24/7

My opponent is right in front of me and only a few inches out of my range. But I cannot see him clearly; just blurred. Maybe it is not even an opponent but a trainings partner – Yes: The location we are at is quite bright and the ring has white canvas, as the one at Team Quest. But I cannot spot anymore details. Suddenly he hits me with two jabs. I duck under his jab, make a step forward and throw a left hook with a lot of power, right to his face.

I breathe out quick and blink. My hand is somewhere over my belly... and I did not punch. I am not in a ring. I am lying in my bed. Grinning quietly to myself I place my hand back onto the mattress. This is happening quite often to me in the last weeks– no matter if I am falling asleep at night or I am going to have just a small nap. I have always tended to flutter my legs or arms while falling asleep, but these uncontrolled actions where barely connected with dreams.

Always when this happens (and it happens nearly daily) I dream that I am boxing. But why do I have these dreams suddenly?

Maybe it is because I have been only training boxing since more than two weeks now. Two classes per day with a lot of work at the focus mitts and many, many rounds of sparring. If this were my job, doctors would tell me that I am overworked since I’ve lost the ability to relax and forget the work for a few hours.

If I think about this, they could be right... somehow. But it is not like that I cannot think about anything else than the sport the whole day. I have a few "projects" that I concentrate on in my free time. Like learning Thai (changed to American University Alumni recently, where I attend classes every day now), looking after my bicycle I really have grown fond of (learned to wrap handle bar wraps like a pro) or bringing my nutrition to the next level and learning more about nutrition theories and science.

It seems more as if the sport has reached my sub-consciousness.

I feel like I breathe this sport instead of air. The last training was just a few hours ago and I am already excited for the afternoon session. How can I improve my game? What will I do better this time than this morning? I do not have to motivate myself to go to the classes. For me it has been routine. This whole process of training so much feels natural. It feels right. It feels great.

Furthermore I do not think this training-even-when-I-sleep-thing is something bad. I interpret it as a sign that my body and mind are united and both completely focused on the sport and my performance. I am taken in what I do – I love the exhaustion, love to reach my limits, love to see the improvements.

And that is why the next fight is already scheduled. After an injury caused a short competition break it is time to step into the ring again. 1^st of December, Muay Thai at Loikroh.
Finally! I feel like I haven’t fought in ages!