Archive for the ‘Family’ Category
The October half term is upon us again and as usual the family are away with the grandparents and I’m home alone.
But don’t be sad for me. I get invited along and every year I decline so that I can have some much needed me space. I was once advised (a long time ago) by some0ne that had been married for longer than Kathryn & I have now (24½yrs) that every couple should have time apart every year. I agree.
Anyway, this year it happens to coincide with me also having my shift rota fit nicely so that I get 4 days at home.
Weather depending I have a lot of things to do.
I also want to contemplate stuff.
One of the things I want to contemplate is how to continue to encourage my children to continue on with their Tang Soo Do. I don’t know how to communicate to them (anymore) that re-doing stuff is par for the course and even if they become black belts one day then they will still need to re-do what they know.
So any suggestions gratefully accepted.
For now I just want to get them to their green belts which is at the end of November…. and I’m not even close to being ready!
Well … not really.
Last night was the family (aka Jenna, Coel and myself) jaunt to our Tang Soo Do lesson.
Towards the end it saw all three of us sat on the side for one reason or another which caused Ma’am to ask us if “we were on a family vacation” – the funny thing being is that we’d just come back from one and that possibly didn’t help.
Some context though …
Jenna was the first one sidelined. She was exhausted and physically couldn’t stand. But then she had also been in a school swimming gala that morning, then done an hour of ballet practice in the afternoon and finally ended up in the steaming hot gym hall that is our Tang Soo Do class.
Next to fail was myself. My excuse – 12hrs straight in work before heading down the gym and not enough food or fluids inside me. After a particularly brutal, lets mangle the senses type exercise my head went spinning and if I didn’t lie down I’d be passing out.
Finally, Coel who’d also been in the same swimming gala was doing fine when a freak slip with his partner caused the kick pad to glance his left eye and he couldn’t see out of it.
So lessons learned:
- Ensure you are well fed and hydrated before exercising on a hot day in a hot gym.
- Ensure you haven’t already indulged in several hours of exercise beforehand.
- Pay attention at all times.
Have you ever felt like you’re on vacation when you should be ‘up and at them’?
Tags: 
I realise now that I’ve only very obliquely referred to our latest grading.
It took place on April 3rd and myself along with Jenna & Coel all successfully progressed from 9th to 8th Gup or rank which means we all now sport our orange belts.
It is because of that grading that I am on my extra kick to add some more fitness resilience to my routine – if not daily then at least every other day and to do more than the recommended minimum 20m. Unfortunately almost as soon as I started I fell to a bug and only now feel up to re-starting. The what was outlined by my last post on C25K. I’ve also got a fitness DVD which is entitled 2 week turnaround and there’s a simple (but not easy) cardio & strength workouts on it – I’ve done the cardio once and looking forward to doing more of those as well.
Will it bring a revitalised me? Who knows. At this stage I’ll be happy not to be left a physical wreck after my next grading.