This is jiu-jitsu November 2, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: mount, spider guard, sweep
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Car update: lots of little things that will cause basically the entire front to be replaced. Also, transmission fluid needed. About $1500 total ($500 deductible). Probably won’t be ready until the end of the week, at which point I have to figure out how to get back up to Philly and get it…
My insurance pays for a rental car, and the only thing they had available at the time was a Dodge Charger. Sweeeeet! (Although, I’m a paranoid driver now 
)
(However, it is a very looong car — it barely fit in the garage!!)
Small class tonight. Short but not-so-fun warmup: jogging, high knees, butt kicks, side-to-side, bear crawls. Then Justin got in front of the line. At one corner, we started duck walks all the way around the mat. Then random jogging until we were running in the opposite direction. At one corner, alligators all around. Got stuck after turning the first corner and couldn’t figure out how to start again; finally got it together, though I backed up most of the class. Had to pause in the middle and walk/stretch out legs. Then single legs, forward rolls, backwards rolls, and squat jumps. (Nothing after rolls, gah!) Really had to work on catching my breath during/after all that, too.
Rolling. Started with Marine Mark, who apparently also missed all of last week, so the warmup had wiped him out. I was able to keep top position most of the time, and was even trying submission after submission — clock choke, kimura, armbar, americano, triangle, a gi choke, RNC, and many more — and transitioning every which way and even transitioning between submissions. Whoa. Even had a few sweeps. He did get a sweep or two, but I was immediately moving and out, once even taking his back from there. Also looking for knee-on-belly, using the two points like Emily showed us; used them to re-establish side control when he tried to turn in, too. Who the–? What the–?
Then grabbed Scott. Got the hook sweep from the seminar 
though couldn’t follow through and get top. My follow throughs need work. (He also pointed that out afterward.) Underneath more with him, but pushing more to get out; felt better about it even though I didn’t have much success. Accidentally kneed him in the face because I was really working to get my leg out. Apologized. Mostly played defense and positions, though did get briefly to top several times. I was trying the Sit-up Guard stuff we worked during all rolls tonight, especially for starting or after a scramble. Threatened the chokes a few times with Scott, but mostly didn’t get anything. Tried to hit X-guard a few times, though couldn’t lift his leg enough; I bet I was lifting in the wrong direction (that is, lifting toward where he had weight, rather than to the light side).
Drilling was a guard sweep. Your partner breaks your guard and gets his front knee/shin up. Pistol-grip the sleeves. The leg that’s on the same side as their up leg, keep up behind their shoulder. The other foot drops to their hip. Hip out to that side. Pull the foot off their hip and feed it in front of their arm and then down behind the hamstring of their posted leg. Pull that arm in so that their elbow is in front of your leg. Hip back through to the other side. Post your free leg far off to the other side, and then kick out and/or lift a little with your hooked foot. (I found that kicking straight was easier for me to do, and they’re off balance anyway.) They’ll land on their side, falling to the side where you have the arm trapped. Switch grips on the arm you’re sitting on; with the now free hand, reach across and grab their lapel. Slide your hip/leg further over their arm as you pull up on that sleeve, so that your weight in on their bicep. Pinch your knees up and together.
That’s where the sweep itself ended. We added, for the first time we drilled, coming to side control. Then Justin showed us several transitions and armbar, triangle, & omoplata entry points from the end of the sweep. We drilled a transition to S-mount/mount: From that ending position, transition your far arm to their near hip. Now pop up onto their chest (sit squarely in the center, not hanging on with just one cheek). Keep hold of that arm. Swing the leg nearest their head around to the side, to S-mount. Transition to mount if you want. And you still have their arm.
More rolling. Yoshi first. And he was playing technique tonight! Yay! (Seriously, dude, roll like this with me in front of Tim. Es muy bueno. Fast track to blue belt, I promise.) Got to use Emily’s visualization tips several times here — be light like a feather when I wanted to float on top, be heavy as a boulder when I didn’t want him to move me. Worked sometimes, too. 
