Old bones

No post last week because my brain was silly and didn't want to fence.

Birka was a problem.  I felt terrible and decided not to fence.

BUT!  I went to practice last night and it was great.

Things I am working on:

Stance
Breathing
Actually lunging instead of just tossing my arm out and hoping I am close enough

Stance:

I was really working it last night and my thighs were happy to let me know.  When I am in the stance, I feel better defended and mobile.  I still need to work on the "thoughtlessness" of the stance so that I can get into and stay without having to think about it so much.

Breathing:

Oh, man.  More breathing, more better.  Still working on it.  I think I had some small success but I really, really want to better at this.  I feel like it will make a BIG difference in my fighting and my braining.  I hate feeling so out of breath after a pass and it pushed brain buttons of being out of shape.  Which then push "I can't do this" brain buttons and things spiral out of control.  I don't want that anymore.  I can do this and if I remember to breath, I will do it better.

Actually lunging:

I practiced lunging after foot work and when I had some downtime.  I was aware of the time when I should have lunged and I didn't.  I also made active choices to lunge in passes.  And it was good.  I need to do more of that.

I am not going to make it to another practice this month, but I am considering taking Remy's Intro to Italian class at the Cambridge practice.  Even if I don't, I will get to other practices.  Need to let my ego go.  I am not good and that is okay.

New Year, New Fails

So, let's get back to it.

Fencing last night.

I struggle with fencing sometimes.  It has a lot to do with my brain and depression.  However, I made it to practice and I did more fencing than I expected.  I did get frustrated with myself over one match because I just didn't seem to be able to deal with an off-hand weapon.  I let it distract me too much.  I should spend more time on that in the future.  I should also bring my own non-dagger off hand to practice and play with it some more. 

My focuses recently have been on my stance and my breathing.  I find when I attack, I hold my breath.  It really hard to remember to breath in the middle of all the other things I am thinking about.  Also, focusing on breathing makes it harder to get into the "zone" where I let my body do things instead of having to tell it to do things.  I mean, if you have to tell yourself to breath, you also find yourself telling your body to parry and riposte.  It makes for inefficient fighting.  It also also keeps me from moving on past my first or second intentions.

Still, I need to breath.  So I will keep working on it until it works.

My stance is getting better.  I have been working on a deeper stance that seems to make the rest of my body move better.  I must have been doing it right yesterday because I was getting good aches while drilling foot work.  I do need to remember to drill my lunges after I lead foot work since I don't do lunges with everyone else.  I think I haven't adjusted my lunge to my new stance so I need to do some more work on that.

To sum up:

Working on - Stance and breathing
Good: occasionally remembering to breath through the whole match, better at keeping stance through whole match
Bad: occasionally forgetting to breath through the whole match, need to work on lunges from new stance.

Lastly, I need to start getting out more.  Sometime this month, I need to go to another practice and just force myself to be bad in front of other people.  I need to work on just working at fencing and letting my ego about it go.  I am not good and that is okay.  I don't need to be good to have fun.

Fencing, Oct 24, 2018

Still working on my parries.  I figure I will always be working on my parries.  I did better with not rushing my opponent, though I was fencing one of the newer fencers who likes to rush her opponent. I did okay against one of the newer fencers with his shield, but I need more practice against shields.

Overall, it was a pretty laid back practice.  I didn't feel great but I didn't feel horrible like last week.

Also, I am still running my smol runs.  I am considering moving over to C25K next week, to see how that feels.  I need to think about it more.

Anyway, those are my notes.

Wednesday Night Practice, Sept 21

It was my mom's birthday yesterday.  Happy Birthday, Mom (not that she, or anyone else, will see that...)!!

Last night's practice was light on the practice.  First, the Key Masters were late so practice started a late.  Then it just took us a bit to get into the fencing groove.  Some days are just like that.

I did spend a little time doing foot work drills with J and K.  Which was good because, as I have said before, my foot work is dire.   I then got a few passes in with J.  We are still mostly the same fencer, but I can tell we both are getting better (I think she started out better so I think she will always be a bit better than me). 

