha kindly came along to support me. We arrived early so I could spend time warming up and going through the techniques I knew I'd need this afternoon.
I watched our fantastic beginners go through their gradings until Sensei Ronnie told me to go to the back of the room to do some stretching and "chill" He told me, "You look like you're ready for a fight. Are you expecting trouble?" I must have had rather a stern expression - I was feeling rather eager to get on with things! I took the opportunity to dash downstairs for a wee that I didn't need. While I was in the changing rooms I caught sight of my reflection - I had a pulsing vein in my temple. Yep, I was stressed.
Happily, not long after I returned upstairs to the dojo, Lucy arrived. She did a good job of distracting me. When the green belts were called up, I settled back to see how they'd get on. Then Rachel the purple belt was called up to grade alongside them. Then, to my great surprise, I was called up! I wasn't ready! My mind wasn't in fight mode! I was chatting to my girlfriend! I hadn't expected to be grading alongside the green belts.
I had to switch into high gear and fast. We started off with kihon. Green belt kihon! I hadn't done this for weeks, maybe even months, and I certainly hadn't expected to be doing it in my grading. Happily, I seemed to get through it okay - the only issue was that I kept wanting to snap my punches instead of leaving them hanging out there with a straight arm!
We skipped brown belt kihon and went straight to Kata Jion. I bashed it out as best as I could. I had hundreds of thoughts crashing though my mind as I did my kata: keep my heel down, turn my head before I move, sit back in my back stance, remember the slow bits, remember the fast bits etc etc etc.
Before I knew it, I'd finished.
After giving feedback to Rachel, he faced me. Double world champion Sensei Ronnie looked me in the eye and said "Your kata was like a battle."
There was a long pause and then he turned to Sensei Gary. "Do you think that's a good thing?"
Thankfully, Sensei Gary nodded. "Good," he said.
"It's like you're in a fight," continued Sensei Ronnie. "That's the way I do my kata. It says a lot about your state of mind."
Then he moved on to the next guy.
There was some ju ippon kumite at the end that I managed to get through but it didn't really matter, I was already on cloud nine.
Sensei Ronnie awarded me with my next belt and it was smiles and handshakes all round.
Martha was a fantastic help this afternoon, acting as Sensei Gary's right hand man (woman.) She almost made herself late for work helping out at the grading. I was very proud of her.
 |
| 1st Kyu Ho |
Predictably, after Lucy and I got back from a shopping trip, I opened the first of many beers while blasting out some vinyl rock tracks! I eventually wandered off to bed at 1:30am...
Karate, junkfood, 5 bottles of beer
Sunday
Blood Pressure: 150/77
Resting Heart Rate: 53
Weight: 10st 2lbs
It was a struggle to get up at 7am today. I felt a little delicate.
Lucy made me a wonderful full breakfast and then Jonnie declared a later than usual start was in order. The rain was light and so was the wind. There was no reason to cancel the Tommy Godwin Challenge after all. However, the organisers weren't to know that and they had to trust the hopeless weather forecasters.
Jonnie and I cycled off into the wet lanes at 9:30. I was tired, slightly hungover and struggling. We did our Purity Temple route and I soon got used to the sight of Jonnie cycling away from me up the hills. His new gears suit him very well.
There was chocolate cake and tea in Wilmcote.
The sun came out during the ride home. This perked us up a little bit but we still had a bit of a stiffening headwind to deal with. We eventually finished our 35 miles at about 1:00pm. Enough time for a beer and a chat with Sally.
After cleaning the bike and eating some lunch, I took the dogs for a walk in the park. It was lovely and sunny. I did an hour of ironing and then, when Jane and Eric arrived, I flopped on to the couch with a glass of bottle-conditioned HPA and Lucy's homemade sticky toffee pudding!
Cycling, junkfood, 3 bottles of beer.
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