Tag: Water

Muay Thai Camp day 1… The most amazing adventure, Water is not enough

Where do I start… Muay Thai camp was an amazing adventure. I am so happy I got a chance to attend and learn from the many amazing martial artists there. Muay Thai camp was put on by the WTBA (World Thai Boxing Association).

It was hard getting on a plane and leaving my family. It was harder going 5 hours clear across the country in a plane. I have worries about being away from my home base, about being so far from my family should something go wrong. Muay Thai camp was a big unknown too. One person I knew for sure was going to be there was Khun Kru Krysta. She is my instructor and we were going on the same plane. I had some other people I had met at another seminar here on the east coast.

So with all that going on, I also was worried I was not conditioned enough for the camp, and I wanted to do well. =) I had one month notice and I had to get myself ready. So I worked hard to get that conditioning in, running and 16 to 20 rounds a day of bag and pad work.

We got in to Portland, went to dinner, waited for a new friend and roommate, then we got to our house. I was lucky enough to have a friend rent an Air B and B and I was able to pitch in for a room. So instead of camping in a tent and using a communal bathroom/shower, I was able to have the amenities of home. I would guess a good half of the people who attended Thai camp stayed in tents.

I have a restless sleep, and wake up on my own at 5:30 am Portland, Oregon time. Everyone gets going with their ruitine. We all have something we do, supplements, taping up our various body parts, brushing our teeth, etc. We head of for coffee and then to the first day of training.

I am buzzing with caffeine, and even more so with excitement. I don’t know what is going to happen exactly and I really really want to make it through so I decide to take one challenge at a time.

Training Day 1: (notes: curtesy Khun Kru Krysta, and Kru Caro)

~7 am :

We start shadow boxing, then Ajarn Greg Nelson leads everyone in stretching.

We then do 1.5 mile run. I got slightly lost because I missed the trail. I laugh about it.

We get back and Ajarn Chai starts us off with the combos that we will be working on for the day. We start with a combo and work on the variations each day. This day he wanted us to focus on leg kicks, with entry to boxing, and elbows. He wanted us to always think about counter attacks.

Combos:

  1. Left inside/lead leg kick
  2. Right Overhand punch
  3. Lead body shot/hook
  4. Rear kick to body
  1. Lead Jab
  2. Right leg kick
  1. Left inside/lead leg kick
  2. Right cross
  3. Lead body shot/hook
  4. Shield

“Everything is basic until you start taking punches.”

Ajarn Greg Nelson


We worked the combos in shadow boxing. Then Ajarn Chai had us pair up and work together. He wanted to make sure we got this timing, flow, and combos down.

~9 am:

Then we break for breakfast, and a break. Ajarn Chai gave us about 2 hours for break and breakfast. He wanted us to get enough time to eat and rest.

By the time breakfast came around I had already drank two liters of water. I only mention this because it will become important later. =)

“Get some breakfast and rest, because we are going to work hard when we get back.”

Ajarn Chai

~ 11 am:

When we all got back and got started working. He had us shadow boxing to start with. Then we stretched.

He had us working some of the variations of the leg kicks, and entries. Then we started.

We did more partner work. We worked with partners on pads.

“On the balls of your feet. Lift your body up when you kick, or when you knee.”

Ajarn Chai

Ajarn Chai wanted us to focus on form and getting the combo down. To really know it for the first day. He wanted us to focus on teqnique and not how fast we could do it.

~2 pm:

We break for lunch. Again Ajarn Chai wants us to eat and rest cause we are going to hit he circuit hard after lunch.

A special thank you has to go out to the kitchen staff. They worked hard every day in the heat to feed all almost 100 of us students, instructors, and staff. I know how much it takes to feed an army like that. So many thanks and much respect is owed. Also Ajarn Chai brought out his sister to make us some amazing Thai dishes. I will be dreaming about those dishes for a while to come.

By this time I had drank 2 more liters, for a total of 4 liters. Again I only mention this as this is pertinent to happenings later on.

~4 pm:

We all come back and assemble. Again start with shadowboxing, and stretching. Then Ajarn Chai introduces the station we will be working for today.

Khun Kru Krysta tried to help me prepare for this camp and told me years past that there were four stations. Shadowboxing, Pad Work, Bags, and then Clench Work. This year Ajarn Chai added a station. This one was partner timing. Not going as hard as you can, like on pads on bags (note: he wanted us to go hard while observing technique) , but working on flow and technique.