Then the important part happened.  The Baroness noticed that I was setting up way too close when I was fighting with J.  I told her I was doing this so that I could have the strong part of my blade engaged.  This is not what I should be doing.  She took time to talk me through the thought process in regards to distance and measure.  I am just going to spill it all out here in the blog (screw narrative) so I don't forget it.

There are three general distances: Out of measure (far enough way that neither sword touches), measure (swords can touch but just barely), and close measure (swords cross and, when extended, the tip touches your opponent).   The Baroness notes that most SCA fences set up in Close Measure, which is not good.  You should try to set up in measure so that you are not in danger for the moment the game starts.   The goal is to keep measure until you are ready to close the distance.  It is important to learn your own distances.  Knowing when you are in measure and close measure is very important.  That is something that comes with time and practice.   We did a very good drill where we basically did foot work with swords and the goal was to follow her footwork but also work my way into a close enough measure that a lunge (or extension) would touch her chest.  It was a pretty amazing drill.

The Baroness also imparted some wisdom on reading your opponent and what their measure might be.  She said you should look at the height of your opponent, the length of their arms and the length of their swords.  All of these things can tell you how that opponent is going to try to attack you.  If they are tall with a long sword, they are going to use that reach to take you out pretty quickly while staying out of (your) measure.  So your goal is to get inside their reach as soon as you can.  If you are against someone shorter or with a short blade, they are going to try to get within your reach and your goal is to keep your distance and use that against them.  If you are of about the same height and your weapons match, it is going to be a lot of parries and the like, since neither of you can gain the distance advantage. 

This all made me realize (again...still) that I need a teacher, a mentor.  I need to find someone who will take me under their wing and help me drill for twenty minutes at practice.  I feel like it is a lot to ask of a random fencer at practice, but if I had a teacher, they would commit to me and I would commit to them and I would have someone to give me the lessons I need.  It would keep me honest with my foot work (which, have I mentioned, is dire) and keep me focused in the right direction, learning in a logical order.

Anyway, I feel that maybe I might be ready for that next step.  Now to just figure out how to take that step.

Two practices and a LARP

I am a bit worn down so this is late.

LARP -

ToV a weekend ago (or so) and I got in one very good fight.  I felt decent about my fighting and I saw at least one fighter step up his game when he saw me in the line a second time.  I got a little worn out, but in general was fine after a minute or two.  It didn't help I was running on almost no sleep but it felt good to be out fighting.  I enjoy fighting and being a crunchy, though I don't do it as much since I tend to be booked with RP through most of the game.   I did get a very nice complement from R about how my fighting has gotten better, so that was nice. 

I had two practices last week, Bergental and Carolingia.  I enjoy how small Bergental is and every time I fight L, I feel like I learn so much....now if I could just retain all of that...

I did get super frustrated toward the end of practice since I couldn't get my off-hand parries to work right (still, always).   I have been told by people who know that fencing (like many things) often involves three steps forward and two steps back.  Those two steps back are frustrating.

Carolingia practice is big and full of very skilled people.  I feel a little out of place there and a bit invisible.  There are certainly several very friendly fighters, but in general, the feeling I get is that I am a bit too new/unskilled to be of interest to most of the top tier fighters.  Which is fine and understandable.  I had a few good fights, including one where I actually felt like I "won" the fight, parrying and following the line and the like.   I did have one overly instructive partner, which, I mean, what can you do?  I wish it hadn't felt so mansplainy (he admitted to have started fencing a year ago) but there were a few nice little tips in there so I nodded and thanked him.

Again, I got frustrated with my off hand and parries.  I am going to figure this out.  What I really need is time with someone like L who will both spar and teach me.  This slapdash "hey, we are sparring and I have advice" way of learning isn't working well for me.  I don't know where to find that...well, I do - I need to become someone's cadet - but I don't know how that works or who might be willing to take me on.

So, slowly creeping toward some goals.  Slowly.  Painfully.

Kings and Queens is going to hurt.

Smoking Rocks Investitue, Sept 3, 2016

This post is a bit late and I suspect it will be sparse.  Sorry about that.

Anyway, there was fencing this weekend and I fenced both in the melees and the tournament.

I received a few nice complements on my fencing, which always feels good.

