Sunday, August 23, 2009

When frustration is a good thing...

So today's big accomplishments:

Worked hard in class, which focused on takedowns-- shooting from the clinch to double- and single-legs. We were told to get 3 reps per person, but Leila and I just kept on keeping on, usually getting in 8-10 reps. This sucked when doing Japanese doubles (where your forehead pressure on their sternum, plus hands lifting the backs of their knees, gets them down in a hurry) but the rest was great. I will note that when actively sparring to get in those positions, I found it extremely difficult to even get into a clinch with bigger, stronger people-- stupid short arms-- and also very difficult to get to double unders. I know, that's the point, to make it hard to get double unders, but anyway. At least I persisted even if I cheated a bit by trying for non-clinch, non-shoot takedowns as well.

The other great accomplishment was finding out that I was capable of frustrating a 3-stripe blue. Of course he eventually passed my open guard, but I was actually happy with my overhook-trapped-arm business (until my grips just got plain tired). I was even happier when he told me afterwards that he could tell who I've been rolling with because I'm adopting elements of their game. I was even MORE happy when he said I was frustrating to him. He said it in a nice way, so I got to prance (mentally) for a minute.

Mitch had yoga this morning and then went to the lake with friends. You know me... I was all about jits and then not so much about baking in the sun. Rare for a redhead, I actually tan, but it's not a priority for me. I like being wrinklefree knock on wood, and I like not having skin cancer. So I hid out in the dark at the movie theater with 3 good friends. District 9 was okay-- glad it was matinee pricing.

Going to take a nap now to balance out how ridiculously late I was on last night, chatting with a new-old friend.

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