Brains or sweat

Ever try and learn something when you're really tired? Did it work for you?

I prefer Karate classes that are focused on precision practise, or brain stuff.

I don't mind a Karate class that pushes the physical side of things really hard. Trouble is, after doing this for a while one cannot use the brain much.

Sometimes the instructor thinks the class can do both. Wrongo.

It isn't just Karate. I've taken ballroom dance classes on Friday night after a long, hard workweek. I can move, and think, and learn for exactly one hour. After that, nothing new sinks in. Ever. I can keep doing the stuff I already know, and polish that up, but forget any fresh memory stuff.

It happens in School. Why do you think we send the kids home at 3pm instead of going on until 6 or 7? There would be no point. Not only would they be miserable, they'd be unable to absorb anything.

In the States they've tried something like this in elementary school. The kids get no breaks outside in the course of the day. This was done to try and increase the standardized test scores that determine the schools' funding. The result is that the test scores dropped. Their wee brains are just too tired.

Anyhow, I like the brainy kind of class, not the sweaty kind. I get my sweating by running. Running gets me more sweat per minute than Karate does.

Your mileage may vary.

More chair time

Not getting in much punching or kicking this summer.

I'm doing a fair amount of biking, and sharing most of it with Helen.

Tons of running.

It seems my average running pace is sneaking up. Usually, I'm happy to beat 9kph, but now I'm a shade below 10. I don't know what this means health wise, but it means I can run farther in the same amount of time. That's a good thing.

Or I can run the same distance, and have more time in my Ezboy recliner. Somehow that feels wrong.

Fat defense

Today was then end of our 10th cruise.

The rule of thumb on these things is that one will gain an average of about 5 pounds. To pull off this feat in one week, one must consume double normal caloric intake, and would then only gain 4.

People eat a great deal on cruises. I keep up with the best of them.

On our first cruise, which was only 4 days, I managed to lose two pounds. It being our first cruise, I was at every activity I could find, including exercise classes, and dancing. We also walked our feet off in every port, and snorkled like pros.

In all the other cruises, I acted like a normal person, and gained weight just like everybody else.

Not this time. I ate like a madman. Walked in the towns a bit, and danced in the evenings. Nothing special to burn the bad stuff away. I pushed only a couple of times. Did about 10km of running on the silly treadmill machines. In Skagway, I took things up a notch. Everybody went shopping, or touring, and I went running. Put in 20.8km.

What was the end result?

I gained 0.4 pounds on my lovely trip to Alaska. I call that breaking even.

Running is a good thing.

Off the boat

My chair feels fabulous. I'm sure it missed me, as did the TV.

Caught the 7am ferry from Victoria to Vancouver. The drive across Van was not bad, but chocked up around the Lions Gate Bridge. Arrived at about 10am at the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal parking lot. The next boat wasn't until noon, so we killed some time in town.

The boat got us almost to our shore, and then had a technical problem and couldn't dock until some of the crew beat it back into shape with a bit of brute force. Finally stepped into our house about 2pm.

A long, slow day overall.

Now home, and the laundry done.

It will be time to run soon. I've been doing plenty of running in Victoria, but it will feel good to be back on my old trails. Who would have thunk it.

One=three

There used to be one big Shotokan association in this province. This was back in the 1980s, and it was part of Nishiyama's world wide group. Here Sakurai Sensei was the head, and Mike Scales and Andy Holmes were the number 2 and 3 guys.

I was happily ignoring all the politics, having returned to university to become a schoolteacher.

The news was that Nishiyama was coming to Vancouver to give a short seminar. I left Victoria for the weekend for this chance to train with one of the legendary instructors. I bet I was smiling every minute of the ferry trip over.

The training was top notch, and very well attended. This was followed by Black Belt examinations, and then for some reason, a meeting of all Black Belts. I must have been the only guy there that didn't know what was happening.

Nishiyama was involved in an international struggle to gain control of tournament Karate. Who would gain Olympic recognition?

He was in Vancouver to order us to stop participating in any tournaments he did not control. Nobody was willing to do this. The 'other' tournaments were the real ones.

