courtneyc

Super late on the race congratulations, but great job!! I like that you have something on deck already so you don't hang out too long in a post-event state. Hope the muscle soreness lets up soon.

Week 2 Review Week 2's goals got a little lost over the 4 day company retreat I went to with John. His company is very generous with these annual retreats, and this year's was a blast. That said the food situation was dire. The resort is isolated, so what they have is what you eat and drink (unless you're smart enough to bring snacks which I was not). It was very difficult to avoid bread as nearly everything came in sandwich or deep-fried form. Vegetables and fruit were incredibly scarce, but I did my best to focus on those as they were available. I definitely wasn't 100% wheat-free, but my eating wasn't atrocious. Overall, I felt like I indulged somewhat responsibly and did a good job hydrating and loading my plate with greens. I went for my first interval run while I was away. It was actually really fun! I did a 5 minute warm up followed by 60 second sprints with 2 minute walking recoveries. I think I did 6 or 7 sprint/walk cycles before my cool down walk? It was a pleasant combination of all out effort and recovery. Probably wouldn't do something like this more than once or twice a week though. Anyway, on to week 3!

Sounds like a good day overall. I guess congratulations on your rejection? At least now you have the freedom to send it to other magazines instead of it hanging out in submission limbo while you wait for a response.

Not sure how I missed all the high's and low's the last couple days, but wow, what a roller coaster! You leveled up your mental thinking with your achievements, found a new hobby, kicked ass with a potentially problematic social eating, and are putting yourself out there with the race. Nice work! I hope everything with the race works out for you!

Sorry to hear about the rough week! The fruit idea sounds like a good alternative if you get a midday craving for sweets. Do you feel like once your calories get a bit out of hand for the day you have a tendency to say "screw it" and really binge? If that is the case one thing I found that made a world of difference for me was switching from hitting a daily caloric limit to a week long view. It gives me the freedom to indulge responsibly while avoiding the all or nothing mindset that tripped me up with a daily focus. Another recent revelation for me has been the magic that is batch cooking my lunches. I portion out 5 meals consisting of a half cup of cooked rice, 5 oz chicken, some steamed vegetables, and top it off with a sauce of my choice. It seriously feels luxurious to not have to think about what lunch will be each day. Maybe give it a try one week and see if it helps cut out some of the urge for a value meal. I'm so happy that the elbow is behaving for you and you're back in class! If bjj is a good motivator for you try to leverage that with your meals. Your energy level and recovery time is all fueled by what you're putting in your body. Treat it right so you can be the jiu jitsu machine you are meant to be!

Yeah, I was imagining some sort of sprint/jog/walk combination. Straight jogging sounds like a snooze fest and not very effective for the repeated push and recover I'll need for lots of hard rolling.

Yep! There's a Friday night class specifically for the competition team that I'll be attending. All the running at tryouts made me realize that while my cardio is much improved from where it was 8 months ago, it could be a lot better. I'm going to mix in some kickboxing classes and running to increase my endurance. It'll be a tricky balance though, because I'm already at the studio 6 days a week. So I'll be venturing into the realm of two a day workouts.

Yeah, the foot/ankle muscles and tendons do have a way of getting your attention with new shoeless activities. Every once in awhile the arch on my right foot likes to remind me it exists. I had to look up horse stance...very interesting squat-like position. I saw one example using a stick to keep the angle correct. Looked tricky!

Armbar! Yep, I'll give them one of those.

Very true! Thanks!

Thanks! I am ready to armbar everyone. When I got the clarification from my instructor at the start of class last night my exact words were, "I'm going to beat up everyone!" It's hard to choose a favorite submission. I've had great success recently with Ezekiel chokes. I'm always on the lookout for bow and arrow opportunities though, so I can pretend I'm Katniss. The next competition is June 4th. It's a submission only tournament with 8-minute rounds (sudden death round if no one submits within 30 minutes), which sounds intense but also means I don't have to worry about points on this first one. Thanks again!

Big news of the night! I'm on the competition team! So yeah, apparently it wasn't even a question of me making it. When my coach said, "we'll talk," he was just messing with me, because I'd made a joke a minute before. But to my immediate post-tryout mind it came across as something more serious. I didn't even have to use the gracious loser face I'd been practicing all weekend. Anyway, food stuff is going well. The water consumption got a bit rocky over the weekend. Tomorrow I'll make it a priority. I also need to start tracking again. I've been lazy about it the last week or so, and I feel more calm having a general idea of how my calories are racking up for the week. Rolling is great! I'm seeing some solid progress with my game from the bottom, learning little tricks like to hide my arms when they've got me in side mount and play possum a little to force them into mount. I'm getting better at slipping into half guard from mount and working for the under hook to get the dominant position. Now that the guys know I want to compete they are stepping up their rolling game with me, too. Maybe it reveals some sort of psychological deficiency on my part, but I get a weird satisfaction from the more aggressive rolls. I take it as a sign of respect that they are holding back less and less with me. Of course respect feels a lot like a bruised nose and jaw, but like I said, there's probably something wrong with me. Getting back into my writing schedule has been slow after my class finished up last week. I'm rewriting the outline for my novel in light of some of my ah-ha moments in class. It's good in the long run but does mean the word count is at a stand still for the moment.

