Sunday 29th November 2009

@ Sefton

Breezy gusts of wind at time, comfortable.

1x 6 @ 18m warmup

10x 6 @ 18m scoring as 2 sets of Indoor I simultaneously (two spots)

1x 6 @ 18m cooldown

Total 72.

Scored a 261 and a 267 for a 528, fairly mediocre, nothing special to mention.  Having not shot much in the recent weeks, it shows in keeping all of the elements together for a good solid sequence.  However, still a passable result and several ends were relaxed even if the arrows weren't grouping.

Saturday 28th November 2009

@ Sefton, very warm, early evening.

Nothing too unusual.

3x 12 arrow ends @ 8m, blank.

Found it was easy and seemed alright in keeping bowarm up.
Release was a little flakey at times but otherwise okay.
Finding that my sight alignment with string is not as good, have to make sure my face position will settle onto seeing on the left hand side of the string.

Shooting from the last two weeks

I was a bit lazy in not updating, but in the last two weks, I've only managed to shoot 72 arrows.

We've had a bit of crazy hot, then windy, and rain weather, along with me working until 6pm in the city, looks like my ability to keep on shooting is going to be majorly hampered. -_-

Tuesday 10th November 2009

@ Sefton

Pleasant afternoon, sun sinking over the horizon.

1x 6 arrow @ 18m, 40cm spot, no scoring

1x 18 arrow @ 18m, 40cm spot, no scoring

1x 12 arrow @ 18m, 40cm spot, no scoring

Total 36.

Have people walking along stop and watch and ask questions about shooting.  Two from up the road, and one from across the road.

Broke three nocks with grouping.

Sunday 8th November 2009

@ Sefton

Afternoon, light breeze on odd times, clear weather after rain periods in the morning.

5x 6 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm spot, scoring
1x 6 arrow end @ 18m, 40cm spot, no scoring
2x 18 arrow ends @ 18m, blank.

Total 72.

Scored a 269 for the indoor round.
During blank, tried to meld everything together into consistency, not working that well, but towards the last 6 arrows, I concentrated on engaging subscapularis strongly and found that it made bringing through the clicker happen faster. Now to control it along with a better release.

Saturday 7th November 2009

@ Sefton,

Clear skies, late afternoon with dusk settling in.

5x 6 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm spot, scoring

1x 6 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm spot, no scoring.

Total 36.

Scored a 266 round.  I thought it would be much lower than that by how it looked and felt until I added the scores up.  The changing light conditions made it difficult to shoot progressively and appeared that my arrows were getting lower in the target, but the deviation was not that great.  There were two really great releases and shots, with one entire cycle being so perfect, smooth, relaxed that it felt awesome.  The only thing now is to try and recreate it yet again.

Friday 6th November 2009

@ Sefton

Very overcast and grey.
Cool, slight wind, light spitting rain towards the last two ends.

1x 6 arrow @ 18m 40cm spot warmup
10x 6 arrow @ 18m, 40cm spot scoring
1x 6 arrow @ 18m, 40cm warmdown.

Total 72

Two rounds of indoor today: 268 and a 266.
Not that great, not that bad either.


Afternoon session

Warmer weather

2x 18 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm spot, no scoring.

Total 36.

Tuesday 3rd November 2009

@ Sefton

Very hot ~36°C, bright at times, slight gusts at times.

1x 6 arrow end warmup @ 18m, 40cm spot

20x 3 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm spot, scored

1x 6 arrow ends cooldown @ 18m, 40cm spot

Total 72.

I shot two scored Indoor I rounds

1) 274 with 3 X's and 9 10's.

Outliers were  1x 7's and 2x 8's arrows

2) 274 with 5 X's and 11 10's

Outliers were 3x 7's and  1x 8 arrows

A 274 rating comes to a 78 rating, so only 2 ratings off.

I'm quite happy with that.

Saturday 31st October 2009

@ Sefton,

Cool, sunny.

2x 18 arrow ends @ 18m, blank.

Total 36.

Thursday 29th October 2009

@ Sefton

Cloudy, warm.

2x 18 arrow ends @ 18m blank

Total 36.

Tuesday 27th October 2009

@Sefton

Cloudy, chilly.

It has been raining for a while over the weekend, so the weather is still in pretty poor shape.

5x 6 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm spot, no scoring.

Total 30 arrows.

Thursday 22nd October 2009 - Afternoon Session

@ Sefton,

Sunny patches, warm, some light gusts of wind.

20x 3 arrow ends @ 18m, Indoor scoring 40cm Spot.

