Not long to go!

Got a bit of practice in today which went OK. Did the 5 minute numbers in true competition style and got a fairly respectable 92 digits correct. I read through the first 80 digits 3 times and then the last 12 twice. I took it fairly slowly to try and account for nerves in the competition so I think a score of 90-100 is achievable for next weekend. If I've read through the first 80 fast, I'll go for 120 and see how I get on. As long as I get better than 66 though, I'll be happy.

Henry Hopking (my brain training guru) has started a blog which will be full of useful information as time goes by so drop by and take a look http://thebraintrainingblog.blogspot.com

USA Memory Championship

I've finally managed to find a video of the 2007 competition to watch and wanted to make my observations of it. I don't know how well a competition in this format would work in the UK. I just don't think there is enough to keep the interest of people who aren't involved in the memory scene. I found myself getting a little bored which I was really surprised about. I mean, I must be one of the most addicted memory geeks in the universe so that says a lot. There wasn't enough to capture my interest. There is only so much fun to be taken out of watching a line of people read out what cards they have memorised or a long list of words.

Memory competitions could become a great area of interest for TV but I can't see it going far, certainly not in the UK, in the format it is in. It needs to be more visual somehow.

Don't get me wrong, I'm no expert on how to get people to watch the events on TV but I don't really like the format personally.

Perhaps I had built it up in my own mind too much? Perhaps I'm not the best person to be commenting because of my connection to the events? Anyway, I didn't want to upset anyone with my comments but I just think more needs to be done to get it to a UK audience.

New rooms

I finished off most of my practice yesterday with some of the memory rooms I use that I'm not 100% familiar with. It all went pretty well, no real changed need I think.

I'm still unsure as to what to go for in my speed numbers round in Cambridge. I did a couple of attempts yesterday for 100 digits and made 1 mistake on one and 2 on the other. Not bad, but not good enough! I think I may go for a safe 80 digits and then build that score up in Germany in a few months.

It was very inspirational to hear Ben getting to the 25 second mark on the speed cards. It seems like an impossible feat but as I practice, I see seconds come off my times so if I keep it up I hope to be somewhere near him one day!

Sprint practice today

I thought I'd mix it up a bit today and go for some sprint times i.e. How fast can I memorise 40 digits and keep doing that until I got to a good time. I was very surprised at what 6 goes at this could achieve.

The first 2 goes were a bit poor, around 45-50 seconds each with up to 8 errors. Third and forth goes were much better with only 2 digits wrong in each and in 40 seconds. The last effort was 40 digits, no errors in 34.65 seconds which I was really surprised with. I didn't think I could go that fast and have any quality of recall at all. So, it makes me wonder if I should go through 2 lines at that sort of speed and then do a good review and keep going that way?

Going to study in the sunshine :)

Lunch time practice

I've been trying to work out what is a good time for me to memorise each block of 40 digits on a line in the random numbers event. It has to be quick enough to get a good score but slow enough to register the images properly.

I managed to do 40 digits in 60 seconds with no problems at all on the recall. This was a single sighting so no review going on. That should be fast enough to get a half decent score if I did the second line at the same pace and then reviewed quickly over them a couple of times.

I'm still unsure about what to go for at Cambridge. My brain is saying "go for something sensible like 100 and then get the better scores in Germany when you get 2 attempts" but my 'big kahuna' part of my brain is saying "go for it! go for 200 digits you big fairy!" I'll have to see how confident I'm feeling on the day. As long as I get more than 66 (previous best in competition) I'll be happy that I am progressing.

Cambridge Prep

Finally got around to figuring out exactly what I'm going to attempt at Cambridge and get my routes sorted for each event. I went through it last night and it feels nice to know what event will be going where in my head.

I'm still not sure if I should sleep over in Cambridge the night before so I don't have to drive an hour that morning to the event or not. I don't think it will make a huge difference, I'm normally up at stupid o'clock every morning anyway.

My main goal at the event is to beat all of my previous scores in all of the events. I'm not really competing for a place, just against myself. I know I'm capable of doing significantly better that I did at WMC so as long as I don't make any silly mistakes I'll be happy.

5 minute numbers

I'm getting much better at this event now. I did 116 digits with only 1 error in the first row of 40 tonight. I was really annoying, I thought I had everything perfect but I memorised 43 instead of 73 but hey. At least I know now that I can form good images at that speed.

I memorised the first 40, then reviewed it, then went on to the second line and did the same again. I did a third pass on the first 2 lines and then when through the last line twice pretty fast.

It worked well, felt confident and I was reviewing much faster. Not really looking at the numbers (hence the mistake!) more flipping through the digits at speed and seeing the images on the route than doing the conversions again.

Onwards and upwards. 120 should be on the cards soon enough but I don't know what I should go for at Cambridge with only 1 attempt. I may practice 120 and then just go for a fairly safe 100.