Morning all. Better later than never, again but I think it’s marginally more punctual than the last time round. Last week, unlike the week ahead was pretty light on the ground training wise. Sometimes we all have weeks like that. It’s not always a bad thing.

In hindsight I think last week I just needed to let off a little steam and let it all hang out before getting my head down (for real this time) and getting stuck into the weeks ahead. The one thing I’ve noticed with the gym I train out of is that not many people seem to fight.

It’s not to say no one ever does (I’ve seen some of the fighters out there a few times ) and I guess it’s not really a bad thing but it’s something I’ve picked up on  and it’s strange because it’s the first gym I’ve trained out of in a while where it’s not happening as frequently as some (mainly me) would like.

I think I’ve moved from a place where I wasn’t that bothered about competing again to really wanting to take the plunge once more.The only thing that’s really different is that I wonder how well things will go if everything comes together for July. But I guess as long as I have the right attitude then the world is mine.  I’ve spent well over a year out of the fight circuit and don’t believe in doing things by halves so really do want to take the bull by the horns again.

Thailand 2014 

There is most certainly a lot of fuel left in the tank and as it’s myself behind the mental steering wheel and no one else is in charge, I’m pretty confident I’m going to step things up again. It’s certainly not something that’s essential but gives me something to work towards and at the moment I feel that’s what training is lacking. Of course the main driving factor behind competing certainly isn’t fighting for the sake of it. If you think that’s what I’m about then you probably don’t know me as well as you think you do.

Last time I stepped up (and even though it was a great fight ) I lost unfortunately, which was a shame as I’d won the fight prior to that. I came away knowing that I’d done my best and that it was just bad luck in the first round that cost me the decision. Well, maybe a bit more graft in round five could of tipped it but that’s a different conversation.

When something like that happens, it does have a tendency to throw me into a “if only I” and a “why didn’t I” moment. Ultimately, that really does serve no purpose other than grinding myself down. So what I did manage to do was walk away and decide “I Just want to get better.”

A year or so down the line I think I’m still on that particular road (let’s be honest it’s an ongoing one for most people) but I do feel better than I was. I’ve been training a long time now and I think there’s habits that are doing their best to die hard. It’s probably unlikely I’m going to transform into a completely different boxer but I can certainly work on being a better one.

When it comes to fighting in itself there’s a lot of motivation to succeed and a lot less complacency on the back of a loss (winning is great of course)  so I’m hoping that I adopt the right attitude to everything in the weeks ahead. At the moment I am pretty heavy for me (about 64-65 kg) so need to shift some weight.

I guess when it’s this hot running with a couple of tops on can help with that little problem. It’s horrible, no one likes doing it. I keep gassing out at present, and that’s never happened before but me and beer have been good mates for far too long now so when I cut that out of the picture I think that small (and temporary) problem will be resolved.

In fact, I’m going for a run at lunch time. I did a half arsed might as well of been walking run yesterday round the block so will get my stride on later, and then of  course it’s training in the evening. Being honest, I’m already looking forward to the week ahead and in general have this weird positive feeling going on. Anyway, as it’s Tuesday and I do have a working day to salvage I’d pretty much say that’s all she wrote. It’s going to be a good week. Train hard and enjoy the sun. I’ll see you the road.