Double Charley Horse avoided

Today I did another one of those 2 hours of nonstop classes. The first one was bad. I think part of it was that the front and back doors were open to let a crossbreeze through the school, but it was still very warm inside, and since it was getting later in the morning, it hadn't occured to anyone to just close the doors and let the A/C get the place to a normal room temperature. I felt rather stiff and all this morning, and did a quick warm up, but evidentally it wasn't enough, or...I don't know, lack of physical fitness? The first class is the dreaded one, the sparring class. Now mind you, I don't even have to take this class, but I know my sparring needs work, so I go. And usually, my asthma kicks up something fierce, and I'm overheating and dripping with sweat. It was warm enough that one of my sparring partners, whom I believe is a high schooler-- possibly about to enter college-- would also take off her head gear to cool off in between exercises. Yeah, that bad. That's the problem with all that gear. While it does a good job in generally protecting you due to it's foam core, it's also hotter than hell. I think part of this weekend, instead of just letting it air dry, maybe I'll wash it a little and disinfect. Bleeh! But the big problem wasn't even the asthma quite as much. The calves on my legs were tensing up and hurting like all get out. I've seen this happen before when I've had to do a lot of hopping around/jogging. It's so bad, that the muscles almost lock up like getting a Charley Horse. That's bad. Of course, who do I get for an instructor this morning but Victoria, who has no sympathy and little mercy. Again, part of the reason that I like TKD is that I can go at my own pace. I'm not against learning to push myself to learn new things, but I also know my own limitations well. There is a fine line in pushing yourself beyond your limits productively and gradually, versus pushing yourself too hard. Victoria is thinks more of the latter. I stopped for a moment, just to catch my breath, kneeled on the floor for a moment, just to regain some composure so I could continue. Victoria said I could sit out, with just the slightest hint in her tone that "geez old woman, just get off and don't be such a wussy bother". I explained that I just needed a moment, and that's all I needed-- a moment. Heck, this wasn't a regular class, after all. If I didn't want to work, I wouldn't have come at all. But my body was not cooperating first thing, and I was working to the best of my ability. I'd like to see this teenager put on 60 lbs, give up all sports and activities for a long while, contract asthma, and then do what she demands, and see what she says. At that moment, I told her, "I just need a moment. I feel like I'm going to pass out, and it's either I pass out, or I spar, and I'd rather not pass out, thank you." She snipped back, "Well, I guess we have different priorities." Ooh, that made me angry. Again, I came her to learn, not to take snide remarks. I work hard within my ability, and I do my best to push myself. I don't need lip from a teenager, even if she is higher ranked than me in every way. I'd say something to Ma'am, but Ma'am has known her for years, and I worry that I would say something that would be seen as out of turn and me being difficult and a wuss, so I don't. I just put up and shut up. Grrrrrr.

Anyhow, did forms class. Boring, and my knees are aching as I really worked on stances a lot, but it's good. I was the only adult in the class. :-S Weapons and board breaking were the same deal. I was the only adult there. All the others didn't even crack the 10 year old mark. But, that's okay. With weapons, I could at least work on stuff, and set a good example for the kids. There's one boy, Joshua, who used to be in Drew's class. He was also a little goofball who couldn't focus well, and his mom is a sweetheart. However, I am really starting to wonder about this kid. Drew has sensory issues and is easily distracted, but I felt like if you brought him into line, he'd behave better than Joshua, who's considered "normal". I'm wondering if Joshua has mild ADHD or something, because he's older than Drew, considered "normal" compared to Drew, and yet I feel like Drew would have done better in that class than him. Hmmmm. So anyway, weapons was boring too, as I think I have that one down pretty well for now. I might use that as my lunch break or something, 'cause I really haven't learned anything new. At least not this week. Board breaking was okay. I felt I got more out of Mr. A's classes last week, and classes today were Victoria and MZ. MZ is better as she's a little more relaxed with the kids and can still deal with me. Emily was trying to help out again, but I really don't think she understands kids. At one point, she was barking out how she couldn't hear responses and ki-haps. Even MZ said, we'll worry about the ki-haps later, and this seemed to be a somewhat shy group. Emily really doesn't understand how to be around kids, I don't think. She gets a little too verbal. I respect her for her knowledge-- for someone who is wheelchair bound, she understands very well where stances and footing should be, and she really does know her stuff. But she lacks...bedside manner, if that makes sense. She's not rude, but she's not sympathetic. Geez, this is a bunch of small children (and me) who are nervous enough being in a concentration class to get better at something, they are trying to concentrate more on their form than on the "Yes, Ma'ams", and that's what they should be focusing on. If they were being irreverent or disruptive or goofing off, then I can understand getting after them with that stuff to get them refocused. But otherwise, geez, they are just kids, not cadets at West Point for Christ's sake!

Board breaking-- yay! It wasn't great drills, but we did drill to work on our breaks. Since it was review week, I chose to continue to work on my new break, the knifehand strike. Hopefully it'll impress Ma'am when she sees me doing it. We had to get Ron, Victoria's dad who is also an instructor, to help hold my boards, and he helped a little on coaching. (Being an adult, I needed two holders, whereas the kids are smaller and can have one adult-- MZ--holding.) I just needed a little more rotation in my waist, but I got it pretty quickly. And this time, it was an open hand instead of a closed hand. Yes! My waist and back were hurting after so much rotation, but it was there. I'm getting the hang of that break very quickly, and I was assured by MZ that my board wasn't starting to give out yet or be too broken in yet. That's good. Then again, I didn't break it right away. I'd say it was about the 3rd or 4th attempt, and at least one of them I got the pieces separated, but not broken. Progress!

Being that it's July 1st, it's only 4 weeks until the tournament. I don't know that my sparring is any better than before. I wish instead of these marathon of sparring we'd actually do some real tournament sparring. I understand the idea behind the marathons-- it's conditioning that we won't get tired during competition like others do-- but still, it's hard on my body, specifically, my lungs. I'm starting to feel confident, though, about my weapons for the moment, so I might drop that extra class. Forms can always use work, but I'm wondering if there's a way to get more out of the class if it's mostly the little kids. Granted, I'm doing the same thing, and the same segments, but right now, I'm also trying to get a little ahead. Gonna have to see how next week's classes go. I really like Mr. A teaching, but the poor guy needed the weekend, for sure, after teaching almost all classes for the last two weeks while Ma'am was away and with her doing camp. We'll see how it goes.

In the meantime, I think some of the kids today were starting to get interested in the tournament, as MZ would say, "If a judge saw you, you'd have to do this, and they wouldn't like this, etc.". I could at least vouch for what she was saying. It would be great to get some more kids involved. I think they'd enjoy it. MZ told me that my whole weapons routine definitely hit the 20 second mark, which is good. I just have to practice the end some more, but that's fine. No biggie. I don't have to worry about board breaks at tournament, at least, but I'm feeling pretty confident lately about that. It's the sparring and forms, more the former than the latter. Forms I'm not TOO worried about, but that's a biggie, and I think I've got techniques down, I just want to do a killer job on them and place in forms. I lost the tie breaker at the last one for 3rd place, so I want to try to get 2nd place right off the bat. And sparring. While my victory in doing well against Jeri at the interschool tournament was good, and Karla and some others have been encouraging, I would love to get at least 3rd in that. I think I'd have a chance, at least, of not being last in my group's placements for that, now that I know what to expect.

I'm not so stuck on winning, but it is a gauge for me to try to persevere and do well. I have set a goal of trying to place 2nd in all areas for color belt women in my age group for this tournament year, and I want to start off with a bang. Hence, all the training.