Friday's Workout Three Days Late

I'm usually good about posting my workouts the same day they happen. I promise, I'll do better from here on out.

All last week I was feeling more tired than usual. After comparing my symptoms to those of swine flu, I decided that it was just my allergies acting up. This is the time of year when I have the most problems.

I wasn't even too worried on Friday, despite the itchiness in my sinuses. It's one of those things that could be symptom of a cold, a flu, a severe upper respiratory infection, or, as I said before, simply my allergies acting up. Secure in the belief that it was the latter, and having to entertain my son on his day off from school, I bulled straight ahead.

I started with taking my son on a three-mile bike ride around Al Lopez Park. It's a popular place for bicyclists and joggers because of the level three-mile loop around the park. It's just a nice place all around, though I really, really miss the old wooden castle they used to have for kids. The castle, built by the Tampa Woodworkers Club, was demolished and replaced with the usual impersonal, mass-produced equipment you'll find in any modern playground.

Still, Vitaly enjoys it. After our ride, I let him play in the playground while I did my own workout. I packed along my rattan hoops for some Wing Chun practice.

It was a pretty standard Wing Chun-style workout. After running through the empty-hand sets of Siu Lam Tao, Cham Kiu and Biu Jee, I did some work on the basics, including straight blast punches and work with the hoops. I did what I could to exercise my forearms and shoulders, and to simulate some hand-trapping exercises.

I closed with two runs of the wooden dummy set, first with a small hoop around my wrists, then in the air, pretending I had the dummy in front of me. It may not make sense to practice the dummy form when you don't have a dummy available, but you do the best you can. Besides, such training forces you to think and think hard about what you are doing. It's easy to react to the dummy. It's hard to keep an image of the dummy in year head and move accordingly.

Despite the itchy sinuses, I felt pretty good. But then it hit me all at once on Saturday. A good old fashioned head cold. I began the usual standard response of Chinese medicines, Vitamin C, and conspicuous amounts of grapefruit juice. I'm half-way through my third half gallon since Saturday.

Maybe by tomorrow I can shake this.