Nachi's Log

Discussion in 'Training Logs' started by Nachi, Apr 23, 2015.

  1. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Saturday 25.5.

    I was doing some gardening for around 4 hours. Cutting the grass that is growing extremely fast, weeding, etc. (I didn't measure it as a training, but I walked more than 10000 steps gardening alone.

    Later in the day I went for a bike ride first time this year. I went along the Vltava river, the weather was nice and I enjoyed the ride very much.
    Polar results:
    Time: 1:46 (breaks - ice cream and such included in the stats, 1:26 without breaks)
    Distance: 26,8 km
    Max HR: 162
    Average HR: 136
    Training benefit: Steady State training +
    Kcal: 848
    Fat burn: 31 %

    I reached my fitness goal today (set by Polar, the strictest one), by 323% :D Which is probably 50% more than the hardest day on the last weekend's karate seminar. 22000 steps and 3654 kcal burned today :)
     
  2. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    I am leaving for a birdwatching holiday to Kazachstan tommorrow, so I am rather busy with a lot of stuff to do. Therefore I am unfortunately skipping both trainings. But I did go to teach the kids (but forgot my chest strap)

    Tuesday 28.5.

    There were 7 kids today, which is as many as I get. Meaning the three troublemakers were present today. I again practised mostly kihon with them - the grading is coming soon and quickly went over Renzoku kumite towards the end for the most senior student.

    I ran some errands before and I ended up in the dojo 30 mins early, so I did around 15 mins of some mostly bodyweight workout, and went through Shisochin and its bunkai once.

    I left after the kids class. I was less regretful (at least from my point of view) when I found out sensei isn't coming today, either. Honestly, it's been a while since I met him in a training....


    Wednesday

    Cut the grass with my mower which makes for a nice exercise last time before I go on the holiday. And since the exercise is so nice, I even set it as a training on my Polar watch:
    Polar results:
    Time: 0:47 (A little bit more, I started the training a few minutes into mowing)
    Max HR: 163 (it was rather intense! and I did break quite some sweat :D)
    Average HR: 141 (actually more than on my biking trip and majority of karate classes :D)
    Training benefit: Steady State training
    Kcal: 393
    Fat burn: 25 % - even this shows quite a nice exercise :D
     
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  3. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Ok, so I was really busy lately, I have to record all the trainings I did not post here!

    ....

    I have just returned from my awesome, although not very relaxing at all holiday in Kazachstan! Last Wednesday, that is. Right after I went to our annual weekend national karate seminar Bílá Skála.

    BÍLÁ SKÁLA national seminar

    Friday 14.6. 2019

    We didn't make it in time for the training starting at 6 pm. We arrived about an hour later and so we went to ask the senseis how long is the training going to last. If it was only half an hour more, it wouldn't make sense for us to find a cabin and change and go practise for the few minutes. However, senseis planned to finish an hour later (not sure if because they wanted us to sweat a bit, too :D), so we joined for the last half an hour or slightly more. We were practising Renzoku kumite, and in a way that had me breathing rather hard. My gosh, my fitness levels are getting worse just at the worst time!

    After that we greeted everyone we met, had some sausages over bonfire and throughout the evening I made a bottle of wine dissapear. Certainly wasn't the plan, luckily I did not feel it in the morning.

    Polar results:
    Time: 1:07
    Max HR: 174
    Average HR: 132
    Training benefit: Basic & Steady State training, long
    Kcal: 512
    Fat burn: 33 %
     
  4. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    BÍLÁ SKÁLA national seminar

    Saturday 15.6.

    Morning training 8-12 or so.

    Morning Sanchin training for an hour, then we were divided into groups, our group was those who prepare for black balt grading and black belts. + one additional brown belt so we can make pairs.
    We were doing a lot of useful stuff, mostly about Shisochin and also Sanseru kata, which I don't remember perfectly and was a little lost with the bunkai. Practising Shisochin bunkai, too, though, was exactly what I needed.

    Unfortunately since yesterday afternoon I had a slight stomach ache or tiny nausea. So I was happy the training was mostly technical. Although we did get a few hits in the stomach, even if only light, and that didn't feel that great.

    I slept throughout the afternoon, which certainly doesn't normally happen to me and I didn't feel like joining the evening kumite training, so I appologized and skipped.
    We again had a nice social evening, but I really wasn't feeling my best, was feeling heavy after meals and was still fairly tired, so I retired early.

