Weigh in Sunday. I regret the large Oporto chicken feed last night as the scales didn't reflect where I thought I'd be this morning. I was 104.1kg which is a drop of 0.7kg. I guess by any metric thats perfectly good for a week, but I was hoping I'd see 103 today. The main culprit is the water I'm holding from the salty chicken dinner and I know this will flush out over the next few days. Next Saturday I'm going to strategically eat so I get a good drop on the scales for my half way point. Its good to reflect that I've lost over 4kg in 2 weeks. I can be happy with that. The big event for Sunday was boxing training with Masters Boxing Victoria. OMG what an eye opener! I feel like I'm waaaaaay out of my depth now. There was around 40 people there and I felt like the least skilled, least fit person in the room. A couple of rounds shadow boxing to warm up followed by some defensive drills with a partner. Slip, counter with 2,3,2. then repeat 3 more times before swapping. Both throwing and countering were cardio intensive and it went for nearly 30 minutes. I was cooked at this point indicating my cardio a) isn't as good as I thought it was, and b) not nearly good enough to be stepping in the ring currently. After drills, there was some sparring. If I felt out of my depth with the drills, sparring was another totally new level of out of my depth. I did 3 rounds and then quit. I'm ashamed of quitting now and am still questioning if this is for me. round 1; Jason. Smaller fighter probably around 80kg. I felt so slow, one dimensional, scared. I'd jab, then not return to my guard and he'd pop me. over and over again. occasionally I'd drop my right off my cheek and he'd hook me from the other side. The occasional combo I'd throw would meet a very good guard so really only effective at gassing me out. Lessons learnt: Return jab to guard quickly. I need to move more feints, angles etc. I seemed to just go forwards and backwards. round 2: Big Irish? guy. 113kg (I asked). The headgear sucks! It keep blocking my vision so i took it off. Again, kept dropping hands and getting punished for it. He was slower and I don't recall him landing too many shots, but he was nice and trying to help me learn. I guess he felt sorry for me being so shit. round 3: Tall south paw. maybe 6 foot 2, 95kg. He had a good jab and I struggled with the different stance. once I got inside a few times I let me hands fly with a couple of good combos and caught him a few times. But again, felt like a total beginner. After round 3 I quit. I'd had enough. I was cooked and demoralized and felt like running away. I spent the remaining 3 rounds watching the other guys fight so much better than I did. I need to work on my jab speed. Throw + return quickly. I need shoes. boxing in bare feet in a ring is awful and now my toes hurt. I need to get inside when I'm boxing if I'm going to be effective. Cardio, Cardio, Cardio. I'm sure there are many other lessons I can take from today, but at this point I'm just trying not to cry and give up boxing forever. An interesting side note; I weighed myself after the session. I was 104.1kg at 7am after no food or drink. After boxing and at least a litre of water + a 600ml gatorade after training and a few coffees I weighed 102.5Kg. Yea, I sweat a lot! I just reviewed the above with my AI coach and it raised a pretty valid point. Maybe my cardio isn't the problem, maybe the problem is I'm scared and tense and burning up too much energy. I need to relax and the only way I'm going to get there is by sparring more and getting more ring experience. Boxing is much, much harder than it looks! I was pretty cooked when I finished and I could feel myself cramping up when I got home. When it starts to hit hard like that, the magic formula for me is coconut water and a half teaspoon on the tongue. I had a steak, rice and slaw for lunch, then cooked up 42 some lean beef/port patties for dinner with a side salad and some vege. A pretty good diet day and 11k steps walked and getting punched in the face a bunch of times. Time to sleep and rethink my life!