Tag: Health

Health, Running, Weight

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A few small updates; while last week I’ve been feeling more light-headed than ever, likely the result of the medication, this week I feel much better. Last week I also ran six out of seven days, which I felt good with. This week I’m keeping that up, but unfortunately my right hip has been giving me a bit of trouble, so I think I might take tomorrow off.

My weight is steadily dropping slowly but surely. This morning I dipped below 86kg (189.6lbs) for the first time and I woke up at 85,9kg (187.4lbs). People are starting to notice now.

I talked to Cesario about taking some private jiu jitsu classes. I want to wait until I’ve had my check-up in October. The plan is to focus on techniques to minimise risk of injuries, which will help me on my way to my blue belt.

Anger and Frustration

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gi

This morning, I woke up early, jumped on my bicycle and got a fresh haircut. Cycled back, feeling good, went for a run, felt great. I got home, got rid of some laundry and stumbled upon my gi. It was a bit in disarray, neglected for a long time so I decided to make a tidy package out of it. As I was folding it and tying my belt around it, I started to get angry.

Due to my condition, I’m not allowed to do any contact sports due to a danger of excessive bruising and bleeding due to the blood thinners I’m on. Hopefully, I won’t have to stay on them for long, but stories have reached me about people having to be on blood thinners for the rest of their lives. Considering that possibility sends my mood plummeting through the floor. It makes me angry. It makes me furious.

And as I was tying my belt around my gi, I realised that even having to sit out for six months, I’ve already lost so much that I was looking forward to. If this hadn’t happened, I would have tied a blue belt around my gi, I’m sure. I’ve decided that whatever happens, I’m going to invest in some private lessons with the goal of getting my blue belt.

Health, Running, Weight

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I’ve been kind of slacking on my updates the last week or two, so I thought it would be a good idea to give another update on where I stand with my health. I can be short and sweet on my health; I’m feeling good, my blood clotting times are good, and I have a ton of energy.

My weight is good, too. I’m not dropping the weight as quickly as I was before, and I’m currently btween 87.4kg (192.7lbs) and 88.0kg (194lbs), depending on the time of the day. I touched upon 86.9kg (191.6lbs) a day or two ago, but I think I was a bit dehydrated. It’s easy and I really don’t have to sacrifice much for it. I’ve given drinking carbonated drinks as much, I don’t eat so many carbs, and I don’t snack so much on garbage anymore.

Running is still a pain. I don’t like it, and I don’t think I ever will. At one point I was feeling my knees a bit during the first 5 minutes of the run, until the serotonin started kicking in. This has mostly faded now, which is good. I also had a small hamstring problem, but that doesn’t seem to affect running much.

ADCC is coming up on October 19th, and I miss grappling so much. Much more than kickboxing or even MMA. I can’t wait to get back.

Running is Getting Easier, Not Any More Fun!

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I just finished another 3,5 km run in just under 17,5 minutes. My time is getting better, which means I don’t have to torture myself as much, and that’s about the only good thing about it. It also means that I don’t need as much motivation to get going 3 or 4 times a week.

While my weight dropped like very fast at first — like, “do I have bowel cancer?”-fast — now it’s dropping slow but steady, which is allaying any concerns that it may have been as a result of something other than the running and more conservative diet.

Frustratingly, as if I needed more reason to have jiu jitsu in my life…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaneudT39-0

Running

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Running
So I just ran 3,5 km in 17 minutes, which I like, considering I started out doing about 3km in 30 minutes. My body isn’t enjoying it, but it understand it needs to happen and as a result it’s cooperating to a certain extent. We’ve had a talk, and it told me it would never enjoy this as a thing to do for fun, so after this six months, unless it changes its mind, we’re done with running for a while.

I find that if I can hit “the zone” early, I can keep it up quite easily, provided I don’t hit any snags like a horde of screaming kids blocking my way, a bicyclist nearly running me down because she was preoccupied with her phone, or fellow runners trying to greet me as if we’re in a club together. It’s becoming easier, but I’m not entirely there yet. The trick is to not start too fast, which is hard because I time my running to my breathing, while I should be timing my breathing to my running. I have an optimal way of breathing (in/step-in/step, out/step-out/step) that forces me to run faster than the rate at which my lungs are currently able to supply my muscles with oxygen. Anyway, lots of math and trials and errors. Mostly errors.

BJJ
Today is going to be a hard day since I’m going to watch a seminar held by a 5th degree black belt, PRIDE and UFC veteran Marcus Aurélio in which bunch of my training pals are going to get their next belt. I had some hopes of getting my blue belt at this seminar, but unfortunately it’s going to have to wait. That’s painful. There is a silver lining, because while I think I may be eligible for a blue belt in no-gi if there was such a thing outside of 10th Planet, I think my gi work can definitely use a little work. I regularly tap blue belts in no-gi, but with the gi becomes significantly harder.

Weight
Regarding my weight; I’m having an easier and easier time keeping my weight down. I’m currently hovering between 90kg (198,4lbs) and 91,5kg (201,7lbs), depending on the time in the day and such, down from about 95kg (209,4lbs), but this morning after breakfast, I was 89,9kg (198,1lbs) and just after my run I was 89,8kg (197,9lbs), which is probably due to some dehydration.

89,9kg

I think I’m going in the right direction, I just need to be a little bit more dilligent about my diet. It’s been going well and I like the results; my body is a little less soft and has a little more definition, but my face has slimmed considerably.

Now I’m off to take a nice cool shower and to get ready for a day of watching other people have fun and achieve their much deserved next belt level. :)