So, I haven't really been writing about my new hobby (or old hobby -- I fenced foil and saber for a couple years when I was about 10-12 and took it up again this past october). But I think I'm going to start trying to post about it, mostly so I can track myself a bit.

Tonight was a good night, which was nice because last week was pretty bad; both nights last week my shins hurt too much for me to finish footwork, and I was pretty low-energy for my bouts. Monday I actually think I was dehydrated and had to stop before I passed out. Anyway, tonight we did a little tournament, to rank people for the men's foil team, but all men were invited to join in.
In the round robin I took one bout, against Andy, 5-1. We had practiced earlier and were even, but this time I think the difference was I took the attack to him and had some good feints and a couple of extended lunges. I lost to Trip 5-4; he went up on me quickly with those fast flick-attacks of his, but I realized I was better off attacking than letting him come to me and caught up at 4-4. A couple of those were deeper lunges or redoubles that caught him flatfooted. Michael beat me 5-2, which is not bad considering last time we fenced I think he shut me out. He's deceptively fast, but I think I got one or both of those points off of going deep on the lunge and kind of ducking down. Ben the lefty beat me handily. And George trounced me in a blitzkrieg.

In the elimination, I was seeded 10th of 12 and was up against Colin (another lefty). I went up 5-1 on him to start; not sure what I was doing, but some attacks with feints and disengages. I got him a couple of times on his left flank. Then he caught up and we were even up to 9-9 and the break. After that though he ran away with it and finished it 15-10 or 15-11. Still, he's another person who I think shut me out last time we fenced, and he's young and fast, so that felt pretty good.

Energy level was good. I was pretty winded after some of the bouts but did not have major foot or arm problems. The time to rest between bouts was enough to keep me going, though I was wearing down as we went. I'm proud of finishing the tournament (and a 15-pt match) without totally wilting.

A couple of keys tonight I think were going on the attack. My instinct is to hang back, try to get them to attack and parry/riposte. That works against other beginners, but a lot of these guys are too fast for me to make that work. So better sometimes to attack them and try some deception. Doing regular lunges then a long deep one worked several times too.