Iron Bog Practice, 9/15/2013

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). 

BARLEYCORN!!!!

Ok, I admit it. I'm a stinker, as Buggs would say. 

Barleycorn was great. I'd been asked as provincial marshal to drum up more fighting for The event. unfortunately there was a big conflict. Due to site problems, River Wars was on the same weekend. That's a very popular southern region event in New Jersey. We knew we weren't going to get a lot of fighters. Nonetheless I talked it up. I set up a multi weapons format that would prove a lot of fun.

Barleycorn is also the event where Sir Edward hosts is unbelted challenge. It includes two parts, sometimes three: a written test, a dance, and a heavy list. This year he cut the dance. The point is to emphasize those things that Edward thinks are lacking in the knightly education. The test includes questions on heraldry, SCA history, medieval history, East Kingdom custom, and law. In other words, all those things a peer of the realm is supposed to be up on. In Edward's point of view, fighting is the easiest thing to judge and the thing that too many people emphasize. He looks at prowess first, but then asks do they play chess? The thing is, a lot of unbelted fighters avoid Edwards tournament. You need a score of 60 to pass, and you need to pass the test to get into the list, and many fighters just don't think that's fair. I've heard some say that they don't want to travel all the way to Westchester just to be humiliated by Sir edward. I've even heard knights tell their squires to avoid the challenge because they think its stupid. I must say, that bothers me. Anybody who can't get an 80 on Ed's test probably shouldn't be a night, certainly not below 75. But other people don't want to take tests: they just want to hit people with sticks.

TRAINING

Since Wednesday? Bike ride, yoga, push-ups, oh yeah and I went fishing.

TECHNIQUE

None in particular, except that we were fighting specific weapon forms.

FIGHTING

There were four fighters: myself, Tyco, Ervald, and Violet from An Du Baghin. That's a good lefty unbelt, plus one fighter with more than 10 years experience, and one with more than 20.

We were scheduled for six forms: Mace and shield, bastard sword, open, two weapon, great ax, dagger, and 24 inch round shield and broadsword with no thrusting tip. That last one is why I'm a stinker. I put it in because it's old school, I love to fight it, and by making it a required form it meant that everybody had to play my game with me. When he saw what we were doing, Edward just sat there and chuckled the whole time.

Don't ask me about specific techniques that i used. I won all of my fights in all of the forms I competed in (I dropped out of both Great Ax and for dagger). The two things I remember doing were a double strike to Ervald with the bastard sword (which is his best weapon) while stepping off line for the second strike a la Gregor, a lot of taking legs followed by body thrusts with two weapon, and a wicked rising snap in the round shield fight. Bellatrix would have been proud.

Because I was the sponsor of the list and had provided the prize I passed it on to the fighter who had displayed the most courage, which was Violet, who got hurt twice but kept on fighting. 

Part of the point was to get a lot of fighting in. Mission accomplished. Part was to fight other weapon forms. Also mission accomplished. Promoting fighting at Barleycorn? Not so much, but that will progress. My goal is to make Barleycorn a destination fighting event like Birka or Mudthaw. A long way to go for that one. 

It is 56 days until Crown. The next time I will be in armor will likely be next Sunday. 

Nutley Practice 9/4/13

I am banged up. I over did it a bit. It was rough. But I killed Von Dresden, and that's worth all the pain. 

TRAINING

since my last post on the 21st outlining my training plan for crown I've been working hard but I have not really been following the plan. Mostly, it's been hard to get to the gym. 

8/21 I rode 23 miles on my bike

8/22 I did my AM workout--50 pushups and Rodney Yee's 20 minute "AM Yoga" program. It's a good 30 minute workout. 

8/23 I did a 50 minute dumbbell workout And rode 7.77 miles

8/24 I did he AM workout and walked 2.75 miles

8/25 I fought some sword and buckler fights in the Beau Geste and spent the rest of the day teaching

8/27 I rode 7.5 miles

8/28 I walked a mile

8/29 did the AM workout

8/30 AM workout plus 1.5 mile walk and 2.45 mile run around the reservoir

8/31 just a mile walk

9/1 a 1.33 mile walk

9/3 Farmers carries: 960 feet, two 45 pound plates, 960 feet, 25 pond db, alternate arms

Tonight: 5 mile bike ride, fight at Nutley

TECHNIQUE

I went into Nutley wanting to work on my defenses. I was trying out high open form, a frame, and two variations on high closed form. This would be bad closer to the tourney but is far our it's ok. I am trying to find a defense that allows me to fight defensively but have more offense. I am still struggling with abandoning my old-school Western offensive style for a counter-punching style. I HATE the way it limits my offense. 

FIGHTING

I jumped into the deep end of he pool and stayed there till the pool got shallow. 

