it's like the eye of a duck

And arguably the best. Among other gifts, D. got me 2 Enell sports bras for Christmas. They just arrived today, and I hooked myself in.

Damn! They aren't kidding about the no motion! I can't remember the last time I felt this SOLID up top! All the control/armoring qualities of canvas stays with none of the lacing-up hassle. Recommended - can't wait to see how it performs on the piste!

Alas, with holiday festivities it will be next week before I can test run it. But then, not so much with the "alas", as yay! New year's festivities....

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Related thought: in January I'll be starting my 7th year of fencing. It's so impossible to believe: both that I didn't pick up the sport before 2001 and that I still have so much more to learn!

I say that knowing that this past year has been the most strenuous physical training I've ever done in my life, with the promise/need for more.

This week's exercise was parrying attacks from extension (very close) distance. I have never been great at this drill, but an added twist made it ever so much more "special" this week - I'm attempting to do my bladework with a stiffer forearm.

My initial fencing training emphasized wrist/finger motion and sentiment du fer as a means of assuring tiny movements and keeping the point more or less on target for quick parries. However, at close range larger parries are needed so my coach V. encourages movement from the elbow.

This new approach provides a nice "block" at close range and will likely become even more valuable as I start working with (and against) absence of blade but as of now, I'm not there - moving the blade from the elbow is like moving a blade that's a foot longer than I'm used to, with all the attendant recalculations of getting the damn point back on target for ripostes.

It feels very strange and frustrating and I inadvertently keep backing up during drills because it feels too close.

On the up side if I can master this it will give my wrists a bit of a break - between sewing, typing and fencing it's a wonder my hands aren't two tight, gnarled knots :P

In addition to my physical game I've borrowed a copy of One Touch At A Time from B. to add to my mental game. It provides a lot of clinically tried evidence for what helps elite athletes get into the mental "zone" for optimum performance, and from what I can tell a lot of it would be applicable to almost any sport or pursuit. I'm actually finding that a lot of the advice to simultaneously detach from and go within the pressure is similar to what I read in Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway this past spring.

In addition to reading HP this weekend, I helped D. clean out the basement. To be fair, he did most of the heavy lifting; I did mostly sorting (keep, pitch, donate). By Saturday afternoon we had ~3-4 garbage bags each of trash and donations. D. also built some wire frame shelves for the unfinished part of the basement to better organize/access the kept stuff.

Pro: I can get to things again, particularly my ironing board and cutting table, and use them without having to shift piles of books, etc. Con: it pitched up a lot of dust/mold/whatever and I've been trying to clear up my allergic reaction itchy spots since :P

I'm also taking another hard look at my bookshelves and figuring out what can go on half.com because I'm never going to read it again and I really, really need the shelf space - not just for things I covet but for books I already have (!)

This morning we took the Cat Units to the Very Expensive Technician (V.E.T.) Spice complained loudly in the car that she felt fine and didn't need to go, and Kisia explained with hostility to the Technicians that feline royalty such as herself should not be manhandled in such an undignified fashion :( I don't like doing it because I can't explain to them WHY the white coated sadists are poking holes and prying their mouths open :( The good news is that they're in excellent health, the bad news is that we need to start "brushing" their teeth with enzyme toothpaste - this won't be fun for any of us :/

I'm trying to start a habit of doing a few "endurance" yoga postures (plank, side plank) and stretches (Cat-Cow, pigeon, upward facing dog) every day to help my back and work on balance, and these are all more challenging than they look. Especially the side planks.

Time to call my sister for the HP recap...

I've been a bit slowed down over the past couple of days because of my back.

Fencing longer and harder, plus lousy posture at my desk for the past couple of weeks has set pain creeping up the right side of my back. After starting off in my hip and bouncing between it and my shoulderblade it seems to have settled in my lower back.

Stretching and hot compresses haven't had much of an effect, but some squats (with lighter weights!) tonight seemed to have helped and I got a satisfying "crunch!" stretching earlier. Think I'll try a cold pack tonight.

Having whined thus far though, I have to admit that I was in more pain, more frequently back when I was working retail. I guess being in shape + not being on my feet on hard floors 8 hours a day makes a difference.

After much procrastination, I'm trying to full-heart my half-hearted weight program this week. One day for lower body, one for upper, midsection exercises sprinkled through the week.

Today: legs. Behold: stumptuousblog has an entry today on something called a goblet squat that the writer describes as being easier for those of us of the female persuasion (though I'll continue the knees-in-line-with-hips thing as well for fencing purposes).

Which in turn contains a link to squats and knee safety, which comes along at the perfect time because I've been wondering why my knees sound like popping corn with each squat.

'Nuff typing, more doing...

P.S. still need generalized "exercise" icon...

Not new, but news to me: I can now get Stumptuous.com's inspiring posts directly on my friends page through stumptuous and stumptuousblog!

I'm especially eager to try some of the What the...? exercises as I'm getting bored of my current workout.

Ever since I started exercising (semi) regularly, I've bitched about how crap my endurance is (one example). As I kept going on I started wondering whether some people aren't just inherently suited for one type of exercise or another - long, marathon-type activities or short, sprinting activities - myself being mostly suited for the latter, because I seem to burn out fast and modern fencing is, after all, largely short sprints while holding a weapon....

