Challenge 5 - done!

  Today was session 3 of boxing.  Today's session was 45 minutes and involved learning another punch and putting everything I've learnt into practice in three 2 minutes rounds of sparring.

  6 minutes of sparring doesn't sound a lot, however it was really really tiring.  By the end of the third round I was a wreck but it was great fun and I'm glad I tried it and even more impressed that I didn't get a black eye as Mrs L feared.

  The rest of the week has involved a PT session on Sunday which incorporated a weights session on arms and shoulders and four 20 second full effort bursts on the rower with 10 seconds break between them.  Yesterday was a swimming session.
  Swimming, as this blog demonstrates, wont be my strong discipline in my triathlon, however its coming along nicely.  Its coming along that nicely that yesterday I was so proud of myself for managing to get my arms, legs and breathing coordinated I promptly forgot to take my head out the water and tried breathing underwater.  I can confirm that this is not possible and results in the swimmer drinking half the contents of the pool!  It was not nice!!!

   With these three activities this week my arms now ache, so I'm having a few days off from training before Christmas. 

  Moving forwards, I now have 5 challenges done, so I am halfway to the finish.  In the new year Judo starts at a local club, and between then and now I'm starting to train for my Triathlon properly, updates soon...............

Boxing part two - finally I get punched in the face and nose!

Tonight was part two of my boxing challenge, and we spent an hour training after work today.

We started off with a little recap of last weeks session, and surprisingly I remembered more then I thought I would.  We then moved on to ducking and weaving and sparring, before finishing with a core circuit again.  I had done okay during the session until, whilst we were sparring, the inevitable happened.  I was hit in the face.  Now I know its boxing, and that's one of the aims of boxing but I really didn't expect it to stun me quite so much.  All of a sudden I went to pieces (metaphorically) and forgot every block I had been taught and became almost a windmill of defence, with arms just swinging around!  I'm sure it didn't look as bad as it felt as it felt like a four year old trying to fight!  By the end of the evening I had been hot in the eye, the nose (several times) and the head.  On a positive note though, still no bruises!

At the end we done the core circuit.  Now last week my stomach hurt for around 5 days, so lets see if its stopped hurting in time for Sunday when I have a PT session!

Photos were taken and (most) weren't staged.  When you see the photos you will see the staged one or two!  Thank you to the trainer, Steve, and Billy for doing my photos.  There will hopefully be another session soon.

Boxing part one.

My aim was to have 5 of my challenges done by Christmas.  Due to the problems of getting some shooting arranged around my work and other commitments I decided to swap it, and some one in my office pointed out they could teach boxing.  Today was 1 1/2 hours of boxing.

Those that know me will know that my coordination leaves a lot to be desired.  When coordination was dished out I was still in the line for a coffee!  Today's session started with coordination.  It must have been quite amusing to see me shuffling across the floor, trying to master moving with out crossing my legs!  We then covered jabs, blocks and done some sparing.  I was only hit once by the trainer, but learnt to put a space between my face and gloves after being hit several times in the gloves that then bounced into my face!!!   We then finished with some circuit work.

Next session booked for next Wednesday. 

A months recovery and now for some planning

After my 1/2 marathon and the training surrounding that I decided to take a months rest from PT and gold challenge activities.  This has now come to an end so what better way to get motivated again then  to plan my next few activities.  With 4 done I have 6 to go. 

Boxing - with the limitations I have had with the shooting, I have decided to do boxing as a replacement.  This is going to hopefully be done during December, prior to Christmas.  Photos will be available!
Judo - Arrangements have been made, this is going to be done over a few evenings in January at a local club.
Triathlon - I have today booked on to the Arundel triathlon on the 3rd June 2012.  Supporters will be more then welcome.  Again, photos will be available!
Cycling - With the increase in training for the triathlon this section will be completed in my training. 

This will leave just sailing and rowing to plan and complete.  My aim is to finish this with the Triathlon in June.  Here goes.......