Thursday 31st March 2011

@ Sefton

Overcast, light breeze of no note, rained soon after.

1x 6 arrow end @ 18m, 40cm 3-spot, warmup

FITA Indoor (Shot as 10x 6 arrow ends)

Total 66.

Shot a indoor today, got in before the rains started.  Scored a 267 and a 271 for a 538 total.

Took a while to loosen up the fingers, and settle into form but was wobbling a bit with bow arm.  Feels like I might be leaning forwards too much when folding in sternum to get alignment.  Still working on the negative form.

Monday 28th March 2011

@ SOPA

Medium light, no wind, getting overcast.

4x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored warmup

Practice QRE

Total 96

Shot a practice QRE, scored a 304 and 292 for a total of 596.

Fixed the vibration issue last time as mentioned so the bow shot really nice today without the buzz.  Getting better in terms of consistency and grouping however setting up is still inconsistent.  When I get it down, and a clean release, the grouping stays within the 9 ring, very happy with the shooting, its just making sure that I reduce as much error and have repeatability.

Friday 25th March 2011

@ St Pauls

Warm and Sunny, turning slightly overcast, slight wind but not much to be bothered by.

15x 6 arrow ends @ 10-70m walkback, 80cm face unscored.  10m, 15m, 30m, 40m, 50m, 60m, 70m.

Total 80 arrows.

Shooting with the new rig was good, the grip position felt pretty solid now, though still working on alignment into the correct plane of force.  Getting some help, I was wavering between about an inch out (too short an alignment, elbow to the right of in-line) to being in line, so need to work on consistency.  Release also.  The bow was rattling for the duration and I could not figure the source until at the end of the day when I discovered that the hex bolt for the grip was working itself out.  Sadly for some reason, none of the hex keys that came with the riser actually fit the screw and I had to half-fit a metric key from my Shibuya sight kit to get it to work.  I hope that with the screw tightened, the rattle will go away.  

With shooting a low brace height, the shot response does have a bit of a 'kick' to it.  I don't know how much value there will be to bring the brace height up, though quiet as it is, it might get more quiet.  I will have to experiment with that in the coming period of time but it will play around with my nocking point height and sight settings too.  At the moment, I feel it is pretty quiet but it might get even more quiet....

Wednesday 23rd March 2011

@ SOPA

Warm, Bright, Windy at times.

18x 6 arrow ends @ Various distances, unscored.

Total 108.

I got my Formula RX 27" and Short 46lb limbs on Monday this week, and spent Monday trying to tune the setup with my X10 450's.  Sadly they didn't go, so on Tuesday I got some X10 500's at gt's (from Archery Forum) recommendation and built them before putting in a 18m tune at home.

Today I went out to SOPA to get the further distances set, and shot from 18m, 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70m to get some sight settings.

There was a bit of wind, stronger further out from the building but I think that having the Carbon Blade setup had made a difference to the push on the bow as I felt it a lot less on the bow than on my body with it buffeting around.

I had to adjust the clicker position a bit, so my sight settings are 100% accurate as it went, but with the conditions in the wind it probably wasn't the best anyway.

Sunday 20th March 2011

@ Liverpool City Archers

Overcast, rain periods, light breeze of no note.

Went originally to shoot the QRE but it was cancelled.  Trained instead.

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

10x 3 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm X-5ring spot, indoor range.

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

Total 102.

Worked on NHC form again.  Determined that string position for current tune must stay within the riser space and not in float or pin space.  Determined that anchor point allows neck contact with pinky but must ensure a strong hook on second finger.  Still trying to determine how to fully rotate consistently.

Indoor however was solid, only shooting 1 arrow into the 8, others consistently gold with several arrow-touching groups.

Saturday 19th March 2011

@ SOPA

Overcast, rain, showers, sun, sprinkle, no real wind of note

4x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm warmup

70/720 QRE

3x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm, unscored

Total 114

Shot the SOPA QRE, started strongly with a 53, 50 50, and then it just went downhill from there.  Ended up with a 289 and a 267 to finish.  Not entirely sure what the 100% causes are, but at the end of the day, its just me being inconsistent, be it weather or not.  I had strong feeling ends, but shots were plucking out to the right, and at times kicking up high.  Miscellaneous 6's, 5's, and even one 4 cost me too many points.

