I walked into class on Tuesday night. It was a normal class night, other than the fact that we've moved to a new location that has more floor space than the last church we were at. I began getting ready for class, putting on my uniform and belt. Mr. G then walks over and matter-of-factly states that he talked to Mr. R.S. over at our sister school, and since they are off for Spring Break the week of the 4th, they will come up for my test then.
So my official test date is March 10th, 2012
Okay then!
That means that not only is my test date written in stone, but it also means that my test has been moved where I originally had it on the 31st up to the 10th instead. Oh, good. Less time for me to prepare! With that said, I suddenly feel the need to go spar the heavy bag for the next several hours without stopping. . .
5 comments:
Now that you have a test date you can plan your preparations. Pace yourself well though and start to tail it off in the couple of weeks before the test so your body has time to heal all those little injuries and strains it accumulates over time (or is that because I'm getting old!) I made the mistake of over-training a little in my enthusiasm to do well and ended up testing with a thigh injury. But you are young and your body will be more tolerant of hard training. I wish you well with the preparations and testing - I'm sure you'll be fine.
Thanks for the advice, Sue! I'm already thinking now that it's going to be difficult to willingly curtail training in the last couple of weeks. I know it was during the days before the tournament I competed in. A mindset of "More is better!" is hard to get past, but I don't want to risk getting injured right before this test like you mentioned. That would be awful! With that in mind, I'll be careful those last couple weeks. I'm sure my instructors will insist the same thing too.
Congratulations! It is the date we all dread yet look forward to at the same time.
With my test imminent, I have started swimming to bump up my cardio and by test time I'm sure I'll be glad I did - I don't want to be up there, all alone and gasping for breath with all those people watching. That is incentive enough to get me in gear!
When I graded for 3rd Kyu Brown, my test was 4 hours, 45 minutes long. Luckily I had NO idea it would be that long when I went into it, or I would have been seriously fretting it. I look back on it now, and I am really proud, because I know I really earned that belt. I didn't look forward to it, but now I look back on it with great fondness and a sense of accomplishment.
Your Black Belt Test is like a wager - on that day, you are saying to your instructors that you can do better than your current rank - and if they have set a test date, they have confidence in you that you can.
Best of luck with your training. Know that there are others out there doing exactly the same thing - training their butts off to achieve such a special rank, me included. I'll be following your progress.
That's great - I think you'll find it useful to have the date set in stone.
You can build out a training regiment to have your fitness and material prepared properly.
Karen - it's quite like a hate-love relationship, isn't it? My feelings about the test are a roller coaster at the moment. There's excitement, dread, a bit of panic, and lots of determination all at the same time.
Same here. I want to feel good about myself and have good cardio when I'm up there testing. I'm constantly inserting "black belt test" whenever I am choosing something to eat or I'm thinking about not doing my cardio/practice for the day. That usually gets me back on track.
Thank you for the well wishes and my best to you as you get ready for your test! I'm looking forward to reading about your experience.
Matt - Yes, having a date is really keeping me on track with practicing and my preparations. I'm still tweaking my workouts in addition to my practice so I can get in a good routine.
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