Sunday, May 13, 2012
Crown #85
Two inches. Maybe less. That’s the difference between Marcus Blackheart being king and Edward Grey.
I’m sorry this blog is a week late. It has been a crazy busy week between finals coming up, contract work, and the 47th Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo (my paper on Franchise went really well). I swore I wouldn't post on Crown till I'd done some more work for Jay Hoffman.
The 85th Crown tournament I have fought in was a whole lot of fun. I love Hallifax. I love Ruantallen. I have visited twice (both times for crown) and they treat us really well up there. I got great sea food. They are happy to get anybody from out of the area to visit. It was especially good fighting all the local fighters who came out to fight in crown. And the fighting was wicked fun!
Workouts:
Prior to Crown I had wound my workouts down. This is often a good idea the week before a tourney. I would have practiced that Sunday a bit but it didn’t work out. I did my PT sessions but the only other workout I had was on Monday, when I ran on the treadmill and then (in a moment of either inspiration or insanity) I did five clean-and-jerks with 115 pounds. Not a lot of weight but about all I can handle right now. The clean and jerk is one of my favorite exercises but I haven’t used it in a couple of years. Like the kettle bell snatch, it is one of the best exercises for total body fitness and for explosive speed. Unfortunately, with my back, I have to be very careful so I don’t do it often enough to get any kind of advantage. This week it was just enough exercise to tone me up. After Monday I did stretches and some shadow fighting (very light) but nothing more.
Fighting
Obviously didn’t fight before the tourney.
Crown Tourney
Was awesome! I did not reach my goal overall goal (winning) or even my primary goal (semi-finals), and that because of some stupidity on my part. But I did reach my first goal, getting out of the round-robin. Barely. In the end the lack of practice and the angsting I was doing over my sword got to me, but that’s ok. I learned a lot. What felt good was that, after fighting only three times in the previous six months, I was fighting like a mad man.
Well, not entirely true. In polearm round I was next to awful.
I actually did not know the format before I went up. I figured we’d likely have a round-robin, since that has been popular of late, but I didn’t know for sure. I didn’t hear until I got there that we would be doing great-weapons only in the round robin. Last time we had done that I had gone 6 and 7 and had not made it out of the lists. When I talked to His Majesty Friday night, he said with the small number of fighters that he would be running two pools (we ended up with 11 fighters in each). I thought, ok, eight people advance. I should be able to place in the top eight in a pool that size. Right!
Last time we did this I had matched weapons. I had taken a pole I was used to and my own two-handed sword and fought both about as much. I found that, even though two-handed sword was my best weapon I won more fights with the polearm. This time I decided to stick strictly with polearm I had borrowed a nice boar-spear from our hosts, a bit heavy but not too much. I put a butt spike on it and, while I was at it, put a thrusting tip on my light sword. I had been struggling with which sword to use at Western Crown, my light one that puts less stress on my elbow or my longer, heavier one that I win more fights with but aggravates my tennis elbow a lot more. With the thrusting tip on the short light sword I now had all of my offense and my best shot, my hook/thrust, with the lighter sword. I fought a few warm up fights with it and it felt fine.
I have a method of fighting in the round robins. I fight the best fighters first when I am freshest and get them out of the way. The three best fighters in my pool were going to be Sir Jan, Marcus, and Evalder. The drawback of this method is that I am likely to get some long difficult fights that wear me out and I won’t have any gas for the hot, young turks I have to fight later. Yep. I challenged Jan first and that was my best fight of the round. He was using great-sword. I managed to take his leg half-way through the fight. I didn’t want to stand out on him and poke, so I stepped in. I tried to get behind his sword to hit him in the head, like I would with a great-sword, but it wasn’t working. Eventually I changed my grip and did a downward chop that got him. (it’s kind of hard to describe).
I fought Marcus next and lost. It was a good fight but not a long one.
I fought Evalder next. We double killed in the first fight and I lost the second. I don’t recall how.
Next (I think it was next) I fought a Loch Leven guy. They are good polearm fighters so he was the fourth guy on my list. He killed me so fast with a thrust to the neck that I can’t even call it a fight.
Now I was in trouble. I had beaten the only other knight in my pool but had three losses. I needed some luck and some wins. Worse yet, I was fighting guys I didn’t know, all amped up to fight the knight they’d never met, some of whom fight great-weapon as their primary form, and some of whom were using short bastard swords or katana—the method I always preferred when *I* was a young unbelted fighter going up against knights with glaives. Oops. Plus the polearm fights are *so* much harder than sword and shield. I had the dry heaves after a couple of them (and I was spacing them out well). In the end I won three more fights. I thought I had failed to advance but it turned out to be just enough.
Here was the other twist. The round of 16 was being seeded by how you did in the round robin. I came out of the round robin as the 15 seed. The number one seed was Marcus, which meant that I had to fight Edward. Edward is a lot like Hauoc but for one big (very big) difference. He is as tall as King Hauoc, but where Hauoc uses that extremely tiny heater about a foot or so long, Edward uses a kite shield that covers him completely from brow to his knee, and it’s wide too. I had things to try against it, but it’s a tough order (the time I beat him in a tournament, however, I was fighting sword and buckler and used one of Hauoc’s signature moves). Our fight was long and intense. I acquitted myself well. I hit him with a wrap and landed a hook thrust on him, neither of which were hard enough. Eventually he took my leg and then killed me. Kenric described it as “intense”, which is how it felt. He was fighting better than I had ever seen him fight. He was throwing thunder with every blow. He had been training hard since losing in the finals to King Kenrick. It was an awesome fight. I lost.
Putting me in the losers bracket, which isn’t such a bad thing. It means that to advance you need to fight two more fights, but that’s not so bad. I fought both the lock-leaven guy and Evalder again, this time sword and shield, and I won both those fights. I fought a couple more guys too. However, I was noticing something. Nobody was taking my hook-thrust. I beat Evalder with a body thrust, I had landed a couple more on him before the one he took. I won with cuts, and maybe one face-thrust, but not the hook/thrust to the body. This was not a problem of a fighter blowing off my shot, it was me not being able to execute it properly. That sword is about 2.5 or three inches shorter than my regular sword, and significantly lighter, and had a brand new thrusting tip on which I had put two disks of foam, thought “that’s not quite legal” and added a third, so it was soft and cushy. All in all it added up to a problem. I had already decided that if I fought Edward again it would be with the loner sword, but I wanted to avoid it otherwise (I did use it in one fight, which I won, and my elbow felt the difference immediately).
