Child's Play... Friday, September 24

Today was ALL play and no work. Actually, I only worked one hour so far this week, one hour of tutoring that is but I've done countless hours of training and boxing.

Woke up and did my 4am HIIT running, then went back to sleep. I didn't have to tutor today but I thought I'd wake up early anyways, to keep a steady routine.

Later in the day I went boxing. Working on establishing a weight training schedule with my boxing and running -- something has got to give. I've always enjoyed running but I didn't really fall in love with it until Junior Mint slapped me hard on the back of the head and told me to go run off the required weight for my Japan game and Snickers insisted I skip the treadmill and run outside with him. So-called "running dates" shortly became a daily thing with Snickers and I. He'd run beside me, pushing me to go harder on the hills and then patting me on the bum ever so often to break the stress of the run.

Up until a week or so ago I was running 5-6 days a week, covering about 50kms in one week, and I was doing an hour and a half of boxing, 5 days a week. It's a lot of cardio, I know, I benefit definitely and get different things out of both. Boxing is a wicked workout that leaves my muscles swollen but it's often too stop-and-go, resting 30 seconds in between rounds when really if I wanted to fully benefit from this as my cardio I should be moving non-stop. At boxing I learn, test out new combos, pick up tips, get inspired by watching others spar and train, and then there's also the fact that this is basically my only source of any kind of social life. As for my running, I lean on it to escape the simpleness of my life. It clears my head and lets me drift off to another place while getting in awesome cardio.

My average week consists of 8 hours of working (tutoring and personal training), around 7 hours of running, and about 8 hours of boxing. I've cut my running time down to approximately 4 hours now because my running consists of doing HIIT and one or two long weekly runs of 13-15kms.

I'm training a lot, I know, but I love it. I love the fact that my body and my health are whatever I make it out to be. Having said this though, I do realize I have to change up my training routine. I really don't want to give up my running but I really need to incorporate more weight training into my schedule.

"As you increase your lean body weight, your metabolism also increases, both during training and at rest. This is why dieting alone is not an effective means to losing fat." -- Fred Hatfield, Ph.D.
... Therefore, the number of calories your burn at rest is directly proportional to the amount of muscle you carry.

But anyways... enough rambling and back to today's entry...

Headed out with my sister-in-law, her two sons (the twins) and Snickers to Kongju, a beautiful city just an hour outside of Cheonan.

No visit with the twins goes on without horse-play or piggy backs. Today we played at a park in Kongju. I was the big kid on the playground and somehow I got convinced to play tag with four mini-Koreans.

I've always been a big fan of slides, they're my favorite part of a playground, but today I got dirty looks from some Korean mother for running up the slide. My little nephew came running up after me. He wasn't quite as successful so I thought I'd teach him a couple of tricks on how to do it... hahaha.

The main reason as to why we had traveled out to this particular playground was because one of my sister-in-laws is thinking about extending her currently booming children's daycare. Her current daycare has quite the extensive waiting list, so it's clear that she's doing very well for herself and is certainly in demand. Anyways, she got word of a new apartment complex that's looking for someone to start a daycare. The building is located right in the center of the apartment complex, it's massive, and it's exactly what she's looking for... minus the nasty price tag that has killed out the competition and kept it empty.

After an hour drive out to see the prospective new place, an hour of playground play, and an hour drive back into Cheonan, not only were my two nephews exhausted but so was I. Not only had I played with my nephews at the park today but I had a brutal play wrestling match with Snickers in the morning, did my HIIT running, and got in a couple of solid hours at the boxing club.

Tomorrow I aim to go running at 6am because I have personal training at 8am and then a full day of watching the UP amateur boxers at the weekend tournament. I tell ya, there's no rest for the wicked!

QUESTION OF THE DAY...
What do you do to keep fit?

QUOTE OF THE DAY...
You're alive. Do something. The directive in life, the moral imperative was so uncomplicated. It could be expressed in single words, not complete sentences. It sounded like this: Look. Listen. Choose. Act.
-- Barbara Hall