Summer School and karate in general

I'm back! Almost two weeks later... Wanted to write earlier, but just never got myself to it.

Summer School was an absolutely great experience again this year. The course theme was kept simple, with an emphasis on "old" methods and so, instead of radical new methods we were given the basic old school ones with lots of time and repetitions to work on them - which I think was good. I could see myself making progress and I know I wasn't the only one! One more special thing this year was for me to spend my first time on the blackbelt- side of the group. This meant practice partners on a high level, and at the same time lots of feedback from the technical group members and other higher dan-grades.

I came home with lots of inspiration, for my own training as well as for my instructing this fall. I can't remember if I mentioned it before, but I've asked my instructors to let me teach the beginners' group again this year, and have now also got a kyu-grade (who happens to have started as a a student of mine) to do this with me. Will be fun! I have a basic set of ideas I'd like to try, but nothing very radical. In fact, I think I'd like to go quite orthodox with the whole thing this year. So the Summer School theme fit me like a glove this year. I'm also looking forward to this year's marketing campaign.

One more thing about Summer School: This year I finally got my ass out of bed every day in time for the morning jog an kata-session with our Estonian friends! And it was good! I have to repeat that next year! After returning home, I've tried to repeat this routine of early morning jogs, but failed badly so far. This morning I would have finally been up on time, but found it was raining quite hard outside so cancelled it. But I'll give it some more time.

And by the way, I've stopped following my protein intake now, but still eat a bit extra of it, now that I have the routine.

Like a kid before Christmas

So exited. Just one more day, and then it's on. Summer School! Same feeling as last year: Can't believe it's finally happening! After having waited for this long! At this point, I am so hyped that  I'm getting absolutely nothing done, but doing so in the pace of a Duracell bunny... There's so much left to do tomorrow... I'll confess I'm a little nervous about the actual trip there, as I'll be traveling on my own this time. As in, there will be three other guys from Finland, we just haven't syncronised our trips. On the other hand, I'm always a nervous traveler. I worry about getting lost, or leaving something important behind (memo to self : passport!).. Or oversleeping - the bus to Helsinki airport leaves at 03 in the morning. In reality, these things rarely happen.

Found no less than two people to feed miss Cat while I'm away (they will share the task) but still have to clean my flat so I can let them in... This was so much easier back when I had flatmates.

I'm still on sticking to the higher protein intake (that I mentioned in my last post), and it seems to be working for me. I'm guessing my body has grown more used to it already, as the before-mentioned tiredness is gone.Or then it's just me being hyper.

That's it. Have to go out for a run now, hopefully it will calm me down.

On training and dieting

My latest "mania" when it comes to training is proteins. The fact that you need to eat more protein if you train actively is nothing new to me, but lately I've started to actually keep track of my protein intake. I don't count calories, just how many grams of protein I eat every day. I don't eat any less than before, and want to point out that this is not about weight loss - I don't need to lose weight (rather the opposite!). On the other hand, even following your eating habits tends to make you change how you eat, and so I have obviously been loading in more protein than before. I've been doing this for a week now, and found it quite interesting. Also, I've learned new things too, one of the nicest being the probably simplest recipe for protein/banana pancakes to eat after training! But now, after a week of it, I feel a bit weak - not sure whether it's the diet or something else. Maybe it's just a question of getting used to it.

Last night, when I went out for my regular jog in the park, I had a quite unpleasant experience. The jogging itself felt good, but after only 1 1/2 laps in the trails, I encountered this... strange..? guy at the bars. First he just paced the bars while looking at me - never starting to train on them - and then just hung himself from the lower one, rocking back and forth like a money while staring straight at me (I was running past). This might all sound like me being paranoid, but I just got seriously bad vibes from him. I jogged past, trying to just relax and not "do" anything or pretend to react, and when I had past him with about 10 metres,... ...the lights went off. This was when I got scared. At that point I just tried to mantra "IamablackbeltIamablackbeltIamablackbelt..." and then left the trail at the first chance to do that. Jogged home under the streetlights instead. What I don't get is: Why turn off the lights in the at 22.30 in the evening? This is when it's just got dark enough for them to actually be needed. The streetlights were obviously still on. Why not the lights in the park, too? Are you not supposed to jog that late? Or is it to keep people out of the park at nighttime? If it is to save energy, couldn't one hour oor so be saved in the early evening instead, by turning them on later?

Also, I do realise that this guy was probably no real danger, but it still felt very uncomfortable. And guys: If you feel like flirting, the jogging trails by nighttime might not be your greatest pick of a place for it...

Belated post about my weekend up north

As I mentioned before, I spent the weekend before the last in my hometown, as every year, for a local festival. It was a mostly nice extended weekend. I don't know much I care to write about it, so instead I'll just post a picture roll this time. As you can see, I brought miss Cat with me. These were among the things we did or experienced: