Coach Kirstin

There isn't a day that I don't walk out of the gym without a new bruise on me. Unless I just do S&C but I think that's happened twice. And I have been known to bruise doing that too. So when you bruise often, you watch them. A lot. Especially if you wear a skirt. Ever. And you know how fast they tend to disappear. But when they don't follow the normal schedule, I get paranoid. I had a mild vitamin K poisoning about two years ago, only noticeable by the bruise that never disappeared and my inability to choke down a spinach salad (the culprit) since. So I have had a bruise on my bicep that I have had for 6 days. Uncharacteristically long. I know it's not Vit K so it has to be a combination of my diet (or lack thereof) in the past week and lack of sleep. In other words, my inability to take care of myself. I'll probably never know which it is because both of these factors go hand in hand with me. But next week I'll be back to my routine, I'm actually o...

So I did a jiu jitsu tournament this past weekend. I did it purely for the experience of competing, not because I like bjj. I haven't competed in 5 months and figured I needed to shake the jitters a little. The only matches I cared about were my no-gi matches. Lets be honest, I just don't know what I'm doing in a gi. And thus I don't like it. It's not like sex, where the first time you didn't know what you were doing but it felt good so you kept doing it. Nope. I didn't know what I was doing and it made it even worse. So this weekend, I won my no-gi match and then had my gi match. I was facing the girl I just beat in no-gi, knew she trained extensively in the gi and had a moment of panic that I don't know what I'm doing in the gi. I was walking to my match and thought "it's ok if she beats me, I don't really care". And then we slapped hands. It's like the little green monster takes over and I must win. There's nothing on the...

Do you ever find it weird the things that gross you? Or that don't. Today someone was brushing their teeth in the sink at my office. And I was so grossed out by it. But I clench with every person in the gym and they rub their sweat all over me. I get pinned to the mat and rubbed all in it. I get traingled or arm barred and don't even think twice about where my head is. ...but I find it gross when someone washes their teeth in the sink. I guess it's all how you view the world through your lens.

So my regular group of friends is pretty tight.  We have brunch together at the same place and generally the same time every sunday.  Its the same jokes and fun.  We get along really well and we get each other.  I made the fateful mistake of bring a guy I was dating to this event.  Disaster doesn't quite describe it.  But it was painful.  The jokes and humor wasn't shared.  Which put a damper on the festivities.  We disbanded for the day.  Repeat again today, a guy was being introduced to the group.  He was at least part of the conversation at times.  But our usual antics and humor, didn't work with him.   So I was wondering: are we just a tight knit group and we don't let others in?  or are we judgmental of those our friends date? Meeting the person you are dating's friends can be a really big deal.  Thats like make or break.  They were there before you.  They hear about you when your not around...

So I will whole heartedly admit when I come off a training cycle, I go all off.  Like an alcoholic falling off the wagon going on a bender.  Eventually I get disgusted with myself and get my act together.  It took 3 weeks of this nonsense.  But today I "turned over a new rock" as my friend says it.  So today I spent cooking.  Which I think is also part of my slothful phase post training cycle.  I have spent 6-8 weeks cooking every meal, very few are cooked for me, so all I want to do is eat and not have to prepare it.  Or think about it.  Enough of my complaining.  So in last weeks veggie box I had green cabbage, stupid Irish holiday.  I didn't know what to do with it, so was googling away.  Came up with Kimchi...only to find out after I had searched 4 stores with no luck for my ingredients, I had the wrong cabbage.  So back to the drawing board and found Martha Stewarts recipe for roasted green cabbage .  It turned o...

Those were the words I heard from my Dr this morning after I said "that was a lot" after he took the needle out of my toe and I took a few deep inhales after releasing my death grip on the table. I apparently have a torn ligament in my toe, still. I did it last fall prepping for my last fight. It got better after seeing him but I hurt it again this last training cycle. I tried telling him that I don't like needles but he looked at the tattoo that covers my entire thigh and just laughed. I also have a torn meniscus in my knee. Icing on the cake, I woke up with a bruise on my boob approximately the size of two fingers. Fighting breaks down my body. But it makes me better. I'm in the best shape of my life, odd that I've gotten in better shape as I have gotten older. It provides me with the mental fight to be able to get through anything. Except putting a needle into my toe.

I just threw out a Clementine .  It was my second one.  The first was great.  But I could tell the second was going to be bad.  The skin was thick.  Two pieces i n I gave up and tossed it.  I ’ m trying   to add more fruit to my diet.  To be honest, I don’t see much point in them.  I know I get some nutrients from them but the calories consumed to get those, just doesn’t seem worth it.  I say this off a fight cycle.  On cycle … I live for my fruit. But back to my alternate reality, where I throw out food when it doesn’t taste good.  I realized, I don’t eat anything that doesn’t taste good.  Even the healthy stuff that I don’t care much for the base flavor, I find a way to make it tasty for me to eat.  Like kale … add a little bacon and red wine vinegar and I can eat it for days.  Do you eat things because you are supposed to even thoug...