[Unofficial] 45 Year Old 15.93 Ao12

[Berd]

Remembering back to the race to sub-30 and sub-20 threads a few years ago I guess I attained sub 20 at a comparable time as others. Age did not seem to effect that progression.

I then reached a plateau at ~17.5 seconds and there I stayed for years. As for how I started improving again I, apart from practice ... I always tried to "Slow down and look ahead". However I did not really take into account I turned slowly anyway. If I did an average at look ahead speed and another as fast as I could turn, the speed average was coming out on top so I decided to work on solving as quickly as possible and holding on to look ahead for dear life!

It seems to work, where sub 15 Ao5's were rare, I now get a couple of them in each Ao100 as well as Usually getting a sub 15.5 Ao12.

Maybe its the TPS, maybe it trying to do something different and breaking the way I have subconsciously solved for the past few years. It could always be the daily Ao100 but with Ao100's at ~16.3 I am as determined as ever to get sub 15.

Thank you all for your comment they are much appreciated

I run a race to sub 15 thread if you want to race with us!

 

[Selkie]

I run a race to sub 15 thread if you want to race with us!

Thank you. I might well do that

 

[Logiqx]

I'll be there, and am also over 40. Years old that is... And I'm not sub-20. Yet...

Cool. I'm only sub-20 on a good day and I have no idea how the competition environment will affect my times. Hopefully it will be a good experience.

 

[Selkie]

Nice to see so many 40+ solvers around these days, certainly did not seem to be that many active ones a few years ago.

 

[moralsh]

I'm both over 40 and over 20s global average and have been cubing for about 3 years. I have been telling myself many things on those 3 years, "I won't be getting sub 20 ever, no matter how much I practice", "I should focus on look ahead", "I should Improve my LL" and many other things.

My perception is that I'm not improving but the data tells me I'm dropping at least a couple of seconds every year, so I've decided to keep at it while it lasts

I think that the only hard constraint for improving for older people is time. TPS and lookahead for a 10s solve with 50 moves are just 5, almost anybody has 5 TPS on some PLLs, but the time needed to practice enough to get there... that's a completely different animal.

I'll lower my focus on 15s, thanks for sharing and setting a goal for the sup 40 speedsolving community, I know there are faster people, but one step at a time!

 

[MarcelP]

I then reached a plateau at ~17.5 seconds and there I stayed for years.

I have been at the 20 secs mark since end of last year. And I have little to no improvement since then. Still I feel it takes less effort to get my 20 secs averages and I have more fast singles (some around 10, 11 and 12 secs on cam ). How much did you practice in that time? I mean while being at the 17.5 mark and not improving?

PS, Ron van Bruchem is my example (https://www.worldcubeassociation.org/results/p.php?i=2003BRUC01).. There are some fast old dudes..

 

[Selkie]

Whilst on that plateau I guess at the start I was probably doing half hour a day. Then for about 18 months I only solved casually, not even times but always a few solves a day or I would have lost a lot of my algs. Back on more practice per day where I try and do a AO100 3x3 and a Ao50 4x4 (Just breaking sub 1:10 overall on 4x4)

Plateaus can be really frustrating and I guess I have blamed age more than it really counts but the biggest thing for me is trying to break what feels like automated solving. If I just solve, I solve like I have for years. I really have to challenge myself when solving and constantly think "Look at the next pair earlier" and "Dont hold the cube too tight". I improve when I can keep doing that as strange as it sounds.

As for Ron Van Bruchem well you have just mentioned the cuber who has influenced me the most and motivated me Said it before but it is great seeing so many active sup-40's. Great to see you have caught some ~10 solves on film. Unfortunately of my 4 sub 10 solves, none of those are caught on camera but I am going to be doing a lot more filming now to use as self critique for improvement.

I have the confidence and motivation to get overall sub 15 but I know it will be another couple of years till I can shave another 1.3 seconds off my solves.

