Warm up with a blog post

Wow, everyone, well, not Everyone,has fallen off the blog wagon. Maybe we can get it rolling again as winter sets in. I really enjoy reading what everyone is up to training wise and otherwise. Facebook is what it is but there is too much pollution. I'm not into the games or gangs and what have yous. Call me a grinch, but I miss my blog pals. I think actually everyone is kicking ass in their kb business pursuits and focusing on that and I am basically semi-retired. Haha.

Yoga this a.m. Ashtanga has moved locations, except for 6:30 am Mysore, so I attend other Hatha classes when transportation permits. Soon I may use the bus. I don't like driving much these days. Ashtanga has a ton of forward bends and I feel constricted There is either scar tissue, inflammation, and hopefully good healing and while I don't mind working on it, forward bending is not comfortable and I feel a greater sense of play and freedom as I explore other asanas. This also gives me more insight into imbalances because the teacher presents unique sequences which keep me from riding the poses as if in a rut.

My blog gears are rusty dusty but turning again.

One swing at a time.

12/13/09
Open practice today means I get to practice too, not instruct. What's really on my mind is will I be ready to recert when the time comes?
Foam roller work
Halos kg 10/10
Slingshot 12 kg 10/10, 16 kg 10/10
100 2HSw 16 kg breakdown as follows: 25,25,huff n' puff,15+10,15+10. Felt it in the grip in a good and challenging way.
Chest press 16 kg 5/5,4/4,3/3,2/2,1/1
Goblet squat 16kg 5/4/3,2,1
Dead clean 16 kg 1/1,2/2,3/3 wanted to repeat this but it felt unhealthyl to do so.
A pull up here and there
Contra lateral SLDL 12 kg catch and release,ie placing bell on deck and retrieving for full rep 5/5. Felt like more than 5 reps,especially with the left leg planted.
Dig it.

A nudge,a poke and a post

Magical thinking & magical blogging: Those great ideas for Blog titles that wash out when you finally find a peaceful moment to say what you've been up to. Looks like my blog friends are up to some pretty cool and strong stuff training wise and biz wise. Imbalances galore here. Starting with the feet,always the left foot and ankle. That would have been the landing foot in gymnastics that took the abuse,so stack on top of that knee,hip,spine and the brain and we have things to address. Riding my bike instantly ground up some scar tissue,or whatever the pain in my butt was. Plenty of walking. Sufficient kb and yoga. "Too much" means I am depleted. The right balance is tricky. I am not exactly weak, just not hard core. Not where I thought I would be. I'd be a fool not to appreciate and learn from this journey. I guess it's what I was training for,after all, if you believe we get the body we are training for. Got plenty to work on here.

Much improved

PET Scans and biopsies all look fine. Still healing though. I started back into yoga,gently, in mid August and eventually attended Ashtanga classes with some modifications and props. A little yoga goes a long,long way. This past week's practices were particularly powerful,leaving me feeling elated and energetic. On Wednesday I got snookered into doing Full Primary...I had assumed that we'd wrap things up at Navasana and finishing poses. Not so. Tom said, "jump the feet around." I replied "really?!" "Yes, it's Wednesday,"he said. Hmm. I had gauged my energy fairly well,forgoing a vinyasa now and then,my breathing was steady and my heart in the right place, so I went for it. The funny thing is, it did not feel like it took too much more time or effort on this day. In the spirit of playful investigation I continued on in the series.

The first thing I needed to tackle in order to heal, I realized, was sleeping. Doc upped my hormone dosage and got me set up on a much,much more convenient patch. Better compliance on my part and better sleep. I still wake up enough to drink a quart of water a night.
Next on the program is better eating. Food wise I changed the following: I keep a food log and immediately saw that what I ate, written in black and white is not near as good as eating it. So,more water,more protein,more calories! I slurp an Ensure or Boost once a day and even though they are very sweet, I felt a tremendous,positive difference in my energy throughout the entire day. I had been extremely resistant to going that route. Added canned veggies,still cannot tolerate fresh steamed anything. So I've gone to eating like a 5 year old to eating like a 75 year old...

