PiKeeper's Progression Thread - New Video on SPV's WR average, finally sub-10 2H

I went to VA Beach Fall 2023 yesterday and was pretty happy with most of my results. I realized I never posted my goals for each event, so I'll just mention what they were along with my actual times in comp.

3x3: My goal was to get a low 12 average and maybe even a sub-12 if I was lucky, I got an 11.92 pr average in second round which I was very happy with, and that managed to get me into finals as well. In finals I got a pr single of 10.57 which is quite good for me.

2x2: Really the only event that was disappointing. I knew going into this that I was going to have issues given that I learned eg-1 so recently, but I was still hoping for a low 3 or sub 3 average. The best I managed was a 3.46 pr average in finals which included a 2.28 one-looked eg-1 but was ruined by a counting 4.

4x4: I wanted a sub-48 average and got just that with a 47.58 pr. I also got a 44.36 pr single on top of that.

Clock: I was hoping for an average right around 11 seconds, and I managed to take advantage of some good scrambles to get a 10.22 pr average. This was capped off with a 9.03 pr single which is probably in my top 10 fastest solves ever.

Pyraminx: I went into this with about 20 minutes of practice and had no hopes besides maybe getting a sub-12 average and sub-11 single. I got really lucky with the solves in round one and managed to get a 9.85 overall pb ao5 and a 7.45 pr single which is something like pb3 for me.

Squan: I was hoping for a sub-23 average, and I managed to get a 21.36 pr average with very consistent solves. I also got a 17.60 pr single which is very good for me, especially considering it was in comp.

I ended up with pr averages in every event and pr singles in everything besides 2x2, and for most of the events I got averages faster than my global, so I can't really complain. Now I'm going to start going all out to prep for VA Champs in a little over a month, and I'll provide an update later about what events I'm going to be practicing.
 
I've started to learn 7simul, and it's going a bit rough. I've done about 40 solves so far using a scramble generator which provides a scramble in 7 simul notation and gives me the three letter pairs. Because of this, I've just been focusing on execution and memorizing the first 2 letter pairs. I average sub-18 right now, but I'm really struggling with pinky D moves. My fingers can only manage a 3 or -3, which makes any move further than that take two turns. My plan right now is to keep working on execution till about sub-15 and then finally learn how to memo the last letter pair. If anyone has advice about learning 7 simul, I'd love to hear it.
 
My progress was halted a bit by midterms, but I've managed to get another 100 7 simul solves in. I'm still only able to memorize the first two letter pairs and the last letter of the last pair. I'm probably about 80% accurate with only memoing those 5 letters, so once the week ends and I have more free time, I'll add the final letter and work just on memo until it gets faster and closer to 90% accurate.

I'm averaging low 12 with execution though, which is only about 2 seconds slower than with flip. My pinky D moves have gotten a bit better too which has helped.
 
I fully learned how to memo for 7 simul, and I'm averaging somewhere around low 11 now, I'm getting a high proportion of DNFs though, mostly due to memo errors. But I'm hopeful that over the next month with constant practice my memo will get much more accurate and I'll be able to inspect under 12 seconds.

I've also been practicing big cubes lately since I learned Yau. I'm about mid 8 minutes on 7x7 and mid 5 minutes on 6x6, but both of those can definitely improve once I practice more. I've been doing 5x5 the most since the cube turns way better, and I'm averaging sub 1:55. I also managed to get an insane 1:41.12 Mo3 by betting 2 pb singles in a row.
 
This update brings both good news and bad news.

The good news is that I've been getting much better at 7 simul, and I'm able to memo accurately most of the time (although it takes about 20 seconds). I'm averaging the same as I did with flip, and I got a pb single of 7.29 and ao12 of 9.32. For big cubes, I'm averaging sub 1:50 on 5x5, mid 4 minutes on 6x6, and low 7 minutes on 7x7.

The bad news is that I redamaged some ligaments in my finger, which means I'm not able to practice much except clock and OH. I'm not sure when it will be healed enough to resume practice with other cubes, but I'll try to do slow solves to stay fresh.
 
I've kept doing clock and have honestly improved at a shocking rate. My inspection is still around 20 seconds since I'm now trying to pick an orientation that takes advantage of lucky cases instead of just starting memo from the initial orientation. Here are the new overall pb's I've managed to set the last few days
Single: 6.91
Mo3: 8.37
Ao5: 8.47
Ao12: 8.58

My DNF rate is about 25% which is way too high, but the good news is that I'm averaging low 9/high 8 which is a full second faster than my flip times from before I switched.
 
I wasn't able to cube as much as I'd like the past week because of my finger injury and school, but I've improved at both big cubes and clock. I average mid 6 on 7x7 and sub-1:48 on 5x5. Clock is what I've spent the most time on, and I've set a bunch of new pbs
Single: 5.44
Mo3: 7.26
Ao5: 7.43
Ao12: 7.85
Ao25: 8.12
 
Didn't due too much cubing this week since I had tech week for Hamlet, but I still made some progress. I'm averaging about sub-8 on clock but my inspection still needs to get faster before VA Champs. I also got the Aoshi 6x6 that I ordered which dropped my times by about 20 seconds to the high 3 minute range.
 
I’m going to have what’s definitely my most unique competition experience this Saturday. For one, it’s a three day comp and I’m only attending Saturday, meaning I miss out on the quiet events, pyra, skewb, 2x2, and 3x3. But I also have a chance at making finals in OH and if I get lucky and don’t choke, maybe podiuming at clock. I average mid 16 OH and about sub-7 on clock, so I’ve actually got a shot at both. Once the comp is over I’ll probably do a quick recap of how it went and then do a big update on my averages in every event and my goals
 
Virginia Champs ended up going great and I’m pretty pleased with my times.

