Endurance challenge

Today I did a four-and-a-half-hour endurance hike. It wasn't planned.... my motorcycle broke down as I was leaving class. So I walked home.

It wasn't that bad, although if I'd known I was going to be doing it, I would have dressed more appropriately (in particular, my footgear- my brown suede muklukks are real cute, but they are NOT designed for this type of extended activity). I would have also packed a lunch, and a water bottle.

I made maybe four or five pauses of less than two minutes each; and I also had to stop briefly twice to tape blisters. The final two miles were unpleasant. My feet hurt bad, I was ravenously hungry, pretty tired, and I had a headache that was caused at least partly by dehydration and low blood sugar. It was actually the NEXT-To-LAST mile that was the worst- by the last mile, I knew I was in the homestretch, so that perked me up a bit.

I think it's good to do regular physical endurance challenges. I get at least one a year at the Sacred Hunt, thunder-drumming for half the night without pause, in horse stance with a heavy ashiko or djembe strapped to my belly. Also, heralding itself is a week-long endurance challenge- although more of an interval workout than what I did today.

I saw a bald eagle encounter a hawk in mid-air and do a perfect barrel-roll- complete with scream- and then they both swooped off in opposite directions. It was way cool. I also found the perfect spot- under the Marymoor Park bridge overpass- to crash if I should ever find myself homeless. I walked part of the Powerline Trail, thinking to improve my scenery. It did that, and it also gave me some interesting and challenging terrain- but I hadn't realized how much that trail zigzags- so I ended up adding more distance to my trek. I tried to take a shortcut, got lost, and added probably two miles doing that and then backtracking.

After a shower and food, I am pleased to say that I actually feel reasonably okay. Feet hurt. I have the Mother Of All Blisters on the fourth toe of my right foot (I might need to drain that one in the morning), and its little sister on the same toe of my left foot. I'm interested to see what my body feels like in the morning. In particular I'm interested to see if I will have shin splints- and if so, how bad.

So this was *after* an hour and a half of BJJ!

There were probably 30 or so people in there today. Wow. A year ago, it was not unusual to have only 5 to 7 people in a lunchtime class at Bellevue. I wonder if some of these people are influxing "New Year's Resolution" people. I will be happy when we get more higher belts coming to Bellevue (it has to happen eventually). I wasn't at the head of the line tonight- I was third- but I'd still like some more advanced people on the mat.

Prof. Carlos decided that our counting during the warmups was ragged and weak- he asked us if we were tired. Then he made us yell louder, stay more in sync, and do more pushups. He came over and held his hand out for me to touch with my foot while doing triangle drills- higher and higher- I was up on the back of my neck and stretching as far as I could.

Standup- bearhug defense to a hip throw takedown to an armbar. I have done this before, so after just a bit of fumbling, I was able to do it pretty well. Well enough to attempt it on my stupid side. Stupid side was- well- stupid. I was able to do the technique, but I didn't have enough time to rep it to smoothness.

Side control to mount. Then, side control to knee ride to mount. Again, familiar- so after a few clumsy starts I was able to work on refinements. I was happy to drill with Marc. We were able to give each other some good feedback as we both worked some kinks out of our respective techniques. We both worked it on both sides.

Two timed rolls- one with Marc and one with some virgin white belt guy I've never seen before. Marc and I- competitive, no taps for anyone, the usual story.

White belt guy- I knelt down opposite him and gave my disclaimer (Today it was "Don't kill me now, okay?") He said, "Oh, no, technique- of course." I think I insulted him a little. Sorry. You're a no-stripe white belt guy I've never laid eyes on before; I have no reason to trust you yet, dude. Carlos matched us up, and I like to think Carlos is being careful to not put me with any spazzy asshats- but you never know. Anyway, this guy was fine, although it became immediately apparent that he was no virgin. He could tell what subs I was trying to set up, and knew some escapes. He had good choke defenses (as I complimented him). He let me tap him twice with keylocks and once with a clock choke from the back.

The finger had its best day since the injury. It's a bit sore now, but I barely noticed it during drilling and rolls. I did have to let go of two chokes because the finger was either getting smushed or was causing the grip to fail. I also had it taped- in fact I had the first three fingers on both hands taped, as they are still a bit raw from last week. But the thing is getting better.

Carlos seemed pleased with my work today. He did tell me (I *THINK* I got the gist of his point) that he sees me flowing calmly and working positions, but would like to see more of me identifying sub openings and EXPLOSIVELY trying for them.

Pat's dog came *this* close to slipping me another tongue-kiss today. You have to watch that little stinker!

I had wanted to go to evening class today as well, but it was too late by the time I got home (even if I'd had the get-up-and-go, which I'm not sure I did... I sure didn't want to run any more warmup laps on these feet tonight!).


(pic- Cindy (the tall one!))