Basics, basics, basics

2012-07-10 22:18:00

First up: Marli kicks ass! Today she did her fifth repeat of the W1Dx of Ease into 5k. Today was the first time that she officially, completely, without any workarounds ran the plan 100% /o/ Impressive, for someone who has always hated running and who's been so-so about sports. I'm really proud. 

She's indicated that she would really like to finish the whole program, to get to running 5k. And after that? Would you believe that she dreams of working towards a marathon? Wow! In her words, "If the forty-something out-of-shape guy who started this whole 5k program thing can do it, so can my twenty-something out-of-shape self!"

So, while she's working on the basics, so am I... Tonight I again joined the beginners' group in Amstelveen to work on basic kendo. We did nothing but oki-men for the first forty minutes. Followed by oki-kote. I'm sad to say that the three of us were a bit brutish on Onno-sempai :| After that we practice hayai-men, hayai-kote and kote-men with Kortewijn-sempai. From all of that the take-aways for me were:

• Left hand, left hand, left hand. Pink and ring, pink and ring, pink and ring.
• When turning after a strike, -immediately- snap back to kamae. Don't first turn, then kamae. Go back to kamae in the turn.
• Onno-sempai suggested that I definitely change my kiai. Right now, after striking and in the turn I pitch my kiai upwards and then abruptly halt. Onno tells me that this is a HUGE tell to my opponent and that he would instantly attack upon hearing the upwards-and-halt. Instead, I should keep it even and let it stop naturally.

Roelof-sensei made a funny analogy: kendo is like learning the piano. Your first year is learning the scales, your second year is chopsticks, your fifth year you're banging out Liszt. :D

kilala.nl tags: kendo, running, sports,

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