Being a capoeirista..and how its changed my life..

Since 2008 I’ve been playing capoeira.
It is. The hardest motherfucking hobby i’ve ever done in my life.
No joke, not even playing a cello solo in a muito grande concert hall was as hard as this. ( the cello has no buttons. Its you, some wood and four strings. Good luck.)
Training. I go 3-4 days a week, kicking, dodging and singing…always hoping to land some ridiculous cirque-du-soleil like feat..usually with repeated failure.


Aesthetics. My once beautiful feet look like that of Gollum from Lord of the Rings and my shiny new engagement ring is bent into an egg-like shape from repeated queda-de-rins and slamming to the floor to avoid being swatted to the ground by my superiors.


Leisure time. My vacations have now become quests for the closest capoeira center where in most cases, i will end up missing social dinners as the majority of scheduled class times are during prime evening supper (and thus, socializing) hours.
Meals. A calculated amount of good clean food must be consumed at least 2.5-3 hours prior to cap time.


Because:
A) I need food for energy..healthy food. Bad fuel will make me feel slow and sluggish. Not to mention a dip in energy level.


B) Eating anywhere too close to gametime can result in: major flatulence, and/or nausea during training. No one wants to smell your wind or see your morning pancakes in the middle of an armada.


C) Eating too early means a dead battery in the middle/end of class. Energy is especially importante during roda time. Would you enjoy sexy time without lube? I think not.


Odd eating habits like this also means missing brunch, as brunch is normally defined as: consuming the largest amount of unhealthy food for a minimum of 2 hours while chatting it up with compadres. Hasta la vista social life. (if they are however, willing to adhere to your strict requirements of size, timing and type of brunch…it can still happen. I define these people as True Friends. LOL)

In addition to food, i’ve learned to gulp water in an attractive camel-like fashion that would deem me the winner of any international beer chugging contest.
 Happy hour on class days. What happy hour? Don’t you mean capoeira hour?


Finances. When budgeting for the month the order is as follows:
Food, Capoeira, Rent, Metro card, Clothing & accessories, Utilities, Toilet paper.


Hygiene. The smell. Oh lord the smell. Piles of sweat-riddled gear is always all over the house. Its like living in the mens locker room of a gym. In our house we boil spaghetti, eggs, tea, and..clothes. Lucky for moi, i have a grade A fiancé who loves to do laundry and i love to watch him do laundry. Laundry is a weekly activity for us..a change from my once a month trip to the basement in search of dryer sheets.


Television. Who needs TV when you can analyze hours upon hours of taped capoeira footage and YouTube clips off the internet?


Music skills. Thanks to what seems to be fate, I am back at playing with a metal string (arame) and a piece of wood, AKA, the Berimbau. Its such a simple instrument, yet it is surprisingly difficult. B/c of the berimbau, i now have an extra strong (and numb) pinky finger and incredible rock hunting abilities.


Games. Roda time means multiple 30 second performances featuring you and one other person in front of the entire class. This is where you demonstrate your mad skills. No pressure or anything.


As bad as I make it sound, I really love it. It’s refreshing and challenging. Learning all the time and being out of my element makes me surprisingly happy. Better than PIE on some days. And i fucking LOVE PIE. xoxoxooxo


Capoeira is awesome. Even if i am embarassed on a regular basis.

marathonmarathonmarathonmarathon!!....ZzZzz

Gosh i am a terrible blogger. I need to stick to what i promised a few months back and consistently blog. If only i were so concentrated in one passion.

My latest goal is to conquer the New York City marathon coming up on Sunday, November 1st. With just little over a month left to train, this period of time is absolutely CRUCIAL to my surviving this thing. I'm sure i've driven my friends and family crazy talking about it all the time... and the sacrificing hang-out time for training is probably putting a serious dent in my social life, but what needs to be understood here is that this is such an experience to be had!! Just knowing and hearing my friends tell me how crazy the distance is makes me want to do it even more.
It feels like when i made the nutty decision two years ago to attempt a 13.1 mile race. I vividly remember telling myself i'll try it just once for the experience, but ever since then i've raced in five of them. And now to push the envelope even further im going to be running my first ever marathon this year.

I'm normally capoeira obsessed and training like a loon, but lately my running has come to the drivers seat of my ambitions. However, they're both especially neck in neck now since my trip to L.A. for the CBLA batizado. I came back feeling exhilarated and hungry to play and train. I so badly want to improve my game in the roda.
Lately i've felt a little more confident in my game, a bit more ballsy to try out some new moves, but it gets tough when you're trying to focus on so many aspects of the game at once.. Your opponent, the music, maintaining good technique, proper execution of the moves, timing..it can be very overwhelming! But for some reason i always seem to go back hungry for more. And im the type who likes it perfect from the start, so id rather fine tune all moves during training first before attempting it in the roda.

But this entry is more about my marathon training. I can never seem to be able to eat enough, i'm always hungry!! I love it though because i get to eat lots of yummies without much regard to weight gain. At this point i feel almost ethiopian-esque i've been running so much. What used to be long runs are now my short runs and i've never felt better. I ran a half last weekend in 1hr 51min, a bit over my best time of 1:48 so my goal for the Staten Island half two weekends from now is to shave off at least 10minutes for a 1:41 race.
Less weight to carry for 13.1 miles is better on my legs .

Todays run was admittedly a bit shitty because i was getting hunger pangs from the start. I did roughly 2 miles at 9:15 pace, then two 1 mile tempo runs at an 8min pace, followed by 3.5 miles easy. I had little energy thru alot of it so ill have to make it up during tomorrows run with some really strong 100m strides.

Mom cooked me some rice with steamed salmon, yu choy and sesame kale. Yum. Until trouble struck my stomach. As of late ive been getting really a queasy stomach following long runs that never used to happen in my high school days. I hate to say my age is catching up to me but i guess it is.. Early morning runs before any meal seems to work best for me. So i would suggest that to any of you who have similar digestive post-run ailments. Also avoid high fiber foods, dairy and highly acidic fruits like apples. High fiber foods are more difficult for your stomach to digest and can cause upsets later. White wonder bread all the way! :)
But tomorrow is a other day and now i need my beauty rest. Gnite!