6 weeks until my next half marathon. Starting to feel good about my pace again. I took way too much time off after the last one and was dropped by my running buddies. Still using the Hal Higdon Novice plan. But due to the hill climb within the first 5 miles I have added some light sprinting just one session during the week.
No problems any more with calf soreness after making the changes in my stride and running posture.(see previous posts)
Update***
Finished the half in about 2:10. It was great cutting 10 minutes off of my last time. The course was much harder as well. It had one huge climb and many smaller hills. The last 3 miles of the course was flat but by that time I had not gas in the tank to take advantage of it. Shooting for under 2 hours next time. But with my wife in graduate school now it may be hard to find time to train for the next event.
Will be looking for some 10k runs to do instead.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Disappearing of Weapons in Chinese Martial Arts
Here a small sample of an article by Damon Smith about the study of weapons in Chinese Martial Arts. Anyone interested in weapons or chinese style martial arts would benefit from the reading.
It is interesting to note that the Manchu favoured the bow above all weapons, and they were originally skilled archers. The Chinese were also originally skilled archers, but in some circles, particularly those relating to option 2 above, anything Manchu was tainted with a hint of being a traitor or collaborator. This factor may well have led to a reduction of the use of the bow among ethnic Chinese martial artists. So while the Manchu military and their Mongol and Chinese militias continued the practice of archery and other weapons, the native "ingrained" martial arts population among the ethnic Chinese began to reduce somewhat the number of weapons studied and focus on those which could be easily concealed. Favoured weapons included smaller jian swords and dao type blades, as well as weapons which could be claimed to be for another use, such as the staff used for walking or carrying loads, or a shorter-than-battlefield-length spear with the point removed that could be claimed to be a staff. Straight swords (jian) were also often regarded as a symbol of social status and may have been overlooked by the authorities in cases where other types of weapons would not be acceptable. This might be likened to the practice of sword wearing at special events like weddings in a few European countries today, and indeed more so until very recent times. As a symbol of social status, the sword would be acceptable at such an event, but a bow would not be.
Thus, there was a tendency towards smaller size in the dedicated weapons and towards non-specialisation in the larger weapons among the Han. Use of weapons that could only be associated with the battlefield, such as various types of specialised lances, halberds, war-hammers and war-axes, began to disappear among the general population, if not among the Manchu military and associated units.
It is interesting to note that the Manchu favoured the bow above all weapons, and they were originally skilled archers. The Chinese were also originally skilled archers, but in some circles, particularly those relating to option 2 above, anything Manchu was tainted with a hint of being a traitor or collaborator. This factor may well have led to a reduction of the use of the bow among ethnic Chinese martial artists. So while the Manchu military and their Mongol and Chinese militias continued the practice of archery and other weapons, the native "ingrained" martial arts population among the ethnic Chinese began to reduce somewhat the number of weapons studied and focus on those which could be easily concealed. Favoured weapons included smaller jian swords and dao type blades, as well as weapons which could be claimed to be for another use, such as the staff used for walking or carrying loads, or a shorter-than-battlefield-length spear with the point removed that could be claimed to be a staff. Straight swords (jian) were also often regarded as a symbol of social status and may have been overlooked by the authorities in cases where other types of weapons would not be acceptable. This might be likened to the practice of sword wearing at special events like weddings in a few European countries today, and indeed more so until very recent times. As a symbol of social status, the sword would be acceptable at such an event, but a bow would not be.
Thus, there was a tendency towards smaller size in the dedicated weapons and towards non-specialisation in the larger weapons among the Han. Use of weapons that could only be associated with the battlefield, such as various types of specialised lances, halberds, war-hammers and war-axes, began to disappear among the general population, if not among the Manchu military and associated units.
Kuntaw Staff Drill
Guru Buzz teaching a staff drill. With just a few encounters I have had with Buzz he has helped me "find" stuff in my staff work. Many of the moves from my old staff form made no sense until spending about 5 minutes with the Guru. One drill that he showed us revolves around controlling the weapon. Here is the video (thanks to may friend Jeff) that he asked me to share. Obviously Rob was still getting the hang of it. He is a quick study though.
