Vacations, Competitions and Operations

Vacation time - Alvor, Portugal

Right then... I've given you all six weeks off from reading the Blog and now its time to get back into things. I've been pretty busy, same old stuff really nothing much has changed, I say that but when I think about it I have been doing a lo and keeping myself out of bother. I'm still working, wrestling, eating, sleeping and I've been on Holiday. I had a pretty chilled out week in Portugal at the start of September. It was pretty awesome and the place we were staying had a gym that wasn't really used by anyone except for me and a couple of locals, so I managed to keep some training up! Lots of swimming, which was great because it's taught the little guy how to swim. A really nice family holiday was pretty good to recharge the batteries both physically and mentally. 

On to wrestling - - - First thing to tell you all about is (in case you have been in your own world) last month the IOC unsurprisingly decided to reinstate Wrestling into the Olympic programme, was it ever really in doubt? possibly, but more of a wake up call for the sport than anything else I think. it was a pretty comprehensive victory for the sport but you have to feel for squash and karate, particularly squash, that's three attempts to get to the Olympics and a lot of money spent for not a great deal of return. Of course, great news for Wrestling though! I think the IOC would have been hard pressed to justify getting rid of one of the ancient Olympic sports in replace for sports like Golf, Tennis, Football, Rugby 7's but I've mentioned that previously so no need to dwell, its back and that's the main thing.

Second, the Tryst Lions Open at the end of September. I had two bouts and lost two, it was pretty disappointing but as I found, you live and learn from these experiences. I felt great prior to going, training had been going well and I was feeling really strong, my weight programme from Alex was doing the job well. My first bout was against Ewan Maddox, a good friend of mine who is also a potential Commonwealth Games athlete for next year at 96kg which was all good, wrestled Ewan a couple of times at the club and its usually a good scrap. Ewan has been wrestling for about 3 1/2 years and has some good skills.

First of all... The venue was Ravenscraig Regional Sports Facility in Motherwell, the fella's involved at Tryst Lions and North Lanarkshire Council did a superb job of making the place look great. It was really exciting to walk in there and see the place. They did themselves and their club proud and it was a fantastic day out. My problems, however started the night before... I couldn't for love nor money find my red singlet! It was ridiculous, I looked everywhere for it and it was no where to be seen, so I ended up stressing about that and was up late worrying about what the heck I was going to do. I was wondering what the toll on my body was for all this training, i'm pretty tired alot of the time, despite getting a fair bit of sleep, I sometimes feel like I just need to rest.

Tryst Lions Open at Ravenscraig Regional Sports Centre

Not a great start - however I travelled through for the 8:00am weigh in and weighed in at a nice 119.4kg and then decided that because I was so tired, I needed a nap so ventured out for a power nap in the car. I must have been snoozing for about 45 minutes and woke up and went back in to the hall. I still had a reasonable amount of time before my bout but the issue I find with Wrestling competitions is that you never know how long you have. In theory there are 6 minutes per match but pins and technical falls make it impossible to tell. Despite trying to get into the zone, I just couldn't get into it. I wasn't comfortable, I don't know whether its because with this little quest I've put myself under pressure, or whether it was because it was my first match back from injury or simply that I was tired, only had a blue singlet and just wasn't feeling it.

The match came about, I got on the mat with Ewan... Coach Cavanagh was in my corner and we started to wrestle. Ewan kindly loaned me his red singlet that was a size to small, so I looked more like I was rocking a badly fitting women's swim suit, proper budgie smuggling! anyway, I scored first with a leg attack that put Ewan into the blue to take a 1 - 0 lead. Then I don't know why I did it but I went for a double leg attack, got countered and before I could react on the ground ended up in a very easy pin position for Ewan and that was that. Not taking away anything from Ewan, he did well, read the situation -,reacted well and won the match. But... yet again I was my own worst enemy, if I had stuck to the game plan and defended after I had scored that would have been the smart thing to do and the match might have been a bit different. I haven't got the mat awareness that I need yet but that only comes with matches.

The heavyweights from the Tryst Open

The second match, I was nervous about but really looking forward to, it was against a fella called Gregory Martinetti. As it turns out Gregory is a former Olympian who fought for Switzerland in the 2000 games. He fought at 85kg back then and wow, what an experience wrestling him. He was fluid, very very impressive and there wasn't much I could do to stop him scoring, I managed to avoid the head locks which was a result for me and had a reasonable scrap with him but he was far too quick for me, every time he moved there was another point and not surprisingly he beat me convincingly 7 - 0. Again, in Wrestling there are only winners and learners and I took away a lot from that bout and that meant I finished in 3rd of 3. Not great! 

