Compound Night

After Tuesday's little adventure with 520 arrows, I knew that I was NOT holding back 30+ lbs at full draw, so I pulled out the Bowtech Equalizer and shot a surprisingly solid score for someone who almost never shoots training wheels. I finished the 30-arrow target round with a 274/300, 4X, which is pretty darned good for me given that I was shooting skinny arrows and hardly ever practice with the compound. I also felt surprisingly good considering that my upper back is still a bit talkative. It was so darned worth it though!

Proud of my Mighty Hog Slayer

My other half may not be much of a target archer or any sort of athlete or someone who likes to miss his horrendously boring "reality" TV shows involving buying/selling junk but he's certainly well-trained in the art of controlling the hog population one at a time. He got this good-sized sow and I have a feeling that this one will be pretty darned tasty and tender! And if I may add, he shot this sow with a recurve he built himself. I'm certainly proud of my guy, even if I still need to train him to read the actual ingredients (and decipher them) and to not bug me while I'm working out or working on target archery!

The 500 Arrow Challenge

Originally Coach Rob had set it as a 400 arrow challenge, but someone had shot 500 arrows on the dot last week. I didn't know about it in time to do it that Thursday but vowed to take a day to see how far I could get before either parts started falling off or before *other* things kicked in. I shot all of 520 arrows. I could've safely gone to 600 with good form judging from how my upper back, my limiting reagent, felt, but unfortunately I made the mistake of answering the phone and *someone* wanted to spend quality time with him (which unfortunately doesn't involve testing physical limits thanks to his torn meniscus and general lack of interest in high-intensity challenges) because I spent the weekend severely out of commission... so I got stopped prematurely... just to be nice.

My last un-interrupted endurance run had me running out of fuel somewhere around 300 arrows, which was sometime in April, shortly before my original nemesis at the gym left for his next adventures in medical school. I haven't really had too many opportunities to do these because it's hard to get to the range with a clean conscience on a weekday morning and weekends tend to involve a significant other who thinks 100 arrows is pretty significant and has trouble understanding why someone would voluntarily want to challenge themselves that aggressively. I had an attempted endurance run in August as well, which unfortunately got interrupted and I could tell that 350 arrows would be pushing my limits again. I think there's a lot to be said about my current nemesis at the gym, who has pushed me to my limits and beyond with what can be described as a mixture of CrossFit and Army training... mostly because I know I haven't been shooting as much as I like or should... and the only significant change to my training has been my new nemesis, who has inspired me big-time.

This was my final end, which isn't too shabby for 500+ arrows! As of now, I hold the record at Newberry for most arrows shot in a day, at least as of when Coach Rob posted the 400+ arrow challenge. I may have to defend that title soon though and I'll make sure that my phone is turned off the next time I do it!

Note to self: train the other half to NOT keep interrupting me while I'm actually trying to do something exciting... and train myself to just ditch the phone when I don't want to be interrupted!

Wanna Try These?

I dug these up in my training notebook and thought I'd put them here as well as on my other blog. I personally favor timed circuits like the one right below, partially because it encourages me to be a bit more aggressive, partially because I have way too much fun playing rough with an intriguing creature with an extremely strong, driving personality who inspires me to push myself that much harder and let him know that I can be just as tough as he is, if not tougher. This was a single pass, which is a bit different from the usual increasing reps I'm used to from this critter, and it inspired quite a bit of grumbling and groaning from the other three people who did this with me.

The next three were all part of a single workout, none were timed and were generally at a relatively relaxed pace. The fellow who gives these circuits is extremely laid-back and doesn't exactly inspire the urge to show off or to be aggressive, but it's still challenging in its own ways. It's a good thing my time as a TA has trained me to decipher all sorts of different hand-writings or I probably would've had to knee-cap someone for writing illegibly. Actually I've seen far worse handwriting than this, mine included, but when there's sweat on my glasses and in my eyes, it does get a little hard to read and remember.

These three circuits didn't feel too tough actually even if other people were convinced that even one of those was going to kill them. Of course, being a lot more focused on form and not having someone barking orders to go faster and harder makes a difference too. They're not too much different from the circuits I do on myself periodically, just a little more emphasis on endurance than bulking up than I tend to do.

So... does anyone want to join me for a bit of running, squatting, push-ups, burpees, and maybe some barbell work? ;)

Height Extremes

I think *someone* is just freakishly tall. The camera angle sure as heck didn't help either!

Hog-Slayer and Random Camera Cleanout

As usual, click on the title for the full suite of pictures I've accumulated through the semester but didn't remember or bother to post for whatever reason. Or click HERE

It's probably a good thing that there's no smell feature on the computer yet... This hog reeked really, really badly.

Nothing like playing with Coach Rob's tournament recurve. I'd much rather shoot my longbow!

Did I mention that Coach Rob is also one freakishly tall fellow to have to use something this huge?

Not a common feat. for me...