In the round of six I fought Jabril. We had an epic fight, close to ten minutes long in which neither of us could gain an advantage. I fight Jabril a lot and he knows me well. He also knows my thrust well. I knew how to kill him, but it wasn’t working. I hit him once with a wrap, once with a slot shot to the body, and four times with a hook/thrust. He took none of them. He later said it felt nothing like it usually does, and I could only agree. I never got my face-thrust on target. I should have tried a hook/face-thrust but didn’t. I did try almost everything else. Rising snaps, wavy snaps, butterflies, upsilons, dropping wraps, on and on. He was tight. Finally, as I sometimes do, I reverted to AS 13 and threw a Lucky spin, which took his arm. This is where I should have won the fight. Like a good Easterner I kept my shield but, like a good Westerner, I said to myself “don’t take his leg. It’s too Monty Python and then you’ll have to decide if you want to be two points up on him.” As I was thinking this he skimmed a shot off the bottom part of my helmet—maybe the bar grill, maybe the cheek plate, not very hard anyway, but now I was thinking about my calibration. I decided to try and end it then and there. I pressed him hard. Unfortunately, he’s a two sword fighter and good with his left hand. Much like my fight with Kenrick in the round of six a few years before, I swung, he ducked to his left, I missed, he countered, and I died. He got me right in the neck. A huge round of applause went up.
And that was my crown. I was very close to my goal of semi-finals, but once again didn’t get over that hump. That is ok, because I had a great day, a fun day, and I fought really well. It convinced me that I really am good enough to be in the mix for Crown again. It’s l frustrating, but it’s like Dimitri said: when you get into those upper rounds of Crown Tourney you always feel that you lost by just a hair, that if you had done this or that just a little bit better that you would have won that fight. That’s because it’s true. You just barely lost that fight. But it’s also true that the guy who beat you just barely won. At that level everybody is so on and so sharp that the margin of victory is really, really small. I felt the same way when I lost the last two times I went that deep. In the end this tourney proved to me that I’m fighting well and, after a long layoff, I have come back strong.
That narrow margin of victory thing was borne out in the final round. Back to that two inches: Marcus was almost the first unbelted king the East has had since Balfar, and that is fitting because he is a lot like Balfar. He is built the same: he looks fat but all that butt gives him strength, and for a big guy he has incredibly fast hands. Jabril says he moves like Yoda: he is slow and creaky when he’s off the field but turns into this Waring blender at the lay on. All day he was awesome. He did to Jabril what I should have done (took his leg after he took his arm). But his fights with Edward were the most amazing. The first fight was sword and shield which was long. He took Edward’s leg, the only person to do so, but then Edward killed him. Their second fight was two sword and that was Edward all over. He was throwing shots from way back—really hard shots, and just overpowered him, which with Marcus is hard to do. The third fight was Greatsword, which I thought Edward would win, but Marcus killed him so fast it was scary. Just a quick double chop to the head, moving a bit to his right on the second shot to open it up (same thing I saw Lucan doing at Battle of the Nations). At that point it looked bad for Edward. Marcus was going t be the favorite in the polearm fight and, indeed, he killed Edward just as quickly with just the same double shot. That left user’s choice. They both took sword and shield. Marcus jumped in hard, swinging fast and pushing Edward back toward the wall of the gym. Edward responded and for a while they were really rocking and rolling. They paused then went right back at it. It was turning into another long fight. Eventually, Marcus took Edward’s leg again. At one point Marcus stepped out, took a breath, and stepped in with a thrust toward Edward’s face. The thrust snaked inside Edward’s shield and struck him on the bottom of the bar grill, rattling his helm a bit and bottoming it out against his gorget. Edward looked confused for a second, the pointed toward his gorget and said “light”. That shot could have gone either way. It had clearly not moved Edward’s head at all, and probably would not have done anything to him had it been a real sword and an open faced helm. It might have nicked that long chin of his, or died on his gorget. But if Marcus had had just a bit more behind it. If he had stepped in two inches deeper with his left foot, if he had rotated his hips just a fraction more, if he had just followed through another inch or so, he would have knocked Edward back and Marcus would be Prince of Tir Mara right now. That is how close the finals were. It was awesome. Both those guys fought so well and so beautifully that it was one of my favorite finals ever in all the crowns I’ve seen.
After Crown
Since it’ been a week since this actually happened, I should say that I haven’t fought this week but I have worked out. I signed up for a 5K mud run in Brooklyn as a way to focus my training for the next month. On Wednesday I did clubs and bells, on Thursday I did a tabata workout, where I ran for 30 second, did calisthenics for 20 seconds, rested for ten, then repeated. I did this for ten minutes. Friday I did the Workout of the Day (which is a slightly lighter Cross-fit workout). It was 150 squats and 50 knee-to-elbows. Yesterday I went to the dance. Plus I’ve been hiking all over Western Michigan University for the past four days. Travel day today and gym tomorrow.
My fighting will pick up too. I’m planning to hit War of the Roses, Royal Armored Championships, and SWRC before Pennsic. My next fighting will be at the Vikingfest demo in Brooklyn this Saturday. (Unfortunately Glen Lynn is the weekend of the mud run).
Monday, April 23, 2012
Iron Bog Practice!
I don't like the "New Look Blogger." They are trying to turn it into a social networking site. I don't need another of those. I have pretty much dropped off of Live Journal because I didn't have time for it, and I've stopped writing on my other three blogs here. Oh well. They never ask me what I think about these things. On to more important stuff.
WORKOUT:
My workouts were good last week. Travel got in my way (and jet lag a bit). I slept instead of working out on Monday, and just did my normal walking around the city on Tuesday. However, according to Map My Fitness, I ended up logging 13 miles and burning about 1500 extra calories. This week has already started out on a positive note.
REHAB:
Because I do most of my elbow rehab with my Indian clubs (not normal Indian Club exercise, but they make good weights for the exercises my doctor gave me), and because the Indian Clubs are great for rehabbing my shoulder, I have started working my elbow rehab into my Indian Club workout and doing it all together. This is giving me a bit more of an arm workout every day. (I log it under "pt" on mapmyfitness). It is working pretty well. My elbow is in very good shape this morning, considering that it was a mess yesterday afternoon, because....
FIGHTING:
I went to fighter practice in Iron Bog yesterday. The day was actually a frustration. Gui and I were planning to go to practice at the Moose Lodge in Edison, NJ, right across the Outer Bridge, but it was raining horribly and the practice was canceled. we found this out right before we left. We decided to go to Iron Bog practice in Southern Jersey. I looked the address up on the fighter practice YahooGroup and we drove down there. It was about two hours. Turns out, Iron Bog hasn't held practice at that church in years. We looked up an email announcing practice, and it gave us an address about a half hour away. We drove there. When we finally found it it was a house, and the people there had never heard of the SCA. It was just a touch Deliverance. We were about to pack it in when we called Teric. He looked up the baronial website, and it gave the address we were at, but said "across from Harvard Ave." Well there was no cross street near where we were, so we plugged that intersection into the GPS and found it was about a half mile up the road. That took us past a building I recognized from having been there once with Oscad, and there we were. On the front of the building was the same address we had ended up at a half mile away. It was now about three o'clock. Practice was starting to wind down. One reasonw e had gone down was because Tanaka was teaching that day, but he was getting out of armor. However, Sterling and two other fighters stayed in for us. I got in about an hour of helmet time, fighting six sets of fights, including Sterling twice. I was using mostly new armor, except fo the helm, which was made for somebody taller than I. It fit, but the vambraces and cuises were both on the edge of too long. The leg harness is lighter than my old one but, because the cuises are that thick textured kydex (which thankfully looks like leather) they are more protective. I was worried, but the first leg shot I got hit with stung, so I was just keeping aware of the leg blows after that. The arms, the reason I bought the suit, are Torvaldr bauzbands. (!!!)