Ended up playing lots of spider guard. Me, playing spider guard in class and having success with it? Whoa. Did the guard recovery from spider guard several times, when he thought he was around, though he kept a knee in at all times so I couldn’t get to guard; did get back to square, though, and back to controlling from spider guard. Remembered to keep my control points at different levels and moving. He tried the sweep from class several times, though I’d land on my side facing him and could come right back in. He stopped the first time and asked why it hadn’t worked; I pointed out he hadn’t gotten my elbow through first. Oooooh. Second time, same thing. Doh. Afterward he laughed that I’d played so much spider guard, so I told him we’d worked it at the seminar.
Last round with Sundance. He still has to wear a big purple boxing glove on one hand when he rolls, though he’s able to do more of the warmup (like bear crawls and alligators). Also playing technique tonight. (Again, play with me like this in front of Tim. I think it’s the last bump you need for that belt.) More visualization, though he took advantage of my “light” visualizations to dump me over. Doh. He was trying to play spider guard with his one free hand, so I practiced my open guard passing from last week (um, holding down pant legs with my weight is not working so well, hmmm… Had trouble with Scott, too.), though didn’t get anywhere. Maybe on top half the round (?), mostly in half guard. Worked my two points and also worked on crossfacing with a little more insistence.
After class, I played around on Sundance, using him as a grappling dummy to practice some of the stuff from the seminar.
So, very good class. Very happy. I know jiu-jitsu! I can do this!
Slow Saturday October 3, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: DArce, escape, gi, mount
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Just could not wake up this morning. When the alarm went off, I set a new one and rolled back over. (That probably didn’t help.) Finally got up and out. Couple of guys were standing around outside; no one there to let us in. But Justin pulled in right behind me.
As I was walking in, I saw my old boss and his wife driving in to go to the next door fabric store. I waved and smiled and continued in to class. Right as Justin called for us to jog it out for the warmup, I saw my old boss heading for the door of the academy, so I pulled out to wait for him. Talked to him just a few minutes, but it was good to see him and let him know that I’ve moved on and am doing well. It’s one week shy of a full year since I was laid off from there.
Very small class. Short warmup, though I was gassed fast. Did get two runs on the squat jumps, and again feeling as if I was doing them better. But then only one run on alligators, and then that wound up being the last thing.
To rolling. With Guillaume first. Could not breathe. Ugh. I was so slow. Somewhere got him turtled and got the Peruvian necktie on. Remembering what happened with Will the other night, I held on even when I thought I was doing it wrong, and did finish it. Had a D’Arce, too, that I think I did right, but couldn’t finish. Meant to ask him later, but didn’t remember. Couple other places where I was just bleh and slow.
And good gracious, I can’t type worth anything, either. I must be more tired than I thought — I keep thinking one word and writing another (I just did there: thought “word” and typed “work”). I think I’m going for a nap in a minute.
Another roll, with the little kid. I caught him in bottom half-guard early, and he tried to jump over to mount, as he normally does. (It’s hard to keep tight on him and yet still allow him to move — his legs are about as big around as my arms, and his hips are narrow and tiny. So I’m generally pretty loose, since the other option is to just shut him down completely, and that’s not fair.) Justin stopped our roll to show him the cut-through half-guard pass. So then I tried to catch him in half guard throughout the rest of the roll so he could practice; first few times, he wanted to jump again, so I more aggressively blocked off the far side with my knee and elbow to force him back the other way. He finally caught on, and then was hitting that pass more consistently.
