40min Roll

Two events of note tonight:

1. Walter flew in today and showed up to tonight's class while we were rolling at the end

2. This was Rachael's first class back after being in Vegas

Russ taught class tonight, going over cross choke from KOB, transitioning to a near-side arm-bar if that fails and then a N/S choke. Felt good with the first two, not as much with the last one b/c it was definitely more of a crank than a choke. When Rachael and I asked him if it should be a choke or crank he said that it was going to be both. We felt like the tap was going to come from the crank much more than choke, which is why I wasn't a particular fan of it.

KOTH and I started down. Rachael came over b/c she's still being selective about who she rolls with b/c of her knee. We jokingly (sortof) talked about just rolling together the entire 30min. Turns out we rolled for the 30min plus an extra 10, b/c Walter showed up mid-way through so people just kept rolling. I was trying to get to mount and/or submit, but her top side-control game is smothering. Once or twice I felt threatened with submissions, but otherwise I was just trying to figure a way out. I got to top a couple of times. One time I was very close to getting mount, but wasn't quite able to stabilize my knees past her hips. At one point she kneed me good in the chin (might have been with the brace), and I had to sit back and collect my thoughts for a minute. I didn't feel concussed, and I didn't feel like there was danger in continuing, so on we went. 

Walter was rolling next to us and at one point he said that we should just Roshambo for it since neither of us was getting a mount or submission. We eventually did, then we both got some water and I went back to the wall. After a few minutes I rolled with Walter. I did an ok job of fending off his pass for about 30 sec, then he passed and got a kimura. At one point I was going for a loop choke to at least give him something to think about while he was passing, but I let it go and leaned back to try to create space. He said that I should have kept the grips and not detach my torso, b/c that is what led to the pass. 

Tonight I tried to focus on moving my hips toward my bottom leg if someone was trying to pass and was in the midst of collapsing my legs together. It seemed to sortof work, and I'm going to work on it more.

After class, Russ received his red instructor sash on his purple belt. Awesome for him, and well deserved.

I was exhausted after class, and very thankful that I had drank as much water as I did today. The gym was a friggin sauna. I'm pretty wiped, but hoping that my body will recover enough for morning class and the seminar tomorrow night.