Monday 26 November 2012

Gis For Sale

So, over the last year I've won a few gis from various tournaments. Some I love, some I do not. Between Jon and I we have, I think, 16, with two more on the way. I'm looking to sell a couple of them, to help raise money for a trip to Chicago, Pans, and Worlds. So, without further adieu, here are the gis I am looking to sell. I'd prefer someone kind of local, because paying for shipping will defeat the purpose of this sale. I will be traveling to most of the tournaments in Ontario / Montreal over the next 6 months though, so if you're going to any of those, we can work it out.

  1. A1L Redstar Clean White. $100
    I believe this is a 550 weave, and shouldn't shrink much. I have another A1L Redstar that fits me pretty much perfectly. I love my Redstar gis, I just have to many gis and this one is still in the package, not even opened. It has no patches on it, but came with some, if you like to patch up your gis. This is a great training or competition gi and would fit someone about 5'8-6'2 ish and probably 130-160 lbs. Donated to a raffle for a friend
  2. F3 Kingz 420 Blue $100
    Pretty much the whole world loves the Kingz gis but the fit is all wrong for my body type. Apparently I'm not built like a girl. The size charts for this gi say: 5'6 - 5'9 and 150-180lbs. I probably should have known I'm outside the range for a Kingz women's gi, because i am 5'10 and 150/155ish, but it was a prize, so I hoped for the best. This is not a lanky persons gi
    sold
  3. A2 #ONE Kimono Black (Very gently used) $75
    I won this one in Ottawa and it fit great, but then I washed and dried it and now it's flood pants and 3/4 length sleeves. It's a very comfortable gi, and light weight. I probably wore it 3 or 4 times max. It's not faded and won't shrink anymore than it has already. I Imagine it would fit someone who is 5'6-5'8 and maybe 140-170lbs, but that is just a guess.  
    SOLD
  4. A2 VVV White (Gently Used) $50
    This gi never really fit me well, and when I washed and dried it it became mostly unwearable. The good news is, it's a great gi and it's done shrinking. The bad news is it's probably about a size A0 in most gi brands. I have worn this gi probably less than 5 times. The jacket has a fairly lean cut, so it would be good for someone who is on the short and skinny side of things. I imagine it would fit someone who is about 5'4 - 5'7 and maybe 120 - 150.  
    SOLD
  5. A2 Original Red Star Black (Used) $50
    I picked this gi up at the MMA Expo when Red Star was just starting out. Love the cut, and the look, but this was before gis wear sold pre-shrunk and I accidentally washed and dried it once and that was the end of the properly fitting gi for me. I still wore it fairly often, but the pants come more than 1/2 way up my shins if I wear them so my butt isn't showing haha. It still has lots of wear left and would make a great spare gi. Likely this would fit someone 5'4-5'7 or so and 130-160 or so, but It's hard to say for sure. Sold
  6. A3 Fugi All-Around Gi $50 (Gently used)
    I picked this up on a BJJHQ sale about 8 months ago. Got the A3 because in the past everyone on the site had written about how much they shrink. Turns out they fixed the shrinking problem just in time for this batch. It's too big. I've worn it maybe 10 times, most of those teaching classes so it didn't even get sweaty. It's probably good for someone 6'0-6'2 and 170-190lbs.

That is all of them for now. I'll update this list if/when I win others or when they sell. Thanks for looking and helping me out.

See you on the mats!

Sunday 25 November 2012

Week 2 Paleo Log

Day 14  November 25th 

slept great.
Morning weight:155.8
Breakfast: coffee w/ tbsp of coconut oil, roasted sweet potato
Lunch:2 paleo coconut brownies
Dinner:bit of steak, spinach quich

Day 13  November 24th 

slept good, but only a couple hours, (1am-6am). was at the provincials tournament reffing all day.
Morning weight:156.5
Breakfast:coconut oil coffee
Morning Snack:clementine, blackberries, 30 or so almonds, 1 square of chocolate
Dinner:la luna express order of cauliflower and tomatoes, large fatoush with chicken

Day 12  November 23th 

sleeping by 10/1030.  slept well, less trouble getting up this morning
Morning weight:156.3
Breakfast: coconut oil coffee, still nut much of an appetite
Morning Snack:Honey Crisp apple
Lunch: 1.5 turkey sausage and some roasted sweet potatoes. (probably 1/2 potato worth)
Dinner: 1 sweat potato cooked in a frying pan w/ a bit of olive oil,  but of steak.