Also got him under mount, where he started spazzing again; I clamped down and said, “Knee-elbow;” he got it mostly right. Tipped him over a few times when he was off-balance, being really careful that it wasn’t any muscle. I turned in once, I think intending to go in to his guard, and stuck my neck way out there; he caught something — I don’t think it was actually a guillotine (maybe more like an Ezekiel in arm positioning? I wasn’t in the best position to see ) — and while he didn’t actually lock up his guard, he did keep his hips under me and his legs on either side of my body, which prevented me from escaping unless I used more pressure than usual on him. (Maybe should’ve tried a bit until he locked up his guard. Just thought of that, though.) So, good job on him for catching my lazy head.
Drilling was knee-elbow escape from mount again, this time going to butterfly instead of full guard. Then those of us who knew elevator sweeps could come up and do those. Same knee-elbow escape to get to the half-guard. Then hip further out; bring your top foot inside their near thigh. Use that hook to lift while bringing the bottom knee out to your elbow. Hip out the other way and hook in the other leg to butterfly guard.
Drilled with the kid. My turns took me through the elevator sweep and in to mount, so then he went. He missed the week we did elevator sweeps, so he just drilled the knee-elbow escape a lot.
Rolling again. We had an odd number, so I sat out. After that round, Buddy #1 showed the kid the bump sweep (which he has seen, I think). One more round, and back in with the kid. Trying the same as before, to catch half guard and go to mount. I got lots of work on shrimping around under him, so I’d bump over and lock up the half-guard. Had to block him again from jumping in the half guard until he remembered. He tried jumping from side control a few times this time; got my leg up to catch him up there and float him on that hook. More tipping, too. I think he’s trying to submit me with shoulder pressure in side control (?), but he way off-balances himself, so I just sit up and over he goes. Went to mount once; he spazzed again; clamped down again and said, “We just drilled this.” Then he got it, and got back to guard. I postured high, trying to let him go for the bump sweep, but he was more interested in the guillotine option. (Of course.) Reminded him of the bump sweep again afterward.
I tried the north/south roll escape that Scott showed me a long while ago, but couldn’t get my rolling to work. Also tried what we were defending against on Tuesday (if the opponent is turtled and grabs for your far arm hooked around his ribs, wanting to roll in to you and flip you over so he comes up in side control) since I was turtling a fair bit; he conveniently left his arm in deep every time, but I couldn’t quite get to side control before he’d scramble away.
Then we sat around for a long while. One of the guys there today, Kevin, used to train about 10 years ago, but work and wife have kept him away. He was trying to remember everything and was asking Justin about things he half-remembered. In between questions, Justin and Buddy #1 were drilling straight ankle locks and escapes.
Some time in there, after the kid had left, something came up and Buddy #1 commented on how hard it is to do choking submissions on me because my neck and shoulders are so much smaller than everyone else. (This is from yesterday). I mentioned that it’s probably the same size difference as I see with the kid (and actually, with the new girl — they’re just both so much smaller than the guys who I’m used to). Buddy of course said that when he rolls with the kid, he doesn’t even try submissions, just plays positions and getting him in situations where he knows what to do. Some of the guys, I’ve noticed, do actually do everything they can on the kid — pressure, force, jerk on submissions. Meh. (But I talked to the kid and his mom several weeks ago, and they said they’ve noticed that when a guy beats up on him, that that guy generally gets a beatdown in the next round. Tim and the instructors do watch out for us, but they also don’t want us to get used to being rescued every round. If they think it’s getting out of hand, they’re standing by to step in.)
My Hokies somehow won despite their best efforts. They got as many penalties on offense and defense as they could; the officiating was completely against them; they even had fumbles! Sheesh.
Late update: 18 months of jiu-jitsu today. My new joke is that I do in fact have a boyfriend, and his initials are BJJ.
More small anniversaries this week: 1 year since being laid off of my old job and 7 months since starting my new one.
Girl sighting October 1, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: escape, grrls, guillotine, mount, pressure
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The girl did actually come tonight. I was figuring she wasn’t, since it was already 7 and she wasn’t there, but she came a few minutes after; we were running late tonight, though, so it didn’t matter.
