Calamity Jane

Mental Management Body image This is the post where I reveal myself. For those of you who don’t know me this is the big “ta da” moment. The video camera has been my nemesis for some time. The way I look on camera is not the way I feel when I shoot. When I shoot I feel beautiful, sexy, powerful, confident, unleashed, and free. However, the image on the camera doesn’t say that about me. It’s such a paradox. I’ve come to the conclusion that there is no hiding who I am when I shoot. Shooting has allowed me to explore and accept some things about myself that I've been resistent to. I don’t shoot because is makes me look good. I shoot because it makes me feel good. Dry Fire I wanted to explain some things before you watch the video. The stance: Some may say I have an over exaggerated knee bend. I have found by keeping my knees soft and bent like that I can absorb recoil better. It also looks like I have something stuck up my derriere. I’m bent slightly forward at the waist for the same reason…recoil control. I have my weight on the balls of my feet. You can judge for yourself when you see me shoot live fire if it is effective. Weight lifting gloves: OK I know I look like a mall ninja! It’s embarrassing. Here’s the deal with the gloves. I bought my first STI limited gun from my mentor. The limited gun did not fit my hand. Because I didn’t know any better I just put up with it. My hands developed calluses where the gun was rubbing me. I was informed by the ladies at Ladies Camp I didn’t have to put up with an ill fitting gun. They told me a gunsmith could reduce my grip and take off the burrs that were hurting me. So I had my grip reduced and stippled, the burrs taken off, and my gun re chromed. When I got it back the grip was smaller, but the stipple job was TOO smooth. I was having trouble keeping a good grip on the gun. SO I sent the grip off to Jim Shanahan and had him work on it. It came back to me with a very rough finish, which I like, but it was causing me pain to hold on to the gun. Does this story sound like Goldilocks?? So I put on the weight lifting gloves and voila…I have a great, non-painful grip on the gun. It feels awesome. I was watching the 3 GM DVD and Saul said something that has made me feel better about wearing the gloves. He was talking about how he builds up his grip so that it fits into the palm of his hand. That was a big “light bulb” moment for me. You see the weight lifting gloves have the palms padded which gives me a better grip on the gun. Saul is building up the grip on his gun. Jane is wearing padded palms. It creates the same result! The gloves stay on until I find something better. Go ahead and call me a mall ninja and snicker behind my back. In the meantime, I will have a great grip on the gun and will be shooting without any subconscious pain. My dry fire glasses: I took the lens out of the left side of my shooting glasses to expose my dominant eye. The dry fire range in the basement is dark and I didn’t like looking through the glasses. My right eye has scotch tape to the lens. I also wear a visor in the basement because of the glare from the fluorescent light. What I’m working on: The Draw Drawing by going down on the gun. This is how Max does it. I have found that if I am more aggressive on the bottom of the draw (by going down on the gun) I can be more aggressive on the top. I have been drawing the gun using more of a wrap around technique. I have to really think about going down on the gun. In my dry fire video I caught myself doing it both ways. The Reload I have a bad habit of bringing the gun down on the magazine instead of pushing the magazine up into the gun. I’m working on this. You probably will see me do it on the video. Movement To shoot the dot with movement I’m convinced that I need a consistent hold while moving with the gun. I’m thinking palm down at high ready or chest level is the way to go. Side to side movement palm down is pretty natural, but forward movement is a challenge. You’ll see I’ve got a long way to go. That’s it. I’ve enclosed some bloopers. A little public humiliation is good for the soul. http://video.google.com/videouploadfinishe...5de22bfcc604a00

