Welsh Open
Nov. 23rd, 2005 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rwrylsinSo, the Welsh Open.
Had pretty much the perfect preparation as far as sleep and getting into the right mindset. Was therefore extremely upset when I did very badly indeed in the pool round because I had a referee who seemed to be making things up as he went along. Some days my timing is just off, but this wasn't one of those days. There were some odd results happening in many bouts other than mine.
After losing the third bout 5-0 when I'm sure at least 3 of those points were mine I'm afraid I lost my temper and whacked the floor with my sabre (a moment of coordination failure also making me drop my mask, which probably looked thrown). Normally I don't approve of such pettiness, but afterward he did seem to pay a little more attention so I don't feel too bad about it. The fact that I could then score 4-5 against someone who ended up in the top 8 confirms in my mind that I really wasn't fencing as badly as the scores implied.
But when you only have two narrow victories you end up uncomfortably low in the ranking and it's all hard work from there. Happily had one of the best referees in the DE, won the first bout against a higher ranked opponent with mostly reasonably good fencing. Not brilliant, but enough for me to be happy with. Then came up against a club-mate who beat me very convincingly.
I'm rather annoyed with myself over that last bout. She'd knocked out another clubmate the round before, who I'd urged to put up a good fight despite the expected outcome and she did. Now it was my turn, and where was the fight? The second half in particular... I can't even remember if I scored any points. Appalling. I thought I'd got past that whole surrendering to the inevitable stuff.
Anyway, only other thing of note is that my slackness at the gym lately was showing, I was getting slightly out of breath by the end of the first DE bout. Must not take my level of fitness for granted.
Preparation: 7/10
No lessons for a while, I got out of the habit again. Also only a token presence at the gym - and it showed. Staying at the venue made on-the-day preparation really good though.
Equipment: 9/10
Forgot (read: to lazy) to check my bodywires before the comp. Lights didn't come up on a few occasions, I still haven't checked them so may or may not be slightly high resistance on them.
Fitness: 6/10
Been slack for too long, I've lost some of that hard-won CV fitness and been reminded that merely walking to work is not enough to maintain it. Must rediscover motivation.
Hydration: 8/10
I was a bit behind in the water consumption, it was excessively warm in the halls. Had a hint of a headache later in the day.
Food: 9/10
Didn't eat any of my snackfood, but did grab an egg&cress sandwich for lunch and I think that was a very good idea.
Concentration: 7/10
Not the brilliant clarity of my best bouts, but a perfectly serviceable level of concentration up until the last bout. Then it all evaporated in a puff of "want to go shower now, and my feet hurt, let's get this over with".
All in all, not too bad under the circumstances.
Amusingly, I finished equal 29th with a girl I first met at the Cole Cup last year when we had a warm-up bout. I noticed when the rankings first went up that I appeared to have been on the wrong side of a coin-toss, but didn't think to check who it was against.
This amuses me because although we've never fenced aside from that warm-up, we are now consistently coming close together in competition results and the national rankings, usually one just above the other. We figured we must be evenly matched, and on the day she had the same 2-3 result with equal hit index in the pools that I did, and had to also beat a higher-ranked opponent to end the day with an equal result. What are the odds?
The world being small it turns out that she goes to the same club as an Aussie epeeist who David chats with at competitions.
Had pretty much the perfect preparation as far as sleep and getting into the right mindset. Was therefore extremely upset when I did very badly indeed in the pool round because I had a referee who seemed to be making things up as he went along. Some days my timing is just off, but this wasn't one of those days. There were some odd results happening in many bouts other than mine.
After losing the third bout 5-0 when I'm sure at least 3 of those points were mine I'm afraid I lost my temper and whacked the floor with my sabre (a moment of coordination failure also making me drop my mask, which probably looked thrown). Normally I don't approve of such pettiness, but afterward he did seem to pay a little more attention so I don't feel too bad about it. The fact that I could then score 4-5 against someone who ended up in the top 8 confirms in my mind that I really wasn't fencing as badly as the scores implied.
But when you only have two narrow victories you end up uncomfortably low in the ranking and it's all hard work from there. Happily had one of the best referees in the DE, won the first bout against a higher ranked opponent with mostly reasonably good fencing. Not brilliant, but enough for me to be happy with. Then came up against a club-mate who beat me very convincingly.
I'm rather annoyed with myself over that last bout. She'd knocked out another clubmate the round before, who I'd urged to put up a good fight despite the expected outcome and she did. Now it was my turn, and where was the fight? The second half in particular... I can't even remember if I scored any points. Appalling. I thought I'd got past that whole surrendering to the inevitable stuff.
Anyway, only other thing of note is that my slackness at the gym lately was showing, I was getting slightly out of breath by the end of the first DE bout. Must not take my level of fitness for granted.
Preparation: 7/10
No lessons for a while, I got out of the habit again. Also only a token presence at the gym - and it showed. Staying at the venue made on-the-day preparation really good though.
Equipment: 9/10
Forgot (read: to lazy) to check my bodywires before the comp. Lights didn't come up on a few occasions, I still haven't checked them so may or may not be slightly high resistance on them.
Fitness: 6/10
Been slack for too long, I've lost some of that hard-won CV fitness and been reminded that merely walking to work is not enough to maintain it. Must rediscover motivation.
Hydration: 8/10
I was a bit behind in the water consumption, it was excessively warm in the halls. Had a hint of a headache later in the day.
Food: 9/10
Didn't eat any of my snackfood, but did grab an egg&cress sandwich for lunch and I think that was a very good idea.
Concentration: 7/10
Not the brilliant clarity of my best bouts, but a perfectly serviceable level of concentration up until the last bout. Then it all evaporated in a puff of "want to go shower now, and my feet hurt, let's get this over with".
All in all, not too bad under the circumstances.
Amusingly, I finished equal 29th with a girl I first met at the Cole Cup last year when we had a warm-up bout. I noticed when the rankings first went up that I appeared to have been on the wrong side of a coin-toss, but didn't think to check who it was against.
This amuses me because although we've never fenced aside from that warm-up, we are now consistently coming close together in competition results and the national rankings, usually one just above the other. We figured we must be evenly matched, and on the day she had the same 2-3 result with equal hit index in the pools that I did, and had to also beat a higher-ranked opponent to end the day with an equal result. What are the odds?
The world being small it turns out that she goes to the same club as an Aussie epeeist who David chats with at competitions.
