Training On The Edge of Madness

There's a fine line between pushing the envelope and sheer madness. I think I may have crossed over it this week. We've been training hard in the dojo — really hard — and since I teach the majority of classes, I've had to, on a number of recent occasions, run some pretty hard-core training sessions back-to-back-to-back.

I've had a cold over the last two weeks. Nothing serious enough to truly sideline me or keep me home from work, but more than enough to make me feel like I could use a day in bed — which of course, I have not taken. And I'm cranky, too: I wasn't well enough yesterday to donate in the blood drive that I helped to organize!

One of my students just landed herself in the hospital from a bad cold. Taking this as a warning sign, I finally called the doc today. He thinks I have a viral infection, not a bacterial one, so his recommendation is for me to wait things out for another couple of days before starting on any antibiotics. (My student has a viral infection, too, and she's down for the count.)

And I've had a little inflammation in my left knee, too. There's no doubt that it's from all of the hard training, but I haven't given that any rest, either. I'm a long way from walking with a limp, but kneeling in seiza is uncomfortable, and I guess it would be nice to not feel that dull ache every time I go down a set of stairs…

OK, so I'm beginning to show some signs that I actually might not be bullet-proof. So perhaps some rest might be in order. It's Wednesday today, and I'm not slated to teach another class until Saturday morning — that gives me 3 days of rest, if I cut back on my own personal training for a couple of days. I hate to back off now, especially since I've made a lot of progress fitness-wise over the past 6 weeks, but I'm probably doing the right thing.

There's something to be said for training on the edge. But, I'm no Superman, and there are more important things in life than pushups.