paint the fence
23 days until my Ireland trip! I will have 10 days of no work, hanging out in one of my favorite places! I am pretty excited about it, not about the whole grimy travel thing, but about the adventures I have lined up. There are a bunch of things I have planned to do, but if things come up which sometimes they tend to do, I've no issue playing it by ear. It should be a good time regardless. There are a few loose ends to tie up, currency conversion (I'll take care of that this week), airport parking, (that will get done tonight) and getting my suitcase out and figuring out what clothes to bring.
On the training front, things have been going well. My side is still not quite healed yet, I'd say its around 80%. Hopefully it will be back to normal later in the week. I am pretty religious about lifting and doing cardio in addition to my Jiu-Jitsu training, but like everyone else, on occasion I get lazy. But on days when I feel like skipping certain exercises when I lift or skipping lifting completely I think how much worse my injuries could be if I didn't put in the extra work in the gym. At 35 years old, your body doesn't heal like it used to. My general feeling is that my lifting, cardio, and agility sessions along with my diet help me from being injured more frequently. You can't expect your car to run properly if you don't maintain it and the human body is no different.
Lately I have been going to the white belt class to shore up my fundamentals and following that up with the advanced drill class we offer. I am starting to enjoy the drilling aspect. It's so much easier to hone your technique when someone isn't trying to smash you or spaz out. I've been noticing some of the other guys who have been staying for the drilling class and they have made some strides in their game. I really feel that my game will get smoother, faster and more rounded as I am able to better commit things to memory while I am able to just focus on the move and not worry about defending myself.
On a side note...Saturday we went to the new academy to paint. I hadn't been there before this and was pleasantly surprised by the place. It's 2/3 larger then our current place and has a nice functional set up. I helped for a few hours, taping and painting. I feel I can speak for all of us when I say I can't wait to move in.