Monday 31st January 2011

@ SOPA

Very hot, odd breeze but not of note, very bright.

3x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

3x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

3x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm scored

3x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm scored

1x 12 arrow end @ 60m, 122cm unscored

1x 12 arrow end @ 40m, 122cm unscored

1x 12 arrow end @ 50m, 122cm unscored

Total 180 

I wound in my bow 2 turns today on both limb bolts as I felt that I was at the stage where I could still maintain my control of the shot while continuing to improve and increase my strength and shooting fitness.  My bow scale is a peice of junk and before winding in it measured 40lb, and after winding in, it measured 40lb.  Lucky for me, at SOPA they had an Easton Bow Force Mapper, a really fantastic device, and I clocked in a 44.8lb, 44.5 and 44.8lb measurements on three draws, so its safe to say, I'm drawing about 44.5lb at least.  I find this a little surprising as my draw length is pretty much smack on 28" (my shafts are 704mm (27.7") + nock and point), and with 42lb limbs, with them bottomed out, I'd expect them to be lower than 42lb, and with two turns in, they're around the middle of the range, so would be at 42lb.  In any case, I wasn't super concerned so long as my arrows grouped nicely and I could shoot it well.

I put down 72 in 12 arrow lots (with a water break every 3 ends) to set a new sight setting, and was grouping pretty well.  I wasn't feeling tired on the draw arm, but my bow shoulder on the anterior deltoid was getting tired from the 12 arrow ends.  After this I shot a 72 arrow QRE practice still in 12 arrow ends, and ended up with a 278 and 291, for a 569, so I was really happy with that considering with 12 arrow ends, the concentration and fatigue related issues, I still shot as well as my current best actual QRE (vs the 605 practice QRE on Saturday).

After this, I completed the session by putting down an end of 12 at 60, 50 and 40 meters for settings to use on the Canberra/FITA900 events in the coming fortnight.

One thing to note as I was getting tired, was seeing the drop of my shooting group from the gold ring down to the 7 ring when I was letting my arm drop.  Upon focusing with the intent to keep my arm up through the followthrough, the group returned to its proper height position centered in the gold.

Sunday 30th January 2011

@ Sydney Bowmen

Sunny, warm, not much breeze.

2x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm warmup

Canberra

1x 6 arrow end @ 70m, 122cm cooldown.

Total 108.

The Canberra round today was just to have a somewhat relaxed shoot as most of the people at Sydney Bowmen today were running their respective Canberra rounds for next weekend's club competition.  For me, after shooting the 180 arrow yesterday, I was a bit stiff and tired, so I didn't expect too much, but rather tried to focus on once again, a solid relaxed consistent release.

I think I did pretty well for my efforts, and scored a 250, 269 and 281 for a total of 800.  Its consistant with the two 799's I've shot in the last month.  I was pretty happy, since it's a mental milestone at least.

Saturday 29th January 2011

@ Northern

Overcast to start with, no wind, then becomming sunny and bright.

6x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, blank

6x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm scored

6x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm scored

6x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm scored

6x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm scored

Total 180 shot.

Warmed up with 90m blank, working on getting the shoulder around to bring the arrow through the clicker while allowing for a relaxed release to occur.  Was struggling a little but after 36 arrows, decided to score.

First round:

1) 10 7 6 5 5 4 = 37

2) 8 7 6 6 5 4 = 36

3) 8 5 5 5 4 4 = 31

4) 9 8 7 6 6 6 = 42

5) 8 7 7 6 5 4 = 37

6) 8 7 7 6 6 4 = 38

Total = 221

Second round, with a better idea of control happening

1) 8 8 7 7 5 4 = 39

2) 10 8 8 7 6 4 = 43

3) 10 9 8 8 8 5 = 48

4) 9 9 8 8 7 6 = 47

5) 9 9 8 7 7 7 = 47

6) 10 9 9 8 7 7 = 50

Total = 274

I was pretty happy with a 274 round, as a 270 would equate to a 1200 FITA 90 (the breakdown being 270, 300, 300, 330).

I felt reasonable after putting through the 108 arrows so decided to follow on with a practice 70m/720 QRE for next Saturday.

First round:

1) X X 10 9 8 8 = 55

2) 10 10 9 9 8 7 = 53

3) 10 9 9 8 6 6 = 48

4) 10 9 9 8 8 7 = 51

5) 9 9 8 8 7 6 = 47

6) 9 9 9 8 8 6 = 49

Total = 303

Second round

1) X 10 10 9 8 8 = 55

2) X X 8 8 7 5 = 48

3) X X 10 9 8 4 = 51

4) 10 10 9 9 8 5 = 51

5) 9 9 9 8 8 7 = 50

6) 9 9 8 8 8 6 = 48

Total = 302

Total QRE round = 605.

