Overdrive

So over the past few months, I have had less and less time to train. School has REALLY gone up a few notches, and I spend most of my time in the computer lab, crunching data, learning new software programs, and writing reports for class. All fueled by coffee and whatever food I have time to cook or run out to buy.

I try and go to jiu jitsu as much as I can; with two night classes that directly conflict with training, it's tough to do so. Thankfully, Rutgers has a BJJ club run by Garry Tonon that I can attend after my Wednesday night class, but getting a good amount of consistent training in has definitely been a challenge. Competing is out of the question between the lack of training, and being so sedentary means I will definitely not be able to make weight.

When I first realized I wasn't going to be able to attend BJJ as frequently, I had to make sure that at no point would I sacrifice school for BJJ, but that I also wasn't being lazy and making excuses. I am obviously here to get good grades, a master's degree, and ultimately a job; my long term goals do not lie in my jiu jitsu. I have slept in the past couple of days and missed morning training, but the lack of sleep from schoolwork has been so prominent that I knew if I went to BJJ with such little sleep, I would not be able to study the rest of the day and likely crash when I get home. The past couple of weeks have been exceptionally tough, and although I'm pretty resilient with lack of sleep, the past couple of weeks have had me unfocused and nodding off while working. To me, sleeping in was not being lazy; it was a matter of personal health and taking care of all aspects of my life. Not making it to class in my case is either due to A) physically being in class at school or B) studying and maintaining my health.

For those who aren't familiar with what I'm doing, I am getting my masters degree in urban planning at Rutgers University, with a focus in transportation. So I am learning how cities design various transportation systems, create transportation policy, and how to create sustainable solutions for transportation problems. This means I am learning a lot of new concepts as well as data collection and analysis methods. It involves learning new statistical modeling programs, collecting and crunching data in Excel, SPSS, and other programs.

I have the rest of my life to train jiu jitsu, but only two years to get a graduate school degree, which is something I keep telling myself when I look at the clock and realize that I need to be in the computer lab or at a desk instead of on the mat. It's quite frustrating, because I hate being inactive. However, I know I'll suffer more in the short and long term if I ditch schoolwork for training and get even less sleep. I just made a checklist of assignments that I need to get done by the end of the semester and I'm shuddering at the number of things I have to do as well as the time each one will take. Thankfully, I will be working this summer, and since my hours as an intern are capped at 28 per week, I will definitely have more time to train.

Now back to the lab!