For the
last 4 weeks I've been in Plakias. A wonderful holiday resort in
Crete, Greece that my father retired to about 17 years ago.
Officially it's a fishing village with an indigenous population of
about 150. Unofficially it's a party town from May to October where
people go to have a lot of F.U.N.
When I set
off I had every intention of visiting a Krav Maga club in Athens on
the mainland of Greece and training for one session with a club
there. This was all arranged via e-mail before I set out but then
life got in the way. The Greek KMG director was at the International
Director's meeting in Israel for the first chunk of my vacation and
after that my brother got sick so that didn't occur (but will either
later on this year or next summer when I go back).
My brother
is into martial arts, holding a black belt in Judo and a blue belt in
Jiu Jitsu. He also boxes, so set up a makeshift punch bag outside my
dad's apartment, hanging from one of the wooden beams, and we had the
grand total of TWO sessions on that before the hangovers began to
conquer my desire to remain Kravvy.
I'd also
vowed I'd continue my regime of 70 inclined push ups every day and
100 abdominal crunches. Happened the first day only.
Reality
is, that unless you are very focussed and seriously “into”
getting and keeping super fit, a holiday is not the place to try and
keep up a training schedule.
I spent a
month drinking heavily nearly every day; doing shots like they were
going out of style; eating ice cream for pudding meal; gobbling down a full English breakfast about 4 days a week; wolfing down
a pitta gyro at least once every 2 days (a kebab with chips in it);
and having hangovers that made me contemplate genocide. I did
virtually no exercise (couple of scuba dives, some swimming and a lot
of walking) and would sleep in till about lunchtime most days
Bottom
line is that I'm now officially unfit. As much as I want to go back
to Krav and train with my club again, I'm also well aware that my
body needs just a little TLC before I throw myself back into this. My
chief instructor Bartosz is one of the best there is, and being that
good he expects a commitment from his students that I'm normally
happy to give. Last year though, I came back from Plakias after a
month of doing whatever the hell I liked, and nearly puked during the
warm up...about 5 minutes into the session.
So this
year, I've got a different plan.
On the
plane from Crete to London I ordered a cup of tomato soup and a pot
of lentils with spicy couscous (menu option 5), even though I was
salivating at the thought of a bacon and cheese hero sandwich, a cup
of filter coffee and a Twix chocolate bar (menu option 2).
I landed
back in England yesterday morning at 2am (Saturday 12th
July) and slept like the dead until about 11am once I got home. I had
bran flakes for breakfast, and made some soup and had a fruit
smoothie for lunch and dinner. That night I chilled out in front of
the TV with season 2 of “Sons of Anarchy” and again slept like
the recently deceased until 11am today. I went for a bike ride of 5
or so miles (about half the distance I usually go) and came back and
had a cup of soup for lunch.
I know
guys who hurl themselves into Krav at every given opportunity, even
if hungover or ill. Problem is that that usually invokes further
issues and even possibly prolonged absence from training due to
making their bodies feel a hell of a lot worse. Having trained while
“under the weather” I know how you must feel at least 95% fit in
order to gain anything from sports, especially something as
cardio-based as Krav Maga.
My body is
different now to how it was a month ago. I've gained about half a
stone, I have a lot less stamina and my endurance is low. Not to
mention that anyone using the toilet after me currently needs to take
a canary in a cage in there with them.
Either
later this week or early next week, I will return to my club and get
stuck in. I'm itching to go back there now, but won't. One of the
things Krav has showed me is that sometimes it pays to be patient and
not run but walk.
So that
one may walk in peace. Not fall to pieces.
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