As you can see, it was an amazing shoot for me today, beating a 600 QRE in practice was really great.  I just hope to be able to repeat the shoot next Saturday for the QRE being held at Northern.

Technique wise, everything flowed well today except for odd points of poor release, recognised prior to release by difficulties to expand and turn my elbow around how I needed it to be before it would go through the clicker.  I did have to let down at least twice I recalled as it wasn't going through the clicker and I didn't want to deliberately throw points and releases.

Progress is coming along slowly : )

Friday 28th January 2011

@ St Paul's

Some periods of wind gusts, overcast at times cool, times of sun but still cool.

9x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm face, no scoring

Canberra Round

Total 144 arrows.

I was hoping to improve on my 799 from the previous session, but only managed a 774 today.  The breakdown of scores ran 233, 267 and 274.  The majority of point loss came from the 60m with two poor starting ends.  I could blame it on much, but it was just poor concentration after having my focus broken with a series of events and disruptions to the shooting of the event.

Other than that, I felt that my shooting was fairly smooth, only one or two silly uncontrolled releases or slips, the others went down fairly well, though there were times where the shot was held too long and I forced them through the clicker.  Bad habit to break.

Tuesday 25th January 2011

@ St Pauls
Hot, warm, sunny, no breeze of note.

3x 6 arrow ends @ 60m warmup, 122cm face, no scoring
Canberra round

Total 108 arrows.

I scored a 799 Canberra round today.  It really should have been over 800, not for the fact that I had bad shooting (which, I didn't) but it was me being cautious about my sight settings, in that at 50m, my grouping was low but I wasn't sure if it was poor shooting or the sight setting.  So when my second end at 50m was also low, I wound the sight up, and was shooting much better scores, with the same grouping cluster.  I scored a 257, 256, and 286 for the 60m, 50m and 40m respectively.

A few ends were super smooth, just so relaxed and boom, into the gold like nothing was the matter.  Felt real good.  Now of course to attempt to replicate this on a regular basis at further distances is the goal.

Sunday 23rd January 2011

@ Sydney Bowmen
Bright, warm, breeze kicking in later.

5x 6 arrow ends @ 40m, 80cm face, no scoring
1x 6 arrow end @ 50m, 122cm face, no scoring, using a 36lb Hoyt Nexus/G3
1x Canberra Round, scored
6x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm face, no scoring.

Total 162 arrows.

Shot the 40m distance with Odette, as she was scoring the distance to see her progress relative to a FITA60 event.  My groups were keeping within the red rings, but dropping a little low and to the right, most likely due to poor release more than anything and I was still quite stiff in shoulder movement.

Moving out to the longer dstances, I shot one end using Peter's Nexus setup to demonstrate the quietness of a bow relative to release.  Our draw lengths are quite similar, so the bow tuning in  terms of poundage wasn't changed much, but using his arrows and my form, there was a noticable difference in how they sounded.

Shot a Canberra round in preparation for next week's trial event at SUAC for the event to be held on the 6th February.  I shot a 790 score, including 1 miss at 60m.  Relative to my score at the City of Sydney (799), it's on par.  This miss, has certainly fallen in line with my other miss shots, generally due to a forward release when attempting to let down as my finger tension is relaxed from trying to expand through.  Must either ensure a solid letdown, or, not be in a situation to require a letdown at all.

Friday 21st January 2011

@ St Pauls

Warm day, slight breezes, no cloud cover, bright.

6x 6 arrow ends @ 30m, 40cm 6-ring, no scoring
6x 6 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm, scored
6x 6 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm, unscored.

Total 108 arrows.

Was feeling a bit flakey in my shooting, and tried to shoot an old relatively familiar distance to see how I fared.  I hadn't scored a 30m 80cm for in a long time, August 2010 in fact.  Interestingly, I scored a 327 (56, 56, 51, 57, 57, 50) today, compared to the 327 on the 17th August 2010 (56, 57, 56, 54, 52, 52).  Looking at the scores, it would appear that my shooting might have improved in more higher ends, but still with dodgey rounds thrown in there.  More consistency is required, though it has been a somewhat long week for me so far.

In these two last weeks, I have shot a considerably higher number of arrows than usual, with the ramping up of my shooting.  I hope to steadily shoot more arrows over time, and with intent to join a 24/7 club to allow me to do this, but at the moment, my body is feeling a bit ragged and tired.  I hope perhaps if I don't shoot tomorrow (I had a rest Wednesday for work purposes), I might see how I go on Sunday at Sydney Bowmen.

The next benchmark will be the competition try-outs on Tuesday next week, we will be shooting a Canberra round (FITA900), with my PB being a 799.  I don't know if I'll crack that, but, anything over a 788 would be awesome.  Should be interesting regardless.

