Thursday - Day 7, morning

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I was planning for an afternoon update for yesterday, but I got behind and had a nice 3-hour work telecon I had to attend right after dinner. Technology is pretty amazing when it works. Don’t really like telecoms because people End up talking over one another, and you lose a lot of information form seeing peoples faces. The quick summary from yesterday afternoon was the workout was very similar to the day before. Every day can’t be great, and yesterday was one of those days. My energy in the afternoon was low. At the end of round 4, I couldn’t even finish the machine gun punches, there was just nothing there. Pretty disappointed that I couldn’t finish that last little bit.

This morning felt a little better, and again after rain all night, the weather was clear all the way to the gym. Running was 9 laps, slowly and then jump rope. Got into the ring for my 4 pad and 2 sparring rounds and was anxious to see if I would do better today. The power was there and was able to run through the combinations that Fahlaep is trying to make automatic for me. First round ended with alternating power kicks, second with right 10, and third with left 10 kicks. The fourth round came back to machine gun punches and they were no problem today. Added some pictures from the sparring today. I need to go through the video cameras and see if I have space to record a few rounds. The one other guy training (Rune, sounds like Rona) is from Denmark, and he took a these today. It’s his first time here, and he’s staying at the gym. There’s a lot of pics, so I’ll drop them in randomly when there not much to say.

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Photos

Never forget
This shirt happened to be on top of the pile. It gave me boost in my motivation for the day. A solemn reminder of selfless sacrifice, and the cost of keeping us free and safe.

Take the Last Train to Clarksville….
Or actually to Punnawithi if you’re looking for the gym. I don’t know why the Monkees song popped into my head when I saw the train approaching.

What’s missing?
For those who’ve been here, it should be obvious. No more ladder for going over the wall to run, whether it was across the “canals” to the other alley, or just across the wall into the parking lot. It is no more.

Morning sparring - Round 2
A right kick to the body, relatively easily blocked, but Fahlaep was letting me hit the body pad.

Take what’s there
Fahlaep was covering his head so it was time to move to the body punches. I’m sure he didn’t feel a thing.

Sweep away.
This was a lesson in watching for front leg sweeps, and my exhibition of the perfectly executed flop. I took the standing 8-count…..