Thailand, Day 5, 8/10/07

I have to amend something I said earlier. There is more than just Fox News for American programming. Thankfully they also have Jerry Springer. Now I know that they have a complete representation of American culture.
Training:
Conditions today, 96 degrees at 86% humidity. Wonderful weather. Blue skies. Not a cloud to be seen. Humidity is god-awful. I have been amazed by the speed at which the body can transition to the heat. It is possible to spot the new people to camp by how much they sweat. You can ask anyone that I have trained with; I sweat a lot. More than most. But now after 5 days I have already started to sweat less when I am walking around and I stop sweating faster after I stop working out. I still drip buckets when I am working the bags but it is getting better.
Day one I was moved from the beginner’s camp to the intermediate ring after jumping rope for 20 minutes. Today I was moved up again to the advanced ring. It is a good feeling. Now I am training with average guys like myself, all the way to pros training for fights out here in Thailand. The trainers in the advanced camp are a little more honest. I have been informed that my right roundhouse is pretty good, however my left is for lack of a better word, crap. I knew this before, now its simply being recognized and told to me by the trainers.
I feel good. Training has been going well. Technique is getting better, cardio and conditioning is going through the roof, and it can only get better. However, as I sit in my room watching BBC News there is a depressing interview in front of me. A BBC News correspondent is interviewing the ex-president of Balco. The company implicated in the doping scandal with Barry Bonds and dozens of other professional and Olympic athletes. Basically, he is saying that 90% of the athletes you see at the highest levels are using performance-enhancing drugs. I know in MMA and Kickboxing here in Thailand doping is rampant. Even at the amateur level in Colorado I know that it was common among athletes. I don’t really know where I am going with this. I would like to think that the playing field actually is fair for everyone. For people like me who are not planning on taking growth hormones or steroids, it would be nice to think that we actually have a chance. But that doesn’t seem to be the case.