Tonight began Black Belt Boot Camp. I have three nights of this for the next 3 Friday nights leading up to the Black Belt Pre-Test. Each Boot Camp session goes for about an hour or so. During them we are evaluated and receive all sorts of great feedback about our techniques, things to think about, things to improve. I was in much better shape tonight than the evaluation. It looks like a group of people will run after each boot camp as well. I did not go on the run with them tonight but I will plan on doing so in the coming weeks.
One thing that the Senseis did that I don’t recall them doing the first time I went to boot camp was formally have us retie our belts to have Black on Top signifying that we are making a commitment to boot camp. That felt really good to retie that belt. I can’t even imagine how good it will feel to tie on an actual black belt.
It is now two days after my Krav Maga Evaluation. I had it on Friday night from 6:30pm – about 8:30pm. It felt much longer than that. It was a physically exhausting test to see if I could make it into Boot Camp so that I could test for my black belt in June.
the evaluation started with the mile run which I completed in 10:07. Not the greatest time but not the worst and not terrible seeing as I have not run in a while. I’ve done a lot of other physical activity but running I have not done. Then when we got in we did the push ups and I did 43 out of the 59 I needed for a 100%. I was sucking wind really badly after the run. Then we did the squats and I did all 82 that I needed to do for 100%. My plank was very weak at 50 seconds. I just could not catch my breath and power through it. So, I know where I need to concentrate my physical work in the next few months.
I also know that I have to start doing the physical requirements each day before class so that I do my classes in the exhausted physical state that I was in for the rest of the evaluation. that way I can work through that exhaustion. The whole rest of the evaluation was a struggle. I was winded and felt very slow. We did two self defense drills and they were so difficult to keep up with. I thought that I was not going to make it into Boot Camp. I did make it in and so did everyone else in our evaluation. I am sure that there are some major points I will need to work on in order to earn that black belt, though.
As for today, I am having a very hard time getting around because 82 squats and a mile run have made my legs so sore and stiff. I applied that bottle of biofreeze to my legs the same way a spray pain artist would apply paint to a rusty water tower. Liberally.