    Polar results:
    Time: 3:48
    Max HR: 152
    Average HR: 119
    Training benefit: Basic & training, long
    Kcal: 1400
    Fat burn: 42 %
     
  5. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    BÍLÁ SKÁLA national seminar

    Sunday 16.6.19

    Again training 8-12. Still not feeling perfect, but better, I think. I don't remember the exect differece between what we were doing yesterday and today, as we were doind similar stuff for grading.
    There was however also a block - I think in the morning, of Ude Tanren (Iron Body conditioning). Only for adults. We formed two lines facing each other, partnering up and after a few strikes, one line moved one spot to the right. I... was in the worng line! Or a good one? Hard to know. Anyway, I guess apart from maybe one, the line I was partnering with was full of the tough guys. Starting with our sensei, which is the worst, followed by the organizing sensei, both fifth dans, then our tough friend preparing for nidan, three guys with brown belts and I am sure I forgot something, but there was only one younger brown or blue belt, and one yellow belt, who were my spots of rest that I seriously looked forward to. The problem, aside from this was, that a fiend from the other line told me I go the hardest in our line, therefore all those people most likely looked forward to coming to me, as I was the highest grade in our line, I think, to finally go hard. And we always did the same strike with several people in a row. And sometimes, sensei came as the last of them, when my forearms felt already rather tender. Oh my gosh, it hurt! :D Luckily we didn't do any body shots today, my stomach wouldn't like that.

    Polar results:
    Time: 3:55
    Max HR: 174
    Average HR: 107
    Training benefit: Basic, long
    Kcal: 1082
    Fat burn: 50 %
     
  6. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    This national seminar usually marks the end of the season and a summer break for karate. Sensei was fairly busy with work, so there were no additional trainings after that. Well, there were, two or three which, however, sensei announced usually like a few hours in advance, so I had trouble re-organizing my schedule. I missed the first one as I was just leaving for our cottage where I planned to stay for a couple of weeks. I went back to prague for the next training sensei announced, however, in the end, the training did not happen :/ For the third one sensei said there may be a training the next day and he'd let us know. He did, but not in a couple of hours as he promised, but basically the next day when I was away and couldn't make it. Luckily that training was then moved to the next day, so I went back to Prague again.

    4.7. Karate

    We practised a lot of kicks in the beginning and kicking combos, solo and in pairs. There is one pair combination which gives me real trouble - I always move to the wrong side, just into the kick as the partner is turning for the back kick. Sensei was having me go through it again and again, I got several advises how to know which side to move to, which, when said, honestly is pretty easy, but my brain just had to work really hard for that and I still wasn't always successful.
    Then the two of us preparing for grading together with sensei went through Shisochin bunkai, which was great. The bad thing is I still don't remember all the details about each bunkai, so I had a lot of questions. THe problem is there weren't that many opportunities to practise them on a training with sensei, so I definitely don't feel confident. And the plan still is that I have to know them for a grading in August... :/ I wonder if I should do the grading, I worry I'll just embarrass myself.

    There are two of us planning to do the ShoDan grading soon in Okinawa and a frined now in UK going for NiDan. Sensei also just told us that he had second thoughts about going to Okinawa and in the end, he's basically going because of our grading. Great, no presure at all :(

    Polar results:
    Time: 2:09
    Max HR: 168
    Average HR: 132
    Training benefit: Steady State training+
    Kcal: 974
    Fat burn: 32 %
     
  7. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    As for the couple of weeks at our family cottage, I was planning to get some solo training as much as I could. I brought my kettlebell and exercised in the morning in the garden. Unfortunately not every day. I also went through the Shisochin bunkai a few times and the kata, other bunkai and other stuff for grading. Rather briefly though and I did not have a sparring partner. I mostly worked with the kettlebell, though, as I didn't exercise properly lately. And I took a special care to stretch my legs properly after that. My hurt hamsring got much better lately, although I can still feel the hurt spot. And I am getting the previously lost flexibility back. That was also a reason why I also worked on doing some exercises for hamstrings.

