There's little better than a Saturday training. Today, we had a busload of guys and gals from GB Lake Stevens training with us and the mats were packed. Outside of the promotions/BBQ day at the end of the year last year, I don't think I've ever seen that many people at GB 3.0 to train - easily more than 50, with the Lake Stevens contingent representing about a third.
Very good competition-style training: mount armbars, triangle choke attacks from foot-on-bicep ("the Sauleh"), standing turning passes against de la Riva control ... I've got to say that I could train like this all the time, focusing on execution and the minor details to make each rep better than the last. It's a nice relief from "learning" per se, to just put yourself in the mode and just "vai! vai! vai!".
I'm starting to put together the pieces of a competition gameplan ("the 2-3-4") that will get tested a week from today. There are still a few critical areas here or there - like my trick to get all the way under in the deep half instead of trying to pull the guy onto my shoulder, the Squat Pass and the Stepover 1/2 Guard Pass series - that I'd like to drill over the next few days. But I'm starting to get an idea of what I feel most comfortable doing, from the takedown to the finish, and am increasingly able to see a through-line from beginning to end.
160.4 on the scale post-train, everything but the coat. Midway through training, I think I clocked in at 164.4 in the gi. Although these pounds are pretty much ideal, I'm not as lean as I might otherwise be and wouldn't mind shedding another 3-4 between now and competition time.
