Well yesterday I received a bit of a chiding for just “horsing around” when rolling. And I realized, it was perfectly deserved. I’m getting ready for the Chicago Open, coming up in just 3 weeks, and I just hadn’t flipped that switch to killer mode yet.

I made up for it today.

Yea. That was me. A little creepy and reaaaaally twisted.

I’ve started getting into foot lock battles with one of our white belts (hi Andrew!) We go for it, then we both pause and compare our “catches.” Toe hold beats straight ankle lock, heel hook beats everything. No pressure is ever applied, we just acknowledge whose leg/foot would break first, let go, and move on. It’s a fun game!

I did really turn up my aggressiveness today at our sparring class thanks to counterpart “Nichole”. Since I am “Nicholle”, together we are “Team N Squared”. After gi class I decided to do the no gi class.

No Gi class was fun! Worked some knee on belly options then rolled a bit. Class was led by one of our purple belts – who, aside from coach, probably has had the biggest influence on my game thus far. I rolled a couple rounds with him and got a surprise triangle that he “almost” tapped to. I think I may have a permanent indentation of the back of his neck in my left calf muscle! Almost, but not quite… He showed me after class what I could have done to finish it. Next time!

Man it was a full day! Here was my schedule:
8:30 am – bike to gym
9:00 am – Muy Thai private lesson (1hr)
10:30 am – 60 min deep tissue massage
11:30 am – Advanced Gi class (1hr)
1:30 pm – circuits (30 mins)
3:00 pm – 90 min deep tissue massage
5:00 pm – Gi Sparring (1hr)
6:00 pm – No Gi class (1hr)
8:00 pm – bike home and write this up on my iPhone using my impressive array of finger muscles!

Tomorrow will be lighter. Here’s my plan so far:
9:30 am – bike to gym
10:00 am – open mat sparring (60-90 mins)
11:30 am – advanced Gi class
2:00 pm – 60 min massage
5:00 pm – sparring (1hr)
6:00 pm – ladies BJJ (1hr)
7:30 ish pm – lock up gym and bike home

Since it’s a lighter day, I’ll probably bring my dog, Dante, with me. He rides in my backpack and is very well behaved. During class he sits on a chair and watches, otherwise he’s hanging up front and mooching attention off of everyone.