    20.6. - I forgot what this was. Probably a karate training I forgot about.
    Time: 1:07
    Max HR: 159
    Average HR: 131
    Training benefit: Steady State & Basic training, long
    Kcal: 514
    Fat burn: 32 %

    25.6. - Kettlebell + probably Shisochin bunkai
    Time: 0:33
    Max HR: 176
    Average HR: 147
    Training benefit: Steady State & Tempo training
    Kcal: 302
    Fat burn: 23 %

    26.6. - Kettlebell + again some techniques I think
    Time: 0:42
    Max HR: 175
    Average HR: 147
    Training benefit: Steady State & Tempo training
    Kcal: 391
    Fat burn: 24%

    1.7. Kettlebell + maybe a bit of karate - I think kata
    Time: 0:45
    Max HR: 175
    Average HR: 145
    Training benefit: Steady State & Tempo training
    Kcal: 402
    Fat burn: 25%

    2.7. Mostly solo karate training - a lot of grading techniques + kettlebell at the end
    Time: 0:46
    Max HR: 175
    Average HR: 143
    Training benefit: Steady State & Tempo training
    Kcal: 389
    Fat burn: 25%

    7.7. Kettlebell, was distracted before doing karate and wasn't generally in a great mood for training
    Time: 0:38
    Max HR: 170
    Average HR: 136
    Training benefit: Steady State & Basic training
    Kcal: 307
    Fat burn: 31%


     
  8. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    Sadly, I haven't gotten any training since then. I returned from the cottage and had a lot of errands to runa and stuff to do in preparation for our trip to Okinawa. Sensei announced one training, however, "short and not difficult", so probably not the training I needed. I wasn't sure I'd have time, so I thought I'd exercise at home instead, but I didn't have time for that, either. :/
    Right now I wanted to log all the previous training. I have my stuff packed and most things prepared and in a few hours I am heading for the airport! :)
    The plan is to spend a week on a couple of wonderful tropical Ryukyu Islands with Sett, then flying over to Okinawa, where the rest of our group will join us a day later. Hopefully during the free week and something we'll get to see nice stuff and hopefully get some training in the honbu dojo. And the third week, there is going to be the World Gishiki and the celebration of IOGKF 40th anniversary! A seminar expected to host around 1500 karateka from all over the world (meaning more than 3 years ago), where, maybe, just maybe, I will get the courage to try my luck at the grading. But I am not confident at all at this point :( We'll also have to write a written test under our sensei. We haven't, yet, so hopefully there will be an opportunity in Okinawa.

    Anyway, I really thought how we were going to prepare, but the truth is, sensei thinks we should go, but he hasn't really even seen my kata for several months probably and that is something he would like. I did practise the stuff at the last nationaly seminar under a few sensei's watchful eyes, but, will that be enough? :( I know I should have done more solo training, but solo isn't everything, and I didn't find the time for a lot of it, either. How sad.
    Anyway, I will log how I decided and how it all went. Wish me luck, please!
     
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  9. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    13.7.

    Managed to squeeze one kettlebell training just before departure!

    Time: 0:3
    Max HR: 171
    Average HR: 144
    Training benefit: Steady State & Tempo training
    Kcal: 296
    Fat burn: 26%
     
  10. Jaydub

    Jaydub Valued Member

    Good luck with the grading, Nachi. I’m sure you’ll do just fine.
     
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  11. Travess

    Travess The Welsh MAPper Supporter

    Everything that you have done up to this point has been preparation, and even if the volume and frequency of that has tapered off more recently, than it did with your previous grading, I seriously doubt that it will have been to enough of a degree (in such a short time) to have undone everything you know/can do.

    I hate saying good luck before a grading, as I truly believe that doing so diminishes all the hard work that has been put in up to this point, but, since you requested it...

    ...Good Luck!

    Travess
     
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  12. axelb

    axelb Master of Office Chair Fu

    All the best with the travels and the grading :)
     
  13. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    OKINAWA - ISHIGAKI - 13th-19th July (including the 2-day travel)

    Not much training, just travel journal of sorts:

    It takes time to find time to get down and write all the trainings from Okinawa!
    For the first week we've been to two absolutely awesome tropical Ryukyu Isnands - Ishigaki and Iriomote. We got a free pass for bus on Ishigaki and therefore could make a few trips on our own, since there's one big city on a good part of the island. One day we went to Bana park for a walk. I was breathing really hard up the hill, thanks to the hill, the terrible heat and humidity. My HR actually rose to 171 bpm :D And no, I wasn't running not walking particularly fast... Experinecing that I was wondering how I could possibly survive the trainings here.
    For the next day we went a bit further with the intention to try out some snorkeling. Most of the sea here is basically a national park with plenty of corals and fish to see. We didn't want to go swimming near the village we went to so we moved a bit further, but found it very hard to actually get to a beach. There were no paths leading all the way. The only access was through the resorts. And through a bit of jungle at one spot as we found. And we entered to a wonderful beach with cliffs, jugle, rocks from the water, azure sea and especially - no people anywhere near. Like really, we could only see a few boats in the distance and a resort a bit further to one side, but that was about it. The water was very warm and the fish awesome!
    When we wanted to move to Iriomote via ferry, we packed all our stuff, my backpack tore under the weight of everything inside, but luckily for all purposes I packed an additional bag of a similar size. Taking all this, we went for a bus in the rain. Went all the way to the port only to find out all the ferries are cancelled for today (the last one going just departed) and tommorrow is still undecided because a typhoon was coming. Maybe later changed only to a tropical storm, but now, we were stuck here with nowhere to go. We went all the way back to our cheap hostel - basically a house with a few small spare rooms run by an older lady, who basically didn't speak a word in English, just like everyone we've encountered so far (except for her daughter who previously arrived just to show us our rooms and explain with basic English). We hoped we'd be able to ask for one more night, hoping she'd still have a free room. We really, like really, didn't want to go to the luxuriously looking hotels we saw from the bus and really had no idea where else to go. I had a plan. I prepared a text into google translator, let it be translated to japanese, enter the house, bow to the lady and give her the phone with the japanese text. She just had a visitor - another lady, her friend it seems. They took the phone, took it to the window so they could see better, read and discusses something. The translation obviously wasn't the best, but they understood what we needed - typhoon, and one more night. The lady immediately brought us to a different room, this one completely in japanese style, with tatami floor, japanese wardrobes, a side room for baggage, low table with a floor seat and futons. Wow, this was awesome! We loved it and it was so cheap, too. And just like when we first arrived, the lady soon brought big welcome drinks and a mango. Even though she just gave us one as a parting gift.
    We tried to dry our clothes, stayed the night when the storm hit with a very loud wind and the next day we were checking the japanese internet about the ferries. It seemed they'd be running in the afternoon, so we again said our goodbyes to the hostel owner, again got a parting gift - typical okinawan sweets - 2 packs and went to catch the ferry.
     
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  14. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    OKINAWA - IRIOMOTE - 19th-22nd July

    Once we got to Iriomote, we were picked up by our next hostel - again, the cheapest accomodation except for concrete tents we could find, which was again a very nice and clean hostel. Because of the storm, we unfortunately only had 2 full days here. We went for an afternoon walk before dinner (we paid for breakfasts and dinners here) and got caught in a rain a few times. Meaning there wasn't a single dry spot on us when we returned. Luckily, we had waterproof sacks for our cameras and valuables.
    We were unable to dry our stuff since. Some thigs still wet from Ishigaki, the weather would be rainy and we just dried our stuff before our departure...
    We went to a hotel that was part of the hotel-hostel duo for dinner. Well, it was very unusual to encounter non-Japanese people so far and this place wasn't an exception. Every single person here was Japanese. Except for us. So some people were very friendly, those who spoke a bit English (like one or two people) asked us where we came from and what brought us here - these islands are a vacation destination for Japanese, not so much for others. When we explained to the man sitting at the next table, he prompted us to try Awamori. Awamori is what they also call Okinawan sake, except... it is not sake at all. We tried three years ago and frankly, its pretty disgusting and I have yet to find a Westerner who'd like it. I tried to ask one IOGKF sensei and his students later and the reply was just: "It tastes like poo." ... alhough they may have had a slightly different wording :D
    But! For some reason in this hotel you could always get coffee/tea and awamori for free :D Very unusual in our culture - offering free alcohol that would just stand there for anyone to pour. Therefore I said I would try, but asked the man to help me pour it. I remembered you had to basically fill your glass with ice, then pour a shot or so of awamori and fill the rest with water. And I didn't know where to get the ice etc. It... wasn't as bad as I remembered it, but I had hard time finishing my small portion anyway. One would say the water would dilute the taste, but no. It just prolonges the "suffering". Anyway, all the dinners and breakfasts were served on a tray, each with ten pieces of tiny bowls with small dishes. Always a piece of fish, a frozen pineapple for breakfast and a piece of mango for dinner. We always had some soup, an empty rice bowl we could fill with rice from a pot on the table and a cup for a tea we could prepare the traditional way by sharing a small kettle between a few people. We also had sashimi for all dinners, I think - slices of raw fish eaten like sushi with soy sauce, wasabi and usually rice. It was just delicious! We, however, had some trouble to figure out what some... well, quite a few dishes were and how they were eaten. Or how to eat half a mango in one piece with chopstics. Or how to get the bone out of fish with chopsticks, etc. So we always looked at the people around us and when we saw how they eat the stuff, we jsut tried the same :D