Scoresheets from this week past

So, the SOPA AIM scoresheets have come through the mail.  Comments have been said already about the shoots in previous posts.
Enough said.

17th January 2011

Session: 1 ( FITA 122cm at 70 metres )

1  = 50  50 2  = 44  94 3  = 31  125 4  = 47  172 5  = 48  220 6  = 46  266

Session: 2 ( FITA 122cm at 70 metres )

1  = 50  50 2  = 37  87 3  = 41  128 4  = 50  178 5  = 48  226 6  = 46  272

18th January 2011

Session: 1 ( FITA 122cm at 70 metres )

1  = 45  45 2  = 50  95 3  = 47  142 4  = 48  190 5  = 50  240 6  = 50  290

Session: 2 ( FITA 122cm at 70 metres )

1  = 49  49 2  = 48  97 3  = 47  144 4  = 43  187 5  = 46  233 6  = 38  271

20th January 2011

Session: 1 ( FITA 122cm at 70 metres )

1  = 51  51 2  = 43  94 3  = 39  133 4  = 46  179 5  = 49  228 6  = 39  267

Session: 2 ( FITA 122cm at 70 metres )

1  = 45  45 2  = 43  88 3  = 46  134 4  = 41  175 5  = 46  221 6  = 44  265

Thursday 20th January 2011

@ SOPA
Sunny, winds came up in second session.
QRE

4x 6 arrow ends warmup
70/720
2x 6 arrow ends cooldown.

Total 108.

Had a brilliant start with a 51, smooth end, but somehow things degenerated badly, shooting two 39 point ends.  I ended up just taking the sessions as an exercise in muscle training more than anything.  My release was failing to function well at all.

I shot a 530 odd score, a 260 something and a 260 something.  Consistent, but, could have been better.

Not really too bad a thing, scores will go up and down, just hope progressively that scores will climb up.

Tuesday 18th January 2011

@ SOPA
Sunny, light breeze not of any real significance
QRE

4x 6 arrow ends warmup
70m/720
2x 6 arrow ends cooldown

Total 108.

Shot a 290 and 271 in the two rounds for the QRE and 561 total.  I was a bit tired, didn't sleep enough but was able to still focus well enough for the 290, but in the second session I was fading badly at the end and suffered a terrible end of 38 to finish, although I shot a 2 for my second last arrow, I powered home with a resounding X for the last shot.

Points to remind myself, deep hook, breathe in on draw, ensure shoulder and hip rotation and alignment, expand through the clicker, do not rush the release, maintain arm followthrough.

@ St Paul's
Afternoon training
Sunny at times, turning overcast, some light breezes.

12x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm face no scoring
1x 3 arrow end @ 30m, 80cm face, no scoring
6x 6 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm face, no scoring
1 arrow @ 30m, 80cm face, no scoring

Total 112

Day total 220.

Shot 60m in preparations for the Sydney Bowmen event on the 6th of February.  SUAC will hold trials next Tuesday and Friday for the event.  My previous best Canberra/FITA900 was a 799, so, it will be interesting to see if I am able to have a repeat performance of improvement.

The practice for 60m was very relaxed and smooth, however at 30m, it is now an unfamiliar distance to me, though tiredness may have played part, it being the last distance and arrows shot of the day after an already long day.  While I believed that I held reasonably on-target my releases were terrible and not functioning in a relaxed manner.  It has been a very long time since I shot 30m on the 80cm face, so I may have to re-familiarise myself with it for FITA90 events.

Monday 17th January 2011

@ SOPA
QRE

Sunny, little to no wind, very warm.

4x6 arrow ends warmup.
70/720 QRE
2x6 arrow ends cooldown.

Total 108.

Session 1 70m 1 9 9 8 8 8 8 = 50 2 X 8 7 7 6 6 = 44 3 9 7 6 6 3 M = 31 4 9 8 8 8 7 7 = 47 5 9 9 9 8 7 6 = 48 Total 6 9 9 9 8 7 4 = 46 266 Session 1 70m 1 10 9 9 8 8 6 = 50 2 9 9 8 4 4 3 = 37 3 9 8 7 6 6 5 = 41 4 9 9 9 8 8 7 = 50 5 9 9 8 8 8 6 = 48 Total 6 9 9 8 8 6 6 = 46 272 Round 538

Really no excuses I guess.

Their AIMS system wasn't used today because someone forgot to charge the devices.  Not a problem really.

Need to constantly be reminded to keep back straight and upright, close down the angle of the feet at times to get a much flatter chest line and assist with expansion.

I think a 538 (with 1 miss) is quite a reasonable score.