A little sore today.

I am a little sore today from the tournament yesterday, but not too bad. My arms cramped up really bad from dehydration but are ok now. Just sore all over, Judo is a rough sport. Here's a picture after getting my medal.

SILVER MEDAL!!!!!

I'm really excited!!! I got a silver medal in the Cherry Blossom Open Tournament in Boyton Beach today!!!!! The tournament was pretty disorganized though. They were calling for registration and weigh ins to end by 12:00 for seniors and masters, so I left Orlando at 7:00 am to get there in time. It turns out they were WAY behind schedule. Weigh ins and registration went on until about 1:00 and My division, which turned out to be 240lbs to unlimited or Senior Men Open Division didn't start competition until 4:00. They called us to our mat around 2:45 so they guys in our division were thinking we were to compete soon so we all got warmed up, but we didn't end up playing until 4:00 so we all got cooled down again, just in time to actually get called to compete, in spite of that I still managed a silver medal. The guy that beat me (2x, in double elimination) was a black belt, he was a tall really muscular guy around 52 yrs old, he was a really nice guy and had good technique. I gave it my all and was beaten by a better opponent. It was the first tournament of the year so I feel I did real well and have a good base to build from. Because we stood around so much before our match I got really dehydrated and at the end of the tournament my biceps cramped up super bad. I could barely carry my stuff out to the car. The plus side was, after the tournament Sensei Doug Clark suggested the we go to this really cool Japanese Buffet next to the location of the tournament, my arms were so sore I couldn't hold my plate and I could barely bring my hands to my mouth, HAHAHAHAHA, so I didn't eat much at all. Boyton Beach is about 3 hrs south of Orlando, I drank 3 bottles of water on the way home and about half way home my arms loosened up and the cramps went away, pretty funny!!!!! To sore to eat at an AYCE sushi and Japanese buffet, HAHAHAHA!!!!!

Well I promised an official weigh in from this tournament but the scale was digital and just said EEE.EEE (error) I laughed and said hey that's about right 333, the weigh in guys laughed pretty hard. So I don't know if I've lost any weight but I can definitely tell that the walking has paid off, I never felt winded or exhausted in any of my matches and I quickly recovered after each match and was ready to compete when I was called for each subsequent match, I felt really good until after the tournament when I cramped up...I will be sure to drink more at the next tournament. I did accomplish one of my New Years Resolutions though...I set out to win at least one match this year and I already won two!!! So now I'm changing that goal to win two more matches!!!!

Here's a picture of the medal I won today. Doug has pictures of me with it at the tournament posing with the Gold Medalist. I'll post the other pics when I get them from Sensei Clark.

Tough Workout Tonight

 We had a pretty tough workout tonight, Sensei Doug Clark is getting the club ready for the Spring Judo Tournament season. My Judo Gi was soaking wet after the class tonight. We had a long workout/warm up first, a short technique session and a very long randori (sparring) session. I was able to beat everyone I played except Dorian, who is at least a foot taller than me, he's probably 250-270 lbs. He's a black belt from Romania, he has very good technique and he's very strong. I have thrown him for Ippon once, but he's been paying me back ever since...Playing with him will only make me a better player.

 I'm really excited about playing in the Cherry Blossom Open this weekend, my breathing is getting stronger and I'm recovering faster between matches. A player from our club, Rick is going to play. It will be his first tournament, we will probably ride down to Boyton Beach together. He's a heavyweight too at 245-250 but he's in the senior men division (under 30) I am in the masters division. If there are no heavy weight masters I will play senior men. Maybe we will face each other. Our club has a really good junior player (under 17),  Natalie. She is a really good Judo player and will most likely be going to both senior nationals and junior nationals this year. She has really good technique and is a really aggressive. The funny thing is she looks like a super model and you often hear comments in the crowd like, "I can't believe her parents let her play Judo, she should be a model". Its pretty funny!!!!! One of our competition coaches is a former Polish national team member and he's a really good friend of mine. I told him when he's coaching me at the tournament to say everything in Polish, he laughed and said you don't speak Polish but neither will your opponent, so you will be having me intimidate your opponent for you, very funny!!!
Anyway there will be an official weigh in at the tournament, I will also get a weight after the tournament and I'll fill in my blog with both weights.

New Shoes and Ear Buds

This weekend I got a pair of new Adidas running/walking shoes, they are really comfortable, but look kinda goofy. I'm used to wearing Vans, although Vans look much cooler they aren't so good for walking. I also got a new pair of ear buds for my iPod, my old ones continously slid out of my ears. The new ones have these little mushroom heads that pop in my ear and STAY PUT!!!!! Yay!!!!! So tonight I walked for about 3 hrs, I just walked and walked, it reminded me of walking with my old friend Johnny Operation when we were teenagers. Me and Johnny walked EVERYWHERE, we didn't have cars yet and literally walked hundreds of miles looking for all kinds of trouble; parties, punk shows, places to hang out, places to sleep because we didn't want to go home. I laughed tonight thinking about the head games Johnny would play with me while walking, "hey man what do you have in your pockets?", "if you have any money you should share, we really need to get something to eat", "we could buy beer if you have any money", "come on man pull out your pockets"...(hence the name Johnny Operation) That would go on for hours, at the time it was really aggravating but now I would do anything to be able to have those long walks with Johnny again playing "Whats in your pockets?" The funny thing is Johnny would NEVER tell you what he had in HIS pockets, hahahahaha!!!!!
So yes I thought about Johnny while I walked and walked tonight...My ear buds didn't pop out while listening to The Aislers Set and my feet/ankles/knees/legs aren't killing me after a really long walk, pretty cool! Thanks for keeping me company tonight Johnny, I miss you!!!!!

Also looking forward to the Judo Tournament this weekend!!!!!

I've been a bad blogger!!!!

Sorry its been so long since I've posted. Its been a little busy around here!!! Any way, I've been keeping up with my walking, at least two miles a day when it's not a Judo day (Tues-Thurs) This week we had a Saturday work out too and it was a pretty vigorous training for competition style work out. I haven't weighed in since the original weigh in because I really haven't had a chance to get to the Dr.s office, I'm not trying to be scale crazy and obsess on every pound lost, but I have noticed a BIG improvement in my stamina and breathing at Judo. A few of the guys have even commented that I don't seem to be getting winded as easy and that I'm recovering much quicker and can play much longer now. So it seems all the walking is paying off. We've been doing a lot of strength training and I can really feel it in my arms/shoulders/chest/back and quads. Its a soreness that actually feels pretty good.
 The Cherry Blossom Open Judo Tournament is next Saturday the 12th in Boyton Beach Florida, I plan on playing in the Masters division. A couple other players in our club plan on playing too, we may drive down together. This tournament will be a good entrance back in to competition for me and it will be a good warm up for a larger tournament  in Cape Coral on March 5 where most of our club if not all the members of our club have been encouraged to play....I'll update on how I/we do at these tournaments.