Conversations about this have revealed to me the existence of slow- and fast-twitch muscle fibers. D. says he first learned of this in junior high and I'm sure almost everyone else who has ever pursued a sport seriously has heard of this, but it was news to me! A hideous oversimplification of what's at the link: skeletal muscles all have some combination of slow twitch (slow/high endurance) and fast twitch (fast/low endurance) muscle fibers. Most people have more of one type than the other (I'm not even getting into medium-fast twitch muscles - look at the chart at the link).

There seems to be some confusion over whether one fiber type can be changed to another with training, or just how much influence the fiber combination has on actual performance, but it seems the only conclusive test of what proportion of fast/slow you have is a muscle biopsy.

Seeing as I'm not curious enough about this to get a needle rammed into my leg, I'm going to guess based on past experience that I'm mostly fast-twitch - my limit for fencing (both small, fast foil and heavy, precise rapier) tends to be about 2 hours before my technique goes to hell and there's little point in continuing. Hell, even standing hurts after only a couple of hours :(

So what to do? The first link seems to suggest that trying to be a "tortoise" when you're built like a "hare" won't work well and will likely ruin your hare-like strengths: in other words, I could work on my endurance only at the expense of speed/power, and would never build really good endurance anyway. On the other hand, the connection between muscle fiber type and performance isn't completely clear and it would be nice to be able fence without wiping out so fast.

No conclusions as yet, but I've found reading up on this to be fascinating.

LOONG time since the last update because I've not been nearly as active as I want to be.

Short version: cold weather + work = fewer walks outside. I really need to do more cardio. Right now it stands at at least 20 minutes on the exercise bike once a week followed by good intentions the other 2-3 days I want to do it :P

Slacked a little bit on weights; I get through both upper and lower body once every week and a half or so (as opposed to every week) - not great but still better than nothing. I've not increased the weight, but I am adding a few reps each time. My legs are noticeably, obviously more toned, so this at least rocks :)

Fencing: sorta. Did some half-hearted footwork this week, but weather/coach scheduling has been interfering so I haven't fenced foil in almost 2 weeks :/

Today an attempt to get back in the saddle (fueled at least in part by two heavy duty coffees this morning): some upper body, 20 minutes on the exercise bike, and some rapier drills (whoo, where did that come from!? Because if there's anything I've been leaving off, it's been the bladework. Someone smack me!). My grip is more sure and I attempted some giratas* without losing too much balance. I am reminded what a fine, handsome weapon a rapier is.

I think I might be itchin' for a fight - in the masked, gloved and chest-protected sort of way, of course :)

"Most commonly, a girata is performed by either stepping to the left with the right foot or by crossing the left foot behind the right one. The main drawback of these types of footwork is that the sword loses the “support” of the feet and body and can therefore be more easily pushed aside." From this glossary, which will hopefully clear up a few of my fencing posts.

Book saga finale: looked at the Serenity book, and am much impressed - but will wait on it, as a book that's been on my want list for over a year, 5000 Years of Chinese Costumes became available for around $50 (instead of the usual $100-150). I figure I'm paying less than a penny per year of Chinese costume, so that's a good buy, IMHO.

Exercise: getting back on the ab workout and haven't lost too much strength, which I measure by noting that my stomach doesn't feel like it's been punched after 25 crunches :P Also purchased a medicine ball so D. and I can play "catch" for reflex speed training. Discovered that I cannot jump rope to save my life! :P

Homework: owns me :/ Not harrowingly difficult but time consuming as hell!

Pirate coat: see bit about homework owning me! If I finish the practice exercises tonight I might indulge myself a little.

Televisual feasting: 'cos I've got to do something while I eat dinner :P Recommended: 2nd season "Veronica Mars" started with a big fat new mystery for her to chew on this season, and "Nightstalker" has one of the same writers as "X-Files" so it looks promising. "Smallville" - not as interesting as I'd hoped, but still watchable. All of these take a back seat when "Battlestar Galactica" comes back in January.

Time to go hit the books - again...

Today:

Spoiled self: This included a parrafin wax manicure/pedicure, which I've not done since probably last winter. Note to self: wax gets everywhere. Keep this in mind next time you try and dump the dregs into a small plastic bag :P

Movies: Caught part of "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" as D. watched. I am reminded what a horror 1980s hairstyles were - so frizzed and processed it's a wonder that any of us who lived through the decade has any hair left :P Still fun after all these years :) Ditto "Edward Scissorhands" - except poor Edward should probably have wound up with Winona Ryder's character from "Beetlejuice" - she was much more "him".

Maintenance: my first fencing glove was ratty and stiff from use/age, and my first thought was to scour Google Local for equestrian supply places to look for some sort of leather conditioner. D. pointed out that most sporting good stores have oils for baseball mitts (d'oh!) so he saved me a lot of time there :P Got the oil which hasn't made the glove any cleaner but certainly more supple! Also picked up gun oil (for cleaning/polishing swords/knives - I'm currently borrowing a rapier and I want to return it in as good a shape as when I picked it up).

Being that I'm not usually in a fairly extensive sporting goods store, I also picked up an exercise ball while I was at it. My aim is to improve my balance and use it as an inexpensive weight bench, but it will be awhile before I use it for the latter - even staying steady on the thing is an exercise in itself!

I'm intimidated by the busy week ahead, especially by my schedule Wednesday. I have an early pre-op physical for the surgery next week, and a work-related dinner/lecture after work, so I'm going to have to be "on" for 12+ hours solid with no early morning coffee to get me jump started :/