Two Weeks

[Mo]

It is two weeks before the biggest meet of your life. You have been training very hard and feel ready.
How do YOU finish off the last two weeks?

[D'Artagnan1673]

love that signature....

[pkt]

Mo and D'art,

There ARE water-proof mascaras.

PK

[MyraTrue]

wow... that changed to makeup discussions very quickly...

Mo- I guess I'd better contribute or not post. I guess my experience is limited, but the largest tournament I've ever fenced was prefaced by making sure I went running every day, layed off the college junkfood (or tried, but by God its hard near finals!), and got all the fencing time I could, even if it was footwork every day.

I'm afraid I'm one of those people that has always made things work with a piece of duct tape and some chewing gum. I'm always finding out "how its really done" and feeling backward.

Myra

P.S. waterproof mascara is harder to remove, and inclined to stay until you fence and start to sweat, and then it smudges all over. But I don't wear makeup... at least my club thinks I don't.

[Peach]

Week 1: Train hard and sharp, bouting to beat my opponents quickly and efficiently. Lose bouts to people I normally defeat. Put in long hours. Lumber about feeling as if my feet are attached to the wrong legs. Continue to lift weights and do my aerobic conditioning. Go off my diet. End the week with a tournament I don't care about. Do badly at that tournament. Feel like a doofus. Swear I am going to quit fencing.

Week 2: No lifting after Monday. No aerobic after Tuesday. No fencing at all. Lots of sleep, fluids, and good food. Win the tournament.

Afterwards: Take another week off.

Younger fencers will have a different routine.

Mascara always makes me think of Tammy Faye Bakker.

[pkt]

Tammy-Faye! What a dish!!!
Pass The Loot!

PK

[MyraTrue]

Peach, I so agree with the diet.

So tournaments are free food days- if you are working that hard, you can eat whatever you please. I just know some things sit like a rock when you fence. Ugh... why does my club like to drive 3 hours to stop at MacDonalds, then go fence? *turning green* As if the ride wasn't enough... *grumble* *Grumble* *Grumble*

[pkt]

Originally posted by MyraTrue
wow... that changed to makeup discussions very quickly...

...

P.S. waterproof mascara is harder to remove, and inclined to stay until you fence and start to sweat, and then it smudges all over. But I don't wear makeup... at least my club thinks I don't.

Myra,

Thank you for your primer on mascara for us poor guys.

This is one thing I have observed as an occasional visitor to the US of A:
American girls use a lot more cosmetics than their Cdn counterparts of the same age. This includes the girls in Montreal, arguably the best dressed girls of the continent. A lot of these young girls do NOT really need to wear make-up...

HK Chinese girls wear little make-up too.
China Chinese girls can't afford the make-up.

These're my observations as an old -art.

PK

[Zelda]

Week 1: train as usual.
Week 2: Lesson/s, maybe bouting, lots of lounging, consiously not thinking about anything to do with fencing.
Day before flight, check weapons, retape/reweight, pack bag, remember that I forgot to pack comp day snacks, so REPACK bag, find test weight under bed, so unpack again to pack it in the right place, zip up bag and attachment and remember that I have forgotten toiletries so shove them im a side pocket, go to bed totally exhausted.
Day of flight, leave hideously early as hobart airport works on never never time. Get on a plane and change in Melbourne for final destination (garunteed unless I am flying to sydney). Arrive at destination, either meet ride or find way to hotel. Collapse on bed, get energy up to put stuff in sack to go to weapons check.
Weapons check, have body wires fail.....fix bodywires, recheck. Drop off gear, think about dinner.....
Go back to hotel, wash hair, watch TV, text all my manic friends, order room service for breakfast (Toast and cereal). Get into bed after repacking bag for morning. Set both alarms.
Day of comp: Turn off first alarm, unable to find 2nd alarm. Roll out of bed when room service knocks. Eat b/fast, get dressed, trundle up to venue, fence heart out!

[MyraTrue]

PKT...

(Myra is asking herself WHY she is writing this post)

I make no claims about American women. I've been told often enough I don't fit the stereostype, and they perplex me as well. And hey, I didn't START the discussion about mascara, I just attempted to finish it.

For the clubs and universities I've fenced with (er... 7 to date?) I've only encountered ONE female fencer who wore makeup. There was a pair I'd see at local tournaments who had some of the worst attitudes and looked like they were in competition with each other for who could look more like Barbie- it was all about the curls and makeup.

And I will say no more about makeup... my foot belongs on the floor, and not in my mouth.

