Boxing For Buhinga: The Fight Club Diaries. Week 13
This week is all about motivation, motivation, motivation. Struggling to maintain it would be an understatement - and for once it's not the cold, the rain, the aches and pains, it's the mental place I need to get my head into to be able to do this thing. Not being helped by the fact that I'm jumping out of a plane on Friday...... I thought the worst thing I would feel in this process would be just not fancying going out in the rain, or getting up early, but it turns out getting your head around what you need to do is much more difficult.
Tuesday is Lora's last night training with us, though I try and switch around with the boys more so I can get more practice in with people better than me (no offence Lora!). I feel a bit more confident about myself once I do this, as I realise it really isn't all bad. I'm advised to not be so hard on myself, and not to push my training too hard - my inner critic scoffs at the thought that I could do too much training - I'm not exactly Olympic athlete standard, however I suppose it's just about what your body is used to - and mine is used to not much activity.
Friday is the day of our planned skydive- I get up at 5 am, I meet the Digital Dogooders team and we drive to an airfield in the middle of nowhere (seriously we wondered if we were in Deliverance ), we wait...we wait..Leon bravely joins an earlier lift and jumps, we cheer...we get into our lovely flight suits and harnesses...and then the wind picks up and we have to wait some more. At 2:30pm our jump is cancelled. Massive fail.
On Friday night we go to a friend's wedding reception in Surrey - although I'm not the most exciting of guests (no alcohol, still freezing cold from standing in a shed all day and thinking about getting up early the following day), I'm cheered when all my friends comment on how different I look . Because the scales haven't been moving the last few weeks, and all I've thought about is getting through sparring I've barely thought about the weight loss - so it's nice to get some compliments and feel it's all starting to be worth it
Saturday morning we head over to Angel for our first official sparring session in front of Jacek. He needs to meet Christina and check we're suitably matched and also to see us spar. We're both very very nervous but when we get in the ring it all comes together a little bit more. I feel better being in full headguard and mouthguard combo, and the boys encouragement helps me try to remember to actually hit her instead of just taking it. I freak out a bit in the middle of the second round but I try to keep it together and listen to what Jacek tells me. By round three I give up caring about the tears - it just seems to be something my body wants to do when I get punched, regardless of whether it actually hurts or not...I compare it in my head to Ben- who gets a bloody nose every time he spars ,so much so no one notices anymore. Maybe this is just something I have to put up with until it goes away?
Jacek seems pleased with us, we didn't make any glaring mistakes and he compliments Christina on her own skill in the ring - me I have a few things to deal with, like actually hitting first, committing to my shots, doing more combinations and making sure my head is down - I keep setting it up so Christina can get me under the chin (which bloody hurts by the way) so I have to remember not to lean back and keep my chin down. Resolve to practice chin-down, eyes-up stance in the office all week...that won't be weird will it?
Have the worst headache of my life on Saturday night. Pack ibuprofen in gym bag for after future sessions....
TICKET AND DONATIONS UPDATE
Tickets are selling out fast! get yours here
If you can't make the night itself sponsor Helen via this link or text HELS89 and the amount in £ to 70070
About Boxing for Buhinga & Universal Chance
The Boxing for Buhinga event will be held on the 24th of November at the Grange St Pauls hotel in London. For tickets and enquiries go to http://universalchance.org/tickets/. You can read profiles of all the fighters at http://universalchance.org.
Universal Chance is a charitable trust set up by a group of friends who share a common desire to use the skills that we have developed through our careers to do what we can to help communities that have not been granted the same chances that we have whilst inspiring others to do the same.
We are dedicated to implementing tangible projects that will help less privileged communities and individuals reach their potential . This could be anything from improving education facilities to providing medical facilities or giving access to clean water. To find out more check out our site http://universalchance.org/ or follow us on twitter at @universalchance.