My Big Picture goal is to earn my third degree by 2020. I'll be eligible for my first degree late next year. And if that goes well, I would be eligible for my second degree in late 2017. Obviously, I'll be promoted if and when my professor feels the time is right to promote me. These goals are just an expression of the kind of commitment to my academy and the art I am determined to make over the next several years.
So to that end, I'm focused on longevity. I'm bringing post-train/off-mat conditioning back into the game which I think/hope will both make me more effective now and more likely that I'll be in good shape to continue training consistently over the next 7-10 years.
Sunday has always been a great day for LSD (long slow distance) training. So I managed to get back up on the treadmill for half an hour or so today. I'm taking a page (actually the whole book, which I recommend) from local trainer Joel Jamieson's Ultimate MMA Conditioning, and focusing on cardiac output for the next month before turning the intensity up a notch.
There are other considerations. To compete again or not and, if so, whether or not the dearth of lightweight black belt competitors (or even middleweight), means that I need to start thinking about no-gi competition, where the intermediate and advanced ranks are always available.
But that's another conversation for another day. Right now, the idea is to improve my conditioning, get a little stronger, lose a little weight (my kingdom for a 70 kilo print!), tighten up my game (Rickson/Kron from the bottom/Leandro Lo from the top), and just see where that leads me.