Called my gunsmith on Friday and left a message. He sent an email to clear up some invoice billing stuff. I think it's real close. I did video tape my dry fire session. My gifted 14 year old son is helping me make it look cool. Hope to post it soon. Had the chance to do some live fire this week. I'm not going to post video of it because there wasn't anything really special to show ya all. Feb 23, 2007 Live Fire Practice with video Temp 38 Sunny Snow on ground Total round count (239) Group shooting Free style 10-15-25 yds (36) SH at 15 yd (12) WH at 10 yds (12) 10 yd work Draw with one shot (12) Draw with 2 shots (12) Draw SH (12) Draw WH (12) One shot/2 targets with reload (24) 2 reload 2 (24) One shot/4 targets with reload (24) 7yd work One shot draws with par timer (11) Bill drills (24) I haven't had live fire practice since Jan 10th (that's 6 weeks). My group shooting was disappointing. I really think it is because I haven't been behind a live firing gun for awhile. I was pleased that I got some good 7 yd draws…fastest was 1.11. I believe I will get a 1 sec draw at 7 yds consistently and that I will be able to get a 2 sec bill drill. It's going to happen. I wasn't seeing the timing of the gun today. Again I think from lack of being behind the gun. So in a nutshell…today was not my best and that is OK. It was good to get back on the range. I used the video camera. I need to desensitize myself to the camera so that it can be an effective training tool. I'm still a little nervous that the camera is watching me. Using the camera to train is also time consuming! I think it will get better the more I use it.

Bravo! Well done Dave! Winning a shoot off....that's cool. Keep up the most excellent work.

Gunsmith says....6 more hours to finish the gun. If I get it by March 1st I'll be happy. It will be a 38 super comp...no chrome....long and strong. I'll have it chromed when I'm sure it's the way I want it. Right now I don't care what it looks like. I don't care whether it shoots violent or if I have the perfect load. All I care about is that I have a gun that goes BANG. Jackson is already calling this gun his. I hate it when the puppy nips at your heels. Going to break out the video camera this week in my dry fire practice. Need to take a good hard look at myself. Goals for this week: pester the gunsmith until he finishes my gun, dry fire with the video camera, continue to "walk the gun" and learn. Thanks Dave and Mike for just being you. You both know I'm more than a bunch of words on a web site. Thanks for the encouragement.

Thanks Shred. I enjoyed reading that. Made me think of Lanny.

Mental Management You don’t see high dives at public swimming pools anymore. Perhaps the lawsuits and the injuries have something to do with that but when I was a kid we had a high dive at our local swimming pool. I can remember jumping off that diving board and plummeting deep beneath the pools surface. My little legs would kick and kick as my face searched for the surface of the pool. Many times I thought my lungs would explode before I would reach the top. But just when I thought I wouldn’t make it, my face would pop through and I would take a big breath of air. There is nothing like inspiration after a long drought of empty airless space. I feel like that today only my face hasn’t popped through. I’m kicking and kicking knowing the surface is close at hand but feeling like I’m not going to make it. Stomach flu, winter ice storms, snow days with kids home from school, kids getting sick, I guess it’s understandable why I may be feeling a little melancholy. The waiting is starting to get to me. Waiting for the snow to melt, waiting for my open gun, waiting to train with my open gun etc… I need inspiration. I’m about to suffocate from the waiting. “The teacher will come when the student is ready”……I’M READY!!!!! Dry Fire Surprisingly I got 3 out of 4 scheduled dry fire sessions in this week. I’m already thinking about how I’m going to train myself to find the dot while I’m on the move. I’m doing this training exercise I call “walking the gun”. I’m basically walking around the house/basement with the gun palm down, elbows out, and acquiring targets (lamp shades, electrical sockets, etc) I learned I need to do some specialized weight training for my shoulders. Holding the gun palm down uses different muscles than holding it out like when you acquire a target. I’m learning other stuff that I’m not ready to share yet. My plan is to walk the gun everyday until I can easily pick up the dot while moving. I know the biggest obstacle is finding the dot. I’m not going to spend 3 months searching for it. This will be the FIRST thing I figure out!! Now all I need IS THE GUN!!

What kind of gun was the blonde chick waving around and then used to kill McCarthy? I think I know the answer.

Ditto on the congrats! May you have many more years with your lovely wife.