Clock: I messed up four of my solves and got a hilarious 17.97 average. Luckily the one solve I didn’t mess up on was a 5.69 SR4 single which made up for the bad average.
Squan: Hadn’t practiced since last comp but got close to my pr average and single
Mega: Got less than half a second away from an overall pb ao5 and absolutely shattered my previous pr average and single with a 1:38.75 and 1:31.44 respectively.
4x4: Hadn't practiced since last comp, but was less than 0.1 seconds awat from breaking both my pr average and single
5x5: Got less than half a second away from setting both an overall pb ao5 and overall pb single with a 1:38.70 average and 1:31.05 single
6x6: Got a mean of 3:29.53, about 5 seconds less than what I average, and a 3:24.78 single
7x7: Got a 5:48.48 single which is overall pb by almost 20 seconds. It's actually scary just how good I am in comp.
OH: Got a solid 16.02 average which could have been even lower if I hadn't got a +2 on one of the solves. I also got a 14.34 single in finals and finished 9th which is pretty good.
 
Now that I don't have a competition scheduled for a while, I'll give an update of my current averages, and goals for the next few months.
3x3: Sub-12
2x2: 3.1
4x4: Sub-47
5x5: Sub-1:44
6x6: 3:25ish
7x7: Somewhere low 6 minutes,
3BLD: 5-8 minutes
FMC: Idk somewhere in the 40s
OH: Mid 16
Clock: Sub-7
Mega: 1:45ish
Pyra: Sub-12
Skewb: Maybe sub-16?
Squan: Low 22
4BLD, 5BLD, MBLD: Haven't tried

Goals for November-December: Learn oxford and possibly mirror zhang for clock, learn eg-2, learn better OH cmll algs, learn better cmll recognition, inspect FB
 
First sub-10 ao5

Generated By csTimer on 2023-12-05 (solving from 2023-12-04 16:37:57 to 2023-12-04 16:40:55)
avg of 5: 9.91

Time List:
1. 10.77 F2 R D2 R U2 F2 L2 U2 R' D2 U2 B2 F D B R D2 L B' R @2023-12-04 16:37:57
2. (9.20) D B L' D2 U2 L' B2 L' B2 R' D2 L U2 L2 B L D F' D R @2023-12-04 16:38:38
3. (12.03) U B' R U2 B' R2 D' F D F2 D F2 B2 R2 D F2 R2 F2 R2 U' @2023-12-04 16:39:20
4. 9.20 R' F R D R2 D' B2 U F2 D2 U' B2 R2 U' B' U2 B L' U2 F' @2023-12-04 16:40:22
5. 9.76 F2 R2 F' R2 D2 B' R2 B R2 U2 F D U' L B' D2 B' U' F' D2 F2 @2023-12-04 16:40:55
 
First sub-10 ao5

Generated By csTimer on 2023-12-05 (solving from 2023-12-04 16:37:57 to 2023-12-04 16:40:55)
avg of 5: 9.91

Time List:
1. 10.77 F2 R D2 R U2 F2 L2 U2 R' D2 U2 B2 F D B R D2 L B' R @2023-12-04 16:37:57
2. (9.20) D B L' D2 U2 L' B2 L' B2 R' D2 L U2 L2 B L D F' D R @2023-12-04 16:38:38
3. (12.03) U B' R U2 B' R2 D' F D F2 D F2 B2 R2 D F2 R2 F2 R2 U' @2023-12-04 16:39:20
4. 9.20 R' F R D R2 D' B2 U F2 D2 U' B2 R2 U' B' U2 B L' U2 F' @2023-12-04 16:40:22
5. 9.76 F2 R2 F' R2 D2 B' R2 B R2 U2 F D U' L B' D2 B' U' F' D2 F2 @2023-12-04 16:40:55
First sub10 ao5 feels amazing!
 
I switched to oxford memo a week ago for clock and I've finally surpassed my old averages. The highlight was getting my first two sub-5 singles, a 4.91 and a 4.85. I definitely recommend looking into oxford memo for anyone who either already knows 7 simul or is interested in learning.
 
I'm recovering from wisdom teeth surgery but still managed to get a nice pb ao5

Generated By csTimer on 2024-01-11 (solving from 2024-01-11 17:09:35 to 2024-01-11 17:12:46)
avg of 5: 5.28

Time List:
1. 5.20 UR4- DR0+ DL5+ UL1- U5+ R2+ D5+ L2- ALL3- y2 U6+ R5- D0+ L2- ALL5+ UR @2024-01-11 17:09:35
2. (4.89) UR5- DR2+ DL1- UL1- U6+ R2+ D2- L3- ALL5- y2 U5- R2+ D2+ L3+ ALL3+ DR UL @2024-01-11 17:10:22
3. 5.51 UR2- DR6+ DL5- UL5+ U5+ R2- D2+ L2- ALL5- y2 U0+ R5+ D2+ L4+ ALL1+ UR DR DL UL @2024-01-11 17:11:00
4. (6.04) UR1- DR4- DL1- UL4- U1- R2- D1+ L0+ ALL3+ y2 U2+ R5+ D6+ L3+ ALL1- DL @2024-01-11 17:12:05
5. 5.13 UR4- DR2+ DL3- UL2+ U5- R3- D4- L5+ ALL1+ y2 U0+ R4+ D4- L2- ALL6+ DR UL @2024-01-11 17:12:46
 
Great to see you switching to Roux!

I am in the NC area, so we may meet in some competitions.
 
Back
Top