Set I: 275

Set II: 272

Total 60 shot.

Thursday 22nd October 2009

@ Sefton

Early, very cloudy and grey, dark and rain-like.

20x 3 arrow ends, two sets of 10 @ 18m Indoor.

Set I : 30 29 28 29 26 27 28 27 25 28 = 277 Rating of 81

Set II: 28 27 29 28 28 25 28 26 27 27 = 273 Rating of 77

Total = 550 Rating of 79

Incidentally, reflecting the rating back to a FITA90 score, it is a 1193, 1157, 1177 respectively.  It appears I'm back to my relative zone because my highest was 1186.

Fairly happy with today's shooting and using the open ring.  Some ends were a breeze, but others were still a slight struggle, I think more to do with posture and how I set up the shot than anything else.

Wednesday 21st October 2009

After some discussion with some people I respect on their knowledge and opinion, I have decided to switch over to using an open ring sighting method.  I had tried this a long time ago on compound with a little bit of success, and previously also on recurve without much success at all.  Now that the rest of my shooting skills have come up some, it isn't unreasonable to return to this method to try to eliminate other form issues, which at the moment is over-aiming.

So with this in mind, I removed the aperture disc, with the fibre optic pin in it, and the o-ring seal that held the disc in place.  My titan recurve scope is now an open ring, and I must say, on a 6-10 ring spot of an indoor face, at 18m, it is huge.  I see an incredible amount of gap space of the white, and the actual target butt.  Not to be distracted though, the key aspect is to just focus on looking at where you want to shoot, the gold, the middle of the gold.  Thus, that was how I aimed for the round.

@ Sefton, hot, slight gusts, bright on the face, shaded slightly on the target.

1x 6 arrow end warm up

10x 3 arrow ends scored Indoor round.

Total 36.

I scored a 265, only one point down from yesterdays shooting.  Amazingly so, and while it felt strange initially, the arrows didn't really do anything too unexpected at all.  In terms of the breakdown of ends it went as such:

25 27 27 28 23 23 26 28 29 29.

For the breakdown, while there were no 30's, the 22's became 23's.  The rest were fairly similar in consistency.  Some of the ends were very easy to shoot and relaxed, but once I stopped shooting, I could feel my subscapularis muscle aching slightly, indicating I was putting more into using it, which I think is a positive sign that I am aiming less.  In addition to this, my sight mark went up 1 full dial, as the arrows were going into the 8 ring high.

It is too early really to say off one session, so I shall continue with the open ring and see where it gets me.

I also found, that with the bow, since I took off a lot of excess weight yesterday, the wind pushing it is much more noticeable, while in a real indoor there would be no wind, so I am undecided in regards to re-attaching the weight or not.

Tuesday 20th October 2009 - Afternoon Session

After having a chat via Facebook to another archer about my motivational lacklustre, I developed a new goal, which is to shoot a 280 Indoor round.  To put this into perspective, if I shoot a 280 round consistently, it would put me 2nd in the Australian National ranking.  For compounders however, it would have to be a 300 minimum to be competitive.

So, I went back out and put in a proper round.  Two sets of 3 arrows warmup, then 10 rounds of 3 arrows scored.

My ends came to be:

22, 30, 28, 28, 26, 27, 28, 30, 26, 22

For a total of 266.

Thus, total arrows shot was 36.

Tuesday 20th October 2009

@ Sefton

Warm. Sunny.

3x 16 arrow ends @ 18m, blank.

Total 48.

Nothing major to report but after removal of excess weight from the bow, I felt that I was able to shoot the first 32 without problem at all, fairly smooth action through and good control.  At the end of the third end, there was a near pass-through, where the point of the arrow penetrated out the back of the target, but was not a complete pass-through.

Other than that, my motivational levels and causes to shoot are waning...

Thursday 15th October 2009

@ Sefton

Calm, bright, warm.

5x 12 arrow ends @ 18m, 6-10 40cm spot scoring.

1x 12 arrow end @ 18, blank.

Total 72

Shot another Indoor round today, yet again a 523.  Finished poorly with a 100 end, was throwing a lot of points because I wasn't strong to hold steady the bow weight while trying to bring through the clicker.  Having the heavier stabiliser is definitely working my arm since I can feel it, but it is also causing some posture problems with me leaning backwards post release.  This I could see through the shadow on the ground.  However when I was shooting the last end of blank, without aiming, I was able to keep my posture steady, so it related back to the aim and over-aiming, leading to other problems.