18 meters with the zebra-wood longbow. It doesn't get much better than this!

Crooked Camera

I probably should've fixed the tripod first but I thought it would be fun to see what I looked like while doing barbell rows without the benefit of a mirror or a spotter or floor instructor to correct my form. I typically do about 45-55 lbs total on a barbell row, but if I have a good spotter of some sort and I'm feeling ambitious, I'll go a little more.

First Kill of the 2011-2012 Season

I took her Thanksgiving morning at about 0720 hrs. She had shown up twice before that morning but never really had a clear shot at her on the first two showings, plus I had my doubts about whether she was a doe or a spike or button, so I waited... and waited. Then she showed up in a grassy lane in front of my tree-stand and stopped to eat the mushrooms there (if you ask me, they're some pretty gross-looking brownish mushrooms that have seen better days, but I *hate* mushrooms myself). No nubs, no antlers, she appeared to be of a decent size, especially compared to the other doe that showed up and tried to share the mushrooms with her. She drove the little one off and went broadside. And then... boom!

Blood-trailing her was pretty difficult because I shot her in the heart, and without a functional heart, well, blood tends not to get pumped around, so she wasn't gushing blood everywhere like a double-lung shot would've. She made it maybe 35-40 meters before dropping dead and I got a bit nervous when Robert saw some meaty-looking stuff on the ground. Turned out the meaty-looking stuff was bits of heart tissue and not skeletal muscle. She's by no means the biggest doe I've shot and she's certainly a youngster, but I figured she was a shooter given that the little doe that came up to her got driven off, she seemed to be of a good size, and well, this season has just been outright brutal with all the bears showing up. So yeah, no fawns were orphaned in the process and I now have some nice, healthy protein in my freezer!

Pic from 2011-Oct-30

I just got this picture from one of my fellow archers, a brave traditional archer with wooden arrows and a 20 lb @ 24" recurve, at the October 30, 2011 Field/Hunter round at Gator Bowmen.

One of the Best Exercises...

It's hard to beat the burpee in its overall bang for the buck. Besides the squat and push-up, this one is one of the most awesome equipment-free exercises to do. Just don't do it on a full stomach. I really love burpees!

Coming to think of it, my top five favorite exercises are as follows:
#1 -- Squat
#2 -- Burpee
#3 -- Push-up
#4 -- Dead-lift
#5 -- Kettle-bell overhead swing

Honorable mentions in no particular order: clean and jerk, snatch, bench press (incline, decline, flat), Arnold press, bicep curl, flys, salamander (aka seal crawl), push-press.

If I Ever Wanted to Convert any of my Stories into a Musical...

... I think I'd love to have these guys come up with the music because I really love how well they blend elements of classical, rock, and metal with fantasy themes.

I just heard this song today and it's already stuck in my head. Both the song and the imagery are just really catchy for me so I've decided to inflict it on others. Recognize any fairy tales or other children's stories in this?


I gotta admit, this song has influenced a few of my characters' quirks in the current story arc. Then again, my musical preferences and writing are correlated, although there's not necessarily any type of causation.

Speaking of stories, I'm now standing alongside a severely wounded grey wolf who's just personally killed a dangerous creature that looks like a bad cross between a cat, a stereotypical alien, and Gollum (from Lord of the Rings) with only her fangs and wits. I guess I'm also standing alongside an aspiring Olympic archer who witnesses her courageous act and is the only person who recognizes who she really is and tries to protect her from her own extremely wolf-phobic family...

Happy Thoughts

Sometimes when things just suck, I've just got to dig up pictures that put a grin on my face.

18 meters. Stuff like this is very reassuring that I'm capable of some pretty good accuracy and precision.

Set-up for a dead-lift, one of my favorite lifts along with the bench press, squat (both front and back), snatch, and clean & jerk. Of the big lifts, I think my dead-lift is the largest by far with a personal best of 6x155 lbs (too lazy to look it up) but I'd love to see how far I can get on this one. I probably should get filmed and/or photographed doing my lifts, not only so I can see my form, but I think it'll just look cool.

2011 FITA Field

I shot a fairly strong FITA Field round this weekend in Ft. Meade, FL. My first day I did very well on the longer shots (35+ meters) even if the closer shots (under 30) gave me some trouble and the bunnies gave it to me in the rear end. I think I've re-learned how to shoot instinctively after taking it in the rear several times on Saturday, at least if the number of points I picked up is any indication! I shot a personal best today -- 225. My last personal best was a 205 (could've sworn it was a 199 but apparently I did have a 200+ before). Let's see if I can break 250 next year! I had an awesome time with my fellow barebow archers and we zipped through the targets like candy. I forgot how biased FITA Field for barebow was towards the really short shots and I went in slightly unprepared because most of my practice had been in the 35+ meter range, but not many targets were 35+ meters. In any event, I had a lot of fun seeing folks I normally don't see elsewhere.