From that you might think a wasted journey, but  you have to look at what I have learnt from it. Positives are sometimes really difficult to find but I have found that you need to look outside the bx a little when your against the wall. Psychology plays a massive part sport in general and especially in wrestling. I need to learn to have a bit more control and train myself to get in the "zone". And what is that "zone"? for me its a place where i'm warmed up, psychologically ready to get on the mat, i have been through my visualisation and am ready to compete. I had it at the British Novices and at Bolton, even at the British Championships when I got injured but didn't have it at Tryst, and what a difference. I have a plan and warm up routine, but I really need to work hard to implement it. I used to do it for rugby but haven't managed to transfer it across to wrestling...yet, possibly because my rugby routine playing for Scotland used to have me taking a couple of minutes somewhere quiet Toilet or more often than not in the shower. It is so important to focus, and i think that at the last competition I really just couldn't so I need to go into the next one ready and will my own routine.

In other Wrestling news, its been pretty exciting, despite a bad day for me at Ravenscraig - we got measured for the kit for next year, if anyone knows me, they will know that I'm a big lover of stash! I roamed in and had to try on the Asics gear which was all pretty smart, a little small on the day and I measured in at a 50 inch chest, which is the biggest I have ever been and was the biggest the guys from Team Scotland had measured at that time... they still had the weightlifters and hammer throwers, some big lads! I've also got access to the Team Scotland on-line management system, which is pretty interesting. They ask loads of questions and take a lot of details, so I guess if I do qualify they will utilise that info. They ask some pretty random stuff - what year in history I would like to have lived through? have a think about that one, its tough! its really exciting to be included in those things and here all the plans for the coming months, just a reminder that things are real and starting to come together.

Back home, on the family front. Emma has got a new job, which is awesome for her. It does mean that my training schedule has had to change a bit. Wednesday at Edinburgh Wrestling Club, Thursday at Emirates with my new training partner Iain Feenan. I really enjoyed having Iain down, he picked it up pretty quickly and we had a good brawl but again I was knackered by the end of it, Vio put us through our paces a little with the warm up but Iain being the machine he is, is still in pretty good nick. Great to have a training partner.

I managed to get along to the club at Tullibody the other week, which was awesome, I really enjoyed the coaching from Alan and Colin, its a great club but a tad far away for me. Training at Edinburgh Wrestling Club has been good, we need more people down to really get things going, its a shame that we haven't got more, so if you haven't got anything to do on a Wednesday and your in Edinburgh, get along, it would help me out! I have managed to get my first win against Coach Cavanagh 8 - 5. It took me over a year to do it
It was the extra minute that let me do that and that meant I had bragging rights for the week, last we had a tough session and there was a rematch which saw Michael throw me with about 3 seconds to go to win the match 3-1 so my gloating was very short lived. Frustrating as he has the bragging rights back but good to know that your coach can boss you.

I even had Dave Simm back at the club this week, he has forgotten a few things, but is still a brute to wrestle against, he did really well, I was burst after the session but managed to get a suicide throw and a pin which was good for me but lucky! That session we had Chris Sellar from the Sportscotland Young Persons Sports Panel in doing a video. The guys and girls from the panel are making a video showcasing all the commonwealth sports and I think Chris found it pretty tough and got some decent footage. He did an interview with Michael and myself so hopefully they can use that. Will be nice for Wrestling to get a little promo.

Cup cake fest!

I've been trying to watch what I eat this month - however, Emma has been baking like a daemon over the last couple of weeks practising for a family friends 21st birthday, Halloween themed cupcakes and I have been the tasting board. The cakes have been pretty awesome, very tasty and Emma should be pretty proud, not a trained baker or decorator but she nailed it with the Chocolate Orange, Vanilla, Sticky Toffee Apple, Pumpkin and caramel cupcakes. Yum!

I suppose the final thing for me has been a couple of days of worrying about my old man. I drove through to Pittenweem after a really nice weekend with Emma, I took her out for a meal and to see the Lion King at the Edinburgh Playhouse for her Birthday - seats were great but wow the playhouse is not designed for any man over 6 foot tall, so cramped. I spent the last 20 minutes trying to shift the pain from my knees to my hips to avoid having to get up. Almost gave a standing ovation, just to be able to stretch. When I got to Pittenweem, there was an added bonus I was told there were clothes hanging up - and RESULT - the red singlet was there!

 My mission was to pick up my dad and take him through to hospital. Despite it being pretty brief and miserable weather, I do really enjoy being back in Pittenweem, its a nice part of the world. The old man was in for his spinal operation to fix the Stenosis in his neck, there was a 1% chance of paralysis and believe me - that plays on your mind, the what ifs weren't good to think about. He came out of it well, I popped into see him and he was cracking jokes and showing off, touching his toes. He was discharged a day early, so am very thankful to the surgeons and nurses at the Western General for their work. He is still recovering but its great that he is okay.

That pretty much wraps up the last 6 weeks in my life. Sorry if it was a little long, fair bit to catch up on!

As ever, thanks for taking a bit of time out to read. Really appreciate the support! still a long way to go but the focus for the next 6 months is really to get myself fitter, faster, stronger and hone down those techniques! 

@shocksjr