A little competition perspective

Friday’s open mat was a much needed stress relief after a somewhat brutal week at work. I got a few frustrations out on the mat, and while chatting with a teammate (hi Tom!), got a little perspective on my biggest weakness as a grappler – my mind.

We were talking about whether swimming and grappling are in fact similar from a competitive standpoint. My initial response is no, it’s hugely different. Swimming -especially pool swimming – is a very solo sport. Sure, you’re competing against other swimmers, but they can’t physically impact your performance. How well you do is solely the result of your own efforts – it’s just you in that lane. Open water is a bit different because the physical contact can definitely be a factor, but the contact isn’t of a direct, one-on-one nature (except maybe around a hotly contested bouy).

Grappling, on the other hand, is a one-on-one, you against the other girl kind of sport. What your competition does has a direct and immediate effect on your performance. I think this is the part that tends to screw with my head a bit. I’m not used to not being able to do exactly what I want when I compete. I’m used to cutting bouys close during a race if I want. I know that if I want to draft off of someone, or drift a little off course to pick up a current, I can do it. In BJJ, I don’t feel good about being put in a position that I don’t want to be in. I get frustrated if someone blocks a pass attempt and puts me back in guard, or if they break my posture and start working for the armbar.

But in all honesty, as Tom pointed out, it’s really not all that different. In open water swimming in particular, you have a plan in place. You scope out the course ahead of time, determine the current and chop conditions, check water temperature, and stay flexible, When things change during the race – say the wind starts to kick up the chop or the tide turns on you early, you adjust your plan, but you still work your plan. And there’s the key, I think. In BJJ competitions, I’ve been so focused on reacting to the other person that I haven’t been focusing on my own game. The chess aspect of the sport, where you think several steps ahead, have a plan in place, and work to achieve your position rather than just trying to keep the opponent from achieving theirs, has eluded me somewhat.  Instead, I stress out about…well, everything really, and I’ve gotten myself beat before I even step on the mat.

So I’m going to try to approach my training with that in mind, and depending on how things go, consider possibly (maybe) competing sometime in the (somewhat) near future (but no promises). I still have a new job and a construction mess to deal with, so it isn’t a first priority. I’m ok with that – I’m not going to push it.

I am, however, incredibly excited for a full day of BJJ today. A three-hour seminar from Dalla’s instructor, Jorge Periera, followed by the grand opening of Dalla’s new gym (I’ll try to post pictures. Remind me to bring my camera…) followed by watching the fights with the team that night. Hot damn.

Things have been popping…

 

…and it’s not just my joints. Although I did jam my thumb really hard about three times over the past couple weeks. The joint is swollen and looks like arthritic. I’m hoping it goes back down soon. But I digress. 

 

Over Labor Day weekend, I went up to NYC to visit Nerfy. The original plan was to swim a Pro-Am 1 miler on Saturday and watch the Pro 10k on Sunday. The plans were made, the tickets were bought…and then they cancelled the Pro-Am. Grr. 

 

Instead, I bumped my train ticket up to get into Manhattan earlier so I could train with Shaolin before meeting up with Nerfy. It was a good plan, except that the train broke down somewhere between DC and BWI and we ended up cruising into Penn Station about 45 minutes late. I got to Shaolin’s school in the middle of the technique part of class with a suitcase, laptop, and BJJ gear bag in tow. The guy at the front desk must have thought I was a complete idiot, but I paid my $35 mat fee (ouch! But I guess it is Manhattan) and joined the class. 

 

I didn’t do as well as I would have liked (you know, you always feel like you need to represent when you show up at another school) but being hungry and dehydrated didn’t help – my hands were shaking after just the second roll. I did, however, manage to pull off an oma plata on a largish blue belt with a setup we’d been working at Dalla’s that week… actually, I couldn’t finish because we rolled into the wall, but I think I would have gotten it.  On the other hand, a white belt was giving me such a hard time I was getting pretty discouraged – until I found out he was a wrestler. I don’t know why, but wrestlers always kick my ass.  

 

Training with Shaolin was fun – whenever he saw someone about to get a submission, he’d say “make my day! come on!” The guys who trained there were friendly, too – there was only one girl in that class, a white belt, but I didn’t get a chance to roll with her. So where are the pictures of you training at Shaolin’s, you ask? Fail. I’ll do better next time, I promise.

