Katar Dagger
- Dated: 17th century
- Geography: Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu
- Culture: Indian, Thanjavur; blade, European
- Medium: steel
- Measurements: L. 21 ¾ in. (55.2 cm); W. 5 in. (12.7 cm); Wt. 2 lbs. 3 oz. (992.2 g)
- Provenance: [William Ockelford Oldman, London, before 1935; sold to Stone]; George Cameron Stone, New York (by 1934–d. November 18, 1935; his bequest to MMA
I needed yoga tonight.
Tonight was another all-out Krav practice. I still don’t do so well with what I refer to as “changing planes.” Basically, if my head is alternating between being above and below my heart (like breaking out of a headlock) or if I’m getting up and down a lot (like doing burpees), I tend to have issues with my blood pressure. I’m not passing out, but I do see the static at the edges of my vision. I actually stopped once, but usually I try to fight through. I figure if I’m ever being attacked for real, my assailant won’t hold off on me if I get heady.
Right now I know I need to work on stopping an attack with a punch. My instinct is to block that outside strike, but I really don’t need to. I also need to review my forward kicks to make them more like a knee with a snap (if you do Krav, that makes sense, if you don’t, well… I’m not sure how to clarify).
At any rate, I feel awesome after class, and I’ve dropped 5 lbs since the beginning of the year. I’m assuming I was holding some water weight at that first weigh-in. I haven’t been leaning out hard enough to drop that much weight in 10 days. More importantly, though, I feel strong (except when I’m in armor, but that’s another story!).
Today was my first SCA rapier practice of the new year. One of the ladies who used to fence with us is back, and I’m super stoked to have another day of practice each week. Some of the students from UWF joined us as well, and we had a new(ish) face – or maybe old-new faces, people who used to fence and are coming back.
I started with a review of hand positions and footwork, and then I did 100 lunges. It was a good way to talk about the mechanics of a lunge, hand placement, and recovery.
I spent about an hour and a half drilling, reviewing, and fencing, and then I put on my armor for the first time and tried out armored combat. I’m completely out of my element, but I like trying new things, so I’ll keep at it until it makes more sense. Everything I know about blade mechanics is irrelevant since we’re using rattan simulators. The pedagogy is also totally different – you learn by trying it out and figuring out what works. There isn’t a lot of instruction, so I have my homework cut out for me in the meantime.
Tonight I went to my first fencing practice of the new year. It was nice to see my students again. One of them was excited to break in her new sword.
I showed them the around the clock drill I learned from a nice Atlantian man at Castle Wars. The students seemed to dig it. We did a warm up and a couple of drills, and then we did some free sparring.
I stepped aside and did 100 lunges. I thought I was going slowly, but my friend commented on how quickly I did them, so I think I need to slow down some more next time.
I think I pulled a hamstring on Monday. It isn’t serious, but I felt like someone jammed a golf ball in the back of my leg any time I flexed it. I stayed off it on Tuesday and spent pretty much an entire episode of Arrow slowly stretching it out.
Last night I was still sore, but I went to Krav anyway. I can’t afford to miss practice right before P testing. Also, the muscle seems to like being used. It hurts less today than it did Tuesday or Wednesday.
We’re still working on getting into that mode for testing. At this point, I’m more worried about being a good partner than I am about taking my own test.
Other than that, there isn’t much to report. I have the usual bumps and bruises (including a really inconvenient one on my elbow), but other than that, everything is gravy.
Last night was my return to Krav after two weeks off (except for one fencing practice and practicing my blocks with returning combatives with Nik twice during the break). We didn’t ease back into things, either. We jumped in with full force to get ready for testing. We reviewed, but it was constant repetition with no breaks. We closed class with zombie drills at the end.
Testing is at the end of the month. We’d originally been told that it would be two weeks in, so I’m glad to have more time to prepare. I’m not too thrilled about giving up pasta, booze, and sugar for an extra two weeks, but I’ll be healthier for it, so I won’t complain too much.
All joking aside, it was a good class, and I’m looking forward to Wednesday. This test will be hard, but I’m confident that I can do it.
After the big test (read “In February”), we’ll be resuming the ladies’ class on Thursdays. I’m pretty stoked about that too. I like helping teach but not being in charge of the whole class. It’s a good day to work on technique, even if it’s mostly by watching and seeing which mistakes to be wary of instead of by doing.
In addition to training my ass off in Krav, I’ll be going back to UWF’s fencing practice on Fridays, and (perhaps even more of a big deal) I’ll be resuming regular SCA fighter practice on Sundays (teaching fencing and learning armored combat).
Here’s to fighting five days per week.
Tonight Nik and I spent some time in the studio working on hand to hand combat. I’m working extra hard on my inside defense to get ready for my proficiency test next month. We had a lot of fun trying out different combinations, and I think I’m getting more consistent.
Monday and Wednesday were good training days in Krav. It looks like we’ll be testing in January.
It looks like I’ll have to make a choice: testing falls on an SCA event day. There will be another chance in February, but I have easily twice as many events in February as I do in January.
At any rate, I’ll need to train this month so that I don’t forget the material before the test. Don’t worry. I won’t neglect my fencing.
Finals week happened, so practice on Friday had a fantastic student-teacher ratio. Nik and I and our lone attendee did a reverse bear pit. We worked on a few particular skills and then just played. It was a short practice, but I think we made the best of our time in the gym.
I had planned to attend a fencing event in Tallahassee on Saturday, but Nik and I just didn’t have enough gas in the metaphorical tank. We had a much-needed rest day instead.
We visited our friends in Panama City for a short practice. We had promised to come out and do some authorizations, so we figured we’d swing by on our way home from Tally. When we bailed on the event, we didn’t want to bail on the new fencers, so we made a trip over to see them and stay with Nik’s mom.
Today was a good day.
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