She's scrappy

My first night sparring in quite some time. I felt pretty good about not making a complete ass of myself. The first couple of rounds were two girls who are pretty new. Then Hannah and Julie went in... obviously more experienced, but I thought I'd do ok against either of them. 

They put me in with Danielle first. Her punches were kinda wild but she was scrappy and aggressive. Which does nothing but make me more aggressive and I start to throw some wild punches myself. I did ok but not well enough for someone with three fights under her belt. It was so hot in there. 

Then I sparred Hannah. She's really good - great form and tight, tight punches. Like the kind of one/two where you completely miss the one and just get hit square in the face with the two. It was a little intimidating being the new girl. I'm used to always having a voice in my corner yelling at me what to do. And I've found that I take direction pretty well, so it's always helped me be a little more pulled together. I don't think I looked that great in the Hannah rounds, I felt pretty bad about it. Chalked it up to "I haven't sparred in a gajillion years and this chick is good"

Last I sparred Julie, who is my likely opponent in Oct. We only did one round. I swear it was like my legs were burning from the toes up. So hot. And by the end of the longest three minutes ever, I could barely punch but I kept at it. Luckily, she's working on throwing more body punches which means she was crouched down right where I could land a few hooks. But it was still a pretty lacking performance. 

The trainers afterwards were complimentary still. As one of the guys put it, it's obvious that I know what I'm doing and by getting back into training my mind and body will be able to connect so I can actually land the combinations I start. My "things to work on" are timing (pacing and strategy), keeping my chin down (I have somehow never learned that lesson), and moving after the punch (also something I've been told forever and somehow still don't do). Working with these girls is good for me. New blood, as they say. We're sparring again Saturday. 

My body, particularly my lower back, aches. I've come home the last two nights with sweat caked to my body. How hot is that? I'm taking tomorrow off from training, I think....