We would do 4 x 3 minute rounds with a 30 second burn out after each round. The burn out was a:

Makatune, #8 elbow, to skip knee #2, then two torso kicks

We were working on the combos and variations of the combos Ajarn Chai taught earlier in the day.

Water is not enough

We start on the first circuit. I get through all 5 stations, and I am doing grate. However, I start to notice my right calf is locking up on me. If I point or flex my muscle it wants to lock in place and not move. I make it through 2 stations and notice it is acting up more. I head to Khun Kru Krysta and tell her what is happening. She and another Ajarn tell me to go Devon. He is a massage therapist. He comes to camp just to help us when we are having muscle and or joint problems.

Let me just take a side note to say Devon is amazing. He is calm, calming, and listens to you. He deserves so many thanks, and much respect.

However, I make it to Devon’s table. He listens to what happened, and he begins stretching. I tell him I don’t know what the problem is. I took my bcaa this morning, and drank 4 liters of water already. He is stretching my calf and then it goes into full charley horse/muscle locked up. He mentions I am “desalinated”. I need to be ingesting more magnesium, potassium, and salt. My body is lacking and this one muscle is complaining about it.

That Charley horse hurt a great deal. He had to keep massaging it and then letting it relax. He made sure I drank some Gatorade. I was laying on the table watching my fellow Muay Thai Camp family rotating through rounds. I ended up missing 8 rounds. I was so unhappy. I was brought down by lack of minerals and salt. I did not want to fail the entire camp. This was day one. How could I, a seasoned athlete, and just some one who keeps an eye on health mess this up.

Devon made sure I drank two of the cups of Gatorade, and two cups of water before I re-entered the rounds, and finished out the day. My calf was sore and painful for the rest of camp, but it felt like a light muscle tear. I just worked through it.

So now you know why I was mentioning how much water I was drinking. Water is not enough. I was going to drink my recovery drink that replaces magnesium, and potassium after the day. But I underestimated just how much I was going to be using during camp.

All in all every day I drink about 8 liters of water. I made sure after the first day to drink water, and recovery drink, and Gatorade as well. Just to get the minerals and salts in me. I also made sure to eat bananas every day. I did not want another charley horse.

We finished the circuits of the stations, then Ajarn Chai had us line up, count down the line 1 to 5 and then stagger ourselves. He had us doing 8 count body builders. Think if burpees had a bigger older meaner brother.

The group did 50 of them. I got through 40 of them.

~8 pm:

We broke for dinner and finished for the night.

This was one of the most amazing, difficult, and wonderful things I have ever had the chance to do. I was so excited for the next day, but was annoyed my calf gave out on me. I am happy to say that I did not have any more muscle issues. Yay!

In total my Fitbit told me I 34,264 steps and burned 6,731 calories

Thank you for reading, keep working to be the best you can be. Respect to you and your families!

My Fitness Journey Part1, the beginning… Come Hell or Hysterectomy

Alright the beginning… that seems a good place to start… Wait… Let me just preface this with. Each persons fitness journey is going to be different. We all are going through ups and downs, and have to start and stop. It took me a while to understand this. But this is normal and it is a part of life. It is what a journey is. Not just a month here and there. But the entirety of your change for the better, and your learning what your body can do for the rest of your life.


Alright the beginning… that seems a good place to start. I was always an athletic person. I used to be a competitive swimmer. My strokes were 200 m Butterfly and 500 m Freestyle. What that meant was I was placed on a Medley Team and I was asked to do IM’s. (Individual Medly – Butterfly, Back, Breast Free) I cannot tell you how much I hated breast stroke. I felt so slow. I digress… being that I was a Butterflyer. I ended up with massive shoulders for a girl. Or so I thought/sometimes think.

Here is a picture of a person doing butterfly.

this is not me but totally what I did

That is what my back muscles looked like. Sigh… I may never get back there again. However… fast forward a few years in college. Life happens. I have problems with family, and end up leaving to be on my own. I jump into the work world and the daily trying to keep up with bills. I was doing well, for a 21 year old with a QA job. Life happens again, and I have to take care of myself. I made some bad relationship decisions and I had to iron those wrinkles out. I end up on my own and going back to school for Culinary Arts.