Before class, Brandon and I were goofing around on exercise balls. He tried flat-out jumping up on one; looked like a cartoon character: his feet bounced off and flew straight up, he fell to one side, bounced sideways on the ball again, and then hit the floor. Then we rolled for about fifteen minutes. I triangled myself once or twice; didn’t defend quite right when he tried for the double-armbar from guard. Wanted to work the floating from Tuesday, but only saw the top once. Mostly defending a slow set-up north/south kimura — he’d get the grip when I was still on my back, and then would try to pull me up and get his legs around, but that gave me too much space and time. Pointed that out afterward.
Small class; short warmup, though we repeated shrimping and single-legs a lot while Justin worked with the new girl. Both runs on squat jumps, though, and actually good jumps! On the second run, my legs even felt stronger than on the first. I think I was getting deeper and/or extending more. Or something.
Then to rolling. Justin put me with the new girl, but she doesn’t know anything at all yet. So I decided to just show her positions instead. After a few minutes of that, Justin looks over at me and asked what we were doing, then he switched with me and I went over to drill with Sundance. He had to have surgery on his finger (it’s been a long while ago now, too) for a tendon, and is out for another 4-6 weeks. Geez, and I spaz when I have to miss just 1 week. We worked a few armbars on his non-injured hand, and then he let me work D’Arce from half guard. He pointed out that once I suck their head in, I should let go of half guard and then sink my top hip. Practiced that a few times; he was tapping fast and said it was tight.
Justin continued working with the girl for the next round, so I got to roll with Buddy. Had some good things, like D’Arce defenses; triangled myself again, though. And then he caught some sneaky reverse triangle/double kimura thingy; even he said it was sneaky. Still on the bottom, though, or against his open guard.
Drilling was knee-elbow escape from mount. (I call this one the “scrape” version.) Bridge and get them down to your hips. Brace on one of their hips to turn to one side. The leg that’s closest to the ground stays flat; the other leg crosses over the bottom one and hooks on the outside of their leg on that side. Scrape their leg over your bottom leg so now their shin is on top of your bottom thigh. Use your bottom elbow for leverage on their knee while bringing the knee of the bottom leg under their leg and up to meet your elbow. Plant that foot on the ground and hip escape to that side. Lock up half guard. Either start playing half guard or continue to full guard, which is what we did tonight. Elbow of the bottom arm leverages against their knee (now the opposite knee from before). Unlock the half guard and bring the bottom knee through to meet the bottom elbow. Plant that foot on the ground and hip escape to that side. Circle that foot out and square up to guard.
I worked with the girl. Did it a couple of times on her so she could see it again and feel it and then let her work. Justin came around and helped walk her through it, too. Mostly just let her work.
More rolling. Started with the girl. Going super easy. Mostly just gently swept her and went to mount, then let her work the escape; when she got back to guard, broke the guard gently and did knee-through pass to mount again. After I’d passed a couple of times, she figured out the scissor sweep position all on her own (though she didn’t know what it was) to block my pass, so I’d move around for a different one and go back to mount. Afterward she was asking about the way I was always keeping some pressure somewhere on her while moving. (And I was using light pressure and only in a small place, like my forehead on her hip, and was keeping distance to make sure I wouldn’t accidentally hit her.)
Justin worked with her one more time while I went with the little 14 year old, so not much harder than the last round. Did tip him over, er, sweep him once and took mount; he started thrashing around. I finally clamped down on him and said, “We just drilled this.” “Oh. Right.” Little spazzy and needed some walking through it. He jumped away from guard and went for another no-chance guillotine. I came up in his guard at another point, and he was grabbing for arms and letting them go, half coming up for bump sweep then dropping down; I didn’t even have to defend anything because he was all over the place on his own. Afterwards, I told him that he needed to slow down when he rolled and to try to work the techniques that we drill in class, that they do work when you do them right and not when you try to rush through them. I also showed him the guillotine from guard, which I’d meant to do on Tuesday. He was very surprised that the correct position is from full guard; he’s tried it from every other position.
