Balance in all Things

I have been working hard on my kung fu requirements, but this week I came to the realization that I was too focused in one direction and I need to find a way to create a balance between all my requirements. I have been very focused on my fitness aspects of my training, and this alone takes up a lot of my time.
On Friday I worked at both my jobs from 5 am until 8 pm. I had a rough time sleeping the night before, and so had been up since 2:30 am this particular day. The last thing I felt like doing at 8:00 was working out. But... I had missed the black belt class, and knew I needed to do this. I told myself " come on, you can do this, at least for 15 minutes". So I went into the school and worked on my forms, fitness and the bags. I was so full of energy after 15 minutes that I worked out for almost an hour, until I had to leave to pick up my son from work. I don't know where the energy came from, but was so grateful that I had decided to not give up and just go home. I have noticed this before. It is the getting started that is sometimes harder than the actual workout. Once I get started, it all falls into place and the energy comes easily.
After doing several repetitions of my forms Friday night, my thigh muscles were sore the next day. I was quite shocked by this. I bike and run a lot almost every day, and yet my thighs were sore from doing forms. I came to the realization that this is what I need to do more of. This told me that I was too focused in one direction and needed to find a balance in my training. I need to write out a better schedule that accommodates this need for balance. Instead of just going with the flow and doing whatever I feel like working on, on a particular day, I will do up a weekly schedule that gives more direction and balance. Similar to what a personal trainer would do for a client.

I was a bit worried about doing my forms over and over again, due to the possibility of boredom. This was not the case at all. Instead, I found myself very aware of each move in the form and making mental notes of what I could do better. This made me want to do the form again to try improving the particular move. I wanted to know what it would feel like when I improved the move. The more I did the form, the more intense I got. It felt amazing! I would visualize Master Brinker watching me and evaluating me. This made me want to do the best I could do. I left feeling like I had really practiced as a martial artist, instead of feeling like I had just done a fitness workout. I find it hard to put into words what this meant to me. I can't wait to practice my forms again.