I meet my now husband, and fall in love. He is loving, kind, understanding, responsible, a sweet heart, soft spoken and a generally great person. All the things my ex was not. I am happy we are buzzing along and we end up having two kiddos. I was not expecting to be able to cause of female problems from the age of 12. I did not workout with the babies because I was scared of losing them. I was told I would never have babies when I was 12. I was scared, thrilled and excited to be pregnant. My baby boy came to us, perfect and healthy. He was 9 months when we found I was pregnant again. Bonus! We wanted a second, and we got one. My beautiful healthy baby girl.

Fast forward 2 years, and I have not been working out at all since college for about 8 years. I finished second college in 2007, and got my degree. Yay! I let myself go since then. I had life, and hazards, and love, and so many other things that people fall into the trap of, and put aside my health and working out.

Baby Gates Be Damned

I have two little ones one 4 and one 5 years old. They are under foot and around foot, and on foot, and on hip, and just need me for everything. I did not have the energy before this to do anything but make sure everyone’s diapers (or nappies for some of you) were changed, and all parties were fed and not trying to kill themselves by going down the two flights of stairs in our home. We lived and still live in a town home that is three levels, and kids whew…they wanted to go up and down stairs, baby gates be damned. I still held my jobs at night and took care of everything else for them during the day.

It was at this point when I finally had a chance to breath and got my head above keeping babies alive to keeping toddlers alive. I noticed in my pictures just how fat I had gotten. I hated taking pictures of myself so I was always behind the camera instead of in front of it. I had let myself go, ho boy had I let myself go.

That is enough of those pictures… you get the picture. Hahah… see what I did there. Eh eh eh…

Health Issues? No, Healthy as a Horse, Just Fat!

I decided I needed to do something. Anything… cause doing nothing was probably going to kill me and I was pretty miserable at this weight. Yeah I could eat what ever I wanted when I wanted, but really I did not like the way I looked the way I moved, none of it. I have been asked if I started my journey because of health issues. The answer is no. I was healthy as a horse as they say. Just fat! I had some criteria that had to be met for me to be successful. I believe in setting yourself up for success. To do so know your needs, and see to them.

Needs:

  1. I had to be able to do it at home. I had kids and no extra time.
  2. I had to be able to do it without a lot of extra equipment at first.
  3. I had to be able to do it when I had little ones under foot.
  4. I had to be able to do it period. I had to get this big body moving. This body that was not used to working out any more moving, and not hurt myself. I could not be down for the count with little ones.
  5. I had to do it on a budget. I don’t know if you all know, but children are expensive. =) I love them dearly but they will cost you an arm and a leg and your sanity.

I found a system that met those criteria. It was from BeachBody.com and it was the Turbofire series. It allowed me to do it from home, with little to no extra equipment, it allowed me to do it with kids under foot, I just had to make sure they were occupied with snack time. I was able to make 30 minutes a day time to get my workout in. Either during the kids snack time, or during nap time. I wedged that workout in where I could. It was important to me so I made sure I put it in. I am not here to sell the workout, just to tell you what I did. It gave me a structured workout, with a calendar of what to do each day. I needed this. I am a type A personality and I need the check marks and lists. It gave me a structure to work from. One that I could do and keep doing. Here is a picture of me on a day after one of the workouts.

I started in June of 2014, and I finished a whole 90 days, or one whole rotation of the system. I even got the tank top to prove it. I changed my food consumption and I incorporated healthy good for me foods. I felt good and I decided I needed to change it up and this is where I added yoga and kettle bell to go with my HIIT workouts.

Kidney Stone

Wanting to get myself to the next level I restricted my food intake more because “that is what you do” and only allowed myself “good for me” foods. I ate spinach morning noon and night. I ate nuts, and veggies, and cut out most meat. I craved and loved things like beets. I would make a whole pan of roasted beets and eat it all for the next couple of days. I was losing weight and feeling great. I had lost about 40 lbs. One day I had this excruciating pain, in my abdomen. I was on the couch and could not move. I called my husband at work and it passed till it felt like it moved again. As the pain passed again, I thought it was just something that may have been temporary. I tried to ignore it, but that level of pain got me scared. That night and the next day I was passing what I found out to be blood in my urine. I was rushed to the hospital the next day and found out I had a kidney stone. It was 5 mm or 1/5 of an inch. So they had to schedule a surgery to get it out. Doctors were surprised I did not go to the E.R., but I have a high pain tolerance. I had to wait 2 days for the surgery and they said it may pass between then but most likely it would not. The surgery went off without a problem. They tested the stone after the surgery and found it was calcium oxalate stone. I had not been drinking enough water, and I was eating all the foods with calcium oxalate. I love them to much it seems. Here are some of the foods with them:

  • Spinach
  • Bran flakes
  • Rhubarb
  • Beets
  • Potato chips
  • French fries
  • Nuts and nut butters

These are all foods I love. Especially beets, nuts, and spinach. I was shocked because these are “healthy foods”, and supposed to be good for you. But I learned this the hard way. Everything in moderation, and drink your water. Drink lots of water. I drink about 3 liters a day.