I was shopping for mouthwash the other day and a bottle caught my eye. It was Vanilla Mint Flavor Listerine. Yummy! The bottle said “Less Intense, Equally Effective.” That sounded good to me so I bought it. It wasn’t until days later, as I was thinking about how disappointed I was not having an open gun to practice with this winter, that I again noticed those words on the bottle. “Less intense, equally effective”, is that true? Is that possible? Could my training plan be less intense but equally effective? Perhaps, if it is well planned and spread out into doable small parts. It’s with that hope that I approach my abbreviated season. Everyone has there own way of doing goals. I use a combo of Saul and Lanny. My goals are built in the shape of a pyramid. The base of the pyramid is my seasonal goals, then the plate rack or weekly goals, then the shooting goals, and then performance goals. The dry fire and live fire shooting goals will change with the shooting season. Performance Goals Peak performance at Limited 2007 Nationals Top Lady on one stage at 2007 Nationals Beat my mentor in a match (using an open gun) 2 second Bill Drill with a limited gun Win an Open stage at Silver Creek Skill Drill time improvement Live Fire Goals Trigger control Skill Drills Group Shooting Dry Fire Goals Perfect draw Perfect footwork Consistent reloads The Plate Rack (weekly goals) Spiritual Family Physical Work Shooting (covered these in previous post) Seasonal Goals Dec-Feb Build an open gun Define goals Find a training schedule that works March-May Train Fundamental skills June-July Compete Work on weakness Aug-Sept Switch to limited gun Prepare for Nats The core of my season is to train with the open gun. I wish I had more time with the open gun but I don’t. Cheely says you need a least a full year with the Open gun to glean all there is to learn. I don’t have a full year so I will make the most of what I do have. I’m tired of all this talking. I’m ready to shoot! Waiting for the gun to arrive so I can start my learning.

Very funny. Let's leave and boy and girl out of it.....and just call it friends.

One of the things I've learned from many years of experience is that you NEVER brag on your relationship to a girlfriend. The moment you say "Everything is great" is the moment things begin to spin out of control. I don't know why I thought sharing my "plate rack" would be any different. The moment my finger pushed the enter button on that post was the minute my plates began spinning out of control. I lost 4 physical workouts, my patients at work were literally dropping dead making my job that stinks even worse, and to top it all off....I got the stomach flu over the weekend. I still haven't recovered from the stomach flu thing. I'm typing all of this with a smile because I have been here before. When the plates fall down, you pick them up and start again. Just know...that even though my well thought out, well organized post may sound good...the reality of them is a never ending challenge. I've got my goals done. I'm working on a format that easily communicates them. Should be done in a couple of days if I can stop my stomach from hurting.

Nice Sharyn. Be sure to have someone video YOU!!! We all want to see YOU shoot.

OK perhaps I'll strike this from my life list of things to do. Clearly a rebellious attitude doesn't yield good fruit. I had a bad day at work. I'm over it.

Open gun will be done next week....I need money.....otherwise I would have been singing like a canary today. I think saying "take this job and shove it" would be tremendously satisfying. I think I'm going to put that on my life list of things to do.

Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more My woman done left and took all the reasons I was working for You better not try to stand in my way As I'm a walking out the door. Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more Ive been workin in this factory From now on fifteen years All this time I watched my woman Drowning in a pool of tears And I've seen a lot of good folk die Who had a lot of bills to pay I'd give the shirt right off of my back If I had the nerve to say Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more My woman done left and took all the reasons I was working for You better not try to stand in my way As I'm a walking out the door. Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more Well that foreman, he's a regular dog The line boss, he's a fool Got a brand new flat-top haircut Lord, he thinks he's cool One of these days, I'm gonna blow my top And that sucker, he's gonna pay Lord I cant wait to see their faces When I get up the nerve to say Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more My woman done left and took all the reasons I was working for You better not try to stand in my way As I'm a walking out the door. Take this job and shove it I ain't working here no more Take this job and shove it

