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I went to class on Saturday, even though I wasn't feeling 100%. I'd been having stomach troubles all week, and I'd strained my back the previous Tuesday working on my house. I found that my back held up pretty well unless I needed to arch it for ukemi. It's feeling better and better as time progresses.
However, my stomach trouble caused me to throw up a little bit about an hour into training. That's the first time in nearly five years of training that such a thing has happened to me! I've gotten a bit nauseated from time to time during periods of high exersion and/or high heat, but I've never thrown up. My instructor wasn't feeling well either, so I guess there's something going around.
Oh well, the throwing and falling felt pretty good until I got to feeling sick. I'll train again tonight and see how things go.
I've been exceptionally busy for the past month or more and it's starting to catch up with me. Mostly, I've been doing a lot of work on my house.
Still, I've managed to make it to practice twice a week most weeks. We're gearing up for another round of tests at our dojo. Richard and I will test for 2nd kyu in July. Micah will be testing for Shodan soon, and our instructor is going for Sandan soon too.
I'm less nervous this time than I was for the last test. Overall, I'm feeling pretty good about what I need to know for the test, and I still have some time to figure out the stuff I'm weak on.
I'm looking forward to tonight's open mat session and regular class.
From Thursday, May 27 though Sunday, May 30, I attended the AAA East Cost Instructors Seminar in lovely Charleston, West Virginia.
And I do mean lovely. West Virginia is a beautiful state and Charleston was a very pretty city. The seminar was held at the Charleston Family YMCA, on top of a hill overlooking the city. The facilities were fine and the instruction was top notch. I'll be typing up a more detailed report soon, but my first impressions are below.
Sato sensei did most of the teaching, but other members of the AAA teaching committee led sessions as well. The primary focus was on weapons. Apparently, instructors seminars have a different focus each year. Last year the focus was on ki tests and running a rank test. The year before, the focus was on teaching ukemi.
One highlight of the seminar, for me, was working on the first five kumijo with Matsuda sensei (the head of the Eastern Region). He pointed out a number of areas where I needed work and really helped me correct the mistakes I was making. My biggest mistake was in letting the ma ai collapse. I was consistently getting too close during the katas. I started to get a little frustrated and asked Matsuda sensei how I can avoid this problem; he pointed out that he is much shorter than I, so I should take smaller steps. It dawned on me that I usually train with people taller than me, so maybe I was too used to a certain range of movement. But, I really should know how to adjust my sense of distance to fit di
...More
06-29-2004 08:13 AM 