I was going to hang around to talk to the girl, but she went over to join Perry’s Krav class. (I do think she may have gotten the impression that jiu-jitsu is indeed the “gentle art” from working with just me and Justin. She mentioned something at one point about it being so much slower than she expected… So she may be back, but with expectations that aren’t going to be met for much longer. Hrrrmm…)
Spin-the-Wheel Pizza after. Brandon and I were both one space away from a free pizza; Justin and Guillaume both won zeppolis. My heros (But with two of them on the table, we couldn’t finish it all!)
Not stopping August 11, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: gi, sweep, armbar, mount, side control, conditioning
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Might not be going very fast, but I’m not stopping. Might not get as many runs, but I’m not stopping. Might not jump as high, might not look as sharp, might not appear to be as much work, but I’m not stopping.
Not that I could form any thought even halfway so coherent tonight…
Straight in to rolling. With Will. Tim was saying to just go nice and easy; Will dropped right back for his open guard; I grabbed for his pants and started trying to work around. He joked that trying to pass his guard wasn’t playing nice and easy; I countered that his guard isn’t nice and easy. I don’t remember much of the round (or the whole night), but I remember being pleased that I’d gotten my positioning right a few times, had pressure in the right place a time or two, and had noticed the slippery slope to getting triangled and had moved away.
Another roll, with the little 14-year-old kid. I was mostly looking for opportunities to bump him down and do the pendulum sweep, or other places to bump around a mistake and get in close (like when he charged in high and I ducked under and came up on his back). He gave me lots of chances to practice, and also gave me lots of chances to practice shooting up for the triangle since he was trying to break my guard by reaching back. After the fourth or fifth one, before I let him escape, told him that when he reached back to break my guard, he was setting me up for that triangle. Did let him work away from everything except most of the sweeps. Let him get to side control a few times so I could practice the thread-the-needle escape… and yeah, I need more work on it, especially with weight on me (even with only 80 lbs!). Somehow my head and body aren’t quite clear on what everyone needs to do once there’s a person holding me down. Can do it fine drilling on my own; having troubles once a warm and tightly clinging body is added.
He had rolled with Tim before class, and I’d seen Tim teaching him how to do an armbar. So when he got around to side control once and tried for the armbar, I was mostly waiting for him to do it right; he didn’t, though (kept tugging high up under my armpit, which I hardly even had to defend: just the dead weight of my arm was keeping it safe). Let him try for a little while, and finally switched back around to guard since he wasn’t getting it. Guard work, was trying to not use my arms except to lock up the pendulum sweep. He did try the elbow-in-throat once from inside my guard (I think he was getting frustrated); popped it across and locked up the pendulum sweep.
Okay, so I remembered that… I think I rolled in the same location most of the night, and somehow that always jumbles things in my head. Also, most of the rolls were similar; this one was actually different.
Then rolled with Brandon. Similar to Will, I think — did some good things, mostly position and pressure and seeing “Warning: Triangles Ahead” signs. Probably mostly under everything, though, as that’s what normally happens, and I don’t have many memory flashes of being on top. I think it was this round that my ribs got to complaining again.
On the wall for single legs. Okay so far. Then single leg/sprawl. Slowing a bit, but actually jogging back faster than the 14 year olds (that’s something). Then bear crawl down, single leg/sprawl back. We had to almost line up to get a “down” queue and a “back” queue. I think that was it for then.