Right off I fought Stephen Von Dresden. I actually killed him once. I drew my sword across like I had missed an off side leg then thrust him in the face. I also landed a hook thrust that he did not take. Mostly, my fights with him involved fighting down the panic. Thats the panic that come not with fear of pain but the adrenalin rush of trying to keep up with or neutralize his speed.  

Next I fought Kelson, who sad I was moving great but my shield was not. In other words, I'm coming out from behind it. The moving for the angles against him is a waste because it just means I die tired. I did not hit him once. I mostly used the Aframe against him, and was fine so long as I didn't do anything. 

Next I fought His Majesty Gregor. I did ok. I made a conscious decision to close instead of backing out, which led to my one victory, a top edge hook and snap. I almost landed it a second time ad the double killed with it a third. About half way through my fights with Gregor I realized that my arms were REALLY tired. They ached just holding my sword and shield up. Not only that, but I'd been that tired in my fights with Kelson too, I just hadn't thought about it. It really affected my offense, made it plainer. I was worried. I mean, I know I'm out of practice, but not that much. It wasn't till I was getting out of armor and was talking to Agrippa about workouts that it occurred to me that those waiters carries I'd done yesterday might have something to do with it! Duh! 

Next I fought Ionus (Breeder). I killed him with a cut across his Chet and we double killed. He was keying his defense off my footwork perfectly, so before I swung his block was in place. Awesome. Very Sagan like. I tried to use an off line ward with him, which was fine, but I was moving into his attacks from it. I found a stance that worked well: the ox, with feet in line. Will have to try that more. 

After that was Sir Cullyn. Up till that point I had killed breeder once, Gregor once, Stephan once, and Kelson not at all, plus I'd had two double kills (and maybe a third, against Stephen). Cullyn was fighting sord and shield, and I killed him four times and died three. I managed to get him with a stutter wrap and a hook thrust, plus a couple of off side cuts. The neat thing about that was that, about half way through, I realized that I could fight a high weak open form with him and it worked. By the end, however, all I could must was an old school Bellatrix offense. I was too tired for anything else. 

The last person left in armor was Larry. he was using sword and buckler. Not having a buckler I just used my gauntlet as one. I won more fights than I lost and and fun. We were the last two on he field. 

It is 59 days until Crown. My next time in armor will be at Barleycorn this Saturday

August, 2013

The dog days of August are like this. Only three fighters showed up for the Beau Geste yesterday: myself, Ansel, and Samale. We fought a three of five round robin, in which Ansel was victorious. Samale was awarded the banner. Vive Le Beau Geste. 

Training for Crown, fall 13

Counting this one, there are ten weeks until Crown. That is not a lot of time. I lost out on Pennsic, which usually jump starts my fall training. Plus I binged a lot this month hanging we family and stressing over my step father. My weight is as high as it has been (226) since I lost all that weight on the Atkins diet eight years ago. (I know how to take cared of that part, I just have to do it). 

But it is time to lay out my training regimen. 

In ten weeks (including this one) I plan the following: 

15 times in armor. That is a tough haul (I am counting last Sunday).

200 miles on my bicycle. That's only 20 miles a week, but by November that might be tough. 

Run eight times

Total of 50 logged workouts (that should be easy).

My general plan is warmups every morning. Yoga on Monday, cardio Tuesday and Thursday, fight or weights on Wednesday, rest Friday if I'm fighting Saturday, weights on Friday and rest Saturday if I'm fighting Sunday. We will see how that works out. 

New twist: try to fight Ron, Omega, Ice, Gregor, Stephan, and Lucan in that time frame. 

Other twist, diet: I think I am sticking with eating meat only at night. Maybe dairy at night, maybe none at all. 

And, of course, there is deer season to work in around all of this....

Long Island Practice and BBQ 8/18/13

Awesome Long Island Practice!!

Ok, I am officially fighting like ass. Having skipped Pennsic, gained a little weight, and only been in armor three times since Crown, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. But it still sucks.

This was proven at my first intense practice since Crown Tourney. We held a practice and BBQ out on Long Island hosted by Count Horic, who is getting involved in training fighters after a long lay off (and who still has incredibly fast hands). It involved about three hours of fighting, pork chops, hamburgers, home brew, a hot tub, you get the idea. Gui said there were 36 fighters in armor, but I only counted 24 or 25. None the less, that was a great turnout. But I fought like ass.

WORKOUTS

 Since last post I have done one really intense WOD (45 Turkish get ups) and a 15 mile bike ride, plus some yoga. Not much really, but that’s only one week.

