First Day Back on My Feet...

 

18 meters at Gander Mountain. I guess I got the precision down. Then again, a 3-arrow end of 21/30 points isn't too shabby for a longbow with skinny arrows!

 

18 meters at Gander Mountain. I made a small adjustment in my anchor to see if I could optimize things better for 18 meter, 40 cm target face to see if I could get it to the point where I could even reliably shoot a Vegas Face. The first shot was in the blue (couldn't see what I was doing) so I lined up in the same place again and did the same thing. Apparently I was extremely consistent for this to happen.

I emulated an individual elimination event at 70 meters, where I allocated 20 seconds per shot with a 20 second gap between them to simulate a second archer shooting against me. This would not win me any set points or help me in a cumulative scoring round against the likes of Khatuna Lorig or Ki Bo Bae but shift things over to the left and maybe a tiny touch down and I could probably give them a little pressure for an end. Now if I can keep up this kind of precision on a much more consistent basis!

Belated Wolf Pictures and Awesome Karst Geology

I had a lot of belated pictures from a combination of disposable cameras that needed some extra time to develop and some beautiful pictures e-mailed to me by the photographers over at Seacrest Wolf Preserve. This was truly worth the long drive and I want to go back to see the wolves and the Arctic foxes with their different seasonal coats as well as watching the Panhandle vegetation phenology.

  

  

The first pack of wolves I got to visit at Seacrest.  They were a little more shy and reserved compared to the other timber wolves I'd get to see later although the alpha female, Greycloud, did come up to us for a bit. Anything we did in their enclosures was on the wolves' terms, not ours, and that day, they seemed to be a little more reserved than usual. Then again, early afternoon is usually their naptime (and mine!)

 Nothing like a very, very curious and friendly wolf taking a close look at me. I think this was Sage, the alpha female of her pack. These timber wolves were a lot more friendly than the first group we met. Her mate, Minquah, though, would be the one I'd get to do some serious interaction with later on. The beta male of this particular pack, Earthman, generally lurked in the background very quietly, but he did make a showing just to say "hi" and watch us curiously. We didn't get to see the rest of this pack, but it was amazing spending some quality time with Minquah and Sage.

Minquah the alpha male of the more out-going timber wolf pack was getting extremely affectionate with me (and in front of his mate Sage who also got pretty affectionate with me). He's about 59-60 kg of cuteness and very strong personality. Thank you to the amazing Seacrest photographers for capturing this magical moment!

Thank goodness he can't give me a nasal inspection unlike a certain little tribble. Then again, among wolves, it's pretty standard to give a little oral inspection to say "hi" because as puppies, the muzzle licking and oral inspection is how they get fed regurgitated food by the adult wolves and they continue that behavior as adults as well.

The following weekend I was at a NASM-CPT workshop to help me improve my abilities to do an accurate overhead squat assessment, develop stabilization-endurance and strength-endurance workouts, and basically tactfully handle what would be my more likely clients instead of the outright masochistic. Afterwards, I got to enjoy a little bit of karst geology nearby, having found the place after the Seacrest Wolf Preserve tour the weekend before but timing didn't quite mesh right. My intense, passionate hatred for the idiocy that is very strongly correlated to football games (especially home games) and the mound of pure, un-adulterated stupidity and cluster-fowl (that's the ultra-mild word, by the way) known as homecoming (why, oh why, do they bother with this nonsense) did give me some nice opportunities to do some serious exploration. One of the sites I got to check out was Falling Waters State Park, not at all far from Seacrest Wolf Preserve. What can I say? I love BIG holes in the ground and seeing the *real* Florida without all the crazy glitz and tourist traps.

Wolves and Foxes!

 Two amazing wolves (Canis lupis) who were nice enough to let me get a picture with them. Later on they'd also try to get to know me. Minquah (the larger one in the front) and Sage (the female in the back) were definitely super-friendly wolves once the crowds calmed down! There's many more pictures that the tour guides took of these two interacting with me that should be coming in any time.

 Nothing like a cute Arctic fox to pet! I still have a hard time that some of our smaller dogs are descendants of wolves and not foxes.

