Blue Sash

It's been a while since we had a photo of the patalones caliente. No better time than now.
Last night was my fourth test in Muay Thai. There were six others testing along with me.

Of course it was the hottest day of the year. Around 80 and a bit humid. We were all lathered up pretty good after only about 10 minutes.

As usual, we did demonstrations of the skills we have learned in the last six months. We also sparred, did pad drills and showed our conditioning.

The last two tests I was given the "star" of the show as the best tester. Not to be last night. I am not sure what it was, but I did not have as good of a test as I would have liked. I think my body is fatigued from all of the other activities and needs a break. I just wasn't in the zone mentally or physically.

My legs were still killing me from my duathlon on Saturday. I really did leave everything I had out there on that course and at my test I paid the price. During some kicking drills the instructor noticed about a 20% power drop in my kicks. He asked me about it after the test and I told him that my legs were "dead" from all of my other activities. He understood as he is also interested in the running and biking I have been doing outside of the gym.

But no excuses. I didn't execute in this test to the best of my abilities (and everyone knew it), but I managed to pass. I am happy that the test is over, as always. Now we get a couple of weeks of "easy" classes where we get to have more fun than usual before the curriculum begins again after the 4th. Also, new strength training circuits begin and we have a new crop of fighters that I will be helping train. I will keep pushing my body until that 4th of July week, where I think I won't do any workouts at all, except for a tiny bit of running to keep up my cardio. Rest - it does a body good...and the mind.