How far will you go?

[Li'l Bebe]

How far have you pushed yourself in a tournament (or practice)? Dizziness? collapse? vomiting? Did you keep fencing after or call it quits?

[bunbury]

I died once.

[Beowulfman6]

If you count trail running as "practice" then to severe heat exhoustion/mild heat stroke- it sucks. I alwayse call it quits when it gets too hot now. I try to listen to my body so I can stop before I puke all over the strip or have another heat emergency. One can say "no pain no gain" and push on through the pain all day, but the fact is that we all have our limits and they can only be pushed so much at a time before your no longer training, but actualy hurting your performance.

[Beowulfman6]

Originally Posted by bunbury

I died once.

my condolences.

[D+F+P=Hadouken!]

I went too hard during a conditioning session, and ended up throwing up twice, crawling out of the gym because my legs hurt so bad, and finally passing out under a tree on my way home.

[Beowulfman6]

Originally Posted by D+F+P=Hadouken!

I went too hard during a conditioning session, and ended up throwing up twice, crawling out of the gym because my legs hurt so bad, and finally passing out under a tree on my way home.

Yep, you only do that so many times before you wise up. I love to push my limits, and I have a history of pushing too much. Good training is all bout balance and understanding your body's limits.

[CvilleFencer]

I have a fairly bum leg and have been told by a couple of doc types that I am stupid for fencing competitively. Of course they were wimps... I tend to blow my leg out about once every six months. I will try to fence two weapons back to back or just land wrong on a fleche or overextend a lunge and I will be layed up for a week or so. Just the price of doing business to me. Any sport I have ever done has had the potential for injury and my problem with the leg would exist in any sport I would have an interest in doing except for maybe competitive shooting (and even then I tend to like to run practical pistol and rifle courses).

Not counting the leg thing, I once managed to herniate a disk in my back while fencing (I fell really weird...) and no, I did not keep fencing! Other than that, I once was fencing a tourney about 4 days after I had my weapon wrist slashed in an "industrial" (crazy story only told after copious amounts of beer...) accident. My opponent in the round of four was beating into my wrist pretty hard (flat mostly) and busted some of the stitches. I won that one and kept going into the final even though we had to stop the bout at one point cause blood was seeping through my jacket and glove onto the strip. That was a little disconcerting to some of the spectators...

[erooMynohtnA]

Originally Posted by D+F+P=Hadouken!

I went too hard during a conditioning session, and ended up throwing up twice, crawling out of the gym because my legs hurt so bad, and finally passing out under a tree on my way home.

Maybe you should cut down on the hard liquor if you're going to be working out.

[MyrddinsPrecint]

I fenced epee all day with mono. I mean the part of mono where not only was I tired, but I was still getting a fever sometimes. ... I'm pretty sure I was feverish that day. I was sick enough so that when I noticed that I was moving (really, at all) I would chastise myself, and try to convince my body to stop moving, rest, and let them hit me if it came to that. On and off all day, my eyes would lose focus. In the middle of touches.

I managed to fix two epees while on the verge of tears I felt so crappy.

The next day, profs sent me home from classes after watching me walk in.



And here's the thing.....................

I fence sabre.

I had benched myself the week before (I didn't even wait for my coach to make the call, I did it.), and was only fencing at all because an epeeist had injured herself.


..... I'm not terribly intelligent sometimes.

[akaiyuki]

Haven't really done anything insane -- partly, or mainly, because I'm lazy.

Hardest I've pushed myself was probably at a NAC after winning a few more DEs than I expected and kept fencing.

[Katman]

I went to fencing about three days after breaking the toe on my lead foot for the second time. I broke it both times while fencing. Boy, did I ever fix the habit that caused that.

Granted, I didn't go to the doctor either time. I only assume I broke it because I can't bend it any more. I've realized there's not a lot you need to bend your big toe for. I'll never be a professional ballet dancer.

Reading that about myself reminds me of Allan Evan's comment about fencers sometimes not making good choices the way a normal athlete would. We hurt ourselves and keep going regardless. There's a difference between fighting through pain and hurting yourself.

[RebelFencer]

My first semester fencing I went to practice after coughing up blood.

Another time I was pretty sick and had taken a few nyquil tablets (I'm very susceptible), I was horribly out of it in every way...but I had a lesson that night so off I went.

[melinchow]

i was fencing a guy in practice---he was losing and being a macho arsehole and decided it would be a good idea to ram his guard into mine as hard as he could to try to disarm me. tore the hell out of my wrist. i knew it was pretty bad and i should have stopped but i was so pissed at him that i kept going---i'm sure i caused further damage by not stopping. after that i had a lot of wrist pain and my middle finger didn't work right for about a year. i still have problems with my wrist if i over work it.