Tuesday 13th October 2009

@ Sefton, Bright, Sunny, Windy with gusts

10x 6 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm 6-10 spot, scoring

1x 12 arrow end @ 18m, blank

Total 72.

Shot another indoor round today in the gusty winds early in the morning.  Scored a 523.  Towards the second half, I started to not worry about the score or aiming but focussed on the action through the release, and while it improved, I found that my natural aim was not too bad, still scoring 50 ends instead of with high aiming concentration and only scoring 53-54.  I think if that I can get my action through the clicker and release can be improved, then focus can be shifted slightly back to aiming later with a better form increase of points.

Sunday 11th October 2009

The weather has been pretty bad lately in Sydney, thus I haven't done much shooting.

@ Sefton

Some light wind, cloudy and bright spots.  Impending rain.

6x 6arrow ends @ 8m, 40cm 6-10 ring face.  No scoring.

I put in a quick few ends today to test out the Ron's Rod stabilizer that I repaired yesterday.  It felt good, the glue bonds didn't seem to have broken or separated.  It was heavier than my longrod (Easton SS) but felt quite solid in response.  I also managed to bust two more nocks, so I am now down to sixteen arrows since my order of nocks has still not eventuated from the Beiter factory and suppliers.

Thursday 1st October 2009

@ Sefton,

Warm, starting to heat up, no wind to speak of, bright and sunny.

10x 6 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm 6-10ring spot.

Total 60.

Shot another indoor round, scoring a 527, including a lowest end of 49 and highest of 55.

Not very consistent, had problems bringing the arrows through the clicker, and realised towards the end it was because my head position is creeping forwards.  Most likely due to over-aiming the smaller spot size and not keeping posture up.

527 score comes to a 70 rating, so it is still okay, not the best.

Tuesday 29th September 2009

@ St Pauls,

Warm day, slight odd breeze, not significant.

6x 6 arrow ends @ 30m, 122cm face, no scoring

1x 6 arrow end @ 70m, 122cm face, sight setting

6x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm face, scoring

6x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm face, scoring

6x 6 arrow ends @ 50m, 80cm face, scoring

6x 6 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm face, scoring with fading light.

Total 31x 6 arrow ends = 186 arrows shot.

While I shot a FITA out of order, it was still good to attempt to shoot one.  It took me nearly 5 hours to shoot the whole thing, with a break in between while talking and investigating some strange riser phenomenon on a club bow.

The scores, in FITA order are:

90m: 45 39 39 44 46 42 = 255, average = 42.5, Rating of 78

70m: 41 47 49 49 47 47 = 280, average = 46.7, Rating of 74

50m: 51 48 47 35 44 49 = 274, average = 45.7, Rating of 71

30m: 57 52 56 54 53 55 = 327, average = 54.5, Rating of 75

Total FITA Score = 1136, Rating of 74, 1 point from 75 Rating.

The comments:

At 50m, I was starting to fade in the second half, evident by the terrible 35 point end.  I was struggling strength wise to complete the set of six, and was forcing the shots through, which cost points.  I stopped and slowed down, pulling up the scores in the remaining two ends for the distance.  At this point, I had already shot a FITA equivalent number of arrows, even if I considered warmup into it, thus the entirety of the 30m distance was also very challenging.

A 1136 is only 50 points lower than my competition Personal Best of 1186, so at this point of my shooting and progress, I am quite happy with it, and I was pleasantly surprised at how my 90m score went.  I was expecting more around my usual 210 range for the distance.  70m and 30m were on my expectations, but my 50m was slightly down (for obvious reasons).

I think I am making good progress.

Thursday 24th September 2009

@ Sefton
Bright sunny, slight breeze.

1x 12 arrow end @ 18m warmup, 40cm 7-ring spot.
5x 12 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm 7-ring spot, scored.

Total 72 arrows.

Shot another Indoor round today, scored a 536. This puts in for a rating of 73, nearly 74 (537).
Last time I shot one I scored a 525 for a rating of a 69, so it shows minor improvement.

Needed to relax and keep head position still as movement forward meant difficulties in engaging the back and bringing the arrow through the clicker. The higher sight mark for the distance meant bow shoulder was having problems in staying down.

Tuesday 22nd September 2009

@ St Pauls
Hot, gusty winds, dark clouds late in the session.

12x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm face no scoring.

Total 144.

Today, having not shot for a week, I did some 70m with some of the seniors in the club. It was a challenging environment because the wind was being quite gusty at times with no semblance of constant direction or strength.

