I was going to go into London today and have a look around and had been looking forward to it for the last few days. But after talking to the guys apparently it takes 1.5hrs to get the train into London. I didn't know if i could be bothered to get more money out of the atm and then spend a whole day walking round London looking at stuff and so i decided to stay at home and chill out.
Its now 6pm in the afternoon and i feel like i made the right decision, i have had a pretty cruisey day i got a lift down to the shops and had a nice sandwich at a coffee shop and read my book. I finished the 3rd Genghis Khan book and it was fantastic. Now im onto a new one called 'This present darkness' by a Christian author Frank Peritti, it is written rather well and i am enjoying it.
I actually read it all the way on my 25 minute walk home and i nearly ran into about 3 pushbikes and a few poles while walking along the bike path. Lucky they saw me.
I fight in a few days time at the World champs and i am very excited i am coming off a good win at Pac Rim and another good fight on Friday night and i feel like i have matured so much as a fighter in the last year and a half.
I am very looking forward to competing i know i have trained hard and if i can get another good draw and a bit of luck i will be in for a chance at winning a few fights.
For people that dont know Judo has now changed their competition format it used to be if you lost to a guy that made the semi final (top 4) you then went on to fight everyone he has beaten along the way and try to make your way to 3rd place.
Then new format is knockout until the final 8 (or quarter final.) This makes it very very hard because if you draw the gold medallist first or second round and they beat you you dont get any more fights.
It makes it very very hard to place top 8 but it makes it alot easier for spectators and people that dont have that much of a great understanding of Judo.
When you are this close to competition you have to have alot of confidence in yourself to remain calm and not stress too much. Many people stress about their weight or who they are going to draw and are they going to get beaten or smashed with a huge throw.
But i always while training try to give 100% so that i fully believe that i have done everything possible in order to beat my opponent because i have taken no shortcuts along the way.
can say this with full confidence because, like i said i am coming off a good win and good training while being here in England.
It becomes quite hard to tell yourself that you have done all you could and you are fit as when you have had a very troubled lead up through injury or illness or just a bad comp and your on a low. But you must keep telling yourself that you are 'the best and fit and strong and trained hard and you are ready' and this takes alot of maturity and skill into being able to fool yourself in order to come into the fight with the right and positive mentality.
For example today i havent done too much in the form of exercise i walked for 25 minutes and that was a slow mosey while reading a book. But i need to have confidence in myself that i need a rest day and if i train today i may get sick and perform badly in a few days. This is why i need Sam here, she always tells me if i am tired whether i should or shouldn't go to training because she can tell wheather i am getting over trained or not.
Everyone has a different way to lose weight, a different way to diet and a different way to rehydrate and refuel and a different lead up to comp. I remember a few years ago i use to always have the day before competition off and let my body recover for the next day.
But at a comp in Tahiti our head coach Gavin told us that if we cannot recover overnight from a 45 minute short hard intense session by the next day then we are not fit enough to compete in the first place. I trained and fought really well (even though i didn't win.) but by training hard the day before the comp while you are competing your body had adjusted to the intensity to the day before and so your body is accustomed to the intensity of the competition.
This style of mentality got under a few peoples skin but for me it was like a lightswitch went of in my head and so every comp since then i have trained the day before and obviously i haven't won every comp since then but i have felt alot more confident in myself and physically i didn't get as tired.
So today i have restrained myself from doing any exercise (even though its such a nice day) but will smash myself on Monday and tuesday in Netherlands for me to fight on Wednesday and after i fight me and cooky are going to find a nice place that sells massive chicken Schnitzels and we are going to eat our heads off its going to be great.
Its now 6pm in the afternoon and i feel like i made the right decision, i have had a pretty cruisey day i got a lift down to the shops and had a nice sandwich at a coffee shop and read my book. I finished the 3rd Genghis Khan book and it was fantastic. Now im onto a new one called 'This present darkness' by a Christian author Frank Peritti, it is written rather well and i am enjoying it.
I actually read it all the way on my 25 minute walk home and i nearly ran into about 3 pushbikes and a few poles while walking along the bike path. Lucky they saw me.
