Whining's Done

Whine whine whine. Bitch bitch bitch. Poor me poor me. Ok, that's done. 31 days until Vegas. Time to get back on the treadmill.

Complete Collapse

I'm tired. I'm too busy. I worked out at TKD tonight. I have a meeting. It's cold and I rode my motorcycle today. Excuses. All of which, if properly translated, equate to "I'm unmotivated and lazy." These excuses led to, in the last ten days, a complete and utter collapse of my UBWT challenge. I have not lifted a finger--and in the most critical time of the last six months. As it is now, for me to even come close to finishing on time I need to do something like 160 pushups and situps a day, and run 3.3 miles per day for the next two weeks. Ain't gonna happen. And then, to top it all off, there was Mesa. Not only did I lose it in the last three weeks of the challenge--I lost it in the week prior to Nationals "dress rehearsal" in Mesa, AZ this past weekend. Even with that--I felt pretty comfortable going in. What a disaster. All the standard stuff aside of dragging 15 bags, three kids a wife and a mother-in-law to the tournament. Cowboy got his Tiny Tiger game on and got his trophy. Princess even pulled hers off, winning 3rd in forms and 1st in her first sparring tournament, despite getting punched full-force in the nose. Then SW and I went. To begin with, Alan and I were pretty nervous because we were the only adults with a half-belt in the convention center, and our ring went from us at Camo-R's to 1B-R. We felt a little better when watching their forms, though. For the ranks they were, they were atrocious. One guy finished his backwards, one guy forgot it halfway through. By the time they got to us, we were both feeling pretty good about our chances at placing. Alan went, did his as good as I've seen him, and then I went, doing as good as I ever have. He got his scores--9.6, 9.6, 9.7. I got the same exact thing. We didn't even come in the top five. We were pretty pissed. I felt like we were given lower scores from either being lower ranked or doing a lower form. On top of that, we looked even more stupid because everyone there is in leadership club (every adult we saw all day, incidentally) and wearing black gear with a gold stripe on their belt. We look like real big tiny tigers. Sparring didn't go much better. We've done one punching drill since since we began. I focused primarily on kicks. All the guy (a 1B-R) had to do was wait for me to get into arm's reach and he scored every time, with his back to the judges. Our punches tied, but since he had two judges on his side, every point he got was 2-1 in his favor. On top of that, the contact was a LOT heavier than I was led to believe, pretty much full-force kicks and punches. SW's ring wasn't any better. She was eliminated early, too, although her fight was much better than mine. The girl she was fighting against fired off two illegal kicks to the back and never got a warning. The girl then went against another girl in our class, and on the third kick to the back finally got DQ'd, opening it up for my classmate to take first--the only trophy any of us got. Compared to the last tournament, when every single person in my class won something, it left a bad taste in my mouth. All in all, an extremely frustrating and demoralizing experience. I don't mind losing at all. I do mind getting treated unfairly, which is what I firmly believe happened this weekend. I'm debating whether or not to enter Nationals or just go and watch Princess take first again, even though no points are awarded to her since we don't do leadership club. If what I experienced this weekend is any indication of what to expect over the next two years I think my competing days are done for now. CHALLENGE STATUS PUSHUP: -1348 SITUPS: -1348 MILES: -27.1

Going the Distance

Class on Tuesday turned out to be a bust, because (again) all we did was drills. I did manage to pop Alan in the side of the head (totally accidentally) with a round kick during one of the drills when the instructor told me that I needed to be kicking higher. He mentioned that, starting tonight, that we would be in full tournament prep mode--so full sparring and focusing on SA#3 and weapons, if we decide to do them. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to hold off on doing SJB in competition for the time being. I was a little worried, during the class, because my heart rate had jumped so high due to dehydration. When I got on the scale that night it read 201.4, but then I drank a 1/2 gallon of crystal light to bring things back into the norm. I've run every day this week, and motivation is pretty high. Class tonight. Mesa in nine days. 26 days to go. CHALLENGE STATUS PUSHUP: -572 SITUPS: -572 MILES: -12.2