It's really neat getting to see a grey fox (Urocyon cineroargentis) up close and in person as well as petting one. There were two others in this enclosure but the other two were darting about and chasing each other. I was a bit surprised at how little they really are but then again, after seeing the Arctic fox and the wolves and even the red foxes (Vulpes vulpes)

Stool Fun

For the full suite of pictures, go here: http://s1281.beta.photobucket.com/user/GuenhwyvarAnCrosaire/library/

I had two very successful shoots this weekend -- a FITA at Newberry and a Classic 600 at the Villages. It certainly beat just sitting around my butt when I'm on doctor's orders to NOT go to the gym or do anything else worthwhile. I had to shoot seated and limited my walking around to going to/from the car to transport stuff and to the bathroom... which used all of my allowed steps for the day on the doctor's orders. Gack... but I was still able to shoot reasonably well at both events even if my butt is hurting like a real pain in the rear. I'm so tired of sitting on my ever-growing squishy butt! 

694/1440 FITA and 309/600 Classic 600 -- neither was too shabby given I hadn't trained on a stool and didn't train at all this past week. The 600 was especially impressive because I'm not used to American units and it was 40, 50, and 60 yards on a 92 cm target face. I had a single known calibration point -- 50 meters, which is approximately 55 yards. I also chose to shoot single-anchor, partially because I have some trouble with that high anchor with getting a clean release, partially because 40 yards is really awkward for me in terms of gaps no matter where I anchor. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to zero in and my only low/non-scoring shots were from poor releases (it's hard to fully engage my upper back while seated I found).

I wound up with the second highest barebow score at the Villages -- my arch-rival got me by about 80 points but I was the only other barebow who broke 300 today. No idea how I did on the FITA compared to everyone else but I do know I got my tush handed to me on a plate because I was the only barebow around and I needed 2 ends at least to figure out how much of a correction to apply to my gaps. All in all, a very successful weekend with desperately needed physical activity, even if I was stuck seated through most of it except to visit Urinetown (and we're not talking about the musical)!

 

FAA FITA 2012

Shot a personal best FITA this past weekend. My 70 and 60 meters were somewhat anemic with 166 and 196 respectively, especially after what I shot at Sunshine State Games. My 50 and 30 meters though were extremely strong with a 238 (personal best EVER!) and a 278 respectively. This gave me a composite score of 878, which beats my previous best of 853, where I also had a very strong 30 and 50 meter round. It was a really fun shoot with great weather!

Final end at 30 meters with a total of 28 for the end.  Yeah!!!

 The three of us who represented Orange and Blue Archery at the FAA FITA this year. I was in the adult female barebow category while the two guys were in the adult male Olympic recurve category.

Me and my fellow barebow archer. I think we raised a lot of eyebrows this weekend as we slaughtered the target without the aid of sights! He may've beaten me by about 30 points yesterday at the longer distances, but I came back at 50 meters and kept up at 30 meters. So far I think it's been about 50/50 with who wins the FITA and 900 rounds even if he's slaughtered me in field just about every time for as long as either of us remembers!

A Little Blogging Hiatus

I've had a hiatus on both of my blogs, partially due to a camera that I was finally able to resurrect after a few months of dead-ness, partially due to a flatulent brain, partially just because contrary to popular belief, I actually do something besides pound iron and slaughter targets!

I decided to do a little bit of photography while waiting for my computers to finish processing a mega buttload of data as well as sparing various entities from my rage and wrath. And no, they didn't really do anything wrong aside from being exposed to a poorly functioning endocrine system! I definitely need to ramp up my training again -- still feeling very bloated and lugging around a lot more adipose tissue than necessary even if the doctors and others that have poked and prodded at my gut have told me that there's some pretty solid muscle in there too. That being said, it wasn't as bad as back in April!

What I'd Like to Build Into ... Eventually.

I'd love to get that type of strength and power from this fellow below. I also wouldn't mind having more of that type of physique. Heck, I'd love to be THAT kind of 69 kg instead of squishy mini-Blobulous (tm) without nearly enough muscle mass and far too many curves and a metabolism about par with that of a tortoise during a cold winter.  Just gotta keep training and staying as strict as possible with my eating habits and not let other people derail or undermine my efforts.



I don't understand why so many people seem to frown upon females wanting to have a strong, healthy muscular physique instead of being disturbingly weak and squishy.  I also really don't understand what evolutionary advantage there is to females having LESS upper body strength and overall musculature than males... or why being weak, squishy, and delicate is so attractive to so many males, mine included.  Wouldn't it be a lot healthier in the long-run to be strong, powerful, and muscular? 

