Shooting After A Layoff...

[Ron Ankeny]

After a seven month layoff, I decided to get back to the business of shooting so I shot a small club match this morning consisting of four stages. The only shooting I have done since last September was to run a bunch of break-in ammo through a new open blaster that subsequently went back to the builder. So, I threaded a holster and some mag holders onto an old Wilderness Instructor's Belt then dry fired my single stack this morning to the extent of about 15 draws, before heading to the range.

My goal was to stay totally focused and attentive to what I was doing, shoot with good fundamentals, and just have fun. I didn't even fool with my custom high zoot prescription glasses and chose to wear my every day spectacles with the left lens taped. Here's how it shook out. First stage was a long field course with the opportunity to do a lot of shooting on the move, three reloads were performed with two steps the longest distance available for a reload. I fell into the zone almost immediately, called each and every shot, and won the stage by a huge margin.

Stage two was CM99-23. I decided to grip it and rip it with the clear intent of trying to burn the stage to the ground. I experienced the worst case of trigger freeze of my life. I had to stop, fiddle farted with the slide, took my finger clear out of the trigger guard, and did a controlled restart. I sucked.

Stage three was another long field course with three reloads required and not much room to get them done. There were a lot of tight shots and some awkward positions and a lot of opportunity to shoot while moving. I was coming off of a tanked stage so I clearly defined my intent to simply let my vision control my shooting and really pay attention to directing my focus to the immediate task. I won the stage easily.

Stage four was a speed shoot starting seated with magazines and gun on a table. Shoot either the paper or the steel first, do a reload and shoot the other array. I shot the paper first, did a reload and went into warp drive. This resulted in running the gun to slide lock to hit 5 poppers. I sucked.

I then realized that I had shot two of the best field courses of my life, and tanked the speed shoots. This is the exact opposite of my typical performance of dominating speed shoots and classifiers, and blowing chunks on the field courses.

Before tearing down, I borrowed a G17, a BladeTech holster and some ammo from a friend to shoot CM99-23 in Production Division. I had never shot the gun before so I did five draws from surrender and five from hands at sides before leaving the safety area. Borrowed gun, seven month layoff, who am I kidding? I stopped trying and just paid attention. The result (according to the Ohio Web site calculator) will come in at 92% and change.

So what did I learn (confirm what I already knew)? I learned that trick lenses in my glasses that gain visual acuity at the expense of comfortable vision was a waste of a thousand dollars and six months of my life. For folks with complex vision problems, shooting with two eyes is over rated. Where have I heard that before? I learned that remaining attentive and having one's poop in a group is more important than spending every morning dry firing. I also learned that I am my own worst enemy.

PS

I put this in the mental conditioning forum because I felt it fit well.

Edited February 27, 2006 by Ron Ankeny

[eerw]

Ron..

wow..great to hear you shot a match..and did good at that....

a 92% classifier too..( wish I could do that)..

thanks for the insight..I might have to give that "attentive" thing a try..

[Steve Anderson]

"I decided to grip it and rip it with the clear intent of trying to burn the stage to the ground. I experienced the worst case of trigger freeze of my life. I had to stop, fiddle farted with the slide, took my finger clear out of the trigger guard, and did a controlled restart. I sucked."

This should be posted and read every day by every one who wants to be "in the zone."

SA

[rtr]

I wish I could shoot 92% after taking 7 months off.

[GringoPerdido]

I wish I could shoot a 92%...anytime.

[boo radley]

Out of curiosity -- what kind of interest level do you now have, after shooting a match, and the 7 month lay-off?

[Jake Di Vita]

It may not be the same thing but I think there are a lot of similarities..

During the major match season, if I am practicing heavily throughout the week, chances are I will not do too well at the match. I have talked about this with Max and come up with that once we get to a certain level in ability, too much practice will make you over confident.

If I don't even LOOK at the gun the week before the match, I will usually burn it down. My guess is because you haven't practiced (but you ability level is still there of course) your sub-conscious goes into the mode of "uh oh, I didn't practice....I better REALLY pay attention to the shooting."

Might be something similar in there to what your talkin about.

[eerw]

Jake..good point..

It makes sense...that a shooter will have an established ability to shoot..

your subconscious knows how to do it..and do it well..

if you have taken too much time off...your conscious mind may place doubt and excuse as a roadblock to good performance..if you are too practiced; your conscious mind may place overconfidence and pride as a roadblock...

but if you arrive at the match..and your conscious mind is relaxed and attentive..your subconcious does the shooting ..and you burn it up..

any sense??? of did I just missed the point again???

[spook]

If I don't even LOOK at the gun the week before the match, I will usually burn it down. My guess is because you haven't practiced (but you ability level is still there of course) your sub-conscious goes into the mode of "uh oh, I didn't practice....I better REALLY pay attention to the shooting."

I believe this is very true. The subconscious is strong.

I witnessed the same thing when I got sick at the WS. I was really sick and had to shoot the next day. Somewhere in the back of my head, I thought: "man, I'm sick and I will probably not do OK. Let's not try to make a miracle happen by trying to overcome the sickness. Just focus on shooting A's and you will probably get by without losing too much to the competition."

