Now I did it...

Ouch, what the heck was that?
My plans of glory at the next indoor tournament may have been crushed! Yeterday after practice I had(and still have) muscle pain in my left forearm. From the shooting position it's the muscle that runs over the top from my wrist. It doesn't seem to hurt when I am shooting the bow but when I grip an arrow to pull it from the matt I sure feel it.
I know, I know R.I.C.E right? Well I'll take the day off tomorrow and hope I'm fresh for Sunday. I have confidence in my equipment and technique. I just need to keep my bow arm up after the shot and I'll be ok.

Aside from that, my wife and I are addicted to TV dramas. We've been through "24", "Alias", "Heroes", "4400", and now we are into "LOST" I think they call it LOST because that's what happens to your time when you watch it.

Perfect

30 points at 18m!!
In practice anyway〓

Ticking by

Seems like my training plans may have been a bit ambitious. The last few days I've only managed a handful of arrows on the matt I have set up at my school. I haven't broken my promise to shoot every day,right? Hopefully consistancy counts for something.
This weekend I'm going to have to take it very careful and really stick to my routine.
Set, Set-up, Pre-Draw, Draw, Expand, Click, "X"!
If only it were that simple right?

Test post frm phone

test post from phone with a vid.

Test post frm phone

test post from phone with a pic.

1 week in??

Saturday and Sunday are hard days to find the time to shoot so I guess I'll call them rest days. Saturday is a busy day for work and Sunday was family day. We went to the auto show and after that to a restaurant. Everyone at the restaurant and the auto show and everywhere else we go tells me how cute my little girl is and how big her eyes are. It's flattering and annoying all at the same time. I am proud of her and love her very much but, as much as she attracts people and makes them smile, she forces them to point out the fact that she is a "half". At the restaurant one of the staff thought we were a nice family and told us she thought I seemed like a nice daddy. Then she told us that Japanese husbands are not as nice with they're kids and stuff. That's supposed to be a compliment I guess but it seems to me more like a complaint. I thought about how hearing that must make Kaz feel. Her dad is Japanese and so are all her cousins. Is that lady saying they are all uncaring fathers. Perhaps the fault lies not with the dads being uncooperative but with the moms being over controlling. OK that's enough about the weekend.

Today, Monday, I went to the range in Nagoya and tried an indoor round. 60 arrows at 18m on vertical three spots. 1st round was 252 and the second was 245 for 497. Not great but I did have two stupid misses that would have been 5's on a single spot and could have been 10's as easily as any of the others. I know I'm being optimistic but let's call it a positive attitude.
Some of the shots felt really good today. There were three other guys at the range today. Older fellas they seemed to be impressed with my shots. One of the guys is the head of the Aichi archery association. He was all mouth about how it's better to buy target archery gear in Japan because in the US they only shoot compound for hunting. I just held my tongue and kept shooting all the gear I ordered from the states that would have cost me twice what I paid had I bought it in Japan. It was good concentration practise to have those guys there babbling while I shot though since that's probably my weakest point.

Tomorrow(actually today) if I can get out to shoot I'll try to get some pics of the nice clean fletches I put on last night. Gotta love those Duravanes.

I'm back Baby !!

Now that's better.
Yesterday I managed 60 arrows and was strugling to say the least. Untill the last 6 arrows. I tried just pulling the bow without turning my head to the target. Draw to the centre of my chin and try to keep my shoulders level. Did that a few times and then ripped off two nice ends.
Today I went out and had a good afternoon and even got a few in the 50's. This evening I hit one perfect 30 and surprised the heck out of Mr. K.
I'm feeling more and more confident now that I can get in to the 500's. As long as I get two 8's and a nine on every end I am shooting 25's so thats 500. Every ten and 2nd nine I get just makes it easier.
My Personal best for 18 meters is 528 if I am going for 530 this time it means an average of 8.8 so I'm going to need a fair number of tens. Phew.

Not by half

What a day, not much time for shooting today so I didn't get anywhere near the 100 arrows I planned. Well theres always tomorrow.
I did set up my DV camera with a nifty little program on my laptop. It's like a magic mirror. It plays a live feed from the camera to the monitor with a delay. What this does is lets me take a shot and then look at the PC for an instant replay. It's great to know when you think you made a good follow through that you really did. Plus it's cool. To bad the real software costs $400 US. Have to make do with the demo version for now.

2 days down

2 days down the road. Today I was really wimpy and only shot about 50 arrows. I really need to get dome muscles again fast and the slow and steady isn't going to help me. Tomorrow the big guns are coming out and I am going to do SPT as well as blank bale. I'm going to try for a daily total of 100 arrows.
That and remember to keep an eye on the plunger, keep my left arm up and don't grab the bow.

So far so good

Today was the firts day of my plan. I got my shooting done and managed at least 50 arrows. 30m had a few good groups but mostly scattered about. Can't say I'm happy about the groups but when I really kept my focus I came pretty close to the piece of toilet paper that I was using for a target.

The Plan !!

Starting today I have 13 days left to get my self in shape for shooting again. In the past month I've only shot about 30 arrows TOTAL! Here's my plan to try to make a decent showing of my on Feb 1st.
SPT every day.
Shoot at least 3 dozen arrows every possible day.
Image training every day!


Possible days are;
Monday 19th in Nagoya and Monday night at Kani HS.
Tuesday 20th morning in Toki. Outdoor if it's not raining on a target or inside on blank bale.
Wednesday 21st evening in Toki inside on blank bale.
Thursday 22nd outdoor or if it's not raining on a target or inside on blank bale.
Friday 23rd afternoon outdoor if it's not raining on a target or inside on blank bale
Saturday 24th busy workday so I'll only be able to do SPT.
Sunday 25th Try to shoot a trial indoor round (60 arrows) at either the farm or at KHS if it's raining.
Monday 26th in Nagoya and Monday night at Kani HS.
Tuesday 27th morning in Toki. Outdoor if it's not raining on a target or inside on blank bale.
Wednesday 28th evening in Toki inside on blank bale.
Thursday 29th outdoor or if it's not raining on a target or inside on blank bale.
Friday 30th afternoon outdoor if it's not raining on a target or inside on blank bale.
Saturday 31st is the day before the big show so I will rest up and try to prepare by eating lots of meat!!!

SPT is as outlined on the KSL total Archery page.
http://www.kslinternationalarchery.com/Training/SPTs/SPTs.html
This should get me in shape in time to shoot well enough to beat Mr. Kato.

Back at the middle.

After a one month vaction from shooting I ventured back to the line. It was intimidating to say the least. I was anxious about whether I'd even hit the target. I went back to my notes from my last competition. That helped me find a starting place. I had a couple nice shots and a couple bad ones but I'm back in the saddle and excited about the next competition.