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Serfo 2017 has come and gone. UWF Fencing brought 8 fencers to the tournament this year. Nik medaled in ringen, conventional rapier, and first blood rapier, and one of our students won the Franco-Belgian tournament. I’m proud of both of them.

Leading up to Serfo, we had to lift less because I was experiencing muscle fatofue when training, but we did still did both (just less intense lifting). In addition to all that, I got a sinus infection the Monday night before the event. I medicated it aggressively and felt better for the tournament – not 100% but better.

Believe it or not, I felt at my best when I was fencing. I never made it out of pools, but I did some good fencing, especially on Sunday (I don’t feel proud of my performance in the first blood tourney). I competed in Women’s Longsword, First Blood Rapier, Conventional Rapier, and Sword and Buckler. Women’s Longsword conflicted with Franco-Belgian Rapier, and I didn’t care to do the Open Longsword or Ringen. I’m pleased with my longsword and conventional rapier fights, and I feel like I absolutely crushed the buckler tourney in the last fight of my pool.

In addition to competing, I attended a Friday night class on rapier and observed part of a cutting class on Friday morning. I took a lot of notes on drills we can do in the club.

I also took notes on what needs to change about my own fight and my expectations for tournaments. I want to increase my muscular endurance, my cardio capacity, and my timing. I have the skills, but I got caught flat footed more than I’d like. We debriefed our students and have some feedback on things they want to improve as well. It’s never too late to start preparing for next year, right?

We drove back Sunday night, rested Monday day, and returned to fencing Monday night. Nik and I hit the weights again today. I intend to have a fitness assessment done in the next month or two so that I’ll have a direction for my physical training. As far as fencing in particular goes, I think I need more drills, more conditioning – all the tedious stuff that really makes a difference.

I’ve been busy with fencing every day leading up to Serfo. I had a rough night a couple practices ago, but I’m otherwise seeing improvement. I’m trying new things and re-covering fundamentals now in hopes that I’ll be able to turn off my conscious brain and rely on my lizard brain during the tournament’s.

In addition to all the fencing, I’m still lifting frequently. We’re adding more rest days since lifting and fencing together can be pretty taxing.

Everything else is kind of on the back burner for now.

I’m still around. I went to a couple tournaments but didn’t post about them. Basically I trained, I went, I fenced well enough but didn’t win… the usual. My mentor told me to lead less and focus on my fighting, so that’s what I’m doing now.

Right now I’m gearing up for a big tourney: the Southeast Renaissance Fencing Open. We’re about a week into our 30 days of fencing. I’m doing this on top of some pretty rigorous weight training.

Nik and I have been going to the gym pretty much every day since the summer. We do have rest days, and we miss when life gets in the way. When we go, we focus on arms or chest & shoulders (since fencing works the legs). In a month I gained a fair amount of weight but lost 3% body fat.

I’m still doing Krav but on a different schedule. Enrollment dropped enough that we cancelled that class. Now we’re doing seminars every couple of weeks. I took and passed my P4 test. We need to start studying P5, but I’m kind of focused on my tourney prep now. I don’t know if I will progress beyond P5. I have an opportunity to take CIC 2, but I’m apprehensive.

So for now it’s just a ton of fencing and weight lifting.

There hasn’t been much to report.

The attendance in my Krav class tanked to the point that it wasn’t worth it to have regular classes. I’m looking forward to some seminars last month, but that was kind of a downer.

The good news is that I can fence more now (remember that Friday Knight Fights were keeping me from the only day per week that I could practice). I’ve held a regional SCA practice, and I’ve participated in fencing and conditioning with the UWF group (there’s lots of overlap). Fencing at UWF is great, but my SCA classes are poorly attended. I can’t help but wonder if I’m doing something wrong since my classes keep drying up. I have to remind myself that life gets in the way. I’m not necessarily a bad teacher.

There’s an SCA event coming up this weekend. I haven’t competed since MCA.

I’ve been hitting the gym with Nik – weight lifting mostly. He wants to go to the gym daily, and I tag along when I can. I was having trouble fitting workouts in with these ten-hour days. However, my job situation is about to change, so I’ll be able to (at least temporarily) devote more time to fitness.

I still take lots of walks on the beach.

I’m not doing yoga (my old yogi kind of spoiled me), but I have been taking acro classes here and there. I took an acro chair class and learned some neat poses. I’d like to do that and Lyra again. I’ve caught wind of a hand stand conditioning class, and I may try that out too.

