HOT

7/1 - Downtown

It was over 100F today, and I ended up going to the evening class instead of the morning class due to logistics. I think the school has some sort of air conditioning, but it became less apparent as time went on.

Started off with the tomoe nage sweep, which was less than thrilling for me b/c it's one of my least favorite sweeps and I got probably an hour of sleep the night before. I'm not a fan of doing techniques that I'm not comfortable with when I'm not sharp, but the beautiful part is that it's not up to me what we do on any given day. So overhead sweeps it was. Both my partner and I were pretty awkward with these, and it would be hard to believe that I've drilled this before. At both academies. But we seemed to improve as time went on, especially as we took some time to focus on when to execute it instead of freaking out about the rolling over head part.

Also did variations of the handstand sweep, star sweep and an omoplata sweep.

Rolled with Jimmy, Antone, Jay and James. I really started to feel the heat and lack of sleep early on in the rolls. Got kimura'd by Jimmy, Antone got me in...I don't remember what, but a couple of somethings. James knee-barred with just his legs, which still catches me by surprise b/c I think I have enough leeway to escape and I sadly don't. Roll with Jay was very controlled as usual, don't remember what happened there. I really tried to focus on not letting my legs get smashed together, and seemed to have a bit more success with that today. Antone commented after our roll that I keep moving the same way whenever he executes one of his guard passes, which doesn't surprise me. I'm such a creature of habit.

My feelings about rolls are such a yo-yo. Today it seemed like I had regressed a bit in skills and couldn't pull anything off effectively. I need to give myself a break for the fatigue and heat, and know that I'm progressing even when I don't feel like it. Not sure why it's such a constant theme for me lately.

My gi (and everyone elses) was soaked through before we even started rolling, which made for some really nice tactile experiences. It felt amazing to hop on my motorcycle after class and zip home to air out a bit.