Sakurai Sensei, caught in the middle, sat stoney faced. Tempers flared, and voices got louder and louder. Nishiyama remained calm, but steadfast and pretended to not understand any arguement against him.

When it ended I left thinking, "What the hell just happened?"

It was the end of the association in the province. Some clubs joined the ISKF, which had been a small group in BC prior to all this. Sakurai Sensei formed a new group out of the clubs that stayed loyal to him. Those that felt he had somehow betrayed them, lead by Scales and Holmes, formed another.

To the best of my knowledge, nobody went with Nishiyama.

This year I've trained with people from all three of the heir associations. All are nice, and seem to punch the same way.

Fancy that.

UVIC

Finally, made it to a Karate class while visiting here in Victoria. It only took me a week of procrastinating.

They are part of the University of Victoria recreation program, and have a beautiful, mirrored wall facility to have classes in. Mirrors make a huge difference in correcting one's form.

Their organization, my old organization, and my new organization all used to be part of the same group a long time ago. They went their separate ways over twenty years ago.

It's fascinating to see how little they have actually diverged. The rituals are mostly the same, and the technique, and the Katas. Slight variations, of course, but nothing significant.

Shotokan stays Shotokan.

I'll go back if I have a free evening while we are here. That might not add up to much, but it doesn't have to.

I'll also go to my own club's classes whenever I'm home.

September, it will be back to three classes per week, steady.

Origami

Today we went to Fairfield Bikes to look at folding cycles. We figure we'll want some when we're retired voyageurs.

They had a Dahon model, and a couple of Bromptons. Both are wonderfully designed, and fine craftmanship. However, I'm just not a Brompton man. It felt like a toy, was too small, and had nasty gear ratios. I could, however, be very happy with the Dahon. It fit me and felt like a real bike.

The store guy was super. Spent a lot of time with us even though we made it clear that no purchase was happening right now.

Pity the folders don't have motors.

Ran a little instead...

Today I almost made it to Karate. The UVIC club class starts at 6pm, and we were still eating supper. Can't rush these things.

I don't feel guilty. I ran 25km today, for no reason at all. I ran down Cedar Hill Road, until it changed into Cook Street, and just kept going. Got to the end of Cook Street, where it slams into the ocean, turned left, and just kept going. Followed the shoreline roads around until I was back here. That's the farthest I've ever gone in one go.

I've done a couple of half-marathons, which are 21-point-something km. They hurt more, as I always run too fast. Did today's run at an average speed of 9kph. I feel fine.

Enough for one day? Not quite. Helen and I had to split up, and were to meet at mom's care home around lunchtime. She got the car, and I rode the bike. It's about 7km each way.

Karate would have been nice icing on the cake, but the pita rolls were too enticing.

Cam-o-rama

My bike camera is a puzzlement.  I have three ways to attach it and am trying to decide which is best.

My helmet mount isn't great. The camera records every head movement, which messes up the movie.

There is a handlebar clamp, too. It suffers from the same kind of problem. The movies are too wobbly.

Today I'm trying option three. It's  a brassiere looking creation than bolts the camera to my chest. It won't wobble, but having arms on either side of the shot might be distracting.

We shall see.

Foodie

Victoria is a city of wonderful food. That being said, I must add that we've had an especially yummy time here.

We know a place that has to-die-for pizza. Real pizza, as in Napoli. Been there twice this trip.

Ate at a BBQ place called 'Smokin Bones'. That is one great name. The food is big, and made the dry rub style.

Had seafood out of a shack place on a downtown wharf. Barely had a sign so was tricky to find, but the taste made up for it.

Don't know where we'll graze next, but am looking forward to it with droolie anticipation.

Got out

Was out the door at 5:30am. Starbucks? A visit to bacon breakfast buffet world?

Nope. I was on a run, with the sunlight all sideways and shadows everywhere.

Too early even for commuters to be about. Just me, and the trees.

No bunnies at UVIC, which seems strange. Deer were about, and I saw three. Only stopped for one picture as they didn't seem to need disturbing.

Did a tad over 8km, and yes, the run ended at Starbucks.