 Day 11  November 22nd 

slept well, but couldn't get up in the morning, hit snooze till 830

Morning weight:155.5
Breakfast: 9:00am cinnamon pastry coffee w/ coconut oil (no appetite)

Lunch: a bunch of fast fry steak, and some grilled Mediterranean veggies(ate less then 1/2). lemon water, 1/2 of 1/2 a pint of raspberries
Afternoon Snack:clementine, 1 lindt square, trail mix
Dinner: banana/raspberry/coconutoil/coconutmilk shake, 1/2 pint of blackberries

Day 10  November 21st 

slept terribly, couldn't get to sleep till 2am at least. woke up several times. just not sleepy. mega sleeping in the morning though
Morning weight:155.5
Breakfast: 6:30am 2 eggs with 10 asparagus and a bit of olive oil.coconut oil coffee.

Lunch: 12:00 pm  chicken breast and grilled Mediterranean veggies, clementine
Afternoon Snack: 2 squares of lindt 85%, 1/2 pint of blackberries
started feeling quite sick mid afternoon.  took a 2 hours nap when i got home
Dinner: 7:30pm lemon grass beef coconut curry.
went to be at like 930.

 

Day 9  November 20th 

Slept terribly, had trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep, woke up groggy
Morning weight: 155.0
Breakfast: 8:45am 2 eggs and some leftover sweet potatoes, coconut oil coffee.
Lunch:   Chocolate Mint Tea in the morning, 1:30pm) skinny steak and veggies
Afternoon Snack: 1 square of lindt, 1/2 pint of raspberries, lemon water
Dinner: 8:30pm  chicken breast and leftover sweet potatoes



Day 8  - November 19th  
Slept pretty great. woke up on my own at 6:15am
Morning Weight:  155.8
Breakfast: (7:15AM) coconut oil coffee, 3 eggs scrambled with spinach, chocolate mint tea

Lunch (12:15pm ): chicken and vegetables (broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts pea pods) with montreal steak seasoning (not very good spices) 1 lindt 85% square
Afternoon Snack (1:45pm)  trail mix and another square of chocolate 
got pretty tired and week at jiu jitsu, should probably eat a proper meal before training for 2+hours

Dinner:  830pm  steak and roasted sweet potatoes (in a bit of olive oil with some spices and garlic)



Sunday 18 November 2012

Week 1 Paleo Log

Day 7  November 18th 

Slept well.
Morning weight:155.2
Breakfast: 2 strips of steak, very small chicken breast, a few black berries, coffee w/ tbsp of coconut oil
Lunch: 1/2 pint of black berries 1 square of lindt 85%
Dinner:(large fatoush, no pita chips) with plain chicken
I feel like I forgot something... I'm not hungry but I feel like I should be.

Day 6  November 17th 

Slept pretty good for a hotel room.  but only for about 6 hours.
Morning weight:no idea
Breakfast: scrambled eggs (probably those fake ones restaurants use), fruit salad
Morning Snack:Pecan/walnut/almond/coconut shreds/sunflower seed trail mix
Lunch: 1/2 pint of raspberries 1 square of lindt 85%
Afternoon Snack:Pecan/walnut/almond/coconut shreds/sunflower seed trail mix
Dinner:Pecan/walnut/almond/coconut shreds/sunflower seed trail mix
hmmm, road food menu might need some tweaking.

Day 5  November 16th 

slept well till about 4am, then tossed and turned.
Morning weight:155.5
Breakfast: 3 eggs with spinach in cooked in a bit of olive oil
Morning Snack: Pecan/walnut/almond/coconut shreds/sunflower seed trail mix
Lunch: 1/2 pint of raspberries
Dinner:  ace restaurant pea soup (definitely not legal, but i was hungry and it was there).  steak and veggies

 Day 4  November 15th 

slept well till about 4am, then tossed and turned and woke up alot.  had xcom dreams haha
Morning weight:158.2
Breakfast: 8:15am 2 eggs with a bit of green onion and 1/4 red pepper.  20 1/2 spears of asparagus. 2 cups of chocolate mint tea

Lunch: sweet potato and squash caserole.
Afternoon Snack: 1:30 green apple, 2:30 10 walnut halves
sleepy around 3:15
Dinner: ribeye steak and "asian style" mixed vegetables 

Day 3  November 14th  


Slept pretty well, but had weird dreams.
Morning weight:159.6
Breakfast: 8:00am 3 eggs with spinach and a bit of olive oil.  chocolate mint tea.

