MSR Practice on 2/27/14

What kind of goal do you set for yourself at fighter practice? Do you have a plan? I asked that of everyone I fought Thursday night. Most of them could not tell me. One person said "to press you and bring the fight to you." That person has a future. The others had nothing definite. One person said "I never plan my fights out, I just react," but that is not what I'm talking about.

I used to carefully plan my attacks. Following the traditions of Radnor and Paul, I would work on certain techniques and plan to use those in my fights: a wavy rising snap, a butterfly, a seven-blow combination. I never would have won crown if I didn't have a deliberate plan on how to deal with Alfred of Carlysle. Now a days I try not to plan my fights out. When dealing with defensive as opposed to offensive fighters, fancy offense doesn't do much either than get you killed. I throw just a few shots and pull out whatever technique seems like a good idea at the time. I don't plan most fights out--except with lefties.

But I still set goals for practice--techniques I want to use, limits on what I can do, wins versus losses (not a good one for practice), things I should try. If you don't do that you never advance in our game.

WORKOUTS
Last week was a good one. Counting push ups (50 every day) I did 14 workouts. A couple of those were doubles on the same day, and it includes fighter practice, but I'm happy because it also includes a nice 4 mile run, a really tough aerobics class, and some wicked lifting with the Tabata timer. Now I have to have a better plan for recovery!

TECHNIQUES
I put a lot of limitations on myself for this week's practice. This is partially because I was the only knight, so much of what I would be doing would be training but I still wanted to accomplish some stuff for myself, but also because drilling and focusing is good practice. My goals were to concentrate on my A Frame defense and just a few attacks-- a head/body combo (the figure 8 kind, where you pull your shot through and then back hand the body, not the pseudo butterfly, where you throw a looping shot from above into the arm pit), and thrusts off of cuts--snap, off side head, and wrap. As these things go, I did end up throwing a few leg shots as well, and I didn't always follow through with the thrusts because I was killing people with my straight snaps a lot, and with a few wraps as well. The goal was to tighten up my defense, counter punch, and work on a very simple and limited offense.

FIGHTING
There were four other fighters at practice: Servit, Conrad, Kaithlin, and Zach. Against the first three I had good timing shots working. I would kill them with straight snaps as they started their attacks, or perhaps with wraps. Kaithlin has a strong defense but no offense. She has a coffin lid shield, so once I got the angle down I was hitting her as soon as she moved. I explained the technique to her and gave her some defenses to use against it. Servit was not moving his body through his shot at all, and had his long shield strapped so that it exposed his leg too much when he tried to close it to block body shots,  We did pell work with him to fix that. Conrad still has a very tight defense. His one real technique is very silver like. With his short heavy sword, he tries to cut your arm whenever you throw a wrap. the key is, don't throw wraps.  Zach, of course, required me to throw all my plans out the window because he's fast and left handed. I just tried counter punching with him out of several different defenses. I won about half of our fights.

It is 77 days until Crown Tourney. My next time in armor will be Nutley on Wednesday (unless I can make the Monday practice in Haslet).  

February's Beau Geste

Duke Visivald noted after my last blog post, which was about training for Crown, that very few fighters win Crown after they turn 50, and that none win crown without practicing at least two to three times a week. The number of fighters winning crown after 50 has actually climbed in the last 5 years, as the SCA has gotten older, older fighters are being more successful. I know at least one duke who won crown at 54 without practicing several times a week. But Viz is right: I need more helmet time. Lots more helmet time.

This week I fought twice, which is two more times than I fought the week before. I went to the Sunday practice in Williamsburg and the Thursday Night MSR practice in Wantaugh. The first one was mostly a training practice and the second one was the Beau Geste, so it was a big difference.

WORKOUTS
My workouts have been really good lately. I’m still doing 50 pushups daily. Monday I had an awesome weight workout, warming up with dumbbells then doing military press building to my max weight (6 reps at 100 pounds), and 100 reps of cable and rope pull downs over the shoulder.

