Training Log and Observations – Bummed Knee and Angel No More

Monday: Workout at St. Catharines Amateur Boxing Club

Tuesday: Workout at St. Catharines Amateur Boxing Club

Wednesday: DAY OFF

Thursday: Workout at St. Catharines Amateur Boxing Club

Friday: BUMMED KNEE

Saturday: BUMMED KNEE

Sunday: BUMMED KNEE

This week was a great introduction to the St. Catharines Amateur Boxing Club. I managed to get there three times and each night left feeling invigorated; the workouts were fantastic, the people were friendly and the feeling I got from being in an environment of like-minded people hungry for a fight, a chance at something great, is hard to describe.

I also had a chance to briefly work the mitts with Dave Morris; Dave was Billy “The Kid” Irwin’s trainer. It was a great learning experience. The way Dave broke it all down, the positioning of your feet, your stance, where to place your weight as you throw and how you should throw your punches, was so organic and just made sense. Unfortunately, I’ve been doing all of those things incorrectly and too “book-like”. Dave told me that what he showed me were basic things I’d need to know if I were going to “really” fight. Our mini-lesson ended with him sending me to work on a combination (a one-two, left hook, and cross) that would keep me honest.

I also managed to make a friend at the Club. His name is Hash and thankfully he wasn’t afraid to talk to the sweaty old lady who just joined the Club. Hash is a newbie too and this feeling of being welcomed but still on the outside looking in made it easy for us to strike up a conversation. I had to laugh when he was eyeballing my forearms and finally asked me if I had a cat. Side Note: my arms are all scratched up from my day job as a gardener/landscaper. Even though it was our second conversation, I could help but cackle and say that if I did have a cat, it would have to fucking hate me to do that kind of damage to my arms. Thankfully, Hash laughed too and agreed that would be a whole lot of hate for a feline to have.

The downside of the week was that by Thursday evening my left knee was swollen in two spots and I could barely bend it. Gail suggested that I should go down the stairs on my bottom and try to get a tricep workout out of it. By Friday morning my knee was still on the fritz and I ended up calling in to work saying that I just couldn’t do it. Friday was spent on my butt, with my knee elevated and iced. By Saturday, my knee had slightly improved, but not enough to go back into the trenches (aka garden beds). By today, I had a better knee, but no job. I resigned from Garden Angels; I am an Angel no more. I realized that the wear and tear of being on my knees, the constant bending and then being crammed into the back of a cab of a truck, was counter-productive to one of my goals for this year; to train and have an amateur fight. I can’t really succeed without my old lady knees, they suck and I have to course correct to contend with this constraint.

I hope to be a honourary Angel by continuing to be contact with the crew, walking in the Relay for Life with the Angels on our team Sheryl`s Angels and by being the occasional highlight in their days when I show up on a site with coffee and goodies.

Pictures of the Week

On Saturday, the girls had their cadet inspection (aka another photo-op)

After a couple hundred drinks, the knee (and other parts of me) were sufficiently numb and the Ts couldn't help Rockin' Their Bodies