some retooling to do.

first week at new work schedule. This has to be better. Still a lot of adjusting to do. As I figured would be the case, I'm losing an hour of morning BJJ. This, coupled with the sometimes lax approach we have to starting to get to task on time, is going to pose some issues. I'll need to get down to business from the jump, not allot thirty minutes for everyone else to stretch, talk, compare college basketball brackets, etc.

Coming in late to the evening class was also a little scattered, but this was an atypical week for instruction anyway. We'll see how this coming week goes. I didn't make it to any stand up classes this week, but would like to next week.

Still hit up crossfit three times, but by the time I finished the Friday morning WOD, I was done. Nothing left in the tank for morning BJJ class, and there was absolutely no way I was going after work.

Standup will have to take the backseat for now. I may try changing the split of mornings I'm doing crossfit this week and instead hit up monday, tuesday, and thursday instead. Frontload my week for crossfit focus, endload it for BJJ focus.

Still having some troubles narrowing my own focus in terms of what I want to work on in BJJ myself, but thinking that I'm at least meandering towards the right path. I'm placing all hope and faith in the short time I get in the evening classes to help bridge the gaps in terms of having training partners who will work with me, give me ideas, help make corrections. We'll see.

Got a gorgeous new gi from Shoyoroll, the White Mamba. It's presently hang drying in the bathroom. Will drop it off for tailoring this week. May as well pick up a few of my old gis to have the sleeves worked on as well, being as I now refuse to wear the ones that haven't been tailored. Team T Rex Arms!!!

Doing a little better with paleo this week too. Putting down spinach salads like it's going out of style. Still need to convert some of the fruit consumption into veggie consumption. But the end goal is packing smarter fuel. That is happening. I'm thinking I may need to more carefully track protein intake, as my recovery this week left something to be desired.

May've overdone it with the whole "let's start running" thing. Both feet have had some moderate soreness and a marked instability this week. Had to ice one of them earlier this week. I hate to blame the vibrams (as they are what have made running bearable to me), so I'm thinking it may be an issue of just pushing it a little too far, too soon. Or better, maybe this is just an awkward breaking in phase for me. Maybe this is where my feet become stronger.

Onward.

3rd day in

a little sore. a little fatigued. skirting a sore throat. ugh. pacing will be an issue. Feels sloppy and scattered in terms of training, which I abhor.

will get this on rails. just maybe not this week.

also, having a frustrating obsession with making an omoplata land gracefully from half guard. thinking it may be a lost cause. I did give honest tries to a different set up for omoplata, kinda starting from a rubber guard sort of hold, but not much success. yet.

not surprising with my attention span, but I am struggling to decide on some goals and directions to pursue and stick with them. and that's no good in a room full of people all asking "uhhh well what's anyone want to work on?" the lack of direction, focus... maddening to me, and yet I can't seem to focus myself.

and as if I'm not trying to do too much as is, I'm thinking I should cram in some mobility study/work, be it yoga or just the mobility wod's. Thinking the latter might be the route to take. multi-birds with singular stone? we'll see. In the meantime, I'm drinking fish oil like it's going out of style.

on a longer leash

After throwing a complete fit at work (not necessarily proud of that, but not necessarily apologizing either), my shift finally improved -- moved up an hour to working noon to eight at night. While this is still pretty far from what I imagined in grad school, it opens critical doors for me in training.

I can make the last bit of BJJ classes in the evenings, and can resume stand up training some, as well. I really haven't been able to sleep since this development -- I'm THAT excited about it.

So I'm on the cusp of week one. Some changes to make, sure, but I am happy to make them if it means improvement on the mats. I'm guessing, based on the ice cold reception of the idea to move morning class up an hour, that I'll be leaving AM bjj earlier (or perhaps just planning to go to work straight afterwards). I may start going to an earlier crossfit class. I anticipate improved recovery, as evening shifts just monkey with my sleep hardcore.

More importantly, I can pack a gi/whatever with me and go straight to the gym after work in the evenings. Catch up on whatever was instructed upon, get torqued about by new and different bodies, and not have the pressure of being the one either organizing the class or leading in the instruction end of things.

I'm sure the water company is going to celebrate, as this new shift means I'll be doing more laundry, dirtying up more gis and training gear.

I'm actually leaning towards an interest in adding standup back into the mix. I miss it, at times. I just don't know how I'm going to schedule everything without redlining. Should be an interesting experiment.

beyond driven.

Happy new year.

I'm almost back to speed from a nasty muscle pull(s) from piss poor deadlifting form that forced me onto the shelf for a month or so.

Sticking with crossfit 3x a week for now, not actively planning to push for 4x a week yet. I think that's ambitious, since the past two weeks have ended with me having to rack up extra sleep hours to keep from full-on catching a cold.

Only getting one regular day to train bjj, but with the new year, it seems everyone is similarly re-dedicated. Extra mornings are going to appear for me the train, and that is a welcome thing for sure.

Days where I do neither bjj or crossfit, I've pledged to get in ten rounds of intervals on my airdyne. That is also a great time to throw on a bjj instructional and study.

Working on re-wiring my half guard. Used to be my go-to, favorite, safe place. I am slow to abandon the old style, figure 4 style of half guard, which seems to be quickly devolving into a stall position at best. A place where I can test how much my quads can deal with lactic acid and that's about it. Trying hard to adapt the open half guard. I see it, understand it, even see tons of potential.

Dismantling the muscle memory is another affair altogether.

I must also say that even at 65-80% compliance, I am feeling drastically better for retooling myself towards paleo/primal diet. I have serious carnivore tendencies, and unabashedly consuming animal products makes me happy. Trying to switch more towards vegetable rather than fruit, but it's tricky finding the right things and amounts to buy without donating more to the dumpster mammals than to my own cause.

Still pushing for a schedule change at work to allow more openings for training, but it's such slow going. Frustrating.