ATM has been on the rocks for the past few weeks. And even if Monday's aren't what they used to be, they still are (or at least should be) "must train" days.
With the Revolution this weekend, we went straight to drills, specific and sparring. Rodrigo was talking to Nate before class about how a couple of people were getting injured with all the standup training we have been doing over the past several weeks. Apparently, if I heard correctly, Clint ended up with a separated shoulder. Obviously - and especially after my trip through the Absolute division last Thursday night - I'm am muito sympathetic to shoulder injuries, and knowing that Clint was preparing for the tournament this Saturday only makes things that much worse. Here's hoping he has a good and quick recovery.
Best of times/worst of times for me on the mat tonight, as usual. Some good survival on the bottom in the King of the Guard specific drill. Not so great at the passing game - though I continue to press ahead with the Flat Pass. Sooner or later, if I don't make any major mistakes, I seem to at least be able to fight my way to half guard. This puts a real premium on developing my half guard passes, which have really languished in 2009.
Then again, there are times when I do make major mistakes. Benny had me totally on the defensive during our 10-minute sparring session to end training (though he had enough juice to roll with Brock immediately afterward ...). He caught me in an omoplata that I almost tapped to, a triangle briefly, and a couple of brabo chokes that were entirely too tight for comfort. That I didn't get submitted is a plus, of course. But getting caught in that many bad positions was horrible on my part.
On some other day, that kind of performance would bum me out pretty massively. But I tire myself out sometimes with that shiite. The good thing is that I managed to survive without tapping, eventually getting back to a much better situation - albeit with only about two minutes left.
I'm taking tomorrow off and will be back on the mat on Wednesday and probably Friday. My shoulder still bugs me, but it is a dull ache so I'm just Ibuprofening for now. Once it gets warmed up, I don't seem to have very many problems.
157.4 on the scale. Not bad for a Monday. Ideally, my next weigh-in on Wednesday will be just under 155.