    Right after dinner I wanted to book a trip for tommorrow. We were lookig to a kayaking and hiking trip to one of the numerous falls here in the jungle-covered island. I therefore found someone from the staff. Despite the owner communicating with very good English through e-mail, again, we couldn't find any English-speakers here. I tried: Trip, waterfall! etc., but wasn't very successful. I tried once again the google translator magic, but after two or three people were studying it for a while, one turned to me "Eh, very bad japanese". So I deleted my long-winded message and only transtated something like: "Trip to waterfall tommorrow?" which was finally understood. The lady made a phone call and told me we could go to Narra Fall tommorrow. By this time some guests of the hostel noticed the commotion and stopped by, including the guy who offered me awamori before who actually knew at least some English. All the people were very helpful. I think there were at least four by now and each had a bit of English, so they put their heads together with what I was saying and gave me a reply. We were told to be here by 9 am tommorrow. I wanted to know if we needed some equipment and the awamori man explained the necessities, so that was it. The next day, we were lent some stream trekking shoes and other equipment we did not have. Us, four more people and the guide went to a car and embarked on our journey. Me and Sett had a three-person kayak with the guide and the rest had kayaks for two people. We were kayaking for about two hours in a river from a bay towards the center of the isnads, with mangroves rising from the water, going into the jungle which was just everywhere, which made just random hiking impossible and mayn places were only accessibly on boats. After two hours we got out of our kayaks and hiked for half an hour. We expected this would be a tourist spot with a bit path and crowds of people around the fall taking pictures of it. However, all the way, we only encountered one group of three people and that was it. The path through the forrest was very narrow, very muddy and sometimes just above some slopes I wouldn't want to fall from. So it seemed quite dangerous at the times. We also had to cross a stream several times, going fast, from the waterfall. Stepping from one stone to another, however, most of which were submerged and very hard to see. Sometimes we were wading the stream up to our waist. Sometimes we had to climb over some big rocks. The lady in front of me seemed to have some trouble at times, so I helped and caught her foot when it seemed she'd fall right back, so she could step on my hands for a bit. We finally got to the big waterfall, near which we jumped straight into the water. No people far and wide. This was just so awesome! We took a picture, spent a while and went back. I still have no idea, how our guide - Keito-san could forgen his shoes and made the whole trip in flip flops :D I seriously have no idea how that was even possible. Near the kayaks Keito-san took out some noodles, broth, other stuff and started preparing lunch on a gas. It was a delicious Yaeyama soba (Yaeyama is the name for all the islands - Ishigaki, Iriomote and some smaller ones). It is basically the same as Okinawa soba on Okinawa we came to love three years ago. It was a very welcome meal! Then we could go back, 2 hours on the kayak back. However, the stream helped us this time, so it was a bit easier.

    We thoroughly enjoyed it, the landscape, river, kayaks and everything was just awesome that we decided not to save money on this and go on one more trip tommorrow. We originally planned snorkeling, but since we got one day less, we thought another trip like this - kayaking or hiking would be better. We wanter to go hiking on our own, but found out it wouldn't be very easy. There was one bus on the island and it ran like twice a day. And we had to know where to find a good path, because the jungle was too thick to just randomly walk it. And we didn't have the equipment to just rent a kayak and go on our own. Therefore I wanted to ask for another trip. I didn't particularly care which one since the whole island is apparently awesome, but some other kayaing would also be welcome, hiking being fine, too. We originally wanted to ask our guide, but.... he didn't speak much English, either and couldn't understand words like "tommorrow, waterfall, trip" etc., so it was quite difficult. We don't speak japanese, but I remembered just a very few words. But I knew "more" was "motto" ...at least by pronunciation. So I tried: "Motto kayaku?" which the guide understood as we didn't have enough for today and wanted to continue on the kayak to somewhere. So we tried someone else at the hostel. I was much more clever today! Each room had a book with some guidlines - curfew, etc. and had all the trips with pictures written there. So I found someone from the stuff, opened to book at a page with a trip to some waterfall, pointed, and tried: "Tommorrow?". The women understood and made a phone call. She pointed that not this one is available tommorrow, but offereed "Sea kayak" to another waterfall. Fine with me! So we got the intructions: "9 am, here". Great! :)
     
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  15. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    OKINAWA - IRIOMOTE - 19th-22nd July

