Chez Salle Auriol

Back to Salle Auriol after watching the Winter Open fencing events. Boy do I have a long way to go. I missed the footwork portion of the night, but had the chance to fence a few more epeeists. I learned a few things from watching others at the winter open, and did a little better against some people that I had fenced before, but I still seem to be having the same weaknesses that I had before. As always, George gave me some pointers, and fencing with Anne Telles is always a pleasure - both are left handed by the way. George and I actually did some pentathlon bouts to try out the one touch thing. For a old guy, he sure has a lot of tricks...he ended up winning again. But at least I know where my opportunities are.

What a week!

Wow...I've had quite a busy week. So busy I didn't even have time to make any entries into this journal! I was housesitting for the Robbins through Thursday, so it took a little more planning to get everything done. Had the usual schedule, fencing at Salle Ariol on Monday, riding on Wednesday and Wallingford Fencing on Thursday. I took Tuesday and Friday off, just to catch up with myself a little. Tuesday was especially nice as I was able to enjoy the Robbins' house which is situated along Lake Washington. Nothing spectacularly different about my training during the week. I had some fun doing obstacles with Pet on Wednesday...he got a little excited several times and was ready to go up to gallop rather than a mere canter after going over the obstacles.

I did attend the Western Washington Division Winter Open fencing tournament here in Seattle. I got close to competing, but since this was my first time attending a fencing tournament of any kind, I decided not to compete so that I could learn about how the whole thing proceeds, watch how others warm up, learn about scoring...just soak it all in basically so that next time I can focus on my fencing. I scored for the mixed epee event, which was a great opportunity to watch others fence, including my coach, Greg. On Sunday, I scored a little for the women's epee event and also learned a lot.

No Yoga, but other good stuff

I wasn't able to go to yoga this morning as I had a retreat with the YMCA Earth Service Corps Community Advisory Council group to prepare for the big Partner with Youth fundraising campaign coming up. I always look forward to this retreat as I get a chance to really catch up with some good friends, get a little sole food and lay out plans for another successful fundraiser to help YMCA programs. Outside of it being a major success for our group in planning and strategy, I also took away some things that will help in my pentathlon training. Particularly, it was the ropes activity that was really valuable for my. The activity was a low ropes activity, but still the teamwork, the ups and downs of trying to complete a difficult task and the ultimate success at the end really bumped up my confidence a lot and helped me to appreciate the challenges that face me ahead. The road to the 2004 Olympics will definitely reflect what I experienced on the ropes and I realize it will only be with the support of many people - coaches, family, friends, supporters and sponsors - that I will be able to succeed.

Here comes the run again

Didn't do any training today as Fridays are scheduled to be a running day and I'm still waiting to get some orthotics. But...I did see doctor today for a physical and got the referral to see the podiatrist that Wendy suggested. Soon, I'll be back in those running shoes.

A bit of biathlon

Started the night by stopping by Greg's to learn how to put my epee together. I'm still at the apprentice level for a while, but with some tools and a little workshop at my place, soon I'll be putting together and tweaking my own weapons with the best of them. The bell on my epee is just way to shiny, so I look forward to breaking it in. I'm going to have to start thinking of some good names for my weapons. After Greg's I headed out to Issaquah to start my shooting adventure. Wendy invited me to tag along to a shooting range to meet her shooting coach, Jim, who helps here train for her biathlon events (both winter and summer). Its been quite a long time since I've picked up a gun of any sort (I used to shoot when I was younger back in Nebraska and New Mexico), so it was great to start looking into options for my shooting training. We went to a shooting range in Issaquah. I watched the biathletes do their thing with rifles and talk to Jim a little about getting some coaching in the pistol portion of the pentathlon. As soon as I get a pistol I'm all set to go. The biathlon looked pretty interesting too, particularly the summer version, but I need to stick to my guns (pardon the pun) if I'm going to get my pentathlon events up to a competitive level quickly.

To run or to ride...that is the question

Tonight I went to watch some competitive runners, including some Olympic contenders, train at Greenlake with Wendy. I did get some pointers on form from Wendy on a few of the runners, but most of the group had decided to run around the lake rather than the track so I didn't get to see a whole lot of styles. BUT...I did run into Mike Jones, a fellow that Allen at Salle Auriol had suggested I get in contact with regarding pentathlon since Mike had competed in the event in the past, is in the area and might be willing to be a resource/mentor. What a great surprise to run into Mike here. I plan on getting together with him to get some his wisdom about the event and hopefully a little coaching here and there. Since the runners meet on Wednesday, I may look into changing my riding schedule around a bit to accommodate doing some training with the group...and Mike.

Have epee, will fence

Went to Wallingford fencing tonight since I plan on starting some shooting on Thursday, my usual night at Wallingford. The usual agenda, and I'm glad to say that my basketball is getting a little better. Greg didn't arrive until the end of the night, so I spent a lot of time fencing Sam, one of the club juniors, since she is the only other epeeist at the club right now. Sam just came back from a juniors event in which she won a bronze metal. She was pretty tired, so we didn't do any intense fencing, but we figure out how she could overcome my long arms and got some great wisdom from Steve about strategy in epee. My lesson with Garik went well, but I still need to do better in my footwork and concentrate on the present more than strategizing too far into the future. Greg arrived with a few things he purchased for me from the vendors at the competition (glove, electric cord, bib, etc.) and we made plans to put my epee together on Thursday...my first electric weapon. Soon I'll be ripping up and down the fencing strip.