Best Intentions

The plan was to get to Victoria, and investigate all the interesting martial arts options.

The Judo Club's web page magically vanished, and I've been too lazy to go there looking for info. Lucky I know the locale.

The instructor at the UVIC Karate club emailed me back and said I can train with them. They meet Tuesdays and Thursdays. Yesterday was Thursday, but holiday activity called.

Victoria is full of wonderful, scenic runs. I've been here 3 days, and haven't run an inch.

I did do one bike ride, and we've walked downtown doing the exercise known as 'shopping'.

I'll keep trying.

If only I didn't get in my way.

Home

Can you go back? I've been back training for 8 months, and that has been good, but it is all very different. New faces, new club, new association.

Since returning, I have contacted my old Sensei via email.

What is a Sensei? It means teacher, but there is nothing in the English language that has the same importance. The literal translation is ‘one who lived before’.

It is such a status term in Japan, that it is also applied to Doctors, Lawyers, or people who have truly mastered a field, such as renowned artists. Can you imagine calling a Doctor "teacher" to honour him?

In English we have the term mentor. That fits, but it is incomplete. We call people coach as a sign of respect, but that isn't exactly it either.

The best portrait of a Sensei in western literature is Mr. Miyagi in the original Karate Kid movie.

In Karate, there are Senseis everywhere. "Look, there's Sensei X talking to Sensei Y, and later there will be a meeting of all the Senseis." These people are treated with respect, which they deserve.

If a student is lucky, they will find THEIR Sensei. Some never do. I've been lucky. I've had two. The first was Foster Sensei, who introduced me to Shotokan, and was my teacher up north. We lost touch twenty years ago, and I have no idea where he is now.

The other person I call MY Sensei, is Yasuo Sakurai. I met him when I was a Green Belt. At the time he was a 5th Dan, and was the chief instructor in Montreal. He was in BC doing Seminars. He later moved to Vancouver and took over the head roll of this provinces branch of the JKA.

He came north to teach us many times, and I trained with him whenever I was in Vancouver. He moved back to Japan over 20 years ago. He returned frequently to give seminars, and I was always a participant.

He became a friend, as well as a teacher.

Ten years ago I stopped training, and have recently returned.

I got in contact with Sakurai Sensei, and he asked me to get in contact with the head of the JKA in BC. Both gave me permission to attend his most recent seminar.

Would I be really welcomed back?

How would I do training through numerous, high intensity classes? The last time I've done this was over a decade ago. The only recent such efforts have been the two half marathons I've run. I expected the Karate training to be harder, and it was.

Helen and I were up at 5am to catch the first ferry. On the Mainland side, it's an hour and a half drive out into the Valley. We got there nice and early, and killed time with fancy coffee at McDonalds, and the use of their WiFi.

Helen dropped me at the Dojo.

Not many were there when I arrived, but a few. Got changed upstairs, and shortly after returning to the ground floor, Don Sharp and Sakurai Sensei arrived. Don saw me first. Smiles, bows, handshakes and a hug all mixed together, then the same with Sakurai Sensei.

Shortly after, the session began.

The first class was for the BC members going to the big tournament in Taiwan in August.

There were 18 of there, including Sensei. The second special class was slightly smaller (two gone, but one more arrived), and the third smaller still (about 12 left). The three sessions all blurred, so I'll treat the team training times all together.

We worked a lot on Kata. Mostly it was Heian 1-5, Tekki Shodan, Bassai Dai, and Empi. The competitors all need these ones for the tournament. It was a mix of 'correct' movement, and moving with speed.

Besides Kata, there was a lot of partner training with the hand pads on. Moderate body contact is expected, and no problem. We played dummy for one another many times, and changed partners frequently. Bam, I got a heavy shot in the ribs. It felt weird right away. It generated a sharp pain, very localized. These things happen, so I just continued. I'm sure my partner didn't even know. He didn't really hit me overly hard. Some kind of freak result.

The injury didn't affect my performance at all, but deep breaths became a problem. A shot in the same spot would have caused a real injury. Whenever Sensei sent us out to get our hand pads in later classes, I stayed out and got changed. This happened twice, and I gave up about 20 minutes of training each time, but old people don't heal fast.