 

[dboeren]

As a 43 year old, it's good to see other older cubers. I'm just starting out learning Roux and sort of in an informal competition with our friend's son who is I think 10 years old. I got him interested in cubing and bought him a Zhanchi so he wouldn't have to use a store-bought cube but he can practice several hours a day if he wants to and I can barely scratch up 20-30 minutes after putting our 4-year-old to bed so I've got to be diligent. We'll both be going to the Atlanta competition next month but just as spectators for now.

Also, that is one loud clacky cube you've got

 

[4EverCuber]

I'm 43 and have been stuck around the 19-21 zone for roughly the past 3 years. My goal is to become sub 20 consistently. Like Newtonbase said, you give us all hope! Great job!

 

[Selkie]

Thank you all so much for your kind comments. I am delighted if my post is even slightly motivating to some, that is what a community with a common interest is all about. It would be hard to quantify the encouragement and help this community has given me over the years, only too happy to try and repay some of that, however small :tu

 

[mark49152]

Plateaus can be really frustrating and I guess I have blamed age more than it really counts but the biggest thing for me is trying to break what feels like automated solving. If I just solve, I solve like I have for years.

Yeah my average has been a steady ~18.5 for about 3000 solves now and I think part of the problem is that I've just been solving over and over. I'm trying to do more targeted practice, like blind cross and pairs, as well as more big cubes, just to shake up the routine a bit. Doing timed blind crosses I average about ~1.8 but in solves I know I take much longer because I'm not focused in the same way. Targeted practice makes these things stick better - so cross finger tricks flow better, it feels natural doing it faster, etc.

My max TPS is ~5 on PLL attacks. Although I drill algs a lot, my TPS barely improves and that is probably the biggest limiting age-related factor, for me. I know I will never turn at 10+ tps like the fast guys - maybe in another few years I might make 6 or even 7. Like you, I think I could potentially get sub-15 with a lot of practice but that is probably my limit.

 

[IRNjuggle28]

IMO I don't think age has that big an impact at this stage. Age will only affect TPS, but you don't really need TPS at this stage (or later, look at Edouard Chambon)

That's such an oversimplification! There is no stage where you don't need TPS. It seems obvious that you're better off being able to turn fast, and that being able to do so will positively impact your times. Turning fast can prevent lookahead, yes, but that's easily remedied by just choosing when to turn fast and when not to. If nothing else changed, having higher TPS will positively affect his OLL and PLL times; probably by over a second, and that's assuming that having higher TPS wouldn't improve his F2L, which it would. Having higher TPS would make him sub 15 instantly. The whole "turn slow and look ahead to be fast" idea is being taken way too far here.

You do have a nice solving style, Mr. Wright. The one big weakness I see in it is D moves, or lack thereof, during your cross. Several times, you used your whole hand to turn the D layer the way you would with L or R, instead of using your ring finger to do it. You also replace D moves with wide U moves a lot, and I think both of those things make your cross slower than it needs to be. Aside from your cross, the solves seem very fluid and very good! Your PLLs, especially the <R,U> algs, don't fit your description of having clumsy hands at all. They're quick. I'm either impressed by them, or jealous that mine aren't as good despite having gotten 11.xx averages, or both. I look forward to seeing you get sub 15.

 

[Selkie]

... The one big weakness I see in it is D moves, or lack thereof, during your cross. Several times, you used your whole hand to turn the D layer the way you would with L or R, instead of using your ring finger to do it. ....

Great observation! :tu You have spotted one of my biggest weaknesses, I am surprised my hate of ring finger D's did not show up more. The only A-perm looked quite fluid - far more fluid than is usual. Yes, I hate D's, I try and adopt algs without D's and have replaced a lot of algs that had D's in them. In fact I use a variation of the J perm and its inverse more for A perms than the D ones but the solve in the average with an A was just right for one to skip the AUF. I will even use left handed A's.

This leads onto another great weakness. Ordinarily drilling algs would improve TPS but I find drilling make my hands ache badly with little or no improvement to TPS. This seems especially true of trying to drill anything with D's.

