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Trying to "Outrun" Yourself


djeffers

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I recently did a shotgun match with two strings of five pepper poppers each. The first string I got 3.44 and thought I could "do better" on the second string. We started with five rounds in the gun and if you missed you obviously had to reload.

My time was better on the second run 3.03, but I missed two targets. I reloaded and missed again and when it was all said and done the second string was 14.35! I could have won the stage had I took it easy on the second string.

Next time I will not ask to see my time in between and just shoot "my game."

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been there, done that. with this game sometimes you gotta push that ragged edge of the envelope to win. you absolutely have to shoot your game, but I think it has to be at the absolute 95-100% of your ability. if you try to push over that 100% mark then you'll get mikes, penalties, etc. found that out at a couple of big matches. if you shoot at a comfortable level, you'll do fine but if you dont push to the max of your ability at matches then others will place ahead of you.

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I find that I have about a 60% crash and burn rate when I "try" to go fast. On the other hand, if I can just focus 10% on the task at hand, I can improve a run by 10-20% consistently.The challenge for me is translating the adrenaline of "I just need to do this faster" into "I need to take a deep breath and forget anything in the world exists except my front sight and the target". I can only do that about 50-60% of the time, which probably explains why I'm still a C class shooter!

BB

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  • 5 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...

Its always amazing to me how the thought process goes. After a good run, something suggests that we can somehow go faster. If we could wouldn't we have done it on the first run?

If you had errors on the first run, have the goal of eliminating the error. If there were no errors, stick to your game plan. There should never be a plan to go faster or slower to improve your run.

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What are you going to do, on match day, to be faster than you are?

:)

A number of years ago, Sam (a.k.a., "Bonedaddy) made this post. It struck me as so profound I printed it and it hangs directly in front of me on the wall of my office.

Humility!

The lack of it causes me to try.

Bottom line, I can only shoot as well as I've trained myself to shoot.

But, I think, "that isn't good enough for me".

Since it's impossible for me to shoot better than me, lacking humility, I will try to shoot like someone else.

Thus, a lie is born. Lies always come unraveled in the end.

The end comes quickly in a 20 round field course.

This is the most frequent source of "crash and burn" I see in myself and others.

Blessed are the humble......

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What are you going to do, on match day, to be faster than you are?

:)

A number of years ago, Sam (a.k.a., "Bonedaddy) made this post. It struck me as so profound I printed it and it hangs directly in front of me on the wall of my office.

Humility!

The lack of it causes me to try.

Bottom line, I can only shoot as well as I've trained myself to shoot.

But, I think, "that isn't good enough for me".

Since it's impossible for me to shoot better than me, lacking humility, I will try to shoot like someone else.

Thus, a lie is born. Lies always come unraveled in the end.

The end comes quickly in a 20 round field course.

This is the most frequent source of "crash and burn" I see in myself and others.

Blessed are the humble......

After my last match, this is so timely. Thanks.

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What are you going to do, on match day, to be faster than you are?

:)

A number of years ago, Sam (a.k.a., "Bonedaddy) made this post. It struck me as so profound I printed it and it hangs directly in front of me on the wall of my office.

Humility!

The lack of it causes me to try.

Bottom line, I can only shoot as well as I've trained myself to shoot.

But, I think, "that isn't good enough for me".

Since it's impossible for me to shoot better than me, lacking humility, I will try to shoot like someone else.

Thus, a lie is born. Lies always come unraveled in the end.

The end comes quickly in a 20 round field course.

This is the most frequent source of "crash and burn" I see in myself and others.

Blessed are the humble......

After my last match, this is so timely. Thanks.

Just your last one?

Damn, it applies to sooo many I've had.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Awesome quote..Practice is your no doubt best friend in the world,because that is where you can push your limit and know your edge...

Nothing should be changing speed wise at a match,in fact I will take what I am doing in practice at my limit,and back off 10% for a match.

Consistency/Being smooth/no equipment malfuntions is what will keep you at the top of the pack,and if it dosent,at least you can go home

Confident in your performance and not thinking shoulda/woulda/coulda...

Time is also an illusion to our brains,when stress is added to the mix.I tell myself hurry hurry hurry and run a drill,then run it again with

Smooth,aim,shoot..and most of the time its so less of a difference in time..That the miss I had in hurry mode ends up costing me.

I agree with always pushing your limit, and you should be,however the homework should be done before you show up at the match.

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Djeffers,

Years ago I was trying to draw so fast....I wanted to impress people with the speed of my draw so I REALLY cranked it up and tried to outdraw myself and I got that pistol out SO fast.......and it slipped from my hand and I ended up throwing the pistol about 5 yards downrange.

Nothing is so embarrassing as watching your pistol tumble through the air and strike the ground and keep tumbling as everyone there laughs their asses off.

So I pulled out my pocket knife and ran up to the first target and did a stabity stab stab stab on it to the amusement of the guys there.

Picked up the weapon and dusted it off and put it back in the holster and vowed practice my draw if I wanted it faster and to not try and MAKE it faster on match day.

JK

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  • 1 month later...

Practicing on steel a couple weeks ago... things were starting to click and feel good. I started trying to get faster. Drew my Springfield XDM, and apparently slipped my finger onto the trigger WAY too fast. Put a bullet into the ground three feet in front of me!

My pride was the only thing hurt, but it sure did give me a wake up call! A 1/10 of a second is not worth putting yourself or worse yet--someone else--in danger. Thanks for the reminders everyone!

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In the past it has been pretty easy for me to control myself and not out run my abilities. My challenge is usually recovering after a having an issue during a COF, more often then not I get flustered and start rushing and making mistakes like crazy.

We shot a medium sized match last weekend and had all kinds of little issues. I started out having a couple feeding issue with the SG but recovered quickly and connected with the long range slug hits.

Then went on to to a rifle/SG stage that I had to clear a short stroke out of my rifle. Not a big deal but went on to put down a really clean SG run afterwords.

next had a rifle/pistol where the rifle went well but I started going too fast with the pistol and shot a bunch of rounds that were off target, so I had to do an extra re-load and make up a bunch of shots.

What I learned from the weekends experience; confirmed my ragged edge is a little faster than is used to be, and I shoot a lot more consistently when I am not on that edge. Even if you have an issue during a stage and it does not go perfectly, you can still feel good about the stage if you get the wheels put back on and finish strong.

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