Tuesday 20th September 2011

@ St Pauls

Very windy, gusty, bright and sunny

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

2x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

Total 48

Way too windy to really shoot terribly well, very gusty.  I was feeling a bit strained trying to shoot in the wind so decided to stop.  Not too long afterwards, my pinky finger knuckle on my right hand also started to ache, so not quite sure what was going on there.

Monday 19th September 2011

@ Northern

Warm, sunny, light to moderate winds at times

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

FITA90 practice

Total 162

Practiced a FITA90 today in preparation for the State Championships this coming weekend.  I shot straight through with only water and the time to move distance and change target faces, so no food or energy replenishment.

Was having some left/right issues, but my sight settings from uni were pretty good and spot on enough for me to put in good groups when my release action was clean

I put through an 1178 today, only 10 points off my competition PB and a bit better than the 1151 from the other week.

Distance scores were much better, though the disappointment for today was my 30m score, though I was shooting 6 arrow ends through 50m and 30m instead of 3 arrow ends.

The distance scores were 265, 296, 292 and 325.  The 325 did hurt quite a bit, and was pretty much what dragged it down somewhat since the 296 and 292 are really solid in terms of being at that 300 point, and the 265 is also getting close to the aim of a 270, 300, 300 and 330 breakpoint 1200 score.  It is encouraging though that things are slowing coming together when everything happens right.

Friday 16th September 2011

@ St Pauls

Sunny, warm, light winds

12x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm unscored

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

Total 108

Did some practice at 90m and 70m today, but stopped early as my left elbow tendon was feeling a bit sore and didn't want to aggravate any kind of potential tendinitis.  Todays releases were much better and I had a better control over my shooting cycle and timing. 

For 90m, I was grouping better, averaging between 41 to 48, and for 70m, around 45 for the worst spray, up to a 56, but more around the 51 mark, so I was happy to be back where I expected my shooting to be.

I strained my right side rhomboid somehow and its still a bit sore and stiff, twinges in pain a little, so shooting the lower volume today probably wasn't the worst idea I could have had.

Tuesday 13th September 2011

@ St Pauls

Warm, interesting wind behaviour, bright.

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

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

1x 6 arrow end @ 70m, 122cm unscored

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

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

6x 6 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm scored

Total 168

I tried to shoot a FITA90 practice today, and besides one hiccup, I got through the arrows, rather mediocre though.  I forgot to move my sight pin for the first shot of 70m, so just decided to use the round as a practice end for sight setting purposes.

I was a bit tired, didn't sleep so well, and had release problems all afternoon.  Poor releases sent my shots right and high regularly.  Being able to send shots down with very relaxed releases went straight, but the winds were playing up with switching left and right inconsistently.  Enough so at distance to be pushing my shots around quite far.

Score wise, I put down 248, 297, 286 and 320.19 10's and 6 X's.  Total 1151.

Looking at them score wise, they were all down across the board, though I was happy with the 297 at 70m as it was decent relative to how I felt they were shot.  90m was solid at least, though 50m and 30m were a bit ordinary.  I haven't shot a 320 at 30m for a while, usually up in the 330 area.  That said, a 1151 total isn't terrible either for how I felt I shot today.

Monday 12th September 2011

@ Northern

Warm, Sunny, no wind of note, brief cloud period

3x 12 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm unscored

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

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

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

Total 144

I tried to get in some strength and distance practice today, alternating between 12 arrow ends and 6 arrow ends, and I can say I definitely felt my back in use by the end of it.  I was finding that as I got tired, my hand was lifting off my face so I was losing my anchoring, so something to be aware of when shooting tired.

Sunday 11th September 2011

@ Northern

Some wind, a little gusty at times, warm, sunny

4x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm warmup

FITA900

Total 114

Felt good today, some very solid shooting, improving in terms of not shooting most bad shots and letting down, a few odd shots that might be anchoring related or something to do with finger pressure, but I was pretty happy overall with how the shoot went, good execution.

For the distances, I shot 264, 272 and 277, so a small creep in scores as the distances got shorter, to be expected when on the large face, moreso less 8's than more 10s.  Total score being a 813 which turns out to be a new PB for me by 7 points so very happy with that.

Saturday 10th September 2011

@ Northern Archers

Very windy, some sun, some cloud.

3x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

12x 3 arrow ends @ 50m, 80cm unscored

14x 3 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm unscored

Total 96

I visited Northern today with the intention of getting in some light practice and to join up as an Associate member since my other club I used last financial year no longer accepts Associate Memberships due to 'political' reasons.

When I arrived though, I found that some guys from UNSW had started shooting a FITA90 practice for the State Open in a fortnights time.  So, I joined in with them, finishing off the shoot, but not scoring at all.  My 70m execution was a bit fiddly because the wind gusts were really kicking the buggery out of me in holding still, and 50m wasn't much better, but when we got down to the 30m, I was happy enough to finish strongly, shooting my way through and only dropping 1 arrow outside the gold into the 8 ring, so a very solid finish I felt.

Tomorrow is the Northern FITA900, so will see if I can get over the 806 I shot at the start of the year at Waringah.  My estimates put me at about a 810, so if I can make that, I'll be happy enough.