Clock and Other Things (Clock is Back)

Thank you! I’ve been practicing as much as I can, given how busy my days can be.

My first tip is to just drop flip completely and exclusively solve 7-Simul if you’re serious about it. I’m worse at flip now, but it helped me get better with 7-Simul when I wasn’t actively practicing two methods as once. Focus on accuracy and play it safer at first even if you have to use lower TPS. DNFs are easy to get, as you’re one-looking it, so it’s important to ease into higher TPS the more comfortable you get with accurate turning. Watch Tommy’s tutorial—he explains all calculations very clearly. Also, you should come up with good words to use for distinct letter pairs early on (e,g., B+H = Bhangra, I+C = Ice, or G+H = Ghost).
For BH, you could use Bath :)
 
New 7-Simul PB average. Nerves cost me overall PB on last solve, but we’re getting closer.

Generated By csTimer on 2023-10-06
avg of 5: 4.86

Time List:
1. 4.57 UR2+ DR1+ DL4+ UL1+ U6+ R3+ D4- L2+ ALL3- y2 U4- R3+ D5- L2- ALL5- DL UL
2. 4.72 UR5+ DR0+ DL3+ UL5- U1+ R5+ D3- L5- ALL3+ y2 U0+ R1+ D1- L4+ ALL3+ DR DL UL
3. (4.27) UR3+ DR6+ DL4+ UL2+ U1- R2- D1- L4- ALL3+ y2 U5+ R2- D2- L6+ ALL4- UR DR DL
4. (6.81) UR1- DR3+ DL3+ UL1+ U2- R1+ D6+ L2+ ALL4+ y2 U2+ R4+ D6+ L4- ALL3-
5. 5.28 UR4+ DR4- DL2+ UL4+ U3- R4- D2- L4+ ALL4- y2 U4+ R3- D3+ L4- ALL1- UR
Are you going there the battle of Lexington 2024?
 
I ended up winning clock today! I’m not too pleased with the average—DNFd first solve and safetied by using flip for the remainder (I’m not good at flip anymore). All other events went poorly, but I’m still very happy with a win.

In other news, I’m getting closer and closer to sub-5 at home. I’d say I’m honestly around 5.25 overall with tons of sub-5 averages. Unfortunately, I get so anxious at comps that my hands are too shaky to even turn the puzzle well. I’m gonna need to fix that, because it’s really exhausting being that anxious about an event. I thought more comps would help, but it hasn’t really changed in the nearly two years I’ve been back at competing. Not sure what else I could try, but a good average will happen eventually.
 
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5 PRs today at my comp! Megaminx single and average, 5x5 single and average, and Skewb average! 3x3 was not particularly good, but I’m just happy with my PRs (particularly the Skewb average, which is state record)!

9FD5CCBD-AAF3-4585-A494-3CFA0BBA3763.jpeg
 
3 PRs today (4x4 single & average and 2x2 single) with 2 unique, yet reassuring rounds of clock.

I began the day at 4:45 AM (+ 5 minutes and 2 seconds after setting my alarm for another 5 minutes), then proceeded to drive 2 hours and 34 minutes to my WCA competition of the day.

I began with the goofiest round of OH (also, my first time ever competing in OH). First scramble was the easiest cross I’d ever seen, but I managed to pick the cube up with my wrong hand and missed cutoff. The second solve was a disaster which also didn’t make cutoff, so that’s the end of my OH career for the foreseeable future.

3x3x3 Rubik’s Cube event was an average of all time. Not a average for me, but a pretty neat single solve materialized amongst the other four products of sleep deprivation.

The two by two: Mid average, but an excellent single of 2.28 (significant improvement from my previous 3.11)

The Square-1:

Rubik’s Revenge): PR single twice (second and final was a 59.45) then PR average. My judge was solving, but I still managed to get sub-1.

The Rubik’s Clock: First round was achieved using exclusively 7-Simul with no DNFs. Final was four 7-Simul solves and one flip, as I’d forgotten my memo. I DNFd a 4.61, which haunts me to this moment. It wasn’t even a memo issue, just an extra single corner that was off by +1 after i thought I’d corrected it. Had I not DNFd that solve, I would have landed myself a 5.28 official clock average. I ended up with a 5.97 and 3rd place, which still isn’t bad. This demonstrates to me that my nerves with 7-Simul appear to be gone now that I know I can get full averages without DNF.


I had the opportunity to see @SkewbIsTheBestEvent greater than 5, but less than 96 times.
 
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Two comps this weekend—both with clock! It’s a busy time of the semester with final exams and projects, so I will be busy between rounds most likely! A huge weight is lifted off my shoulders now that I’ve submitted all my PhD applications (including two to my dream school!). Haven’t been practicing as much as I should, but school always comes first. I tend to also do better in clock when I don’t over-practice, haha.
 
