Training Through The Pain

 Honved Training Centre in Budapest

It is great to be back in my old training stomping grounds....it has triggered my competitive streak to fence and compete again. Still dealing with unresolved pain of my injury so i still need to hold back while my body is still healing....however, once able to sleep comfortably at night that will be my Q to wake up and not be afraid to hold back so much. Coming here is sort of an experiment....to have no regrets.....if i come home unable to compete in World Cups again...at least i will know that i gave it my all.

Yesterday, walked over to Honved for a little point control lesson from Gabor Bognar. It was the first time that I had picked up an epee in over a year...the grip molded right into my hand...a reminder of the years of hard work, money, blood, sweat and tears put into my sport.

After donning  my mask for my lesson and positioning into "engarde"...had to giggle...brought back memories of the excitement of  first learning how to fence.   Warned Gabor that "I feel like a beginner all over again".  Love when coaches allow you to have fun with the sport and laugh. There have been coaches who have become angry with me enjoying the sport and not taking myself too seriously. In fact, i have been hit over the head and whipped in the knees with the blade for laughing about a "mistake". But with Gabor,  there is no worry about such things. Although, still flinch sometimes when i make mistakes...from those memories of being struck.  My last competition was a National Competition in Canada, October 2009 which I won and Gabor Bognar's coaching played a huge role in that result.

Muscle memory is such a beautiful thing....not too far into my lesson,  was no longer feeling like a beginner. Although my hand and arm got really tired 15 minutes into the lesson....and we decided to call it quits and not push..  As it was....i was afraid of the repercussions of how my injury would be responding to my training. And was right in thinking so...

Still unable to sleep at night...went to bed at the break of day then awoke with sharp pain in my upper back.where the chiropractor had put the heels of his hands when he crushed my upper back.   Will continue to train in baby steps through the pain with the hopes of becoming stronger..

Now off to train at Honved again....will be working on my footwork, point control, etc today. Then the hot springs!