Wednesday, June 19, 2013

That Smell Was Me. Sorry, Everybody.

That stink in the dojo was totally me.  Sorry, everybody.  But it's an incredible milestone for me, believe it or not!  This blog entry will give you an idea of what I go through just to be able to get through an hour of karate.  It is worth every grueling effort.

For the first time in four years I have been hydrated enough to workout and sweat to the point that I get stinky!  No passing out!  It took five litres of saline coursing through my veins throughout the day, but I made it.

Why so much saline?  I had a training at work and the training room tends to get too hot for me (again, at which point I pass out).  I have to run IV fluids all day during training to stay conscious.  Then, I always run fluids during karate.  Today, for karate, I was plenty hydrated, so I had lots of stuff in me to sweat out.  Why not just drink water?  I do drink water as well, but I throw it back up, so I have to drink in very little sips throughout the day.

Yesterday I had a violent ankle dislocation.  I was sitting on the couch and felt my ankle slip right off of my tibia, getting stuck at a 90 degree angle.  It hurt like crazy, lost blood flow and swelled up dreadfully.  But once I got it back in place I wrapped it and now it's behaving like your average excruciating sprain.  No big deal in the grand scheme of things, just a bit of a limp and a lot of pain.

Still, a busted ankle didn't stop me from giving today my all in karate.  I had missed Monday due to 4.5 hours of medical appointments and a full work day.  I was miserable all night because I missed karate!  I wasn't about to miss today.  Oh man, I waited and waited, the day would not get out of my way fast enough.  When it's dojo time, I'm a giddy mess.  It's so exciting that I use cruise control the whole way so that I don't speed off in my car.

Tomorrow is my first shiai (tournament).  I hope my leg stays in place.  I've been wearing ankle and foot orthotics (AFOs) very strictly to try to keep the ankle positioned and the inflammation down.  My AFOs keep my bones in place similarly to an ice skate, and they are laced up at least as tightly as an ice skate needs to be.

Today's lesson was focused on neko washi dachi, or cat stance.  We worked on the 2nd kata of goju ryu karate, which is geki sai dai ni.  Sensei paired me up with Rafael, an amazing man who works with me to make sure I learn and advance, but that I take my time (descansa) and do it as I am able (como se pueda, poco a poco).  Today I got all the way through geki sai dai ni several times!

The hardest part of geki sai dai ni, for me, is the stomps.  My knees and feet always dislocate.  No matter how hard I try I can't seem to land right.  I don't know what it's going to take, but I need to get that under control.  Until then, I just stomp very gently, using a limited range of motion and a very light amount of force. But it does affect my focus and thus my performance.

When I work with Rafael I can immediately feel my confidence building.  He pushes me harder and faster, I work straight through a kata, I go full force and speed.  This man is quite an amazing coach, he runs around me to make sure I can see his face while he gives me directions and tips as I move.  I don't even know how he moves so quickly!  Surely he teleports like Raiden from Mortal Kombat.

But man, did I stink today.  The first thing I did when I got home was brush my teeth and shower.  Too fierce.  Great class.  Worth the pain.


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