Documenting Progress – The Climb #197

Sunday 6^th August 2017

Today marked the step up of my training.
With less than a week to go until Fightcamp, I’m actually feeling pretty good. I’m fighting well and today fought with three different weapon combinations: backsword, single rapier and sword & buckler.
I videoed all my fights. I’ve already reviewed a lot of them but my plan is to edit them, comment on them and post as a vlog. I also want to do some slow-motion, although I’m not sure how good that will look as even at half speed things can be difficult to follow.
My backsword competition is going to be a bit of fun. I was interested to see how fighting it would impact my single rapier. It’s quite common (especially for me) that if you are fighting with a cutting-orientated weapon and then swap to a thrust-orientated one, you’ll probably find yourself still cutting.
I wasn’t too bad, but I found, fighting single rapier with Masha, that I still have issues controlling the centre line. Sasha identified something wrong with my thrusts (although I’ve skim-watched the video of me fighting and haven’t been able to see it). I think in reality, what happens is that I get over-excited and then start trying to use my shoulder to push the thrust rather than letting the sword lead me.
I also note that I seem to adopt a very wide stance when I fight. One of the benefits of the videos means that I can watch back my fights and see what I’m doing right and wrong. I’ll be glad when this competition is over and I can go back to rapier & dagger. Single rapier used to be my strongest weapon but I’ve been struggling with it in recent weeks.
That said, the people I’ve been struggling against are amongst the world’s best, so there is that, but still I no longer feel as confident with the weapon. I’d like to do well at Fightcamp, even though it will have no impact on my world rankings. A medal would be a really good thing for my ego right now though.
I think it’s my best chance of a medal but I have no doubt that I’ll end up in a pool with someone fantastic and get knocked out.
I tried to up my sword & buckler as well, chaining attacks together. I fought Phil, who hasn’t long passed his safety test, so I made it more about me going for second intention attacks, rather than trying to win. I’d come up with this fantastic sequence in the car on the way down, but obviously, that sequence relies on your opponent doing all the right things as well.
Still, I didn’t think I fought badly at sword & buckler. I’d like to do well in that competition as well, although I probably have a better chance in the single rapier given that a lot of the major competition aren’t down until Friday night and so are missing the single rapier tournament.
It felt a bit weird filming all my fights today but in all honesty, I think once people see the vlogs, they’ll probably be wanting to do the same. It felt a bit weird not editing it this evening but I’m not in a rush to get it edited and online like I did with the storm chasing. Still, I reckon it will be easy to never get around to it, given half a chance, so I need to work out some sort of schedule for myself.
Of course, all this is a welcome distraction for the writing. With hindsight, we’ll look back at this time and realise that there were some pretty major things going on with the decisions I was making with regards to this edit, despite them seeming very much secondary.
This is intentional. I’m deliberately trying to put my focus elsewhere so that the decisions are almost subconscious and I don’t spend a lot of time dwelling on them.
Kate was awesome and emailed me back this morning to say she preferred the new chapter, and so this evening I’ve made my way onto consolidating the three chapters into one.
I reckon I’ve got a third of the way into it, but I need to ensure that the chapter doesn’t soul search too much. It needs not to dwell on the romance whilst having the emotional resonance that I’m looking for. It’s hard work but I’m taking my time and making progress.
Likewise, with my swordfighting, I’m in the process of stepping things up. I fought the best I ever had against Sasha but I’m acutely aware of how much more work I have to do. Still I normally fight shit against Sasha but I left him to my last fight when I was most tired, and I did OK.
Whether it will be enough for Fightcamp, I honestly don’t know.
Both the writing and the swordfighting have stepped up in the last couple of days. It’s difficult to see the progress but that’s why I think it’s so important to document the process.
If you want to follow more of my journey, then be sure to check me on my social channels. Likewise, if you’d like me to expand on any point mentioned above, please say so in the comments.