An eye for epee

Back to Salle Auriol. Weren't too many people around as most are still off at a competition over the weekend in South Bend. So I watched Allen, one of the maitres at Salle Auriol, teach an epee lesson. I learn a lot from doing this and was able to get some good visuals and new attack sequences. I then fenced George for a while. For an older gentleman, he sure does fence pretty good and he has a lot of great advice. Next I fenced John who definitely had some new moves and a lot of experience. I also watched Johns epee lesson with Allen and learned quite a bit more. I think this will help me get an eye for watching other fencers, as well as material to improve my own fencing.

Foiled again

Went to Wallingford again tonight. Started with basketball again, I'm getting a little better. There wasn't anybody around to fence epee, so I ended up doing a lot of foil. I think the epee has improved my confidence and strategy a lot as I felt much more in control of what I was trying to do in foil. It was a little hard getting back into foil mode. After drills I did a little electric foil with some people I've never fenced before. I was humbled pretty quickly. I look forward to going back to epee on Monday. One of the juniors at Wallingford, Sam, may be interested in doing pentathlon too. Her mom wants to wait until her legs have stopped growing before she starts doing a lot of running though. So it looks like there may be a couple juniors starting up in pentathlon soon (including the student Laura has in her pony club). Greg (one of my fencing coaches and the guy who leaves all the bruises on my chest and arms) is off to a major competition this weekend. He may get a chance to get me some electric epee equipment since all the vendors show up to the tournaments.

Obstacles ahead

Tonight I made my first steps towards jumping!!! Laura (who we now refer to as "she who sits on heaters") set up a couple poles on the ground in the shape of a big V on one side of the barn so that I could do a figure 8 pattern. I did several rounds of the figure 8s at a trot, then went up to the canter. The problems I had with Pet taking tight corners at the trot magnified doing the figure 8s at the canter, so I really had to concentrate (not always successfully) on keeping my balance back in the saddle and keeping Pet in wide circles. I also need to work on using my outside aids more to send signals, rather than inside aids. I had a few good rounds, and many more "naryly" ones as Laura put it. But you have to start somewhere. There were a couple times when I had a bit of a 'jump' feel to it and these were pretty thrilling...I like.

Wise Wendy at Salle Auriol

I officially joined Salle Auriol tonight. For now I'll fence there one night a week and one night a week at Wallingford. Salle Auriol has an epee group that meets on Sundays, so I'll try to start attending that session as well. I fenced several new people tonight...well at least new for me. The first was an "A" fencer that's been fencing for over 10 years. I got several touches, but more importantly got some good advice and he commented on my good footwork after we were done. Wendy (my running and swimming coach) came to watch me fence and had some really good advice regarding balance and made some comments on what she saw as 'my strategy' and how I could improve upon it. For not having a fencing background, her comments were right on target; she noticed many of the issues I had been working on with Garik the previous Thursday. She also echoed some comments that Dr. Goodwin made about the psychology of competition. The second fellow was also a well seasoned epeeist. I put Wendy's comments, and a few from Garik, into action and actually did quite well with several well placed touches, while staying relaxed but responsive. I can tell Wendy is going to be great for all around cross-coaching. I'm scheduled to start some running, swimming and shooting coaching with Wendy next week.

First epee lesson

Went to the Wallingford Club to do some footwork and take my first lesson ("pyerviy urok" in Russian) with Garik. We started with the usual game of basketball and then some agility games. I'm still a little sick so I was huffing and puffing pretty hard by the end of this. Greg let me borrow his epee again, so I was able to do the weapon work with an epee. The urok with Garik went well. I need to work on a wider stance with my feet for better balance in epee and keep my position 6 arm extended more for better defense in epee. Epee is such a different feel and strategy than foil...I have a long way to go. Still kind of sore from the half moon yoga pose on Tuesday too (don't know why, the position should have affected my legs more...but you know how yoga is crazy sometimes), so had a tough time keeping my shoulders and arms relaxed.

Hey, nice canter

Pet was responsive very quickly tonight. I was doing leg yield pretty right off the bat. He gave me a little trouble when I switched directions, but we continued to do really well, even into the canter. Canter is going really well and Laura proclaimed that I'm ready to play polo. I fear I may end up signing some agreement not to participate in dangerous activities (e.g. skiing, climbing...polo!), but I still would like to do some clinics to be able to fill in or something. I'll be hanging out at the Tacoma Polo Club again this spring and summer, so we'll see. We lowered my stirrups a little to see if it would get my post to be a little more forward rather than upward and this seemed to work. I wasn't in the jumping saddle, so I'll have to wait until next week to see if this works in that saddle too.

Yoga me

Went back to yoga for the first time in quite a while. We worked a lot on the hip and pelvis area. Did some baby pose and then got into the half-moon pose and a little pair work. I am still looking forward to developing a regular routine that I can do on my own.

Cinderella

I took one of my fencing shoes into Dr. Goodwin (my chiropractor) on last Friday to look into getting some orthotics. Of course, I left there. I made arrangements to pick it up tonight when I went in for my adjustments and as Tom walked into the room - with my shoe - he simply said "Cinderella". Great, what a reputation to start off with :-)