    In the morning we met the same guide as yesterday and a woman with a teenage daughter who joined us. Wow, the woman, Yumi-san was from Tokyo and actually spoke English! So she was able and happy to translate for us.
    Keito-san drove us to the same spot we started on the kayak yesterday. Along the way, however, Yumi-san asked us if we were looking forward to the snorkeling. Snorkeling? We had no idea that was a part of the trip. Otherwise we would have brought our masks and snorkels. We, however, weren't too far from the hostel, yet, so we returned for them.
    Today the two of us shared a two-person kayak, while Keito-san was in another kayak with Yumi-san and her daughter Mayo-chan. Lol, yesterday, especially on our way back, any time I glanced back, Keito-san was slacking, not paddling, only occassionaly. Today, he had a much harder work, I'd say :D
    On the kayaks we went not for the river like yesterday, but headed to a bay on the rights. The landscape and how the jungle was basically emerging from the sea was awesome. There was a wind blowing against us, so Yumi-san translated that if the wind gets stronger as we approach the bay and river with a waterfall we were headed towards, it may be too strong and prevent us from paddling there. It was a bit harder, but we made it in there. We navigated our kayaks to go under the fall a few times, it was fun. Then we returned to the big bay and Keito-san told us via Yumi-san to look for sea turtle heads. There are supposedly plenty at this location and we could see them when they go to take a breath. We paddled along the shore of the island, past a small village Keito-san told us very interesting stuff about. It had around 40 inhabitants, no access, except for from the sea and only two boys of school age, one of whom was travelling to school in a bigger village by boat and the other was schooled in this village. He was the only pupil in the school and had around 7 teachers :) When he's not in school, he is fishing with a spear or something so his parents can serve the fish for meals in a small hostel they own. So cool :)
    After we went aroudn the penninsula the village was on, we saw our next destination: A beautiful sandy beach with rocks and jungle all around. And around four people already there. Such a crowd! :) We took our kayaks on the beach and Keito san took out his cooker and said the lunch will be ready in about half an hour. We looked around the beach - we could walk a few metres into the jungle along a small stream there, full of crabs. The hermit crabs in particular were everywhere. Keito-san warmed up mango and pineapple curry. I never knew a curry could be made of pineapple and mango, but served with rice it was absolutely delicious! Pineapples and mangos are grown in the island and we already saw several fields of pineapples, later found huge greenhouses with mango trees. So if they can, apparently they would use the fruit to cook whatever they can. After lunch we had about an hour for snorkeling. As I already knew, Japanese people often go swin in a T-shirt and perhaps leggings, too. So likewise, I didn't change anything I was wearing, although I was the only one who at least took out my shoes. The others pulled the fins over them, too. We swam to the edge of the beach, near a cliff. I asked Keito beforehand where there are some good spots since we didn't have long to stay here. There were a lot of fish. Unfortunately Keito-san said there aren't many turtles over here. We would have been lucky to see one. And we were! We saw one swimming maybe a meter below the surface, so we swam with it :) And I couldn't resist just slightly touching its shell. It didn't seem particularly bothered by our company, and didn't swim particularly fast. Although it then decided to change directions so parted.
    We packed our stuff and boarded our kayaks on the way back. Again through the big bay. The tide was lower again and we were paddling in a relaxed manned. When, in the corner of my view I saw something in the distance. Something jumping out of the water and back. "Dolphins!" I cried! The other kayak stopped to look, but Keito-san said than no, it's probably not dolphins. They don't really live here. And just as he said it, just there, in the distance, a beautiful doplhin jumped several meters vertically out of the water and with a huge splach fell straight back. "Wow, dolphins!!!" No need to say more, our relaxed manned of paddling changed into a full blown sprint. We were actually faster than the second kayak, so we led the way. And slowed our pace when we were within maybe a couple hundred meters from when we last saw them, until we stopped. And put our hands in the water, splashing it a little, in hopes of luring the hopefully friendly dolphins. They weren't as friendly, but were definitely curious and made a big circle around us. And actually got maybe 15 m from us at the closest. This was so awesome! Keito was recording with his waterproof camera and seemed to be really excited. Later Yumi-san translated for us that this is the first time Keito-san saw dolphins, because they are very rare here. He also picked his phone and try to call his friend who was currently on one of the bigger boats on the sea we could see in the distance. He tried about ř times for a bad reception, but then excitedly tried to tell him what we just saw, so they could also come and see if they were lucky. We were all very excited from such an encounter!


