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Older cubers discussions

newtonbase said:
Latest 4BLD. Took an age memoing wings as kept losing track only to twist my last corner the wrong way. Memo and recall were perfect but my brain said do it ccw when it was cw.
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Ouch! At least now you know you can truly do this. That was just bad luck. You'll get it next time!
 
@newtonbase - Oh wow, so damn close mate. Next one for sure!

@Logiqx - Nearly all my nearly sub 10s before I got a sub 10 I panicked. They are like buses mate, you'll wait ages for the first one and they'll all arrive together! :D

OH practice going quite well, think I am sub 35 globally. PB's are single: 19.60, ao5 30.22 and 31.xy ao12. Still need to relearn about 8 OH OLLs though. I have even learned OH specific PLLs for F, H, E.

Been trying to get a 7x7 solve under 5 minutes on film for a couple of weeks now having about 6 un-filmed ones. At last managed this 4:53.58 single earlier today:-


Really looking forward to Welsh Open this weekend though I will only be there on the Sunday.
 
Yesterday was one of those days... never seemed to get warmed up during my practice session and more than half my solves included stupid mistakes. If it can be messed up, I managed it.

Mixed-in with that mess was a 17.83 full step though. Two "magic" F2L pairs; I solved the first pair and was completely stunned that 3 were solved. I tried reproducing it just to see how it happened but couldn't. I rarely bother scrambling from WCA orientation so I assumed yellow top, which is most likely. Must have been a mis-scramble, scrambled in some random orientation, or I just couldn't reproduce the cross/first pair.
 
I’ve been playing with my megaminx recently... I jumped into the forum comp and tried to do everything I could... I’m rediculously slow with the megaminx, but I’m still enjoying it. I didn’t expect to enjoy it that much.
 
File this one under missed opportunity with the camera running. Ignoring my usual F2L pauses and the OLL recog pause... the real pain here is I used four seconds of inspection time, saw my cross solution and took off. Two pairs were made while solving the cross, one of which was right in front of me but I finished the cross then had to take that pair right back out. I clobbered the other pair solving the first but then had green/orange pair up right in front of me. A case of more wealth than I knew what to do with. Just a few more seconds looking deeper in inspection could have made this so much faster.


L F2 L D2 R D2 R' D2 B2 F' R2 U2 F' U B2 U' L R F

Scramble from your favorite orientation and enjoy
 
I did several untimed blind solves tonight and it seemed less "taxing" than normal blind practice. I have done very little untimed blind practice, but this got me thinking maybe it's just as important as with other events. I was developing some theories on why this would be. I think it's for different reasons, partially at least, than sighted untimed practice. I played with cubes as a kid as I've said before, would solve one face and that was about it. But I spent a lot of time just fiddling with the cube, seeing what I could make it do, etc. When I learned to solve at first I never thought of trying to get fast. Then when I got into speed solving a couple of years ago pretty soon I wanted to start watching my times. I've never been one to do much untimed practice some of you may remember. But in reality I've had years of exposure to the puzzle and getting used to it gradually.

So blind in one sense is a whole different thing. Sure there are algs to learn for M2 or whatever, but I have virtually no life experience trying to memorize pairs of letter sets together, let alone quickly. When I started learning blind I treated it like I did getting into speed solving. I wanted to quickly start watching my times go down. And of course they did to some extent, but I have been very unmotivated to spend much time practicing due to the amount of energy I feel it requires. So I'm theorizing that a big part of that is due to it being so different than anything I've done. Maybe I'm just stating the obvious? :)

Anyway, what are your thoughts on untimed blind practice, especially for a newbie? The biggest thing to me is if I can figure out some way to get myself practicing more it will be the biggest benefit, even if it's just a mental trick I'm playing on myself!
 
MarcelP said:
Hi Guys,
My name is Marcel, 42 years old. I have learned to solve the cube at age 11 - 12 or so. I had not touched a cube a maybe 15 - 20 years. A few weeks ago I solved a cube and found it very nice to see that I still knew how to do that. When I looked at youtube I found amazing stuff from you speedsolvers. I thought it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I solved the cube in a layer by layer which could take up to 10 minutes. My goal is to get below one minute. Right now I have not focussed on OLL and PLL. I just need to get the 2FL much quicker. I recon in a few weeks times must be a lot better.
Cheers!
Click to expand...

Wow, this is a weirdly parallel experience. I too am 42, I cubed a little when I was very young, but never managed to learn the method. I started again in December when my company gifted each of the employees with a cube, have since gotten a better cube, and am now getting close to one minute, which was my target when I decided to start. I wonder what times is the OP now getting after all this time!
 
@Jason Green : To my mind, untimed practice is similar for blind as for anything else. There's no point trying to get fast at something until you're competent at it.

I do quite a lot of untimed practice when I'm trying to work something new into my solves, like changes to my memo system or new sets of comms. If I time myself then I don't try those new things and just revert to the solutions I already know, because that's faster.

