Yesterday was the Tang Soo Do tournament. We all performed a synchronized open hand hyung/form/kata and got a gold medal in it, which is what we are the most excited about. I took 3rd in Open hand forms and sparring in my division, and a second place in weapons form, which I’m actually pretty jazzed about. Other dudes use a “competition staff”, which is basically a lightweight tapered fiberglass staff that you can twirl really fast and get a good snap out of it: looks very sharp in competition. I use a 2.8lb hardwood round staff, which my instructor refers to as “the tree branch”, because I want to train on how to use an actual weapon rather than a prop. So being able to beat other people in that event with a real weapon is a big moral victory.
The Valkyrie did amazing in sparring. She took silver, but her match was so contentious that multiple black belt/master judges came up to her afterwards and said she was totally robbed. She had some incredible kicks.
Kiddo didn’t do as well as they wanted, but they were in a stacked division. The youngest AND lowest ranking in the group. Managed to get a silver in weapons, and bronze in open hands and sparring.
Prior to the tournament, I did this sandbag workout: 10 rounds EMOM of 3 sprawls and 1 sandbag over bar
For meals that day, I had a breakfast of 2 omelets with 3 eggs, stuffed with turkey breast and some jarlsburg reduced fat swiss, alongside 4 strips of beef bacon and one piedmontese hot dog. To celebrate our wins at the tournament, we went to Texas Roadhouse, where I cashed in my last free steak dinner on a 26oz bone in ribeye, no seasoning, salt only, cooked rare.
I ended up foregoing my traditional 2 bowls of hardboiled eggs with sour cream, since the roadhouse started charging me $5 for those sides. I can buy a dozen pastured eggs at that price. Funny enough, our server, when I gave my order for sides, said “I just spoke with one of my co-workers and he told me ‘make sure you get that guy his 2 bowls of eggs with sour cream!’, and it makes sense: you’re jacked! Are you sure you don’t want that?” I informed him I absolutely did want it: just not for $5. Dude actually came back and told me that apparently it was their bank manager that made the decision to start charging more for the eggs, and that the server personally thought that was ridiculous. Good kid
I carried a 277.5lb keg when I got him…and then promptly came inside and felt like I was going to die. Not from the keg: I’ve apparently contracted some sort of stomach bug. The good news is I managed to keep that steak dinner, but the other end of me has certainly had an opinion on the matter, and I spent the first 4 hours of my night’s rest last night on the bathroom floor with a pillow and blanket before I finally felt ready enough to get upstairs at might and sleep an additional 9.5 hours. I’m feeling better, but not 100%.
In turn, the keg carry experiment, round 1, has completed. I am smart enough to know not to continue that in this state, as these final few workouts have taken just about everything I had to get through. This answers the question I had of how I was going to continue it during my next crazy week: I won’t. I’ll resume it once I start back up on mass protocol, starting back over at 200lbs.
It’s going to be low activity today while I heal. Ideally, I’ll be good tomorrow. Works out well that today is a high carb meal day.
I’m going to be meal prepping for my upcoming week, and the Valkyrie hit me with an amazing quote of “I know you’re going to be working all week and won’t have meals with us: do you want me to make you a kalua pig?”
I am blessed.
