30 degrees, humidity: 82%

I open my eyes carefully and blink in the already bright morning´s sky. Something rings nerve-wracking under my bed. I turn to the side, trying to grab my smartphone: 06:15 a.m. I sit up, rub the sleep from my eyes and stare absent-minded out of the window. Maybe I am jetlagged, I did not sleep well this night, woke up from weird dreams and the humid air in my room. Who cares – doing sports will help the body in getting used to the climate. With a bit of food in my stomach I start off for my first training session: Muay Thai.

Jogging, warm-up, shadow boxing, bag work, technique drills. To this point nothing is a problem, but I know exactly from last year what is the worst part in the first couple of training sessions: The padwork.

Working out on the pads is given more importance in Thailand than in Europe, so it is part of nearly every single session. It offers the fighter the chance to put as much power in his attacks as possible while the trainer can correct him. Furthermore the strain on one´s conditioning is quite high.

... with these thoughts in my mind I step into the ring. Maybe it will not be as hard as expected, since my last visit was a year ago and I trained a lot and did a few MMA and K-1 fights during this time.

The first kicks hit the pads powerful, the hands are fast. I feel good, feel fit, it is fun being here again and being able to concentrate on the sport. "Jab, Jab, Kick!" Nut shouts at me, a good kick or a hard knee are rewarded with a loud "Ayyy!". I start to feel the effects of the physical exertion: A slight aching in the shoulder, but that is nothing unusual. I look at the clock real quick: Three minutes already passed. Kick, Punch, Jab, Teep, Jab, Jab "Double-Kick" – "Ayyy". A loud beep calls for the break.

                                      Pad-work with Kru Nat, 2012 at Team Quest Thailand, Chiang Mai

With a satisfied smile on my face I walk back to the corner. Having reached it, something hits me like a baseball bat: A strange feeling in my stomach, weak knees, a dizzy feeling in my head. Like as if someone slapped me, the smile disappears from my face and I lean back into the ropes, the sweat on my chest and shoulders feeling ice-cold suddenly.

It is easy to misjudge how much your body can take, especially when you are in good condition: The muslces, the tendons, your lungs and your will – everything does what it is supposed to do, you feel good and you WANT to be good.
But the cardiovascular system cannot take it, when you are not used to the heat, the humid air and the time difference. The mean thing about this is that you do not feel this until it is too late.

Just 10 more seconds.

"Fifteeeeen Push Up!" Nut shouts. I do not feel good, but I do what the trainer says. "It´s just my third day in Thailand" I explain, "Slower pace please" – "Tired?" Nut replies with a grin.

The kicks are weak, my reactions are slow, Nut has to repeat several times what to do before I understand. My lunges fill up with air that feels like right from a Swedish sauna; I wish I would at least feel good after this round.

The beeping sound of the timer ends the pad-round and a wall hits me immediately. I feel like I have to throw up, I lay my arms and head down on the corner of the ring, breathe heavily trying to get rid of the dizziness This marks the end of my training today or, at least, the end of the conditioning part of it.

While sitting on the side of the ring, having a cup of ice-cold water and trying to recover, I watch a better acclimatized team mate doing his third round on the pads. I will definitely not overdo it during the first week and just train once a day to get used to the different circumstances. Our body is not made for switching and getting used to a new climate- and timezone in just 11 hours.

After two rounds of smooth sparring and 100 knees on the bags I am released from training to have my well-deserved breakfast.