An overdue update

So...it has been two months, unbelievably, since I last updated this blog...perhaps the 'quickest' two months of my life. As expected time seems to speed up, it is now 2012, Olympic year, and life is certainly very busy.  The World Cup season has started and we are nearing the end of the qualifying tournaments.  This blog is going to take the form of a diary so that you can see what I've been up to in the run-in to February.  

December

After returning from a good result in France it was back to training ahead of the UK National Championships.  The Nationals, happening in December as opposed to their usual summer date were a well run event and the Finals Hall was particularly impressive.  So too was my fencing in the poules as I came through what was a tricky group, recording several 5-0 victories as I had in St Jean, to be seeded #1 for the direct elimination stages.  I was given a bye through the first round and then beat club-mate Joe Nickel 15-0 in the last 32.  Unfortunately I started slowly in the next round and was edged out in the last 16, a great disappointment considering how well I had fenced previously.  I believe that the staging of this event at this period in the calendar is much better for the elite athletes as it fits with our periodisation, rather than occuring in the summer off-season; however the attendance at the competition was a little disappointing presumably because of the festivities around Christmas.  

There was no rest after the Nationals as later that week I was off to Grantham, back to the army barracks to eat army food in the cold for a five day preparation camp ahead of the new season.  The camp went really well as I continued my good form and continued to develop some new things I have been working on.  On returning home I did not rest until I had a couple of days away over New Year with friends, which was a short refreshing break before the jet-set began again in earnest.  

January

During January I was lucky enough to spend a week and a half at INSEP, the French National Training Facility, training with their centralised and funded squad of c.15 athletes.  It was a fantastic sparring opportunity and has really assisted my development.  Coupled with the first week I spent there, I competed in Strasbourg, a joint French and German ranking competition, in which five members of the world's top 16 were competing.  Again, I fenced well, losing two in the first round poules to Lopez (FRA) and Apithy (BEN) and continued this in the direct elimination fighting my way into the last 32.  There I fenced Lamboley (FRA) a finalist in last year's Budapest Grand Prix and a quality opponent.  Unfortunately for me, I snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and when tired, got stuck and lost 14-15 from being in a winning position of 11-4.  Although the loss was a shock, I was pleased with how I fenced overall and just needed to get over the line.  Later in the month I returned to INSEP for half a week training with the German as well as French teams.  

February

The month has started with the annual trip to Plovdiv, Bulgaria.  In all honesty the competition passed me by.  I think the stress of the occasion got to me slightly and I didn't perform.  Certainly I did not fence to the levels I expect of myself and watching my performance back on video was like watching someone else.  However, there were good lessons to learn, which I have done and I have now moved on and am looking forward to heading out to Padua, Italy tomorrow for the next World Cup.  We are now away every other week so there is not much time to adapt and reflect, instead a constant switch of focus is required.  Of course leaving Bulgaria is never easy (see my blog here) and again it was not this year as we were snowed in at Sofia Airport and had to stay an extra night. Also, whoever decided to schedule a World Cup competition on the outskirts of Venice on Valentine's weekend needs their brain checked, but these complications occur in life.  What I need to do now is put the distractions aside, focus and get the job done.  Here goes....

In Bulgaria

'When you are at your deepest, there is always good luck on the roads in Bulgaria'.  

An old proverb (perhaps) that we were told two years ago now, somewhere on the road between Sofia and Plovdiv. 

Two years ago, after the conclusion of the Grand Prix event in Plovdiv, the British team, a couple of Germans, including world number one Nicholas Limbach, the Belgian team and a couple of Poles were squeezed onto a rather old bus to make the journey to the airport in Sofia, approximately a two hour drive.  The problem was in this instance that the bus was not very reliable and the driver did not speak a word of any language other than Bulgarian. The first half hour as we navigated out of the city and onto the motorway was fine, but then the bus began to break down with increasing regularity and every couple of kilometers we were cruising onto the hard shoulder with the engine having cut out.  The bus consumed all the available water the passengers possessed and a roll of duck tape that the Belgian fencer had but the problems still continued.  Soon we managed to stop at a petrol station, where driver fed the engine a couple of litres of coolant and we discovered that the nearest taxi station was approximately 50-60km away.  After another couple of stops it became apparent that making our flight was in real jeopardy as the bus pulled into a rest stop at the roadside.  It was at this point that, led by the German coach, we started making alternative travel arrangements.  The Poles managed to jump into a lorry cab, one of them spoke Russian, and the British managed to fit into two cars, one a taxi with only one passenger heading to a flat in Sofia and thereafter the airport, and the other a family who had been visiting their son and were driving near to Sofia.  Somehow, crammed into the back of these cars, with our fencing bags on our laps we made it to the airport in time to make our flight and we were told the above proverb, whatever it may mean!

This season our first tournament was in the town of Plovdiv, somewhere in central Bulgaria, and fortunately our transportation was much more reliable.  The same German coach commented last year that Plovdiv was 'the best Grand Prix', something we initially laughed at but perhaps have come to agree with.  The venue is spacious and light, the hotel is good and only a 200m walk, including facilities such as a swimming pool (not that I've ever used it) and everything you might need is close by including Happy.  Happy is a restaurant chain I have only found in Bulgaria.  The waitresses uniforms are 'interesting' and the menus of the picture variety. Culinary delights include Grandma's Meatballs, and Happy Bits with processed cheese.  Having said that the food all tastes fine and everything is quite cheap, although rather like a Wagamamas the food seems to arrive when its ready, so salad arrives with potatoes and once you have finished, the meat comes, or as happened to one of my teammates his starter arrived after his main-course.

In the competition I sadly did not enjoy the same good luck as we might have found on the road.  My poule was tough, described by a couple of my teammates as the 'poule of death' and unfortunately I was only able to win one fight and was thus eliminated before the direct elimination.  Having said that, there are no easy fights at this level and in my mind no poule that is harder than another; the simple fact is you must compete for each point with the same effort and the fights are there to be won.  Being critical I probably rushed a little and was a little nervous, however in parts I fenced very well.  Despite the disappointment of not performing how I expected I would, the competition was still good and certainly encouraging for the next World Cup event in Italy, in two weeks time.  There I hope to hit top form after another couple of weeks training and start achieving the goals I have set myself this year, setting up my bid to compete in London, next year.