My first set was with Sterling. He was using two sword and I was using my heater and light arming sword without a thrusting tip. I had his leg pretty good a few times, and managed to kill him with body shots and wraps, even wraps to the back (because he takes some really deep steps). Our first fight he creamed me, taking my leg and then hitting me in the off-side body with his left hand, but after that I was fighting well.
My second fight was with a fairly new fighter. She was game but I was in training mode. I mostly defended and then hit her when she was wide open. I didn't learn much.
My third set of fights was with Gui. He killed me. I was still using the sword without a thrusting tip, which I had not done in a long time against him. His shield-side ribs, where are always open to a thrust, were un-hittable with the broadsword. I did not beat him one and was humbled. He said he hadn't had to move his shield much at all to defend against my blows, which makes sense, since I was playing the edges and having real trouble finding the angles I needed. My best attacks were to his shield-side helmet, but his defense over there is way tight. I learned a lot but felt like shit.
My third set of fights was with lady fighter who had a strong defense but a basic offense. She killed me once, which was good for both of us. I rotated between teaching mode, defensive mode, and crown mode. I pressed her hard once and she defended well till I threw a high wrap. I found that my targeting was really good against her. Early on I managed to get her with Pappa Houghton's "Sit Down" shot--when you're both on your knees, press hard with off-side head shots and wraps from up high on your knees, then throw a slot shot and sit down as you do so, changing the angle of the shot and bringing it, usually, inside your opponent's shield and below his or her sword. When I started getting tired I tried a couple of one-shots, both of which worked. They would not have worked against a better fighter (I tried them later against Sterling), but they are important to have in your bag of tricks. In most of the tournaments I have won, I had at least one fight that was a one-shot kill. It not only means I am on but it conserves energy. I was pleased I got them in because, as I said, she had a good tight defense. The first one was the best. I did a Radnor thing, changing my body timing and accelerating out of a high guard, throwing a very high snap as I coiled through my core, came off my left foot, and threw a very high snap. The second one was a classic butterfly that got her in the body.
My last set of fights was the one I considered my most important, both because by then I was a bit tired and because it was the best training set for crown. I fought Sterling while we were both using sword and shield. He has a very tight defense and a good offense. I was able to read him and break him down pretty well: he relies on deep shots, both on side and off side--his off sides are a lot like Omega's or Lucan's. But I picked up a tell in his shoulder and hip as he loaded up on them, and I was able to defend them after that. My targeting with him was close to perfect a few times. I got him with an inside slot-shot right inside the leading edge of his shield that he was sure would not land. After a few passes I switched to my longer, heavier thrusting sword. I noticed immediately that I was relying too much on the thrust, leading with it, and dialed that back. I got him only once with a thrust, by taking his leg, hiding it, and then thrusting in his belly. I won more than I lost. I had a once in a lifetime blow that I couldn't believe. In our second-to-last fight we were rocking and rolling, and he threw an off0side shot to my shoulder. I stepped wide, blocked in, and lightning fast, turned my sword over and hit him in the eye-slot. I felt like a God.
He hit me in my upper arm in our second pass of the day, and my elbow slowly stiffened over the course of the day. Ibuprofen and ice got it back into shape. Now there is just a bruise.
There are ten days till Crown Tourney. I may get in armor once more. I haven't trained the way I had planned to for this crown, but I feel good with what I am doing.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Spring Break and the Count of Foix
REHAB
Rehab is going great. My elbow is responding well to the Indian clubs and usually it doesn’t hurt at all.
WORKOUTS
I was on Spring Break and traveled the whole time (ten days) I was worried that I wouldn’t get to work out much. But I did. Circus Circus had a gym, so we used that the first Saturday. There is a par course near my mom’s house in Fallon that Hanna and I ran that Monday. Wednesday we went to a gym I use in Palo Alto. We walked all over San Francisco on Thursday. Friday we didn’t do anything but stretch, but I was in the saddle for four hours on Saturday (which is a great workout—see below). Travelling meant no working out on Monday but today I went on a 3.5 mile run.
FIGHTING
Are you kidding me? I was on spring break. I was traveling the whole time--California and Nevada. I tried to get to BART on Thursday night, but sweetie was having none of it, and since I fight for her anyway she gets her way. However, in some ways I was more knightly last week than at almost any other time, because…..
GASTON PHOEBUS!!
It is a little known fact, and one mostly ignored in the SCA, that knights in the middle ages didn’t spend all that much time in armor. Yes, there were the great knights, the ones we learn about like William Marshal and Bayard and Ulrich von Liechtenstein, who were famous for their deeds of arms, and we know of the exploits of Richard Cour de Lion and Edward, the Black Prince, and of Charny and John Hawkwood in war—but these are the exceptions. The SCA, being a postmodern version of a Hollywood image of a Victorian concept of a romantic middle ages that never actually existed, isn’t really interested in any sort of historical truth (though the 14th Century Mafia does try to drag us there kicking and screaming). Our knights are romantic heroes, based on Arthur and Lancelot and Aragorn—or any of the aforementioned warriors—and those guys fought. The knight in shining armor is the paradigm we are trying to create. The truth of the matter is that most knights spent most of their time seeing to their estates, judging which peasant got the cow in a dispute, distributing justice and running the family farm.
There is one activity, however, that nearly every knight participated in, usually several times a year. It did offer some training for war, especially in horsemanship but also in tactics. It was, in fact, the primary recreational pursuit of the medieval nobility—just as armored combat is the primary recreational pursuit of knights in the SCA.
In the middle ages knights were primarily hunters.
Oh, sure, their job was to be warriors. They got their wealth by being both the army and the police force for their liege. But in truth that didn’t come up as often as we like to think. Many knights (in some centuries most) never saw a battle. But they hunted all the time. Hunting is what knights did—their primary job and their main joy.
My own study of Medieval hunting, especially of the most famous medieval hunter Gaston Phoebus, the Count of Foix, started about the time I won Western Crown. One of my Dukes took me on a falconry hunt the morning after the tournament. It was kind of anti-climactic, but it was still good to walk through the woods with a red-tail hawk and try to scare up some game. I read a lot. I got the book of plates from Phoebus’ book *le Livre de Chasse* (I’ve never been able to afford one of the facsimile versions). I devoured John Cummins’ *The Hound and the Hawk.* My grandfather gave me one of the Stanford Press editions of *The Art of Falconry* by Frederick II, and I read the whole thing. Eventually I got a copy of the first English translation of Phoebus, *The Master of the Game*. This led me to read other, modern stuff about hunting, from Capstick and Roosevelt to Michael Pollan’s chapter on hunting from *The Omnivore’s Dilemma, * which was excerpted in the New York Times Magazine. And eventually that led me to start hunting myself. I am a modern hunter—I hunt deer with a rifle or shot gun. I take a bow into the woods but have never shot anything with it. I’ve gone duck and turkey and pheasant hunting as well. One of my dreams has always been to hunt boar with a spear (one of my men at arms has done this in Florida, and I may go down and do it myself next year). Another has been to go on a real par force hunt on horseback.
