Dull Ache

Days are peeling off the calendar quicker and quicker and the wedding that seemed so far away is hurtling toward us. Juggling work and last minute wedding details gave me a dull, achey headache that made me want to lie down after work and not get up until tomorrow. In a moment of will power, self abuse, or stupidity, I figured that CrossFit would either eleviate my headache or make something else hurt bad enough that my head wouldn't be foremost on my mind. Sure enough, after the workout my headache was gone. I chilled out for an hour after I got home and then went to Self Defense Systems for a class Jerry Smith is calling "secrets of the temple." It's an invite-only class for his longtime students so that he can teach techniques and strategies he learned from Joe Lewis while competing. Fifteen-year old Neal would have attended the class and gone home. Twenty-nine-year old Neal took notes and did drills on the bag afterwards.

And Amanda just told me that she spent $280 dollars on books at Teacher Appreciation Week at the Scholastic Book warehouse. Jesus fucking christ. I think the headache is coming back.

Diet 9 a.m. Soda and mini-donuts. Fuck me. Noon Pizza and water. Feeling worse. 6:30 p.m. PB&J, water. 9 p.m. Wendy's. Why not finish the day on a high note?

Strength & Conditioning 21 15 9 Hanging clean, pullups, 600/400/200 meter run. Finished in 16:30. Felt faster but pull ups kill me. At least I am doing workouts to prescription now.

Skills Worked on slip kicks, squeeze steps, switch steps and entry kicks off angles. Jerry gives me a hard time about throwing my lead hand down when I kick now but when done quickly and correctly you're shielding your chin with the shoulder. You can't be 100% protected 100% of the time. I am accepting the fact that learning Muay Thai is changing how I approach American Kickboxing but my AKB colors my Muay Thai, too. I started working on karate-style kicks again just to have them in my arsenal, adding mechanical elements from Muay Thai to add a little oomph to them. I would explain more but these are secrets of the temple, man.


Does this guy look like a good secret-keeper?