Saturday's Brief Training

The office move is coming up. Today's training was brief: 30 minutes roadwork in the great, glorious Chicago spring weather, along with some shadowboxing.

Friday Roadwork

57 minutes today. I am making a comeback...

Brief Update

Not too much happening here. Things have been hectic with the office move and everything else happening. Our boxing club will be losing its home in a few weeks and I am not sure what will happen at that point. Here is a new gym I am considering joining if we can't keep our club together (although I really hope we can).

http://www.jabbboxing.com/home.html

Emerald Gloves 2007 Photos Are Online

Actually, they have been online for a while, but I've been scrambling just to get basic stuff done and haven't been blogging--or training--much. At least I've been training more than blogging, so it isn't all bad.

Some of the photos from Friday's Second Annual Emerald Gloves international boxing tournament are online. Here is the link to them:

http://glennfaust.smugmug.com/gallery/2599275

They include photos of the bouts in which our CAA boxers participated: Matt, Kevin, and Bill. It was good to see our club's boxers in action. I didn't get to box in the event this year, but I hope to be back to it in 2008. Way to go, Matt, Kevin, and Bill!

Freezing April Roadwork

1 hour and 6 minutes today. It has been so cold here, I had to throw punches just to stay warm! Is this really April? Anyway, I think, I hope things are easing up a bit and I'll be able to resume attending practices next week. Things have been just nuts lately!

Some Thoughts on Healthy Eating

I haven't said anything here about the importance of proper nutrition in health and fitness. That surprises me because I am definitely conscious of that importance and I try to make wise food choices consistently. Good nutrition might be something we can take for granted if we are developing and maintaining good eating habits, but as with all things, it is easier to sustain that practice when I take some awareness to it and live consciously rather than unconsciously.

Over at The Philosopher's Stone, Russell Newquist, my friend, fellow athlete, and health-and-fitness kind of guy, shares his observations about the increased availability of healthy foods when we are away from our homes. This is one of those nutritional subtopics about which I've been fairly unconscious. Let me put it this way. Although I try to select healthy foods away from home, I don't often remember that it is more difficult to make those choices when I don't have direct control over the ingredients in the menu or the way the food is prepared.

Happily, as Russell points out, it is now easier to find one's favorite healthy foods in various places, even while eating meals away from home. Thanks for the reminder, Russell! Here's to some good eating for everyone, everywhere.

2007 Emerald Gloves Update

On Friday, March 16, my boxing club sponsored our second annual Emerald Gloves boxing tournament. It was a great time. We had a team comprised of amateur boxers from Ireland and England competing with a local team of champions. The bouts were excellent and, except for one, demonstrated a high level of sportsmanship. As far as I can tell, the event was an even bigger success than last year's tournament, so I'm happy about that, even though I was a lot less involved in the planning this year.

Three of our boxers boxed on Friday evening. Bill and Kevin boxed in an entertaining exhibition bout, while Matt competed against one of the Irish boxers whose opponent pulled out at the last minute. It was Matt's first bout and he did well, too. It was great to see my friends in the ring and doing so well. I hope to have a link to photos of the event in the next day or two.

I sat out the tournament this year. In fact, I watched the bouts with my friend Tim, who was my opponent in last year's Emerald Gloves, after enjoying a great dinner of Irish cuisine with Tim's friendly and charming wife.

Although I did not box this year, it was nice to see my bout mentioned in this year's program. There was a section called, "2006 Emerald Gloves Recap" which gave the following summary of my bout with Tim:

"2 attorneys and everyday friends, battled it out in the ring rather than the courtroom. They took the audience by surprise with their skill and all out effort. The roaring crowd declared a tie."

I certainly did not expect any additional recognition a year later, but it was nice to be mentioned. Here is a link to the rest of the 2006 recap:

http://www.chicagoathletic.com/Files/Library/EmeraldGlovesRecap.pdf

I wrote my own account of my experience at last year's event:

http://www.steveimparl.info/wiki/index.php?title=Emerald_Gloves_Report

Finally, there are some additional photos of my bout with Tim at the following page:

http://www.steveimparl.info/photos/thumbnails.php?album=1

Enjoy!

Roadwork Update

Yeah, I am still focusing on the roadwork and basic conditioning. Lots of stuff has been going on, some of it pretty difficult, so my workouts have not been what I want them to be. (For a little information about what has been happening, see this entry at The Manly Teas blog.)

In any event, I saw my coach, Bernard O'Shea, on Friday night. I told him what was going on and mentioned that I am still doing some basic, though limited, workouts with the roadwork, shadowboxing, and jumping rope. He seemed more concerned about the family stuff that's happening now than about my workouts and progress; he knows I'm pretty committed to this sport. It was good to have his overall reassurance and to have him gently suggest that I return to our team practices when the time is good for me.

So here is a little update on roadwork for the last couple of weeks.

• March 9: 20 minutes
• March 11: 36 minutes
• March 12: 30 minutes
• March 14: 30 minutes
• March 16: 30 minutes

Again, it's not exactly how I want things to be, but it is something to keep me in the routine. Hopefully, the rest of life will get less complicated soon and I'll be able to get back to the more regular schedule I had been following.

Wednesday and Thursday Roadwork

33 minutes on Wednesday; 25 minutes on Thursday.

Taking Today Off

I'm mentally tired today.  It was a reasonably nice day outside, but my mind feels wiped out.  Physically, I feel great.  Mentally, I have some fatigue.  I'm not very worried; it is temporary.  Perhaps things will be back to normal as soon as tomorrow.  Here's hoping. :-)

Roadwork Recap

I am kind of in a slow period lately: mostly roadwork and some shadowboxing. That is largely because work has been really busy. Here's a brief recap.

• March 1: 30 minutes
• March 2: 31 minutes
• March 3: 24 minutes
• March 4: 32 minutes

The State of the Sport (at the professional level)

What is the state of the sport?  That's an interesting question.  I've got some answers, courtesy of two men who share a first name.

First, Mike Houser, a sports writer at the Nevada Appeal, tells us, "Boxing needs to be cleaned up."

Next, Mike Casey, a writer at Boxing Scene, presents an impassioned and persuasive plea for such a cleanup, pointing out that nothing less than the sport's future is at stake.

Monday's Roadwork

32 minutes today. Spring is coming...spring is coming...

Sunday Roadwork in the Snow and Freezing Rain

I got out there for 25 minutes today. I need to crank things up. I will. The weather was a bit odd. It was warm, but messy. My shoes were really wet when I got home! Oh well, spring is only (how many?) weeks away?

Monday's Workout

I had a decent workout today.  At practice were Kevin, Bill, Cory, Bernard, Andrew, and me.  It was good.  I didn't work on anything new; rather, I focused on improving the basics and that was helpful since I had missed our practices for the last few weeks.  Here's the summary of today's workout.

• 15 minutes of roadwork
• 9 rounds on the pads with Bernard
• 5 rounds on the heavy bag
• 2 rounds on the double-end bag
• 2 rounds on the uppercut bag
• 2 rounds of shadowboxing 

All in all, not a bad workout for the first day back in a few weeks.  Our next practice will be on Thursday, so I hope to increase the intensity then.

Good Luck, Jeff! (Again)

My buddy Jeff Gilbert had a bout scheduled for a few weeks ago in Langley, British Columbia. It was postponed and rescheduled for today. So good luck, Jeff! Do well and have a blast!