TECHNIQUE

I was planning to continue concentrating on defense and employing three kill shots—the hook thrust, the slot shot counter, and a stutter wrap. However, I allowed myself to get distracted in two ways. Once again, if a fighter was using a sword-back style so would I. Also, I got into a discussion with Horic on his style, which is an in-fighting style using a lot of back edge and some odd angles relying on Gendy sword technique. He also has an approach to fighting a person on their knees where he jumps in and puts his toes about two inches in front of his opponent’s knees. I tried to employ both of these.

HOW TO RUN A PRACTICE

After some free sparing we broke practice up into three groups. Horic taught an un-armored clinic for newer fighters and those who weren’t in armor. Cullyn taught a pole arm clinic. Gui and I ran one of Paul’s rotation exercises. This is where two lines face each other, you fight the person in front of you, and then you rotate one, so that at the end everybody ahs fought everybody. With an odd number the person at the end is supposed to sit out. Unfortunately, we had an injury, someone left, someone came late, and we messed up the rotation. There were thirteen fighters, but not everyone fought everyone by the time it broke up into free sparring. But we got almost all the way through. I know I did not fight Landon/Agrippa.

FIGHTING

First the bad stuff: I fought like ass. In the rotation exercise I lost to Brennan, Tiberius, Omega, Breeder, and maybe twice more (possibly once to Stick?). I sucked. More to the point, in spite of working out and doing cardio, I hit a wall in my fight with Tiberius. That fight was interesting for a lot of reasons. I expected to win that fight and I did not. I had trouble with his large center-grip scuta, and my focus was not sharp enough to make an adjustment till late in the fight. I had been retreating too much all day, and decided to stop against Tiberius. I closed up and did a defensive advance, with Radnor’s technique of just taking a walk (that is, walking normally, as though strolling through the park and not in a fight—kind of like Musashi’s “attitude without attitude”). That was working and I was pushing him back. I realized then that I should be thrusting at and pressing against his corners, since that with a center-grip scuta that will get him way out of position. I did so, but over extended and that’s when he hit me. At least I had a plan. My best fight of the day was my fight against Darius/Omega. He did some training with Ranvaldr at Pennsic ans was fighting that crouching right/left defense style of his. I was picking up and blocking his shots well, and had a vigorous offense. He beat me, but it was a great fight. Breeder just overpowered me.    I had a couple other interesting fights, which I won. Against Brick (from VDK, not Sir Alberecht), I used a Bellatriz technique of flat snap, lateral movement to the right with a tear-drop return, flat snap. In one fight I just went all old-school on the guy and overwhelmed him with about ten blows. I also killed someone with a stutter wrap.

I fought a total of ten sets throughout the day. My opponents were: (sword and shield) Tormundr, an Unbelted VDK fighter whose name I forget, Breeder, Gui, Mord, Lord Conrad, Carl (a transplant from Montana); (great sword) Dugal and Everett; (sword and Buckler) Brad.

I can’t remember details from most of those fights. I know that against Brad I used Havoc’s upright closed stance to great effect, and at one point after taking his leg I jumped in and imitated Horic, toes in font of knees, and it worked well.

I lost three fights straight to Dugal trying to employ some Fiore technique and then some Bellatrix technique. None of that worked.

I did much better against Everett, especially after I lost my thrusting tip. That forced me to go into Gregor’s high form and I killed him three times using short cuts never going outside the shoulders (well, I did take his arm once, so I must have done so at that point). He killed me four times, mostly with cuts to my hips.

Against Tormundr and Carl I mixed in some old-school Bellatrix technique, which was effective.

I was trying a lot of the techniques that Horic was talking about, but—as usual—when I do tight inside work with that shield I foul my sword a lot due to how I currently have it strapped. Will change that at next armoring workshop.

Obviously, the three sets which were the most telling were those against Breeder, Gui, and Mord. Mord I killed with a stutter wrap and my counter slot, just like I drew them up.

Gui I killed three times to his five. I got him once with a high thrust and twice with cuts. He was beating me with basic stuff—one/two combos using a back edge shot instead of a flat snap.

Breeder beat me every time. The interesting thing was, after we talked about it, he said I hit him at least three times with off-side head shots with no power at all. Since I did not realize I had even touched him, I found that interesting. I think the reason is against Breeder I am so intent on my defense, on movement, I trying to pick up his shot, that I am not doing anything else right. I know, for instance, that he takes the leg really well on the step, yet he took mine twice during pickups plus in our fight in the circle (hardest hit I took all day). I knew to defend against it and I watched him eating Agrippa’s leg up in their set, but I still stepped (literally) right into it three times. I was not paying any attention to my footwork, usually my strength.

Against the lefties (Gui, Breeder, Stick) I was doing something I never do, trying to use more thrusts, it worked against Gui. 

All day long my mind was not right. I was not committing  Against Breeder, I was a bit panicky. I was not moving my feet with purpose most of the time. When I did have a break through in those areas, like against Darius, I fought well.