Partnered again for rolls. Was put with the other 14 year old. And Tim was hollering for us to push through, keep attacking, so the kid listened and tried to tear in to me. I think he was tired, though (he also does football, and they’ve started two-a-days), because I was able to just barely stay ahead of him. Started off trying to pass his guard; I think I got bump tackled. He was trying to grab a sleeve and rip an arm out. Managed to defend that and even to throw in some bumps to off-balance him. Couldn’t get enough room (or energy) to escape, though. I think he finally decided to try an armbar without having my arm; I came up and in and to his guard. Somehow I ended up turtled, defending him trying to pick me up and flip me over or guillotine me; eventually got a leg, even, and did the single-leg sweep from there. Almost made it fully to side control; tried several things which I think I did nearly right but not quite enough right as he was able to scramble away.
On the wall again. Almost had to crawl to get there. Alligator down, 10 pushups, alligator back, 10 pushups. Repeat. A lot. I know by the end I was one or two full laps behind, but that was seriously as fast as my body could move. Fighting to keep the waterworks in check; everything was tired and hurting, and there wasn’t enough oxygen to go around. Then 50 squat jumps. I think I counted to 33 (though I think I did about 9 more than Tim disallowed by saying I wasn’t jumping high enough. C’mon, white girls can’t jump, especially not short stubby ones. My “higher” wasn’t much more.) before he called us back out to roll again.
With another guy. He said he was tired and trying not to puke before we started; while I doubted it would happen, I was kind of hoping that meant he’d slow down and focus on technique. Not to be, however. Charged me straight off; I did manage a sprawl, but still couldn’t get my legs fully away from him; he pulled my legs under and got me on my back. Think I stayed there most of the time with some brief stints in his half-guard, though I don’t remember what I did to get there. Couldn’t keep enough pressure on him, though, to work loose; would just get swept instead. Again with the hands-in-the-right-place happy moments.
Same partner, 10 bump sweeps per side. Tim had to come over and teach him the bump sweep first. First one also involved an elbow to the back of the head. Um, ouch.
Last round, Tim put me with Big John. (He also said he was trying not to puke. !!) His tired speed is my fresh-out-of-the-gate speed. But he does really try to work technique; I think there were several times when he could’ve easily overpowered me for something, but he recognized that it was just strength masquerading as technique, and he’d slow down and work on the details of what he meant to do. Not that it was any less deadly. Spent most of the round defending a couple of chokes; neither was quite under my chin, though that’s where he was working to. Also defending an armbar for a while; don’t remember where exactly he left space, but there was some and I was able to turn in. (That was one of the ones he could’ve had if he’d just wanted to rip my arm off.) Remember being under mount and side control a lot, and was even turtled for a good while. Couldn’t reach his leg, though; did try once, but he just switched sides.
That was class. (Thank goodness! I was a little pile of blue sweaty gi.)
I think there are some times when rolling when I’m not having to consciously think, “Oh, look, space,” and then decide to move in to it. I think my brain or body is just finding the space and moving in without my conscious decision. Which is good, because on nights like tonight when my conscious brain shut down early, I need something to keep working.
Forgot to do my gi pullups after class. Was so tired, I didn’t even remember them until I got home.
How many ways can I injure myself in one class? Let’s count! July 15, 2009
Posted by leslie in Training Log.Tags: choke, escape, gi, half guard, injuries, mount, omoplata, side control, sweep
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Yesterday was Brandon’s birthday, so we went out after class last night. Didn’t get home in time to write and get decent sleep, so I went with the latter.
Had decided to work on using my hips — and my hips alone — to control positions and pull off stuff.
A light warmup, and since I already have a few nagging hurts (knee (1) and neck (2)), I was being nice and non-judgmental on myself. And so of course, I was keeping up decently.
Straight to rolling. With Brandon first. Doing okay with the hips thing, mostly, though still under everything and not getting position right for sweeps. A time or two, I went up with him when he stood, but my knee didn’t like the pressure so I dropped. And then he went for an armbar from mount and, while pulling his heels back in, knocked me square across the bridge of my nose (3). Seeing stars, eyes watering, whoa. So Tim let me sit out and put Clifton in with Brandon for the rest of the round.
