When my boyfriend says one more round......

Tired much?

So this week I turned it up a notch which is something I should have done about two weeks ago!! I went for a run every weekday before training and when I say run I mean jog as I am no Usain Bolt. It was about 6k every night. I even skipped training on the Wednesday night and just did the jog and every single night I was fit to collapse when I got home.

Guess what I GAINED WEIGHT!! I feel thinner and I should be at least the same weight if anything but I somehow managed to gain weight. I was ready to kick the weighing scales off the balcony this morning!!! But I couldn't because my legs are so stiff and tired :-)

Excuses

How I walk home from a hard training session

Running..............

People's reaction to my new Thai shorts

How I feel walking into the gym in my new Thai shorts

Anti-social Side of Muay Thai

It's now 2 years since we moved to Canada. This will be my first summer doing a Monday to Friday job so ideally it's perfect to enjoy the beautiful summer weather here in Vancouver. We live by the beach, we have a balcony and we have a bqq,  we have settled and made some friends. But it's not what I want to do with my summer.

I don't want to let any more time pass by me without fighting. I'm 32 now and I'm conscious of getting older. Also I've been through so many jobs here in Canada that I'm hoping everything turns out ok in this one so I can stay there purely because the hours suit me for training purposes. 

I will miss out on things like nights out, meals out, volley ball on the beach during the week. I will be saying a lot of  "No, I can't, I'm training tonight." It's hard to expect people to understand when you say no about 5 times in a row. It's impossible for anyone to get the dedication involved in training for a fight. I find that people who are into fitness themselves and compete in something like marathons or triathlons will be more forgiving than those who don't really exercise at all. So it's no surprise when people get fed up of you and stop asking you to do things. I can do things it's just I'm limited on what they are and try to do them on my night off from training.

I try to come up with things like "how about a coffee before training" or "Ok sushi at the weekend, I'm finished training at such and such a time." "I'll go out but i'll just have a coke, I'm not drinking because I'm training in the morning." I must sound like such a boring pain in the ass.

It's probably why people in Muay Thai end up with partners and a circle of friends who are into the sport too because they are the only people who would understand why the other is training all the time. They can share the obsession. 

I don't feel like I'm missing out on much though. I went out and drank a lot in my early 20's so I want my early 30's to be about something else. I will of course look forward to that drink when my fights are over and I can look back and be proud of myself for being dedicated and stepping into a ring when so many people in the world will never know what that feeling is like. 

"There are no short-cuts to any place worth going"

FANTASY VERSUS REALITY

HOW I THOUGHT MY FIGHT WAS SEEN BY EVERYONE 

MY FIGHT WHEN I WATCHED BACK THE RECORDING 

THIS IS HOW I FEEL HOLDING FOR LEG KICKS FOR MY BOYFRIEND

Mid Week Motivation

Taken from John Wayne Parr's facebook page today

Motivation Monday

 New gear always gets me motivated to go back training.

My reaction when the new thai gear arrives in the post

ST PATRICK'S DAY GOLD

I did it.Fought again. While every Irish person I knew in Vancouver was out boozing for Paddys Weekend I was in the hairdressers getting my fight hair done. Even though I was going to be wearing headgear I just didn't want to worry about pony tails falling out. One less thing to worry about. Early start that morning to go and get weighed in. I even ate a breakfast because I knew it was going to be a long day. Weighed in at 160lbs at around 9.30am. Didn't fight until about 4.30pm.

Women's kickboxing were the last to fight in the whole tournament. I ate about 3 snickers that day. I was so sick with nerves. Then I'd sit there enjoy watching some fights, forget about my fight and then remember and get nervous all over again. What I was getting worked up about was so stupid too. One thing for instance was if my opponent wanted to touch gloves and then I'd touch them and she's hit me straight away. Then I was getting worried about not touching gloves and looking like a bitch. The fights were also on mats was well not a ring so I was wondering about running off the mat and what would happen then. I really tortured myself to the point where I was starting to thing maybe I should just run out the door and forget about it all. 