TECHNIQUE

The only technique I am working on is my a-frame/boxer defense. I’m moving around a bit more but trying not to pattern myself into creating gaps.

FIGHTING

At Willimaburg there were only three fighters—me, Ervald, and Samale. I fought set with both of them but I spent a lot of time drilling. We worked on two techniques. The first was Paul’s closing step: from out of range, throw a snap so that the momentum of the sword prompts/pulls the foot forward, closing range while the Sword and shield clear the way, protecting you (this is essentially Silver’s “time of the hand”). Normally, Paul brings his feet together then steps to his right, toward his opponent’s shield side, and throws another snap. Sunday I was having them pass again, to the left, with an off-side head shot, but the principle is the same: close range then move to the quarters. The other technique was Silver’s closing technique, which takes you to the right. I taught it with a thrust then taught a cut as a variation, even though I learned it as a cut (this from work I did with Steven Hand). From out of range, thrust at the eyes and then step to close range, then step to shield side with a grapevine step crossing behind with the left foot, bring the sword back into a hanging guard, and then squaring up with the right while cutting to the on side head. The important thing to remember once again is to move the hand first then the foot. The actual way to do the technique is, instead of thrusting, use the closing step from Paul’s technique above.

I drilled both fighters on those techniques for several minutes each, with each of us acting as agent and patient agent.

At Wantaugh I simply fought in theBeau Geste. I had some warmup fights first and some sword and buckler fights afterward. I warmed up with Conrad (not Duke Conrad, another one) and then with Gui. Conrad was very tight but was using a short, heavy sword with which he had two main techniques. First he would hunt the arm, especially when I was thrusting. Second he was cross blocking and throwing a backhand. I found that a tight defense and shield hooks would beat him consistently.

Then I fought Gui, who beat me. He took my leg then pounded me. But he was coming out from behind his shield badly.

There were nine fighters in the tournament, including Zack, Anton, Gui, Conrad, Bob Fox, and Baldwin. Bob I killed with a butterfly after taking his leg. Conrad I dispatched the way I had in warm ups.  Am not sure how I killed Baldwin.  

Anton fought with his polearm. I was controlling the fight pretty well, but I need to remember my old technique of flattening my shield against a poleman’s lead gauntlet, which I forgot. I killed him with a wrap as he was going for my leg—a common trade.

Zack I killed with the old Lucky step through combo. He never got a blow off.

 My fight with Gui was vicious. He almost got me in the groin, but missed low. We took each other’s legs at the same time. He was wild even on his knees, and I was able to thrust him in the belly behind the point of his shield.

I finished undefeated, Gui lost to me, Zack, the then Beau Geste, lost to the two of us. We three decided to withdraw from the tourney and not fight in the finals. We didn’t want it to seem like we had rolled in with our tourney and then taken over the place. The finalist ended up being Baldwin and Conrad. Baldwin won 2-1.

It is 85 days until Crown Tourney. My next time in armor will be Sunday in Williamsburg.

Training for Crown

Crown Tourney is exactly 13 weeks from today. That's 91 days to get ready. I hVe not been practicing or even working out as much as I'd like. I have only fought three times since last crown--100 Minutes, Birka, and one Nutley. I've been injured, tired, and turned 50. My schedule isn't quite as good as last semester for working out-I'm busy during spin and yoga classes at school. But I have a lot of flex time Wednesdays and Thursday afternoons. 

Exactly how much to train at 50--and how much I can reasonably expect to train--is a tough question. But I don't expect it to be that much different than I trained at 49, which was hard. I think that once you pass 45 or so you need to train more, not less. Yes, recovery is longer, there are lots of nagging injuries, and you are just a bit more tired that you used to be. On the other hand, you become brittle, and if you don't work out regularly I believe you will atrophy at a quicker rate. And, if you don't work out fairly hard you are wasting your time. The last two years I've been working in some Crossfit WODs to my workouts, but I've found that, at my current injury level (chronic bad back, occasional elbow tendinitis, knees and shoulders that make a lot of noise) I can't do a lot of the workouts. But I do find that it is better to mix things up than try to keep tot he exact workout routine over a weeks time (legs one day, arms another, etc). I'm not working out to build my body, I'm working out to increase strength, endurance, and flexibility, but most to prevent injury. 

