2005 Workout #95: Gasshuku Dai…

My legs are tired, my feet are raw, and my belly is full of watermelon and sake. That can mean only one thing: Sensei Brewer’s Gasshuku is complete.

Among one of the funniest moments of the day was me getting flattened by Raleigh as he fled from a bee. He even broke one of Sensei’s deck chairs in the process. He is clearly the bravest of all of the brown belts.

My basics felt pretty good, but my sparring felt like crap. The part of the training that I enjoyed most was doing Gojyushiho Sho. That kata may be in contention for my next kata. I liked the interplay of tension and relaxation and the variety of advanced concepts that are sprinkled throughout that kata.

Right after we got done with that, we moved into getting the proper feeling out of the first few moves of Heian Shodan. I actually did this pretty well, actually discovering some insights about how to use ones feet as a brake when getting shoved. The idea of reaching or punching as you wind up for a block is something we started touching on during ‘s “kata is power and don’t you want to get some” jag that he had last year. Revisiting it was great fun.

The day was very warm yet not sweltering, and for some reason I was having hydration issues that I’ve not had in years past. Roughly three quarters of the way through the light sparring session, I realized that my mouth was dry and my arms were clammy so I stopped to get some water in me. That helped and I went through the rest of the first sparring session with no problems.

After the partner drills relating to Heian Shodan began to break up, I started to get the Headband of Pain headache. By the end of the sparring Grand Finale, every slight movement of my head gave me pounding in my temples and the front half of my skull. Once I got into the shade and I got some watermelon in me the headache started to abate, but it took a cold shower and four Advil to fully shake it.

The headache and my recovering hand helped add some reality to the awareness training that we did as the Grand Finale. Learning to cultivate zanshin when faced with rapid fire attacks from all directions with minor annoyances like the ones that I had really presents a challenge, but I still did the best that I could and I am proud of that.

The five hour workout had lasted until 3:30 or so and I had to leave before the bulk of the picture taking to head to work. I did get into a few group shots, but I did have the time to down the sake toast and give Sensei The Picture That Should Not Be Named.

Since the infrastructure people at work are bumbling morons, I had to miss the Chinese dinner that my compatriots are enjoying as I type this post. I’m glad I made it for the beneficial part of the gasshuku, I’m upset that I had to miss the pictures and afterparty.

The Gasshuku is one of things that I missed most during my time at college, I feel that my training is always improved in some aspect every time we have one. Thanks to Sensei Brewer and for providing some truly great training this year. I only hope posts up some jumping side thrust kick pictures to complete the circle.