Lunch: 12:05 pm  chicken breast and "summer" vegetables
Afternoon Snack: 1:00pm clementine, 2:00 10 walnut halves, 3:30 20 almonds
very lathargic and sleep in the mid/late afternoon today.
Dinner: large fatoush from la luna express no pita chips of tomatoes

 

Day 2  November 13th 

Slept much better.
Morning weight: 160.7
Breakfast: 8:00am 15 asparagus spears grilled in a bit of olive oil. 2 eggs scrambled with a bit of red onion
Lunch: 121:15pm squash and yam casserole by Jon.  Chocolate Mint Tea in the morning,  water with blackberry tea after lunch
Afternoon Snack: 1:45pm - 20ish almonds, 2:15pm - honey crisp apple, more tea
bit of a headache
Dinner:  4:30pm - chicken breast and "summer vegetable" mix. 1/2 pint of rapsberries
snack: 8:00pm - coconut milk, coconut oil, 1/2 frozen banana, bit of frozen fruit mix, bit of honey, bit of vanilla


Day 1  - November 12th  
Slept terribly last night.  Great way to start the new diet.
Morning Weight:  162.5
Breakfast: (7:15AM) 1 cup of spinach pan fried with about 1tbsp of olive oil and 2 eggs.   1 cup of chocolaty mint tea.
Snack (10am): 10 walnut halves
Lunch (12:20 ):  pan fried steak (rowe farm skinny ones) and some pan fried veggies in olive oil and dave's veggie rub). Very Berry tea
HEADACHE!!!!!!
Afternoon Snack (2:15pm)  Clementine, big glass of water
Afternoon Snack (3:30pm)  1/2 pint of raspberries
Dinner(8:15pm) la luna express large fatoush, no tomatoes or pita chips.  plain chicken



The F.F.C. Autism Charity event

Yesterday, Alasdair and I made our way up to Montreal one last time for the year. We thought we were done with the 401 East for the year back in early November, but then this event came up and I was happy to make the drive one more time.

A little background in case you don't know about this event. It was organized by Glen MacKenzie, known as Glen MM on Facebook. He seems like a pretty cool cat. There were nine super fights: three purple, four brown, and two black (I think that's the right break down). All of the money from ticket sales and raffle sales went to two autism foundations. I think one was a research program, and the other a martial arts program for kids with autism.

I wasn't originally on the card, but when her scheduled opponant Elsa Sery injured her back training, Alison suggested me as a replacement and I was happy to help! I think fighting for a cool event like this is a much more worthwhile cause then competing in a tournament for a medal or whatever. I shuffled some plans around, got the day off work and I was in!

The event was nice enough to put us up in a room for the night, pay for our parking and get us coupons for a continental breakfast in the morning. Gringo is such a nice guy, he refused to let them even do that, so more money could go to the charities! I would love to have the financial freedom to do that, but this road trip probably will end up costing three or four hundred dollars when you take in time off work, gas, food and whatnot. I was happy to be there even with those expenses, but to have to pay for a room and parking on top of those would have probably broken the bank.

So how were the fights you ask?

I missed the first two because I was warming up. Up first was Mike Trembley and a local guy. Mike won on points, and from what I heard it was a great match, Mike had a triangle at one point and it looked like it would be over, but then later in the match the other guy got Mike in a tight kimura and they went out of bounds.

Second fight was a no gi purple belt match, I have no idea what happened in it.

3rd fight was Alison and I! I think we gave the crowd a great show. If you looked at the score board at the end it looked like a slaughtering: I lost 22-0, but I felt like it was a pretty competitive match. I stuck pretty well to my game plan at the beginning, but once again, when I didn't get my pass points it threw me off and it went a bit downhill from there. I did defend the kimura (thanks everyone at Pura for trying to take my arm off on Wednesday) and also one or two other attempts, but I kept reguarding a terrible half guard and getting it passed, so Alison raked up the points. I managed to create some decent opportunities, but I was sloppy and wasted them. I've got a few things to work on before we fight again!

