Flashing lights

(Kyoto Tower)

Things have slowed down a bit recently, not in terms of how much we train or the intensity of it all, just nothing much going on when we arent training right now. We have more or less settled into a bit of a daily routine now. Routines are comfortable, but im 12,000 K's from home so I dont want to get comfortable I want to stay on the edge! haha.

It goes something like this. 0730 - I wake up, go downstairs half asleep and make some toast, cofee and have a bannana + 1 litre of water. Tim's usually next down around 0745 and Lee at 0800. After breakfast I spend an hour pacing around the house, packing a gi into my bag, filling water bottles and have a quick shower(which is our of order now :( !) Before I know it 0900 rolls around and its suddenly a change in pace to a mad rush for the door to get out and on our bikes. Someone allways without fail forgets something so we generally get moving around 10 past. Its a bit of a trek/cycle to the Kidotai training compound. We generally arrive around 1010 giving us 20 minutes to get changed, cut our nails and do some light stretching.

The Riot Police Judo training is a simple & effective structure. 15 minutes of stretching, 15 minutes of Uchikomi (repeatative practice of a throw, taking your partner to the point of throwing - this builds muscle memory) then an hour of Randori (free sparring) in 5 minute rounds.
After training we do another stretch and get back on our bikes after using their nice showers and get back home...usually by 1300.
At this point we have 2 hours to sit around, read love letters from female fans back home, do some shopping and take a nap.
And once again, before I know it 1500 is here and its time to get going again, usually with a nice clean, dry Gi. Logisticly this is not allways possible but we do endevour to make this happen.

Hoon along at top speed to Rits University for training, I like getting there 30 minutes early so I can have a quick shower, get changed slowely and chat a bit. We start training at 1600 - the structure here is a bit fluid, with Kasuga Sensei changing it occasionaly. Last night it was 1 hour Newaza Randori (ground fighting) 1 hour tachiwaza (standing fighting) then 30 minutes of throwing drills...which hurt!
After this is all wound up its around 1900 so Lee, Tim & I take 20 minutes to have some water and refresh before hitting Rits nice Gym. The Judo guys come in around the same time and go through these insane circuits, we are working on a different programme here more on putting a bit more power but after a month or 2 will transition into their programme.

2030, feeling really nicely wasted I go home and fall into my bed, after I take it out of storage and unfold it and make it. Zzzz Zzzz Zzz, Alarm goes off. Repeat.

When we have a bit of spare time I like to get out and mix things up a bit so that I dont go crazy doing the same old thing everyday, on sunday it was a really nice sunny day so Lee & I headed down to the river and had a bit of a swim in the centre of town. The water wasnt all that deep but it was nice to splash around and kick back on the river bank in the sun. Some Uni Students making a raft ( which failed miserably) kicked back alongside us and practiced their not so bad but not so good english on us. This coming Sunday we have promised Tim we will go to the local Irish Pub and get a good pub meal of steak and a pint of Guiness...suprisingly it didnt take much encouragement to get me onboard for this.




(Shimei Shaggers)

This morning we turned up at the Kidotai Compound but no one was training, infact no one was there. We were weirded out. Judo is allways on everymorning. "OK, Oh damn we will have to take a rest morning, oh thats the worst thing!" We were saying, while thinking "Oh this is kinda awesome, I'm going back to bed!!" Before we could make a move one of the Riot Cop Judo players came in wearing his running gear saying today they are doing mountain training, and hey! why not you guys come along!! Awesome, sounds interesting.

So we get running with the Squad up this huge mountain covered in forest but with paths and shrines through it, only problem being the fact I decided to wear walking shoes and no socks this morning...this is gonna be painfull. 5 K's later and 1000 Meters higher, yeah this is now pretty painfull I have some wicked blisters growing on my feet, bigger with every step. Tim & Lee with their nice running shoes were feeling good though and up ahead of the squad. When my feet felt like they were about to fall off one of Cops caught upto me and said the finish is just around the corner so I gassed it as fast as I could so I could beat the main pack. Phew.
I took my shoes off and sure enough I have some pretty blisters on my feet. Nothing too raw so I can still train with a bit of tape tonight.



(Relax'in area on the roof)

Word is that the Uni Judo Club is averaging 20 on the Mat on Saturdays, which is pretty cool. Not as good as 60 on the mat here 6 days a week! But still really good.
Also Sensei Ricks operation back in NZ was a success so he will be recovered and back on the mat in 6 weeks or so which is great news.
Bill Vincent is still over here and plans to train with us tomorow morning at the Kidotai, which will be good - hopefully can get a few more pointers from him regarding a few bits of my game I was honed before my competition in a couple of weeks.

Anyway, everything is going well & I'm still enjoying the training and thinkg I'm making some progress so all is as it should be. I'm loving it all

Jordan