Eight PRs in total this weekend:

3x3 Single: 12.97

5x5 Average: 1:50.77

6x6 Single: 3:34.43

6x6 Mean: 3:50.90 (not great for me--safetied turning because of pops)

7x7 Mean: 5:21.81 (new state record)

OH Single: 38.75

OH Average: 58.04 (Goofiest average I'e ever produced. I'll post a picture of the scorecard lol)

Skewb Single: 2.95 (beat my last state record of 3.41)


Clock did not go very well for me. I got two 3rd places, and while I'm happy for podiums, my averages were a solid second below what I average at home. My nerves are bad and honestly, clock makes comps extremely stressful and sometimes unenjoyable for me. I decided I need to take a genuine break from grinding clock nonstop for my own ability to enjoy cubing. Doing well in a round of clock can't keep making or breaking an entire day of competing--that isn't fun. I'll be focusing on other events during this time, and I'm between a few things I could accomplish during my upcoming break: completing the final few PLLs I don't know, learning Sarah's advanced Skewb method, learning 3BLD, or grinding Megaminx.
 
I have begun a Megaminx grind. New Ao5 PB!

Generated By csTimer on 2023-12-08
avg of 5: 1:17.64

Time List:
1. 1:16.89 R++ D-- R++ D++ R-- D++ R-- D-- R-- D-- U'
R++ D++ R++ D-- R-- D++ R-- D++ R-- D-- U'
R++ D-- R-- D++ R-- D++ R++ D-- R-- D-- U'
R-- D++ R++ D-- R++ D++ R-- D++ R-- D-- U'
R++ D++ R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D-- R++ D-- U'
R++ D-- R-- D-- R-- D-- R++ D++ R++ D++ U
R++ D-- R++ D++ R-- D-- R++ D++ R-- D-- U'

2. 1:18.28 R++ D-- R-- D-- R++ D-- R-- D-- R++ D++ U
R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D-- R-- D-- R++ D-- U'
R++ D++ R-- D-- R-- D++ R-- D++ R++ D++ U
R++ D++ R++ D++ R-- D++ R-- D-- R-- D++ U
R++ D++ R++ D-- R++ D-- R++ D-- R++ D++ U
R++ D++ R++ D-- R-- D++ R-- D-- R++ D-- U'
R-- D-- R-- D-- R++ D++ R++ D++ R++ D++ U

3. (1:26.37) R++ D++ R-- D-- R++ D-- R-- D++ R-- D++ U
R++ D-- R-- D++ R++ D-- R++ D++ R-- D-- U'
R++ D-- R-- D-- R++ D++ R++ D-- R-- D-- U'
R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D-- R++ D-- R++ D++ U
R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D++ R++ D++ R++ D++ U
R-- D-- R++ D++ R++ D++ R++ D-- R++ D-- U'
R-- D++ R-- D++ R-- D-- R++ D++ R-- D-- U'

4. 1:17.75 R++ D++ R-- D++ R++ D-- R++ D++ R++ D++ U
R++ D++ R++ D-- R++ D-- R++ D++ R-- D-- U'
R++ D-- R++ D++ R++ D-- R++ D++ R-- D-- U'
R-- D-- R++ D++ R-- D++ R-- D++ R-- D++ U
R++ D++ R-- D++ R++ D++ R++ D-- R-- D-- U'
R-- D++ R-- D-- R-- D++ R-- D++ R-- D-- U'
R++ D++ R++ D-- R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D++ U

5. (1:16.71) R++ D-- R-- D-- R-- D++ R++ D++ R-- D++ U
R++ D++ R-- D++ R-- D++ R-- D-- R++ D-- U'
R++ D-- R-- D-- R++ D++ R-- D++ R-- D-- U'
R-- D-- R-- D++ R-- D-- R-- D++ R++ D-- U'
R-- D++ R++ D++ R++ D-- R++ D++ R-- D++ U
R++ D++ R-- D-- R++ D++ R-- D-- R++ D++ U
R++ D-- R-- D++ R-- D-- R-- D-- R-- D-- U'
 
Megaminx enthusiasts. what are some good tips and/or tricks to moving towards or breaking the sub-1:10 barrier? I'd like to get there soon, as I've made wonderful progress recently with Megaminx. I've begun learning some more star OLLs too.
 
Megaminx enthusiasts. what are some good tips and/or tricks to moving towards or breaking the sub-1:10 barrier? I'd like to get there soon, as I've made wonderful progress recently with Megaminx. I've begun learning some more star OLLs too.
I avg 55 and I use 5 look last layer. By far the most important thing you can do is practice. I'd say if you do another 500 solves you will be comfortably Sub-1:10, maybe even Sub-1. 500 solves might seem hard but if you do 25 solves a day (Which could take around 45 minutes) you can do it in three weeks
 
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