While I had some poor shots, overall in shooting 12 arrow ends, I was quite satisfied with the results. I was finding that about 1/3-1/4 of the arrows were staying within the gold while the rest were in the red, with perhaps 1 or 2 in the blue. This is quite a good result I feel, especially since if I count that the furthermost outlying arrows were when I was tired at the end, then the better ones in the middle could be more repeatable.

I also found that I have to pay more attention to how I use my right and drawing shoulder when locking down at full draw before expanding, as it changes the quality of my alignment and release drastically.

Tuesday 15th September 2009

@ Sefton,

Very cloudy, slight breeze but not significant

FITA Indoor 18m 600: Total 525 score (60 arrows)

Rating tables equals 69, Rating of 70 is a 526.

Found it quite difficult to bring through the clicker when concentration was on holding on aim and steady, release also suffered considerably and conscious effort was required to keep the bow shoulder down, and bowarm out of the way. Required several let-downs.

Sunday 13th September 2009

@ Sefton

4x 18 arrow ends @ 8m, 60cm spot.

Total 72.

Noted that todays shooting was reasonable but arrows are grouping to the right. Indicates that my arrow spine may be going slightly weaker than the current tuning, which is possible if my release is cleaning up, giving more speed to the arrow. Bareshaft and poor shots are going slightly to the left of fletched shafts. Other than that, I was fairly happy with the shooting.

Thursday 10th September 2009

@ Sefton,

Morning session, cool but starting to warm in the last half of the last set
Afternoon session, also cool

4x 18 arrow ends @ 8m blank
2x 18 arrow ends @ 8m blank

Total 108

Nothing special to report. Shooting for conditioning. Moved clicker back to attempt to find ways of expanding through the clicker better, was able to still shoot with moved clicker. Afternoon session had extra weight on the longrod to compensate for shooting less, follow through bow movements were more controlled with the extra weight.

Wednesday 9th September 2009

@ Sefton,

Late afternoon, getting dark.

1x 6 arrows 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4 pull SPT pumps

4x 18 arrow ends @ 8m

Total 72 arrows shot.

Just shooting to keep strength. Was trying to feel for a good bow hand position with control on follow through, noticed however that half the arrows shot were clipping the armguard considerably.

Tuesday 8th September 2009

@ Sefton, cool, in shade.

4x 18 arrow ends @ 8m, 60cm gold spots
1x 6 arrow end @ 8m, SPT Pumps, 6x pump/arrow before shooting through
1x 6 arrow end @ 8m, aiming relaxed
1x 6 arrow end @ 8m, no aiming, relaxed

Total 90 arrows

SPT Pumps are easier to do than SPT straight, but being able to shoot the arrow after the last pump is very hard. Four out of the six I had to rest briefly before bringing up the shot. Release was a bit flaky today, and I was hitting the arm guard a lot. The new string seems to be behaving okay however, and the fuzz isn't seeming to be a problem.

Sunday 6th September 2009

@ Sefton

2x 18 arrow ends @ 8m

Just shooting in my new string that I made last night.

It's been a while since I made a string, and this was the 2nd full string I completed. The first was too long unfortunately, this one is better but I may have nicked the string slightly because there is fuzz coming off it. Otherwise, it is a good length.

The only thing is my jig I made can't do tension because it is made of wood, otherwise it works.

The jig has wing-nuts that limit the movement of the rails along the jig with the two threaded bolts. As you can see, it isn't exactly a super duper jig, it does the job of length, but has issues with tension.

Tuesday 1st September 2009

@ St Pauls,

Clear skies, warm, sunny.

2x 18 arrow ends @ 5m, blank style shooting
12x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm face, no gold visible
6x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm face, insert added
1x 6 arrow end @ 5m, blank shooting

Total 150 arrows

I had also one shot with a Sebastian Flute 5.99 Fiberbow, with SB Carbon Stabilizers. Very light, well balanced, sounded like a compound bow in the "snap" of the string sound, quiet for a recurve definitely. Pity they are so expensive.

Shooting was varied, worked on having now a more relaxed release, very different to the prior deep hook I had. I'm finding that the release, when it happens is very clean and the arrows leave the bow extremely smoothly. In poor releases, it kicks and spins out quite badly, but thankfully having the X10 and Tungsten points help keep the flight path relatively well. Other than that, I should stop being so stubborn and let down to reset the cycle when I know the shot isn't happening, and or if my bow shoulder is creeping.

Sunday 30th August 2009

@ Liverpool City Archers

Sunny, but strong gusts of wind.