I won all stages that day, including a long course I shot 7 seconds faster than Jerry M

Same things happen wth layoffs. I shot some of my best matches after not shooting for a while. Like Jake says, it all has to do with being there or being over confident.

Another benefit of the layoff is that most of the time, matches are exciting again, so you will pay attention anyway

Anyways, good going Ron! Nice to see you back in the saddle and rocking the field courses

[Bigbadaboom]

I tend to shoot better after taking time off but this weekend something different happened. I had to work Sat untill around 1:00pm so I didn't get to shoot the first 5 stages of the Fl. Mini-Open. After work on Sat. I went out to my practice range and ran about 200 rounds concentrating on standards, Bill Drills, and other stand and shoot stuff. On Sunday I went and shot the last 5 stages of the Mini-Open and on the only stand and shoot stage which was 6, "Gambling", I shot a 8.55** H.F.. Averaging this with the H.F.'s from the open I would have come in 11th over all on that stage with the next "B" shooter coming in 22nd. The remaining stages were field courses and I blew em. I couldn't get it together and had several cases of bad "Cranial Flatulence".

[Ron Ankeny]

Might be something similar in there to what your talkin about.

Jake, that's exactly what I am talking about. That and the notion that I was shooting for the sake of shooting without any self imposed pressure or self imposed limitations on the two field courses.

[Sam]

[Flexmoney]

Before tearing down, I borrowed a G17, a BladeTech holster and some ammo from a friend to shoot CM99-23 in Production Division. I had never shot the gun before so I did five draws from surrender and five from hands at sides before leaving the safety area. Borrowed gun, seven month layoff, who am I kidding? I stopped trying and just paid attention. The result (according to the Ohio Web site calculator) will come in at 92% and change.

Sorry to drift...but how much change, dagnabit? Which side of 92.4417 is it on?

Regardless...nice shooting and great observations. Thanks for sharing.

[Ron Ankeny]

Flex:

I think I know where you are headed. I already have a higher score on file for CM99-23 so this one will be flagged. Next month I'll be shooting the new Open blaster (knocks on wood), but I think I'll ask my friend to bring that Glock along. It's time to move off of that numero uno M spot one way or the other.

Edited February 28, 2006 by Ron Ankeny

[John Dunn]

This from a man who wonders if he should give up irons! Nice shooting!

[Ron Ankeny]

John:

Nice try, but it's going to be me and my M2i foo-foo gun chasing you and your Brazos Open blaster all summer. Get your eyeballs screwed in straight and pack a lunch.

[Flexmoney]

LOL...John, just bring a sandwich...Ron's got the Cheetos.

[glock17w]

That's good news. There is hope for me after my 15 month lay off of shooting.

glock17w

[John Dunn]

Flex......eeewww!

You are a sick man. Plus you know Ron's feelings on certain jokes.

[diehli]

Sounds like Ron's got a full-on meal: lamb chops and Cheetos. Just bring the stuff to make Cosmopolitans, John.

Edited February 28, 2006 by 300lbGorilla

[Ron Ankeny]

[Flexmoney]

Hey Ron...quit drifting...get back on topic. LOL...

(you just can't take us anywhere....)

Back on topic for you...

-

So what did I learn (confirm what I already knew)?

I learned that trick lenses in my glasses that gain visual acuity at the expense of comfortable vision was a waste of a thousand dollars and six months of my life. For folks with complex vision problems, shooting with two eyes is over rated.

While that may be true, that is what you are coming out of this with, is it?

- I learned that remaining attentive and having one's poop in a group is more important than spending every morning dry firing.

At your level, hours of dry-fire likely aren't the ticket to the next move up. The first part of your sentence is key.

- I also learned that I am my own worst enemy.

yeah...this game seems to be as easy...or as hard...as we make it.

[Ron Ankeny]

Flex:

I spoke with my eye doctor about the experience I had with the lenses that he set me up with. He thought I was shooting static targets with one eye closed. When I explained all of our running and gunning, target arrays, etc. he told me I should just wear my every day spectacles. He felt badly, but he didn't offer a refund.

I visited with Sam a bit about what appears on the surface to have been a horrible summer. No, I didn't come away with just a bunch of negativity. I learned what visual patience really means. I was forced to let my vision dictate my shooting, even though I was way off my pace. I also learned what it means to call each and every shot with precision, even though where I saw the sight lift really wasn't where the I thought it was (don't go there). I learned what it's like to over come diversity and succeed internally, even though my performance sucked externally. I learned a lot about the visual aspects of this game. Even though I had a lot of trouble with double vision, getting confused in a sea of steel, running the gun dry, etc. I can still manipulate the pistol faster than ever. I wouldn't trade the experience for anything. Well, maybe I would trade it for a dot.

[Flexmoney]

Life sure can be dynamic. Lot's of distractions. You always seem to get over the hurdles.

[Sam]

Distractions, Flex??

What distractions.....where.....whadda they look like???