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Jeremiah's Ladder


JeremiahD

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Opening post for the range log.

Relatively new shooter overall (7 years), VERY new shooter to any action shooting USPSA/IDPA/3gun etc. As of this post, 10 weeks or so of "pre-season" USPSA indoor matches. 

Originally progressed from the static range to something more challenging to improve my own skills, but since trying the sport, I'm interested in becoming the best I can personally be.  Since I'm standing on the dirt looking up, I can find no more appropriate analogy for this thread than my "ladder".

Will be adding PT info here.  My PT goals are to get my upper body joints back into shape and add muscle mass at that point with an eye to improving gun control and endurance.  I have spent the last few years running, much to the detriment of my overall physical form.

Edited by JeremiahD
added PT logs here..
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Friday 3/3, Indoor static range practice.

Focused on sight alignment, presentation, and trigger pull primarily at 7, 14, 21 feet.

two hand, strong hand, offhand equally

loaded two rounds in each reload and performed very slow reloads (shoot two, reload, shoot two, reload, shoot three to slide lock) concentrating on each step of the process from presentation to slide lock.

Finished with 15 rounds slow fire

Felt tired, long day at work beforehand.

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Monday 3/6

Miamisburg Monday night, indoor

Ran the match with the goal of no mikes/no NS, but slightly faster than the previous weeks match.

(am trying to find an effective compromise between speed and my current ability)

Did not worry about D shots for the time being, just hit the target and move on.

got more wrapped up in speed the first string, then the layout on the third. met my goals on the first two but failed to concentrate on the sights properly on the third, earning me one M/NS combo.

Lessons learned: don't shoot faster than you see the sights.

 

 

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PT Log Sunday 3/5

Mountain bike, 12 miles, MoMBA Fairborn, 1:20

Great day, good weather, trails slightly greasy. Many trees down after Fridays storm. Took a header over one and wedged my ankles under the frame. Good time.

 

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3/8 Indoor static range

(load development testing for a batch of 230grn projectiles I got a great deal on. (4.7grn bullseye and an oal of 1.200 seems the best compromise))

Took advantage of the opportunity to fire every.. single.. round.. sloooowly... focusing on sight alignment, breathing, trigger to make up for Mondays forgetfulness.

PT- 3m run and upper body lift tonight. Lift to focus on high reps, low weight, opposing muscle groups.  Will update post if anything changes.

Edited by JeremiahD
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3/9 dry fire

After getting this weeks score sheet I sat down to think a bit on why I'm getting the HF I am despite scoring a respectable number of points. I took at look at other shooters in similar divisions and its primarily speed. 2 penalties (1 NS/miss) obviously dragged the HF down as well, so I don't need to be shooting any faster than I can see my sights. I suspect my biggest improvements in speed can be made during reloads and transitions between arrays. I can then focus on shooting only as fast as my sights. (yeah, I'm that basic.) At this point its best to focus on the basics so draw/present/reload now gets its own day.

Rather than focus strictly on DF without feedback and drill bad habits I sat down to think a bit and decided to set up a camera on a tripod and take a few videos, and found the following:

1- my draw isn't bad at all.  Practice should make it more fluid though. I am presenting the gun well. I need to get right on target though.

2- My reloads need work.  I could also use some advice on reloading while not taking my eyes off target (as in how to best bring the gun in so I can use some of my peripheral vision while not breaking 180).  Eventually it should be second nature without any visual ques, but I don't want to drill bad habits like taking my eyes off the target until it is.

3- I should invest in a proper competition belt, holster, mags rather than the loosely attached carry equipment I'm using.  My mag pouches have a lot of play at the belt.

 

DF- Did a minimal amount of DF, instead focused specifically on draw-present-fire-withdraw/reload-present. 

PT- basic lower body stretches. rest day.  Reviewed my current workout plan to tweak one weekly run towards sprints and direction changes rather than strictly cross country

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Keep it up!

 

Some random tid-bits:

 

- read this blog post and consider incorporating some of his exercises into your PT

https://www.absolutept.com/shooters-elbow/

- practice your speed and your accuracy, separately, during practice (dry or live). In a match, just call your shots.

- for now, work on one skill at a time (on a drill)

- you are thinking right when speak about shooting only as fast as the sights let you. Go as fast as possible on everything else

- understand what an acceptable sight picture is, on different targets/distances.

- we are measured on Points Per Second, so if you're not shooting, you're earning zero points per second

- look directly at your mag well on reloads

 

See you on the range!

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8 hours ago, gransport said:

Keep it up!

 

Some random tid-bits:

 

- read this blog post and consider incorporating some of his exercises into your PT

https://www.absolutept.com/shooters-elbow/

- practice your speed and your accuracy, separately, during practice (dry or live). In a match, just call your shots.

- for now, work on one skill at a time (on a drill)

- you are thinking right when speak about shooting only as fast as the sights let you. Go as fast as possible on everything else

- understand what an acceptable sight picture is, on different targets/distances.