That said, I am feeling very sore in the same spot as I mentioned previously, so my change in form is being consistent.  Whether it is correct is hard to tell unfortunately.  Shots going down look good in arrow flight, but I probably have a bit of left/right alignment to deal with also as many of the righ-pushed shots were at the correct center height.

Friday 18th March 2011

@ St Pauls
Overcast with brief sun breaks, showers at times, light breeze.

18x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

Total 108.

Once again working on NHC method, unscored however and was averaging approximately 52/end or so in good solid progress.  Felt different and while for most part was able to get the right shoulder positions and settings, sometimes it just didn't happen, so still need to determine consistency.

Thursday 17th March 2011

@ SOPA
Overcast, light breeze but not of note, warm.

3x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm, unscored
70m/720 round practice

Total 90 arrows.

Worked on using the NHC method.  Scored a 288 and a 275.  Wasn't spectacular, wasn't bad.  Just a work in progress.

Tuesday 15th March 2011

@ St Pauls

Overcast, turned sunny, slight breezes but not significant.

1x 6 arrow end @ 30m, blank

12x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, blank

1x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, blank

Total 84.

I continued today with using the 'new' methodology by the NHC, along with explaining it and drawing the diagrams on the chalkboard for other club members to see.  Some of them got it straight away, others were a little skeptical about it, indicating that they are in the camp of "resistant to change" as mentioned.

I shot 1 end at 30m to see how it would go, which was fine, and then moved out to 70m, as I am hoping to shoot a QRE on this weekend.  At 70m, my groups weren't any worse, but its hard to tell if its any better when shooting on a blank.  That said, it didn't feel harder to shoot once I got into the rhythm of shooting in that manner, though a good percentage of time I kept forgetting to turn my hips but only my shoulders so I still ended up with a twisted torso.

Expansion is still a challenge but now for a different reason since it is a literal expansion instead of the usual method.  The shots that do happen easily feel pretty solid and go down really well.  Will see on Thursday how it goes when I shoot on a target face.

Strength wise, I can tell distinctly straight away that my bow shoulder is much better in not being as tired with the front shoulder set back further, but I am distinctly feeling the 'area' that Simon mentioned that would be a higher load than the more 'traditiona' methods.  This say to me that I am probably doing things close to be right with the technique.  I'll continue with it and see how it goes.  Arrow volume wise, I'm bringing it down as shooting excessive arrows with poor/incorrect/inconsistent technique is far worse than shooting a lower volume well and reinforcing good shooting.

Monday 14th March 2011

Run Time

1.4km - 6min 3sec

@ Sefton

12 x 6 arrow ends @ <8m, blank

Total 72.

After attending the seminar yesterday held by Simon Fairweather, the Australian National Head Coach, I tried using his 'new' methodology today.  In keeping it light with his philosophy, I also didn't shoot an excessive number of arrows since changing form without dropping poundage and shooting a high volume invites injury to your door.

It was interesting to hear and see diagramatically, along with his demonstrations using a thera-tube the biomechanical posture and form that is slightly different to the more common-place alternatives.  While it isn't exactly revolutionary, the changes and differences seem to be quite simple really, elementary.  Of course, getting to them and making them is the harder part as many people, especially older established archers are quite resistant to changes, especially if they have spent years fine tuning their particular method.

For me, it wasn't a huge leap as the action was quite similar to my current one, with the incorporation of a 'Kyuudou' style of draw that utilizes the torso rotation and pulling of the arms simultaneously apart.  The slight differences in how the foot position and shoulders align up however are the points that I am working with.

What I have kind of realised with my 12 ends is that realistically, how you get to the final position isn't that relevant in terms of the final alignment and how you shoot there, since it's just an alternative pathway.  I can do this three different ways and it feels the same once I'm there.  The difference though is that Simons method has been thought through to be the most low-risk injury scenario *provided* that you actually work from a low shooting weight to your final shooting weight.  If you jump straight in, you're just as likely to harm yourself as you would doing it any other way as the muscular groups and behaviours are more than likely weak (unless say you shoot Kyuudou also).

I didn't feel particularly weak, but I did feel at one point the 'strain' that was mentioned in regards to changes in how the body loads up.  The shot didn't quite seem terribly different but my release hand behaviour did change as expected.  Since I was mostly shooting blank (except aiming at arrows on the target already), its hard to fully determine how I might be able to sustain this when shooting at a face, which I hope to do later.