Classes are going well and new clients continue to heed the peal of the bell:)
I added yoga classes for my students this month too. I have wanted to do this for my students for a long,long time. We are grateful to Louisville Aikikai for allowing us to use their beautiful space for this class.

My personal kb practice includes grinds,detail work from Kettlebells from the Ground Up,bottoms up pressing,overhead carries,single leg dead lifts. My goal is to enjoy honest strength arising from healthy mobility and rooted stability.

I'm happily working on this goal!

Shoulders

Added paint prep to shoulder conditioning. Chipping away on exterior household projects. Paint thinner and razor blading gooey, old paint today. Mostly overhead. Ashtanga practice. Then home to more prep work. Woefully behind on reading blogs but enjoying each one. The codes that some require to post comment is another reason blogging would have not been possible this summer. Letters and numbers coming from fingers on keyboard would not compute. Makes you realize how amazing the human body is,especially when all parts in decent working order. I think I have let Fawn down by eating too many carbs this summer. She warned me not to eat too much sugar. It was like telling my sister not to put the bobby pin in her ear-of course she did it. I start with a breakfast cinnamon bun with icing. Lunch today was dessert. A small carrot cake and coffee. Dinner was chick peas,veggies,chicken and indian type sauce. Then I had a hunk of chocolate almond bar. I may be forced to begin a written food confessional until I get the sweets beast back in his cage.

Another one

Thursday I was tired and muscle sore. I attended a yoga class in hopes of working out some kinks. No dice. It was too light of a class to generate much heat,but I enjoyed it and reconnected with some acquaintances. The teacher offered lavender and peppermint oil if we wanted to use it. That was different and cool. I chose the peppermint. Cheap thrills.
Today I completed Providence again. All 8kg. Did not want to feel as wiped as I did yesterday and need to burn some bad eating habits. The practice felt very easy this time and I hammered out a bunch of snatches. Did not do OH squats, just windmill. No tactical lunge,did lunge with no bell instead. Not truly crushing on the triple crush.
Food habits need to be re-established.Water intake is excellent. Due to now living on borrowed estrogen, I don't sleep well and sweat a great deal at night. Drinking a liter of water throughout the night. Learning ways to manage from those who have gone before me. Too many carbs or lymphedema? In some areas it is obvious that the lymph fluid has built up a pudgy barrier where the nodes were removed. Unsure if legs look weird to me or if it lymph. Pretty soon I hope not to care, as long as I am practicing regularly and eating better.

Do I have the patience for this?

Not to beat a dead horse, but this whole thing is a process. When the chips fell in April I immediately decided to leave no stone unturned and to make use of the resources available to support myself and my family. When I was in treatment, that was pretty much as I could muster, and I did so with a sunny disposition with two exceptions. On those times, I threw tantrums. Once, because I wanted the tumor to be smaller after all the zapping, and the second time when my parents visited me in the hospital. I was behind a wall of lead. I was throwing up nothing, I was not allowed to move, or to use my natural bodily functions. I was trapped and I hated it. I made sure everyone knew it and felt as helpless as I did. Of course, in hindsight who knows what they were thinking? My nurses explained to my parents that I was angry. That made sense to me too. The super nice nurse brought me a chillingly cold cup of iced cranberry juice and I drank that and felt so grateful and quenched. She understood what I was feeling, even though I was unable to put a name on it. Well, Louisville is fortunate to have a Gilda's Club. It is like walking into a house full of just nicely decorated living rooms. There are no dogs, no dog hair, piles of clutter and so forth that I feel obligated to deal with in my own life. An oasis! But, that does not mean I won't be working on my stuff. My husband and I are attending a dinner and discussion soon.
As far as working on that anger,lost training time,etc,etc,etc and rehabbing everything, I popped Providence in the DVD player and followed along with Anthony. I used the 12 kg except when I used the 8kg. I kicked butt!! I guess the sulking need to cease. No snatches for time with 12kg yet- I want to be sure my shoulders where know where home is.
Wow, it's still Wednesday? My second post of the day!