Out of 12 bouts in the tournament, I won only one.  Case is super duper hard to fight when you only have one sword.   I did get a few double deaths on people and since it was two out of three for every match up, I did take a few matches to the third death.  

I worked on my off hand parry out of desperation since, again, I only had one sword and most everyone was fighting with something in their off hand.

Over all, it was a good day of fencing.  I was exhausted by the time I got home but I didn't feel too tired while fighting and only really needed a few breaks.  I have some nice bruises.

Wednesday Night Practice Aug 31

Last night at practice, I learned that J and I are the same fencer.  We double killed each other 75% of the time, mostly in the same or similar places.  Of course, when I start fighting her when she has her buckler, that will be a whole different story.

I worked with Ll on off hand parries, which I need a lot of work on, especially when I get past first intentions.  He (and others) noted I need to keep it forward in lunges.   He also mentioned that lefties like to take the outside line and it is true.  I do feel more in control when I have the outside line.  So I tired to spend the rest of the time on the inside line in order to help make that feel more comfortable.  It wasn't until I was driving home that I realized why that was.  When a lefty is fighting a righty, taking the outside line means that their blade is an easy parry with the off hand.  The inside line puts their blade on the other side of your blade and your off hand has to cross over (or under) your blade to parry.  So, at least to me, it feel much safer to have the outside line because I feel more confident in my ability to parry their blade.

All of that is to say, I need to get better at parrying both inside and outside.

My foot work is the worst.

I used E's longer, heavier sword vs. C's shorter, lighter sword and my arm could tell, but the reach was much better than the shorter sword.

Fighter head space is still a work in progress, with very little progress this week.  I think this is going to be one of the hardest things to learn for me.

Fencing this weekend at Smoking Rocks' Investiture.  I am hoping to fight in the melee, though I might have to retain during the tournament.  Next week, I have to work on Thursday night so I am unlikely to get to Cambridge practice but I plan on hitting the Wednesday practice, good lord willing and the creek don't rise. 

Right, so.  It was suggested by a few people that I might want to start keeping a written record of my practice and learning when it comes to fencing.   I guess it couldn't hurt...much.

Here is where I am:

I started going to fencing practice late in January of this year (2016).  I started making it a regular thing in March.  I got my SCA authorization at GNEW on July 9, 2016.   I have been attempting to make it to at least one practice a week, work and practice schedule permitting.  My current practices are Wednesday in Bergental and Thursday in Carolingia.

My greatest fencing accomplishment so far is winning 25 fights over the course of two days to join the Handsome Boys.  I might be just a bit over proud of this accomplishment as I refuse to fence without my Handsome Boys belt on. 

I need to work on everything.  I do from get complements on my blade work (parries and the like) from time to time but I know that I need to be stronger and smaller with those.  I need to work on my arm strength, my footwork, and my stamina.  I need to be a better judge of distance and reach.  I always always always need to work on my off hand parries and start to put something in that hand.   I need to work on continuing action until the bout is over or retreat is the correct step.

I also need to work on my fighter brain and my negative self talk in regards to fencing.  I tend to be a painful honest person.  It is hard for me to say "I am going to win this bout" because I know there is only a small chance that I will.  When Llewellyn tells me "Go murder people," I say "I will try."  Of course, he then give me a look and says, "Go murder people."  Confidence - not my strong point.

My current focus is on parries as they are the base of all and having that muscle memory will go a long way to making me a better fighter.  I am also going to work on my fighter brain because that is going to take a lot of work.

I have a few goals.  In the short term (next year), I have three goals: stronger parries and stronger fighter brain (I need a matrix for those...), authorize in two other styles, and become a MIT/Marshal.   In the middle term (two years), I want to get out of my "bucket", as they say, in a big tournament.  My longest of long term goals is to become a wicked good single sword fighter.  I want to devastate people in tournaments with just a sword.  It is a very hard goal, but it is doable. 
 
I acknowledge that I am a rank beginner.   I also acknowledge that everyone has more experience and more skill than I do.  I acknowledge that what I am learning is hard and complex and takes time and effort.  Failure is part of learning  Failure is learning.  Failure is part of the process.  As long as you keep failing better every time.

This seems weird, writing it all down.  But maybe it will help.