Points for me to work on is rotation of the hips to follow the torso to restore back to foot position.  Ensuring the bow shoulder comes all the way back and straight and maintaining a more centered posture.

Its hard to determine however if I am maintaining the right line of forces through the arm as I have no mirrors or someone watching, and while I could set up a camera, its quite fiddly and also a little challenging to get the propler 'from above' angle required.

That said, I will stick with it this week and shoot the QRE on Saturday with this method if I can and see how it feels.

Saturday 12th March 2011

@ Chatswood Club

ArcheryNSW Coaching Seminar Day 1

@ Sefton

Turning dark, dusk.

3x 6 arrow ends @ 8m, 40cm spot unscored.

Total 18.

Went to the first day of the two day seminar, with James Park giving a talk on compound shooting with touches on recurve shooting also as they were very similar in many ways.  It was a long day, and many slides, to which I learnt a few things to try out.

Tomorrow is the recurve day with Simon Fairweather.

When I got home, I tried out the bow arm position that was mentioned in the seminar, as I have always had a bit of a struggle with it, and the mentioned method preferred by Jim Park turned out to be almost the same as I have been naturally instinctively shooting.  I tried three ends before it got too dark and it didn't feel too different, e.g. I didn't seem to feel more 'relaxed' or biomechanically more stable, but at 8m, its hard to say and see since the aiming was pretty easy at that distance on such a large face by comparison with 18m on the same face.  I will have to examine it closer later next week at slightly further distances.

Thursday 10th March 2011

@ SOPA
Overcast, no wind, humid and warm.

25x 6 arrow ends @ 50m, 80cm, no scoring.

Total 150.

Just shooting arrows again, not working on anything in particular.
Draw shoulder was twinging so decided to finish on 150 instead of more. 

Monday 7th March 2011

Run Times

1.4km split 6:40

2.35km 11:09

I hadn't done a run since the 25th February so I was expecting a slower run, but was surprised at making it close to 11 minutes as I was expecting more along a 12 minute after the initial split time.

@ SOPA

Warm, sunny, windy.

15x 10 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm, unscored.

Total 150.

Worked on just shooting volume today.  Played a little with alignment and hand position but with the blustery winds it was hard to determine if there was any consistent effects to be seen from it.  However, group wise, the 10 arrow groups were all keeping within a red-zone size area but to the right due to the wind push.

On the 123rd arrow of the day, the nock exploded (both side tabs of the nock snapped off somehow, probably from age/fatigue of being shot many times) and resulted in a partial dry-fire and whipping of the string into my arm, so I now have a pretty big welt and minor abrasion present.  Lucky for me the club hut was open and I used an ice-pack briefly to control the swelling before completing the rest of the arrows shot today.

Sunday 6th March 2011

@ Northern

Day 2, Northern FITA Star

Cool to start with to comfortable weather, some light winds from the front but nothing severe, some glare.

3x 6 arrow ends @ 90m warmup

FITA90

Total 162.

I shot on target 2 today, and the early part of the day had the target in mostly shade.  It made it slightly harder to spot since no shadows were being produced so I shot the entire day with the spotting scope.

I worked on my focus, with trying to maintain a good finger position, grip position on both hands, and as relaxed release as possible.  Due to this, my bow arm did suffer quite significantly, and some shots my bow shoulder crept up massively and I had to really haul through to shoot as I didn't believe I had the luxury to let down, rest, and try again.

My shooting today in regards to alignment and release felt a lot better, and I made no adjustments to my windage at all, with the shots off-center mostly just me and my actions directly (instead of say wind pushing me).

Score wise, I was pretty darn happy with it.

90m: 42 50 42 42 40 43 = 259

70m: 47 46 51 50 54 50 = 298

50m: 29 22 28 23 24 25 22 26 25 20 25 23 = 292

30m: 29 28 28 28 28 28 27 28 28 26 29 30 = 337

Total 1186 with 34 10's+ X including 13 X's.

This also means that my QRE 70m+50m score is a 590, a 10 point increase to my previous best shot at the Metro's.  These are just all small stead improvements in my shooting, so I hope that I'll continue to work on things and creep my scores up and up.