 

After the class, Nerfy retrieved me, and we commenced our long weekend of eating our way across the city. We started at the UN (drinks at the bar, raiding the cafeteria, and eating chocolate rice krispy treats in the seedy underbelly…er, basement. I hadn’t eaten since 10 AM, so I was slightly wasted on half a Jack and Coke), then followed up the next day with an almost all-day BBQ (thank you Carrie and Liz!), in which one of the guests was bizarrely fascinated with the concept of a triangle choke. I should know better than to try to talk about BJJ in polite company. I ended up sending him this via Nerfy:

 

I’m sure he’ll never talk to me again.

 

Sunday started with a visit to the Brazilian Day Festival. We had high hopes for the possibilty of grilled meat products, but we mostly just saw gyro and funnel cake type places. I think there were a few crepe stands and one Japanese stand. Actually, aside from training at Shaolin’s, the most Brazilian thing I saw that weekend was the Sushi-Samba place we passed on our way to the 10k Pro Swim. 

 

As for the 10k, it was freaking awesome. You know it’s a killer race when an Olympic medalist isn’t able to finish due to the rough conditions. Makes me want to start training for those kinds of races again…

 

Smoke and the Water (with apologies to Deep Purple…)

Lets start with the water. I spent last weekend out of town participating in a team triathlon – I did the swim, of course. I was the fastest woman, the seventh fastest overall, and I beat the second place relay swimmer out of the water by about five minutes. As a relay, we finished third out of 20 – sweet! Maybe I should learn to ride a bike with gears and try doing my own triathlon next time. Maybe. Can you do BJJ with a case of road rash? I’m just saying, land sports with wheels aren’t always my strong point.

 

Now for the smoke. I came home from the triathlon on Sunday and messed around on the computer for a while. Then I went down into the basement to get something and was assailed by the most awful shrieking noise. I realized the room was full of smoke and the dog was looking at me as if to say, “hey, um, something’s happening…” Since I couldn’t find the source of the noise, I threw the breaker to the basement outlets. That stopped the noise, but the smoke was still strong and it smelled like an electrical fire. 

 

Great, I thought, I suppose I have to call the fire department now, because who knows what’s burning in my walls. Well, I don’t want to say that it was a mistake, because I know it was the right thing to do, but holy crap did they drag out every last fire truck and ambulance and God knows what else. Of course, the neighbors, not having any lives of their own, all came out onto the street to watch the entertainment.

 

So there I was sitting outside with the dog, getting chewed to bits by our bumper crop of mosquitos, being stared at by neighbors with nothing better to do with their life, and watching men and women in full fire fighting gear clomping in and out of my house. Finally, one of them motioned me inside and told me that the source of the noise and smoke was…the television. It had decided to have a meltdown in a melodramatic fashion and was the source of both the noise and the smoke. There was no fire in the walls. Everything else was fine. So, after taking the TV out to the concrete pad to cool off (“We don’t want to throw it in the dumpster or you’ll have to call us back when the stuff in the dumpster catches on fire,” they said) the trucks and ambulances and fire marshall rolled out, and the neighbors went back to …well, who knows what the hell they do when someone isn’t having an emergency they can stare at.

 

My impressions of the day:

Firemen/women: awesome, if a bit overenthusiastic. 

Neighbors: Definitely not into BJJ, or they wouldn’t have been dragged away from their video of the 2009 Mundials or their Marcelo Garcia tutorial by a silly little fire truck or five. 

I’ve been tagged

Nerfydunk tagged me on her blog a few days ago, so, since I’m It, I guess I have to answer a few nosy questions. 

 

What is your current obsession? Swimming and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

 

What is your weirdest obsession?  I think BJJ counts as weirder than swimming. Swimming has it’s moments of weird, don’t get me wrong (especially the open water variety), but BJJ is truly strange. I voluntarily…no, I happily roll around on sweaty wrestling mats with sweaty, smelly dudes and sweaty not so smelly ladies who are trying to rip my arm off while I try to return the favor. 

 

What is the weirdest sub-obsession of the weird obsession you just described? 

Bruises. Punchdunk (aka, Sister) and I will return from our various training sessions and compare bruises. The really quality ones end up turning fascinating shades of green or purple. 

 

Coffee or tea? Both. Must have coffee in the morning, though. Must. Have. Coffee.

 

What was the last really exiting thing you bought and the next exciting thing you plan to buy?  A 2XU wetsuit (see earlier post). My next exciting thing to buy will be two ovens and a cooktop for our new kitchen! Woo! 

