Groan…

Gosh… my aching body… Last night at kickboxing was a killer! The 30 minutes of stretching can still make me sweat bullets, mind you, but this time was worse, since we had to do it double-time. All that “reach, reach, twist, twist, reach, reach, lean back, lean back” and splits were real killers, leaving us breathless and reaching for our water jugs. Whew! Then we went one-on-one with the instructor. Though this really isn’t something new, we had to do it for 5 minute sessions. In the past, we’d do 2 minute sessions and believe me, this is nothing to sneeze at! Usually, after the 2 minute sparring, we’d be pale and aching to rest. (Well, that was how our instructor described us). But now, he (our instructor) noticed that we were developing endurance, and decided to give us more one-on-one sparring sessions, and now it’s up to 5 minutes. Plus, last night, we each had our own instructor. So what happened to me was that after a 10-minute (count them, 10!) sparring with 1 instructor, I was immediately turned over to our original instructor. Gosh… After 15 minutes of sparring, I was ready to drop on the floor. My heart rate was up so high and when I checked my carotid pulse, it was beating so fast! I could hardly catch my breath…

Now am feeling the pain in my legs, specifically my knees. I’d hate to think this is a function of old age! Gosh, I’m just a few days away from a birthday, but still I think of myself as young noh! Hahaha! ;->

So anyway, back to my achy knees, am stretching out my legs, walking around, stepping up the stairs… anything to help ease this achy feeling. Does this make me want to quit kickboxing? On the contrary, no. Am thinking of this as a challenge. As they say, “no pain, no gain”. I also take comfort in knowing that I’m a lot stronger now (well, that’s according to my instructor who always complains, and asks if I’m mad at him, since I kick him so hard now… he he he…). Seriously, I feel stronger, leaner (not necessarily thinner), and more flexible. Hey, look! I can touch my toes now! Hahaha!

Back to that achy feeling... what if i use as a mantra the # of inches i've lost already? Maybe that will (at least!) help me feel better... Om...