Time

I'm back to Karate, recently cleared for non-contact kicks, and assigned these brilliantly complex plyometric exercises--jump forward on one foot, but turn 90 degrees right or left and land on the same foot in a squat to absorb impact. Yikes!

Running has been great, recently did the full 4-mile course I ran last summer without stopping.

Lately it seems time is slipping away from me. Just when I'm getting back into the groove of working out, there's a string of commitments that have me over-booked and exhausted! Fortunately, though, I'm taking a few days off to travel with family and friends to Door County.

I'm looking forward to slowing time down and smelling some roses among the lighthouses and other attractions!

As for sparring, I'll be taking a very cautious approach to re-entry. My PT is incredibly insightful, and commented that right now I'm doing a great job of maintaining proper body position with regards to the knee(s), but that it's still a very conscious effort.

He recognized the common link between my ACL tears is poor positioning; the true challenge is to evolve that sense of proper position into an unconscious effort. This is most important when sparring, since it involves so much spontaneous movement and reflexive action.

So after I see him at the end of this month, I expect to re-enter sparring classes. However, the plan is to limit the risk early on, concentrating on controlled drills and hand work and skipping the open point sparring for now.

Out of a healthy sense of superstition, I also plan to take November and December off from any sparring activity, picking things up in January to prepare for next April's tournament at the end of the season.



Until then, I plan to make grown men cry by walking away with the gold in all the weapon and open-hand forms that I can.