 

What are you listening to right now? Anything from Rob Zombie to Flyleaf to the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. 

 

What is your favorite ice cream flavor?   Ice cream? Yes please!

 

What do you think of the person(s) who tagged you? Nerfydunk is creative, fun, intelligent, beautiful, and a certified aquabadass.

 

Which language do you want to learn? Russian, so I can eavesdrop on the translators gossiping in the office kitchen.

 

What is your favorite color? Depends on the application and the mood…I can’t just pick one!

 

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe? I have a gorgeous midnight blue cocktail dress that’s cut down to there. I wish I had a place to wear it. 

 

What is your worst habit? Procrastina…eh, I’ll finish it later.

 

If you had $1,000 now, what would you spend it on? Getting the 48 inch cooktop instead of the 36 inch, and I’d use the rest to upgrade the fridge.

 

Describe your personal style? Either simple with killer shoes, if I’m not having to walk half a mile from the parking garage to the office, or swimsuit, or BJJ gi.

 

What is your favorite fruit? Strawberries.

 

What inspires you? People who work their ass off and accomplish big things.

 

Do you collect something? Uh…Bruises?

 

What are you most proud of? The fact that I can make a guy tap. And that I can swim across the Chesapeake Bay. 

 

Cats or dogs? Both. I’m a sucker for a furry face.

 

What’s your biggest fashion mistake? Please don’t make me answer that…

 

Next victims…well, other than the aforementioned aquabadass, I don’t really know any bloggers that well personally. So I’ll throw a few out here, and see what sticks.

 

First, I tag Dalla’s newest asskicker, Elyse of Gringa BJJ fame.

I also tag BJJGrrl, who manages to chronicle her BJJ exploits minutely…not a procrastinator, like some of us. 

And finally, I tag Georgette, because you know a redhead’s got something interesting to say!

Ladies, feel free to add, delete, or change the questions however you like!

 

Race Report: Jim McDonnell Lake Swims

I didn’t do any grappling this past week, since the Jim McDonnell lake swims were this Sunday. After the Nanticoke race, in which I was still really sore on Sunday from a hard class the Wednesday before, I decided to give BJJ a rest for a full week before this one. I had some good swim workouts, and I was optimistic that I’d beat my times from 2007 in both the one mile and two mile.

No dice. In fact, I was considerably slower. So much slower that I actually wondered if the course was measured differently this year. I suppose it’s possible. but it’s also completely possible that I tanked spectacularly.

The water was just about perfect, about 71 degrees. I definitely didn’t need a wetsuit for this one. I ended up warming up late and getting to the start line late for the one miler. In fact, everyone had piled up at the start so that I had to jump over several ropes to get past the scrum and into the line for my correct wave. Then, as soon as I stepped in the water, my timing chip floated free from my ankle. Ack! I was furiously treading water and trying to knot it into place (I had no idea where the velcro part was) and praying they wouldn’t start us before I had it in place. I didn’t kick with my right leg pretty much that whole race.

 

Site of the McDonnell Lake Swims

 

 

The two miler was an exercise in pain. I had stiffened up pretty well after the one miler, and I couldn’t seem to get into any kind of a rhythm for about the first half. The second half, I found a rhythm, but it was a slow one. I also found one heel jammed into my right eye at the first buoy first lap – my eyeball just about popped from the socket, but at least the goggles would have caught it if it did! That one was accidental, so no hard feelings. But I also found, second buoy, second lap, one elbow, hard, to my solar plexus. That one pissed me off. Seriously, think of stroke mechanics. You can’t elbow someone in the solar plexus like that unless it’s deliberate.

All that aside, the best part of the race was the fact that Sister and Nerfy did the one miler as well. Sister placed second in her age group (hardware!!), and Nerfy, in her very first ever open water race not only finished it, but flew past the people in her wave and several of the waves that left before her.

 

 

Sister, Grappledunk (sporting the drowned rat look), and Nerfy post race(s). Note those still finishing in the background!

 

Next stop, Bay Swim! I’ll need try to figure out what happened with this one and get back in gear, but no matter how fast or slow I go in the Bay Swim, it should be a blast.

BJJ blue belt defeats Leo Dalla!