I have advocated for more hunting events in the SCA for a long time. The Boars Hunt event, which is held in Beacon’s Gate in the West and also here in the East, has always been one of my favorites. When Mistress Tangwystal first told me about the “period picnic,” I told her that she should make it a hunting event, since the picture she was using for documentation came from le Livre de Chase. I’ve been suggesting a drag hunt in the West Kingdom for some time. So when I heard that Canale was going to do a Gaston Phoebus event I was hooked. Thankfully, it fell at the end of my spring break. I would go visit mom, hang in Nevada and Cali for a week, and then go to Gaston Phoebus.
The West has a large and active equestrian community. They do a lot of stuff, from light jousting and brouhards to dressage and trail rides. Most of the EQ people in the West live in Cynagua, where there is more land for horses than in the Bay Area. Duke Henrik, both the first Duke and the first SCA equestrian, lives in the West, as do a number of great riders. They put together a really neat event. It was totally SCA, with a lot of mock-hunting games, but it was all done on horseback and it was a lot of fun.
It was on a beautiful site, Pacheco State Park, right at the top of Pacheco Pass. This is a hilly site with a lot of horse trails where they’ve held Mists/Cynagua war a few times. The autocrat pointed out that there were representations of nearly every type of game we would be pretending to hunt in the park: wild pigs, elk, rabbits, even some badgers. There were no river otters, but there are some in California, so maybe we just didn’t see any. There were a number of stations with various hunting games based on the illustrations from le Livre de Chasse. There were rabbits, Otters, a badger, a wolf, a pig (all stuffed) plus a hart and a roebuck (people on horseback). The rabbits were bashed with sticks, the wolf roped and hanged, and the otters, pig and badger speared. I didn’t do all of the games, but I did get some great hits on the otters. Sweetie was cold and tired so we didn’t stay for the picnic.
I had arranged to rent a horse from someone, but she couldn’t bring it, so I rented from the wrangler instead. He gave me a good broke quarter horse named Bonanza. He was a bit of a pill, fighting his bit all day, and balked whenever I wanted to ride away from camp. He tried to throw me once or twice, but without any real heart in it. I manged to keep him under control, and most of the time he was a joy. What he really wanted to do was run, and we did do a bit of that. What I was really there for was the par force hunt. Helga, one of the best riders in the kingdom, was playing the roebuck for the walk-trot hunt. I didn’t feel comfortable enough on that horse for the canter hunt, but the horse had other ideas and cantering was in his game plan. WE chased her all over the hillside until Henrik finally “killed” her with a sword. It was a lot of fun. The best part of it was that Helga said I was a very good rider.
No, it wasn’t a real par force hunt. That will come later—Connor and Siobhan have invited me on one of their hunts in Red Rock, near Reno. But it was a great day in the saddle pretending I was with the Count of Foix.
This picture is by Jeremy Guy. There are a lot more of the event on Facebook and Flickr.
Rehab is going great. My elbow is responding well to the Indian clubs and usually it doesn’t hurt at all.
WORKOUTS
I was on Spring Break and traveled the whole time (ten days) I was worried that I wouldn’t get to work out much. But I did. Circus Circus had a gym, so we used that the first Saturday. There is a par course near my mom’s house in Fallon that Hanna and I ran that Monday. Wednesday we went to a gym I use in Palo Alto. We walked all over San Francisco on Thursday. Friday we didn’t do anything but stretch, but I was in the saddle for four hours on Saturday (which is a great workout—see below). Travelling meant no working out on Monday but today I went on a 3.5 mile run.
FIGHTING
Are you kidding me? I was on spring break. I was traveling the whole time--California and Nevada. I tried to get to BART on Thursday night, but sweetie was having none of it, and since I fight for her anyway she gets her way. However, in some ways I was more knightly last week than at almost any other time, because…..
GASTON PHOEBUS!!
It is a little known fact, and one mostly ignored in the SCA, that knights in the middle ages didn’t spend all that much time in armor. Yes, there were the great knights, the ones we learn about like William Marshal and Bayard and Ulrich von Liechtenstein, who were famous for their deeds of arms, and we know of the exploits of Richard Cour de Lion and Edward, the Black Prince, and of Charny and John Hawkwood in war—but these are the exceptions. The SCA, being a postmodern version of a Hollywood image of a Victorian concept of a romantic middle ages that never actually existed, isn’t really interested in any sort of historical truth (though the 14th Century Mafia does try to drag us there kicking and screaming). Our knights are romantic heroes, based on Arthur and Lancelot and Aragorn—or any of the aforementioned warriors—and those guys fought. The knight in shining armor is the paradigm we are trying to create. The truth of the matter is that most knights spent most of their time seeing to their estates, judging which peasant got the cow in a dispute, distributing justice and running the family farm.
There is one activity, however, that nearly every knight participated in, usually several times a year. It did offer some training for war, especially in horsemanship but also in tactics. It was, in fact, the primary recreational pursuit of the medieval nobility—just as armored combat is the primary recreational pursuit of knights in the SCA.
In the middle ages knights were primarily hunters.
Oh, sure, their job was to be warriors. They got their wealth by being both the army and the police force for their liege. But in truth that didn’t come up as often as we like to think. Many knights (in some centuries most) never saw a battle. But they hunted all the time. Hunting is what knights did—their primary job and their main joy.
My own study of Medieval hunting, especially of the most famous medieval hunter Gaston Phoebus, the Count of Foix, started about the time I won Western Crown. One of my Dukes took me on a falconry hunt the morning after the tournament. It was kind of anti-climactic, but it was still good to walk through the woods with a red-tail hawk and try to scare up some game. I read a lot. I got the book of plates from Phoebus’ book *le Livre de Chasse* (I’ve never been able to afford one of the facsimile versions). I devoured John Cummins’ *The Hound and the Hawk.* My grandfather gave me one of the Stanford Press editions of *The Art of Falconry* by Frederick II, and I read the whole thing. Eventually I got a copy of the first English translation of Phoebus, *The Master of the Game*. This led me to read other, modern stuff about hunting, from Capstick and Roosevelt to Michael Pollan’s chapter on hunting from *The Omnivore’s Dilemma, * which was excerpted in the New York Times Magazine. And eventually that led me to start hunting myself. I am a modern hunter—I hunt deer with a rifle or shot gun. I take a bow into the woods but have never shot anything with it. I’ve gone duck and turkey and pheasant hunting as well. One of my dreams has always been to hunt boar with a spear (one of my men at arms has done this in Florida, and I may go down and do it myself next year). Another has been to go on a real par force hunt on horseback.
