CourtneyC vs. The Full Push-Up

[courtneyc]

Week 4 Day 4

 

Mental state-wise, I'm managing a little better today than I was yesterday. Belt evaluations are officially over, with only the ceremony left on Saturday. Just in time too, because my left arm was pretty useless by the end of my matches today.

 

I was able to carve out some time today to review my writing classmates' work (thank you ipad apps for babysitting). Now I can stop feeling guilty for taking so long. I haven't been able to start the week's homework. I think tomorrow will have to be the day for that, because the weekend is shaping up to be busy. Thankfully, the 10 pages I need to submit won't be from scratch like last time.

 

I'm still waiting to hear back from my instructor on those first 10 pages...kind of nerve wracking. I've read a few of his critiques for other students and he is kind but honest. I just have to keep reminding myself I'm paying for that honesty. 

 

Also, I had a beer and some queso at dinner tonight. Life can't be too bad when you have beer and melted cheese.

[Kishi]

Hahaha, if I remember my workshop days accurately at all, we were always falling behind and never really on time, and what we gave was always half finished.

 

How do you think it went with the evaluations for belts?

[courtneyc]

5 minutes ago, Kishi said:

Hahaha, if I remember my workshop days accurately at all, we were always falling behind and never really on time, and what we gave was always half finished.

 

How do you think it went with the evaluations for belts?

 

I think it went well overall. One thing that became clear to me is that I need to work on getting out from the bottom. In a number of matches my partner and I got "stuck" with them in mount or side guard. They didn't want to give up the position but they weren't able to get past my defenses (I have one hell of a chin tuck). So escapes and sweeps will probably get their own challenges in the near future. 

[courtneyc]

Challenge Wrap up

 

Right then. Challenge #3 of the year is at a close. Not the grand slam success of challenge #2, but real steps forward were made. I lost a few pounds, got a whole lot better at shrimping, and am making solid progress with my novel. Tomorrow I get my fancy new belt, complete with blue stripe, which feels like a fitting end to the month.

 

The full push-up...well, that will have to wait a little bit to be realized, thanks to the arm injury. When I left off things where progressing nicely. I feel confident that in a month or two (depending on healing) I'll have that push-up in the bag.

 

The writing class continues to be a mixture of delight and frustration. It is wonderful to not be working in a vacuum, but I do miss my first draft routine. That said I absolutely believe my first draft and the resulting story will be stronger for the work I'm doing in the class. Today, I finally got feedback on my first 10 pages from my instructor. It was incredibly positive, and most of the things he pointed out needing work were already on my radar. So yay for self awareness.

 

Of course I'm already thinking about the next challenge. Since I don't know what the state of my shoulder/arm will be I'm thinking it will be more focused on diet and maybe some combination of leg and core work. It might be time to experiment with cutting bread and refined sugar from my diet. To be successful at that I'd probably need to get a lot better at planning ahead with my food, though. Maybe refined flour should get cut in stage one and sugar can follow in the following challenge? Things to think about.

[Kishi]

Hey, at least there's time to think about it now. And while it wasn't flashy, this challenge, it worked. You took solid steps forward and progressed in the BJJ. That's awesome.

 

And as for strength and push ups? Well, I mean. It's useful. It is definitely useful... but it is supplemental to doing the thing you want to do. It's a method of enhancing your pursuits, rather than the pursuit unto itself.

 

I'm glad to hear that the class is going great for you as well.

 

So! It sounds like, all things considered, this was a very good challenge to you! Well done.

['BoutThatActionBoss]

Awesome job courtney! Your progress in BJJ seems great, even with that arm injury. Although welcome to my world now (that world being injury world) :'( 

 

The upside is that I used the past three months to really focus on my diet and feel like I've learned a lot. If you are indeed on the shelf for a bit, learning more about nutrition and what works for you wouldn't be the worst thing. 

 

Great job as well on the writing! So awesome. I need to get going on my writing. I would love to make a little income on the side if I could someday. We will see! 

 

Awesome challenge! Looking forward to #4!