August Updates
Hello! I know I say this every month but I can’t believe another month has gone by already.
Training has been going remarkably well, I know what it’s going to take to earn a gold medal in 3 more years and what I am doing here is going to get me there. My apartment is on the 5th floor so every time I enter or leave I sprint up and down the stairs. At first it was hard but after about a month 5 flights is pretty easy. I am going to start doing 2 sets every time now, and will build it to 4 or 5. Similarly I got some hand exercise tools that I can use while I work and have been working on the weak muscles in my hand on a daily basis. These two things together are already paying off with better cardio and recovery and not fatiguing during matches. I started going to pilates to target my muscle imbalances and weak areas as well.
We had a 7 hour training camp last week where I did 25 rounds of bouting instead of the usual 5-8 in competition and had no issues running the gauntlet, which represents a major milestone in my athleticism. After that we did 2 hours of conditioning and abs. I finished the day strong and was only mildly sore and wiped out the next day. So my ability to compete in 3-4 day competitions is nearly where it needs to be.
The coaching staff here are outstanding and have gone out of their way to integrate the para program into the gym. They make sure I’m fully included in everything. The conversations we have about what to do any why are completely different. Strategies often begin with “The world champion of Hong Kong does this” or similar, and we work to perfect the move. Or they teach me things I have seen my top competitors use against me and explain why they do it.
This really is an elite training program on par with what the competition in Italy and China have and I fully expect to win the zone in October 2026 and we will see what my competition performance does as I stack up the months here. My next event will be a North America Cup in Salt Lake City in October. It is right around where the new changes should be taking effect so we will see what happens! Either way by the end of the year I expect to be a totally different fencer on par with the top 16 people in the world.
