Week 2 Down

It’s the end of week two of the Black Belt qualifier. Whilst not as stressful as last week, it has been draining.

I started the week on a high. I’d been worried about my foot/ankle inflammation but after my first run of the week I pulled up fine. This put me in a good mood for a few hours practicing (ticking off my requirements) at the dojo. Tuesday night focused on new finishes to many of the escapes. There’s always an element of concern associated with the phrase “it’s changed” for any of our drills. Most of the changes were straightforward and logical, but a few days later I’m struggling to recall which finish (punches, locks, arm-bars) go with which takedown/escape drill. I’m sure we’ll practice them heaps over the next 8+ weeks before the grading.

Thursday night was more of a challenge. I’d gone for a run mid afternoon, then visited the physio for my foot, before going to training. We spent 1 1/4 hours practicing, including some intensive kicking, to cover our weekly requirements. Then in the brown-belt class we started with more kicking (crescents & spinning crescents) which was draining. Then we started on some ground/mma drills, which is close to my least favourite activity. Between my fatigue and dislike for the activities, I wasn’t in a good place. This was a good indicator of my level of fitness; I’m nowhere near where I need to be yet.

I finished my training week with 1 1/2 hours practice on Saturday morning and a run later in the morning.

It’s taking me about five hours to cover all of the technical practice requirements (punching, kicking, kata, sparring drills, offensive/defensive drills, and escapes). Add to that the two advanced classes for the week, three lots of running and daily pushups/situps, and I’m up to about twelve hours training. Once I get the schedule sorted out, this should give me time to practice the other stuff I need for my grading.