I'm a firm believer in explosive training workouts: kettle bells, tabata training, snatch, clean & jerk. The big problem is speed work. I find it next to impossible to sprint. I can jog, which is painful enough, but after blowing both Achilles' tendons a couple years ago, plus my back and hips, that's about it. My usual distance is 5 k, and I'm pretty slow. 

What I really need is a dance class. 

I don't want to over do it. Push-ups every morning and either yoga or cardio on days when I don't fight, is probably enough. As I recall, some of the best shape I've every been in was when I was doing three spin classes a week and yoga most mornings. But I also love working out. I love lifting, dragging the sled, throwing boulders, farmers carries and calisthenics.  I love weird found objects workouts and obstacle runs. That stuff I like almost as much as fighting. 

WORKOUTS

I've done 50 push-ups every day this year. I also had two gym workouts this week. 

FIGHTING

None

TRAINING PLAN/GOALS

I want to be in armor 20 times, which is a lot in 13 weeks in NYC, but not impossible. 

Push-ups every day

25 gym workouts

130 total miles

Fight in Two Beau Gestes, Mudthaw, and at least one other event. 

This week my plan is:

Fight tomorrow

Gym workout Monday

Class on Thursday

Nutley Wednesday 

Run on Thursday

Rest Friday

Not sure Saturday--depends. 

Market Day At Birka!

Oh, my God I am so sore! I have a bruise the size of a dinner plate and the shade of a New Mexico sunset on my left ham, another bruise, the same size but not as colorful, on my right thigh, and everything from my shoulders down to my fingers is tired—especially my forearms. It is that deep tired I just fought hard ache, but I also fought a lot.

If you’ve never been to the tournament at the Market Day at Birka, it is the most fighting you get in in one day anywhere. It is a three hour holmgang/bear pit with ten 10x10 fields (step out you lose your leg, step out with both feet you are dead). Each fighter is given a number. Fighters line up and are fed in to a field to fight the fighter already there (who has just won the previous fight). They fight, and the losing fighter reports to the lists minister with his own number and that of the fighter who won (“107 beat 71”). The winner gets two points, the loser gets one point. Then the loser gets back in line and cycles through again (or takes his or her helmet off to rest). This year there were 144 fighters. In three hours they fought a total of 3,101 fights, an average of 17.23 fights a minute.

And *I* thought it would be a good idea to go back to gamboissed cuises for this event. HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!

WORKOUTS

Since last I typed, on December 19, I’ve logged 49 workouts, though many of those were short. These included a wicked 10 mile hike around a steep mountain course, and a three mile run in the smoggy Fresno County air, which was so bad that I ended up with a smoker’s cough. It’s included pell work and a few lifts, and every day so far this year I have done 50 pushups. I also went to Cali and Vegas, ate big rich meals, drank more than I normally do in a year, and turned 50 (yesterday).

TECHNIQUE

Are you kidding? Birka is not about technique.

FIGHTING

As I said, Birka is not about technique. It’s not about endurance or strength or training or victory. Birka is about fun—it’s about fighting until you just can’t fight anymore.

Fearing my own mortality (it’s true) and having only been in armor twice since Crown, I set myself on a pitch count. I promised to pop my helmet and rest as close to the finish of every 5^th fight as possible. If I cycled through the line with five losses I would stop and rest. If I lost two bouts but then on my third time through I had a run of three or five or fifteen, then I would rest. Then I’d go out for another round. It was a good policy. I wasn’t out to win, just to fight. If I had any goals, I wanted to make it all the way through and be fighting in the last group, and to fight more than 50 fights (which is not hard at Birka but was a bit symbolic). As it turned out I had a pretty good day.