Next round with Guillaume. Doing better with hips; had some sweeps. Even worked for a few submissions. But he kept landing square on my calf, which had been hurting a bit since the tournament. After the round, I looked at my leg, and there’s a huge bruise across the back of my calf (4).
Then we drilled the move of the week, a counter off their counter to your scissor sweep, more like an elevator sweep from the scissor sweep. When you go to scissor sweep, they post out their leg on the same side as your top leg. Hook under that knee with your top foot; sweep them back toward your opposite shoulder while lifting on that leg. Land in mount.
Worked with Guillaume again. Went to hook under his knee once and instead stubbed my toes right on his shin, and that’s the toe that was once dislocated (5). Ouchness!! He also kept landing on my calf when he did it, and my knee tweaked a little, too.
Another roll, Guillaume again. Got that sweep straight off. A few other sweeps, though not usually something I tried to set up. Trying triangle/armbar, but he was defending; finally remembered to switch to an omoplata. Took a bit to set up, but finally got it. Got to mount once and wanted to do something besides the armbar. Remembered a gi choke and worked for it; ended up having to switch to the knee-up version because I forgot about the top arm.
Drilling again. A choke from side control, and a transition to a baseball choke if the first isn’t working. From scarf hold, grip around their far shoulder. Your near hand feeds deep in their near collar, turning over so your four fingers are inside. Move around their head to the other side, ending by their head with your down leg on your knee and the other leg posted; your forearm should have rotated under their chin, wrist straight. Drop that elbow to the mat to finish.
If that isn’t working for some reason, your elbow dropping should have opened the back of their neck/collar. Feed the thumb of your other hand into their collar below your choking hand and on the other side of their head. You should now have a baseball grip. Straighten the thumb-in arm while continuing the elbow-down motion with the other arm.
Worked with Guillaume. Just general choking, though I have a little patch of irritation on my throat from it all (6).
Rolling to finish up. First with Mark. I caught the baseball version of the choke. He went for an armbar and did it fast and my shoulder got jerked a bit more than it needed (7). Rolled for a minute or so trying not to use that arm, though it was okay rather quickly. He also caught me in the face with a foot (8), though not as painful as Brandon’s. I did have a sweep, I think, in there, and at some point got mount — and then got myself completely confused about what I was trying to do and where I was. At some point, I noticed that one of my toenails was scraggly and splitting (9). He had me turtled for a while and was trying to get his knee in, but I wasn’t letting him. He called me “Nick” (who has a great turtle defense), which I take as a great compliment.
Last round with a guy who comes randomly. My brain wanted to work hooks and sweeps, similar to the move of the week. Hit several and got to half guard or mount. He’d usually lock on and roll me, though I did have the half guard escape we’d drilled last week and to side control; don’t remember where we went from there. He also landed on my calf frequently, and my knee was unhappy with some of the things I asked it to do. At some point, a chunk of skin scraped off one of my toes (10). And at the end of the round, one of my fingers was bleeding from a scrape (11).
Not sure when it happened, but one of my fingers is also sore/strained/something — it hurts (12).
Then we hit the wall again for single legs and single leg sprawls. I just went slow, since everything that I hurt during class was hurting right then.
Wow, 12 new or exacerbated injuries in one class. 
Multiple injuries aside, though, I think I manage to play my game in most of my rolls (although, getting squashed under side control and mount isn’t really my favorite part of my current game). Kept it nice and easy, mostly, with a few bursts to capture a position. And could breathe! Always helps.
When I got to work yesterday, I was planning to call to get a massage. Then I found out I had a meeting for pretty much all of that afternoon, and they only offer massages on Tuesday afternoons and Thursday mornings. So I didn’t make an appointment. Today, the meeting was rescheduled for tomorrow morning and Thursday morning, from pre-coffee to post-lunch. Much pout.
And so far it’s a meeting where I have little to contribute and am just taking a few notes… and writing blog posts.
