Current YA Novel Help

I think most of those weapons would take years of training, not a few weeks.

I think the other thing, is that many weapons that don't sound heavy duty actually are -

claymores, long bows or cross bows, swords, clubs, etc, all require a massive amount of arm strength, because they weigh a lot, or because they have strings that need to be pulled back.

I can see what angle you're probably going for, but I thought I'd mention these points as something to bear in mind at least

Yeh, these things take a lot of training, and the required arm strength- especially for a female- is going to take time to build. Also, some of the longer weapons, like the double bladed axe or a claymore, is going to take a lot of leg strength as well, and every form of combat requires movement. If your character only has a few weeks, it would probably be best to pick one thing and focus on it for most of every day that she has.

When I first learned sword fighting (and yes, I'm female), it took me about a month to get used to using my sword. I don't think I'm all that strong, and I'm not very good at sword fighting, but I felt that I could at least hurt someone with a sword after that.

I don't think you'll be a master fighter or anything like that after a month, but you'll at least know the basics.

Also, I should mention that I was training five days a week at my martial arts school (for an hour each), plus an hour or more on the weekends. I would think that if someone was really dedicated they could do better than me in the same amount of time.

Yttar

What was the character's fitness level before she started training? Did she already have razor sharp reflexes?

I agree with everyone else, I would think that it would take a long time to learn these skills unless she was already athletic and strong. Then, perhaps, she may start to learn how to use these weapons.

If you have read The Hunger Games yet, I think this would be a great place to look for ideas on how one "trains" with weapons. There's a section before the games where the main character (and the others in the competition) show their skills with weapons and get training. Check it out, Collins does a good job making it believable.

Is a sword really important as the weapon? I'd go for stick fighting as a skill for the modern world and especially for a woman.

Have you read the hunger games? In it, the main character is sent for 'general training' where there's different stations for proficiency. Perhaps you might want to adopt something like this where you concentrate on different 'aspects' of fighting (hand-to-hand, knives, bows, a specific weapon), rather than the usage of many different 'heavy duty' weaponry that would require a longer training regime to become proficient in each.