Twas the night before Black Belt Pre-Check #1

Now I lay me down to sleep..............But first I have some thoughts to keep
I guess I'll blog before my test...............and pray the Lord I'll do my best

Monday
Karate: Class at 8:30, SWAT at 7:00 and 7:45. Tonight was demo practice; but that didn't take the full class so we were able to get in some bag work. And, it was an extra tough workout because the transformer blew; the lights came back on but not the AC. And oh my, was it hot!!!!
Running: Rest day :)

Tuesday
Karate: Class at 7:30 and SWAT at 6:30; a good "A" day workout
Running: 8.07 miles in 1:31:23

Wednesday
Running: 3.05 miles in 28:54
Karate: Exam night!! The Demo went well. I did American Bo form with Ms. Kim and Ms. Mel. We were going at performance pace and the 2nd "set" where you do 4 figure 8's on the left, well I was a bit behind the other ladies. But I finished strong! After the bo staff, me and 13 other black belts and high-red belts performed 3 set kumites. We performed it in a square formation. It looked really cool and the staggered running kicks looked great. We did a pretty "easy" finale and then exited the floor. I went to the ladies room to change into my running clothes since Mel and I had talked about doing our 3 mile run after demo. But Mel wasn't in her running gear; instead, she was on the bench holding her knee.

She twisted it pretty good. And the stubborn lady she is, she was still talking about going out and running. But after some persuasion from a number of blackbelts, she iced her knee, she tried to "work out the kinks", and eventually went home to do RICE.

I then went on to the floor to help with the exam and after a few minutes, Mr. Mike asked me to check on a white belt who just went into the ladies room. Ms. Kelly wasn't doing very well; she was in the midst of having a migraine. I definitely could empathize with her. Migraines are the worst!!!! And I say that from personal experience. Unfortunately, Ms. Kelly wasn't able to go back to testing. And needless to say, I spent most of Wednesday night in the bathroom. :)

Thursday
Running:
5.11 miles in 50:21
Karate: Class at 7:30, SWAT at 8:30. It was a great Bugo class for me. I started off by partnering with Kathy. She is awesome; she's very good about giving you feedback (keep your right guard up higher; move to your right side). When we went into 3 person safety zones, I first was with Marlene and Kathy. Marlene and I are about the same size so it was a pretty "even" match. Kathy is shorter than me, but she's a petite powerhouse. Tonight I decided I was going to focus on staying in tight with my opponent and just keep throwing punches (and yes, expecting to take some punches). I did much better against Ms. Kathy with this approach.

We only did one 3-person safety zone. Then Ma'am had all the black belts and high-red belts line up in the red zone for a round. I sparred with Ms. Terri, a high-red belt. She too is close to my size and we had a good sparring round. Finally, Ma'am had just the black belts on deck. Ms. Jennifer was "assigned" to spar with me. Now Jennifer is a bit shorter than me, BUT.......she's another petite powerhouse, 3rd degree kick-ass martial artist. I kept with my strategy of staying in tight rather than try to use my reach. And I held my ground!!! I was able to go the full 2 minutes without having Ms. Jennifer kick my butt!!! It was at the end of class and I was getting tired, but my cardio kept up (thanks to my running!!!). I was so happy with my sparring tonight; it's really come a long way; between improving my cardio and really focusing on specific drills, I may end up actually liking bugo. Imagine that!?!?!?

Recap: as of mid-week
3 karate classes
5 SWAT classes; made up a few (I'm still behind a few SWATs) :(
3 Extra 100's; I'll get in the 4th sometime this weekend.
3 Runs for 16.23 miles

Now it really is time for me to go "lay me down to sleep"!!! I'm so excited because tomorrow is the 1st Black Belt Pre-Check for the December cycle. Going for my 1st degree black belt, I was nervous and lacking confidence; I stressed at every Pre-check. But now as I go for my 2nd degree black belt, I have "told myself" that I will enjoy this! I'm not going to stress out. I know the material and I will perform it to the best of my abilities. I will be strong, I will be confident, I will support my teammates and we will all achieve our goals!!


Good night!

Dani