Indoor Action

Crunch went the nock! Shot a surprisingly good FITA 300 round (18 meters) given that I've been up since 0400 hrs and do feel a bit sore from this morning's training (courtesy of my favorite trainer at the gym). I honestly didn't think I'd even break 180 tonight after the first few ends but I finished with a 204/300, so that was pretty good for shooting wood arrows. And yes, that's a very easy repair!

I was extremely surprised to get these today given what shape I was in while I was shooting that round back in January. Boogers everywhere and more! I think just finishing that shoot was extremely impressive on my part but yeah, this was an added bonus. I guess either nobody challenged me (most likely) or someone did and had a rough day too, maybe also waging the war on boogers!

It FINALLY Happened

I bench pressed 105 lbs unassisted with full range of motion. Granted, it was only 5 reps but I finally did it!

In other news... it's amazing what writing on pen & paper for 10-15 minutes before going to sleep (and during random dead-time) can produce. Apparently high concentrations of academic stress make for ideal conditions for side-reactions and high yields of strange by-products. It's actually a story concept I've been tinkering with for almost as long as I've been wielding a bow in my hand but it's only begun to materialize perhaps only this past year. Suffice to say, it's the story of a scholar who gets stuck with a curse that'll eventually kill her unless she can figure out how to break the curse and she realizes that she's not at all who she was brought up to think she was.

Five Points of Life 5k

I almost didn't run this one today because I had a bit of tightness in my calf muscles for about 2 days prior to the race but it went away with help from Robert and ran it in 25:34.5, netting me a 2nd in the 30-34 female division and an 8th in overall female and a 51st in overall of all runners. It was a beautiful run on the nice side of the UF campus and I couldn't have asked for a nicer day... even if I did get stuck looking at some funny-looking rear ends for the first mile or so :) As before, I started off fairly slow but once everything fell into place, I just kept going and going and going until I saw the end of the course and picked it back up. I didn't realize how fast I went until I looked up my time -- I honestly thought I was somewhere in the 27-28 range but I guess a vivid imagination and that sprint at the very end were very helpful!

More Hoggetowne Pics

Mostly courtesy of Aesa.

Hoggetowne 2011

I didn't really spend very much time there this year but the time I did spent was great aside from being the Ultimate Booger Factory (tm). More details later (maybe) once my brain actually functions. As always, click on the title for the pictures.

Shooting Like a Caffeinated Pomeranian

I've learned a few things this weekend shooting the FAA Indoor Championships.

-- Decongestants to avoid trouble with boogers are NOT worth the jitteriness and shakiness. Not to mention the inability to actually hold and follow-through on the shot.
-- Cold medicine effects can still be felt the next day and make the target dance around.
-- Shooting immediately after severe illness also makes the target move a whole lot more.

Apparently my form generally held throughout the two rounds I shot today though, at least that's what one of the coaches at Newberry told me. Aside from a shaky bow-hand and being a little off-beat in my timing, most of my form was pretty solid as far as setting up the shot, transferring, holding, expanding, and following through went. My biggest problem was the fact that I couldn't hold my hand steady enough... so I usually did hit what I aimed at, just that I wasn't always aiming where I was supposed to.

I still had an awesome time with friends even if I looked (and felt) like roadkill on Friday evening and shot like a caffeinated, doped-up Pomeranian all weekend.

TBoF Charity Shoot 2011

Not a shoot I trained for at all but generally was able to succeed in using a modified version of the B.E.S.T. (Biomechanically Efficient Shooting Technique) designed by Olympic archery coach Kisik Lee. I took 2nd in the women's longbow division with a 280/400 although I did tie with someone who had the same score as I did, just that I had more 10s than she did. If they did it by misses, she would've taken 2nd and I would've taken 3rd but I was just glad that I shot as well as I did given that several of the shots were rather unfriendly to the mostly Olympic style shooter.

Sometimes Cool Stuff Happens With Witnesses

This was done at 18 meters on the 40 cm target, which are the parameters for the NAA portion of the State Indoor shoot coming up at the end of the month. Usually I don't have human witnesses but today I had a few, including someone who wasn't afraid of my purple camera! It's cool knowing that I can have the occasional run of good rounds where I can actually just about keep up with a reasonably good Olympic archer. It was a desperately needed practice session after wiping out my brains on research.