    We then met Yumi-san with Mayo-chan at the dinner and Yumi-san also introduced us her husband, who had to go somewhere and therefore wasn't on the trip with us. He was also very nice. We talked for a while (both of them spoke English, such a rarity!), they asked about our trip and were happy to recomend some restaurants or a park to visit in Tokyo. Because on our flight back, we need to get from one airport to another and have 22 hours in Tokyo, so we booked a hostel and wanted to look around real quick. The couple asked us where we were staying and started laughing when we said the capsule hostel, the cheapest place we could find. They asked what its name was and got another good laugh when our answer was "Edo Tokyo Hostel". They said they weren't brave enough yet to try any caplsules and this obviously sounded funny. Since they didn't know the hostel, they asked where it was. What, near Shinkoiwa? But that's just some suburbs, and obviously found our whole trip funny :D But were still happy to give us some instructions or answer any questions we would have and gave us their contact if we needed help with anything. They were very kind.

    For the last day, we were supposed to catch a plane from Ishigaki to Okinawa at 4 pm. So we asked staff in the hostel if they'd drive us to the dock at around noon. The ferry took around 50 minutes and it was another at least 45 minutes to the airport by bus, so this was the perfect time. We spent the morning packing our stuff, which we left in the hostel and went for a walk to the river. There weren't any paths that would seem to lead particularly far. But we were just on time.

    The journey to Okinawa then went according to our plan. I have been on a few flights in my life already, but this one, I think, was the very first when the staff didn't even bother to say the necessities about safety and all the info in English. After all, we were, again, the only non-japanese passengers there. This was just getting funny :D
     
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  16. Frodocious

    Frodocious She who MUST be obeyed! Moderator Supporter

    Sounds like a wonderful trip! Jealous! :)
     
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  17. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    OKINAWA - 22nd July - 4th August

    After we arrived to Okinawa, we went to Shureido straight after we accomodated in our hotel, unfortunately it was closed. The next day we awaited the arrival of the rest of our group - 4 guys, 1 girl. And one guy who in the end decided to find a cheaped accomodation, but he arrived on his own as he now lives in the UK. Unfortunately one of the guys had fallen ill with mononucleosis and ended up in a hospital feeling really bad from what we heard, so he had to cancel the trip. We now had a whole week free before the main event - the Gishiki and IOGKFs 40th anniversary started.

    Honbu dojo - 24th July

    We went to the honbu dojo on Wednesday 24th for an official evening training. We met sensei Higaonna as we waited for the kids training to end. Unfortunately sensei Higaonna said he has to go to the airport pick up his wife and he won't be present at today's training. The training was led by sensei Uehara (now 9th dan) and sensei Kuramoto (7th dan). We stood in the last or second row from the last, near the door (which was a little bit of our strategy, we've been here before and we know just how easy is to feel pretty bad when far from any air). We did Junbi Undo and Kihon. After that we were divided into three groups by grades. 4th dan and above, 3rd and 2nd dan and 1st dan and below. Each group went to practise kata while the two other groups sat by the walls (there wouldn't be enough space otherwise). We went last and practised Saifa kata again and again and again, with senseis pointing out problems. And then again. We sweated quite a bit, but unlike my friends, I was feeling great, not dizzy at all, which was a great surprise. One of my friends didn't finish the training, the other was thinking about giving it up. When the saifa practise ended we went back again, when the senseis were discussing what group now. But there were no groups left? I think someone said it in a joking manner and sensei Uehara also laughed and invited all kyu grades as another group. Not sure how but along the way it stopped being a joke and we actually went back and practised Gekisai Dai Ichi. Again and again and again.
    After we only had time for stretching. And brown belts were asked to clean the floor. So we were distributed wet rugs to clean the sweat pools. Yuck.
    Then we used the tiny tiny shower room with cold water as we wanted to visit the dojo bar closeby. The training lasted 2 hours.

    In the dojo bar we talked a bit with a couple from Tokyo and after a while, just by chance, our Czech kobudo sensei arrived :D He came to Okinawa at the same time to train not with IOGKF, but with various other dojo and he just happened to visit the Dojo Bar today, too. The world is such a small place :)

    Time: 2:11
    Max HR: 173
    Average HR: 123
    Training benefit: Basic & Steady State training, long
    Kcal: 853
    Fat burn: 35%



    [​IMG]
    Senseis and our group in the honbu dojo after training
     
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  18. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    OKINAWA - 22nd July - 4th August