I fight in a few days time at the World champs and i am very excited i am coming off a good win at Pac Rim and another good fight on Friday night and i feel like i have matured so much as a fighter in the last year and a half.
I am very looking forward to competing i know i have trained hard and if i can get another good draw and a bit of luck i will be in for a chance at winning a few fights.
For people that dont know Judo has now changed their competition format it used to be if you lost to a guy that made the semi final (top 4) you then went on to fight everyone he has beaten along the way and try to make your way to 3rd place.
Then new format is knockout until the final 8 (or quarter final.) This makes it very very hard because if you draw the gold medallist first or second round and they beat you you dont get any more fights.
It makes it very very hard to place top 8 but it makes it alot easier for spectators and people that dont have that much of a great understanding of Judo.
When you are this close to competition you have to have alot of confidence in yourself to remain calm and not stress too much. Many people stress about their weight or who they are going to draw and are they going to get beaten or smashed with a huge throw.
But i always while training try to give 100% so that i fully believe that i have done everything possible in order to beat my opponent because i have taken no shortcuts along the way.
can say this with full confidence because, like i said i am coming off a good win and good training while being here in England.
It becomes quite hard to tell yourself that you have done all you could and you are fit as when you have had a very troubled lead up through injury or illness or just a bad comp and your on a low. But you must keep telling yourself that you are 'the best and fit and strong and trained hard and you are ready' and this takes alot of maturity and skill into being able to fool yourself in order to come into the fight with the right and positive mentality.
For example today i havent done too much in the form of exercise i walked for 25 minutes and that was a slow mosey while reading a book. But i need to have confidence in myself that i need a rest day and if i train today i may get sick and perform badly in a few days. This is why i need Sam here, she always tells me if i am tired whether i should or shouldn't go to training because she can tell wheather i am getting over trained or not.
Everyone has a different way to lose weight, a different way to diet and a different way to rehydrate and refuel and a different lead up to comp. I remember a few years ago i use to always have the day before competition off and let my body recover for the next day.
But at a comp in Tahiti our head coach Gavin told us that if we cannot recover overnight from a 45 minute short hard intense session by the next day then we are not fit enough to compete in the first place. I trained and fought really well (even though i didn't win.) but by training hard the day before the comp while you are competing your body had adjusted to the intensity to the day before and so your body is accustomed to the intensity of the competition.
This style of mentality got under a few peoples skin but for me it was like a lightswitch went of in my head and so every comp since then i have trained the day before and obviously i haven't won every comp since then but i have felt alot more confident in myself and physically i didn't get as tired.
So today i have restrained myself from doing any exercise (even though its such a nice day) but will smash myself on Monday and tuesday in Netherlands for me to fight on Wednesday and after i fight me and cooky are going to find a nice place that sells massive chicken Schnitzels and we are going to eat our heads off its going to be great.
Its always hard being away from home but i always talk to sam either on the phone or on facebook and she always knows what to say when i am down. On our nice new laptop i have the most beautiful desktop background that always reminds me that it doesnt matter what happens in life i will always have such a beautiful and wonderful wife and our wedding day was just the most amazing day in my whole entire life. Whenever i write ablog i always want to add a photo or video or something that people can look at so today im going to add my desktop photo on there. Its a very nice photo with a sick car to.
i might start packing my bags soon because we are leaving here at 5am in the morning tomorrow morning, our plane leaves Heathrow at around 715am and is 1.5hr trip to Amsterdam and then a 2 hr maybe bus trip to Rotterdam.
Sam told me that Rotterdam was completely flattened by Nazi bombs in WW2 and so its actually not an 'old' city as such compared to other places in Europe because it had to be all rebuilt so its quite modern. Although i have bneen told there is nothing to see or do there thats why the judo centre in Netherlands is there.
I dont know what the hotel facilites are like but we should have the internet so i can keep blogging my whereabouts and keep people upto date with everything im doing.
Have an awesome day guys Matt
Have an awesome day guys Matt
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