Travel Day 14 / Training Day 11

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Early morning and I was TIRED. Slept later than I intended so I did skip breakfast downstairs again. Made it to the gym on time but no one was around. I’m guessing that after such a great late night, everyone is tired. Starting the first lap was hard. Knees and feet are starting to get sore from the pounding. Once into the groove, the run wasn’t so bad. I did 8 laps with no sprints. I think instead of ramping the runs up much more, I’ll stay at 8. It’s a good 30 minute run anyway. Jumprope for 15 minutes again. That sort of shakes out any kinks or cramps developed from running. The rounds were still the same 4 rounds, with the right kicks and left kicks for 30 sec finishing the first two rounds. Fahlaep is pushing for more power on everything, which is hard to come by after a long week of workouts. There were 3 others who showed up this morning. A new guy who is huge, well over 6 feet and looks to be a weightlifter. Watching him on the pads with Santi, he has done some training before. After the 4 pad rounds, I was practicing more bag work on knees and teeps. Lots of repetitions trying to get the footwork correct and develop some better power and control. Also worked some kicks since there’s plenty of room this morning. Once my legs were completely tired, I had some time left to lift some weights and do some sit-ups. Left at 10:00 again. Not sure how I’m spending so much time here, but it must be pretty easy. Didn’t plan on training in the afternoon, but I didn’t have info on how to get to the fight Sunday. Santi said to check back in afternoon, and he will see if the taxi man will take me there. It was either that or a combination of BTS to the MRT, then find a taxi to get to the stadium. Taxi from the gym surely will be an easier option.

After the late night/early morning/hard training, I was definitely feeling wrung out. Now that I knew I was heading back to the gym this afternoon, a recharge was needed. As soon as lunch was done, I tried typing so I would get things down while they were fresh. That didn’t work to well. I was passed out within about 5 minutes. Figuring that might happen I did set a timer alarm so I wouldn’t sleep all day. I felt much better when I woke up, but it did take more than a few minutes to shake the cobwebs out and start moving. The afternoon crowd was the same as morning, but a different guys there. i was thinking about not running at all, and just doing bag work, but decided to at least walk a little. Which then led to running 6 laps. Just can’t help it…. Jumprope was only maybe 8-10 minutes though, and seemed harder for the first time. Motivation is definitely a bit low, as is the energy. Probable more so this afternoon because I really hadn’t planned on training this afternoon. I did see Santafaa going out for either walking or running trying to cut down for the weigh-in tomorrow. I don’t know how those guys can wear those insulated jackets and run In this hear. I did 3 rounds on the heavy bag again, just to get the flow going, then it was ring time. I was hoping to avoid the end of round 30 second kicking, but that was a foolish dream. First round was punch/ elbow/ knee combinations for power. Also blocks and counter kicks. The round ended with of course 30 seconds of left kicks for speed. Round 2 was similar, except working more elbows. That round ended with, of course, 30 seconds of right kicks. In both of those rounds, I just couldn’t get all the way through the kicking, mostly because my balance was off near the end putting my foot down. Plus I was completely exhausted. Round 4 started with more boxing, less kicking, but turned into a sparring free-for-all. Fahlaep started into the clinches, and its nearly impossible to get out once he has you. We sparred for a couple minutes which was exhausting. The round finished with power kicks right and left for the 30 seconds. That was quite enough for the day. I dragged myself out of the ring and rested for a few before starting to pack up. By the time I was finished, I lucked into a ride to BTS as Fahlaep was leaving same time. That saved a lot of time and even more energy that I really didn’t have. I also finally got to the hotel early! I had dinner at the Wine Connection, which is in the hotel complex so I could get back to the room quickly and to bed. My legs are tired, and my feet are a bit sore. I may have to get foot massage in the morning, depending on timing and how long I sleep. Really looking forward to a complete day off tomorrow. It will be the last one because this is the last week of training. Time to dig deep and put some more power into these last few days.

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Photos

Morning view from the room
Most mornings look like this. A good time of the year to visit. Only 1 rainy day so far, and the heat isn’t nearly as brutal as it is in the fall. Those days make you sweat just leaving the hotel.

Santafaa day before fight
I’m glad he was around for the afternoon. He’s been slowly easing up on the workouts to be ready for the fight Sunday. Wanted to make sure I got a picture just in case he takes a few days off next week and I don’t see him before I leave

Comments

[RJR]

Still my hero
Thanks to your travel blog Im pretty darn sure now why I did not take a Thai Boxing as my hobby. Doing yardwork in the SAV Summer will seem like a trip to the playground for you. Glad to see you waving the Grum FT flag proudly.