My training is not going as well as I would like. I’m not
eating as well as I should (witness last night’s dinner after practice). I have
been less motivated and more sore than usual. This is probably due to a lack of
practice over all. I have probably fought less this year than at any time other
than the year I broke my leg (and I still fought in two crowns with an air boot
on that year). But I’m a bit broken. I
pulled something in my back when I was in California and it hasn’t completely
healed. My shoulder hurt from some bruises obtained at Nutley (might need to
switch from the curboli shoulders to the steel ones), and my knee is a bit
wonky. I have not had the amount of time in the gym this summer that I wanted
(I’ve been working out but not with weights, which is what is best for
strengthening tendons and rehabbing injuries).
And I feel right now I am fighting like ass.
WORKOUTS
I was resting my shoulder, which had been injured at Nutley
and then was stiff after Barleycorn. No weights, no pushups. Even Yoga was a
bit of a stretch (no pun intended). I
did yoga on Monday and Wednesday. Wednesday
I did a 20 mile bike ride. I walked four miles on Friday and biked seven miles
on Saturday. I also did shoulder PT with Indian clubs three days.
TECHNIQUE
My reason for going down to Iron Bog was to work with Ronald,
which I did a lot. Specific things I went down intending to work on was
standing my ground or advancing. I feel that, in my effort to fight a defensive
fight, I’ve been running away too much. I’m still having trouble generating
offensive from a passive defensive/counter punching style, and trying to keep
at long range wasn’t really helping. Ron
had me working on two specific techniques while I was down there: a slot shot
that locks the elbow against the ribs to generate power (I had a lot of trouble
with that one) and an old school leg shot that comes off of an on-side fake
that cocks it. Both those shots have options that turn them into straight
snaps. With my red and black sword, which I was using while Agrippa borrowed my
regular sword, this was almost impossible. The basket hilt is too heavy and
doesn’t balance right for that type of blow. With Ron’s or William’s slightly
tip-heavy swords it’s much easier. I’m still not sure that the slot shot does
not require more forearm strength than I possess.
I ended up doing two other things. I worked on Horic’s technique
for fighting someone on their knees (placing your toes right in front of his
knees and using back-edge strikes off of blocks, which limited my offense a lot
but made the fight even easier to control) and changing up tempos from fast to
slow to fast again.
FIGHTING
I fought sets with Sterling, Mord, and William, two sets
with Agrippa and three sets with Ronald. I felt like I was fighting very
poorly, but some of that could have been an equipment issue: I did not have my
shield. Gui still had it. He had brought it back from Barleycorn. I took my
buckler an borrowed shields. I ended up fighting with a different shield in
nearly all my sets.
Against Mord I used the buckler and he took my leg a couple
of times and beat me a couple of times. I killed him a couple of times. Don’t
ask me how.
I fought Ronald using William’s shield, which is pretty
short or me. My leg was toast much of the time and Ron spanked me like a puppy.
I fought William sword and buckler. That’s a good fight
because his technique is so precise and his targeting is so good. I had real
trouble with him the first few fights. Then I started targeting his leg and did
fine. I did get him nicely with Jade’s
lazy floating thrust.
I fought Agrippa using Ron’s shield. He won the first fight
and then I did well against him. My main goal was to stand my ground and key
off his big movements. He was practicing patience and not attacking, which
worked well for him.
I fought Ron using Agrippa’s center grip oval and did great.
That is a good form for me. I stayed a live had a better offense. This is when I killed him a couple of times.
I fought Sterling using Ron’s shield. That was good. I
switched to a more aggressive attack when I had him on his knees, but Ron
stopped me and said I was flailing and hitting the center of his shield (which second
part surprised me, since I felt I was targeting those blows well). That’s when
he advised me to use that slot shot. I managed to get the angles on it a bit,
but it was tough. After a few tries that
were unsuccessful I switched to Horic’s technique and fought a really good
fight from there on in.
I Agrippa using Conery’s heater and had another great fight.
It was hard and intense and a lot of fun. It lasted awhile but he got me. In this set I took more of an upright stance, a la Ron (“strive
for height”). When he retreated I pressed him hard, following him all over the
field but not throwing a lot of blows, just pushing him. It threw him off his
game a bit. I limited myself to just a few simple blows and did not thrust
much. It was effective.
I fought Ron one more time, using Sterling’s shield. These
were good fights.
I think I’ve got the shields matched to the correct sets. It
made fighting a bit more difficult. I lost my leg more than usual.
It is said that Ron and I fight a lot alike (squire
brothers, BART trained, go figure). One thing I was noticing Ron doing that I
was not was that he is using movement--jumping back, bending at the waist and
throwing a shot--to guard his legs. The rest of the time he is simply picking
his spots and firing. He is standing up
straight and conserving his energy a lot, which is my main goal right now. Ron is good for forcing me back to the
basics.
I fought so hard I am
not able to analyze what I was doing any more than this. This was a great
practice.
It is 47 days until Crown. My next time in armor will be
Sunday at the Queen’s Farm Demo (which is also the Beau Geste).
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