Your inner voice sounds both wise and contradictory. Congratulations on that pistol squat!! I know you've been working on those for awhile now, so awesome job! I'm trying to picture the Warrior's Walk in my head. I think I've got it, and it seems very challenging. Did you walk around the house or outside? I'm impressed with all the writing you have gotten in considering the busy schedule you've kept this week. I don't think there's any shame in taking a night off.

Quick update for all you lovely monks who jumped in to encourage me. I survived tryouts (or at least the first round of try outs? not very clear on this point). It was an intense hour of running, rolling, running, drilling, and running with no more than two 2-minute breaks the entire time. I made it the whole way through and did my very best. So, no regrets there. The guys were incredibly welcoming to me, too, which was nice as being the only woman gets lonely. I'm feeling a little down right this moment. There's a decent chance that my current best isn't good enough, and I can't lie; that stings a little. Of course not making the team right now won't dissuade me from continuing to push myself. In 3 to 6 months of continued practice and weight loss I might be ready. I think mostly I just hate waiting to know one way or the other. Anyway, thanks for cheering me on today! You all rock!

Just got the word yesterday afternoon that bjj competition team tryouts are...tonight! How's that for advanced notice? I'd been playing around with the idea of trying out the next time they came around. There's a good chance that my fitness level is not yet where it needs to be to make the cut. The sole woman on the team says it is a lot more about heart and how much you're willing to put in. She also keeps mentioning to keep going even if I throw up, which I guess is meant to be encouraging but really just freaks me out. Unfortunately for me, she'll be away at IBJJF in NYC competing this weekend, so she won't be there to cheer me on while I'm drowning in a pool of my own sweat on the mat. I'm kind of moderately freaking out right now. This is about the worst day of the month for me to give it 110% (sorry to go there guys, but the hormonal struggle is real). I feel like the timing just knocked this up from advanced to master mode, but I'm still going to give it a shot. Worst case scenario, this turns into a tryout no one at the studio EVER forgets.

This a million times over. I've been stubbornly ignoring stretching lately. Thanks for the reminder to make it a priority. Great job with week 1 so far!

Yay for story submissions! I'll have my fingers crossed for your awesome story.

And here I thought guys had the easiest time with pants...shows what I know! I love open mat. Yes, it was really intimidating at first, but you get to know people and find your favorite rolling partners for different things. I have one guy I love to roll with whose just a little bit ahead of me. He and I are both super limber and there's zero ego at play, so we end up in unchartered rolling territory and get experimental, which is crazy fun. But I also love rolling with other partners. People at different belt levels, sizes, and shapes give me different challenges. I started rolling in open mat as a white belt (now I'm a white belt with a blue stripe). No one was shitty to me about all that I didn't know, because they've all been there too. You get major respect points for putting in the extra effort, and honestly it is where all my serious growth and increased stamina is coming from. Thus ends my emphatic pep talk to go to a couple open mats and give it a try. You will be exhausted and look like a cheetah from all your new bruises, but I'm willing to bet you'll also become addicted to BJJ on a deeper level.

I was wondering if you'd be back with a new challenge in April. Glad that you decided to join us! That's so awesome you've been able to return to class. You were patient and diligent about putting the work in to recover properly. I hope that elbow treats you right in return. Can't wait to see what you accomplish this month!

Week 1 Update I've decided this will be a more relaxed challenge than some of my others. I'm forgoing the detailed log of daily tasks this time around in favor of more reflective updates every few days. The bread/flour-free thing is going well. I've had the odd craving here and there but nothing too intense. If I had cut out bread and sugar, I'd probably handle the transition with less grace. As hoped though ditching bread is forcing me to fill the gap with more fruits and vegetables. I'm not feeling bored with my pre-made lunches either, which was a fear I had. An added bonus of planning ahead is that my protein intake is much higher than it was before. Lunch earns me 40g all on its own. I got some more pointers on recovering guard from side mount last night during open mat. I'm learning it is all about creating enough space via shrimping and arm placement to shoot my knee through, though one guy had a sneaky tip for slipping a foot under theirs to get into half guard. The consensus from everyone I talk to seems to be that side mount can be an exhausting position to get stuck in. Energy conservation through little movements and weight shifts are key to preventing fatigue. On a fun weight loss note I finally got some new pants! I was down to one ill-fitting pair for the last month and had been putting off shopping due to being in pant size limbo right now. Also, jeans shopping is horrible. But I braved the mall and found not one, but two pairs of pants! Clothes that fit right are a treat, especially when it means going down a size or two.

Ooo, I never imagined I'd be someone's bjj spirit animal. I feel so tough and scrappy now. Thanks for the reading offer! It is also possible I more closely resembled Elaine from the bagel steam bath episode of Seinfeld. Thanks for checking in!

Did you say bakery? I'm listening... Also, now all I can think about is the Portlandia sketch.

Eek. Those hours are kind of the opposite of how you normally operate, aren't they? Sorry to hear about that work development.

The gang is on it.

Sometimes a side project is just the thing you need to renew your enthusiasm. I heard one author say she always likes to have two projects going at once that way she can always get excited about the one she isn't working on at that moment...sort of like a positive application of the grass is always greener mindset.