The person who wins Birka is the person who wins his fights the quickest. You need to have long runs of one or two shot fights and get through lots of fighters quickly. That was my game 20 years ago, but today I fight defense and win after long fights in which I don’t throw a lot of shots. That was my first big issue.

I started out slowly. I was a bit rusty and it showed mostly in my focus. I’d win a fight, lose a fight, cycle through again. I found that I was thinking my fights too much. I’d get jumped while planning what to open with. I try not to think in my fights anymore. Not working. I also noticed there were certain people/styles that I was losing to, but since it was the styles I always find difficult—guys my height or taller, with kite shields that cover them from nose to knee, and who love to crowd you: in other words, the Northern Region—I just figured I was not doing too well.

In my first round I fought Breeder and really turned it on. He hit me in the leg and I felt a great shooting pain. Then he killed me. But it had been one of the most intense fights I’ve had in a long time and I felt very good about it. Then I took my break.

About midway through my third cycle I went on a good run. I killed a bunch of people in a row. I realized something interesting: the reason I was losing to the big guys was because I couldn’t retreat. I was locking them up and trying to beat them belly-to-belly. After that I did a little better.

At some point I killed Duke Edward. I kind of dissected him. He was using a center-grip kite. I took his leg. Then I threw a snap followed by a slot, and it almost killed him. I threw it again and this time he had it covered, moving his shield more to the center. Rule of 3: I threw the same snap, faked the slot shot, passed forward on the right, and hooked his shield. At this point he knew he was out of position and he ducked. I short-sticked him to the back of his helm and won the fight. In Birka winning a fight means about as much as it does in practice. For all I know I had been Edward’s 10^th fight in a row. Often times, especially when legged, opponents will kind of give up so they can get out and rest a bit, because the real enemy in Birka is time. Still, killing Edward felt good, and a lot of stuff clicked. And that’s when I realized I wasn’t sucking at all. I was doing pretty well.

About half way through the second hour I started putting together some good long runs and I started killing some good fighters. Then I went on a really long run. I had a lot of luck in that one—I fought Breeder again and he rolled his ankle and yielded, which is not a victory for me but kept me going.  I was fighting like it was 1990 and I was Prince of the Mists, using all my old one-shot techniques, which I rarely use anymore. The only things I didn’t kill people with were that rising molinee and the foot stomp. I used a rising snap, a wavy rising snap, a stutter wrap, the butterfly (both Radnor’s version and the Gendy version), and several successful hook-thrusts. A few times I successfully used Lucky’s passing shot on lefties (Snap, pass on the right diagonally off line to the left—in other words step through between your shield and your opponents, pass on the left, turning to the opponent and throwing an off-side head shot). Twice I had runs that were so long that someone cycled back through and faced me twice, and one of those times I killed that person again. I even killed somebody with Jade’s lazy floating snap (that’s where you start with your sword and shield down and pass forward on the right, just raising you sword into a thrust that comes up then down over your opponent’s shield).

I also lost a bunch of fights and got the crap beaten out of my leg. I did some stupid stuff and got sloppy when I tired out. One polearm one-shotted me (he had a left hand lead and I stupidly opened with a face thrust) so hard I probably should have quit. But that was my rest break anyway and after some water I felt fine. The only time I violated my pitch-count rule was right at the end, when I finished a long run just before they closed the line. I wasn’t tired at all, so I jumped back in and won a few more fights after the close. The last two fighters were Ajax of Sparta and Duke Omega (Darius), which was highly appropriate. I shouted “Thermopylae!” as Omega won the fight.

