Getting ready for a Tournament

[Erik]

1) Plan where to go and who is coming with slightly in advance

I love how you say slightly
The formula for the amount of days to plan ahead is quite simple:
>1000 km of travel = 1 day :rolleyes:
2000km of travel = 2
etc?

 

[mcciff2112]

1. Wake up at 7:08

LOL!

Heres mine
1. Arrive at competition
2. Break a few WRs
3. Celebrate as everyone cheers for my accomplishments
4. Wake up and realize that I was only dreaming
5. Actually arrive at competition
6. Disappoint myself because my times are nowhere near what they should be
7. Have fun anyway

 

[cmhardw]

Interesting, Chris. I must admit I stopped reviewing my images a long time ago. I find that I pretty much use them all so much every week that it doesn't seem like they need reviewing anymore. I wonder if I would notice a difference if I would practice this? It seems like they all come absolutely instantly to me now, so it seems counterintuitive to review them for me.

Hey Mike,

I do a lot less solving than you on a weekly basis, so I tend to forget images from lack of use. Forget is probably not the correct word, maybe amnesia is better. Lately, I do micro reviews several times a day every day which helps me. I might review only 4-5 images while busy at work per hour, but when driving to and from work I might review anywhere from 10-50 images. I also always review some images before bed while trying to fall asleep. I imagine if I solved more during the week I would probably not do this. I also am reviewing my single syllable words too, so that's about a little over a thousand associations that I want to be flawless with no delay. Again, with me not solving as often as you do I need to work on recalling those associations some way each day, otherwise I won't be able to keep pace with you

You mentioned in another place that you're currently training, but not doing many actual BLD solves. What other things do you do during "training"? Do you practice BH algorithms? When I first learned BH corners, I did "BH corners time attacks" (took close to an hour to do them all), but I haven't done them lately. Do you find such things helpful? Do you do any other interesting training exercises for BLD?

Right now I am reviewing images/single syllable words, doing sighted solves, testing myself on hard BH cases mentally (without a cube). I also sometimes execute combinations of cycles on a physical cube (say two hard cycles back to back, and only that). I also try to picture difficult combinations of stickers on a mental cube, then quickly come up with the commutator for it.

Mostly I just do solves, and probably too many. For Ohio, that didn't work out very well. But the day before the Virginia Open I did six 5x5x5 BLD attempts as practice, and that turned out REALLY well, with 2/2 successful solves and both under 19 minutes. So doing lots of practice solves the day before isn't necessarily a bad thing.

I honestly am almost to the point where I am becoming superstitious about my solving. I did my sub-5 4x4x4 BLD solve coming off of a somewhat significant break from big cube BLD cubing, then I DNF'd at Horizons after practicing somewhat steadily. I read somewhere that Ben Pridmore really doesn't do much practicing day-to-day, he just does pockets of practice from time to time. I guess I am trying to model myself after him as much as possible (seeing as how I pretty much copied his memory method to a "T"). I probably should solve more than I have been lately, but I often come home tired from work and just review images instead. I think if I didn't work so much that I would practice an hour or more every day for BLD.

I'll see how this goes for my times at Big Cubes Summer and see if this kind of intangible mental training is worth it compared to solving. This is the first time my training right before a competition has been like this, very intensive mental training with an absence of actual solving. I'll probably do some practice solves in the days leading up to the competition to make sure I'm up for handling the "fatigue factor" of solving in competition.

I'm just trying new things I guess, seeing how they go. Good luck to you as well at Nationals, whatever your training regimen might be.

Chris

 

[AvGalen]

1) Plan where to go and who is coming with slightly in advance

I love how you say slightly
The formula for the amount of days to plan ahead is quite simple:
>1000 km of travel = 1 day :rolleyes:
2000km of travel = 2
etc?

That formula is amazingly accurate. I actually DID plan that far ahead for my NL-USA-Indonesia-Sweden-NL trip

 

[cmhardw]

I mentioned in the Big Cubes Summer thread that I might post a thread on some things I've learned for preparing big cubes BLD before a tournament. I feel what I have to say fits perfectly well in this thread though, so I'll post here.

Some things I learned for practicing, and training, big cubes BLD.
1) not doing solves for a week or two before the competition for 4x4x4 BLD doesn't seem to hurt your times. In fact, I tend to get faster times when I do this. I don't know how to account for the fact that I might just be a bit further along the learning curve, but I tend to get fast times on 4x4x4 if I don't practice 4x4x4 shortly before the competition.