Myra

___________________________________
A woman is beautiful. Period.

[Zelda]

Hey Myra,
Your observations about makeup and fencing are quite accurate. I cant think of a single female fencer who I know who wears make-up while fencing, and even when they are not fencers seem to be on the lower end of amount of makeup worn. I put it down to the fact most fencers gain confidence in themselves through fencing and dont need to hid behind a patina of makeup to make themselves noticed!

[MyrddinsPrecint]

makeup would get really disgusting if worn while fencing...

and fencing ain't exactly a beauty pagent....


but i have been known to bring makeup to a tourny to put on after, if i knew i was going out with fencing friends afterwards....

and since i get eliminated before the rest of my friends, i have more time to put it on ; )

[MyraTrue]

Zelda, MP,
I felt a little guilty posting "female fencers don't really wear makeup" because I am emberassed to admit I'm wearing makeup today, for the first time in months. I think I agree that unless there is some occasion, most female fencers I know don't wear makeup.

And Hell-o, yes: Fencing is NOT a beauty pageant. Having short hair means I look like a rabid porcupine when I take my mask off. Makeup would make me look like a zombie porcupine!

I'm a bum at tournaments. I don't care if we ARE going somewhere nice afterwards. I bring the most comfortable clothes I can find (well, that are clean when tournaments roll around), and thats what you'll find me in. I'm enticed to growl when people comment, "hey, unlike so and so, *I* at least took a shower!"

Myra

[corinna2u]

I put it down to the fact most fencers gain confidence in themselves through fencing and dont need to hid behind a patina of makeup to make themselves noticed!

Zelda...I put it down to: makeup plus sweat plus last weeks makeup and sweat on mask equals very disgusting.

[broncofencer]

I personally don't wear makeup because i'm male but I have had to clean masks of a few who forgot and wore it to practice. and the mak is never the same. the same is true for men and Hair spray/gel.
As for the shower after screw it! I earned that stink and will keep it for the rest of the day. If we are going some place nice I will take the bandana off my head and perhaps comb my hair or maybe just put a hat on.

As for actual preparation
Week 1
increase tempo of workouts. Since most of us go harder at a tournamnet than at practice this helps get tthe body ready for the increase in tempo also drink lots of water this week I usually aim for a gallon a day

Week 2
light week no lifting. running for endurance only no speed work outs. lots of stretching go through all your gear early in the week in case something major breaks/rewire. I assume you have a predetirmend warm up to help calm nerves/warm up body before a tournament i usually try to do this twice a day. use rest of training time for meditiation and visualization there is a lot of research that says this helps and i am a big advocate for it. Day before I do walk throughs with a partner who is also going the present attack i decide what to do they react restart and swich all very slow working on mental aspects of strategy rather than physical stuff.

when I ran track my coach said in 2 days you start to lose results from your training it takes 4 days of hard practice to regain that level so try not to take to much time off.

[Peach]

Originally posted by broncofencer
when I ran track my coach said in 2 days you start to lose results from your training it takes 4 days of hard practice to regain that level so try not to take to much time off.

For a veteran fencer, everything I've seen and read suggests that any loss of training effect (especially in fencing, where physical strength and absolute speed are only one component of the mix) is far outbalanced by the positive effects of rest. I tried a week of rest before Summer Nationals and for the first time in years I had staying power and strength in both the IA and the Vet-50+ WS, and recovered without injuries. Yet my results were consistent--won the Vet event and placed 12th in the I-A.

[broncofencer]

I agree with you peach rest is very important and the speed and strength is only part of it as well less so in the senior and vetren age groups (note: this does not imply they are slow or weak).

I just wanted to put a caution out there because rest for you or I maybe more active than it is for some people due to different variables (work, family, other hobbies, etc.) you may not be fencing but you may not be "resting" either compared to how others interpret resting.n Which is why I say do your warm up during that week it should not take long and is familiar to you and since it is a warm up not that exhausting and if you want work your brain more than your body. mostly I am just saying avoid sleeping for a week before the tournament.

[Inquartata]

Originally posted by Peach
any loss of training effect (especially in fencing, where physical strength and absolute speed are only one component of the mix) is far outbalanced by the positive effects of rest. I tried a week of rest before Summer Nationals and for the first time in years I had staying power and strength in both the IA and the Vet-50+ WS, and recovered without injuries. Yet my results were consistent--won the Vet event and placed 12th in the I-A.

Plus, don't forget the Wilgus Effect!

[Peach]

I will also have a chance to test the Wilgus Effect in the beginning of October, when I return from my self-imposed fencing fast.

Though in my experience any absence from fencing results in a deterioration of my distance, followed by a return of the Frankenstein Feet.