For the next three weeks, my conditioning will be threshold training 2x a week and LSD/cardiac output 1x. As much as I'd like to spend some time trying to recoup what I've probably lost cardiac output wise before moving on to cardiac power and more skills-specific training, I just don't have the time. With four weeks to go, it's time to put everything together.
I've got an idea of how I can get the fight to the ground, how I can pass the closed guard if I am unable to escape the legs as I get the takedown. I've got an idea of where I want to be in order to get the finish - and what finish I want to get.
The difference for the next four weeks will be my training. For the next four weeks, I'll up the frequency pretty dramatically. But I'm only doing live training/sparring from here until competition time.
There are a variety of reasons why I want to try this route - a training schedule I used to disapprove of when I was a white belt and used to see purple and brown belts show up after the rest of us had already been huffing and puffing our way through 60 or 90 minutes of warm-ups, conditioning and drills. Forgive me for saying "that was then".
For one, I want to focus my training on sparring: free sparring, specific sparring, stand-up, whatever will be directly geared toward what I plan to do in November. That's the proper path when it comes to preparing for competition that everybody else in every other combat sport follows. At 0-5 as a purple belt (0-7 overall, including intramurals) maybe I can find a reversal in fortunes by jumping on that bandwagon.
And, for two, I just don't want another week like the week I had to finish September and start October - especially in the middle of the not-wholly-self-possessed 8 Weeks of competition preparation. The week wasn't an utter failure. But there was far too much negative momentum that I'd rather not see accumulate any further. We'll see if this works.
Wow ... just saw a crazy WEC interim lightweight championship fight between Donald Cerrone and Ben Henderson. Without getting into spoiler territory, there is a lesson in this match for guard players playing a countergame with wrestlers.
