Today I returned to my “normal” routine — leaving the office and going to the dojo, then the gym, and then relaxing a bit in the evening. I even started being more responsible with my caloric intake, since the summer was filled with much food and relatively little aerobic exercise, with the attendant repercussions for my waistline.
I feel refreshed. I didn’t seriously attend to my martial-arts training, or run with sufficient discipline, over the summer. Getting back on the wagon after an inconsistent few months is invigorating, and reinforces just how much my training and fitness really mean to me.
This is not to say that there weren’t some consequences to being gone. My sensei decided to welcome me back to the dojo by having me lead the the class in the jumbi undo (stretching exercises), including the tenshin moves and tae sabaki. In Japanese, of course, although I made due by making the other students announce the next technique. It was a small class today, and I was the highest-ranking student, so … yep. I held my own, though, even though I nearly let a 15-year-old girl knock me on my ass during the kicking exercise.
Then, at the gym, I discovered that my sustained cruising speed on the treadmills tops out at about 7.5 mph (an 8.0-minute mile). Unfortunately, I only ran for about 30 minutes, since I hadn’t eaten properly today and felt my blood-sugar levels plummet at around mile 2.25. Ugh. But it felt good, anyway.
It should be a nice week. I’ve got coffee scheduled with Alejandro tomorrow, before my Biomedical Ethics Committee meeting, and I’ll see Tony after that, to discuss a prospective return to The Happiest Place on Earth and whether/how I’ll sub as guest lecturer for the classes he’s teaching at KVCC and Davenport when he spends a few days away in November. And the rest of the week? Dojo, gym, rinse repeat. No other social commitments on the horizon.
And the cool rain is nice. I wore a sweater again. It was lovely. Apparently, it facilitates stream-of-consciousness blogging … oh, well.