There was me and two other women in my gym in the same weight category, there was 7 in our division in total. Both girls from my gym fought first and I weirdly relaxed as I watched them. All of a sudden it was my turn and I was putting on the shitty pair of 14oz gloves that they gave us to wear I instantly felt panicy. The gloves were cheap and shit. Flashback of my first taste of getting boxed to death at a demo with cheap gloves. No time to reminisce of the past though as it was time to fight. No bell no frills at this show, the ref tells you to fight and you shuffle to the centre of the mat and bang.

Off I went and my thought were "Oh my God this is really happening" and she hit me and I didn't feel a thing and I hit her back as hard as I could. I never stopped going for her for the whole round. I also never heard a damn thing I was in my own world. My eyes were on her and my mind was on hitting non-stop. Each fight is 90seconds so there was no time for hanging around. At the end of the fight they throw a towel onto the mat instead of ringing a bell. My hand was raised. Best feeling in the world.

I had one round out and in I was again to fight a girl who got a free pass into the semi final over the odd number. She was tall and lean and I did feel a bit intimated because she was fresh and had just watched me but as soon as that "bell" went I was in my own world again. She hit me first which really annoyed me as I wanted to be the first to hit but I instantly jabbed her back and ended up chasing her around for the whole fight. I was much stronger than she was. I had no fear whatsoever of her. When my hand was raised again I was so happy. I never imagined I'd win two in a row. 

Don't Let It Be a Man's World

Muay Thai is a tough sport and it's even tougher if you are a woman. It's a male dominated sport and it can be intimidating to step into a club in the first place. This can be a reason why a lot of women won't even try it. Some women have said to me over the years, "I'd love to try it but all the men in there would put me off." I totally understand as being a woman myself I know I how self conscious I felt when I first started. If you are hooked after one class then you will soon get over all the men in the room.

Being self conscious seems like nothing to me now when I compare it to dealing with sexism in the clubs. Over all the different clubs I've trained in over 8 years, I have come across a few men who have underestimated me and some other females. I'd find myself hitting the pads that bit harder anytime I had a male partner just to prove to them that I am not a weak girl who's here for the fun of it.

During some classes I would have been the only woman and I would have been ignored and left on the bag. I have had guys who barely train refusing to be my partner. Some occasions I have been told I couldn't spar with the lads. Once I was told I couldn't stay back and do weights after class like the guys do. I was asked,"Why are you doing weights anyway?" I answered, "The same reason why the men are doing them." I've seen a guy refuse to grapple with a female fighter saying he "Doesn't clinch with women." I've been told to move off a guys favorite training spot in a big empty gym. I have had a couple of guys beat me too a pulp in sparring to try and prove some macho point.

There were times over the years where I would be first into the gym and last one to leave because I was so interested in perfecting my technique and learning as much as I possibly could. I believe at one point I trained harder than any of the guys did. I did two exhibition fights and one C class pro fight (where the MC announced my fight as "a bitch fight") and I have trained for a few fights that never happened. I paid my money like everyone else and I deserved to be treated like everyone else. I accept that men are naturally stronger than women but all I want is to be treated as an equal so I too can improve they way most men do as they start training with people who are stronger or more experienced than them.


Most men will never hear the sexist comments that a woman will face at training. It's made me angry, it's made me cry but it has never made me give up.

Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.

What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid?

 

 

My boyfriend recently asked me that exact question. Straight away I answered, "I'd fight."

So I began to think to myself, what exactly am I afraid of? I'm afraid of not performing at my best. I'm afraid of getting knocked out. I'm afraid of letting everyone down.

So besides the physical things I need to work on, (e.g.cutting weight, getting fit, improving sparring), there was this other obstacle which is all in my head. I read an interesting post from Muay Thai fighter Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu's blog and it made perfect sence. For instance, take the fear of getting knocked out, you picture the fear becoming a reality and then you imagine what would happen next. You get knocked out, you feel embarrassed for a while, you back to training and you work on improving. It won't be the end of the world.

I've pictured the worst, now all that's left to do is put it aside and not let it rule my thoughts and get in the way of me training at my best.

Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu's blog
http://8limbs.us/blog/ifthen-mental-training-technique-for-fighting-and-muay-thai

In oder to succeed, your desire for succes should be greater than your fear of failure.