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WHOAAAA!! That is insane!! Mark you are doing awesome!! Great progress man! Keep it up.. Hopefully will your plateau come only when you are sub 20 ;) (I had a 6 months plateau at about 26 secs average)
Thanks dude. Yeah I was stuck at 32 for about 5 months and started to wonder if I could ever get past it. Now I've dropped from 28.5 to 23.5 in just over 2 months. Sooner or later I will hit another plateau but this time I will know it can be broken.

@Mark,

I think my last layer is slower than yours. Slower than Schmidts for sure. I just did an Ao12 to see how fast my last layer is. Could you (and anyone else who care to test their last layer) do these scrambles and tell me your times:
Well, whaddaya know :).

Ao12 = 6.74, bao5 = 5.80
9.46, 6.45, 6.03, 4.91, (4.16), (10.48), 6.73, 7.82, 6.54, 5.40, 7.59, 6.47

Pretty lucky though, I have to admit. There were only two cases where I had to 2-look OLL (9.46 & 10.48) but I only know and use about 40 OLLs. As you know, I'm obsessed with systematic practice and my PB ao50 LL is 7.24.
 
So here's my effort at this:

Ao12: 6.11
Best Ao5: 5.15
Best time: 4.15
Worst time: 8.62

Here's the interesting bit:

Mean of 1-look times: 5.47
Mean of 2-look times: 7.28

So looks like 2-look OLLs add about 2 seconds per solve! 4/12 of these were 1-look cases I didn't know; one was a case I know, but I'm not smooth with the alg yet, and it gave me my slowest 1-look time.

Definitely time to make a concerted effort at learning full OLL now. If it saves me 2 seconds every 3rd solve, it's got to be worth doing, right?

1. 8.62 (2-look OLL leaving V perm :()
2. 5.16 (1-look)
3. 5.55 (1-look)
4. 4.74 (1-look)
5. 4.15 (1-look)
6. 6.46 (2-look)
7. 6.23 (1-look, but new alg)
8. 6.67 (2-look)
9. 7.35 (2-look)
10. 4.98 (1-look)
11. 7.48 (horrible 1-look)
12. 6.43 (1-look, lockup on PLL)

Edit: according to the systematic improvement thread, LL should be 38% of your solve, so around 7 seconds for me. I guess I'm pretty much on-track, but full OLL is my new (old) goal! :D
 
Hi, Marcel from Holland here

4.78 LS+LL Ao12, 3.78 ao5. I think LS+LL is better than pure LL training. Pure LL allowed me to see CP during OLL and I think that's why it was faster. LS+LL doesn't give that advantage.
 
Ummm... I tried this too.

Ao12 = 4.41
Best Ao5 = 4.08
Best = 3.42
Worst = 5.28
Times: 4.66, 4.22, 4.45, 3.58, 3.42, 4.45, 4.92, 5.28, 4.26, 4.76, 4.92, 3.84

Choked on all the A-perms even though they're among my fastest PLL. I still got sub-5 on an ugly N-perm. This is with full OLL. Apparently my LL is really good for my speed (or my F2L really sucks). If LL is supposed to be 38% of the solve, I should be averaging 11.6 on full solve!
 
Speaking of PB crushing...

and speaking of videos, I haven't anything uploaded under 30 seconds so I'm the worst of you all, ha!

Well I missed this post entirely.. You have a faster average and faster single than me officially now ;) Good stuff Raoul!


Oh that's what I do too heh.. I basically improve faster than most because I do like 400 solves per day which is apparently not normal.

I wish I could do that. That would definatly help my times.. I think on a good day I solve 200 solves. And some days none. I think on average between 50 and 60 solves daily.

Ao12 = 4.41
If LL is supposed to be 38% of the solve, I should be averaging 11.6 on full solve!

My LL is 30% of the solve (23 average and 6.9 LL Ao12), so I guess I am not that bad on LL. Still I doubt there is a lot of F2L to improve for me, but a heck a lot of LL. So I will start dedicated LL training for a month or so.. Maybe that will do the trick to get me sub 20 :)
 
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My LL is 30% of the solve (23 average and 6.9 LL Ao12), so I guess I am not that bad on LL. Still I doubt there is a lot of F2L to improve for me, but a heck a lot of LL. So I will start dedicated LL training for a month or so.. Maybe that will do the trick to get me sub 20 :)
To get from 23 average to sub-20 based on dedicated LL training, you would have to almost HALVE your LL time.... hmmmm :)

