JeremiahD

There's a reason the range command is "IF Finished, ULSC..." and not "You ARE finished, ULSC..."

Placeholder for updates. Will be using this again for performance analysis. Much has changed since 8/18. 6 weeks to A5.

Long delayed update. Am finding that with squeezing DF, PT, live fire, matches, reloading etc into every available moment and not short my family or my career too badly, I just dont have time to screw around on the internet. I should make updating this a minor priority, especially as I head into the last 12 weeks pre-nationals. May- Buckeye was an unmitigated disaster for me. I was plagued with enough ammo issues it was causing multiple jams each stage, some taking 5-10 seconds to clear. I let the ammo affect the rest of my performance, moping through stages. debated leaving at lunch to buy walmart ammo. The cause was poor crimp (ie- none) which was caused by a number of factors (still my responsibility). Issue is resolved, but my placement (and my ego) suffered badly on what should have been a great match I was otherwise prepared for. Wont occur again. June, I had an unexpected health issue that required minor surgery. was forbidden from running, heavy exercise, or heavy recoil for several weeks. Got back on DF as soon as I felt up to it, but missed several matches and put PT behind significantly. July Backed out of Ryan Rocks, partly due to a conflict, partly due to being totally out of practice from the June issue. Have returned to full time practice and PT schedule, and at least 3 matches per month. Without getting into detail, I have learned quite a bit from this months matches, particularly on my mental game (and where its lacking). Match consistency is an issue currently. I can crush some stages while tanking others. Mental game. Time and scheduling have coalesced into the following (and its working!): every day, 90+ minutes, alternating between 1- full body freeweight workouts (deadlifts, squats, presses etc) and dedicated DF specific to the fundamentals (reloads, draw, sight alignment, transitions, etc) and 2- running full stages in DF in the backyard or range. Every day I'm running a mile and am working the wrist curls/reverse wrist curls/tricep/bicep to keep the elbow issues away. Am seeing improvement across the board and "consistency" has become my daily mantra. At least once a week I am at the range in addition to the above, and have been making it to matches most weekends since recovery. I'm keeping my October goal in sight the entire time, and its highly motivating.

Gentlemen, I greatly appreciate the feedback so far. A few additional details- I have managed to develop a match mode, but its not as consistent as it should be. I will focus on getting it fully fleshed out. I have been looking hard at why my overall standings sit where they do. Sometimes its scoring (generally when I let my match mode fail), but primarily its time. I would be sitting %20-25 higher in almost every match if I were to trim out the excess time. Video has been beneficial in identifying problems, and the biggest one (of many) is movement. Right behind that is a mental uncertainty that comes from not properly drilling the fundamentals early on Excellent, I will incorporate that immediately. It certainly makes more sense than dry firing poorly and just thinking "well that sucked, lets do it again" noted. I'll be coming up with a more organized, focused DF routine so I'm spending my time productively, I will be keeping that at the front of my mind as I do. Thanks, those are very helpful numbers, I'm at this point where I feel like I should be practicing all day long and have no idea what my expected result should be. Also helpful is that time/movement is a weakness of my own. thanks

hitting Andersons first 12 drills daily, setting a 5 min timer for each. Confidence is improving, erasing the old bad mag change juju PT is progressing, will alternate run and lift ways until june 1 been working andersons or stoegers movement drills once daily on weekdays for an hour in the evenings by doing DF at the range and "confirming" w live fire.. enter the box last night, getting a good feel for shooting when that first foot touches. I was doing it to establish live fire times and tweak df, but its really working for me as drills on their own.

I debated hard before deciding to post this. This is going to be a very (intentionally) open ended request. I will be shooting production nats in October (single stack). My sole shooting goal until then is to be the best I can when I step on the line at that first stage. Not to be "not last", not to "be competitive", but to be the best I can be. This not not meant to be a soft goal for a participation trophy, I mean it literally. I am what most would consider an "average" shooter, middle age, starting my second year in USPSA, shot a few majors, and at a point where I know there's much I don't know. I do have a family and a full time job etc, but am able to dedicate a solid chunk of time daily to this one goal. I understand I only have 4 and a half months to prepare and am willing to do the work, I don't want to waste effort. I do have some experience training long term for large goals and the challenges that come with it. I would very much like whatever advice any of you higher level, experienced competitors feel inclined to offer on the subject as I plan my training and set my subgoals before June when the real work starts. I could use advice on anything from daily dryfire or livefire routines to physical training, to any advice on surviving the mental game at a national level. Any experienced, useful advice is welcome. Those of you who offer coaching services can consider this a solicitation as well. I'm happy to share any additional info you may find helpful, and I do appreciate your assistance.

I suspected and I'm totally ok with that. I figure if I have a lack of focus, I'd rather it be on my own shooting than on other peoples safety. I can live with a mike. Certainly gives one a new appreciation for those that have been RO'ing the matches I've been shooting, thats for sure...