A couple of years ago I wanted to quantify my TPS and compare with others and I thought the best way was to time my PLLs. I was surprised at the results. All algs were sub 2 with say 10-15 attempts at each so I guess I peaked at about 9 TPS for Y-perm. Easier PLLs like U's, Z, H, Ja, Jb were coming in at about 1.2-1.3 seconds This was quite surprising to be fair and perhaps questions the age arguement for TPS. That said I also believe age has a bearing on reaction times and certainly eyesight, especially in my case.

I might try and revisit drilling and see if I can find a method that does not include any pain

Just thought I would show a couple of example solves on other puzzles - This one is a sub 1 minute 4x4 Solve:-

Just thought I would show a couple of example solves on other puzzles - This one is a sub 4:20 6x6 Solve:-

 

[stoic]

Woah Selkie's back!
Good to see the 'oldies' keeping it real. :tu
(Don't think I got any faster since though)

 

[Logiqx]

You got me wondering how fast the over 40's have been in official competitions.

I've created a thread - How fast are the over 40's in competitions

 

[newtonbase]

As a 43 year old, it's good to see other older cubers. I'm just starting out learning Roux and sort of in an informal competition with our friend's son who is I think 10 years old. I got him interested in cubing and bought him a Zhanchi so he wouldn't have to use a store-bought cube but he can practice several hours a day if he wants to and I can barely scratch up 20-30 minutes after putting our 4-year-old to bed so I've got to be diligent. We'll both be going to the Atlanta competition next month but just as spectators for now.

Also, that is one loud clacky cube you've got

I'm with you on practice time. I get very little and there's always a chance of interruption. My cube is currently halfway through an abandoned blind solve as my one year old woke up.

I encourage you to compete though. Even if you come last it just gives you a target for next time. You might even surprise yourself. I did so at my only comp to date.

 

[Selkie]

A agree, competing is hugely motivating, at least to me. I have really missed competing the last two years. Its also great to actually realise one solver might be 45 and another 15 but we are all cubers sharing a similar interest and can all learn something new from each other :tu

 

[dboeren]

A agree, competing is hugely motivating, at least to me. I have really missed competing the last two years. Its also great to actually realise one solver might be 45 and another 15 but we are all cubers sharing a similar interest and can all learn something new from each other :tu

That's a good point. I do enjoy competition, although I usually compete in things I'm more skilled at In fact, I'm prepping right now for a large gaming convention in a couple of weeks where I'll be playing in three different card game tournaments and have tentative plans to compete in a Kung Fu tournament next year.

I wasn't really planning to spend the whole day at the competition though. The event schedule looks like this:

9:00- 9:45 Registration
9:45-10:30 2x2 Round 1
10:30-12:00 3x3 Round 1
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30- 1:30 5x5
1:30- 2:15 Pyraminx
2:15- 3:30 4x4
3:30- 3:50 2x2 Final
3:50- 4:30 3x3 Final
4:30- 5:00 Awards

Since I don't expect to make the finals, should there be any issue if I just plan to be there from about 9:30-12:00 to compete in the 3x3 Round 1 and then leave afterward? Or perhaps that's a question I should ask the organizers?

 

[chtiger]

I joined the forum to add another to the old people (over 40) crowd. I haven't been to a comp yet, but since US Nationals is in my home state, I'll be going there in a couple of weeks. I'm wondering if I'll be the only person there of the 479 that is over 40 and not the parent of another competitor.

I find your videos helpful and encouraging. If you can average 15, then maybe I can get to 20 (I currently avg about 25). When watching the vids, it doesn't look like you are going 10 seconds faster than what it feels like I am going. But when I watch a vid of myself, I can see the huge differences. My turning is not smooth, my lookahead is terrible with lots of pauses, and I rotate the cube way too much.

 

[Logiqx]

The event schedule looks like this:

9:00- 9:45 Registration
9:45-10:30 2x2 Round 1
10:30-12:00 3x3 Round 1
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30- 1:30 5x5
1:30- 2:15 Pyraminx
2:15- 3:30 4x4
3:30- 3:50 2x2 Final
3:50- 4:30 3x3 Final
4:30- 5:00 Awards

Is this the Sunday of ABHC? If so then 5 of my 6 events will be on one day.