You heard me right!  I, a lowly blue belt, whooped up old school style on the famous black belt Leo Dalla. After a tough class with a lot of hard rolling (that is, I rolled hard. Dalla rested up.) Dalla and I threw down for the right to be named champion. 

 

So what if it wasn’t in BJJ? I still whooped him.

 

Check it out:

 

 

Race Report: Nanticoke River Swim – 3 miler

The Nanticoke River Swim and Triathlon was held Sunday in a little place in southern Maryland called Bivalve. It was almost worth the trip to say I was in a place called Bivalve! I traveled down Saturday afternoon for packet pickup and to take a peek at the river where the three mile swim would be held. The water looked a bit choppy and rather murky, and the race organizers said there was a slight salinity due to it’s proximity to the ocean. Current, tide, and chop would all be a factor in this race.

 

The course was a triangle loop done twice – that was a last minute change. It was supposed to be one three mile circuit, but apparently last year (the first for this event) the buoys were too hard to see and everyone went off course. I applaud this change because, shorter course though it was, I still managed to have trouble finding the buoys. More on that later, though.

 

The morning of the race, I got there early, or so I thought. It turns out that triathletes are early birds. The walk from the parking lot to the check in area was a bit hairy, with bikes weaving and darting everywhere. I went to the body marking area, and the very nice but overly enthusiastic volunteer marked not only both my shoulders, but both my quads with my race number, and then put my age on my left calf. I can understand the logic of that for the triathletes, but I was swimming. In a wetsuit. Nobody was going to see my legs.

 

Sufficiently decorated, I settled in with my bottle of water and a banana to watch the kids triathlon, run to the port-a-pottie at fifteen minute intervals (partly nerves, partly worry that I’d put on my wetsuit and suddenly have to go), and worry about which buoys we were supposed to swim between at the start. 

 

After the kids tri finished, we were able to get in the water to warm up a bit before the pre-race meeting. Details taken care of, we were herded over the timing mats and into the water for a partial water start. I say partial, because the water wasn’t very deep at that point, and I was able to get a good push off the bottom. Full in water starts are a bit more stressful, since you start swimming from zero- no momentum, arms and legs flailing all around you. I was well positioned and didn’t suffer too badly during the Cuisinart start; a couple of cracks to the head and a few tangled arms, but by the time I got to the first buoy to turn right and start our first loop, we were already spreading out a bit. 

 

 

 

The start of the Nanticoke River Swim 3-miler

 

 

 

 

As I mentioned earlier, the course was a triangle; the first leg was parallel to the shore line, the second out into the middle of the river, and the third headed back toward shore.  By the first 500 meters, I knew I was going to be in for a long swim. For the two weeks before the race, due to one reason or another, I hadn’t been able to train. I’d gotten in a couple of BJJ classes, but because I swim in the morning, and work had me coming in early those two weeks of employment hell, I was really behind in my yardage. I trained BJJ on Thursday and swam a sprint-focused masters workout on Saturday, so by Sunday, I was feeling the pain. 

 

I focused on working myself into a solid pace on the first leg and tried to ignore the aching in my arms. By the second leg, my arms had gone numb, but I had acquired a hanger-on. I don’t know if it was a guy or a girl, due to the wetsuit factor, but for some reason, they were unable to swim a straight line. I had a good, solid bead on the third buoy, and every time I sighted, it was exactly where I thought it would be. However, every time I sighted, this person would be either pointed to the right of the buoy (away from me) or to the left of the buoy (on top of me and pissing me off). I was forced to throw a few elbows to get them to pay attention, but it didn’t do much good. By the time the third buoy came around, I was seriously irritated. Thankfully, I managed to pull off a sweet buoy turn and dropped him/her by a full bodylength.  

 

The second loop came around quicker than I thought, which was good. The wind and waves were picking up, however, which was not. I tried to up my pace a bit to try to catch up to a group of swimmers I could see ahead of me. I was holding pretty steady with them and may have been gaining a little ground when I started having sighting issues. On the second leg, second loop, I would sight for the buoy, but it was nowhere to be seen. Since it was easy to spot on the first loop, this freaked me out a bit. Had I suddenly gone off course? Was I heading for the wrong buoy? What the hell? Where was I?? My speed fell off a bit because I was so focused on finding the little orange blip on the horizon and Not. Losing. It. Dammit. 