I have advocated for more hunting events in the SCA for a long time. The Boars Hunt event, which is held in Beacon’s Gate in the West and also here in the East, has always been one of my favorites. When Mistress Tangwystal first told me about the “period picnic,” I told her that she should make it a hunting event, since the picture she was using for documentation came from le Livre de Chase. I’ve been suggesting a drag hunt in the West Kingdom for some time. So when I heard that Canale was going to do a Gaston Phoebus event I was hooked. Thankfully, it fell at the end of my spring break. I would go visit mom, hang in Nevada and Cali for a week, and then go to Gaston Phoebus.
The West has a large and active equestrian community. They do a lot of stuff, from light jousting and brouhards to dressage and trail rides. Most of the EQ people in the West live in Cynagua, where there is more land for horses than in the Bay Area. Duke Henrik, both the first Duke and the first SCA equestrian, lives in the West, as do a number of great riders. They put together a really neat event. It was totally SCA, with a lot of mock-hunting games, but it was all done on horseback and it was a lot of fun.
It was on a beautiful site, Pacheco State Park, right at the top of Pacheco Pass. This is a hilly site with a lot of horse trails where they’ve held Mists/Cynagua war a few times. The autocrat pointed out that there were representations of nearly every type of game we would be pretending to hunt in the park: wild pigs, elk, rabbits, even some badgers. There were no river otters, but there are some in California, so maybe we just didn’t see any. There were a number of stations with various hunting games based on the illustrations from le Livre de Chasse. There were rabbits, Otters, a badger, a wolf, a pig (all stuffed) plus a hart and a roebuck (people on horseback). The rabbits were bashed with sticks, the wolf roped and hanged, and the otters, pig and badger speared. I didn’t do all of the games, but I did get some great hits on the otters. Sweetie was cold and tired so we didn’t stay for the picnic.
I had arranged to rent a horse from someone, but she couldn’t bring it, so I rented from the wrangler instead. He gave me a good broke quarter horse named Bonanza. He was a bit of a pill, fighting his bit all day, and balked whenever I wanted to ride away from camp. He tried to throw me once or twice, but without any real heart in it. I manged to keep him under control, and most of the time he was a joy. What he really wanted to do was run, and we did do a bit of that. What I was really there for was the par force hunt. Helga, one of the best riders in the kingdom, was playing the roebuck for the walk-trot hunt. I didn’t feel comfortable enough on that horse for the canter hunt, but the horse had other ideas and cantering was in his game plan. WE chased her all over the hillside until Henrik finally “killed” her with a sword. It was a lot of fun. The best part of it was that Helga said I was a very good rider.
No, it wasn’t a real par force hunt. That will come later—Connor and Siobhan have invited me on one of their hunts in Red Rock, near Reno. But it was a great day in the saddle pretending I was with the Count of Foix.
This picture is by Jeremy Guy. There are a lot more of the event on Facebook and Flickr.
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Hey! Another post??
A brief additional post, odd for a Wednesday.
Forgot to do my rehab this morning.
Haven't fought since Monday (there was a monthly regional in Philly, but I couldnt' swing it).
Had a GREAT workout on Monday, with weights, stretching, and aerobics, plus the Indian clubs that morning. Yesterday I waled 5.89 miles, from 138th to the F train stop at 57th and 6th, snaking my way through Central Park along the way. The City's back yard in Spring! *sigh*
The real reason I'm posting: here is video of that fight between Alden and Brand, like I said, it was truly epic!
Forgot to do my rehab this morning.
Haven't fought since Monday (there was a monthly regional in Philly, but I couldnt' swing it).
Had a GREAT workout on Monday, with weights, stretching, and aerobics, plus the Indian clubs that morning. Yesterday I waled 5.89 miles, from 138th to the F train stop at 57th and 6th, snaking my way through Central Park along the way. The City's back yard in Spring! *sigh*
The real reason I'm posting: here is video of that fight between Alden and Brand, like I said, it was truly epic!
Monday, April 2, 2012
Feeling good
Well, I have recovered from March Crown. I took a couple of days off from working out and my elbow and shoulder feel good.
REHAB
Elbow is really unchanged. It is a bit stiff, occasionally sore, but not debilitating. I have a feeling it is going to feel like this for several months. I have been doing my PT and it seems to help. If I drop it it hurts more. Seems like it is working more or less fine.
WORKOUTS
I didn't get back on the exercise bandwagon till Friday, when I hiked from work, across the Brooklyn Bridge, and over to the Jay Street station. Not a huge hike but a good workout. Saturday I did a "Workout of the Day" workout and now, two days later, my quads are *still* burning! Ouch! Today I did clubs in the morning and I'm about to go to the gym.
FIGHTING
In the best laid plans department, nobody in town wanted to go to the Moose Lodge practice in Jersey, and I didn't want to spend the money on a zipcar just for me, so I didn't fight yesterday and, at this point, may not fight until after Gaston Phoebus.
However! Ron directed me to a video of my fight with Alden, which, as I've indiated, at first made me feel great and later made me feel like a fool. Looking at the video, the fool part was the right response!
Here is what Ron had to say about it: "I watched your fight with Alden; You let him control the fight, You moved you shield around way more than you needed to reacting the second you saw something, You relied way too much on thrusts, You were way too squared up. That is what I saw." That about sums it up for me, the video just points it out even more clearly. Alden had me from the lay-on. I needed to tighten my defense, be more precise, use more cuts, and not play his game. Duke Reinmar posted the video, and he's got some other good stuff on his YouTube feed.
REHAB
Elbow is really unchanged. It is a bit stiff, occasionally sore, but not debilitating. I have a feeling it is going to feel like this for several months. I have been doing my PT and it seems to help. If I drop it it hurts more. Seems like it is working more or less fine.
WORKOUTS
I didn't get back on the exercise bandwagon till Friday, when I hiked from work, across the Brooklyn Bridge, and over to the Jay Street station. Not a huge hike but a good workout. Saturday I did a "Workout of the Day" workout and now, two days later, my quads are *still* burning! Ouch! Today I did clubs in the morning and I'm about to go to the gym.
FIGHTING
In the best laid plans department, nobody in town wanted to go to the Moose Lodge practice in Jersey, and I didn't want to spend the money on a zipcar just for me, so I didn't fight yesterday and, at this point, may not fight until after Gaston Phoebus.
However! Ron directed me to a video of my fight with Alden, which, as I've indiated, at first made me feel great and later made me feel like a fool. Looking at the video, the fool part was the right response!
Here is what Ron had to say about it: "I watched your fight with Alden; You let him control the fight, You moved you shield around way more than you needed to reacting the second you saw something, You relied way too much on thrusts, You were way too squared up. That is what I saw." That about sums it up for me, the video just points it out even more clearly. Alden had me from the lay-on. I needed to tighten my defense, be more precise, use more cuts, and not play his game. Duke Reinmar posted the video, and he's got some other good stuff on his YouTube feed.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
March Crown AS 46
Crown #84
Things I discovered or was reminded of this weekend:
• When you are in a fight, fight! Don’t teach!