I missed the 4th fight because I was helping my friend Dainis warm up for his fight which was 5th. Dainis fought Ryan Keller, a local brown belt who was ridiculously strong. It was a really great match. They did quite a bit of standup and Dainis got a throw straight into an arm bar. The crowd went crazy and Ryan managed to power out of it. They spent a lot of time in Dainis's guard and near the end Ryan got a nice half guard sweep and almost pass to tie it up. The ref decided to do a 5 minute overtime instead of a decision. Dainis really picked up the pace and laid it on in the over time, passing to mount twice and winning 16-2. 

Next was a nogi fight between the 10th planet guy (Louis Ho) and another local guy (Ord Millar). The local guy started strong with a nice takedown, but the 10th planet guy quickly set up a nice deep half guard and worked a banana split sub! Yes, you read that right, he did a banana split sub in real life! I've never seen it work and this guy wad actually pretty flexible, I was insanely impressed! He got sub of the night for it, and it was well deserved.

The last brown belt fight was Jimmy Tat, from Revolution BJJ vs David Guigui. It was a pretty fun fight to watch, Jimmy worked a lot of guard stuff and in the end caught the other guy in a slick arm bar. 

The first black belt fight was a tight game of attempted guard passes and sweeps with the guy with the mustache and tattoo winning by a single advantage. There probably could have been one or two more advantages scored on the match, but I think the right guy won.

Last match of the night was Gringo vs Mark. It was insanely close with no scores at all in the first 10 minutes, or maybe one advantage each, I forget. Either way, Gringo was working a nice closed guard almost the entire match setting up sweeps and stuff but Mark was defending well. Gringo almost got a really nice sweep -- he came up, but wasn't able to maintain enough to get the points. They ended up doing a 5 min overtime where Mark was able to get some points and a nice looking inverted triangle but was unable to finish. Mark won by five points or so I believe.

All in all it was a great night of fights to watch as a fan, and I learned a few things in my fight with Alison. So its win/win even though I lost.  

The event was packed to the rafters with fan. It ended up being in a much smaller place because the hotel booked the original room for a paying customer and we got bumped to a smaller place, which is totally understandable. The hotel hosted the event for free and also donated 1000 points to each fight winner, which I think works out to a free night or two, very generous of them. SAU was also a sponsor of the event, donating free entry to their next tournament to the winner, which is pretty cool. I will probably check out their tournament next time. Popeyes nutrition donated a huge prize pack for the sub of the night as well.

Thanks to Alasdair for coming along and cornering me, I may not have listened to everything he yelled but I tried most of the time. Also, thanks to Clidan, who happened to be in town for the UFC, for coming out to watch and work the camera for me. It's amazing to have teammates like this who support me everywhere. 

So that's that. Next weekend is provincials. I'm fighting for free, or I would probably skip it. I'm also refereeing which will be fun, and stressful.

The weekend after that is Grappler's Quest in London, once again fighting for free and refereeing. I've been hoarding away my referee and commission money to save up for Pans and Worlds. It's a slow process but hopefully I can save some other money as well and I'll be able to compete there.

Sunday 11 November 2012

Faixa Roxa and other unrelated things

Yesterday was the big grading day at Pura BJJ! We had a huge group of guys testing and it was a great day all around.   I have to thank my super awesome professors PJ and Riccardo, and all my excellent team mates who help me learn jiu jitsu every day!

Six team mates and I tested for purple belt. This brings the count of regularly attending purple belts to about ten or so. Eight people tested for blue as well, so we should have ten or so blue belts on the mat on a regular basis too!  Everything is going to be so colourful, it's going to be amazing.

Back Row: Steve, Matt, James, Vu, Joel, Rob, Jon, Greg
Front Row: Chris, Alasdair, Andre, Riccardo, PJ, Kyle, Me, Rodney, Mark
Jon and I with our new belts!

Among the guys testing for blue was my husband Jon! He's been doing BJJ for just over 2 years and has gotten pretty good at things. I'm ridiculously proud of him, it's kind of silly. He's going to have his hands full with the blue lightweight / featherweight division, but I think he'll fit in nicely.