- we are measured on Points Per Second, so if you're not shooting, you're earning zero points per second

- look directly at your mag well on reloads

 

See you on the range!

Thanks for the encouragement!

I checked out Chads website, I do a version of the exercises he suggested, but never gave the concentric/eccentric idea any thought. I'm going to stick to what I'm doing for now for consistency's sake until I have a better base established in a few weeks, then I may tweak the workouts some.  His wrist curls and the barbel reverse grip tricep extension may be just the thing..

 

Thanks for the tips, one question. When you say "look directly at your mag well", should I be bringing the gun up into my line of sight, or go ahead and look down into my accustomed workspace around chest height?

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3/11

PT- changed out my usual long run day to try working in sprints and direction changes. Ran for time, not distance so I did :30. Warmed up, ran, sprint for a landmark, recover. worked in sprinting tight squares around the shelter buildings. Knees held up surprisingly well. I think this may replace my tempo run days earlier in the week.

By the way, sprints after leg day are not cool.

 

Practiced :30 of drawing and presenting to target

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Your are doing great.  Keep it up.  When I don't feel like entering a journal entry... I do it anyways.  Since starting my journal I really feel like it has made the progression more fun.  I even did one for my professional life for a while. There were some things that weren't going to so well and I considered quitting.  Instead I started a journal and worked on improving the things at work that I didn't like.  Now I like my job, my coworkers and will be there for a while.

 

Good luck.  See you around.

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On ‎3‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 8:00 PM, Glock26Toter said:

Your are doing great.  Keep it up.  When I don't feel like entering a journal entry... I do it anyways.  Since starting my journal I really feel like it has made the progression more fun.  I even did one for my professional life for a while. There were some things that weren't going to so well and I considered quitting.  Instead I started a journal and worked on improving the things at work that I didn't like.  Now I like my job, my coworkers and will be there for a while.

 

Good luck.  See you around.

Thanks for the encouragement! I've got a long way to go. good news is the journey seems like a good trip so far.

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3/13 Monday club practice match, indoors
This one was a pretty good eye opener for me. Lots of observations this week.  I showed up to the match early, stayed late, observed most of the shooters, particularly ones I had marked out in previous weeks to learn from. I shot the match twice, mostly to try compare where I can/should gain time or gain accuracy.  I shot with two different squads than usual to get outside the comfort zone of shooting with the same folks every week.   

 

  First, a quick aside... am I improving? Up until recently I have been concentrating on learning the rules, the protocols and procedures on how these things run and picking up the basics.  I finally asked to get the score sheets sent to me so I can make some comparisons about 4 weeks ago.  Yes, comparing across divisions is apples to oranges, and trying to draw a direct correlation between my score and some A class Open guy is only going to frustrate and discourage, but it can be done.  I cant compare within my division (SS/Maj) either as there's only one other shooter so there's a lack of depth.  What I HAVE been doing is marking out some of the regulars and watching their scores as they change week to week and correlating that change with my own.  That's been giving me a baseline to measure how much ease or trouble others have had with that stage (particularly the Production guys, who are about as close as I can get to comparing against Single Stack).  If All of the HF are up %10 over the previous week including mine, I can assume the stage may have been slightly easier and I'm running consistently.  If all of the HF are up %10 and mine has dropped %5, The stage may have been easier, but I had more difficulty with that stage.  The second thing that can be seen when you break it out into percentages gained/lost is the outliers.  If everyone including myself ran a %10 improvement but one shooter ran it in a solid %20 better than their average, it pays to look closely at why, and how I could incorporate his or her technique.  By watching all the shooters I was able to identify why some had dropped (misfires, malfunctions, missed mag changes) as opposed to simply shooting worse/slower than I did. 
  Anyway, I made some dramatic improvements the first month (not surprising as there's a lot of gains to be made learning basics) and I have been keeping pace with everyone else and/or gradually improving, with the exception of two specific weeks.  I am scoring respectable amounts of points, but my times leave a lot of room for improvement.  If I can reign in the penalties and cut %20 off my overall time while maintaining scoring, I should land in the top 10 or less of this particular group (or at least %60 of stage points). This is of course all going to become more difficult once I start running "real" matches I suppose.

 

  Second, I learned the lesson to shoot and move on.  By that I mean make your shot and good or bad at whatever speed, then forget about it.
This week had a target array with three unobstructed targets and one about 80% covered leaving the head and a diagonal from shoulder to side leaving about a 4" A zone.  I was very concerned with getting a no shoot on that target. On both shoots, first string was fine, I finished on that target.  on the second string of the first shoot, I took my time, shot well... then turned around and missed the next target completely.  the only thing I can figure is somewhere in my head I wanted to hurry and make that time up.  Score -10sec for me.  On my second shoot I let it go, did ok, then proceeded down the line to the final array where I let my concentration go and shanked 3 NS on some of the easiest targets. I wasn't watching my sights.