• I still know how to do this fighting thing
• As tricky as you might be, the Duke is trickier
• My best stuff puts a lot of strain on my elbow
• Brand McClellan is a God. So is Hauoc
So last weekend was March Crown in the West Kingdom. March Crown is a big deal to me. My first event was a March Crown, in AS 12. The crown I won was a March Crown in AS 28. I haven’t been to a lot of them lately. I try to make June Crown every year, not March (though with a teacher’s schedule, March is a better one for me to win). But this year there were four things going on that I want to be there for. First of all, there was a party for Duke James Greyhelm, one of my best SCA friends, one of my heroes growing up, and the king who knighted me. A lot of the knights in James’ line (there are 50 as of this weekend) were flying in from all over the world to toast him. Some of them he had never met. Duke Jade of Starfall, James’ squire, was celebrating the 25th anniversary of his knighting (which I had been there for), and Duke Henrik of Havn, the second SCA knight, was celebrating the 45th anniversary of his knighting. Duke Lucan was planning to go and fight in Western Crown, which I really wanted to see. As it turned out Lucan couldn’t make it, but the other stuff happened.
The lists were epic! The West has an open crown, and with so many out of kingdom fighters in for Jame’s testimonial, there were a lot of non-Western fighters in the lists. There were fighters from the West, the East, Artemesia, Lochac, Drachenvald, and An Tir that I know of for sure. I think there were also fighters from CAID and Atenveldt in the list as well. There were a number of them present. The foreign fighters included a Duke Reinmar from Artemisia and Count Theodrich from Lochac, myself, and several other knights and squires.
The fighting was awesome! The victor of the lists was Duke Hauoc. The Comenndabilis was Viscount Brand. Both of them advanced to the finals without a loss. Brand had done so fighting with his short glaive while Hauoc had done so fighting with his little 12” long heater shield. They were feats of incredible prowess, on both sides. Hauoc, one of the best fighters in the SCA, was fighting better than I had ever seen him fight before. He’s 6’8”, which is a lot of space to cover with a 12” shied. His sword work, which is always precise, was perfect. Brand was stunning as well. His fight against Alden in the semi-finals looked like something out of the movie Troy. When they got to the finals Brand, who is one of the kindest and most humble men I know, went up to Hauoc and said that fighting against that tiny shield with his glaive probably wouldn’t be fair, so he’d like to switch to sword and shield. He is a great sword and shield fighter, but he was unstoppable with his glaive on Saturday. Hauoc told him that he had won the day with glaive and he should stick to it, but Brand insisted. Hauoc beat him in two straight fights. It was practically a sword clinic. Brand was obviously in the fight, obviously trying to win it—and with the glaive we all know he would have (even Hauoc said he couldn’t have beaten Brand with his glaive). It was an amazing gesture.
WORKOUTS
I have lifted on Monday, doing circuit training at school, but I had done nothing but stretch the rest of the week so I wouldn’t be over-taxed for the tourney.
REHAB
My elbow had actually been bothering me on Friday and Saturday. I was worried about it. Turns out I was right to be. I did not fight roses because my elbow was really starting to bother me. However, unlike in the fall when it hurt for weeks, after the lists I took some ibuprofen, iced it down, and it has felt fine ever since. I was doing my physical therapy with a rubber band because I can’t take the Indian clubs in a carryon.
TECHNIQUE
I debated for a long time whether to do what I usually do in Western Crown and use my bunny round or bring my regular 2x3 heater shield out. I settled on using my regular shield because I am trying to get back into shape after a layoff, and I’m training for Eastern Crown (assuming I didn’t win Western Crown, which I made a good hard effort to do). Since I was packing the hockey bag and bringing my shield, I also brought out my gambeson my kidney belt, and both my swords: the short fast one without a thrusting tip and my longer one with a thrusting tip. My plan was to use the shorter one, which I felt would be easier on my elbow, unless I faced a great-weapon fighter, a two sword fighter, or a lefty, in which case I would want the thrusting tip. Best laid plans…
FIGHTING
I warmed up first against one of Uther’s fighters whom I did not know. He was using a heater and a short sword, my old game. He got me once with a thrust but other than that I felt very good. My movement was good left to right, and it won me a couple of the passes.
Next I fought Brian of Belatrix and he clobbered me! It was wicked. He was aggressive, he was fast, he was all over me. I don’t think I killed him once. Then I fought a girl from Oertha whom I don’t know. I killed her multiple times with high snaps. I also fought in the warm-up mêlée, but I couldn’t tell you who I fought.
I was challenged by a fighter named Villi from Cloondara. He is left handed. He has only been fighting a few months but he has already won a tourney. He is a fencer, and it shows in his style. He does not have a lot of follow through and uses two much arm. He almost killed me twice. The second time was funny. I had been giving him advice all morning and I slipped into teaching mode. I dropped my shield and was talking to him and he slid his sword very lightly down my nasal. Luckily I was just out of range. He grinned at me and I laughed, but it was stupid! After that I got serious. I hit him with an off side head shot.
My second round fight was Sir Geofrey Mathias. He is a good two sword fighter. Again I took my slightly heavier thrusting sword. We had a rockin fun fight. I love fighting Geofrey. I managed to get him with a shoulder thrust after an off-side cut.
My third round fight was against Sir Jost, a recent transplant from Atenveldt. This was a fight tailor made for me. We were both using heaters and, I believer, short broadswords without thrusting tips. I won by hooking his shield downward and side stepping as I threw a snap.
My fourth round fight was against Sir Lawrence of the Marsh. I lost to him in a crown once back around AS 29 or so (the crown Veniamin won) but hadn’t fought him since. I felt the same way then that I did Saturday. What happened? He is an odd fight. I always feel I should beat him but it is really hard. In that fight I wished I was using the longer sword, because I missed him clean at least twice. He killed me with an off-side head shot that, watching him later, seemed to be his bread-and-butter. I was simple, high snap, kind of Gendy like in angle but not in technique, with a tip heavy sword to carry it forward. First loss. After that I stuck with the thrusting sword.
I fought in both the melees between 4th and 5th rounds. In one of them I beat Cyrus with a hook/thrust. I alos killed Darkin’s son. In both of them I lost to Alden but had awesome fights with him. I was winded but feeling really good.
My fifth round fight was against an un-belted fighter named Klaus (I think). He was either from Artemisia or from Atenveldt (I think the latter judging from his surcotte, a Russian coat like Duke Eduard wears). I tried to get his leg several times and ended up getting it with that Martin the Temperate hidden leg shot Radnor taught me (elbow high, sword resting on shoulder, palm down, fold your elbow into your side and drop the sword onto the leg. Works well). He was sitting too square to me so I killed him with a thrust to the body. It was clear that the longer, more tip-heavy sword was putting stress on my elbow, which was starting to hurt.