For me, attaining purple belt is a cool milestone, on the way to a much more lofty goal of black belt. It's also quite inconvenient because there are so few purple belt women to compete against locally. The blue belt scene was sparse, purple is almost non-existent. There are about five girls in Ontario who compete sometimes.  The only tournaments that had any purple belts compete in Ontario were the ones with blue and purple combined (if I recall correctly) -- even the Toronto IBJJF tournament didn't have any.  The IBJJF tournament in Montreal had one purple belt division that actually had a fight and a 3 girl absolute. It looks like the OJA is going to separate blues and purples at all of their tournaments in 2013, so I won't be getting many fights locally that way.

Grappling Co does blue and up divisions AND because they give away trips, they tend to draw some higher level girls out, like a few weeks ago Nathalia came up from Boston to compete. So, locally in the GTA I'll pretty much just be competing at tournaments that give away trips and other prizes. I'm planning on heading out to California for Pans, and hopefully Worlds, if I can find the cash or win a trip. That's going to get really expensive so hopefully I can win a trip to one or the other.  I'm also planning on hitting up IBJJF Chicago and Boston. They both had a few girls in a bunch of the purple belt divisions so will be worth the road trip out.

The other cool thing about being a purple belt is now my super fight with Alison next weekend won't look silly. People like to see fighters of the same belt fight, and even though Alison and I have fought many times in the past (as white vs blue, and blue vs purple), next weekend will be the first time we compete against each other as equal belts!  I hope my new shiny purple belt is luckier then my white and blues were (jokes, I know it's not about luck)!

Does anyone have an recommendations for belts?  I really like the colour of my new one, and don't mind the belt itself, but unfortunately, we washed and dried our belts and they both shrank significantly! I was expecting it to shrink a bit, but it probably shrank 4-6 inches! It's a lot softer and easier to tie of course, but I don't think it's IBJJF legal anymore! On a related note, I'm going to need a new ranked rash guard or two as well. What a pain in the ass being promoted is. I really like the look of the new scramble ones, but they are pretty expensive and shipping them in from the UK adds another 10 or 20 bucks on top of that! 


Mike, Celine, Lucas, Brayden, Adrian, Diana, Cierra and Johnny

On a mostly unrelated note.  The Pura Kids were in action at the JCC Provincials on Saturday as well!  I wasn't able to watch any of them compete, but I know they worked really hard to get ready for the competition and they all did great!  I spent some time with them before the competition to help them with their take downs and it was a lot of fun working with them.  I'm looking forward to helping them out again for future competitions.





On a completely unrelated note, tomorrow I start my Paleo(ish) diet. I'm going to try to stick with it for 4 weeks at first and see how it goes. The basics are no dairy, no grains, no soy, no sugar, no processed crap.  Today we went grocery shopping and spent over 200 bucks!! Meat and real food is expensive! I cooked up a whole bunch of beef and chicken and veggies for my lunches. I'm quite looking forward to trying this out and seeing how my body adjusts and deals with it. I'm hoping for some great results, but I'll settle for decent ones. This weekend will be interesting, with the road trip to Montreal and everything. 



Coming up to round out the year:
I'm looking forward to a very busy 3 weeks, and then a few weeks off from competition to relax, work on some new moves and maybe go lift some weights and stuff to get ready for the INSANELY busy 2013 competition schedule.  You can have a peek at the list of potential tournaments to attend in the GTA / Montreal / Ottawa area on the Pura BJJ Blog.  It's going to be a crazy year!

See you on the mats!

Tuesday 6 November 2012

Thinking about trying a little caveman dieting.

Also known as Paleo. It certainly isn't the most convenient diet I could test out, but from what I've read on the internet (and we all know everything on the internet is truth), it's a pretty healthy way of eating/living. Dieting/diet has such a negative connotation, when I say diet, I mean eating plan, or a list of the things I put in my belly -- not dieting in the calorie restricting lose weight kind of way. I'll be honest, I'd love to lose some weight while I'm at it, but for me the goal is to be healthier.

For those of you know are new to this diet. Basically it's eating like a caveman would. No processed food, and no highly farmed types of food. Lots of meat, vegetables, nuts, berries and some other fruits. Nothing that comes out of a package. No dairy, no grains, no soy. This is why I say it's not a very convenient diet.   You can't just stop at McDonalds on the way to work and grab an "Egg McMuffin". While the egg and bacon are allowed, the muffin and butter not so much.