2) Not practicing 5x5x5 BLD before the competition is a very bad idea. I remember Mike mentioned he did something like 5-6 solves on 5x5x5 BLD before the Virginia Open, which led to him not only getting a success but also a fast time for him at that time. I don't know if I will take it to that extreme, but I have found that when I don't practice 5x5x5 shortly before a competition I tend to DNF at the competition.

3) Practice your memory methods. I practiced my memory images/words/journeys for about 2 solid weeks before Big Cubes Summer, and I felt that my memory was good overall throughout the competition. I did have one significant recall delay (60+ seconds) on my second 5x5x5 BLD solve, but other than that I had no recall delays and fairly fast memo for me.

4) Exercise! This is so very, very important. I have been using exercise in my competitions now for BLD events, and Daniel and I discussed a possible best way to utilize this during a competition. I over exercised shortly before my 4x4x4 BLD solve at Horizons, and I think this partially contributed to my DNF there. During memo I was sweating like crazy and my heart was still pounding. Ever since Decatur Open I have been using exercise to help me focus, and so far I like the results of it a lot.

--------------------
Here is how Daniel and I exercised on the day of at Big Cubes Summer, and my thoughts on how it went. I feel this type of routine is very effective compared to what I have done before this competition.

1) Stretch in the morning, then do a workout routine until you break a sweat. I did a routine consisting of push-ups, split squat jumps, jump squats (as high as you can) and combinations of these. For example, do a jump squat then drop into a push up and come back up into another jump squat, etc. Once you break a sweat and feel winded, slow down and stretch again.

2) Do light stretches throughout the day, before your event starts. When you feel low on energy or not focused do 10 pushups or 10 split squat jumps. The goal is to do just enough to get the blood flowing again, but don't break a sweat.

3) About 20 minutes before doing starting a big cube BLD event do light, but slightly more rigorous, workout than step 2. Do 20 pushups, 20 split squat jumps, and 10 jump squats. As you start to break a light sweat slow it down and stretch again. After stretching review images/do whatever you usually do shortly before the event.

4) Solve.

5) In between solves try to get some time to get a short break. If this is not possible due to the competition time constraints then obviously skip this step and just stretch again instead. During the short break between solves do maybe 10 split squat jumps and 5-10 pushups. Just enough to get the blood flowing again.

6) Do remaining solves in the round repeating steps 4 and 5.
----------------------

Anyway that is what I did and I really think it helped. I felt great all day because I felt like I was being physical and was breaking a light sweat a couple times during the day. Not enough to be over exerted like I did at Horizons, but enough to be useful.

I will certainly make exercise a mandatory part of my warm-up whenever doing a big cube BLD event. It might just be placebo effect, but I've heard this mentioned from the memory sports people, and now that I've tried it I feel better when I do it. I think exercise can play a not insignificant role in improving your accuracy/times/feeling for big cube BLD events.

Hope this helps someone,
Chris

 

[Bob]

If the competition is close to home (driving distance), I stay up late, wake up late, load the car, and go to the competition, arriving late.

If the competition is not close to home, I stay up late with other cubers, get woken up by them, and go to the competition on time.

Occasionally, I'm far away by myself. In that case, I stay up late, wake up late, and show up late.

 

[AvGalen]

@Chris: Those are very detailed descriptions. Could you guess why 4x4x4_bf is better without practice while 5x5x5_bf is better with practice? The only thing I could think of is that
1) you have gotten used to the amount of memo for 4x4x4 (it is become "easy") and that 5x5x5 still requires effort
2) You have a weak point in 5x5x5_bf with a type of piece that isn't there on 4x4x4
3) Something I can't put my finger on about the fixed orientation (5x5x5) compared to the orientation choice (4x4x4)

As you can read from my post above I strongly agree with you about the physical activity to "jolt" the body and mind

 

[TMOY]

3) Something I can't put my finger on about the fixed orientation (5x5x5) compared to the orientation choice (4x4x4)

Note that you can choose your orientation on odd-sized cubes as well as on even-sized cubes. The drawback is that it gives you an additional type of piece to solve (that is, the "fixed" centers, with algs like M E M' E' and such). It's probably not really worth the effort for 3^3 but it might be interesting on bigger cubes...