I had a great day. I accomplished my goal of fighting till the end and fighting at least 50 fights. The only two fighters who really dominated me were Douglas and Breeder (who finished 1-2 in points). Doug one-shotted me with a shot that I knew was coming but did nothing to prevent—he faked a right hand snap and thrust me in the chest with his left-hand sword. That’s classic Musashi stuff, and it’s why he won the tournament. I fought Breeder three times, losing twice and once with him retiring: but I killed Edward, Gregor, Evaldr (that was a lucky shot) Prince Brenan (with a hook thrust, same as in crown), the King of Ealdomere, and several other knights. I double-killed with Omega. Some of those were when they were fresh and were being cycled in to face me. In the final results I was ranked 14^th out of 144 (that ranking is deceptive, since they don’t gap for ties, meaning there were three people ranked 3^rd and the next person was ranked 4^th when he should have been ranked 6^th, but it’s still top 20).  I finished higher than Omega. I fought 64 fights, with 48 wins, 15 losses, and 1 double kill, for a winning percentage of 75%. That was the 7^th highest winning percentage, behind Douglas, Breeder/Ionnis, Gregor, Edward, Konrad, Griffith, and Thomas of Ravenhill, who had a 92.9 win percentage but only fought 56 fights. I was winded a few times but I was still strong at the end. The workouts are definitely helping. In my third go-round I broke my tip-heavy sword and finished with my hilt-heavy backup. That sword always kills well. Even now, two days later, my forearms are achy and fatigued, my shoulders worn out, and I’m limping from the bruises. Considering that puts me right up with the three of the dukes in the list and ahead of the fourth, I actually had a pretty good day. Fighting wise it was the best I’ve done at Birka.

Results are located here: http://www.northernarmy.org/results/market-day-at-birka/market-day-at-birka-2014

Afterward I was so amazingly tired. I don’t know if I was dazed, concussed, de-hydrated, or badly in need of caffeine, but I had a killer headache and was just in a stupor. I think it was a caffeine headache, because it came on long after the list was over, not during or right at the end, and a cup of coffee banished it. Hot tub helped too. But the ache was as great as from any crown I’ve fought in.

At midnight I turned 50, so I drank.  

The pre-season has officially begun. It is 110 days until Crown Tourney. My next time in armor will likely be Sunday at Brooklyn Practice. 

Nutley 12/18/2013

Sometimes you just need to hit something. I had a good time at practice last night, but I wish I were out at Wantaugh practice tonight. Not only is it the Beau Geste for this month, but I really just need to hit something. It's been that kind of day. 

WORKOUTS

It's the off season and my workouts have actually picked up. Back to lifting heavy bits of iron as well as yoga and spin. Sunday I did an arm workout and yesterday I did a good leg workout (finished with 215 lb back squats). Last week I did a couple of intense WODs as well as classes. 

TECHNIQUE

I was going to try to work on that thrust that Edward MacGuyver killed me with in crown and Edric's foot stomp thrust, which is basically the same as Rolf's foot stomp snap. Neither worked too well. 

FIGHTING

There were five of us at practice: myself, Breeder, Tzeitchel, Vasilli, and Doug. I arrived late but I got to fight all four of them. I soon most of my fights against Vasilli and Tzeitchel and lost most of my fights against Breeder and Doug. Against Tzeitchel I used that thrust, do a molinee, hit the forward edge of the shield with the false edge of the sword, then thrust at the face with the palm up. I hit her shield, she recovered, and my sword slid right up the face of her shield into her grill--so the technique didn't work but I still killed her. I managed to take breeder's leg twice. He waS suing his mirror technique but I was having none of it. I fought him pretty well and if my thrusting tip hadn't come off when we were both on our knees I might have won one. against Doug I had my most intense fight of the night. I slid right and took his leg then worked him for a long time before I killed him with a body shot. He was taking away my wrap/thrust and closing off his inside line. If I had thought to try tot aka his off side body when he closed with me I might have done more damage. Against Vasili he was just charging and pushing me around, so I let him and then when he paused I just hit him where his defense wasn't. I through the foot stomp and he bit on the fake but I missed the thrust. 