[Coldfire]

I hurt my hip while overlunging in sabre and didnt go to the trainer at our school like my coach told me to. A week later it still hurt and my coach needed me to fence foil as a sub. I probably should hae told him it was better for me to not fence but he needed someone (me) I took one for the team. Of course I had to be subbed in 3 times and I definately tried too hard and made my hip worse. Not the smartest thing I ever did but hey, we won the meet

[trazom]

My favorite story about pushing yourself is about a former clubmate. Part way through pools at a tournament, she fleched. This pool happened to be run on a raised piste. She fell off and broke her back arm. However, she was doing so well in the pool, that she decided to keep fencing in the tournament. She didn't want the trainer to see it as she'd then have to leave the tournament.

I think she took 3rd in the tournament that year.




Oh yeah... the tournament was Veteran World Championships.

[Coldfire]

Originally Posted by trazom

My favorite story about pushing yourself is about a former clubmate. Part way through pools at a tournament, she fleched. This pool happened to be run on a raised piste. She fell off and broke her back arm. However, she was doing so well in the pool, that she decided to keep fencing in the tournament. She didn't want the trainer to see it as she'd then have to leave the tournament.

I think she took 3rd in the tournament that year.




Oh yeah... the tournament was Veteran World Championships.

Thats dedication right there. It probably hurt a lot and going on must have been difficult, but when you have the motivation nothing can stop you.

[Sciurus-Rex]

Originally Posted by bunbury

I died once.

Feh! Nothing!
I died TWICE.

[jeff]

Originally Posted by bunbury

I died once.

Algernon. [Stammering.] Oh! No! Bunbury doesn’t live here. Bunbury is somewhere else at present. In fact, Bunbury is dead,

Lady Bracknell. Dead! When did Mr. Bunbury die? His death must have been extremely sudden.

Algernon. [Airily.] Oh! I killed Bunbury this afternoon. I mean poor Bunbury died this afternoon.

Lady Bracknell. What did he die of?

Algernon. Bunbury? Oh, he was quite exploded.

[lindajdunn]

I had two meniscus tears (an injury unrelated to fencing) and my doctor told me I had bursitis and prescribed an anti-inflamatory drug. My body did not like the drug and I had the worst case of heartburn EVER plus my throat swelled/became raw and I couldn't swallow. I went to the ER the night before the scheduled competition only because my family said that if I was too sick to do X, I was too sick to fence and thus I went to the ER to pacify them.

I was sicker than a dog the next morning, still couldn't get any food or liquid into my system and decided to NOT fence mixed sabre. I fenced women's sabre largely because this was my best chance to earn an E and there were 5 other sabre fencers. If I didn't fence, we wouldn't have the minimum number.

I did not fence well. I stumbled. I couldn't lunge. I resorted to PIL to slow down my opponents. I clutched my chest and doubled over a few times. I made it through the pool.

I won my first DE and then I started thinking, maybe I can make it.

I won my second DE and then it was me and Samatha, and neither one of us had yet earned an E. We were 14-14 and Samatha got the last point.

It was noted that the longer I fenced, the better I got. Adrenline will do that for you.

But the story doesn't end here. After my throat healed (12 days with liquid nutrition and no food), my leg grew worse. I asked the doctor if he could refer me to a physical therapist and she took one look and said, "hamstring injury." Whether I had this before or after the competition is debatable. The hamstring healed but the leg still hurt and I limped. I had an MRI before flying out to fence at the Summer Nationals. I finished 7th in the WSV50, finished near the bottom for DIA, and then got a call telling me I had two meniscus tears. I figured the leg was already shot and fenced DII and DIII. Two weeks later, I had surgery. Recovery is taking a long time.

Fencing? Of COURSE, I'm fencing. NAC C? Of COURSE I'm going. I've only done one competition since the surgery but it's going to take more than a bum leg to keep me away from a national competition. Besides, the PT said I can fence again... as long as I could deal with the disappointment of not fencing WELL.

Just point me towards the ice. I'll bring my own plastic bags.

[BrianH]

At a competition in 1995 I ruptured the long head of the biceps on my right (weapon) arm. The remains of that part of the muscle were on top of the short head and it looked like I had an enormous bicep. It hurt quite a bit, but I finished that bout and the next by holding my right arm up with my left hand. I scored a few touches, but lost the last two bouts. The arm still looks funny, as the doc I saw a few days later said repairs would involve cutting open the arm and stapling the tendon to my humerus.

I should have quit the bout and gone to the ER.