Thank you Kevin.
Siriluck Gym - 183 28 Soi Nongbua, Nong Bua Sub-district, Mueang Udon Thani District, Udon Thani 41000 https://goo.gl/maps/GdJZsq84cjS6UJab6
I've fallen in love with this gym and the town of Udon. Life is good for me here so I've decided to stay to continue training at Siriluck. The 4-5 fighters training out of this gym right now all compete at the big name stadiums in Bangkok. Yokkao Jitmuangnon Stadium, Lumpinee, Raj, etc... and they're all winning. They're very good. The past two weekends I've flown and taken train to Bangkok with trainer and fighter for their matches. I've been able to get an up close and behind the scenes look at these televised fights. It's been fun and exciting. It appears they each fight monthly, training hard in between.
This past week the gym had someone fighting co-main-event at LWC Super Champ event at Lumpinee Stadium, and week before that, someone competing at Yokkao Jitmuangnon Stadium, both of them won by knockout. Lumpinee fight was pure entertainment while Yokkao was pure gambling fight. Both televised. I thought the Yokkao event was much more exciting. We'll be back to both of these places for more fights in March. I posted videos of these fights on my instagram page: audio.visual
My muay thai skills and overall training confidence are improving quickly. I'm making it to the gym twice/day most days, and have found my body getting used to the increased work load. It was honestly very tough on my body when I first ramped up the frequency, and I felt a little down about just lounging around constantly when not training, but now I see the extra rest was necessary and I'm now much more conditioned for the volume.
However, I'm still not running much. My goal for this week is to start each training day with 2km run, with eventual goal of 5k daily morning run. My pre training warmup has been on stationary bike with 05.kg ankle weights. This warmup has been more gentle on my knees than running.
I've been practicing the thai language with a tutor and books, as I hope to better connect with my trainer, the fighters, and thai people in public. I feel like a toddler, learning how to walk (box) and speak all over again.
My visa expires next weekend February 28, so I'll need to head up to Laos to get a new clock. I think I will continue training here in Udon for another 1-2 months then go to Japan.
My 32nd birthday is the first week of March and I'm excited for how I'm starting my next trip around the sun.