I hate to boil down months of working out to a few short paragraphs, but it would be tedious if I didn’t. I will, however, brag that I worked out enough to earn my free movie tickets through my workplace’s employee fitness incentive program. One month of working out for at least 30 minutes per day 3 times per week gets you a water bottle; three months gets you a bag (this time – last time it was a pedometer); and six months gets you two free movie tickets. Last time I got the first two prizes but not the movie tickets because I lost my incentive sheet and didn’t know where to pick it back up (also I think I lost a week when I was sick).

Anyway, I have some changes coming up in my life soon – change in employment, going back to school, etc. – so I have no idea where my journey will take me. Literally I’ll still be in Pensacola, but aside from that, I’m not sure. I think we’re going to try to get a Krav class going again, and I’m looking forward to a new school year and recruiting new fencing club members at UWF.

I’m sorry I haven’t been updating. Part of my problem is that I don’t like typing on my phone, and I’m usually away from the computer when I remember my blog exists. I’ve been home from CIC for about a month now. The spring semester has ended. The summer semester has begun, and I’ve picked up some odd jobs. I have a new routine:

Sunday: SCA fencing (weather permitting)
Monday: Krav
Tuesday: gym after work
Wednesday: Krav
Thursday: walk during my lunch break
Friday: Friday Knight Fights (I’ll explain below)
Saturday: long walk on the beach (weather permitting)

I’m trying to do something active each day, but I’m also varying my level of activity. I know I can’t go hard every single day. I also know that now that I’m teaching Krav instead of practicing, those days aren’t as demanding as they used to be.

The weather has been lousy (or there have been events or holidays), so I haven’t been able to fence much. I think I made it to one fencing practice after CIC, and I spent most of my time doing long sword drills, not sparring. I’ve barely touched my rapier, and I’m not happy about it.

I also got sick last week and couldn’t eat much, making me very weak for a few days. I think that this week is the first time I’ll really get into my routine (only to have it change abruptly for the holiday weekend). 

So now that I’ve gotten the complaining out of the way, let’s talk about the fun part: Friday Knight Fights. Nik and I have acquired a new entertainment job. We now do a “medieval show” that consists of us doing three full contact long sword bouts in armor (tournament style). It’s a lot of fun and very challenging. We still have some issues to work out with our armor (I can’t see out of my helm, for example), but I already love it!

At any rate, assume no news is good news, but I’m going to try to be more diligent in my updates.

CIC – The Return

Now I’m standing at the other side of Civilian Instructor Certification, and I don’t know where to start as I try to describe it. I can’t give you a play-by-play of each day, but I do have some milestones to share.

Day 1 – I met my classmates and the instructor. I was nervous but excited. We began by taking a moment to introduce ourselves to one another before jumping into physical activity. CIC involves a lot of review, but by the end of the day, we were sparring using whatever we knew (not just what we’d re-covered in class). We also did some pretty demanding circuit training. At the end of the day, I felt like I had a handle on what was expected of me, and the next nine days, while daunting, looked attainable.

Day 3 – I felt AWESOME at the end of the day. My body had acclimated to the demands I was putting on it. Waking up early, working out for eight hours, and crashing out at home was becoming the norm. Here are the chronicles of my bruises from Day 2 and Day 3.

Day 2 – inside and outside defense using the arms.

Day 3 – defense against kicks using the legs (with shin guards)

Day 4 – I cried. A lot. Some of it was adrenaline, some was frustration, and some of it was the good old fashioned shock of being punched in the face. Regardless, I got up on Day 5 and went back.

Day 4 – The Crying

Day 5 – The Triumphant Return

Day 7 – After class we all went out to eat together. I’d hung out with some of my classmates at lunchtime or during short breaks, but this was the first time we were all in one place outside of class. I listened to the conversation at the table go from being full of lulls to being full of jokes and laughing.

Day 8 or 9 – Our instructor acquired a drone and used it to film us fighting outside. Words don’t describe how badass it is to be filmed by a drone fighting outside of a warehouse.

Day 10 – Test Day. It was a grind. We tested levels P1-P4 (the P is for practitioner, if you’re playing the home game) and then did various fighting drills (3 on 1 with pads, eyes closed 1 on 1 reaction drills, ground work drills, 4 on 1 defending drills, and 1 on 1 light fighting). We ended with a fitness test (50 squats, 50 pushups, and 50 situps in any order). At one point I was so exhausted I was crying while fighting, and I didn’t even care. I remember fighting with my friend, and while we were hitting each other, we were also saying (through our mouth guards) “You got this. We’re almost there. You’re killing it.” I was the last one to finish the fitness test, and I got up to the sound of my friends cheering me on. I made it.

Day 10 – I passed!

I didn’t score high enough to earn my P4 rank, but I did score high enough to get a P3 rank. I already have my P3, so I didn’t get a new patch or certificate or anything, but it was gratifying to see that I was where I was supposed to be.