24x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 60cm FITA Field face
1x 12 arrow end @ 30m, 20cm FITA Field face

Total 156 arrows.

It's the first time I've ever been to the Liverpool club, and it's quite nice. I am going to join as an associate member in about a months time or so, so I can get the 25% discount since the first quarter of the financial year is nearly over.

I shot on the target range, while their field course is next to it, so I could see people shooting on the first four targets of the field while shooting and collecting my arrows. The ground there is now 30 years old, and used to be a rubbish tip, where they got army engineers to help out convert it into what it is now. The problem is that the ground is slowly sinking as the rubbish subsides, so parts of the grounds are undulating here and there due to that.

The Target targets are the Whitetails, but with replacement centers that are much easier to pull arrows out from, while the Field targets are layered strammit, which is also the same used for their indoor range.

My shooting today was mediocre, with the gusting winds and the different face, aiming was harder, and at times I know I just hauled the arrows through when they weren't happening. Out of all the arrows shot today, I would say possibly 15 of them were any decent that I was fully happy with, but for purposes of just strength, they were okay. I didn't miss any off the target, so at least that is a benefit.

Saturday 29th August 2009

@ Sefton,

Very windy, predicted gale force winds in areas. Clear skies.

4x 18 arrows @ 8m

Total 72

Worked on release, more relaxed release without having a backwards jerk action.
Increase bow mass by adding extra weight units.

Tuesday 25th August 2009

@ St Paul's
Breezy, sunny, clear skies.

9x 12 arrow ends @ 90m, blank target with yellow core visible
3x 12 arrow ends @ 30m, same

Total 144

It took me 2 arrows to get my 90m setting today. I set the sight rack at 90 on the closest hole of the extension as possible and took a shot. The left/right alignment was spot on, but was under the target, so I pulled it down to 100 and, it was into the inner core of the target. Minor adjustment to 98 got me a little more center of the target and I left it there.

I was doing really well considering the wind conditions, out of the 108 arrows shot, I only missed two, the first being without the sight setting, the second was to the left, possibly a bad release, possibly the wind catching it (since it was the right direction for it).

Later on, Ricci came down, and gave me some coaching with his experience of shooting (former Australian Institute of Sport archery, Junior Worlds and World University Games competitor). We worked a little on my release trying to clean it up some. He also told me about how to change the balance of forces used in my arms to bring it more to 50-50 so I wouldn't be getting the head and shoulder jerk movement that I saw previously.

I have strength issues, but they can be resolved if I put in the time and effort (SPT, or SPT pumps), and I need to relax my fingers more to have a smoother release with greater contact along the jaw line. In addition to this, bring my elbow around on the draw arm more sideways than downwards since the subscapularis locks the positions, but I need to find a way to increase my chest expansion, or push with the bow shoulder down and out, to bring the shot through the clicker more efficiently.

It was a pretty good session.

Sunday 23rd August 2009

@ Sefton

Afternoon, warm, shade.

2x 18 arrows (3x 6) @ 8m, 60cm gold spot.

1x 12 arrows @ 3m, blind.

Total 48 arrows.

Todays shooting was very light. I shot two sets of 18 on the spots aiming, had solid grouping though some releases were not that great, so at the end, I put in twelve shots shooting blind, concentrating on feeling and controlling the release. I stood sufficiently close to the target that having my eyes closed wasn't an issue for missing with my straight arm posture. While twelve doesn't seem to be a lot of arrows in the big picture, it was good to just gently re-control my release a little.

I didn't shoot a lot today because I was still a little stiff from Kendo and shooting yesterday and I have Kendo tomorrow.

Saturday 22nd August 2009

@ Sefton,

Late afternoon, warm, in shade.

4x 18 arrow ends @8m, 60cm spot centers (gold only).

Total 72 arrows

Nothing much to note except I realised that I must be keeping my bow arm more rotated than before since string contact on the arm is higher up than the armguard.

Thursday 20th August 2009

@ Sefton

Afternoon weather, warm, sunny-ish.

6 arrow sets, 12 sets @ 8m, 60cm target face yellow only

Total 72 arrows.

I stuck on some spots today and did some shooting with some aiming. I was happy with the majority of the results, and yes, I know that it is only 8m, so grouping should be easy, but I was happy with the control and results of the shooting.

Tuesday 18th August 2009

@ St Pauls College Oval

Warm, Sunny, slight odd breeze at times. Clear skies.

28x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm face, no scoring.

Total = 168 arrows

I had my netbook out today with the delay to watch my shooting, and it worked quite well since I made a simple cardboard shroud around it to keep the sun off the screen. I could see my posture and bow arm movements, and also the release action.

