So Many Front Thrust Kicks

This week really pushed me.

My foot recovery has felt like it's regressed a bit over the last few weeks.  More swelling again.  Some soreness.  Toe lifting more than it had been.  In fact, there were a couple moments a while ago that I had felt it touch the ground while walking!...but that feeling was fleeting.

As I watched the Level 1 class do the circuit on Wednesday, knowing that Level 2 would be doing the same, I wondered how I was going to participate.  There was ALOT of front thrust kicks on bags, which I haven't been doing.  There was also lateral jumps over the pads, which made me anxious....and not just because they're exhausting.

I'm not scared to break my foot.  According to the surgeon at 3 months post-op, my bones and the screws in there are sound.  The challenges I continue to face is the flexibility in my toes (ie, my ability to pull my toes back), the floating toe (you don't know how much you need that single toe for balance/pivoting/jumping/landing until it's not working properly) and my lack of trust in my ankle (after such a long period of misuse I'm hesitant to do anything risky).

When the time came, I just decided to go for it.  I know I need to be aware, but I also feel like alot of the limitations I am still dealing with are more mental than not.  And even if they aren't, I need to start finding ways to just work through them.  What if my foot just never does reach a stage that I would consider "healed and back to normal"?  What if I never regain the mobility with that toe?  Let's face it...these are real possibilities.

And overall it went okay.

I kicked both the heavy bag and mitts with a front thrust for the first time in 6 months.  I was careful and mindful of what I was doing.  And I didn't cause any damage...although the extra bend the resistance forced my toes to do wasn't overly pleasant at times.  But I tend to wonder if the push will end up being a good thing.  Maybe even assisting in regaining the flexibility.

When it came to the lateral jumps, any jumping still gives me the heeby-jeebies.  Granted I've done some little hippity-hops in a few instances (my Kwan Dao form, for example).  But the impact of the 2 footed jump over 2 shields was more than my mentality could handle.  I didn't trust myself to maintain strong and precise.  I ended up doing them over just 1 shield.  And it went fine, even though I really had to pause and ensure that I was stable with each and every jump/landing.  And so again, I wasn't fast. but I did do it. 

My partner offered some really good feedback during the class.  She noticed that my kicks with my left leg felt stronger as she held the mitts.  Which shouldn't be the case.  I have always been right leg dominant.  I also find it more difficult to kick with my left right now, because that means my right (my bad foot) is what's on the ground supporting me. So her comment, to me, means that either a) my right leg still hasn't regained all the muscle that it had lost or b) I am subconsciously holding back with my right leg to avoid hurting my toes, or c) my left leg has truly become stronger since it was forced to do all the "heavy lifting" for a time.

So although I've been feeling like my foot recovery has regressed a bit, after this week I still feel like I've taken some good steps forward.

ps.  Check out the picture!!  Our front thrust kick toe position is a "floint".  Hahahahaha

IHC Numbers To Date

Pushups = 31512
Situps = 31582
Kwan Dao = 641
Tai Chi Short = 709
Sparring = 619
Km's = 1255
AOKs = 842