I'm in a similar situation - 23.5-25 averages with about 30% LL. My sub-20 plan is continued intensive F2L training for the following reasons:-
  • My LL is sub-20 speed already (requires sub-7.6)
  • A 20% improvement in F2L is worth more than double a 20% improvement in LL
  • A 20% improvement in F2L is easier to achieve as there are more pauses and transitions to optimize
  • A 20% improvement in F2L is easier to achieve as TPS is lower to start with
  • A 20% improvement in F2L would get me almost sub-20
My targets:-
  • Cross: 2.5 (currently 3.3)
  • Cross+1: 5 (currently 7)
  • Full F2L: 12.5 (currently 14.8)
 
Yeah I am going to go back to cross+1 training for a while. That's where most of my F2L improvement potential is.

Me too. I really need to do BLD cross and cross+1.

I'm going to use the little time i have for a bit more targeted practice - my plan is full OLL and any ability to look ahead during cross!

Based on last night, full OLL should take around .7 seconds off my average. Should take me under 18 seconds with plenty of room for improvement on cross and f2l.
At the moment I don't always plan full cross, and certainly almost never have any idea where my first pair is coming from. I'm basically doing cross... 1, rather than cross+1! There's probably at least a second of potential for improvement there.
 
OK... the Marcel's Bar cross+1 festival went quiet, so let's try a new event. The Marcel's Bar cross+1 competition! The rules are a bit like pub league football - you know, punching is allowed, beers at half time, etc. Here are scrambles for the first round. Closing time is 8am Sunday morning, just in time to catch the first train home.

1. U F2 U' B2 D' U2 B2 U R2 B2 F2 L' B D2 B2 U R U2 L' D' L
2. U2 R D2 L D2 R2 U2 F2 L B2 U R' U' F D' L' F2 L2 B2 R2
3. B R2 L' B U' D' F' L F' U' F2 R2 F2 B2 U D F2 D B2
4. R L F R U2 B2 U' D2 L U2 L2 U2 B' U2 B R2 U2 D2 B'
5. R B2 D2 L2 B' R D R L D' B2 L2 U F2 D' B2 U F2 R2 F2
6. D B2 R2 D L2 R2 F2 U L2 F2 U2 R B D2 L2 B' F2 L D2 F' D'
7. U2 R D B R2 L D2 F D' R F' L2 U2 L2 D2 F' B2 U2 B2 R2 U2
8. D' R2 B2 U' R2 U B2 U' F2 U B2 R U2 R' D F R B' F R2 U
9. R2 L' U' B U' B2 R' U L' F2 U2 L F2 B2 U2 F2 L2 D2 L
10. F L2 R2 F U2 L2 F D2 F2 D2 F' L B2 L2 F' D' L2 B F' L F2
11. R' L2 B D' F L2 F2 R' D' F R2 D2 B2 U F2 R2 F2 B2 D B2 U'
12. B L2 U2 F' D2 R2 F R2 F R2 B' U B' L2 D' B R' D F U L'
 
It took me 26 tries to get one sub 20 on camera. I had a 20.08 and a 20.03 along the way
Ah, I get about two or three sub 20's in every ao12. I am very pleased with that. :)
Do we need video?

Yes we do, you might find it not interesting, but I realy like seeing solves of people my speed.
 
Marcel's Bar Cross+1 Comp Round 1
Average: 5.89
7.72, (3.03), 6.14, 5.87, 5.68, (7.83), 4.23, 6.14, 5.60, 5.88, 5.30, 6.33

A new cross+1 PB. Also got another 3x3 ao50 PB tonight - 23.40. Marcel, I'm catching you up... ;)
 
Cross+1 Round 1
Average: 4.02
3.38, (2.09), 4.85, (6.02), 4.35, 3.21, 4.21, 4.49, 3.79, 3.89, 4.17, 3.87

Oops, I forgot to practice cross+1. My whole family had colds starting about two weeks ago and finally I got the cold too. Yeah, that's my excuse...
 
Cross+1 Round 1

Mean: 6.31
Average: 6.50
Best time: 2.32
Median: 7.02
Worst time: 8.35
Standard deviation: 2.00

Best average of 5: 5.81
2-6 - (2.32) 7.51 6.87 (8.29) 3.05

Best average of 12: 6.50
1-12 - 7.16 (2.32) 7.51 6.87 8.29 3.05 3.63 7.47 6.57 7.71 6.75 (8.35)

Scramble 2 and 6 and 7 are outrageous.. Did you put them in to check if every one is using your scrambles truely? LOL
 
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