I probably can count on one hand how many times I've been to the circus. The last time I was there I saw "Amelia the Human Arrow". She appeared to the crowd draped in gold spandex and then was launched the length of Market Square Arena. You see some amazing things at the circus. Perhaps the most amazing are the jugglers and plate spinners. I'm in awe at the amount of things they can keep in the air. I ask myself, "How do they do that"? Perhaps the question should be, "How do I keep the plates of my life spinning?" I've spent quite a few years trying to figure that out and I've never found it easy. I want to share with you what I consider my most important plates and how I keep them spinning. Then I will explain what this has to do with my shooting….the answer by the way is going to be…EVERYTHING! The most important plates in my life are: spiritual, family, exercise, work, and shooting. I live my life each day trying to keep balance between these plates. Keeping everything going requires constant attention. Just as the juggler has to constantly keep his eyes focused of what he is doing, so must I. I am constantly adjusting myself to keep everything going. My biggest enemy is distraction. Not paying attention to what is important leads to disaster. I know this from experience. Here is a breakdown of the plates Spiritual I am a spiritual being. It is the core of who I am. I have to nourish that. I set goals for myself in this area and attempt to nourish it daily. Family My relationship with Dave comes first and then the kids. Being available to give my love and emotional support is my number one priority. My responsibilities around the house come next. I'm responsible for the cooking, groceries, laundry, cleaning etc. Exercise I've always been athletic. However, shooting has given me a reason (other than staying healthy) to work out. My goals this year are to improve my core strength and improve flexibility. This is what I'm doing right now. Swimming 2 x's a week Weight lifting 2 x's a week Pilates 3 x's a week Nordic track ski 3 x's times a week Elliptical 2 x's a week Stretching 7 x's a week Work I'm an intensive care nurse who is working three 12 hour shifts a week. I also contribute to committees that require meetings in addition to my shifts at work. What keeps this plate spinning is my sheer will. I want to add this as a side note. I admire those of you who are going to jobs that don't necessarily inspire you for the mere reason to provide for your family. God bless you. May your wife (or husband) make love to you often… because you deserve it. Shooting Dry fire, live fire, and work on weakness. That pretty much sums it up. My goals are to dry fire 4 x's a week and live fire once a week. I will be more detailed about this section when I discuss my goals. The most difficult thing for me was to figure out how to do all these things at once. I had to make some pretty uncomfortable changes to get a schedule that works. For example, on the days that I work, I get up at 4 am and do Nordic track ski / Pilates/ and stretching for total of 60 min. This makes a long day! However, I get the satisfaction of knowing that my work day DID NOT STEAL my health or my training. It's my way of "sticking it to the man". On my 4 days off, I do the other stuff…swim, lift, elliptical, dry fire, live fire, groceries, laundry etc. I am doing something all 7 days of the week. There is no "off" day. The good news is everything has been broken up into small manageable pieces. You know the old joke, "How do you eat an elephant?" I believe the one bite at a time theory is true. What does this have to do with shooting? I can not succeed at shooting unless I have balance in my life. Balance provides the stable platform in which I can shoot. I'm going to talk about my goals in my next post.

You say the coolest things, a true Renaissance woman. Hey Jane... Ditto on the Valentine's Day Gift. Wanna see what my husband gave me for Valentine's day a few years ago? Nanci Pretty cool gift. Husbands are awesome

I just talked to my gunsmith. My open gun may be done as early as the end of next week. That would be one heck of a Valentine's Day gift!

