Tuesday - Day 5, morning session

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Welcome to Day 5 already. Woke up a little early today and decided it would be a good idea to do some stretching. Fahlaep likes to have me kick high, and things are a bit tight and sore this morning. Another wonderful morning today and I managed to get to the gym at about 7:20, even though I left later. Because it was so nice, I took some pictures on the way to the gym. Some may recognize from walking those paths more than once. I was surprised to see Fahlaep already in the ring starting to work with the only other person I’ve seen here every day. He must have limited time because he is here early, and only does 3 or 4 rounds of pad work and then leaves. it’s certainly better than nothing.

For today’s running enjoyment, I decided to do 8 laps. Since everything felt so good yesterday, and I had plenty of rest last night, why not? So far, running hasn’t been a problem, but I’m certainly not running like I’m in a race. It felt strange but there was even a nice cool breeze during the run this morning. Followed up the running with about 10 minutes of jumprope just to make sure I was dripping enough sweat. Pad work in the ring was next. Lots of punches and combinations, just like yesterday. The first round ended with right power kicks for the last 30 seconds, round 2 was left power kicks, round 3 was alternating teeps (front kicks) and the forth and final was machine gun punches. I was trying to hit hard enough to move Fahlaep backwards but either I didn’t have the power, or more likely he’s got the power of a Mack truck. We geared up for two rounds of sparring, again similar to yesterday, but a bit more freestyle. I was introduced to the consequence of leaving kicks hanging too long, and then finding myself on the ring floor. It’s a good way to reinforce what will happen when a mistake is made. After a couple of those, I got the point. Even though there is the ability to control the pace more in sparring than in the pad work, it was much more exhausting sparring For two rounds than doing pad work for four rounds. The walks back to BTS was nice and easy. The only downside was the escalator was being serviced, so three stories of steps were the last challenge for the morning.

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Photos

Morning BTS crowd
Not much crowd this morning. Everyone wears a mask onboard even though suggested only. Interesting contrast to USA. Masks are not required in general public either but the ones who don’t wear them are mostly foreigners.

Monks receiving food offering
From the BTS station pt the gym, in the morning the monks from the Wat will walk around the area with their “begging bowls”. The people will give them offering of food, and the monks give a blessing.

Further down the road
Just a little further along the walk. Both sides of the street are lined with little shops, and their are tons of street food vendors providing all sorts of local favorites, most of which I’m to scared to try

Hang a right at the Propane and Ice house
This is the next view on the long walk in. At the end of this road is Wat Dhammamongkol. Also new is a large school before the Wat to the left. You can hear the kids from the street and sometimes even from the gym.

There should be a sign somewhere….
Maybe some gardening is in order here. I think the sign says “It’s too late to turn back now”

The final stretch
Farther up on the right is the destination. That’s where the magic happens, where the sweat rains down, and the bruises are dished out