As is often the case, I meant to post this earlier. I came
up with the idea that Saturday Night was the best time to post to this blog,
but I forgot an important principle: nobody wants to be sitting at a keyboard
on a Saturday night.
Once again I am reeling sloppy. I fought at Nutley on
Wednesday and at Acheron on Sunday, but, especially at Acheron, I felt all over
the place.
WORKOUTS
I did twelve workouts last week, but I was slacking off. Seven
of them were just 10 minutes doing 50 pushups a day. Mileage was terrible—just a
2.4 mile walk. However, that was with my armor in a back pack and carrying a
shield, so it’s good practice for Pennsic. I also did a yoga class and the two
fighter practices, but that was it. I need to log some more miles (and the
temperature needs to stay above freezing!)
TECHNIQUE
At Nutley I had a simple plan: I would fight six fights with
everyone I faced. Two of them would be with an A-Frame defense, two of them would
be goofy foot with a high-closed form, and two of them would be strong (shield
foot lead) high closed form. I would also get in a pole ax set. When I did, I
worked mostly a thumbs opposed technique employing a swim move, which I learned
from David Civet. It’s inspired by le Jeu de la Hache, but instead of breaking
down specific techniques it relies on some basic principles: use the que to
attack, push the opposing ax aside by swimming yours (like a breast stroke), control
the opposing ax by catching it between your hands. Acheron was mostly a
teaching practice for me. The only technique I worked on was a high closed
defense. I also fought a few fights with an 18” center grip round, because I
wanted some fun time.
FIGHTING
AT Nutley I fought four fighters: Jan Janovitch, and
unbelted fighter named Demitrius, and two more unbelted fighters whose names I’ve
forgotten (and I beg their apologies). All of them were right handed sword and
shield fighters. My plan worked well, and even against Jan I won more fights
than I lost. I found that I was effective out of all three styles. So long as I’m
ready to void the right leg, the weak high closed form (goofy foot) is probably
the safest, but that always has the least offense. I didn’t slip into Bellatrix
at all this time. Against Jan I’m still convinced that high closed form is the
best. I just need to remember how he hunts arms. I was able to read and pick
apart everyone’s fight. Against Jan with Pole Axes I had fun. He had the matched rubber
headed axes, which sometimes don’t hit hard enough. I found that the thumbs
opposed style was very good against him.
At Acheron I fought Ervald, Zack, Andrew and Samale, the
usual four. Gui and I didn’t cross swords at all. This was where I was getting
sloppy. Part of this was because it was training mode—I was intentionally
sloppy in a couple of fights, presenting openings to see if they got hit, but
then when I didn’t intend to be so I was still being sloppy. I did manage to
get Ervald with a floating thrust from the hip, one of my favorite things to
kill with, and nailed Samale with a hook thrust. Best part of the practice was
fighting Sam and Zack using the 18” center grip. I lost more fights but had a
lot of fun.
I was also more sore after that practice than I’ve been
since Birka. I’m not sure why. Regardless, I’m taking a rest. The next time I’ll
be in armor is Saturday at Mudthaw. There are sixty-one days until Crown.
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