Setting Your Own Pace

[Graham Smith]

I switched from Production to Limited at the start of this year with a plan for making "C" as soon as possible. The plan was simple enough, take the things I had learned getting to "C" in Production and apply them to Limited. The first and foremost of these was to take my time and set my own pace and shoot for a good score regardless of the time.

Right off the mark, it didn't work because I couldn't shoot Limited quite as fast as I had Production because there was more recoil to deal with. As a result, I was getting a lot of Alpha/Delta and Alpha/Mike and Alpha/NoShoot/Mike scores.

So, I forced myself to be more deliberate and scores started to pick up. Fortunately for me, Central Jersey ran an All Classifier match at a time in July when I was doing well which allowed me to accumulate enough decent scores to wipe out the prior poor ones and, with one more good classifier at Sudlersville MD, give me enough to get me out of D and into C. Then I fell right back into the same trap of shooting too fast the next week and scores dropped again.

When the Mid-Atlantic Sectional came along, I was determined to moderate my pace but right from the first stage, I had too many misses (mainly on the second shot). I got it under control on one stage and had a reasonable time with some solid hits, but that was the only stage and my last stage was an absolute disater. The odd thing is, it never once felt as if I was shooting too fast while I was shooting.

I've been thinking about this all week and I believe I may have an answer. I mentioned in another thread about the strange time dilation thingy where time feels like it's going slower than it actually is. So I asked myself why this seemed to be more of an issue some times than others and I may have an answer - I think I am allowing my speed to be influenced somewhat by other shooters.

In the case of the Mid-Atlantic Sectional, I was undoubtedly the lowest shooter in my squad and I can recall watching others and most everyone was shooting at what seemed to be a fairly reasonable pace. I thought that was good because if I could just pace myself a little behind them, then I would be good to go. But it's like driving on the Interstate and just keeping a steady pace along with the rest of the traffic. You don't feel how fast you are going till you look at your speedometer and realize you've been doing 80mph in a 55mph zone and you've seen two speed traps in the last 5 miles.

Bottom line, for me, is that I've got to forget everything and everyone else and just shoot at my own pace. There is a Limited 10 shooter I squad with at one match every month and he has 5 years on me. His times are not that good but he shoots pretty solid A's with a few C's and pretty much outscores me 8 out of 10 times.

As Yoda famously said, "Do or do not. There is no try". Time to stop trying to shoot better and just do it.

[murkish]

What you are dealing with is your focus on speed, your entire post reflects that. Don't think of it as slowing your pace to get your hits. Just see what you need to see and get your hits.

You are correct. Do not pay attention to the other shooters pace. If you must pay attention to them at all pay attention to their A-zone hits.

Your pace is a product of seeing what you need to see. The only time where your speed should be relevant to you is during movement when you are not engaging targets. Fine, burn it up then, but when you are engaging targets be guided by your vision and not your preconceived notion of how fast you should be shooting.

As respects the second shot off-target. You need a sight picture for each shot. Proper grip and recoil control can speed up your second sight picture, but you still need to see that front sight lift and settle back down before you break the shot.

Hope this is of some help.

Regards,

Jack

[Graham Smith]

Hope this is of some help.

Ultimately, it is a question of focus. Do one thing right, then move on to the next thing. Make each shot an event unto itself.

It's not the knowing, it's the doing.

[Corey]

The only thing I like to watch other shooters for is to see if tehy attack a course differently (assuming the same division or at least similar mag capacities) to see if they found something I missed. Aafter that, i dont care if it takes me twice as long ( i really hope it never does tho). I try to just shoot what i can see as fast as i can see it.

[GrumpyOne]

I switched from Production to Limited at the start of this year with a plan for making "C" as soon as possible. The plan was simple enough, take the things I had learned getting to "C" in Production and apply them to Limited. The first and foremost of these was to take my time and set my own pace and shoot for a good score regardless of the time.

Right off the mark, it didn't work because I couldn't shoot Limited quite as fast as I had Production because there was more recoil to deal with. As a result, I was getting a lot of Alpha/Delta and Alpha/Mike and Alpha/NoShoot/Mike scores.

So, I forced myself to be more deliberate and scores started to pick up. Fortunately for me, Central Jersey ran an All Classifier match at a time in July when I was doing well which allowed me to accumulate enough decent scores to wipe out the prior poor ones and, with one more good classifier at Sudlersville MD, give me enough to get me out of D and into C. Then I fell right back into the same trap of shooting too fast the next week and scores dropped again.

When the Mid-Atlantic Sectional came along, I was determined to moderate my pace but right from the first stage, I had too many misses (mainly on the second shot). I got it under control on one stage and had a reasonable time with some solid hits, but that was the only stage and my last stage was an absolute disater. The odd thing is, it never once felt as if I was shooting too fast while I was shooting.

I've been thinking about this all week and I believe I may have an answer. I mentioned in another thread about the strange time dilation thingy where time feels like it's going slower than it actually is. So I asked myself why this seemed to be more of an issue some times than others and I may have an answer - I think I am allowing my speed to be influenced somewhat by other shooters.

