Today was a wonderful day in some ways but depressing in others. Sadly I was unable to practice any of my Taekwondo techniques since Wednesday morning and when I hit the gym today that was very clear.
On Thursday the only had theYMCA open for about 4 hours and everyone and thier mother was there taking up most of the space and leaving the program studios and the gym busy as well. If the weather was better we would have been able to practice outside but this was not possible either. Personally I think the Y should have been open regular hours but again that is my opinion.
Friday and Saturday
I spent much of these days in bed sick. Aside from being physically ill I was extremely dizzy which meant normal functions hard enough let along practice. I did however work on my own studies so atleast there was some productive time used.
Sunday
Jennifer and I hit the gym for about a hour and a half today. It felt good to get dressed and hit the program studio, however spending two days sick taxed my strength so I decided to just work on my poomse to easy myself back into training. I started at Kibon 1 and worked my way from Taeguek Il Jang to Taeguek Pal Jang, then worked from Palgwe Pal Jang down to Palgwe Il Jang. The first cycle through my forms was extremely horrible and I am thankful no one was there to witness my own disgrace. Ok perhaps for a normal person this would not have been so bad, but I hold myself to high standards and expect more from myself then "rawr" near any of my instructers combined could expect. Thankfully however I do not even attempt to hold others to the standards I hold for myself or my life would be even more difficult. By the time I went all the forms for the second time I was moving better, but it was not until the 3rd and final time that things were feeling fluid and powerful. I would have done them a few more times, however 17 poomse are not so easy to get through and still shower in 1.5 hours.
After Jennifer and I get out of work in the morning we are going to hit the gym like always for strength training, but we are also going to hit our forms extremely hard. This is a push week to get everyone prepared for promotional testing and even though Jennifer, nor myself will not be testing we will still need to make sure we have everything down so we can help our classmates prepare for testing. In some ways it is much easier to make sure we are prepared for testing but harder to work with others to get them prepared. In any event I want to make sure that I have my forms down because the last thing I want to do is mess up and show someone a form incorrectly and mess up thier chances on promotional testing.
In some ways I am excited to know that this should be the last test I will be sitting out on. In Feb, I will be able to pretest for black belt, and in in April if alll goes well I will be testing for black belt level. When you look at the calander Feb looks so far away, however honestly it is not nearly as far as it may appear to be. After the December belt test I will start working more on my own material, but I know I will still need to find a health mix for my classmates who I will still be helping two days a week after class. I am also hopeful that more of the people who will be eligible to test in Feb start attending black belt classes now so we can work togather as a group to prepare for testing but so far only 2 people who can test in Feb are attending those classes.
Sorry perhaps I am going into too many directions on this post. To get back on point starting a training cycle with sitting out the first 3 days is horrible and this normally shows a sign of a difficult month ahead. I am hopeful however that things will work out for the best and I will finish this training cycle and quarter in fair enough fashion. I am looking forward to seeing where i stand at the end of the cycle, as well as reviewing my training notes and talking to my elders for thier feedback in my progress. If the news is ill then well that means I will have lots of room for improvement. The Jan to March training cycle will be extremely important so I need to make sure that I am as prepared as possible for it, which means this month will certainly be key. I need to train hard but to also be mindful not to over extend myself and risk injury that would keep my from achieving my goals.
