Solo, and I'm just too tired

You know I've said this before, but I'll say it again. Sometimes, I'm a glutton for punishment. Really I am. I also know when to say when, but still...

I started in the morning class, and I think I held up okay. We did this one exercise whereby we were doing partner stretches, where you put your foot on your partner's shoulder, and then you stretch as they stand up. Of course, I was paired up with Sandy, who is significantly shorter than I am. For her stretches, I had to do a lunge kind of thing for her appropriate height to stretch. For me, she had to almost lift my foot over her head! (Not quite though!) That stretching was great. It was reminiscent of ballet stretching. We worked on forms and weapons, and I worked on my board break again. This is "foot week", so I worked on the jump front kick that I have to do for graduation. Since I have to test on wood, I have to practice on wood. My main problem with that break appears to be that I don't chamber enough on the kicking leg, but I can continue to work on that. I got a good workout, for sure.

Today was Drew's first solo day in class. Just like the first day of school, I was a little nervous about how he'd be. I really tried to stay out of the way during class and felt I had to intervene only once, and it really wasn't bad, but rather just a re-direct. There was an across-the-floor drill that Drew had done quickly and sloppy, so NK, who was teaching, made him go back to do it again. Now, just so you know, she wasn't singling him out-- she was doing that to any of the kids who weren't doing the drill correctly. He got frustrated, but rather than have a total meltdown, he just went and sat in the front window ledge (don't worry, it's only about a foot or two off the floor), and he sat pouting, but not crying or anything. When he didn't come back to the front of the room to stretch, I went back and talked to him. He told me he didn't like the exercise, so he just decided to stop doing it and wait. When I asked him if he wanted to start back into class, he literally jumped at the opportunity, and joined right back in, which I was happy about. I "ignored" him for the rest of class. I stayed in this little nook of the do-jahng where I was with the other parents, but I couldn't see what he was doing because he was in the back of the group, or at least far back enough that I'd have to get up out of my place to see him even in the mirrors. After getting him geared up in his sparring gear, I was already late for my NEXT class, but NK said that she'd start and it was okay for me to change and get Drew ready first. Cool. So I did, and shortly after I changed, JC came in to pick Drew up. I told him where to put Drew's gear afterwards. SW told me later that Drew was very good and said to her, "Ma'am, my dad's here, so I think I'm supposed to go." SW assured him that I had just told JC that he had a few more minutes, and that it was okay. He complied with no problem. That was good to hear. I asked SW tonight later how he did, and she was satisfied with his behavior when he sat out, because he didn't have a blowout like he had in the past, because she'd rather he did that than the meltdown. She was also amused but pleased with him questioning when he was supposed to leave, but overall she was pleased with his behavior today. As you can imagine, it was a great relief to me! :-)

Well, as he was finishing up, and his dad was taking him home, I was starting my long night. We did some full situps. I can do lots of crunches like nobody's business, but to have someone hold down your feet and do full situps? Well, if you were minimally 60 lbs overweight and asthmatic, do you think it would be easy? I didn't think so. And it wasn't. But I got it done, and NK was my patient partner. We did some more drills, and I got through those, but again, very cardio heavy. We finally got to work on weapons and forms, some more. I finally learned the last drill for testing, which is a snake block/interception with the BME. It's where you block a #2 strike (hand to weapon), and then you loop your hand over and under the striker's arm, put them in a joint lock of sorts, and bop them on the head (or I did it on the shoulder for class safety) with the butt end of your weapon. It took a few tries, but I got the hang of it. Board breaking went okay, so I'm feeling okay if, again, I get that chamber in that kicking leg going. Sparring was very tiring. I think I lost a few pounds just in sweat.

Instructor's class was good. We reviewed some of those things I needed to do for my BME drills, which helped to reinforce the concepts, and so when we went to work on our own information, then I could just work on that by itself. I think I have the main jist of the drills, but there's no flow to it right now, so I think there are some adjustments that need to be made, but I have time for that. We went to board breaking again, and I tried to break on plastic to save some trees. I could tell after a few tries I was just too tired. After all, I was now on my 3rd class for the day, and 2nd class in a row. Just as I had made that decision, SW was ordering me to stop so I wouldn't lose confidence in what I was doing. When it comes to the jump front kick, I'm more confident in that break, even though that was the one I was having more problems with at the last testing, than the elbow break. I knew I was getting tired, and it wasn't going to happen. I haven't lost confidence in it yet, but yes, I will have to spend a lot of money on practicing breaking on wood boards. That's fine. I can live with that.

So, you can understand why I feel too tired. 3 classes at full steam (or as close to that) in one day! My knee and my feet were also starting to protest, so I'm glad that I won't be doing more until Saturday. Hopefully I will have lost another pound just from this workout. ;-) I'm more glad that Drew had a good start in regular class. I'm just hoping that like regular school, he continues to have a good start, and it lasts throughout the year.

Tomorrow is Sandy's big testing for 1BD, (and for you non-ATA'ers, for her full 1st degree black belt), and I'm confident that she's going to do fine. Her school is requiring her to do a LOT more than I'm required to do, and honestly, there are things, like her board breaks to pass, that aren't standard ATA curriculum at all. But, at least she's going to be ahead of the game in the end, and she'll be great. PS is going to be there too, so that will be great to see her as well! Big day tomorrow for her!