Revolution Aug 2011

Today's FOD is Five Animals, again, because I didn't get it done yesterday.

Right ear is killing me after having Alecia grind on it Friday evening. I lay on my left side all night, and was sure that I'd be seeing a cauli ear in the mirror this morning. I don't see one, but it hurts mightily. NO MORE ROLLING SANS HEADGEAR. My CLiff Keen set needs to be replaced. The velcro won't hold, and that's why I keep getting frustrated and tossing it to the sidelines. I need to stop doing that. Neither my checkbook nor my pain threshold can stand another bout of cauli ear.


Revolution: Short version- I didn't do so hot.

There were 4 women total in my gi division, and I came in 4th. There were two women total in my no-gi division, and I came in 2nd {blush}.

Gi first. The first fight can only be called a rout. I got mounted almost immediately, and there I stayed till she tapped me out with a cross collar choke. I am used to being stuck on the bottom, so I wasn't that surprised to be imprisoned in mount.... but my choke defense is usually good, so I was frustrated and taken aback to get tapped to a choke.

2nd fight I was more competitive. I spent too much of it in my opponent's guard, but we ran out the clock and I lost on points. I accidentally poked her in the eye at one point, and stopped to apologize- I felt really bad.

Jeff (the guy who runs this show) came over to bitch that "I can't have all these Gracie Barra people over here!" They are very strict that you can only have one coach per athlete per mat. Gracie Barra of course has a zillion coaches running around, and I never ask someone to corner me- it's just whomever happens to show up. Often, more than one person shows up. Did I mention that Gracie Barra is very big on the TEAM thing? This time Lindsey showed up first (thanks, Lindsey), and Jeff chased all the others (including Rodrigo!) away.

No-gi- This was the one girl from the gi bracket that I didn't get to fight. She was a Tenth Planet student, so I was anxious about what wild tricks she might pull out of the bag, but she won on solid basics.

Another rather embarrassing first match. She came in very aggressively and double-legged me to take me down. I got a sweet guillotine but just barely missed getting the left leg around for closed guard, so I ended up with bottom half guard. I kept the guillotine for a long time- it was on very nicely, and I knew if I could just get closed guard, I'd have her- and she couldn't move a whole lot with the way I had her neck kinked over and her forehead glued to the mat. She seemed lighter than me, and I felt like I ought to be able to manhandle her into place. I came close to getting the closed guard a number of times, and was doing fairly well at reminding myself to be patient and conserve my breath/strength, but finally I got frustrated and let the guillotine go- and not long afterward she went for a keylock... at least I thought she was going for a keylock, but she fooled me and slipped in a kimura instead before I realized what was happening.

Second match, same girl. I was torn about what to do this time. Should I try for that guillotine again, because I had been THISCLOSE, and it is my best sub...? I chickened out, because I figured it would be too much of a disadvantage that she would know what I was trying. Spent a lot of time with her sprawled on my shoulders while we grabbed at and wrestled each other's legs. By the time we finished doing that for an eon, I was so exhausted I could barely raise an arm. I was in TOP (yes, TOP) half guard for a considerable time, but couldn't quite finish a keylock. She was very strong for being such a tiny little thing. I could hear Angela (she showed up first this time) yelling advice at me, but my body was too exhausted to do most of the things she was telling me to do. Then I heard another official yelling at Angela that there were again too many Gracie Barra coaches lurking about this mat. Finally the girl got a sub (IIRC an armlock) and I had to tap. The timekeeper was actually tossing the beanbag in *as* I was tapping. I was disgusted, because I think we were tied two to two.

I didn't see much of what was happening to my teammates today. I saw Kelly tie in a match during which she was in top half guard the entire time. I saw her later on the podium with second place. I saw Carlos (one of my fellow "Little Guys") get creamed on points, and I gave him an encouraging hug. I saw Kaungren lose one and win one. Another white belt guy that I work with at Bellevue sometimes- I'm blanking on his name- it was his first comp and he was nervous. We talked a bit, and I watched him get smeared on points in his first match. I told him that he was breathing too hard and fast, and that he was also turning AWAY from his opponent when trying to get out from under, instead of turning toward him. I didn't see him fight again, but he must have done better in his next matches, because I saw him later on the podium with third place.

I was indeed preoccupied to the point that I was a lot less nervous this time, but still had some flutterbelly and shaking when it was time to get on the mat. I am still feeling all the strength drain right out of my body almost immediately, and I am almost too exhausted to move after about forty seconds. I thought that phenomenon was a product of nerves, and perhaps partly because of poor breath control. But this time I seemed more on top of those two factors, and I still felt weak as a kitten very shortly into each match. Now I'm not sure what is causing that sensation.

I am not having much fun with competing, and I am not a good competitor. Rolling in the school is fun, even when I lose; this ain't fun. I also perform better in school; I don't seem to come through under pressure very well. I think I am mostly doing this as a Rodrigo-approval-seeking exercise. I think I'm subconsciously seeing him as the father figure I never had, and I'm trying to make him proud of me. I need to do some thinking, though, about whether or not competing is actually helpful for my personal martial artist development.