Week 4 - Dan's Class

Dan came in from Toronto tonight to give us a taste of Toronto's structure. We started with a nice warm-up and went into a cardio "stage." This was very intense, and Dan told us that it was the part that everyone hated. In the middle of it, I had to leave to vomit (my asthma taking its toll and causing me to dry-heave to the point of vomiting), and returned to get back into it. It consisted of a lot of dizzying rolls, QM backwards and forwards, and the like. Next was the "strength stage," which consisted of a lot of planks, push-ups, squats and sits and whatnot... My stomach started to get to me again during the sit-ups, which I let myself rest during.. and after they finished, I basically had to run to the bathroom to give up the rest of my dinner. Unfortunately, I missed the rest of the strength stage. A few chili peppers got stuck in my nasal passageway, but not in any place that I could blow out.. so I had to wait for gravity to pull it back down my esophagus... I sat out during the "themed stage," but watched intently, wishing I could take part in it because it looked like a lot of fun!

The theme tonight was speed and agility, which consisted of quick turns and redirecting momentum. Vault, stop, back around, and vault again. Many different variations of redirecting momentum and finding ways to do this, including jumping and rolling into the mix. Best of all, I could see each participant visibly get more agile and faster during the process. At the end of it, there was a larger set-up which utilized basically a shuttle run type of mentality with vaulting thrown into it. Very cool and very effective. A 'conditioning stage" was thrown into the end, which I was having a conversation with Jess at the time, so I wasn't paying too much attention to that.

During the free time, everyone did their own thing and a lot of technical drilling went on, as was the case. Feeling better, I did a few drills myself, though I did have to take long breaks between each movement because I would start getting upset again. A newcomer, Matt, showed a lot of progress in his very first day and displayed a natural knack for the movements. I think he'll go pretty far with this, and it's a shame I won't be around to see it. All in all, I think I'm better off having seen the way Dan run things, even if I couldn't participate in a lot of it. My asthma is getting beat, slowly but surely, but it still interferes a great deal with my training. This only tells me I need to train harder, more diligently, but through slow steps so I don't end up killing myself... I've had too many close-calls with hospitals and near-fatal accidents to really want to go there again, but I cannot let this beat me.