Hammer Curl Still

It's amusing what I'll do when I get bored of waiting for the artificial neural network to get trained on the evapotranspiration data... and my reading comprehension is about par with that of a fermented rutabaga filled with maggots.

Ultra-Rare Event

Nothing quite compares to being rudely awakened by some neighborhood . Not a particularly common occurrence here when it's not football season but when it does, it leaves me more than a bit irked. So while trying to settle back down into sleep, I cleaned out the camera and this is what I found. This was with the 42 lb walnut longbow with my IKAC/TBoF arrows at 18 meters. This is far rarer with wooden arrows than it is with carbons. If this were a regular occurrence, I'd be extremely ecstatic.

And now hopefully I can get back to sleep.

Boom!

Self-explanatory. R took me to the gun range just south of my place and crash-coursed me on the use of hand-guns. I still prefer the quietness and comfort of my bow but I certainly put a good handful of holes through the paper targets!

Wicker-Woman 2010

This year, we had a Wicker Woman instead of a Wicker Man. At first we thought the Wicker Man had an afro but turned out this year we had a female wicker entity. Note to self: loaded utility belt under shirt = unflattering shot.

And now back to work on trying to get myself to be less squishy! Now if I can just train R to actually walk with me continuously at a REASONABLE pace at least 1 km at a time and/or actually spot me while lifting (but first I need to get him to even step into the gym with me). Thank goodness the holiday season is finally over...

And the Camera Gets Cleaned Out Again

River otter. Incredibly cute but definitely in the DO NOT PET category. I've seen their skulls and they have some serious teeth like all mustelids (weasels, skunks, wolverines).

Simulated FITA indoor using an NFAA target face. NFAA indoor round is 5 arrows per end while FITA indoor is 3 arrows per end on a colorful target.

If I can keep up groups like this or better consistently at Southeastern Sectional, I'll be pretty darned happy!

Cellos Can Be Fun

For many years, I just didn't like the cello. I don't know why I wasn't a particularly big fan of cellos. I think it had a lot to do with those dreadful recitals I had to perform in and sit through as a young pup. Then I started listening to Apocalyptica and suddenly I realized what awesome things can be done with cellos. I don't ever see myself playing a cello but now I can enjoy it as an instrument instead of seeing it as a torture device that's in the same category as soap operas, lite rock, or bad seminars.

Seemann -- featuring Nina Hagen.
Ohne Dich -- with Rammstein.

I survived Christmas in one piece, albeit with a lot of extra adipose tissue that will need to be systematically burned off and muscle re-built from prolonged inactivity. Since when was 50 yards too far to walk?!

First 5k Ever

No post-race or during-race photos but I ran my first ever 5k on the Gainesville-Hawthorne trail this morning. I started off very slowly, partially to reduce my odds of being run over, partially to just make sure I have enough energy to make it there and back again and then the final mile was where I sped up. I actually passed up a lot of people who had passed me up either early- or mid- run during that final mile and sprinted past a guy who had been way ahead of me through most of the run. It was really awesome and the weather was perfect for it! Definitely will do another one as the opportunity shows up and we'll see how far I can bring my time down as I keep training! I actually came out of the run not feeling tired at all so I knew I didn't over-do it at all and probably could've gone faster but I'd rather play it safe than sorry. Now I have a better idea of how to pace myself!

Definitely NOT a Fit

This bow does NOT fit me at all. I love the mass weight and the smoothness but the angle of the string and the position of the sight do not work for me without putting my head in a slightly awkward position. Theoretically the tip of my nose is supposed to be touching the string and there should be another contact point by the corner of my mouth, but I don't see THAT happening very comfortably. The side of my nose has given me much better results. Nonetheless, it's a really cool bow that feels more like a 20 lb bow instead of a 36 lb bow. It belongs to the assistant coach at Newberry, who's an insanely tall skinny guy whose facial features are a little better suited for that style of shooting. I'd love to be that tall with a 33.5" draw length! Aside from the awkward head position and the longbow-style grip I use on just about any bow, though most of my form is pretty good for an Olympic recurve. I don't like the anchoring under the chin too much but I think that can change... if anyone can ever pry the longbow out of my hand long enough for me to stay with a recurve! If I were ever to get an Olympic recurve, it would be a 64" or a 66" (what most people my size seem to favor) instead of a 72" like the one I was playing with.