 

[Mike Hughey]

2) Not practicing 5x5x5 BLD before the competition is a very bad idea. I remember Mike mentioned he did something like 5-6 solves on 5x5x5 BLD before the Virginia Open, which led to him not only getting a success but also a fast time for him at that time. I don't know if I will take it to that extreme, but I have found that when I don't practice 5x5x5 shortly before a competition I tend to DNF at the competition.

Just a minor correction: I didn't just get a success; I got two successes. 2 of 2, and both were sub-19. A truly spectacular big cube BLD day for me. I think it's hard to account for it with just the practice - the stars were aligned that day.

I will have to try to specifically remember exercise in the future. It seems like a good idea. I had thought about bringing my juggling balls to the Indiana Open, but I forgot. Maybe I'll start doing that in the future. A good 5-ball cascade run would probably warm me up very nicely.

 

[Bob]

2) Not practicing 5x5x5 BLD before the competition is a very bad idea. I remember Mike mentioned he did something like 5-6 solves on 5x5x5 BLD before the Virginia Open, which led to him not only getting a success but also a fast time for him at that time. I don't know if I will take it to that extreme, but I have found that when I don't practice 5x5x5 shortly before a competition I tend to DNF at the competition.

Just a minor correction: I didn't just get a success; I got two successes. 2 of 2, and both were sub-19. A truly spectacular big cube BLD day for me. I think it's hard to account for it with just the practice - the stars were aligned that day.

I will have to try to specifically remember exercise in the future. It seems like a good idea. I had thought about bringing my juggling balls to the Indiana Open, but I forgot. Maybe I'll start doing that in the future. A good 5-ball cascade run would probably warm me up very nicely.

But remember I was there. I tend to be somewhat of a good luck charm for you (while having the complete opposite effect on Daniel Beyer).

 

[cmhardw]

I tend to be somewhat of a good luck charm for you (while having the complete opposite effect on Daniel Beyer).

I got curious too and looked at my success rate at competitions where Bob was there, and my success rate at competitions when Bob was not there.

4x4x4 BLD
With Bob: I'm 8/14 successes, or 57.1% successful.
Without Bob: I'm 7/15 successes, or 46.7% successful

5x5x5 BLD
With Bob: 4/11 successes, or 36.4% successful
Without Bob: 4/7 successes, or 57.1% successful

---------------

Bob, in terms of my crazy superstitious analysis I am neutral whether you're at the competition or not. If you're there, I will likely do better at 4x4x4 BLD than 5x5x5 BLD. If you're not there, I will likely do better at 5x5x5 BLD than 4x4x4 BLD.

Bob, you are perfectly cancelling good and bad luck charm for me ;-)

Chris

 

[cubekid57]

Usually I
1) Practice all the events I am participating in about a week ahead of time
2) Make sure my cubes are finely lubed and turning well a few days before the comp
3) Figure out the best cube I will use for each event I enter in
4) Practice a little before the comp and hope for the best!

 

[Rama]

1) Get a shower. Cleanliness is next to godliness.
2) Have coffee (or else orange juice) for breakfast.
3) An hour before my event I try not to move that much anymore, I DON'T want my blood flowing trough my arms because of all the adrenaline that will run through my fingers and thus make me choke.
5) Inspect the puzzle in sub 5 seconds because the judge makes me nervous when saying '5 seconds'.
4) Have a breakfast.
6) Lunch
7) Winners ceremony
8)Dinner
9) Midnight snack

 

[mazei]

1) Get a shower. Cleanliness is next to godliness.
2) Have coffee (or else orange juice) for breakfast.
3) An hour before my event I try not to move that much anymore, I DON'T want my blood flowing trough my arms because of all the adrenaline that will run through my fingers and thus make me choke.
5) Inspect the puzzle in sub 5 seconds because the judge makes me nervous when saying '5 seconds'.
4) Have a breakfast.
6) Lunch
7) Winners ceremony
8)Dinner
9) Midnight snack

I shall sabotage any one of this things he does so that I can win. hehehe

 

[elcarc]

i heard that soaking your hands in hot water increases blood flow and helps your times. so id say keep your hands warm and eat brain food and dont over work and dont learn too many new things and get good sleep