Followed-through!

Setting up... and hopefully I calculated my 20 meter gap correctly...

Nothing like showing who's boss at 50 meters! Now if the closer shots treated me a little more nicely...

Calibration round at 18 meters. I guess my shooting style *is* replicatable. I thought I hit something strange and sure enough, I did hit something... my own arrow!

Ahh, the joys of 45 meters! 2/3 exactly where I wanted them. One kinda strayed off but still landed somewhere fairly nice.

Me and Vivian at the start of the second round while we're killing time until it's time to start...

My awesome group this weekend minus the older gentleman who shot with us on Saturday. Barebows rule!

Day 1... kinda took it in the rear end on the bunny targets and other close shots but did extremely well 40 meters and up.

Day 2... learned from day 1 and gave the bunny targets a beating.

Click on the title to see the rest of the pictures...

Field/Hunter Round at Gator Bowmen

My quasi-protege at full draw after the shoot itself. She held her own pretty well for someone with a 20 lb @ 24" mini-recurve and heavy wooden arrows and ZERO experience in field archery!

Pre-shoot calibration at 50 yards while it's relatively warm. Nothing like the joys of calibration drift! I shot some super-tight groups today but man, they were usually in the wrong place... typically significantly high. Put it this way: my typical spot-on point is around 52 yards so I can aim right below the bull's-eye at 50 and can get some really good shots in there. Today? I had to aim at the bottom of the scoring ring to be kinda high in the 50 yard area. My 20-30 yard shots were ok though, but 35+ was a little weird and the nonlinear nature of the calibration drift made for some very entertaining shots. I certainly shot beautiful groups though even if they were out of the scoring ring!

One Annoyed Spider

One of my fellow archers and I were calibrating our shots at 60 and 65 yards in preparation for the upcoming field shoot on Sunday at Gator Bowmen and we were both fumbling around quite a bit. My first end at 65 yards led to a spider narrowly missed being impaled. The spider was on my arrow shaft and it looked like it was trying to decide whether to wrap it up in silk or to bite the crap out of it or both. Yeah... I pretty much did the equivalent of using a battering ram on someone's living room window to that spider's web.

In other news, this song has been stuck in my mind -- Ciaran's Well by Tarja Turunen:

For some reason listening to that song gives me a weird combination of fiction-writing inspiration and a stronger drive to really pump that iron or do those push-ups and sit-ups. I really love her vocal style in this song (and in many of her other songs both in her solo career and in her Nightwish days).

Random Archery Feats

80 yard walk-up target. This was 80, 70, 60, and 50 yards. Let's see if I can replicate this in an actual tournament!

35 yard fan. I don't think I've ever done THAT well on this target ever.

About 70 meters. I'm the black and blue fletch. The compound guy actually got the kill shot but it took them a whole lot more tries to hit him!

FAA FITA 2011

I didn't shoot particularly well this FITA overall, especially at 60 meters, but I broke state records in the following for adult female barebow: 70, 50, and 30 meters. I probably could've broken the overall record, but I took it really hard in the rear end at both 60 and 30 meters, which wasn't too surprising given that I didn't really practice much at those distances. I had a really hard time at 60 meters because I had some trouble with interpolation between 70 and 50 and swirly winds, but it was still an awesome shoot. I got to enjoy wonderful company, including a fellow barebow archer from the Villages, who is probably evenly matched with me when all's been said and done.

Barebow power!!!

Best group at 50 meters. It was quite the struggle to keep things where they belonged...

Un-challenged state champion, even if my fellow barebow was the one who shot the higher score today! Next time though, I'll get him. Of course, I *did* trounce him really, really hard at Sunshine State Games and at the Villages (his home turf) so it's my turn to get my butt handed to me on a plate!

Newberry archers and the parents who made it possible to shoot and a few of the local fixtures.

Indoor Personal Best

Still trying for a 25/25 but a 24/25 is still pretty darned impressive for me with a longbow!

The final distribution of shots at the end of the NFAA 300 round (12 ends of 5 at 20 yards) plus some calibration shots.

My final score: 261/300, 7X. My last personal best was somewhere in the low 240s with the shorty recurve and in the high 230s with the other longbows (probably the walnut bow). I even shot the high score of the night ... and everyone else was shooting either an Open Freestyle or an Olympic recurve setup.

Next goal on a 300 round... can I break 270/300?

Big Furry Visitor to my Stand

This fellow showed up to my stand about half an hour after I settled into it. Cute, but NOT what I want to be seeing until FL opens up a bear season.

Better View of New Longbow

70 meters... I love shooting at 70 meters for some reason. I'm jealous of my friends who get to shoot at various national and international events at this very distance. I have some friends who will be shooting at the Olympic tryouts at Texas A&M at College Junction, TX in about 2 weeks and I'll be rooting for them as best as I can. Who knows, maybe one day I'll finally get my paws on an Olympic recurve and try my luck on that...