 

  Third, and possible most importantly (as far as overall HF is concerned) I got to observe the movement styles of about 25 people and take away a big graphic visual lesson as to why a guy (for example)  running SS with an overall score of 324/360 is positively skunking a guy in Production who has a score 40+ points higher. Speed gets you nowhere if you aren't decisive and fluid.

 

Took away a lot of little things besides that, but this post is long enough and those are the big 3.

Edited by JeremiahD
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3/16- PT 2 mile run, Lift #2 (I'm just going to number my lift workouts 1/2/3 from here on out for ease of tracking)

 

This was an interesting one.  Thursday was a tempo run, changed it to sprints last week.

Added weight on my last leg day the day before the change. Evidently I taxed my legs a bit much.  After warming up I went to take off for the first landmark and both quads went out on me. darn near ended up on the ground. pretty good pain in both legs today, suspect a pulled muscle (upper thigh, front. same place both legs).  I took the rest of the run pretty easy and may have to factor in an extra rest day instead of cross until I get things worked out.

 

DF- worked on draws and presenting to target. experimented with natural point of aim some with my eyes closed to see where I'd end up. Concerned with drilling bad habits. Sent off for Stoegers DF book. I'll start some real drills in earnest when it arrives.

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3/19 - classifier event, 6 stages, mburg.  First "real" event.

 

well.. I could say a lot here but I'll just stick to the minimum.  Treated it like a race day.. went in early and well fed with a good attitude and all my gear clean and working well, talked to as many people as I could, observed closely, focused on safety, did not DQ, learned some valuable lessons.

 

Results: Completely pooched at least half of the stages. I could blame any of a number of things but it comes down to shooting too fast (specifically, not getting back on the sights enough for that second shot) and doing everything else too slow. Not unreasonable at my stage of learning but damn, I thought I was better at it than I evidently am.

 

Things I learned...

-Learned to walk away from a completely embarrassing stage, get over it, and move on to do (reasonably) well in the next. Pasting targets is good therapy.

-Learned since you are already tooled up and excited on the first stage of the day, walking into a fast, no barriers drag race of a stage for the first should be a big red flag and to calm down and just shoot. 

-Learned my strong hand/offhand practice has paid off. Its something I have been trying to incorporate every time I go to the range. Its encouraging to see some results and to know if I keep practicing everything else with the same diligence I will improve.

Big lesson of the day: slow down and think.  This lesson was driven home by the fact that despite shooting like crap on many stages, I suddenly shot (reasonably..) well on what should have been harder stages.  Anything fast, close, or didn't appear to require much strategic thought I shot poorly.  The stages that added offhand, strong hand, seated start, challenging layout, or convoluted instructions I shot acceptably well.  Finally put two and two together and figured out they forced me to engage my brain and slow down.  2 seconds to take a shot may be an eternity, but it beats a 10 second penalty by far.

 

Monday night session tonight, lets see if I can apply the lessons.

 

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3/24 - should have been a rest day, went mountain biking.  paid for it, was worn out halfway. Don't care, weather was beautiful :)

3/25 - off day

3/26 - Lift#1, DF: mag change drills focusing on bringing the gun back to eye level.  Tough to break the old habit of back to "workspace". Concerned I'll get confused when pressure is on.

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3/27 - club practice match, indoors.

I've spent all this time working on reasonable, consistent accuracy and found myself scoring almost the exact same points every week.  been working on building a base for moving quickly and went tonight with the goal of going balls-out as fast as I can and still try to get my hits. I figured it wasnt going to be pretty but I wanted to know what how speed could affect the overall HF even taking an accuracy hit.  When I got there, the stage was set up for alot of movement so it worked out perfectly. 

I asked the RO of the day to watch me closely and call me out on everything, including near penalties or possible issues.

Ended up with an excellent time and very good HF, (for me) and it turns out with a few notable exceptions, I hit nearly exactly where I wanted to (!)

I had 3 misses, they were all on the same target, and I know exactly what I did to get them. 

I'm pretty stoked about the results and I know now how fast I should be moving when Not Shooting, and what an acceptable sight picture is.

I'll continue on training as I am.

I need to work a bit on my mental game so I don't lose focus or let no-shoots worry me (just keep aiming for A, screw the NS)

 

on a side note, new parts for the colt came in, ed brown extractor, ejector, recoil spring,  backstrap and magwell. Tearing it down tomorrow.

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so yesterdays breakdown- 320pts 40pen in 46.96sec is 5.9625. Still middle of the pack, and that's fine for now.

 

Eliminating the 3 mental mistakes would have given me 6.9420  (assuming the 3 shots / 4 penalties translated into 3 D hits rather than misses and a NS), which would have out me in the upper 3rd.

 

(Also now realizing I probably should have questioned the scoring as the NS on the perf should have been one penalty, not a miss/NS and been 6.1794.  My ignorance cost me -.2 hf :) ). 

 

Ah.. The learning continues.

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