My other injury was a bashed foot. I call it a stubbed toe, but it's really two of them that got conked. One might be broken. My foot hurts when it bends, or gets bumped, and generally all the time. I had to ignore it.

The other three classes were open to all the team training participants, and any JKA BC Black or Brown Belts. There were about 30 people at each of these sessions. These were more generalized training, and also excellent.

After one of these, Don Sharp called all the Black Belts over to make a few announcements regarding upcoming events and such.

He then said how happy he was to be able to train again with Sensei...Gordon. That's me. He went on to tell the assembled people a bit of my own Karate history, and at the end everybody bowed to me.

Up until that everybody had been quite polite to me, and friendly enough, but also somewhat reserved. They didn't know who I was. Suddenly everybody was smiling at me, and addressing me as Sensei.

I had come home.

Roll

Interesting week.

We're off work.

My bike is fixed better than ever.

Helen's cholesterol test was good.

The dentist puts on my new crowns tomorrow.

We went to a chick-flick last night, and I loved it.

Had surprise sushi for lunch.

Our broken cable box turned out to be just a little confused.

Oh, yeah. Our bank lady said we can easily retire when we hoped to.


Is that a roll, or what?

Slow Learner

Karate is fast.

I like slow.

You have to be able to do movements very quickly, but that's actually easy.

Try doing it slow. Mix the slow with the fast.

Make the slow movements a perfect match to the fast, but because you have better control you must do them better. Perfect the slow. Practise the slow. Improve the slow.

Pick up the speed slightly. The form will fail a bit. Work until it is perfect again.

Pick up the speed again. Perfect it all again.

Return to moving as quickly as you possibly can. Perfect it again, with what you learned moving slowly. You'll actually be faster than ever, and stronger, and better.

Keep returning to slow.

Learn from slow.

Bratwurst

Perfect day today, weather wise. Blue skies, blazing sunshine, the works.

Couple of downsides. We wasted a mess of time outside in the yard. I call it ripping out plants. Helen calls it weeding.

The blackberries are the worst. It's like having massive bales of ninja-zombie barbed wire that crawls slowly in from every side. "Brains...brains..."

I go at them with my bo. That's a 6 foot Okinawan staff. I've modified it with an 18 inch blade on one end. Works pretty good.

The best part was bike riding. No goal, except to rack up the miles. I have a foot thing happening, so I can't run. To make up my 6km running goal, I figure I need 36km on the bike. Did that and a tad over for luck. Found out that riding on a too-small frame can cause knee pain.

How come everything can cause knee pain?

It's off to McDonalds for supper. What the heck is a McRibb. Helen has her heart set on one of those. After McSupper, we're off to see a recent Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts movie. It seems like a chick flick, but I like Tom Hanks. Pity I dislike Julia Roberts.

She used to be OK, and even decent looking, but then she got one of those lovely Hollywood lip jobs. It looks like her mouth is lined with a couple of bratwurst. Who decided that is attractive?

Must have been a German.

Camera

I have a really cool camera. It is made tough enough to fasten on surfboards, bike helmets, motorcycles or any of that stuff.

It came with a head mount headband thing. Perfect if you want to go shopping with a camera stuck on the top of your head. It also had a kick ass bike helmet mount.

I like that one. The only problem is I like doing time lapse videos, and that doesn't work the best with the cam on the helmet. Turning the head to check for traffic messes up the video.

Today I was loose for a short while in a big box store. They sell my brand of camera, and some of the accessories. Bought two more mounting devices.

Got a nice, sturdy bike mount. Now instead of the camera being on the helmet, it'll be bolted to the bike frame. That should work better.

The other straps the camera securely to the operator's chest. The head strap just didn't seem secure if any body movement would be going on. The chest strap is much better. It is also not as strange looking as the head strap. One could walk a mall with it on and not garner any stares. Not a spy cam by any means, but less of a neon sign.

Tomorrow, I'll be off to make some videos.

I hope I get jolly results.