Sports Day #2

Exercise 6/6: Walking/Tugging/3-legged running ;-)
Time: 40 min (walking)/other stuff...throughout the day

Today was the kid's school sports day in the morning and the town one in the afternoon. For those of you faithful readers, last year we attended 4 seperate sports festivals. Our town merged with the closest big city in April, so some things have been restructered. This year, the town and the school shared the festival and it ran very smoothly...not much differently actually.
Last year, the Madlands loved this day...except Mixon, who was still in the throes of culture shock. He shed many tears last year and wouldn't let us out of his sight (it was very hard to participate in some things...) . Today, last year was barely a memory :-). We hardly saw both kids all day, except from afar, and then they were waving huge flags or organizing OTHER kids into groups for the next game. My neighbours were keenly watching the mouths of my children during the cheering contest to see if they knew the Japanese. They still can't get over the fact that our kids are fluent and have no accent! ;-)
We have come to learn, this past year, that this little town does very little changing in general. I think our presence here has been quite an experience, not just for us, but for many of them as well.
It was a good day.

Friday and Early don't go together!

Exercise 5/6: 100 squats/5 hindu push-ups (previously called yoga-push-ups...)/60 crunches ( in 2 sets of 30)

I did NOT want to get up this morning. But once again...y'all came to the rescue. I was convincing myself to work out after school...but knowing at the same time that I probably wouldn't...being Friday afternoon and all. Then I remembered I would have to post 6 times this week...and that leaves only Friday and Saturday to get the last 2 in. So, I got up and worked out this morning.
This accountability (the threat of having to put out money for failure...) really works! :-)

Tired Kiddies

Exercise 4/6: Karate
Time: 1:30

Karate was chaos tonight. All the kids in elementary school were out to lunch. The one kid still in kindergarten cried for the first half and then spent quite a bit of time in the toilet pooping. (I only mention it because it was a big deal...) Selah spun in circles and rarely paid attention and Mixon sat on the side with an upset stomach. They are all exhausted from being back to school AND practicing every day for undoukai (sports festival). None of them really wanted to be at Karate.
Anyhow, I had a fairly decent workout AND enjoyed myself...at the very least, the kids were amusing. ;-)

100 in a row!

Exercise 3/6: 100 squats in a row! 50 crunches. 3 (in a row) yoga push-ups.
(NOTE: Previous squats were done in sets of 10 with 2 yoga push ups at the end of each set...)

Wow, my quads felt like like big knots after that was done! I surprised myself by getting to 100! (this seems to be a running theme in my work-out journey....)
Now, if I could just walk... (ha ha, just kidding)

いたい です!!!

Exercise 2/6: 70 squats/14 yoga push-ups/ 35 sit-ups on the ABS ball (& I don't mean crunches!)

The title today is "itai desu" which roughly translates as It Hurts!!! Yesterday, I was still recovering from back catching and Karate the night after. (How embarrasing! ;-) So, I took the day "off". It was a national holiday in Japan, so I REALLY took the day off! :)

Today we have an interesting dilema. Colin has decided to drive to school from now on. That means he wants to work out in the mornings before work, too. But we can't both go riding and neither of us is willing to get up at 5:00 either...but the point is moot because it is too dark to ride then. After school I could go except I can't. The kids need their mom and Colin doesn't get home until it is almost dark. hmmmmm. How to (both) get a cardio workout is the question of the day.

Typhoon Humidity

Exercise 1/6: Karate
Time: 1:30

Wow, is it humid tonight! There is a big Typhoon heading north between Japan's West Coast and Korea. This morning, the forecast said it would be over top of us by tomorrow. But when I checked a couple of hours later, ShanShan had changed course enough that we wouldn't be in the danger circle. It is cloudy, rainy and VERY HUMID though. I hardly had to move tonight and I had sweat pouring off of me. The air is thick and heavy. But, at least we don't have to deal with a typhoon here over the next couple of days.

btw: i am down another kilogram...which means another 2.2 pounds. :-)

Softball

Exercise 6/6: Backcatcher!
Time: 1 hour

Last night I was wondering how I could legitimately post softball as a work-out. Standing at 2nd base and then batting once in a while just doesn't get the heart-rate going. Then, they made me back-catcher! Now, I have NEVER played that position before (first handicap), I speak very elemenary Japanese (2nd handicap), and I am not well-versed in the details of Softball rules (3rd handicap). I was very grateful to my Dad last night, for all the times we went and played catch at the field down the street while I was growing up! I held my own pretty well. I kept hearing my team-mates yell, "Nice Catchie" (that is the Japanese accent...they actually have a lot of 'English' words in softball, here). And, it also happened that we, as a team, sucked! So, I was behind home plate for most of the evening. When we were up to bat, it was only for 3 batters, usually. By the end of the evening I was soaked in sweat. I had had a full work-out: squat, catch, stand, throw, squat, catch, stand, throw, squat, catch (nice catchie!), stand throw, repeat all evening!
Kudos to all back-catchers out there. I had no idea!
I am also sporting a beautiful war-wound this morning. I caught a ball with my calf last night and this morning I have a lovely contusion that hurts with every step. But I am proud to bear it! ;-)