I had to google it... From a 45yo with corrective lenses, that looks really compelling. I may make one and try it for a few weeks.

In major? No way. Alpha/Charlie on a target is %90 If you're shooting %90 and doing everything else as fast as humanly possible, you're good.

Dawg valley 5/12- good match, great stages, very concerned about some 180 traps. shot my match level, identified issues, targeted them for practice. cant ask for more. RO'd the squad, spent more time worrying about that than stage memorization but that's fine. If I cant currently separate shooting/RO'ing, I'd rather give %100 to RO duties. Either way, good match. Monday shoot, Thursday practice, Buckeye 5/25-26. DF/Live fire: Been working hard on side to side and front to back movement. finally "get" leaning and leaving on one foot as the shot breaks. also have started a DF session at the range daily, assessing whatever the drill is with a string of live fire, then tweaking the DF. takes <25 or so rounds and has shown good success for me. Been on the range daily for the last 6 days. I'll likely end up taking all of this feedback home to work into df, but its been so successful this may become a regular thing. PT: upped weights, changed my sets slightly so I'm pushing a standard weight 10 rep warmup set, a 10 rep "fast" set focusing on explosive movement, and a 3-5 rep set with the heaviest weights I can manage w/o a spotter. Its really working for me, was just what I needed. Cardio has been nonexistent, need to reboot. Noticing I need to watch my weight I have been sitting on a Nationals slot code for a couple months. I had no intention of taking a slot from a worthy shooter if I wasn't sticking to training or getting results. I've met goals and I feel confident I can spend the next 4.5 months making consistent, significant gains so... I pulled the trigger, am signed up and squadded. So thats the goal: Nationals ready by mid October. milestones/plan forthcoming. the original goal schedule I set up is to reassess all training on June 1 and plan for the next major goals anyway so... here goes.

Pocket Pro II arrived yesterday from Stoeger. Amazing fast shipping. so far, I like it. in addition to the features I wanted, I found the beep volume is adjustable, and the settings are super super easy to navigate and set. very happy so far.

Oxford 5/6. Sunny, temps from 60-80, dry ground/no mud 99A, 2B, 33C, 5D, 1M/1NS 121.38 SEC, 57% (of pcc gm) great squad, good tips from good shooters. squadding with the highest level shooters I can manage to find is paying off. 1 disappointing stage, automatically went for a makeup shot I didn't really need and required an additional mag change at the end costing time. Speed continues to be the big issue with a solid 20 sec that could have been shaved (5 sec/stage average) . Wasn't feeling confident on accuracy early, but it shaped up. Noticed that I'm hitting my mag changes but my lack of confidence from missing them before is causing uncertainty which manifests as a pause before seating, or a need to reseat on occasion despite the mag being seated fine (which sucks time). Did burkett reloads and multiple mag changes until my fingers cracked and bled last night. I will make it a strength and not worry about it. Classifier squeaked me into B speaking of, I have met my goals of making B by 7/1, and of having B class field skills by then. While there's much improvement to be made, I beat out most of the B field at Battle (would have been 6th in class/div), and half the B's overall at Oxford, so I feel I can be competitive within B now. Monday night shoot 7th/26 overall. solid runs, decent hits, good speed (can be improved..). PT- need muscle mass. upping weights, adding a last set of maximum weight, reps-to-exhaustion. Working at box jumps, one leg box jumps, shuttle runs. Have been neglecting running, but thats ok for now. Been throwing rides back in on off days to change it up (which arent many right now.) DF continues, been working Andersons first 12 drills daily, movement during PT. Live fire practice weekly, considering adding another day to build on. Shooting Dawg Valley Saturday 12th, monday matches 14th and 21st, Buckeye on 25th/26th. No MRPC match this month. Looking for a major to shoot in June.

good stuff guys thanks. Seems a split between the PP2 (can emulate a PP if desired and has longer delay, more options) and Pact club. controls are just a matter of practice. The recent bad reviews for the MKIV (and related customer service) makes me lean towards the PP2. Thanks for the feedback

Awesome Sarge, thanks. are the pact and PPII pretty compatible as far as par time mode?

PT taking a backseat, need to prioritize my days and be 'all in' when I'm there. Really need to up weights and really really need to put the time into running. letting too much slide. Been discussing with several others successful in their respective endeavors, maybe I can get a spark. Been hitting the DF daily, working on par times on basics. shooting either in practice or matches 3x week. still suffering from wanting to "shoot fast" and not shoot well (and do everything else fast. Its an aggravating problem, especially since I feel like I should be past it. Shot "the heads" drill for an hour or so last thursday and found I'm good when I let myself be good. I'm bad when I don't. side note, realized I've been trying to fit me into other peoples technique (be it grip or draw or whatever). Its good to get an idea what works, but I need to figure out what works for me. goals for the next 4 weeks are major match prep. focus on field skills, esp movement. ut in a few long days at least weekly (df-long run/ride-lift-df) to prep for being 'all in' during 12-15 stage days.