The long run and back to boxing

I did an hour long run today to get back into the long run mode. My longest run has been an hour and a half, but I decided to go for an hour this time. Should have gone for the hour and a half! It felt like a walk in the park. I was going at a pretty slow pace, 7.5 minute mile or so. My legs felt awesome the whole way and my breathing barely increased at all. Next time I may throw in some intervals or do it at faster pace.

Turned out, I was glad I just did the hour run after all. I started up my boxing (its actually a "Boxfit" class...no really boxing) class again tonight and I needed every bit of energy I could muster. Boxing has helped a lot in my fencing, particularly with upper body speed and better footwork. It definitely gets you in shape too though. I sweat more in boxing than any other workout I do. I'll be doing the class once a week as crosstraining.

Great run and boxing: round 6

The run this afternoon felt the best yet. It was my endurance run and today I added 10 more minutes so was out for 50 minutes. My feet/legs didn't fatigue at all and my cardio felt awesome as well...I'll be running half marathon's in no time!

Had my last "Box Fit" workout tonight as well. Considering last week, when I was really tired after my endurance run and the whole boxing session was a little 'tired' to say the least, this workout felt awesome. I had plenty of energy and was really pleased with my form as well. I'm off to Nebraska for a couple weeks, but will sign up for the next class as soon as I return.

Long run and boxing: round 5

Went for an endurance run today, 40 minutes, about twice as long of the other runs I've done so far. I plan on doing on endurance run a week building up to a half marathon and eventually a full marathon. Although this doesn't do a lot for my pentathlon run directly, it will give be a better base overall. I ran north along the Burke Gilman trail which runs from Ballard around Lake Washington, past places like Saint Michele Winery. Nice running environment, for sure. The run felt REALLY good, I was a little tired the last 10 minutes or so, but I was really pleased over all. I should be able to bump up to 60 minutes next week.

The long run left me a little tired for boxing, but I survived and did the full boxing workout. I took everything at about 75% effort and still did well compared to some of the other students in class. The punching bag felt really good, my techniques has improved a lot. The speed bag is getting better too, I can almost do it at the same speed as Qadir, our teacher. Quick hands, quick feet, strong upper body...all of this should help my fencing.

Boxing

I had a lazy day on Thursday and did some volunteering on Friday afternoon, so boxing was my first workout after some down time. The usual footwork and drill circuit. The bag and hand pads were really rough this time, Qadir asks a lot of us but boy does it feel good. I'm also getting better at at the speed bag, one of the fastest so far in the class. I'm sure I lost 3 pounds just from sweating so much, but as I said...boy does it feel good.

Fun run

For trying to get my legs and feet back into running shape, recovering from my plantar wart procedures and getting used to my new orthotics, todays run was a really fun one. I feel that I'm up to about 70% of my old running self with both my physical and cardio aspects of the run feeling much better. It was also a beautiful morning to run...scents of spring flowers in the air, lots of people along the way smiling and saying hi and some beautiful scenery as I ran around Portage Bay and a small portion of Lk. Washington. The only bummer about running around Portage Bay is the traffic exhaust, especially at busy times of the day. Time to look for some cleaner-air runs I think.

Another great night of boxing. This time we added the right uppercut to our list of hits. I have the jabs down, my left hook looks a little goofy, but the right uppercut feels great. Any grace I thought I had when I first started the boxing class has quickly dwindled and I'm sure I look more than a little awkward as a boxer. I need to become much quicker and much more agile. But...its still one of the best workouts I've had, so I'll be sticking to it for a while. My jumproping and speed bag are getting a lot better too.

Rough run and boxing: round 2.

Went and got some new running shoes...New Balance. I was pretty excited to get out there and try them out so went for a run as soon as I got home. I could tell that it had been a long time since I ran last because, for the first ten minutes, I felt like I was running through molasses. The whole run was much more like a jog than a run. The last 20-15 minutes felt really good though. I have a long way to go to get back on track, but at least I'm running again.

I also spoke to Laszlo Beres, one of the coaches at the US Modern Pentathlon Association. He gave me some suggestions for beginning workouts, as well as advise on sponsorship and such. I'll be keeping in touch as I get farther along in my training. One thing was clear, more training! The pentathletes are doing each event 3 or more times a week...I do each 2 or so. Laszlo also made it clear that speed endurance was the name of the game in pentathlon.

Had my second boxing class tonight...we did the usual footwork section, learned the left hook, did our station workouts and ended with footwork again. I'm sure I lost a gallon of water again and my hook technique was pretty awkward at first, but I survived round 2 of the lessons. I really enjoy the boxing and Laszlo agreed that it is great cross-training for my epee work, I just have to make sure the the tight/close boxing arm positions don't interfere with my epee. Shouldn't be a problem though, if anything it will make me notice more when I'm being too tight in epee.

Boxing Sean

Had my first night of boxing lessons tonight. Yeah, its pretty crazy, by I was told by Callum a while back that it would probably be really good for my epee (since I told him epee reminded me a lot of boxing) and for my overall fitness. Whoa! Was he right. I was pretty excited already when we wrapped our hands. I still have a long way to go with polo horse wraps, but I have the boxing hand wraps down. After the first 3 minute interval, in which our instructor - Qadir - simply had us doing some footwork, I was sweating buckets. Then we added pivots, then left jab, then the one-two...all at three minute intervals. My jabs started pretty slow, but once I got the hang of it, it started looking and feeling much better. I think we did 10 of these intervals or so.

Next, we had some cardio exercises. Gloves with punching bag, gloves with hand paddles, jump rope and the fast bag. I was first up at the punching bag...sweating barrels this time, but man...did it feel good to jump around and hit that bag. Did even better when Qadir held the hand paddles for me to hit. Felt GREAT! Jump rope...is jump rope, did pretty well compared to the rest of the class, guess pentathlon training paid off. Then it was the fast bag...the bag - about the size of a balloon - the image we all think of when someone practices boxing. We kept at a pretty slow rythem, but I picked it up pretty quickly. It was definitely all about rythem though, lose that and the bag flies all over the place.

There is no doubt in my mind that boxing will get me fit pretty quick, the physical and cardio stamina is beyond other sports that I've done...even rowing, just in a different way. I'm VERY sure that it will help my epee.