The most interesting thing I saw was the leg shot Breeder hit me with twice. He took a deep step to my shield side and made like he was cocking for an off side, but instead he drove his elbow toward my nose and hit me with the back edge of his sword. It's hard to describe. Him being a leftie, it went right into the inside of my leading leg. It's just a weird weird shot, but beautiful. 

It is 37 days until Birka. The next time I will be in armor will probably be Western 12th Night. 

Old, tired, and worn out. That is how I feel right now. I've been on a downward slope since Crown, which is odd because I did very well. For the first time in a long time I honestly felt like a contender. Not a bum. Which is..... oh, wait a minute.....

100 minutes ware was the first time I'd been in armor since Crown. I took a week off to recover and then deer season started. My workouts have lightened up considerably. I've been going to Yoga and Spin, but I've only lifted twice since Crown (and I was supposed to lift today but won't).

There's also a weight issue. Last year, after cheating a bit for a couple of years, I finally  went off the Atkins diet. I had lost 75 pounds about eight years ago and gained about 10-15 of it back. That put me floating between 210 and 215. I was pretty happy there. Then, last Thanksgiving, I decided "screw it! I'm going to eat what I want tis holidays." I didn't go crazy. I was moderate, but I didn't skip deserts, I didn't avoid mashed potatoes or yams, and I didn't avoid wine. By January 1 I weighed 225. I worked and floated between 215 and 220 most of the year, but here it is the week of Thanksgiving and I weight 225. I'd better not behave like I did last year or I'll be big again.

This is the first year that 100 minutes has not been on the same date as opening day of deer season, so I decided I had to go. It's SUCH a fun event, like the old resurrection wars back in the West. I had a blast, but I felt really slow.

WORKOUTS
Since crown I've worked out 13 times, but a lot of those have been "walking" which equalled hunting. Hunting whitetails means mostly sitting, but I do some still hunting and I have to hike in and out to my stand. I did help Big Mike pull a buck out of the woods on opening day. I've also been making Sin Class and Yoga once a week.

TECHNIQUE
None to speak of. I'm not working on anything in particular.

FIGHTING
I didn't do much sword and shield fighting at 100 minutes. In fact, this set with Deterich von Blooguard is about all of it:




I felt really slow and hesitant in this fight, and it shows. There are a couple of times when I'm obviously not committing  to whatever it is I'm doing. But my defense was sound.

(SCATally usually has the best videos of East Kingdom fighting. Check out his channel at Youtube.com.)

As an added bonus, here's me being soundly beaten by Ionis at last crown:



I fought about 95 minutes of the 100 minute battle with my spear. I'm not the greatest spearman in the world. I've done it all my life, but I've only been fighting it seriously for about three years now. I have five techniques: left foot/left hand lead (the "pool cue" technique), which is the strongest; left hand/right foot lead, a goofy foot technique that gives you better range; right hand/right foot lead, wherein I use the spear a lot like a rapier and lunge a bit more; choking up with my hand in the first and second quarters, which is a bit stronger but more dangerous' and choking up with hands in second and third quarters, usually with the thumbs opposed, which is for single combat. I used them all, but stayed mostly with the first one, which is the most common.

I spent about ten minutes on my knees and I got some good kills that way. I just propped myself up against a tree, to defend my left side, and worked the low line. It was fun.

I lost my arm twice--once to an arrow--and fought like that for a long time. I think I killed one guy like that as he charged.

I had a pretty good kill to death ratio. I spent most of the day dueling with Sir Mohammed from Tir Mara and Sir Oskgar.

For the last five minutes I used my great sword. I had an overpowering desire to crush something. I killed a couple of guys on breakthroughs and contemplated charging the line. With 15 second to go there was a hold. At the lay on I charged. I killed two more guys and got pumelled. I ended up with a bruised shoulder and a broken middle finger (just the tip--I'm typoing with it now, thought it stings a bit). I felt happy happy happy.

