Went to practice last night with the hopes of tiring myself out enough to sleep. Unfortunately I worked harder than I really had wanted to and my neck and shoulder were killing me by the time I got home. I bouted Cari for quite a while (got 3 touches on her this time!) in foil, then took a break to try to rest my legs. April and I ended up bouting a bit (sabre), which was great 'cause I felt really good about my form. I had bought a lightweight sabre blade and weighted a weighted nut for my sabre, so it was nice to know that it felt better and I had better control with that blade as opposed to my other heavier weapons. After that, I got a mini lesson from April in foil. I got horribly frustrated because I was in the wrong distance, kept hitting flat, and wasn't following through. It is, however, less frustrating than it was back in April when I pretty much stopped fencing foil all together and focused primarily on sabre. By the time I got home, I hurt something fierce between my neck and my shoulders (mostly stemming from my neck - the weather change and cold weather killed me), so I ended up putting my gear together for the tournament today, took some pain meds, and went to bed.
I managed to get some decent sleep and met some club-mates to carpool to Baltimore. It was a really good tournament for me. Yes, I was DFL - as usual in foil - but like I told the B in my pool, I actually still enjoy losing in foil because I learn something.
Pools - I was in a pool of 7. First bout - lost 3-5. I think it was my 3rd or 4th bout I lost 2-5. I "DOH-nutted" the rest of my bouts due to a combination of rushing, bad distance, and hitting flat. In my last pool bout I pushed Tim back quite a bit, but at some point during the last touch, I did something to my right knee (dunno if I twisted it or what), so I was a hurtin pup by the time my DE came around.
DE - I got really annoyed at my opponent before the bout even started. I heard him laugh and say to the guy that was timing, "Fence to the mask." It annoyed me because we both have the same mask (except his has white mesh) and neither of us were seeded high at all. Not only that, but you really don't have to be an A to own an X-change. Why do I have one if I am a self professed horrible foilist? 1) They're safe. 2) I can hear. 3) Comfort. 4) When you sweat like I do, the extra air conditioning is really nice! 5) I kin of prefer having the same mask for both foil and sabre! lol. Anyways... Now, even though it annoyed me, it really didn't have any effect on my fencing. The first period I sucked. lol! My distance was COMPLETELY wrong! Half way through my ripostes I realized that I was both in the wrong distance and that the arm and head are NOT target in foil. By the break I was down 2-10 I think it was. Cari coached me at the break. Basically what it came down to was (and this is what I repeated back to her), "So I need to fence my sabre game in my foil DE while fencing foil?" Her reply: "Yup!" Well, I'll be damned if it didn't work! Ok, I still lost, but I don't care. I lost 9-15! And those were clean touches (at least they felt that way to me)! Cari said I did very well and that I should be very proud of myself. And I definitely am. I managed to have a good tournament and did really well in my DE - especially after having been able to take what Cari said and actually apply it. Unfortunately, at one point during the 2nd period, I parried my opponents tip directly into that wonderful little hollow spot on the outside of my knee. By the time my DE was over I was almost in tears 'cause it hurt so bad. Ended up wrapping it good and icing it down (along with about 600 of Advil and a half a Vicodin). The ride home was miserable. The drive back to my house was miserable. Very shortly here it's going to be time to put something in my stomach, take more advil, and hopefully sleep here on the recliner for the next 18 hours! With any luck, the knee will feel better by Monday when I go back to the gym.
Now, just out of curiosity...how is it that I end up coming out of foil tournaments and foil practice more beat up, bruised, and injured than I do when fencing sabre?! From the past week, I've got bruises on my legs, chest, arms, neck, and hand. Not only that, but I've had blood drawn a few times while fencing foil. WTF?! lol. Oh well. Next sabre tournament I'm scheduled for is in 3 weeks I think. I'm scheduled for 2 more foil tournaments, but I'm going to drop the Millersville tournament and keep the PSU. I'd like to be at the Y at least once that week, and since I don't get to fence the people that go to the D-lites as much as I do the people that go to the Friday Night Fights, I think I'll go to the D-lites. I also have to make some time to get out to FAP hopefully once before the end of the year and I should try to get back out to Leola a few times here as well. Oh well. One step at a time! Anyways, all in all it was a good day - even though I'm battered and bruised! Gym on Monday, YFC on Tuesday, Gym on Wed...at least that's the plan so far!