I shot reasonably I thought today, managing to keep 90% or so of my shooting within the red of the target face, well within the acceptable range of scores for an '1200' score. Later on in the afternoon, with some discussion with Rob, I concentrated more on my bow arm actions and also trying to keep relaxed and waiting for the shot to "happen" than to force it through the clicker.

Since I have been only shooting at home with a short distance, I had to move the clicker out about 1/8th of an inch and 1mm ontop of that to get a comfortable draw for 70m, but it worked quite well. I think I'm quite happy with todays shooting. Volume wise, it's also quite considerable, and will no doubt try and solidify my bow arm action.

Sunday 16th August 2009

@ Sefton

Nice day, warm (24°C), in the shade with target in sunlight.

6x 12 arrow ends @ 8m

Total 72.

Today, I built myself a plate for my netbook to sit on. The reason was last night my brother was kind enough to find for me and show me how to do time shifted video that I had been looking for. He found it using VLC player under capture devices, which permitted a variable time shift depending on how you set it. The only thing is that it appears to only work on v0.84, not v1.0 or v1.01, so if you want to use the function (Open Capture Device - Ctrl+A, then in Advanced settings, caching value in ms = the delay) make sure you have v0.84 (unless you can get it to work with older versions).

I had the netbook set on the plate with the 1.3MP USB webcam, and a 2.5 second delay, which was enough for me to take the shot, and then turn my head without changing my foot position, to watch the feed.

From what I could see of the feed, my arm dips a little, but no-where as much as it did a long time ago. I have definitely become stronger in keeping the arm up. Shoulder rotation is very slow after the release, to the point where my alignment is fine during the shot I think. Kendo and the exercising of my triceps have helped in this definitely. I seem to be leaning backwards a little after the show, indicating that my bow is heavy, but when I took some bow weight off the stabilizer and riser, it felt very un-natural to me, and I couldn't shoot with it very well, so I put them back on. If I concentrated on the form and keeping my body in position, it is corrected, but it takes more concentration and other aspects get worse. I can also see that my release is so-so. Some are very visible in that they are not plucking, but opening, not releasing. I can see the elongation of the fingers, which shouldn't be that visible if a good release occurs (which I did have some).

Having the playback is very useful, and when I have the time to bring it all out, I'm sure I'll continue to use it. Some pictures below show the plate and general setup of it.

Saturday 15th August 2009

@ Sefton

Afternoon shoot, sunny but in shade.

4x 18 arrow ends @ 8m

Total 72

I had my camera set up with a timer interval, changed between 5 to 10 seconds with various speeds of shooting. I found it was initially difficult to concentrate on hearing and feeling the clicker instead of the camera shutter (nearly released on a camera shutter at the start) but towards the end, was not hampered by this.

Shooting was so so, nothing specific to speak of. Some releases were not so good however as the photographs indicate in regards to follow through position of the hand/fingers. The set can be seen at my Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/dchiou/sets/72157622042657322/ .

I also got new wraps and refletched my arrows so they look pretty spiffy.

Thursday 13th August 2009

@ Sefton, Afternoon

No wind, light conditions good.

3x 20 arrow ends @ 8m

Total 60.

About the same as yesterday.

Wednesday 12th August 2009

@ Sefton, Night under light.

Cool, no wind

3x 20 arrow ends @ 8m.

Total 60.

It was a bit of a struggle to get through the last 10 or so arrows in the end. Not shooting for almost a week is probably not so good when shooting large arrow sized ends without much break between ends (16m walk isn't very long).

Managed about 50-75% backtension, but must continue to have strong and deep grip position. Was happy with how the bow arm was keeping up.

Thursday 6th August 2009

@ Sefton
Warmish, no wind, clear skies, bright.

6x 10 arrows @ 8m

First end was very relaxed, very easy, straight through, good release.
Then returned to usual form, however concentrated on not stopping release fingers, as result, did not have sore right shoulder.

Bow hand control seems to be better, less bow arm drop when concentrating on not dropping.
Concentration on aiming however seems to mess with release relaxation.

Brief Recovery for Alternative Activity

At the moment, I have decided to not shoot for a week to allow myself the best recovery for Kendo. While I have been fine shooting and training in Kendo, I have a grading next weekend and I would prefer to not have any joint twinges or accidental issues occur, thus while not put away like last time, I will not strain myself over this week, and resume shooting after grading.