As the sun was disappearing and it was getting very cold, we held November's Beau Geste tournament.

It is 60 days until Birka. I dont' know when I will next be in armor.

Crown Tourney #88

My 88th Crown Tournament was clearly winnable. Brennan won, and I killed Brennan.

What an amazing, excellent tourney! (though I plan for the next one to be graceful). I had a blast. The whole list was fun to be part of--both to watch and to fight in, with great, honorable fighting. The result was truly inspirational. Plus my sweetie was with me and that made it perfect.

Also, we rented a red Mustang convertible for the trip. And, yes, we arrived with the top down.

It was a beautiful day, an inspiring tourney. I can’t recall the last time I saw someone get knighted in the morning and win crown that afternoon. It was truly marvelous. It took a lot of things—dukes who didn’t show up, a format that favored his skills, and some luck—but in the end everything fell into place for Brennan to win crown. When the day started he was on everybody’s mind, because his knighting was very moving, but not as a contender. Some people, when they get knighted, get an extra ten percent out of the emotions and the hype, and in the right circumstances—like yesterday—that’s all it takes to make someone king. 

Nobody expected Brennan to get past Omega in the semi-finals, least of all Brenan. But the format favored him—three of five with the fighter out of the losers list (that was him) starting with a loss, and matched alternate weapons. He is an ok sword and shield fighter but a fantastic great weapons fighter. He wasn’t supposed to win the sword and shield fight: but Omega was trying something new—using a small oval and trying to learn Branos’ technique. Brennan took his leg and then killed him. Brennan won the pole arm fight then lost the great sword. It was supposed to come down to a two weapon fight, with both of them using madus (ok, Brenna was using an upside down great sword).  Again, that should favor Omega, but after a very long fight Brennan hit him and won. He had actually fallen to a face thrust but Omega called it off, saying that it had hit him high and on the side of his helm, not in the face. 

The other semi-final saw Conrad out of the winners list and Ionis (Breeder) out of the losers list. They alternated choice of weapons. Conrad picked polearm, which he lost, then Breeder picked single sword, which he lost. Conrad then picked greatsword anm when he took Breeder's leg, he made a point of announcing that he had not chosen sword-and-shield Out of respect for Breeder's skill. Then he killed him.  

Brennan dominated the finals. Conrad won the sword-and-shield fight handilly, then lost the great sword fight (big time. The earth shook. It was an incredible shot. It hurt just to watch it). They were evenly matched in a single-sword fight, so much so that they double killed twice before  Brennan won that (Conrad was heard to say "dammit!" as he fell). With Brennan's best weapon, polearm, next it was set up for him to win and he did. Now he’s Prince of Tir Mara and will be King at Pennsic. It was truly fabulous!

My day was great too. I was nervous. I truly had no idea how I was going to do. The way I had choked the week before was weighing on me. The biggest problem was that I was totally unsure how well the A-frame defense would work for me. It did.  

