XRe Posted February 23, 2007 Share Posted February 23, 2007 anniversary dinner with my wife Congrats, Derrick!!! How many is that for you??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 24, 2007 Author Share Posted February 24, 2007 anniversary dinner with my wife Congrats, Derrick!!! How many is that for you??? That would be 9. I of course ask her why it feels like 18. Thanks Dave. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 We're coming up on 11.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfwmiket Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 Congrats to you both............hmm.......wonder why MY wife, when asked how long we've been together, says "Feels like all my life"....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BNorth Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 You local fellas reading this journal might wanna practice your weak hand shootin'. Good deal! I practice weak and strong hand today after doing some chrono work. We'll see if it does any good. Congrats on #9. Just hit 10 myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airic Posted February 24, 2007 Share Posted February 24, 2007 (edited) Cool, congrats. Ours is coming up sunday....the big #1. So..........ummm, I'm under no shoot orders for sunday.... Edited February 24, 2007 by Airic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 25, 2007 Author Share Posted February 25, 2007 Gads, it's been one of those weekends. Yesterday, as I'm getting ready to dry fire, my wife tells me that there are some shingles in our backyard; did they come from our house?? Keep in mind wind gusts yesterday were absolutely intense!! So, instead of dry firing, I had to drag my sorry ass up the ladder onto the roof (feeling like the wind was going to knock me off) and hammer the shingles back in. Only hit my left thumb about 25 times but got the damned things back on there and made it back to the ground without incident. Sheer luck I tell ya.... Anyway, that blew my dry fire time chop chop. And today's match was just one FUBAR after another. I have no reason for it. Wasn't tired, hungover, cold, wet, hungry, etc etc. I couldn't get anything to go my way and it was just one stage after another of ugliness. This would seem to be a period of inconsistency for me - I'm either untouchable, or I can't walk and chew gum at the same time. Up and down performances at matches - and it's something new for me. I've always been able to be consistent from one stage to the next and one match to the next but it would seem that the month of February has me either up or down; no in between. Today was a microchasm of that experience. I just couldn't get going and felt either that I was out of control fast or lethargic slow - often in the same stage. Yech. I don't mind getting beat on a stage or at a match but for Gawd's sake I hate stinking it up. After dwelling on this for a bit after the match today, I can really only come up with a couple of issues that contributed to this horrid showing: 1. I moved my holster a bit lower. I don't like it and felt uncomfortable and out of my comfort zone all day - I worried that every draw was going to knock the gun out of the holster. 2. I spent a LOT of time either working the match or videoing the match. I got little or no stage prep for each stage. The fix: 1. get the holster back to where it was. 2. limit videoing and pay attention to when I'm coming up in the stack. Whining over, this match is history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 26, 2007 Author Share Posted February 26, 2007 Moved holster up, just about as high as it will go (CR Speed). Had to turn it a tad out - the whole reason I moved it to begin with was that my middle and ring fingernails were dragging on the belt and it was driving me nuts. Long story short, did 100 tai chi draws, 60 hands at side and 40 at surrender and the holster position feels better than it has in about 2 weeks. Any aprehension I had this morning about the gun falling out of the holster is gone. Challenge #1 solved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 26, 2007 Author Share Posted February 26, 2007 Having had some mental issues today, I have gone back and taken a look at Musashi's The Book of Five Rings. It's been awhile since I've read it last and some things just jumped right out: There is timing in everything. Timing in strategy cannot be mastered without a great deal of practice. The Way is in training. Pay attention even to trifles. Do nothing which is of no use. From one thing, know ten thousand things. You must study hard. Food for thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted February 26, 2007 Share Posted February 26, 2007 Derrick... The inconsistency you're dealing with is all in your head Redouble your efforts to get your head straight before you attack a stage, and get focused... I've been dealing with a little of that myself, lately - normal part of the training cycle, for me. Trust that your training and practice regimen will correct the issue for you - and continue to attack your weak spots in practice. All will be well Oh, and stop moving your equipment around unless you can dry fire the hell out of the new position until it feels normal... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 26, 2007 Author Share Posted February 26, 2007 Thanks Dave. Anderson's dry fire drills #1, 15, 16, and 15 again, but this time with a forward step during the reload... Times for 15 and step/15 were within a tenth, I can't see any reason why I can't have them both the same time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 26, 2007 Author Share Posted February 26, 2007 (edited) Good heavy workout at lunch today. Went to decline bench for my speed press and incline bench for my CGBP... More for variety than anything else. Felt really good. Musashi's pay attention even to trifles is really hitting home as I dwell on my progress this year. Largely to this point in the game I have acheived the level I'm at through just innate skill; without much work. I am at the point now where if I want to improve - and I DO! - it's going to take work and frankly I haven't had to do much of that until this year and I'm really not used to having to work to improve my shooting. But you know what, that's ok as it makes the journey that much more rewarding. Now, Musashi's quote comes to mind when I'm prepping a stage. I can either not prep, and have disaster looming only milliseconds away - and either get lucky and hope - OR crash and burn. OR, I can prep, taking care of even the little things and have success throughout the stage and match. I started taking care of the little things with my dry fire this morning - every single draw that I visualized a good grip, presentation and sight picture resulted in EXACTLY THAT, and to my bewilderment - felt slow, but was done tenths before the par time buzzer went off. And for clarification's sake, I was hitting .9 second draws on a 10 yard target... I know that the draws I prepped for I was closer to .7. The draws that I didn't mentally prep for were at or over .9, and felt sloppy with a bobble on the front sight. That was instant gratification and lesson learned. Methinks I've hopped a hurdle, fellas. Edited February 26, 2007 by Catfish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 Snuck in some extra dry fire tonight after getting home late after yet another meeting.... My arms, shoulders, and lats are pretty well blown from today's workout so no speed work, just getting aquainted with my new holster position and really focusing on, well, focusing. Draws and strings where I would visualize the little things, like what a good grip feels like and what a crisp, flat sight picture looks like - made that repetition bordering on perfection. Until I ran near the end of the session, draws where I would not focus were not nearly so perfect. I did notice at the end that I could, after visualizing everything once, run off 2-3 good strings (doing vice-prez's) that were perfect, but that was about it. Can't wait for the match this weekend so I can practice this with bullets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 Good workout at lunch - cardio and abs. Got my max heart rate up to 187. Considering my max is supposed to be 181. Looking forward to drills tonight.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 Worked on visualization again tonight. More tai chi katas to burn in the draw and the reload; working on the perfection of the form. I got to the point where I could visualize the particular drill, hit 10 solid efforts and then reburn it in as I was losing focus. Worked on the draw, reload, reload with a step to each side and to the front, and set up a couple of small stages - vice prez and a 3 target array, setting up the 3 targets throughout my room so I had to change focus from tall to short and left to right. A dozen time through with 2 on each, reload 2 on each - first string moving 2nd string planted. Switched to 2 on each, reload, 2 to each head; focusing on getting my eyes moving ahead of the gun while maintaining visual patience on the head shots. Caught myself a few times not calling good shots on the head and re-did that rep till I got it right. Actually worked up a little sweat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 Figured I'd start the day with a little positive reinforcement - hit 30 draws and 30 reloads, but if you count the perfect visualization before each, then it was 60 and 60. Everything at slow to mid speed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted February 28, 2007 Author Share Posted February 28, 2007 Good, but light workout today at lunch. Next week heavy lifting again. Should go well dry firing tonight, except that today was deadlift day and deadlift day's always kick my butt.... We'll see tonight how it goes, but I'm looking forward to some more work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 1, 2007 Author Share Posted March 1, 2007 Anderson's drills #1, 5, 6, 15. Felt pretty good, now that I know what focus feels like, I could tell instantly on THAT rep that I lost it and got a re-do, but this time WITH focus. Mag well was just sucking up those mags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 2, 2007 Author Share Posted March 2, 2007 (edited) All important rest day. This week's gym work, a loooooong week at work and all the dry firing I've been doing are calling for a break today. I have been reading through Saul's Thinking Practical Shooting, and working on some scheduling issues, but otherwise, a whole lot of nada today. I'm sure some folks are wondering "if you're not doing anything today, then why mention nothing in your journal?" As I was "talking" with PB in his journal a bit ago, I used to race road bicycles at a pretty high level. I learned back then that your rest days are as important - if not MORE important than the days you work. Rest allows you to recover, rest, and repair your system from the abuses you heap upon it. In the shooting game, my days off allow me to refocus my energy and let me get ready for the next batch of effort; which is coming soon. See you tomorrow. Edited March 2, 2007 by Catfish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 Strong workout at the gym today - bench, OHP, rows, leg press and leg curl. I'm seeing a lot