Thursday 23rd July 2009

@ Sefton

3x 20 arrow ends @ 8m in the morning

Significant break

4x 20 arrow ends @ 8m in the afternoon

Rain.

140 total shot.

Worked on just shooting without too much aim and relaxing. Initial 60 arrows was very tiring, afternoon arrows seemed a little better.

Concentrated also on control and keeping the bow arm and shoulder upwards. Was able to reduce the amount of drop, and move the arm upwards slightly. May be artificial post-drop push, would be better if the lift was immediately as part of left arm pushing. Hard to tell however without someone watching or video analysis.

Tuesday 21st July 2009, Outdoor Indoor practice

@ St Pauls

Warm, Sunny, light odd breeze. Very un-winter weather.

Due to the State/National Indoor Championships this weekend, one of our club members who is competing wanted to do some 18m indoor practice. Thus we shot a FITA Indoor 18m 600 and scored accordingly. I chose to use a 3 spot target face with a X-6 ring only.

2x 9 arrow ends @ 18m as warm up
10x 3 arrow ends @ 18m scoring, 40cm face
10x 3 arrow ends @ 18m scoring, 40cm face

6x 6 arrow ends @ 30m, 122cm face, no scoring.

114 arrows shot total.

The scoring from the ends:
1) 56 55 54 57 54 = 276,
Average round 55.2, round rating = 82,
Australian 18m 300 rating = 80

2) 50 55 53 51 54 = 263
Average round 52.6. round rating = 72
Australian 18m 300 rating = 70

With a total for the FITA Indoor 18m 600 = 539
Rating = 74

Not too shabby.

Points from todays shooting:

Control. Control. Control. Had excellent control in shooting the 3 spot face.
With increased control, shooting cycle time increased leading to fatigue.
Maintain relaxed state and release when the clicker is through and aimed, no rushing = good shots.
Pushing with the left arm helped immensely.
Still need to maintain a deep hook on the release hand as while taking time and relaxing, hand was opening up making it extremely difficult to get through the clicker.

Am aiming with right eye only, but this seems to be a distance issue since I could aim at 30m with both eyes open fine. Will have to work more on sight picture.

Saturday 18th July 2009

@ Sefton, after Kendo training

Not too cold, no wind, light fading. Used 2x 500W floodlight for last three ends.

10x 10 arrow ends @ 8m

100 arrows shot, no nocks damaged.

Bow shoulder is feeling stronger, getting better shot cycle rhythm. Must remember to start with deeper hook otherwise draw shoulder starts to get strained.

Thursday 16th July 2009

@ Sefton

Odd light breeze, slightly cool, dark clouds moving in.

All @ 8m

7x 10 arrow ends - Tuning using microphone for brace height.

3x 10 arrow ends

5x 9 arrow ends

Total 145 arrows shot.

Switched from 10 to 9 arrow ends due to snapping a nock with the stem inside the arrow.

Wednesday 15th July 2009

@ Sefton

Cold, rapidly getting dark.

4x 10 arrow ends @ 8m

Just to get some shooting exercise in.

Tuesday 14th July 2009

@ St Pauls
Sunny, Overcast, some light and medium gusts, not consistent wind.

2x 10 arrow ends @ 50m 80cm warmup.

6x 6 arrow ends @ 50m 80cm scored.
6x 6 arrow ends @ 50m 80cm scored.

4x 10 arrow ends @ 50m 80cm to finish.

132 arrows shot total today.

The two sets of 50m were scored as such:

1) 44 47 43 39 35 29 = 237
Average 39.5
Rating is a 60

2) 45 41 41 41 47 43 = 258
Average 43
Rating is a 66

For a combined score (also known as a Launceston Round) = 495/720 which equals a rating of 60.

Today had some good and bad shooting, a bit of a mix. My release still needs a bit of work since plucking dropped the shots considerably and also threw the arrows off to the left quite far. Bow arm is a little better, but still not keeping it up consistently. Keeping sequence/routine in draw sequence is working, and standing with good posture definitely helps. Must remember to keep the hook deep on the draw hand.

Monday 13th July 2009

@ Sefton

No wind, quiet, ~15°C.

4x 10 arrow ends @ 8m

37th arrow, blew another nock, dead on in the middle of the nock. Decided to cut my losses.

Form seems not too bad. Posture definitely better, some semblance of follow through control re-appearing. Backtension use also re-appearing.

Sunday 12th July 2009

@ Sefton
Cool weather, no wind, overcast mostly, some sun late afternoon, right angle floodlight for two ends.