Video of Kuntaw Guru Brian "Buzz" Smith teaching at the Gathering
We had a great time hanging out with Buzz while we were there. He is one of the most generous, open and knowledgeable teachers that I have met. Guru Buzz will be teaching at a big Filipino Martial Arts event this May in Illinois. That has to be the first Staff Choke I have ever seen.
Monday, December 20, 2010
David Belle - Parkour
People that do exceptional things or develop their talents are always inspiring.
Here is a vid of David Belle; the man who started the Parkour revolution.
Here is a vid of David Belle; the man who started the Parkour revolution.
Half Marathon Update/fore foot strike
Well,
Jon and I participated in the Mississippi Track Club half marathon a few weekends ago.
It was a blast. You would be surprised at the different types of people that show up for one of those events. My favorite was a man with a pot belly running with what looked like a fat dog. Never caught 'em. Most people just seemed like ordinary folks with only a few looking like "runners".
We took it real easy the first 10 miles or so. The goal for this event was simply to finish. I did stretch my legs a bit at the 10 mile mark to complete my first event in 2:21 for 152nd place. Not bad. It was a solid middle of the pack performance. To be "competitive" I need to shave almost an hour off of that time...maybe sometime in the future.
Since last weekend I have been stuffing myself and not running at all. I gave my self a week off to just relax. To be honest I was a little worn out and it took the whole week to recover. Christmas is this weekend.
My running goals for the next month are just to put some more miles on my new stride and slowly start making the conversion to the puma's that the Pose Techniques prefer. It seems like a good compromise for huarachis. My initial running shoe was a New Balance trainer. Well, It was not a running shoe per se. I picked it because the heel was not much thicker than the pad on the front of the shoe. It was a compromise between the flat Puma and traditional Nike style running shoe.
I'll buy a pair of the Puma's after Xmas and start doing my shorter runs in them. Want to be fully transitioned by next summer. The tendons, bones, muscles of the foot take a good bit of time to strengthen esp. after a lifetime of modern shoes.
After running my first half with the forefoot strike I was left will some simple calf tightness and of course some muscle stiffness that was gone after 2 or 3 days.
Jon and I participated in the Mississippi Track Club half marathon a few weekends ago.
It was a blast. You would be surprised at the different types of people that show up for one of those events. My favorite was a man with a pot belly running with what looked like a fat dog. Never caught 'em. Most people just seemed like ordinary folks with only a few looking like "runners".
We took it real easy the first 10 miles or so. The goal for this event was simply to finish. I did stretch my legs a bit at the 10 mile mark to complete my first event in 2:21 for 152nd place. Not bad. It was a solid middle of the pack performance. To be "competitive" I need to shave almost an hour off of that time...maybe sometime in the future.
Since last weekend I have been stuffing myself and not running at all. I gave my self a week off to just relax. To be honest I was a little worn out and it took the whole week to recover. Christmas is this weekend.
My running goals for the next month are just to put some more miles on my new stride and slowly start making the conversion to the puma's that the Pose Techniques prefer. It seems like a good compromise for huarachis. My initial running shoe was a New Balance trainer. Well, It was not a running shoe per se. I picked it because the heel was not much thicker than the pad on the front of the shoe. It was a compromise between the flat Puma and traditional Nike style running shoe.
I'll buy a pair of the Puma's after Xmas and start doing my shorter runs in them. Want to be fully transitioned by next summer. The tendons, bones, muscles of the foot take a good bit of time to strengthen esp. after a lifetime of modern shoes.
After running my first half with the forefoot strike I was left will some simple calf tightness and of course some muscle stiffness that was gone after 2 or 3 days.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Super Athletes of the Sierra Madre
Craig Gray made a trip down here to Memphis last weekend to give a few seminars at the Krav Maga Center. They went well (will write about that later).
I was talking about training for the half marathon and he suggested a book called Born To Run. It has been a very good read so far. Caballo Blanco is an American that goes to Copper Canyon in Mexico to live and run. The amazing power of Google lead me to this video about a race that Caballo Blanco has put together. This short film talks about the Tarahumara indians and the very traditional lives that they lead.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
I was talking about training for the half marathon and he suggested a book called Born To Run. It has been a very good read so far. Caballo Blanco is an American that goes to Copper Canyon in Mexico to live and run. The amazing power of Google lead me to this video about a race that Caballo Blanco has put together. This short film talks about the Tarahumara indians and the very traditional lives that they lead.
I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
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