Haven't updated for a while because things have been crazy with track and school and training for the test so I forgot. We have one more week of track and two more weeks of school. The test is tomorrow. I feel like I'm ready and well prepared. Steve ran the marathon two weeks ago and did well. He's taken a couple weeks off running to let his joints go back to normal. He has gone to a few TKD classes and came to work out with me last Sunday morning.

I'll update again after the test.

So, I forgot to do any updating after the fast and meditation. The meditation went well for the first 6 hours. The second 6 went by more slowly and by the end it was a struggle to sit still. But, I did it and now it's done.

The second pretest is this Thursday. I guess I'm ready but things have been busy with track, so I haven't made it to class much. I am still doing the Sunday morning workouts, though, so I feel I'm in pretty good shape as far as the forms go.

Steve only has a couple weeks until the marathon. He's already done his 20 mile run and is now backing off on mileage until the actual marathon. After the marathon he will start doing the sunday workouts with me to start getting caught up on TKD training. He'd like to be ready to test for his black belt in November. Considering he's training for a marathon, I don't think preparing for the test will be a problem.

My student teacher is done on Friday, so I actually have to start doing plans for CP again. Of more concern is the fact that the AP test is in less than 3 weeks. We finished the body systems today and we'll start the crash course on the kingdoms before we get into full review mode. We have started doing some review whenever we have some extra time and we're meeting after school at least one day during the week. Hopefully everyone will be ready and confident by the time May 12 rolls around.

I'm definitely feeling the effects of not eating today. Yesterday morning I felt pretty bad but once I had water I felt better. Standing out in the cold and rain at track meets two nights in a row probably didn't help, but I feel like it could have been worse. All in all the fast isn't going that bad. I haven't been moving around at all today. I find that I can deal with the occasional hunger (which hasn't been bad since Wed) but I just really enjoy eating. I miss tasting food. I like brushing my teeth because I get flavor in my mouth. Steve's cooking a simple dinner tomorrow. I don't want to eat anything too involved right away, as my system may not respond well to that. I foresee a long evening of grazing tomorrow.

The fast officially started today. It's one of those things that if you're doing it for "detoxifying" and all that, it's best to go water only. However, since I have to go to work and coach track, including a two day meet, I'm going to plan on starting the day out with a little juice and having some almonds since I'll need the energy. I'll try going water only on Saturday since I don't have to do anything that day. And, obviously Sunday I'll be meditating so that will only involve some water.

Spring break was this week. I cleaned the house, played with the dog, worked out, and worked on my paper for the test. The paper is mostly written. I have to finish the section on OMAC history and then do a lot of proofreading, but it's a good start. I actually managed to go for a jog with Rowlf. Usually he either walks or wants to sprint, so getting him at a jogging pace was a minor achievement.

Next week is the fast and meditation. Max and I are starting the fast at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday and starting the meditation at 4:00 a.m. on Sunday. The fast will then end at 4:00 p.m. on Sunday, giving me a few hours to enjoy eating before Monday comes. During the fast I'm eating only almonds, miso soup, and a multi-vitamin and drinking water and some no sugar added fruit juice. The second day will probably be the worst, although we have a track meet Thursday and Friday nights, so those could be two very long days. For anyone wondering "why?", the fast and meditation are demonstrations of self-control and discipline.

And, even though I'm doing a five day fast and 12 hour meditation, I still think I'm more sane than Steve, who will be running 18 miles tomorrow and 20 miles next Sunday as part of marathon training. Steve has about a month left, and after next Sunday he starts the scaling back part of his training program. So he's almost through the worst of the training. His program doesn't have him run further than 20 miles during training. Go Steve!

Taebek video

Steve took a video of my form with the camera so I could see it. Good for analysis.

Good: Front kicks, most stances, in general I'm pretty happy with it.

Room for improvement: I rushed a little in the middle, I need to get my knee up and rechamber more on the side kicks. I also turned my back on the side kicks, which means I need to increase my side flexibility some (which I already knew and is a work in progress). Also need some more power on the blocks at the end.

I think I'll have Steve take video on some more things so that I can actually watch what I'm doing...it makes it easier to fix things.

The pretest went well. Nothing much to report there. Need to work on remembering self defence #'s 20-30.

Went to Battle of Columbus yesterday. I did forms...no sparing this year. I placed 1st in my division doing Taebek. Overall I thought the tournament ran better than it has the past few years. And of course, I had a better time because the day didn't end with a trip to the hospital.

I've been continuing the Sunday workouts. Today I worked on conditioning, the staff form, self defence, and some other assorted forms. I also thing I got my breaking routine worked out on Monday. I should probably look into starting the paper soon, since I haven't given it any thought at all.

The meditation has been set for April 6. Max and I decided to start at 4 a.m. which has up finishing at 4 p.m. This will give us at least part of the day Sunday to enjoy (= eat). The fast will begin at 4p.m. Tuesday night. It's probably going to seem like a long week. Fortunately, my student teaching is still doing just about everything for bio, so I only have to worry about AP and environmental.