My kouchi gari is feeling better during drilling, but again, not really happening during randori. I suspect it's that I'm not really moving in and trying to sweep from afar, but stiff-arming keeps me from moving in. So, this all leads back to needing a forward throw that can be done without being close so that I can actually threaten with it to open up other stuff.
I happened to go against one sensei and white belts for the other round. So, I got thrown a bunch of times by the sensei and not at all by the white belts, but neither did I land a throw that was not a counter. I probably should risking getting thrown more often in order to work on a forward throw. I do have a stronger hip twist now and should probably use it. Maybe with sasae.
On the ground, escaping kesa gatame is still blocked by my bridge simply not being strong enough. I think I'm making progress? In some situations, I can make space, but then I can't get my knee in fast enough to preserve that space. It's very hard to do a compound movement that both has to be very powerful and fast.
All of these observed shortcomings, of course, are going to lead me to looking at a jillion things on YouTube but not actually finding anything actionable.
Regardless of how well I'm actually playing the game, I do feel good that I can get through any judo workout at all. So, there's that.