Sometimes I'll do a timed session and if the opportunity comes up to do something new that I'm learning, like a new comm I'm hesitant on, I'll mentally write off that solve as untimed and try the new comm. Then delete the time. That way I dont have to forego timing myself, but I don't neglect learning new things, nor pollute my averages.
 
mark49152 said:
@Jason Green : To my mind, untimed practice is similar for blind as for anything else. There's no point trying to get fast at something until you're competent at it.

I do quite a lot of untimed practice when I'm trying to work something new into my solves, like changes to my memo system or new sets of comms. If I time myself then I don't try those new things and just revert to the solutions I already know, because that's faster.

Sometimes I'll do a timed session and if the opportunity comes up to do something new that I'm learning, like a new comm I'm hesitant on, I'll mentally write off that solve as untimed and try the new comm. Then delete the time. That way I dont have to forego timing myself, but I don't neglect learning new things, nor pollute my averages.
Click to expand...

I think untimed blind solves are helpful too. Those and sighted blind practice. I’m still learning at this point. Anything that helps me identify the piece or practice getting the memo down is time well spent.

I absolutely WILL have to do some timed solves if I want to compete. Most comps only give 10 min total for three attempts. I usually take over 7 mins if I’m “fast”. So, if I’m ever going to get an official solve in a comp, I’m going to have to be perfect the first time or get much faster.

Personally, I’d rather be perfect the first time.
 
Selkie said:
@Logiqx - Nearly all my nearly sub 10s before I got a sub 10 I panicked. They are like buses mate, you'll wait ages for the first one and they'll all arrive together! :D
Click to expand...

I had another failure to get my first sub-10 last night... it ended up as 10.8. I was even slightly drunk after a leaving do at work!

The solve included a knight move OLL and half way through the alg, I started seeing blocks appearing. Watching them keenly to see if they would turn into a PLL skip, I messed up a couple of moves, un-did my mistake and completed the OLL. It was a PLL skip and the solve ended up as a 10.8 despite wasting time messing up the OLL.

Two days running of 10.8 singles; one OLL skip including a big F2L pause, one PLL skip including an OLL mistake.

Roll-on the elusive sub-10!
 
h2f said:
Today is a 3rd anniversary of my first success in 3bld during comps. It took me "only" 3 comps and over a half of the year to do this.
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Based upon the current WCA competition schedule, there is only 1 event that is hosting 3BLD in my area... and it's a day that I can't be there. At that rate, it'll take me 3 years to get a success! I'd like to get a success in 2018. I am getting to know some of the delegates, and may try to convince them to add 3BLD to their normal fall line-up (not yet posted).

I'm considering driving down to Charleston, SC, at the end of March. They have a 10 min limit for all three attempts... I'm not sure how fast those guys do blind solving, but I'll have to be right the first time at the rate I'm taking these days... 7-8 minutes! Even if I don't actually go, it's giving me something to work toward.
 
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This week I've been doing some timed exclusively white cross solves for the first time in almost half a year. Apparently the CN work has payed off also for my white crosses. :) New PB Ao5 and Ao12. Actually cut 0.9 seconds of my old PB Ao12 with this:

Generated By csTimer on 2018-1-24
avg of 12: 16.93

Time List:
1. (14.13) U' B2 D2 U' F2 U' B2 L2 U' L' B2 F R2 F L' U' F2 L' R
2. 14.40 D' F' U' F' R2 F' L' F2 R2 F' U2 R2 F U2 L2 B' D2 U'
3. 18.20 R2 D2 U2 B' R2 U2 F2 R2 D2 R2 F' R' U' B2 L U2 L2 U B' D2 F
4. 16.61 D2 B L2 B L2 F L2 U2 B' F' R2 D L F U2 R D' L' B L U'
5. 18.52 B2 R2 D F2 L2 B2 D2 R2 F2 U F' L2 D' L U L U2 L B R
6. 18.38 R2 B2 D F2 R2 F2 D U B2 R2 L D2 U' F L F' D' R' F' U'
7. 18.56 U R2 D' B2 D2 U L2 R2 U' L2 B L U2 F U' L' F2 D' B U2
8. 15.60 F' D F2 L2 R2 D L2 D2 U' F2 R2 D L D F' R2 F2 L U F' R'
9. 17.91 R' U R2 D2 L2 B2 R2 B2 D' L2 U F2 R' B U2 L' R F' U R B2
10. 16.82 L2 R2 D2 F L2 D2 B' F D2 F R' F' D L2 B2 L' F R D2 U
11. (20.03) F2 L2 F2 D2 U' B2 D B2 R2 U2 F2 L' F R D2 B' U' B' U' R F
12. 14.34 D2 R2 U2 R U2 L B2 U2 B2 R' D2 U' R' U F' D F2 L' D2 B' F

I'm not sure if I've ever had a counting sub-15 in an Ao12 before. Certainly not two of them!

Both yesterday and today I've had 13.xx full-step solves with no XCross. PB single could improve any day now.

Edit: Such a great session, couldn't end there. Now new PB Ao50 and Ao100 as well. First sub-19 Ao100!
 
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