In shape

After being able to do boxing only for more than two weeks due to injuring my knee during a sparring session, I was able to start doing Muay Thai in the beginning of this week. Even though the knee still feels stiff sometimes when I do not move it for an hour or so, I can throw kicks again. It is amazing how fast the body adapts to new circumstances – in good and in bad ways.

Monday – I carefully started to throw knees only on Saturday, so now it is time to see if I can kick. Basically I have to because my next fight is already scheduled for Sunday, the 1^st of December. I did not fight in November even though I am aiming to fight at least once a month while I am here. However, it would not have been a good idea to step into the ring hurt.

Pai holds the pads: "Ready?". I focus, turn my hips in to create power and kick as hard as I can. The shin hits the pads and there is no weird feeling in my knee; no pain, no aching. I shake the leg to see if I feel something abnormal. Nothing. We go on and after two rounds I am sure that my knee has healed and is in good enough condition for this. But something else has changed: I am out of breath. Just after two rounds. The pace is high but I still should not feel the way I am feeling right now. It reminds me of my first rounds on the pads after I arrived in September. I do not feel as bad but I am still kind of dizzy and exhausted.

Two days and four pad rounds later: As fast as the body seems to ´forget´ how to do a certain movement in high repetition effectively is as fast it seems to remember how to do the movements right. Okay, my calves are aching from the hundreds of kicks done in the last days but my stamina has returned after working kicks on the pads. The pace is even higher than ever before. Additionally Pai, who is supposed to fight on Sunday, while my fight has been rescheduled for the 4^th of December, and I are doing extra pad rounds and sprints after training.

This combination basically killed me at the arrival at Team Quest, but, as I suspected, it is just part of the ´special attention´ you get when you are preparing for a fight. And I am doing well.

My legs know how to kick again, my boxing has really improved in the last weeks and the conditioning did its work too. Finally I will step in the ring again and I am hungry – it feels as if my last fight was decades ago.

I´m motivated! Can´t wait until Wednesday!