Saturday 5th March 2011

@ Northern Archers

Overcast mostly, rain squalls, gusty winds at times.

4x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm warmup

FITA90

Total 168

The weather conditions were pretty ordinary at best for the shoot, and was quite distracting in how it was changing.  There was a bit of wind that probably was a bit of headwind since sight settings were a bit off early on with my 90m settings low, so I had to wind it down 2 full turns to get back on track.  Unfortunately my shooting today was also pretty ordinary.

I struggled through 90m, had a reasonable 70m, was crusing to a great 50m until toe end where I had a total collapse, but recovered with a solid 30m result.  As usual, my 90m score was quite the letdown, but overall everything was a bit off.

90m: 33 37 39 37 42 41 = 229

70m: 45 49 48 50 49 42 = 283

50m: 26 25 27 23 20 27 25 21 25 24 19 15 = 277

30m: 27 28 28 30 26 25 28 29 27 28 28 27 = 331

Total 1120.

By comparison to the Metro's a few weekends back, I was 29 points down from Day 1, though in thought, besides the heat, Day 1 Metro was pretty good conditions.  Day 2 Metro's I shot a 1130 with some gusty wind conditions coming up that made things a little more interesting.

I also had an opportunity to chat with Jesse McDonald from the ACT, and he recommended tuning the centershot different to the 'standard Hoyt manual' position, so rather than the right hand edge of the arrow being lined to the left hand edge of the string when at brace height position, he recommended that it only be half a point out from dead center, so that from the dead center centreshot position, you wind until the right edge of the point is dead center.

He also recommended setting windage to dead center on a perfect still day, and learning to shoot off instead of windage adjustments.  In discussing training methodology, his philosophy was to have a varied, but singular-point-session approach.  In this approach, you focus upon only one thing each session, but vary the focus session-to-session, rather than a continuous focus upon one thing for multiple sessions in a row.

I quite like this and so will probably switch to this methodology

He also recommended tuning your bow every 3 weeks or so, probably once a month is acceptable really, checking your tiller position, checking centershot, checking your poundage etc, as depending on how your bow is, it may shift (such as string creep if it's a new string) or if vibrations are changing things minutely over time.  It's quite a solid idea really and it's not terribly time consuming, and just requires shooting some bareshafts with fletched too to ensure the tune still holds true.and rather mess around with the tuning of my bow setup right now, will see how it goes on my new setup once it happens.

I'll be shooting the second day of the weekend tomorrow, I doubt that I'm going to shoot terribly better in how I'm feeling and the weather, but it's all just practice.

Friday 4th March 2011

@ St Pauls

Bright, warm, a light breeze but not of much.

3x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm warmup

36 arrow round @ 90m, 122cm

36 arrow round @ 70m, 122cm

Total 90.

In preparation for the Northern FITA Star, I decided to have a light shooting day to not put myself under any major strain, but to ensure my sight settings were reasonable for the weekend shoot.

90m: 50 43 38 44 41 36 = 252

70m: 49 43 45 53 55 581 = 296

Both rounds were quite reasonable, happy with the result.

Thursday 3rd March 2011

@ SOPA

Sunny, medium winds, constant at times, pushing gusts at other times.

4x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm, warmup

36 arrow round @ 90m, 122cm scored

36 arrow round @ 70m, 122cm scored

Total 96

Previously my sight setting for 90m was at 90.2/9, so with my sight rack extension all the way in.  The size of the sight ring was a little bigger than I had liked, but today as I was confident that the speed and sight setting increase was constant from improved form, I could afford to bring the sight rack back out.  It took 4 ends to set the sight right, and now the extension is in the same position as all the other standard FITA90 distances, and resulted in a new sight setting of 96/5, with clearance still available.

I then put down a 90m round with the new setting: 49 43 38 26 35 41 = 232.  Numerically it wasn't very good, but it was I guess on par with average shooting in the slightly windy conditions.

I moved forward to 70m, but was already feeling tired for some reason, but proceeded with a single round: 41 45 49 44 45 50 = 284, so once again, shooting around on average, consistent.

Tuesday 1st March 2011

@ St Pauls
Very windy, overcast and bright/sunny at times, very random weather.

3x 6 arrow ends, 2 ends blank 5m, 1 end 18m, 122cm.

Total 18.

Due to the new semester and beginners joining the club etc, I didn't get to shoot today.