Shot 14x 10 arrow ends @ 8m. 6 ends, break, 6 ends, long gap, 2 ends.

Robin hooded one arrow in end 14 on 9th arrow, decided to stop shooting for the day.

Points:
Since shooting 8m is very close, the sight setting was set quite high at 8 (co-incidence!) with the arrow turnover just at 10m. This means that the draw length is changed slightly. I changed my posture and stance to reflect my previous training and found that I drew through the clicker before I reached a satisfactory anchor point. To compensate, I moved the clicker back two notches on the clicker plate back to a distance where I needed to work to move the arrow through the clicker.

Changing my posture assisted in better draw and tension. My bow arm didn't feel like it was collapsing as much today, though I think I was not rotating my bow arm very much at all. A deep hook on the release fingers assisted in engaging in a better draw and release. Right shoulder is slightly sore, bow shoulder deltoid is slightly sore.

Friday 10th July 2009

@ St Paul's College Oval

Light winds, sunny periods, with overcast periods and light drizzle rain at times. Cold weather ~16°C

6 ends @ 70m/122cm, first two ends dropping low, lost one arrow into the ground, couldn't find it with the metal detector, most unhappy.

3 ends @ 90m/122cm, shotgun shooting, multiple arrows missing low, one striking target frame.

2 ends @ 50m/122cm, group size in the blue, not particularly good.

8 ends @ 30m/80cm, scored 6 ends + 2 ends afterwards. 311 with two ends of 46.

Total 19 ends, so less than a FITA. However, all except the 50m and 30m ends were shot with 8 arrow ends, where the 50m and 30m where with 6 arrow ends.

Issues:
Bow arm is still very weak. First two arrows strong, third is okay, the remainder is difficult without bow arm collapse happening. Backtension engagement is considerably easier if the bowarm is not collapsing, and can be engaged well on first shot of each end. The release is still to be fixed up, but remembering to grip deeply is assisting in better draw through the clicker. It is hard to focus on the release when struggling to keep the bow arm from collapse. My setup is returning slightly after I read through my previous training journal. I need to start to count arrows again I think to keep track and help get some goalsets.

I purchased some shelving yesterday that I will set up for my target at home since the current setup is soon to be dismantled. Then it will allow for some shooting at home when the weather is better on days off etc.

While I hate being so weak, it does feel good to be shooting again, to some degree.

Return to the field

Well, as you can see, it has been a long time since I have picked up a bow and put any serious shooting. I have now returned, and I am going to attempt again to return to form and put in that 1200 score in either QRE or competition.

Naturally, it will not be easy to do, the absence of shooting has taken its toll in both form and strength though fitness overall has improved thanks to my Kendo training. While I make a tentative return to archery, I will not be able to give it a 100% attention like I did previously since I am also deciding to maintain my Kendo schedule co-currently with it.

So, for the moment, I will be shooting one day a week, possibly two, and I also have a target setup at home that will allow me to do random shooting during the week also at close distance (sub 10m) for general blank butt shooting.

I did shoot on Tuesday, about two hours worth, I didn't count the ends I shot, not that it is a significant number to note. The form was reasonable, not great, but it isn't like I missed the target. I was lacking complete backtension control with only perhaps one-third of my shooting with any form of tension that I would have liked. My left arm and back is pretty much in disarray and I hope it will return with sufficient time and shooting to where I had left off.

My groups initially were quite wide, about 7 ring wide, all low with my last known 30m setting, but by the time we stopped shooting, I had managed to close the width down to about four inches, but the vertical spread was still pretty large, about 8-9 inches high. Not particularly a good group considering when I was doing well, I could keep them all within the 9 ring with ease in regular conditions. But, I know my form isn't up to scratch so I won't beat myself up about it anytime soon.

I have also done SPT for the last two days, the first day doing about 23minutes, starting with 30 second holds and seeing it drop down to 7 second reps, and today, I also started around the 30 second mark and let it fall until about the 10 second mark, but doing greater rest periods inbetwee for a total of about 35 minutes. I dislike SPT greatly since I always feel that I am doing something wrong with my form and draw, and while SPT may be more effective than shooting in the same timeframe, I have always preferred to shoot the vast number of arrows. I guess we will see how things develop and what I will need to do.

The NSW State Champs are on the 15th & 16th August with entries closing on the 28th July, in 19 days time. I am probably not going to be in any condition to shoot them unfortunately unless something miraculous occurs. I will what happens by the 28th I guess, since I would rather not attend the State Championships and shoot a sub 1100 score if possible.

Happy Shooting~