Training Journal 4.29.08

Starting to taper off my workouts a bit – six days until the Rickson Gracie Cup! So this morning workout consisted of a ten minute jumprope session and seven hill-sprints-that-aren’t-really-on-a-hill. I think the virtual lack of sleep on Sunday, my only scheduled off day, is getting to me, so the tapering will be good.

I’m not going to delve into my personal life much here, but suffice to say that I’ve discovered over the last year or so that the energy I use to train comes from the same place that my energy that I use to go to class, or work, or even maintain relationships does. Even though going to class hardly constitutes significant physical effort, it’s still enough to tire me out earlier when it comes to training. Same thing with a relationship; if it’s going well, I can be at the top of my game, but if it’s not, my shit just plummets.

I got to watch some of the Dream 2 fights, too. Really, the highlight for me was the Aoki-JZ fight. Holy shit. SPOILER ALERT:

It was awesome to see a BJJ guy – and an underdog, at that – win a unanimous decision against a guy everyone said was going to knock him out. Seriously, I want a guard so bad-ass that I can go to my back as much as I want and people aren’t gonna want to fuck with it.

Evening training was just an open mat for an hour or so, since today’s technically a national holiday. Every so often I have to remind myself that a lot of the guys at Alive are some of the best around here, that I’m rolling with totally legit competition every day, that I am getting better, and the fact that the guys who are in my weight class give me hell is a Good Thing. Today was one of those days. On the plus side, the ankle feels okay.

pat m.