Training

Yesterday was an eventful day. The first half of the day I stuck to my usual schedule of eliminating the things on my to-do list–studies, writing, and any logistics for my travels. At around midday, Rhadi and I went over to American Top Team to get in my hard workout for the day before I could go see my sister down in Miami.

 

I had a good workout blowing through my components. When it was time to do my sprints, I started out on par with the times I had produced earlier in the week. The entire day I felt very tired and my legs were fatigued from the tough sessions on the previous days. By my second sprint I was warm, but felt like my legs didn’t have much left.

 

One of the better books I have read this year is called “Ultramarathon Man” by Dan Karnazes. It is a must read for every athlete. Remembering Karnazes’ wisdom, I knew I had something left in the tank, but I just had to push. I came off the line hard and started at a pace faster than my previous sprints. I was able to keep that pace and finish up with a 55 second 300m.

 

Lunch With Marcelinho

It just happened that while I was finishing up my workout, so were the all of the MMA fighters. I was in accord with my plan to get down to Miami at a reasonable time and miss rush hour traffic when Rhadi created the opportunity for Little Rufus, him and myself to sit and have lunch with the best pound for pound submission wrestler in the world, and the newest member of American Top Team, Marcelo Garcia.

 

For those of you who do not know who Marcelo Garcia is, please visit YouTube and take a look at some of his matches. At an average size of 155-170lbs, he has tapped the best BJJ practitioners in the world in every weight division. This was an opportunity I could not pass up. Before we left for lunch, I got to step on the mat and show Mr. Garcia some of my pickups. Good times.

 

Marcelo Garcia is one of the nicer men on the planet. Extremely jovial, patient and unassuming, he told us some of his stories, goals, downfalls, and tactics. Again, this is one of the more pleasant people you can possibly meet.

 

While Marcelo was living in NYC, I paid a visit to his BJJ club Alliance in order to get a roll in with him. Unfortunately that night he was doing a seminar and could not make it to practice. I still have not had the chance to roll with Marcelo, but now that he is training in ATT, it will not be long.

 

Late Night Warrior

 

This blew my schedule for the day, which left me sitting in Miami rush hour traffic, but it was a fair trade off. I was able to spend a few hours with my sister, meet some of her new friends in school, and have some good conversations. It got late very quickly. I did not get back to the Boca Raton area until 3 am, only to realize I had not done my run for the day.

 

I could not get in touch with Rhadi to go back to the house. Luckily, he had advised me to bring my running gear with me. So I parked his car, geared up, and hit the road. (Another flashback of “Ultramarathon Man”).

 

The run was tough after such a long day, but I was able to keep my pace and finish it out. At that point Rhadi had called and had been wide awake working the entire time. I started back to his house.

 

I got a few hours of sleep in before it was time to head to the airport to catch the flight which I am now writing this post on. It doesn’t stop.

 

Days like this add fuel to the fire in your training. I see some of the greatest improvements of my entire career happening now, when it matters most. When things are moving the way they are I get emotional, and feel as though that medal is already around my neck.

 

Taken from the writings of Taraje Williams-Murray at taraje.com