Day 83: Barking Muscles & Boxing
I am lucky my children are still sound asleep this morning, as I yelped as soon as I attempted to sit up with the alarm clock. Yes, attempted, because it was a whole lot like a turtle flailing it’s limbs on it’s back, trying to get turned over. I think I may have even backhanded my poor husband in my flailing, as he emitted a grunt of his own halfway through my failed sit up. Like a horizontal version of the Elain Dance, from Seinfeld, all my limbs moving in awkward, uncoordinated jerks, trying to find purchase enough to sit up right.
I am sore. Every muscle in my core is protesting the fact that I am not lying down, and my quads, my poor, overworked quads, a pathetic tremor still accompanies my every step. My lunges yesterday were superb, my back knee kissing the floor gently with each rep, and today I pay the real price: the tax on muscle usage my body demands is the rest day I will not take, because today is Boxing drills. And as sore I am, my shoulders surprisingly are not, and my rest day is not until Saturday. I’m doing the damn thing, if for no other reason than I love it so.
I am going to push through the muscle soreness I feel and get today’s workout done. I know I will feel better for it when I get off the mat, and it will bleed into the rest of my day. That is motivation enough for me to get going.
I can’t believe it is December, I feel so unprepared. It’s too cold to workout outside today, and that’s probably going to be the norm from now on. The weather forecast is telling me it’s only going to continue to get colder, and winter may become downright brutal here shortly, with temps in the low 20s this weekend and next week too. It’s actually so cold out right now, that it feels cooler inside than usual. The wind out there is wild today, I can hear the trees thrashing and the wind whistling against the windows and the roof. I’m glad to train inside with all that going on out there.
I rolled out my mat and got started with Core Reset first. It didn’t take long before I was shaking, those toe taps and leg lowers are no joke. Those muscles are so sore, I really had to pace myself and breathe through them this morning. Mindstilling breaths while working out? Yes. That’s a thing, and a necessary thing, when your muscles are already trying to quit.
My son tried to get up right as I was trying to move from Core Reset to Boxing, and it was only 6:45a. I ushered him back to bed and we snuggled for a few minutes until I could slip away. Then my youngest did the same thing, so we snuggled some more. At this point it was 7am and I had reached do or die time, and as soon as I could sneak away from her vine like grip on me, I went straight to the mat.
The way my heart sings with each strike.
Seriously, I mean am I the only one who gets like this? As soon as I start throwing punches and pulling together those combinations, I’m a different person. I zero in on that same spot every time I strike and I get more and more accurate every time, faster, smoother, I find the rhythm more readily and I sink into it. I’m familiar with a runners high, but it’s nothing like this. Nothing compares to the adrenaline from boxing for me. I might feel differently when I get into swords, but right now, this is my favorite part.
My legs were shaking even harder when I finished boxing, and my heart was racing. I had a little bubble of emotions well up and started to cry out of nowhere. It didn’t last long, but it came out of the blue. The only thing I can think of, is that I had some emotions or trauma or something that needed to be let out. There are a large number of studies being published and have been in the last few years, that all suggest that the physical body stores stress and trauma in your fat, in your muscles, in your joints. And with all the core rehab work I’ve been doing, plus total body work outs almost every day… some of that trauma is bound to get released with some of this sweat.
It’s impossibly cold outside today and the wind is gusting like there’s a tornado on the loose, so Yrsa and I will be contained to the yard for quick potty breaks. I’m going to take a hot hot shower and make some hot hot tea and spend my day being cozy. It’s time to break out the knitting projects and get into Hygge mode.
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