Didn't finish my CG3 work until sometime after 11, but I mananged to make it to the academy for the post-class sparring today. I was so glad to be there that I didn't even bother to warm-up. I rolled with Hakim, a new white belt with some good size, for about five minutes, then rolled for 30-40 minutes straight with Rodrigo.
What a day! It really is a testament to Rodrigo's skill that I am able to feel like I'm getting a good opportunity to work my game, while at the same time Rodrigo gets to work his. He caught me in two or three armlocks from the mount or scramble, at least a pair of triangle chokes, and another pair of collar chokes from rear mount.
I, uh, didn't catch him with anything in particular. Or anything in general for that matter. But what can you expect?
Nevertheless, it was great training. I got to work some butterfly guard (the official guard of 2008), and a lot of half-guard, which is just my default guard and the sooner I come to accept that fact the happier I'll be. Rap Star wasn't going anywhere, even though I managed to get the arm-wrap a couple of times. But I've been working some odd sweep from the half guard that I'm really not sure how it works. But I've had some surprising success with it in the past. And it was fun to try and work it against Rodrigo.
As I was telling Rebecca (or, truth told, as she is always telling me), I never regret the hours I spent on the mat. It is so much fun and such a great workout. I could easily see how people could dedicate their lives to teaching and training jiu jitsu.
One thing that I've figured out is that I've just got to go in and train whenever I get a chance. Full class, half class, post-class sparring, open mat .. whatever. There's nothing stopping me from getting in an hour of training Sunday morning, for example. I'm still unsure about evenings--I can make my work a lot easier by getting the next day's writing done between about 4 pm to 8 pm, which makes night training a problem. But I'm determined to get my three sessions a week in, one way or the other.