Intensity

It seems that the intensity gets jacked up higher every class. Not so much with the physical part, since SW and I are ahead of the game fitness-wise, but with the content. We went to class on Saturday because we're getting ready for Mesa. Since we won't have CJ1 down in time, we all picked which form to do--in most cases SA3. The school is doing a "competition class" on Saturdays now, so we learn CJ1 in our normal class, and SA3 in the competition class. In the past five weeks since joining Black Belt Club we have only sparred once. There's only one other guy in the class (Alan), so we usually get paired up for everything. When we sparred that one time we were restrcited to kicks to the body only, and I beat him easily 5-0. He's pretty competitive, and was pissed that I had beaten him. Since then, he's told me several times that he's been practicing, with the only thought being to beat me in class. When we have adult classes, the kids usually hang out in the lobby--unsupervised. To counter this SW and I bring in our portable DVD player for our kids to watch, and that normally keeps them out of trouble. On Saturday, there were more kids than normal due to the upcoming tournament. Both instructors were teaching, and the school owner was in his office, behind closed doors, with a customer. We were working on Bong Mahng Ee, which I have a pretty good handle on, when I saw Princess making her way to the office to knock on the door. I bowed out to see what the problem was. Apparently there was some kid that I had never seen before playing with the DVD and not letting anyone watch it. I went over and tapped the kid on the shoulder, telling him not to touch the player and to share. He didn't even look up at me. "I can touch whatever I want," he muttered. I was stunned on so many levels. One, I was an adult. Two, I was in uniform and higher ranking than he. And three, it was my DVD player for my kids. "Excuse me--that is my machine for my kids. Do not touch it and let them watch. If you want to watch, too, then look over their shoulders." He didn't move. "Now." He rolled his eyes and got up, going over to his father, which I was amazed to find out was a few feet away and not paying any attention to his own kid. When I went back into class I was completely frazzled. The moves I had been doing a few minutes earlier with ease were gone, and I looked like I had never been there before. A few minutes later, the instructor told us to go get suited up. When I went back out into the lobby, the kid was at it again so I took the DVD player and closed it, placing it into my bag. Now I was even more pissed, since my own kids couldn't watch a movie I had brought specifically for them. On top of that, I was the last one back on the mat, tying my stuff on as I went. The first pairing was SW and one of the other girls. SW had beaten her easily, also, the last time we sparred. The girl also outweighs SW by about 20 pounds and is about six inches taller. The instructor briefed us that we were now going full-up, with kicks and punches allowed wherever we wanted within the rules. The match started and the girl attacked SW with full-force kicks. It almost looked like she was trying to hurt her. SW lost, and Alan and I were called up next, with me still pissed off at some seven-year-old that I didn't even know. I figured I would maybe try a kick to the head, but nothing flashy since I didn't feel that I have enough control to not hit him full force. The instructor threw his hand up to start the match. I took a half step forward, and the next thing I knew I was seeing stars from a heel to the chin. My mouthpiece filled with blood. The instructor signaled three points. Apparently he was airborne when he connected. I didn't notice. We started again and I managed to get a couple of kicks off, and Alan jumped, turned, and threw a heel into my stomach. Two points. Match over. Mind you, again, we are half-camo-belts and this is the second sparring match I've been in since I was 17. To the best of my knowledge, it's Alan's second sparring match ever. I was compeltely incensed when I left class. So was SW. When we started to talk about it, I realized that Alan's son was particularly rough on the kid he sparred against, too, throwing axe kicks and moves we hadn't ever seen before, except on UFC. I fully expected the instructor to say something about control, but he never said a word. I'm a little torn as to how to handle sparring against him again, which should happen tonight. I'm pretty sure I could get some hurtful kicks off, but I don't want this to escalate to a broken nose for someone, which I could definitely see happening. At least now I know that he has a few more weapons in his repetoir, and will be a lot more defensive. CHALLENGE STATUS PUSHUP: -711 SITUPS: -711 MILES: -12.3

Sparring

I am so loving this. We've begun sparring regularly now, after drills and prep work to get ready for it. The only complaint I have is the fountain of sweat that pours out from my hewadgear, but it's bearable. We've only been doing kicks to the body, with no punches or head shots allowed at this point. Either way--it's a blast. I'm not sure if I'm going to enter the January 20th tournament. First, I may not even be here for work reasons. Second, if I do get to go, we'll be taking Odie along with us so only one of us will be able to compete while the other watches the kid. We had Cowboy next to us last time, but he's pretty self-sufficient in comparison to a 10 month old. Sahng-Jeoul Bongs are going well. I'm having issues with the foam bouncing off of my back when I bring it over the shoulder, resulting in it bouncing back to the front. I also am having issues with the "around the neck" move. Either way, it's a blast. Tonight's our last prep class before testing on Saturday. Finally a Camo Belt (albeit half camo/half yellow). After next week we finally have a break in training when the school takes the holiday off. CHALLENGE STATUS PUSHUP: +71 SITUPS: +61 MILES: -26.3