 

By the third leg, the weather had definitely picked up. The rain hadn’t started yet, but the wind was here. The buoys were so far apart that between the higher waves were obscuring it. That, and the helpful kayaker would drift into my line of sight and block it out. It took me several full stops (and I never pull a full stop in a race!) to figure out what was going on. The last leg was depressingly slow and rather stressful. By the time I got to the last buoy and up to the jetty for the last sprint in to shore, I had a hard time swimming straight with a jetty on one side and a line of buoys on the other. I staggered up the beach and across the timing mat in 1 hour 13 minutes and 26 seconds. I finished third in my age group, fifth place woman, and twelfth place overall, men and women. 

 

Honestly, not too bad, all things considered. I’m pleased that I felt like I wasn’t terribly drained at the end, but I wish I could have stayed on course a bit better. However, this won’t be a problem for the Bay Swim. If I lose sight of the bridge spans, I have bigger problems to worry about! All in all, I think it was an excellent event, especially for one only in its second year. I can’t speak for too well the triathlon part of it, but the swim seemed well organized, well supported (they had food/water boats at each buoy and support kayaks everywhere you looked), good post race food and drink, good DJ, and best of all, the event is a non-profit event to raise money for charity. Nice. I definitely recommend this race for anyone looking to tune up for the Bay Swim or just get a longer open water race under their belt.

 

My new best friend

My first race of the season is rapidly approaching. I have a three miler this Sunday in the Nanticoke river in southern Maryland (part of the Nanticoke River Swim/Tri). My training has been spotty at best, partly due to hell month at work, and partly due to my cousin’s wedding last weekend. So three miles should be a piece of cake, right? 

In spite of the spate of warm weather over the past few days, I’m thinking that this is going to be a reeeally cold race. The organizers expect water temps in the low 60s. So, without further ado, please meet my new best friend.

I’ve traditionally been more of an open water purist. I could never understand the point of doing an open water swim if you were just going to cheat by wearing a wetsuit. It defeats the whole purpose, right? But then I entered my first Chesapeake Bay Swim, several years ago, and I realized that just about everyone was going to be wearing a wetsuit. And I wanted to be competitive, dammit. So I caved and wore a wetsuit for the first time ever. Since then, I’ve caved even further, far enough to actually buy one rather than renting (mostly because I got kind of skeeved out by that. Who knows who’s peed in that thing). The race this Sunday is its shakedown cruise, which is pretty ideal because it is in fresh water, and I can discover any rubbing issues without the sandblaster effect of salt water on skin at a point of friction.

Stay tuned for the race report and the wetsuit report.

Wander Braga knows stuff. And other stuff.

Wander Braga knows stuff: He was in town for a few days last week, trained at Dalla’s one day and did a seminar the next. I didn’t have a chance to roll with him on Friday, but the seminar was way cool. He showed a LOT of techniques from a range of positions, including submissions from standing, half guard, side control, and guard, and escapes and sweeps from half guard, sitting up (opponent standing), and half guard. He even showed a new technique he’s been developing and has had some success with. 

 

There was a whole lot to absorb, so I will be writing it all down and drilling it as much as possible. Sometimes a new perspective for a day can do a lot to advance your game, and I’m hoping that I can start to incorporate some of these techniques into mine. 

 

Other stuff: The pooch is doing much better. She’s back to all of her puppy-like mischievousness and is into endless trouble. That’s how it should be. Thanks to Steve and Georgette for the cleaning suggestions – we ended up having to get my sister’s car professionally cleaned. It was just too much. But I’ll remember those for the inevitable future occasions!

Training for my swims is going pretty well, although I can’t swim as frequently as I’d like. I did manage my first 5,000 yard workout last Saturday – I’ll have to work up to several 7,000+ yard workouts, including some sets of 1000s or 2000s for pace work. Looking forward to Reston to see where I am in the grand scheme of training things.

Un-Best Week Ever

This week has been most emphatically not my best week ever. My new pooch is sick and we have spent the entire week back and forth to the vet, cleaning up messes (four of which were in the back seat of my sister’s brand new car – this is her un-best week ever too), not sleeping, putting out random fires at work, and worrying about our poor little beastie. And I didn’t once get to work out. Not one lap in the pool, not one roll, nothing, which does wonders for my outlook.  

On the positive side, however, the vet seems to think she’s getting better, and we’ll hopefully get to take her home today. Also, I planted three apple trees and a cherry tree in the back yard while not at BJJ or swimming. Let’s hope they don’t mind the snow that’s coming!