Firearm Fun

I got to have a bit of fun with a Sig Sauer semi-automatic 9mm, courtesy of an old archer mentor of mine.

 And then there's my shooting buddy for today... the same one who first taught me how to shoot a compound bow without getting myself maimed or killed.  

Form Work: Up Close and Personal

Most of my work today was at 9m so I could put most of my focus on my form, particularly at anchor and aiming.

 Below is the end of the first 30 arrows of a 60 arrow indoor round, but at 9 meters. If I could pull this off at 18 meters consistently with a longbow, I would be in archer's heaven. I finished with 257/300, which isn't too bad!

 Below: 10-10-10. I scored a 30/30, even if they were rather close, especially that top one. It just barely squeaked onto the line to give me the higher score!

 This was my second 30 arrows, where I finished with a 260/300, again at 9 meters instead of the standard 18.  My 9 meter composite was 517/600, which would have been the ultimate score for a longbow archer if I had pulled it off at 18 meters instead of 9!

 Compare and contrast - left is first 30, right is second 30.  I did this to examine temporal trends to see if my early game and late game were significantly different. Analysis is still pending...

 And I attempted a 30 arrow round at 18 meters just to see how things translated.  That was pretty darned good for moderately fatigued! I did shoot the equivalent of a full FITA round today, but I had many unscored shots for form work and/or sighting in.  I'd say it was a darned good day with Xibalba! A 209/300 on a 3 spot target with a longbow that could've been 219/300 if I had all the rings is something I'd be very proud of! Now to clean up my form to see if I can bring my average into the 230-240 range and keep it there... or even in the 250-260 range! Then again, I think the 270s was an extreme good day for the Olympic recurve...

The Form-Master is Back

I had some trouble with my shooting form today, so I worked with the Form-Master to reinforce better habits on back tension.  Basically if I maintain back tension, the string and my hand don't go anywhere upon release, or if I'm exceptionally good, it actually goes back a bit. If I don't maintain back tension, I collapse miserably and risk a good mark on my face from my Black Mamba Venom tab.  I maintained back tension but I am going to see if I can increase it and be more consistent about how much I apply before release.

Avengers Assemble!

I didn't shoot particularly well at the Villages 900 round - 531/900, about 70-80 points less than average, but not too bad for someone significantly out of practice.  I also got to meet several other young barebow archers, including two other females! It gets a bit lonely being alone in my division so company was welcome!

There's a Reason Why My Longbow is Named "Xibalba"...

As cool as they are, they also get a little old when they happen... Robin Hoods get a little pricey after a while, but it did tell me that I do have precision! This wasn't a particularly good group at the start, but the last two were spot-on.

This was more typical of how I shot today: great groups, wrong place. I eventually did get my groups into the right place after getting my head position a little more consistently in the right place.  I'm surprised I didn't break anything this particular round!

Shoulders Slowly Coming In

Still not nearly enough muscle mass overall in me but trying to get there...

Closer and Closer

I was able to pull off a 5x5 at 155 lbs with hips at or past parallel.  I'm almost at body-weight on my 5x5! Now I'm starting to wonder what my 1RM will come out to be!

My deadlifts and bench presses have been pretty stagnant and relatively low, but the squats are creeping up! I'm hoping to ultimately bring up my powerlifting combination past 600 lbs - 165 bench, 180 squat, 250 deadlift = 595 lbs total right now for my best. That 200 lb squat may not be too far away after all! I'm still hopeful for the 300 lb deadlift too, although that one will be a bit of a squeaker from what I've seen of the CrossFit Games!

Post FTCE Fun

I do have a lot of work on my form again after barely shooting for the last several weeks.