My sixth round fight was against Duke Alden. This fight was both glorious and frustrating: glorious because it was so much fun (we were doing much the same thing in this fight); frustrating because he got me out of my game and into his. I’m good at mind games but Alden is better. He’s tricksy. He has lately been trying to emulate cat-like movements. He stalked around me, but I cut him off. He moved in and out but I held my ground. He lowered his shield a bit, then raised it, the lowered it. He brought his sword down to threaten a thrust. I do a lot of that stuff too, and he got me doing it. We had a few good exchanges at first, very quick, then one of us would back out. His plan all along was to sucker me into moving forward in a line, then he would back out and time a cross shot for the moment when my right foot landed. Guess who finally moved in on a straight line! He clobbered me. At least my death was dramatic.
Sig said he knew about a minute and a half before that Alden had won the fight and how he would kill me. That means I let myself get played. I watched fights against Roger and (I believe) Lawrence, and he won those in the same way. Sig also said he could tell that with my thrusting sword and the heater that the heater got in the way of things I wanted to do. He is right about that. One thing about that short broadsword is that I only have four or five shots with it. I’m not at a far enough range to do anything fancy.
Because of how my elbow felt I didn’t go out and fight roses. I started to but stopped myself and peeled off my armor before I forgot and hurt myself.
So that was my list. My benchmark for crown is five rounds and hopefully kill one knight. I went six rounds and killed two knights. I fought very well, especially for all the rust. The gym is working because my wind was good. My arm felt strain but didn’t tire out (much). I killed with off-side head shots, shield hooks with snaps, and a thrust. Throw in warmups and mellees and I did a lot more stuff. The guys who took me out, Alden and Lawrence, were the two semi-finalists who didn’t advance, so they were having good days. I’m happy! It was fun!!
The list, as I said, was epic, and I am so proud to have been a part of it!
It is 39 days till East Kingdom Crown in Ruantallen.
Things I discovered or was reminded of this weekend:
• When you are in a fight, fight! Don’t teach!
• I still know how to do this fighting thing
• As tricky as you might be, the Duke is trickier
• My best stuff puts a lot of strain on my elbow
• Brand McClellan is a God. So is Hauoc
So last weekend was March Crown in the West Kingdom. March Crown is a big deal to me. My first event was a March Crown, in AS 12. The crown I won was a March Crown in AS 28. I haven’t been to a lot of them lately. I try to make June Crown every year, not March (though with a teacher’s schedule, March is a better one for me to win). But this year there were four things going on that I want to be there for. First of all, there was a party for Duke James Greyhelm, one of my best SCA friends, one of my heroes growing up, and the king who knighted me. A lot of the knights in James’ line (there are 50 as of this weekend) were flying in from all over the world to toast him. Some of them he had never met. Duke Jade of Starfall, James’ squire, was celebrating the 25th anniversary of his knighting (which I had been there for), and Duke Henrik of Havn, the second SCA knight, was celebrating the 45th anniversary of his knighting. Duke Lucan was planning to go and fight in Western Crown, which I really wanted to see. As it turned out Lucan couldn’t make it, but the other stuff happened.
The lists were epic! The West has an open crown, and with so many out of kingdom fighters in for Jame’s testimonial, there were a lot of non-Western fighters in the lists. There were fighters from the West, the East, Artemesia, Lochac, Drachenvald, and An Tir that I know of for sure. I think there were also fighters from CAID and Atenveldt in the list as well. There were a number of them present. The foreign fighters included a Duke Reinmar from Artemisia and Count Theodrich from Lochac, myself, and several other knights and squires.
The fighting was awesome! The victor of the lists was Duke Hauoc. The Comenndabilis was Viscount Brand. Both of them advanced to the finals without a loss. Brand had done so fighting with his short glaive while Hauoc had done so fighting with his little 12” long heater shield. They were feats of incredible prowess, on both sides. Hauoc, one of the best fighters in the SCA, was fighting better than I had ever seen him fight before. He’s 6’8”, which is a lot of space to cover with a 12” shied. His sword work, which is always precise, was perfect. Brand was stunning as well. His fight against Alden in the semi-finals looked like something out of the movie Troy. When they got to the finals Brand, who is one of the kindest and most humble men I know, went up to Hauoc and said that fighting against that tiny shield with his glaive probably wouldn’t be fair, so he’d like to switch to sword and shield. He is a great sword and shield fighter, but he was unstoppable with his glaive on Saturday. Hauoc told him that he had won the day with glaive and he should stick to it, but Brand insisted. Hauoc beat him in two straight fights. It was practically a sword clinic. Brand was obviously in the fight, obviously trying to win it—and with the glaive we all know he would have (even Hauoc said he couldn’t have beaten Brand with his glaive). It was an amazing gesture.
WORKOUTS
I have lifted on Monday, doing circuit training at school, but I had done nothing but stretch the rest of the week so I wouldn’t be over-taxed for the tourney.
REHAB
My elbow had actually been bothering me on Friday and Saturday. I was worried about it. Turns out I was right to be. I did not fight roses because my elbow was really starting to bother me. However, unlike in the fall when it hurt for weeks, after the lists I took some ibuprofen, iced it down, and it has felt fine ever since. I was doing my physical therapy with a rubber band because I can’t take the Indian clubs in a carryon.
TECHNIQUE
I debated for a long time whether to do what I usually do in Western Crown and use my bunny round or bring my regular 2x3 heater shield out. I settled on using my regular shield because I am trying to get back into shape after a layoff, and I’m training for Eastern Crown (assuming I didn’t win Western Crown, which I made a good hard effort to do). Since I was packing the hockey bag and bringing my shield, I also brought out my gambeson my kidney belt, and both my swords: the short fast one without a thrusting tip and my longer one with a thrusting tip. My plan was to use the shorter one, which I felt would be easier on my elbow, unless I faced a great-weapon fighter, a two sword fighter, or a lefty, in which case I would want the thrusting tip. Best laid plans…
FIGHTING
I warmed up first against one of Uther’s fighters whom I did not know. He was using a heater and a short sword, my old game. He got me once with a thrust but other than that I felt very good. My movement was good left to right, and it won me a couple of the passes.
Next I fought Brian of Belatrix and he clobbered me! It was wicked. He was aggressive, he was fast, he was all over me. I don’t think I killed him once. Then I fought a girl from Oertha whom I don’t know. I killed her multiple times with high snaps. I also fought in the warm-up mêlée, but I couldn’t tell you who I fought.
I was challenged by a fighter named Villi from Cloondara. He is left handed. He has only been fighting a few months but he has already won a tourney. He is a fencer, and it shows in his style. He does not have a lot of follow through and uses two much arm. He almost killed me twice. The second time was funny. I had been giving him advice all morning and I slipped into teaching mode. I dropped my shield and was talking to him and he slid his sword very lightly down my nasal. Luckily I was just out of range. He grinned at me and I laughed, but it was stupid! After that I got serious. I hit him with an off side head shot.