Every Now and Then...

... I seem to know what I'm doing! This was 18 meters with the walnut longbow on the FITA 3-spot indoor target. I usually shoot the 40 cm target but I felt like challenging myself with just the 5 inner rings. This was earlier this week but the date thing on my camera decided to fart at me for whatever reason.

Heart-Shattered Doe

I took her from about 70 yards while we were preparing to exit. R had seen a doe cross the road and stopped the truck. A second doe ran out and was too fast for me to take a shot at. I then set the rifle down on the car door to use it as a rest and while I was waiting, a third doe popped up. I didn't fully settle into my shot but I took the shot anyway. She took a few steps forward then did a 180 turn so R and I weren't so sure that I actually hit her until we drove up to the spot. Sure enough, lots of blood-spatters so we knew I got her. Twenty yards and plenty of blood and a coughed-up chunk of lung later, we found her.



Also on a random side-note, here's how NOT to do combat archery...

FITA Field 2010

As always, click the title for the rest of the pictures.

Overall I shot very well given the following conditions:
1) It was cold. Eiskalt. Ok so not that cold for me but I think my bow had a few things to say. Can you say... calibration drift?
2) Indigestion from something in the sandwiches for lunch on day 1.

It was awesome shooting with friends, both new and old, and seeing that there were a total of 6 barebow archers... one of whom was a true longbow archer with wooden arrows and another was a string-walker (but he wants to switch over to longbow) and is still a fun guy to hang out with. I don't think I've ever seen an FAA shoot with that strong of a barebow presence with more than half of us under 60 years old!

Lucky Lizard

After enduring what could only be described as either "Death by Boredom" or "Death by Overeating", I shot the field/hunter round at Gator Bowmen today and shot a pretty good score for myself -- 308/560. I don't think I've broken 300 in the presence of both human company and a score card yet, so today's shoot went very well. I even had competition for once and it was very, very close -- he got me by 15 points and it was just the perfect day to be out in the woods.

In other news, I stumbled across a rather entertaining music clip (click either here or the title. You'll know about 2 minutes in! I don't know what it is about "Miststück" that cracks me up so much aside from it literally translating to "Crap Piece".

Random Camera Clean-Out

Yes, I probably should've cleaned the mirror a bit before doing this, but gimme a break, my toilet, bath tub, and sink basin are clean! The 20 lb weight doesn't feel very heavy anymore.

Pictures from the Outdoors

Possums are funny... this little fellow hung out by my stand for nearly half an hour and was pretty oblivious to me even though I started sneezing and accidentally flashed it with my camera. It just looked up, sniffed, and went back to looking for tasty bugs and worms.

Cute but annoying visitor to my tree-stand...

A tree core taken with the increment borer by one of my forest ecology students. It smells good!

Sarracenia (of some sort)! Or in plain English, pitcher plants! I never thought I'd see them here in Florida but there they were at Austin Cary Memorial Forest! I really like carnivorous plants in general -- they are so much cooler than many other plants even if some are passive! I like plants that kill bugs!

FAA Target 2010

For the full suite of pictures, click on the title or here. The weather was truly gorgeous and I loved the slight morning chill that heralds the arrival of fall. The humidity was reasonable and everything was good aside from a bit of a brutal wind that liked to knock down arrows during the Classic 600 round. Overall I was pleased with my new aiming system, which involves both the use of the arrow shaft and the red elm stripe on my riser. There was a lot of correction in my left-right error but I still have a lot of work on my up-down plane. Nonetheless, I enjoyed having some nice tight groups, even if a lot of them were in the wrong place. I think the pictures below explain a lot of the story too.