Thursday, May 05, 2011

Spring and All

It's been one heckuva spring. I get injured the weekend before the March revolution. Then I'm told that I need to move to Jersey to keep my job. Then I'm told that I can keep my job, continue working remotely, and even get the raise I asked for - but that all of my staff is going to be let go. And then after a month of being a Department of One (TM), waiting patiently for That Paper, and trying to prep for the May revolution, I catch a cold three weeks out and miss a full week of training.

Coming into this week, my four-week training average was 2.5. I figured that four sessions this week - and over the next two weeks - would bring that number up to a respectable 3.5 or so heading into the competition. As it stands, with this week being another zero, the best I can hope for is a 3.0 by the Friday after the Friday after tomorrow.

Historically, the late spring and early summer tends to be a great time for training. And even with the awful April, I think I'll still have a halfway decent quarter (May/June/July - my calendar training year begins in August).

Other than getting some rest and all the usual cold-recovery strategies, I'm trying to focus in on what I'll need to train specifically next week and the week after in order to put on a halfway decent performance on the 21st. There have been some solid breakthroughs in recent weeks, especially with my cross and instep guards which really came into their own last Saturday. But there is still much tightening work to do with regard to guard passing and I need to drill some takedowns (read: half guard pulls) to avoid leaving any gaps that could show up as chasms in two weeks' time.