My second round fight was Sir Geofrey Mathias. He is a good two sword fighter. Again I took my slightly heavier thrusting sword. We had a rockin fun fight. I love fighting Geofrey. I managed to get him with a shoulder thrust after an off-side cut.
My third round fight was against Sir Jost, a recent transplant from Atenveldt. This was a fight tailor made for me. We were both using heaters and, I believer, short broadswords without thrusting tips. I won by hooking his shield downward and side stepping as I threw a snap.
My fourth round fight was against Sir Lawrence of the Marsh. I lost to him in a crown once back around AS 29 or so (the crown Veniamin won) but hadn’t fought him since. I felt the same way then that I did Saturday. What happened? He is an odd fight. I always feel I should beat him but it is really hard. In that fight I wished I was using the longer sword, because I missed him clean at least twice. He killed me with an off-side head shot that, watching him later, seemed to be his bread-and-butter. I was simple, high snap, kind of Gendy like in angle but not in technique, with a tip heavy sword to carry it forward. First loss. After that I stuck with the thrusting sword.
I fought in both the melees between 4th and 5th rounds. In one of them I beat Cyrus with a hook/thrust. I alos killed Darkin’s son. In both of them I lost to Alden but had awesome fights with him. I was winded but feeling really good.
My fifth round fight was against an un-belted fighter named Klaus (I think). He was either from Artemisia or from Atenveldt (I think the latter judging from his surcotte, a Russian coat like Duke Eduard wears). I tried to get his leg several times and ended up getting it with that Martin the Temperate hidden leg shot Radnor taught me (elbow high, sword resting on shoulder, palm down, fold your elbow into your side and drop the sword onto the leg. Works well). He was sitting too square to me so I killed him with a thrust to the body. It was clear that the longer, more tip-heavy sword was putting stress on my elbow, which was starting to hurt.
My sixth round fight was against Duke Alden. This fight was both glorious and frustrating: glorious because it was so much fun (we were doing much the same thing in this fight); frustrating because he got me out of my game and into his. I’m good at mind games but Alden is better. He’s tricksy. He has lately been trying to emulate cat-like movements. He stalked around me, but I cut him off. He moved in and out but I held my ground. He lowered his shield a bit, then raised it, the lowered it. He brought his sword down to threaten a thrust. I do a lot of that stuff too, and he got me doing it. We had a few good exchanges at first, very quick, then one of us would back out. His plan all along was to sucker me into moving forward in a line, then he would back out and time a cross shot for the moment when my right foot landed. Guess who finally moved in on a straight line! He clobbered me. At least my death was dramatic.
Sig said he knew about a minute and a half before that Alden had won the fight and how he would kill me. That means I let myself get played. I watched fights against Roger and (I believe) Lawrence, and he won those in the same way. Sig also said he could tell that with my thrusting sword and the heater that the heater got in the way of things I wanted to do. He is right about that. One thing about that short broadsword is that I only have four or five shots with it. I’m not at a far enough range to do anything fancy.
Because of how my elbow felt I didn’t go out and fight roses. I started to but stopped myself and peeled off my armor before I forgot and hurt myself.
So that was my list. My benchmark for crown is five rounds and hopefully kill one knight. I went six rounds and killed two knights. I fought very well, especially for all the rust. The gym is working because my wind was good. My arm felt strain but didn’t tire out (much). I killed with off-side head shots, shield hooks with snaps, and a thrust. Throw in warmups and mellees and I did a lot more stuff. The guys who took me out, Alden and Lawrence, were the two semi-finalists who didn’t advance, so they were having good days. I’m happy! It was fun!!
The list, as I said, was epic, and I am so proud to have been a part of it!
It is 39 days till East Kingdom Crown in Ruantallen.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Supplement
REHAB
I skipped it at least once this week, but I'm feeling good. Elbow is a bit stiff right now. I've no doubt that I can fight next week. I will be in awful shape, winding fast and weak, but I will do my best to win nonetheless.
WORKOUTS:
Oh my God!
I had Gui's gym membership while he was out of town and I used it three times. It was great. Monday and Wednesday I did my triple-threat workout--20 minutes of spinning, 20 minutes of yoga, 20 minutes of lifting. Friday I took a kick-ass body sculpting class. Damn! What a workout. I had to modify a couple of exercises because of my lower back injury, but it still broke me! Loved it!
BAT report.
Today was the final BAT. Nobody fought. We spent the afternoon breaking down the armor shop, packing up the loaner gear, and cleaning up the space. There is still a lot to do, but my role is complete. We had six complete suits of body armor and four helmets. WE planned to sell the three Dark Victory suits for $100. Bish came and picked one of them up and Anton from Three Skulls spoke up for another. The third is going up on EBAY.
We moved a lot of stuff over to Gui's house, and we still have more to move. I don't know where he will fit it all. We need a storage area.
According to http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc housework, which is roughly the same as moving, burns 290 calories an hour.
I bought Gui's old Crusader pot helm and Oscad's gamboised cuises(I'd always wanted to have a Myczecki Bible suit), and Jarrod's old armor (plastic legs with belt, big leather girdle, Torvaldr bauzbaunds and demis). We have so many basket hilts and gorgets we don't know what to do with them all.
FIGHTING
There was no fighting or training this week.
Next time in armor is this Saturday at Western Crown.
I skipped it at least once this week, but I'm feeling good. Elbow is a bit stiff right now. I've no doubt that I can fight next week. I will be in awful shape, winding fast and weak, but I will do my best to win nonetheless.
WORKOUTS:
Oh my God!
I had Gui's gym membership while he was out of town and I used it three times. It was great. Monday and Wednesday I did my triple-threat workout--20 minutes of spinning, 20 minutes of yoga, 20 minutes of lifting. Friday I took a kick-ass body sculpting class. Damn! What a workout. I had to modify a couple of exercises because of my lower back injury, but it still broke me! Loved it!
BAT report.
Today was the final BAT. Nobody fought. We spent the afternoon breaking down the armor shop, packing up the loaner gear, and cleaning up the space. There is still a lot to do, but my role is complete. We had six complete suits of body armor and four helmets. WE planned to sell the three Dark Victory suits for $100. Bish came and picked one of them up and Anton from Three Skulls spoke up for another. The third is going up on EBAY.
We moved a lot of stuff over to Gui's house, and we still have more to move. I don't know where he will fit it all. We need a storage area.
According to http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/cbc housework, which is roughly the same as moving, burns 290 calories an hour.
I bought Gui's old Crusader pot helm and Oscad's gamboised cuises(I'd always wanted to have a Myczecki Bible suit), and Jarrod's old armor (plastic legs with belt, big leather girdle, Torvaldr bauzbaunds and demis). We have so many basket hilts and gorgets we don't know what to do with them all.
FIGHTING
There was no fighting or training this week.
Next time in armor is this Saturday at Western Crown.
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