Coach Kirstin

The MCM as it is so often referred holds a special place in my life.  It was my first marathon.  I did it with my sister.  I ran on a stress fracture that turned into a broken tibia or your shin bone....yes I have always been this stubborn.  And the training schedule held my life together when I was about to fall apart.  I was getting divorced.  I don't deal with emotions very well and definitely not my own.  But the training schedule and plan gave me something to do, even when all I wanted was to sit home and feel sorry for myself.  The best part was my girl friend Jennifer met me in Crystal City at about mile 21 to run the end with me.  If it wasn't for her, I know I would have given up.  But she kept me talking and going.  So the year after, I had a dear friend who had turned his life around by picking up running and was running the MCM that year.  I offered to run the last 6 with him.  So my sister and I cheered runner...

So I write about dumb things some times.  But it’s usually something dumb that affects my training.  And this will be no exception.    My sleep. And how much of it I get. It’s probably the thing I struggle with the most in my training.  I know how important it is.  I can feel how important it is.  I plan my day around getting at least 7 hours each night…don’t judge it’s the best I can do with everything Im trying to cram in.  If I don’t get enough sleep, my training is worthless.  Im there but mentally, I never showed up.  Food I can kinda mess up.  Or I can at least mildly recover from.  If I miss sleep, there is only one option.  So in addition to having limited time for sleeping, I get really warm when I sleep.  My grandmother (or Nanny as I refer to her) has told me that you could put your hands over me when I was little and feel the heat radiating off of me.  Not much has changed.  E...

I think I know best. And I have a really hard time hearing otherwise.  But there is a very unique feeling I have towards my coaches.  I trust them.  Inherently.  Its part of them being coaches, its why I could no longer work with my last coach .  Its a strange thing, I believe without hesitation the things they tell me.  If they told me that I could pull off a double leg on the biggest guy, Id probably nod and go.  I remember during my fight, there was one thing I was going for the whole time, it was part of the original game plan.  And I never felt I could pull it off but I heard my coach calling for it, so I did it.  Not because I thought it would land but because I believed he knew better than me.  The knee to the face landed flush, beautiful. The last couple days I was starting to doubt something, and then after talking with my coach I dropped that negative thought.  Because I trusted in what he told me.    

Some times I think one of the things I love about my training is the structure it brings to my life. It tells me when to be at work, when to eat, when to sleep.  My whole life is directed by it.  It gives the structure that I need.  But I'm an adult right, I can still be responsible to get enough sleep, eat right, etc.  Apparently not.  This was my rest week post fight.  My chance to catch up with friends, not be so structured and not live by my training schedule.  Monday I went in to the gym to get a little gi practice in, since I was doing Copa I figured I should try it out.  The next couple of nights were a combination of going out or just being too full of energy to sleep.  So by Friday night, I was feeling run down...on a rest week.  I don't wear my self out training 15-20 hours a week, nope I do it when I supposed to be resting.  I took this picture of my room last night because its the epitome of my rest week...chaos C...

My best friend and I have these long conversations about chemical attraction.  Of course he has a ridiculous amount of information about all the things that can change in a female and alter this….all derived from an ex-gf that kinda went crazy after changing her birth control.  His theory is that all the chemicals in the products we use in and on our body, alter a person’s body chemistry.  I have to admit I kind of thought he was full of crap.  But on his suggestion, I switched to a more natural body wash that isn’t scented and put my perfume on my clothes, not my body.  The perfume was no big deal but the body wash is.  I train a lot.  I get other people sweat on me.  I get rolled into and squished into the mat.  And I sweat like a fat person.  So getting clean and getting rid of germies is a big deal.  So I apprehensively switched my body wash.  Easy part was the perfume.  I still feel clean ...

Wow is about all I can say.  I won my fight last night and got fight of the night.  I executed my game plan exactly as we had planned.  I fought the fight I wanted to and couldn't be happier.  Though Im sure once I watch tape, Ill pick it apart and have things to change.  Thats where you grow and get better.  I trusted in my coaches, absorbed everything they said and it paid off.  Between them and my teammates, they have helped me grow unbelievably since my fight in April.  I dont think I have ever worked as hard as I did the last 7 weeks.  I love fighting.  I loved it more last night.  It brings a balance to my life that I can't replace.  It makes anything that happens in my day seem minor and tolerable.  It provides the structure that I need.  My food, my sleep, my job all are structured to allow me to do it.  It may seem extreme but that just me, 120% all the time.  The cycle is the most intense thin...