Why would I do this to myself you ask?

I've read a lot and talked to a lot of people about gluten, and how it's not that great for you. For some people, it's fine, it doesn't affect them at all, for others, like my sister in law, it does very bad things to your digestive system, and entire body! I've read and heard all sorts of things about gluten affecting your bodies ability to heal itself and whatnot. It got me thinking, maybe that's the reason my scratches and things take so long to heal? Maybe the gluten I'm eating is affecting my body's immune system?  I know, I know, I'm the first one to say that completely eliminating one thing is not usually a good idea, but this is going to be more of an experiment than anything. I'm not doing it as a quick and easy weight loss miracle diet, I'm trying it to see if I do indeed have a sensitivity to it. So, eliminating grains takes care of the gluten.

The other big thing I've been reading and hearing a lot about is dairy. The argument can be made that no other mammal drinks milk as adult. Also, the whole dairy industry is a little frightening. Did you know the PPPM measurement is "Pus Parts per Million"?.  EWWW. That's how much infection is allowed in the milk. I know here in Canada the dairy industry is much more restricted than in the States. We don't allow the cows to be fed a lot of the fake shit and hormones that they allow in the US. But, let's be honest, does the fact that if you stop drinking milk for a while, you generally become quite intolerant not make you scratch your head and go "Hey, maybe we shouldn't be drinking this?" I think dairy will be harder for me then gluten. I love chocolate milk, I love cheese cake, I LOVE CHEESE! But, for an experiment, I think it'll be worthwhile.    There are coconut and almond milk/iced cream replacements that may or may not meet the rest of the guidelines for the whole paleo thing... I'll have to look into that.  

No soy is easy, I've never been a huge fan of the stuff. I don't like tofu, and while I used to drink soy milk, I've since replaced it with almond and coconut milk. I've read a bunch of stuff about soy and how it mimics estrogen, and how it's been connected to breast cancer and that alone is reason enough for me to avoid it. Even if it's the slightest barely connected link, I'm going to avoid that shit like it's the plague: I don't really need to increase my chances of that anymore than they already are.

Anything with sugar is out, although this mostly falls under the processed food category anyway. I'm going to miss iced cream so much. I think I can probably find a way to make some fake ice cream with plain almond milk, coconut oil, and some fruit or something. One thing that might be tricky is almost all salad dressing has sugar as an ingredient. It's weird, and seems completely unnecessary, but it's there! I suppose I can make my own, or just be careful which ones I buy. My favourites all have dairy in the form of feta in them anyway. 

What about Pork? While pork is not on the list of things that aren't allowed with this diet, I think I will cut it out completely as well. One big reason is, I'm undecided if it should or shouldn't be eaten as a Christian: in the Old Testament it was a big no-no, but in the New Testament there are couple of verses that seem to indicate it's OK. The other reason being pork is just not a very clean meat. There is a reason you have to cook it a lot more than beef, and that is a bit concerning. I do love bacon, but I think I can live without it. 

What about things from the water? Paleo allows for most things from the water, but like pork, I already don't eat a lot of it, and won't eat things like lobster, shrimp or other nasty sea insects. I do occasionally enjoy a nice battered and fried perch or cod, but the batter and frying will have to go. I'll probably eat some salmon and maybe tuna once in a while. 

Other things I love that aren't allowed:
  • Crystal Light and other things that make water taste good
  • Cookies
  • Protein shakes
  • Dessert
  • Cheese--  Oh wait, I already mentioned that.  Cheese might be the worst part of this. Seriously.
  • Gatorade
  • Alcohol

So, when am I going to dive in and do this? I'm thinking after this weekend. That will give me a chance to clean up my kitchen, get some proper groceries, and have some time left to enjoy the deliciousness that is everything that is bad for me. Also, Saturday is a big team dinner thing at an all-you-can-eat sushi place, and I don't eat raw fish, so that leaves me with tempura vegetables, which certainly aren't paleo.


Did I miss any of the big no-nos when it comes to this diet? Have you tried it? Got any tips? Please let me know here, on my Facebook fan page, or my fitness pal profile!