Hypertrophy in Progress

I guess I did make a bit of progress in hypertrophy even if I now have a Killer Parakeet-worthy gut now. For those of you unfamiliar with Killer Parakeet, suffice to say that he's a nearly 150 kg, just shy of 2 meter tall mutant parakeet with a love for bugs (especially cockroaches), beer, beans, and bacon and a protective instinct to all of his "buddy-o-pals".  My chest and upper back aren't looking too good yet but I've also gotten somewhat side-tracked into doing physical therapy for my ankle as well as getting a bit of a push in stability and endurance training, which isn't necessarily the best for good hypertrophy.  This, by the way, was without any good pump either. Otherwise I do see some really nice vascularity after a good bi's and tri's day at the gym. I'm not a body-builder but I do incorporate some hypertrophy training during my maximal strength and stability training phases, not so much in the power phase.  That being said, I'd much, much, much rather look like the Hulk than a Disney princess or a fashion model... then again, if I had to choose between looking like Gollum and being inhumanly strong or looking like the Hulk and being a weakling, I'd rather take the strength even if I'd look frightful!

Almond Flour-Jalapeno Bread

I had a hankering for bread. A really bad one for something like cornbread but I'm watching my carbohydrate intake closely and I don't handle a lot of artificial ingredients particularly well.  There's also a lot of "natural" ingredients I try to avoid as well, especially soy. Sure, this is pretty calorie-rich but it also doesn't take much to satisfy me and there's some pretty nutrient-dense stuff in there. It takes maybe about 1/2 of a serving compared to the "normal" stuff to satisfy me and actually make me feel nice and full thanks to the combination of fiber and protein.

Ingredients:
-- 2 cups of almond flour
-- 2 tsp baking power
-- 4-5 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled (preferably from pastured hogs)
-- 1/4 cup sliced, pickled jalapenos (drained) or 1/4 candied jalapenos for a more dessert/breakfast bread
-- 2 tsp salt
-- 2/3 cup softened butter (preferably pastured, cultured butter)
-- 6 eggs (preferably pastured)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 13x9 baking pan.

Mix the almond flour with the butter until the lumps are are about pea-sized. Add the salt, baking powder, eggs, bacon, and jalapenos and mix thoroughly.  Pour into the greased baking pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is golden-brown. 

A Few More Pictures

The end of my first round against M. Gilbert. Talk about one heck of an end for both of us!

This was a not particularly well-executed shot but it was still a very nicely done photograph.  I still have a lot of issues with release and follow-through.  I think this was the shot that I meant to let down and ended up accidentally firing in the middle of the eccentric movement. 

Gator Cup 2012

For the full suite of pictures, click HERE.   

 

 Gator Cup 2012 was a success! I shot a 362/720, which was a really solid score given the unpredictability of the wind and the chaotic nature of shooting at 70 meters.  I got to shoot with some of the most fun, awesome people, including Michelle Gilbert (left) and Miranda Leek (right).  I placed 15/16 in the senior female recurve division, 23/25 in all the 70 meter female recurve division (junior + senior... so basically the 18-20 and the 21+ divisions combined). 

 I'm not exactly known for the most legible of handwriting but I wrote clearly enough for the judges to be ok with it.  I had a few really rough ends but I had some outright solid ends too and I made (and slightly exceeded) my average of 30 points per end of 6! 

 Elimination match against Michelle Gilbert. It was a truly exciting match where I put up one heck of a fight and gave her a run for her money!

This was the end of our 3rd end. I won one end, she won one end, and we tied once. It was a nice, close competition early on but she ultimately finished with a 7-3 win as the winds started to throw me around and she figured out how to handle the wind before I got my correction coefficients in! Nonetheless, it was certainly an exciting match!

 Me and Jennifer Nichols, who took 2nd in the qualification round and 1st in the elimination matches in a close victory against Miranda Leek, who took 1st in the qualification round.

Me and Crispin Duenas of Canada, who took 1st in the qualification round and 2nd in the elimination matches in an exciting battle against the junior Alex Wiffler of the USA. 

Gator Cup was certainly one exciting event and I think I've managed to do a really good job of just amazing myself.  I had lots of fun with the longbow and got to interact with and meet some of the most amazing archers as well as just goof off with my fellow collegiate archers, who had their own share of successes!