After it was all said and done, the instructor took me aside, asked me how I was doing, and told me that I’m on the right track. I have detailed feedback from my test, and I’ll use it to fix my mistakes as I continue my training.

I’m not sure what’s next. There is a CIC Part 2, but I don’t know that I can get the time off or the funds to go in June (plus I don’t think my body is ready). I want to progress, but I’m not sure how. In the meantime, I’m going to keep on keeping on – practicing, teaching, and working out.

CIC 1 – The Departure

Michael and I leave for Indiana tonight after work. My bags are packed; I just have a few “last minute” items waiting to go into my bags. Most of my stuff is waiting by the front door. This is happening!

The plan is to get in late tonight / early tomorrow morning and spend Thursday getting settled in and orienting ourselves to the area. Friday is the Big Day.

Starting weight: 178.4 lbs. We’ll see how much comes off during ten days of near-constant activity.

I’ve been too busy to blog. Let’s look back on the past week and a half.

Last week was Spring Break. I spent Monday morning at the beach, where I resumed my walks to the pier and back. That night was Krav practice with Eddie. He couldn’t stay late to work with me, but it was good to have him there for practice since he sees nuances that I don’t.

On Tuesday I went to the gym with Nik. We lifted (arms) and did cardio.

Wednesday was another beach day (with a walk). Michael was back at practice that night, so after teaching, we had some time to work on P3 and higher skills.

Thursday was another gym day with Nik. We had chest and shoulder day and then did cardio (I think – I’m getting my days mixed up, but I know I went twice last week). That night I went to a fun and challenging Beach Body class with Eddie and Kita. That was definitely a full body workout!

On Friday I tagged along to the beach partially to enjoy my vacation and partially because I needed to fill out paperwork for my new job. I did a lot of walking that day.

Saturday was my first day at my new old job. I’m a pirate again, so I get to spend a couple hours on the weekend doing stage combat and playing games with kids. I have second shift, so I still get to hang out at the beach and go for my long walks in the mornings.

On Sunday I helped at a Krav seminar Eddie and Kita were running on my side of town. Then I picked up Nik and headed to the park, but we didnt fence. We planned to get some cardio in, but the gym was closed, so we took a Poke-walk instead.

This week I was back to the grind at work, so my routine is back to normal.
Monday: Krav
Tuesday: cardio
Wednesday: Krav

I’m gearing up to do the P3 test with Michael in a couple weeks. I’ve already passed, but I’ve been asked to do it again. I didn’t ask why. I’m happy to have the practice and confident that I know the material.

I’m getting a little overwhelmed at work. It’s been a struggle to work out when I’ve been unmotivated, but I know those are the days that I really need to get up and move.

I’ve been too busy to blog. Let’s look back on the past week and a half.

Last week was Spring Break. I spent Monday morning at the beach, where I resumed my walks to the pier and back. That night was Krav practice with Eddie. He couldn’t stay late to work with me, but it was good to have him there for practice since he sees nuances that I don’t.

On Tuesday I went to the gym with Nik. We lifted (arms) and did cardio.

Wednesday was another beach day (with a walk). Michael was back at practice that night. He downloaded a workout from Sound Cloud: a professional fighter called out combinations for us to do on the heavy bags. We did 3- minute sets for about half an hour.

Thursday was another gym day with Nik. We had chest and shoulder day, but I think I skipped cardio (I’m getting my days mixed up, but I don’t have any aerobic activity logged in my Fit Bit that day). That night I went to a fun and challenging Beach Body class with Eddie and Kita. That was definitely a full body workout! I have no idea why the Fit Bit wouldn’t log it.

On Friday I tagged along to the beach partially to enjoy my vacation and partially because I needed to fill out paperwork for my new job. I did a lot of walking that day.

Saturday was my first day at my new old job. I’m a pirate again, so I get to spend a couple hours on the weekend doing stage combat and playing games with kids. I have second shift, so I still get to hang out at the beach and go for my long walks in the mornings.

On Sunday I helped at a Krav seminar Eddie and Kita were running on my side of town. Then I picked up Nik and headed to the park, but we didnt fence. We planned to get some cardio in, but the gym was closed, so we took a Poke-walk instead.

This week I was back to the grind at work, so my routine is back to normal.
Monday: Krav
Tuesday: cardio
Wednesday: Krav

I’m gearing up to do the P3 test with Michael in a couple weeks. I’ve already passed, but I’ve been asked to do it again. I didn’t ask why. I’m happy to have the practice and confident that I know the material.

I’m getting a little overwhelmed at work. It’s been a struggle to work out when I’ve been unmotivated, but I know those are the days that I really need to get up and move.