In the case of the Mid-Atlantic Sectional, I was undoubtedly the lowest shooter in my squad and I can recall watching others and most everyone was shooting at what seemed to be a fairly reasonable pace. I thought that was good because if I could just pace myself a little behind them, then I would be good to go. But it's like driving on the Interstate and just keeping a steady pace along with the rest of the traffic. You don't feel how fast you are going till you look at your speedometer and realize you've been doing 80mph in a 55mph zone and you've seen two speed traps in the last 5 miles.

Bottom line, for me, is that I've got to forget everything and everyone else and just shoot at my own pace. There is a Limited 10 shooter I squad with at one match every month and he has 5 years on me. His times are not that good but he shoots pretty solid A's with a few C's and pretty much outscores me 8 out of 10 times.

As Yoda famously said, "Do or do not. There is no try". Time to stop trying to shoot better and just do it.

Same issue, great post!

[benos]

Hope this is of some help.

Ultimately, it is a question of focus. Do one thing right, then move on to the next thing. Make each shot an event unto itself.

It's not the knowing, it's the doing.

Yes. Doing one thing at a time is the most efficient way to complete a complex task.

be

[drivingit]

I agree great posts and I as well have the same "issues."

[Graham Smith]

I agree great posts and I as well have the same "issues."

Well, if you put your mind to it and just concentrate on each shot, you can do better. My times today were not great but they weren't bad either. Here are the scores:

A - 94

B - 6

C - 22

D - 7

M - 0

NS - 1

Only one stage gave me much of a problem and that's because the first shot was a popper and I shot too soon and it threw off my pacing. As for the one no-shoot, I shot that one on the move, knew that I had done it and made up the shot.

It really is a lot smoother and a lot less feeling of being rushed when you just focus on each shot. And if I can do it, anyone can .

[Graham Smith]

Got the scores back for the match. As predicted, the times were not stellar but also not as slow as I thought they might be. I have yet to fully digest the details but in general I was 36 out of 63 overall. Not bad.

[t0066jh]

I switched from Production to Limited at the start of this year with a plan for making "C" as soon as possible. The plan was simple enough, take the things I had learned getting to "C" in Production and apply them to Limited. The first and foremost of these was to take my time and set my own pace and shoot for a good score regardless of the time.

Right off the mark, it didn't work because I couldn't shoot Limited quite as fast as I had Production because there was more recoil to deal with. As a result, I was getting a lot of Alpha/Delta and Alpha/Mike and Alpha/NoShoot/Mike scores.

So, I forced myself to be more deliberate and scores started to pick up. Fortunately for me, Central Jersey ran an All Classifier match at a time in July when I was doing well which allowed me to accumulate enough decent scores to wipe out the prior poor ones and, with one more good classifier at Sudlersville MD, give me enough to get me out of D and into C. Then I fell right back into the same trap of shooting too fast the next week and scores dropped again.

When the Mid-Atlantic Sectional came along, I was determined to moderate my pace but right from the first stage, I had too many misses (mainly on the second shot). I got it under control on one stage and had a reasonable time with some solid hits, but that was the only stage and my last stage was an absolute disater. The odd thing is, it never once felt as if I was shooting too fast while I was shooting.

I've been thinking about this all week and I believe I may have an answer. I mentioned in another thread about the strange time dilation thingy where time feels like it's going slower than it actually is. So I asked myself why this seemed to be more of an issue some times than others and I may have an answer - I think I am allowing my speed to be influenced somewhat by other shooters.

In the case of the Mid-Atlantic Sectional, I was undoubtedly the lowest shooter in my squad and I can recall watching others and most everyone was shooting at what seemed to be a fairly reasonable pace. I thought that was good because if I could just pace myself a little behind them, then I would be good to go. But it's like driving on the Interstate and just keeping a steady pace along with the rest of the traffic. You don't feel how fast you are going till you look at your speedometer and realize you've been doing 80mph in a 55mph zone and you've seen two speed traps in the last 5 miles.

Bottom line, for me, is that I've got to forget everything and everyone else and just shoot at my own pace. There is a Limited 10 shooter I squad with at one match every month and he has 5 years on me. His times are not that good but he shoots pretty solid A's with a few C's and pretty much outscores me 8 out of 10 times.

As Yoda famously said, "Do or do not. There is no try". Time to stop trying to shoot better and just do it.

Try Brian's Transition Drill. http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=109493 . I did and do it every week at my practice session. It teaches you to "see what you need to see" to get your hits. While practicing, you learn to get your hits and then increase your speed. It's working for me.... a little bit at a time. In between live fire, dry fire the drill at home.

[BigBets]

You definitely only need to shoot as fast as you see....Trust me I shoot faster than I see until I seriously starting plugging in the info from Brian's book...A must read

[kamikaze1a]

I'd like to add one thing...when watching another shooter, the tendency is to watch the steel or targets. I find it helpful to instead watch the shooter. I observe how they draw, index, reload, move...M, GM, A or what ever, everyone has something to offer.