In for the early class again this week. Started off with some self-defense with Prof Carlos, working with Brian on the punch block and wrist pin to safe clinch move with hip toss. From there it was side control to mount transitions and then some tips on mount escape from the bottom (both the knee slide guard replace and the bump 'n' roll/bridge).
Did a lot of mount escape work as part of the specific training in the second half of class. Good stuff overall, though I could feel myself starting to lose heart a bit toward the end dealing with an especially heavy challenge. I was able to recover half guard, but I was starting to get athletic about it rather than technical and the fatigue was sure to follow. And then the mental starts to break down, which is something I've been successfully battling over the past several weeks.
The trick is not to get to that point, to not allow the entropy that so readily will take me from technical to athletic to take over. It's like they say about torture: I don't care who you are or how you've been trained, with enough torture, you'll say anything. So the point is only partially about dealing with fatigue - obviously you have to be on intimate terms with your own limitations. But far more important is being able to have strategies to avoid having to deal with that kind of soul-stealing fatigue. It's easier to fight the enemy when he is beyond the walls than it is to battle him in the breach.
Live training technical note: Had a failure of confidence when on the bottom in half guard against a watchdog type pass. I knew that the move was to attack with the underhook and then allow my inside shoulder and maybe even some gi work to give me the advantage to the top. But I hesitated and fought over the legs instead and ended up getting passed. Better to make the move and see what does and doesn't work than to hesitate and end up doing something that I know is probably wrong.
160.2 on the scale post-train. A little heavy, but not bad for a Monday. For present purposes, sticking around 160 is probably the way to go over the balance of the year.
