English Camp is over. Yay. : ) I thought I would be a little more comfortable the second week, and that things would go smoother, but that wasn’t exactly the case. The second week didn’t go horribly, but – the mix of students was just a bit off and it caused the whole week to be quite taxing. But it was fun, and it was interesting. For now we have another small break (from teaching the kids, not from work) until the kids come back to school on February 6th, so that will give me some time to cool off a bit. And then just two more weeks until going to Jeju to train…so things are split up pretty well to aid in maintaining my sanity.
I just realized that I left my bathing suit at the pool. Growwwwlll.
Yesterday was my last visit to the doctor. I think…he didn’t tell me to come back, and the time before last when I asked when I should come in, he said once or twice more, so I think I can now clear my schedule of doctor’s visits – just in time for full time work to start again. Serves me right. But anyway, I think my range of motion is about 95% back to normal, and I really think I can get it almost 100% back to normal by continuing with the strengthening exercises. It has progressed much faster than I would have thought – and the doc gave me the ok to start doing pushups too…so I am PUMPED about that. : )
Korean is going well. But I’m tired. I think just English Camp combined with changing our meeting times all the time due to English Camp and seeing the doctor every few days and no practice this week because Coach is on a ski trip just all adds up to being really tired. But I also think the next 3 weeks will be really tiring for me because I have to work my butt off to get back into shape. It’s cool though. It will be worth it! And while some days I can’t understand Korean for the life of me because I am so tired, overall my ability is growing strongly and steadily. So I’m happy about that.
Oh yea, yesterday I got my heart rate up to 200 while running. I’m so excited about that!!! haha. Although yesterday I checked my resting heart rate in the morning and it was basically 65 (although I squeezed a 62 in there but I was holding my breath so I don’t think that counts, haha), which for me is horrible. The last time I checked it was 52 or 51 (although that was about 2 or 3 months ago before I got injured, but for some reason I was under the impression that one’s HR stays about the same for a while even if your level of exercise alters. Whatever. Also I think lately I have been a little stressed (I can tell just by resting in bed that there are so many things going through my head), and I am hoping that that too contributes to a higher heart rate, only for the sake of my insane increase in such a short time. So anyway I looked up online ways to lower resting heart rate and I read two very interesting things (one of which I pretty much already knew but just reading something that seems to be reputable helps to make a more persuasive argument in my mind): getting more, uninterrupted sleep (growwwwwllll to my noisy apartment building), and drinking enough water. The first I pretty much knew, but I was not aware that drinking enough water influenced the health of your heart. And, since I came to Korea, I have been drinking a sickeningly small amount of water – some days I might be lucky if I get in two glasses (and my face can attest to this as well, because my acne is worse than ever here). I’ve known this but I just haven’t done anything drastic about it, and I think it is time for me to get on that. It’s just a little difficult here, because a) there are basically no recycling cans around the city, so it is a pain in the *ss to buy water and carry about the empty bottles (that is probably the thing that deters me the most). Also, I’m not sure if Brita exists here…if it does I haven’t seen it. When at home I can boil water and drink that, but I have to wait for it to cool (if I try and put it in the freezer usually I forget about it and then have to wait more time for it to thaw out..haha), and if I want to buy water…I can do that, but that is annoying to have to buy so many bottles of water without having a car to transport – but also with the amount of water I should be drinking I would be using SO many plastic bottles. I wish it were just easier to fill up water bottles!!! But I will find a way : ).
And a few days ago I went for a ride in the middle of the day on a weekday, possibly the first every in Korea, and…it was….amazing. Let me tell you, riding your bike on the busy roads of Busan with prime-time traffic will improve your bike handling skills like nothing else. I only rode for about 70 minutes, but it was one of the most aggressive rides I’ve even done (but I was in complete control the entire time – I’m not going to sacrifice any more body parts to stupidity). I was dead tired (and ridiculously happy) after finishing that ride.
Also, on a completely different topic, I have noticed something quite interesting while walking to school the past few weeks. When I walk past what looks like a school bus for young children, there seems to be a little ritual that occurs when the bus stops to pick up a child. The child is waiting with one of his parents, and someone will get out of the van/bus, stand in front of the child, and give an exaggerated bow to the child, and the child is instructed to do the same to his teacher. I’m sure it’s something they do so that the kids get in the habit of bowing early, but it is just interesting to watch – and it is SO cute!
And this weekend – through Tuesday – we will be celebrating the New Year (Lunar New Year), which in Korean is much more important than the New Year celebrated on January 1. So we have Monday and Tuesday off from school, days which I will take to rest and study I believe. And do some quality training, but tomorrow I am going to do a 5-6 hour ride followed by a 1-2 hour run so I think I will be out of hard-core-training-commission for the next few days after that.
I’m so excited to be exhausted tomorrow after riding. This will be my first long workout day alone in Korea, and I am kind of excited. I hope to remember to bring my camera – get some quality picture-taking in.
Speaking of being exhausted - I am tired just thinking about being tired. So. Goodnight!
PS – I am so proud to be an American (in response to watching Obama’s inauguration speech yesterday).
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment