Slow Starter

I am ever so glad that I plan things out in advance, but sometimes it can be frustrating.

The real goal is that it will all encourage me to do more training in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu than would otherwise be the case. This should, in turn, make me better at my chosen activity.

To do this, I have set myself the short-term goal of getting promoted in rank in as close to the minimum time period as possible. My current 8-month consideration for rank ends in the closing days of next March. Lots of time to make sure my attendance requirements get met.

The problem is that we will be out-of-country for quite a bit of that time, and my attendance tallies will suffer as a result. Not to worry. I have a plan in place to do as much extra training as I can reasonably squeeze in. This all comes in the form of training with Marc Marins in North Vancouver. It is a bit of a haul getting there, but works for somebody with time on his hands, such as me.

To give you some idea of the difference this makes we should look at what will happen if I just stick around home for training. Instead of finishing on schedule in March, it will take me until the following July. This assumes perfect attendance when I am around. That’s 4 months late.

I already go into the city once each week, but that gets just as disrupted by travel as my regular classes. Even so, that single weekly visit by itself reduces my delay in promotion from 4 months down to only 2. Huzzah, but not good enough.

So, for the month of August, I had it all calculated to do every class I can add to my calendar.

The first week was a bust, as we were camping, so my tally started out weak before I even got rolling.

My next week was looking better,  with my regular training supplemented with my usual noon-class city visit on Monday, and with me sticking around for the evening class, and with another noon class on Saturday. Saturday happened first, and went off without a hitch, but then I found out that my usual Monday midday class was cancelled. No worries; I would still make the Monday late class. However, before that happened, I ended up needing a short-notice doctor visit that very day, so never made the class.

Instead of 3 Vancouver classes, I only made it to one. Not an auspicious start to my ever-so-cunning plan.

This week I am again shooting for the same 3 classes, and seriously hope it will all run more smoothly. You can plan things, but sometimes events have a mind of their own.

That leaves just the final week of the month, which is my least favourite of the entire year. Our local school shuts down completely.

The plan says this is unacceptable, so I will be going in to Vancouver to train on Saturday, and 2-classes on Monday, along with a class on Wednesday, and another on Thursday. That all adds up to 4 visits to Vancouver totalling 5 classes. That’s more like it, but I’ll probably be especially sick of ferry rides by the time it’s over.

For next seven months, I will continue my weekly Monday visits, with Saturdays layered on top. The ferry schedule gets slashed after the summer, so no more evening classes are possible.