I healed up nicely and got back to workout as soon as I was given ok from doctors. I was antsy and raring to go. I was worried I would lose progress. It was about a week till I could do something light. Then the week after that I was able to go back to my regular routine.

By September 2015 I had lost 60 lbs. I was over the moon. I hit a plateau and was upset I was not losing more weight. I kept up with the workouts and eating healthy. I decided to start eating whole foods. Cutting out all processed foods

Hysterectomy

We are at September 29, 2015, and I am scared. I had been having symptoms of cancer for the past 6 months. My OBGYN was concerned it was a tumor that they could not see, and I put my head down and tried to ignore it. Do you see a recurring theme here? I try to ignore my pains and keep going. It is in my nature, and I figure I can just walk it off. I could not walk this off. I was bleeding so much I was in risk of becoming anemic, and I was getting more tired and weak as I went along. I know my husband was worried, and I was sad cause I was thinking of having a third baby. It was a huge decision and I did not want to make it. I ended up deciding to go ahead with my doctors suggestion and had a full hysterectomy. She removed my uterus and my cervix. I did end up having a tumor, and adenomyosis. (“
Adenomyosis is a condition in which the inner lining of the uterus (the endometrium) breaks through the muscle wall of the uterus (the myometrium). “ ) My tumor it turns out was benign but it was one of these. “Endometrial hyperplasia: A condition in which there is an increased number of cells and glandular structures in the uterine lining. Endometrial hyperplasia can have either normal or atypical cells and simple or complex glandular structures. The risk for developing cancer in the lining of the uterus is higher when endometrial hyperplasia has atypical cells and complex glands. “ Find out more information at cancer.net. Mine had atypical cells and could have turned/developed into cancer. So in the end it was the right call to remove my uterus. Cancer is scary and serious don’t be me and stupid and wait. Just go get it checked out.

Here is a post I made on the day of the surgery.

Anesthesia is not a good look on me.

“I am awake and alert. I am doing ok. I am keeping up on the pain meds. I had a slight complication during surgery. They accidentally cut my bladder. Now I have to live with a catheter and bag for two weeks. Wee!

Thanks for all the love and well wishes everyone. =) My H is taking great care of me, and the kiddos are doing awesome.”

Two weeks of bed rest due to complications and cut bladder. I wanted to get up and do all the things but the pain and the discomfort made me listen to my body.

Come Hell or Hysterectomy

Turkey Trot Race I walked in 2 months after hysterectomy.

I had made plans and bought my ticket run a 5 kilometer. It was a goal I had set at the beginning of 2015. It was in November and was a turkey trot. I was not cleared to run but I told my doctor I was determined to get out there and at least do some of it. I was given the go ahead to walk the race, and my family came with me. My two children and husband came out and walked the race with me. I was in pain but I was determined to sort of complete this goal this year, come hell, or hysterectomy.

Three months of only walking and no lifting more than 10 lbs had me biting my nails to get back to my workout routine.

By December 2015 I was gingerly making my way back to my workout routine. I wanted to keep it up and not lose my momentum. I lost some muscle and gained a few pounds but was able to get back to it slowly.

Fast forward to November 2016. Here is the workout I did for that day. =) I still have it, cause I put it up for my friends to see.

Here are the workout details if you want them: 

100 squats, no rest
100 lunges, no rest
3 x 1 minute wall sits with 30 second rest in between
100 pike sit ups, 30 second rest at 45, and 65 mark
50 leg lifts, rest at 25 for 30 seconds 
50 leg extensions 
95 lb dead lifts with olympic barbell, rep set: 10, 9, 10

This is what I looked like then:

If you made it this far, I am amazed. This is already a long winded blog post and I am only up to 2016. But thank you for reading. Keep up the good work, and keep on going. Don’t let little things get stop you and only let the big things stop you till your doc says its ok to get back to it.