I'm Whooped

Usually, I get up between 7:00 and 7:30 to go for a run or walk with Ranger.  Weekend days are more hit or miss, as Anthony sometimes takes Ranger out in the morning - sometimes being not at all one weekend maybe, but then three days the next if he's home on a Friday and that's how it works out or something in between.  And then, of course, there are Tuesdays, when it's Davan's job to do the morning walk.

This morning, though, I got up at 6:15.  I'd been toying with the idea of getting up early to run.  I needed to get in a two hour run this weekend for my half marathon training - it's two weeks from today!  I've found that Saturdays are the better day for me to run because then I get a full rest day on Sunday and Fridays are usually a lower intensity day or a rest day.  That makes Saturdays good for my long run. 

Any-who, this Saturday it was sort of looking like it wasn't going to fit in.  Part of that was because of Poekoelan.  I've mentioned Poekoelan in passing here on the blog and I've been meaning to dedicate a whole post to it.  I'd been holding out for pictures of me dressed out for it, but that just seems to keep not happening, so I'll just go ahead and talk about it anyway.

It's an Indonesian martial art form of Karate that I started doing in February.  I'd wanted to get into martial arts for a long time - years - but didn't for a wide variety of reasons varying from finances to schedule to just plain inertia.  This studio is very close - about a 5 minute walk - from our home.  They ran a special in January to get started at a low introductory price.  This being prior to Ranger's surgery, we were feeling like we could handle the cost.  The schedule is good for me with lots of choices.

I've been going 2-3 times a week.  I go to noon classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Saturday class at 10.  Sometimes I hit the Friday evening class.  I have done all four in a week, but that really interferes with my ability/interest/motivation for running.  I've been trying for all but the Friday night class regularly.  On Saturdays, for the last couple of Saturdays, that's meant both a Poekoelan class and a long run on the same day.  That's worked about pretty well, given that I have a rest day after.

Poekoelan is no cake walk.  We do a lot of conditioning borrowed from Crossfit concepts, so I usually am pretty well dripping with sweat for at least part and sometimes all of class.  Still, I love it, partially because of that challenge, partially because of the learning, which is both mental and physical and partially because of the social aspect of it.

So, all that said, I really wanted to go today.  I also wanted/needed to get in a two hour run.  I've been coming home from Poekoelan, having a bite to eat, then going on my run for the last couple of weeks.  That's worked out pretty well, but today, I told Davan I'd be available for her and Lena between noon and 3:00 if they wanted me.

Lena's birthday party with friends from school kind of fell through for this weekend because of too many conflicting commitments.  So, it was just Lena and Davan for the afternoon.  Because of that, even though we celebrated with Lena last week, I told them I could chauffeur if they wanted to go someplace or get a treat or something.  They only have that window of time between the Do Jump classes Lena teaches and call for Tic Toc tech.

That meant that there wasn't time after Poekoelan.  Anthony and I are going to the Tic Toc show this evening and made other plans for the late afternoon, so there wasn't a two hour slot.  I debated switching out today's run and Monday's.  I debated just running tomorrow and not having a real rest day.  I finally decided that I really wanted to run today.  So, I got up early and just did it.

By the time I got myself up, had a small preworkout snack of 1/2 a banana (Ranger ate the other half) and a few walnuts, got out the door, ran a little over 2 hours, while stopping my watch for things like lights, Ranger's needs and drinking fountains, and took a quick shower, I was thinking maybe I wouldn't go to Poekoelan after all.  It was 9:20 by the time I sat down to have some breakfast with Anthony and Davan.

I found, though, that I was done with breakfast in time and feeling like I'd be regretful if I didn't go, so I gathered my things and went to Poekoelan.  Let me tell you, even the walk over to the studio was challenging.  And then there was training.

I'm a sore and tired person this afternoon, but I feel really good about everything I did.  And really deserving of taking the rest of the weekend for rest and recovery.