Good take aways have to do with my defense. I was picking up a lot of shots visually and reacting well. My defense was tight most of the time. Nobody (except maybe Brennan, who got me with an off-side body shot when I over extended) had an easy time with me. Omega gave me a compliment, that he’s heard people say that since I’ve gone back to a heater I’m a pain in the ass (because they were so used to taking my leg right off the bat).

I was one of the first fighters on the field and (along with Everett) the last fighter off. 

The barbecue was excellent.

During the day I took Landon into my service for a year and a day, a trial period to see if he wants to become my squire permanently.

Sunday basically started my training period for Crown. More on that tomorrow.

It is essentially ten weeks until Crown (I must have miscounted last week). That is 70 days. My next time in armor will likely be at the Beau Geste on Sunday.

       

Grant's Tomb Practice, 8/11/13

I wasn’t at Pennsic this year. I was taking care of a sick relative in California. That sucks—the relative being sick more than missing Pennsic, but missing Pennsic stills sucks. Not only did I miss out on the socializing, the seeing my friends from the West Kingdom, the parties, my adopted family and loved ones—I also missed out on the twelve straight days of fighting! Pennsic is the best time of year for me in nearly every respect, but it is a fighting orgy. At the end of Pennsic, whether I’ve been there for one week or two, I have fought at least six days in a row and sometimes twelve, and it shows. My reflexes, timing, speed, footwork, everything is sharper at the end of Pennsic than at any other time of year. I feel like a God: an achy, beaten up, battered, bruised and sore God who can barely walk, but a God.

Pennsic is therefore the jumping off point for my training for Fall Crown, and missing that hurts a lot! But yesterday I finally got back into armor.

WORKOUTS

I did not fight in California but I did work out. I stayed with my cousin. She lives up on the side of a mountain in a Redneck paradise. They have cows and pigs and their yard is full of heavy things. I did lots of push ups and squats. I did curls and presses with a four inch thick steel drill shaft. I did cinder block workouts. I marched around holding a granite block over my head. I wrapped a tow chain around my shoulders and climbed the hillside. I kayaked. I hiked. I threw big heavy rocks. Best of all they had a heavy bag and an ax handle that balanced perfectly for pell work. But mostly I was there to lift my step father into and out of his wheel chair, which I did several times a day. In other words, I worked out.

TECHNIQUE   

Agrippa was asking some of the knights about me, and one of them said that I know fifty different techniques but I haven’t found my one technique. That’s a fair assessment, as I have acknowledged before. It is not entirely true—I have at various times had one technique that I used as my bread and butter shot, and I used it until it didn’t seem to work anymore and then developed another one. But I have always been something of a chameleon, and that has led to a lack of consistency. Lately, since I have been trying to fight more like an Easterner, I have tried to change that. For the past couple years I have been concentrating on two simple techniques—the hook thrust and the molinee cut from a hanging guard. While I’ve used other stuff to kill people with those have been my money shots (which is why I’ve been so frustrated that people seem not to count that hook thrust anymore). So that was what I was working on at fighter practice and, really, nothing else. I just wanted to knock the rust off. 

FIGHTING

There were six people in armor yesterday: Myself, Agrippa, Damien, Grimm, Andrew, and Sam. Grimm I did not fight at all. Sam and Andrew are new fighters. I fought them with the buckler and was in training mode—mostly. Damien has been fighting for about 18 months. Agrippa was the only advanced fighter there besides me.

My fights with Andrew and Sam, as I said, were training sessions. I used the buckler so my targets would look big. I did get a little distracted fighting Sam, however. With his 32 inch heater and a mostly sword back guard, it was like fighting an old school Bellatrix or Old Castle fighter, and I started using Bellatrix techniques. I threw rising snaps, back hands, the upsilon leg shot, molinees—all stuff he would never see out here and was really unable to defend. I dialed it back after a while when I realized I was having too much fun.

Damien has been fighting BOTN and his fighting has suffered a bit. He always had focus problems, but he had technique before. Now he’s lost that. Making that switch seems to be hard for a lot of fighters.

Agrippa and I fought ten fights. He was just coming off Pennsic and was even faster and more aggressive than usual, which is a lot. Our first fight he totally mugged me. I was outclassed. He beat me three times again, once with a thrust. Then I got out of training mode, tightened up, and went back to counter punching and setting up my two main attacks. I never hit him with the hook thrust but I killed three in a row, two with that saber cut. Then we took a break for a bit. When we fought again, I won all three of those fights as well. So he won our first four fights and then I won six in a row, mostly by finding my focus.

After that I did some unarmored training with Grimm and Katy.

It is 83 days until Fall Crown. I will be in armor this Sunday, but I don’t know where, either Iron Bog or at the barbecue at Count Horic’s