Being sempai is actually rather tiring, though I think I did a decent job, except for a few missed beats and hajimes. But I felt out of breath for some time afterwards, even though my hayasuburi is still shit and needs a lot more work. The rest of practice was pretty standard for a Tuesday--good intensity, with a solid focus on kihon rather than tricky-waza. In particular I enjoy doing debana-men more than degote, though I think that I need to practice my degote more, as that's possible more useful in shiai situations, and I have continued to favor men in practice. My do strike feels better though still not natural--certainly worth a try here and there, at least.

In jigeiko I was happy to land a solid kote-nuki-men against the teaching sensei tonight, while feeling good about how I was handling my taller opponents. We were asked to focus today on striking with arms extended straight and perpendicular to the torso, rather than down and v-shaped. This allows for the monouchi to hit the men-buton, which is the actual target, not the mengane. With the greater range, one can also follow through and run through and over the opponent. Snappy tenouchi is certainly something I need to work on. It felt good also, though one of the Taiwanese sensei cautioned me that I tend to move my body to the right all the time as I seme, so I should instead switch it up, sometimes moving to the left--what's called 'back seme' as that is more likely to create an opening. There still one sempai-turned-kohai who tends to block my attacks, so I try to wait for him to attack, but in those cases I tend to be a little slow. So it's frustrating to practice with him, as he also has very little kikentai. I need to figure out some better way to practice with him. Against my kohai, though, I still tend to either wait too much (but still connect) or not give them enough of a chance to clear their good connects, as there are many ways to counteract a slightly large men strike.

In good news, the new MINO shinai which I bought from e-bogu.com which shattered in an odd way (under the surface, in a lateral way) on the front stave after three practices, will be replaced by the company, as the stave was defective. So now I will have 7 bio-staves. Hopefully these will last.

One more practice until shiai. How should I practice in the downtime?