Forged by Iron

Sunday, October 6, 2024

Training Log: Entry 3371

Quick recap of where I've been. Left on Friday to drive to Wisconsin Dells for a Tang Soo Do tournament on Saturday. We stayed the day on Sunday, and we're driving home tomorrow. Friday, Sat and Sun I woke up and started each day with 150 prisoner squats and 100 push ups by doing 10 rounds of 15-10. Beyond that, the only activity was walking and what I did at the tournament.

Tournament went poorly. I took last in Weapons, Forms and sparring, and I withdrew from breaking because they changed the rules DURING the rules meeting and said we had to include a foot technique in our creativity break, which was not going to work with the bread I had put together, and I was just pretty pissed off with the organization at that point. But I got to participate in a "team sparring" event, which was a blast. We were on teams of 3, a member of each team would face off against another in 1 on 1 sparring for a single 90 second round, goal was to score as many points as possible in the time limit, and contact was permitted, not still not hand strikes to the head.

Contact was PERMITTED, but it was still in a quasi-state where "excess" contact was frowned on. I don't do great under those rules, but I went up against a 2nd degree black belt that had tooled an equal ranked black belt from another team with the same technique: spin hook kick to the back of the head. I came in with 2 goals: shut him down and score A point. And I did exactly that. Everything he'd spin, I'd either move off angle, close the distance, or flat out kick his leg back down, and eventually he had to put away his favorite toy and fight me on my own stupid terms instead, which he wasn't as comfortable in. I scored at least one point with a body punch, and possibly some more, but I came in 5 ranks below this person sparring in a style that is still alien to me: I walked out smiling. I even ate a kick to the face and felt so goddamn alive from that. I really miss for real sparring, and the grappling I do sorta scratches that itch, but it would be nice to bang again. Also, our team on Bronze, so that was cool. I was part of a team of patched together dudes who didn't have enough folks from their school to form a team, and one of those members included a random Second degree black belt who asked if it was ok if he joined my team, and it totally felt like that scene from "Sidekicks" where Chuck Norris joins the team with River Phoenix.

The feedback I got for the forms is what I always get: I'm too stiff and I need to flow more. Years of lifting, where being stiff is a boon (outside of the ballistics) is hard to overcome, and I'll have to decide if I care enough to do it. In sparring, my head wasn't right. My family had a medical emergency in between my open hand form finishing and sparring starting, which everything is fine now, but I really just wanted to be done at that point. I also got kicked in the groin and the other dude was given a POINT for doing that vs losing a point. I probably should have sold it, but again: I just wanted to be done at that point.

It was still an awesome tournament though, because my kid actually won the championship cup. They placed the top in the age category amongst the ENTIRE competition: not just in their own individual division. They came home with 2 gold medals, 1 silver (silver in sparring), and the Cup. They're absolutely over the moon and I couldn't be prouder.

I get back on Monday, and will lift on Tuesday. I am legit excited about training. I can't wait to get back to it. Been a LONG time since I've felt that way. Really, my headspace is in a great spot.

I'm also excited because my Ninja Woodfire XL came in the day before we left, so I have that at home waiting for me.

Diet was awesome for the trip. Didn't skip a beat. Only issue was some slight undereating: I fasted through lunch for quite a few days, but when I could eat, I'd eat big. Highlights include a truckstop that served dry rub only ribs and a REALLY awesome breakfast buffet at the place we were staying at. Some photos below.