In my pool were three knights—myself, Conrad, and Brennan. There were eight unbelted fighters (first names only) Tali, Ketil, Thorvald, Duncan, Carl, Rory, Mathew *and* Mathias.  The fights all run together, for the most part. I know at various times I used Ed’s version of the butterfly against someone on their knees (fake a deep wrap with a step, bring the sword over the top of their head and hit them in the face). I used the fake face thrust/leg shot. I used head/leg/head/leg fake (the upsilon). Carl I killed with a  straight snap over his sword guard.   I recall taking Tali’s leg and then, because he was defending the thrust so well, killing him with a deep wrap. I killed Ketil, I am sure, when he went for a deep off-side and I hit him with a molinee to the head.  My longest fight, not surprisingly, was my first fight, against Rory. We had just fought each other the week before, we were both using an A-Frame defense, and we were both cautious. Eventually I took his leg (I don’t know how) and then killed him with a back edge shot, a wrap that hits on the side of the head, not the rear, which some people call a thumb lead and others a snap-wrap. He has a heater shield that curves up at the points, making that a good technique. My loss was to Conrad. I still couldnt’ stick hook thrust on him in spite of putting an inch back on my sword. Hit him with it twice, right square in the chest but both times he was backing out. Then he took my leg. I almost got him with a little hidden slot shot over the top of his shield twice, but those blows landed with the thrusting tip on his temple. If they had been shorter and hit him in the face they might have been good. If they have been longer and had hit him with rattan they might have been good (might have—power is tough on that blow). He killed me with a wrap to the back, like he usually does, only this time he did it with a shield press.  My best kill was against Brennan. He was fighting better than I had seen him fight recently (duh!), but after a couple of exchanges I killed him with a hook thrust, only this time to the eyes (right eye, to be precise). The A-Frame was working very well. I was reacting to the fight. By my third fight I was in a zone, and I never really left it. I was second in my pool, with ten wins and the one loss.

In the round of sixteen I drew William Raven Hair, a northern fighter with a huge coffin-lid shield. Once I keyed in to what he was doing I had my defense down and then it was just a matter of time. He was throwing kind of slow, loopy shots with a very nice flow to them and trying to move his opponent’s defense one way while he went the other with his feet. That was not too hard to defend after the first pass. He crowded me going to my shield side and I killed him with a wrap. It was pretty much a trigger shot (which I’m never good at).

Then came my two losses.

The first was to Breeder. I came into the fight with my mind in the right place. I came on guard, instead of in an A-Frame, in a high open guard. I attacked him, pretty strongly, trying to draw his defense to his left, but in the exchange of blows he took my leg (hard--I'm still limping). Then once I’d settled he jumped on me. I took his leg in the process, but he nailed me with a wrap as I did so. He just beat me with speed. The trick with breeder is to slow him down.

Then I drew Edward McGuyver, whom I often hate facing. I don’t like the style he fights, but saying that is kind of sour grapes because he is 3-0 against me in crowns, so I need to learn to just beat him. This time I was not frustrated or angry or anything at the end of our fight. In fact I enjoyed it—which is odd because he practically one-shotted me. My mind might not have been in the right place because of how the fight started. Apparently, the marshals had said “Make what honors you will,” but I had heard (salute the crown). They called lay on and I stopped so I could salute Hanna and then Edward. I may have thrown one blow at him, I’m not sure, but then he threw a beautiful molinee-back-edge shot at the inside of my shield and followed it up with a thrust with the palm up, a thrust I’ve tried once or twice without a lot of success. This was great. It broke down my defense perfectly. It wasn’t quite what Larry had done the week before, but it was similar. All along during the day I had been worried that I had not trained enough with the A-Frame to be good at it. I was just beating slot-shots with my basket hilt. I figured that it would probably get me killed at some point. In fact I did really well, but this was that point. Against my normal stance that thrust would not work at all, because I cover more of my right side with my shield. Against my A-frame that was the perfect choice. I enjoyed that moment because I learned something, and because it was such a beautiful shot.

It was worth watching Edward fight Breeder as well. He didn’t beat him, but he fought him really well. He slowed him down. He was crowding him in a way that I can’t really explain. I hope there’s tape of that fight because I really want to see it again (I hope there’s tape out there of some of my fights as well).    

I had a really great day. It was beautiful weather, I fought very very well. Conrad and Brennan, out of my pool, were the two  finalists. I almost killed Conrad and I did kill Brennan. I was in the conversation and I feel that, even though I was knocked out in the third round of the double elim part—that I was in contention. That is where I want to be. 

I also always fight better when Gracia is there, both because she encourages me and keeps me focused, and because it just makes me happy to have her watch my fights.

Happy, happy, happy!

It is 94 days until Birka. The next time I will be in armor is likely to be 100 minutes war (it’s deer season, so I’ll be otherwise occupied for a few weeks).