    Saturday 27th July

    We heard today there won't be an official training in the dojo, therefore we decided to go practise on our own in the afternoon. Since the dojo was filling up more and more for the past few days, we didn't go for anymore trainings. But since today there wasn't planned any in the first place, we went to prepare for our dan grading and practise all we could under our sensei's watchful eye. And did some bodyweight exercises in between, too.
    Just when we left the dojo just around 7 pm, sensei Higaonna walked down the stairs toward us. And he said that today, he will be leading the evening training.... What?! Who said there wasn't going to be any?! Damn, this was such a pity. We seriously needed shower and we didn't bring our gi with us and were hungry and only had about an hour, while it took half an hour to walk to our hotel... It would be very hard to make it, but I was still tempted. However, no one else wanted to go and we previously agreed that the three on us going for our grading will be writing the theory test today with our sensei. So we only did that. Wow, I didn't actually had any idea what the test would look like. Sensei said we would have questions with several options, which didn't sound too bad. But... there were liek 8 or 10 or so lists of paper, full of questions from both sides! And... very detailed questions at that o_O And it's not like I prepared for it anyway. Luckily we all answered more than 75% which was the threshold for passing.

    Time: 1:20
    Max HR: 170
    Average HR: 135
    Training benefit: Steady State training
    Kcal: 637
    Fat burn: 31%
     
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  19. Nachi

    Nachi Valued Member Supporter

    OKINAWA - 22nd July - 4th August

    2019 WORLD GISHIKI & IOGKF 40th Anniversary celebrations

    Monday 29th July

    Registration day for the Gishiki. We went to Karate Kaikan to register both for the Gishiki as well as the dan grading (wow, there's no way back now!). We also went to check the karate museum, which was very nice. And we put our names and dojo names on the karate tree there :)

    Tuesday 30th

    The Gishiki already started for the 3rd dan and above (though they would have tommorrow free), while we could rest. Me and Sett practised kakie and kakie kumite techniques in our room which could be useful for grading and which sensei revised for us yesterday. We should practise a few times before the grading!

    Wednesday 31st: Gishiki day 1

    This time there were maybe 1300 or 1500 (not sure) people in total and we would have a hard time fitting only ito the Budokan. Therefore Budokan was reserved for all the kyu grades up to 2nd dan, while 3rd dan and above trained in Karate Kaikan.
    We were in a group for only 1st kyus. My rough estimate is there could have been around 50 of us, it was quite a big group. And unlike last time we were one of 6 groups training in the huge main hall.

    The training started at 9:30 by Junbi Undo for all the groups here. Today's warm-up was led by sensei Nakamura.

    Then we split into the groups and had 4 blocks with 10 minute breaks in between.

    Masukazu Kuramoto sensei (7th dan)

    We practised Gekisai Dai Ichi and Gekisai Dai Ni kata. Towards the end of the block, sensei asked if any of us had any questions. I expected no one would probably ask, but surprisingly there were a lot of questions then.

    Ernie Molyneux sensei (8th dan)

    Yakusoku kumite combinations done in pairs. We usually practised first solo, step by step, to remember the combination. I thought I could remember it, if was ok even if I wasn't used to these specific combinations. Then we were to make pairs and sensei showed the same combination to practise, but always only now added some nice finish, which completely destroyed what I just practised as it throw me off as the techniques didn't come as very intuitive to me... I noted the combinations down after training.

    Takashi Masuyama sensei (8th dan)
    Sanchin kata. First we practised normally, then with techniques done fast as in kihon. Some techniques slightly changed. We were always told to put in more effort, do it faster and were not allowed to relax our arms at any time. And practised again an again and again till the end of the block. Feeling the arms... When someone says "sensei Masuyama", in my mind I always see his smiling face, saying "Mo ichi do!" (one more time).

    Roy Flatt sensei (8th dan)
    We shortly started with Gekisai Dai Ichi kata and then went to practise oyo bunkai. We practised in groups of 5. 4 attackers, on defender. At the end we went through Gekisai Dai Ichi two times again, now with open hands. And once normally.

    Today the blocks were all 10 mins shorter so that there would be half an hour more for half an hour long training with sensei Higaonna for all the grades, incluing those who train in Karate Kaikan, but had otherwise free day today. We did a lot of kihon.

    Before we were free to go, we did a photo of everyone together and of each country with the teaching senseis.

    Time: 6:31 (I let it run for a bit longer I think)
    Max HR: 171
    Average HR: 100
    Training benefit: Basic training, long
    Kcal: 1581
    Fat burn: 50%


    [​IMG]

    Czech Republic (last row) with all the teaching senseis and sensei Higaonna, sensei Nakamura and sensei Bakkies in the front

    [​IMG]
    Everyone photo (we secured a nice spot right in the middle upstairs so we would be on all the cuts later :D)


     
  20. axelb

    axelb Master of Office Chair Fu

    Wow, great attendance!! awesome photos!
     
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