Life is an obstacle course. Each day I'm faced with new obstacles to overcome just to make it through the day. The choice is to go around, go over or go through these obstacles. I prefer go over or go around. Going "through" something is never very fun. As I woke up this morning I was reminded of the obstacle course of life. My youngest son tells me he needs a pirates costume for Spirit Day at school with only 8 minutes left on the clock until we need to leave for school. I dealt with that issue and then realized that this is the day the cleaning lady comes. Looking around the house I see a disaster. You men are thinking, "That's why you have a cleaning lady!" The women reading this understand the cleaning lady is there to clean. She is not there to put away all our stuff! Anyway, I had to reorganize my entire day so that I could pick up the house. It cost me my swimming workout at the YMCA. Life is an obstacle course with consequences. Shooting Open has provided me with new challenges in which I'm going to have to overcome to be successful. Some of the obstacles include: I have no open gun. I'm unable to train this winter with an open gun. I'm working an extra shift to finance shooting. I'm struggling to find a training schedule that works because of my extra shift. I’ve had a difficult start to my 2007 season. My plan was to purchase a used gun late in the fall and then dry fire with it all winter. The used gun I purchased did not work out which meant I had to start the building process. This totally blew my training plan. I had a 3 month winter training plan on paper! I was devastated mentally. It took me 6 weeks to figure out that I should just use my limited gun to do my training plan. I was focused on what I couldn’t do instead of what I could do. This is a quagmire I often find myself in. Focusing on the negative never helps you achieve the positive. The other factor that is making my 2007 training season difficult is my extra commitment at work. I’m working an extra 12 hour shift to help pay for our shooting hobby. This extra work day has put some extra stress on the home life. I guess you know you are addicted to something when you are willing to make life changes for it. As miserable as I am at work I'm willing to do it if it means we all keep shooting. Action Steps Taken My open gun is being built and will be complete in March. I've adjusted my training plan so that I can continue working on the elements that I want to with my limited gun. At home, my boys have picked up the slack and have made things work. My training schedule is still a work in progress. My next post will talk about finding a training schedule that works. I have so much to say about that....it deserves it's own post.

Thanks for the welcome guys. I had Dave look up the exact round count I shot last year. I shot 18,560 rounds. We know the exact number because my blessed husband keeps track of every single round he loads and he loads ALL of my ammo. As you can see from that number I shoot a lot and my range diary will reflect that as I continue to post. However, to get started I’m not going to be talking of shots down range. These first posts will reflect what I’m thinking and where I want to go this year. I’ll be doing a lot of talking setting the stage for my shooting season. After the stage is set there will be nothing but action. I will share what I’m doing with those 18,000 rounds down range. Stay tuned....the first subject will be overcoming obstacles/barriers that stand between me and my goals.

After much thought, I have decided to join the range diary gang. The idea of keeping a public log may be just the thing to keep me on the right track. I don’t have all the answers but I’m more than willing to share my journey. My 2007 journey is going to include learning a new gun. This year I'm taking the plunge into Open. Many have said that shooting Open for a year will improve my limited shooting. We will see if that is true. My Open gun is being built as I write this. It should be completed in March. My log is going to include the usual range diary stuff but it will also have a lot of mental management stuff. I’m really into the mental aspect of the game. I thrive on the challenge to overcome myself. I’ll be posting pictures and videos to document my progress. I’ve wanted to use the video camera more in my training. Keeping this log gives me a good excuse to do that. I am like many of you. I don’t really like to be told what to do. When it comes to shooting my husband and I have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy. If I don’t ask…then he doesn’t tell. Sometimes the best way to learn is from experience. I want the reward of self-discovery. Comments of encouragement are always welcome. A new journey has begun. Hope you all enjoy the ride. Jane

See ya there! I got my call too.

Ditto to the hoppy birthday wishes! Hope you have a great birthday.

This match is going to rock! The range is getting a face lift this winter which will provide some excellent new bays to shoot in. Jake M. is "the man" when it comes to prize tables. You won't want to miss that. As far as I know Rhino will be there keeping score. I'll be there as an RO. I'm even planning on using my overlay correctly (no hard feelings Jake Divita ) We are blessed to have a lot of people contributing to the success of this match. It's going to be Indiana at it's best. My HONEY is already losing sleep over this thing which means he will use all his anal retentive characteristics to make it successful. You won't want to miss it. I'm still working on a roller coaster stage for the match...but I'm not getting very far with Mr. Ball.

Brian I like the way you think. The words response, reaction, reflection and correction got me thinking. I realized in my own life that I could use more reflection and correction. I don't seem to struggle with responding and reactioning, it's the other two where I fall a little short. Thanks for the words that got me to take a harder look at myself.