of improvement in my lifting - exercises that would leave me sore for a week are now just wearing me out for an afternoon - and all my wieghts are going up. Next week I'll start my boxer's drill - more detail on that later, but it's a drill that can improve your match stamina if you give it a shot. Solid dry fire tonight, burning in good form and technique. Worked about 1/2 to 3/4 speed, nothing more. Draws to the lower A zone, Draws to upper A zone, reloads, and moving reloads. Felt good and solid and I'm looking forward to this weekend's matches. My goal for this weekend's matches is to shoot the match paying attention to the little details, paing attention to trifles. Plan my stages to include things I've been overlooking the last match or two. I'm not going to bring a camera this weekend and will just pay attention to shootin', having fun and that's it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfinney Posted March 3, 2007 Share Posted March 3, 2007 I'm not going to bring a camera this weekend and will just pay attention to shootin', having fun and that's it. Funny how much "just shooting" can focus your game, if you give yourself permision to ignore the distractions. I've always found that if I can get into my zone and think over my plan at least 2 shooters ahead of my turn (in the hole), rather than being johnny on the spot with tape, clipboard, timer, whatever, my stage performance is usually much better. Then reality sets in, and at club matches, your taping, r.o.ing, scoring (or all 3 at once!)right til your turn, oh well..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 3, 2007 Author Share Posted March 3, 2007 Solid effort at the Johnson County match today. I'm pleased! Shot 3 of the 4 stages very well. 4th stage I shot well overall, but lost visual patience on one shot and pulled a mike. Not happy with the mike, but I AM happy because A: I know what I did and I can fix it and B: shot two pretty dang good stages after the mike stage and didn't let the issue bother me the remainder of the match. Things that would have bothered me last year - long range shooting and strong hand only on the move were not an issue. I pretty much cleaned up on the long range stuff and shot the strong hand only section very well - so well in fact I lost a little time continuing to shoot strong hand only when I could have been shooting with both hands. In reality I probably only lost a couple of tenths or so, but I'm pleased because that showed me that mentally I was not in a hurry to get both hands back on the gun, ergo I was pretty comfy shooting strong hand only. And THAT's a good thing... One other positive was that I shot a solid classifier - and if you've been reading this journal all along you know how they have been giving me fits. All my dry fire and visualization this week massively came into play here because I just closed my eyes and visualized what a good grip felt like out of the holster and that I was watching a flat gun push out towards the target on the draw and I hit it just perfect when the buzzer went off. Finished 4th overall, and 3rd Limited - at 92% of the Limited Champ. I let 3 of those pesky GM types get me today, but no one else. Looking forward to tomorrow - my goal is to shoot the entire match mentally planning each stage in detail before I shoot and to have visual patience on every shot. Very doable I do believe. Will dry fire some tonight, considering I only got to work on 4 draws and 3 reloads this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 4, 2007 Author Share Posted March 4, 2007 (edited) Worked in a good med paced draw and reload session tonight. Worked on a pair of staggered targets - one high and one low; hitting the reload and transitioning to the other target. Took care of the trifles and cleaned mags from today's match, case gauged rounds and got my gear ready so I don't have to be stumbling around looking for everything in the AM. Studied some more Musashi and found this quote to relate quite well to what we do: Speed is not part of the true Way of strategy. Speed implies that things seem fast or slow, according to whether or not they are in rhythm. Whatever the Way, the master of strategy does not appear fast. Again, tomorrow's goal is to shoot the entire match mentally; planning each stage in detail before I shoot and to have visual patience on every shot. If tomorrow is half the day today was weather wise, it'll be a helluva gorgeous day at the range. Edited March 4, 2007 by Catfish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 5, 2007 Author Share Posted March 5, 2007 Great weather day at the range! Springtime in Texas is just perfect for shooting!!! Great match in Tyler today; probably one of the best local matches I've shot in quite a while. Lots of variety in each stage and the stage design was very challenging without being outright painful. I started pretty rough. 1st stage just wasn't batting 100% and lost gobs of time on the not one, but TWO Texas Stars to the eventual match winner, Stockton - a great M class shooter and my chief rival around these parts. I dug myself a hole on the first stage, added to it on the second, and then started climbing out. I won the 3rd and 4th stages we shot but by then Stockton and I both realized that for me to take the overall win, he had to have an issue on the last stage. He shot the last stage extremely conservative - and I knew I might just have a small opening. I figured I'd better start shooting like something was on the line and I went balls to the wall on the last stage, beating Stockton's time by 4 seconds, but at a cost of 2 mikes on the last array of targets. While I detest throwing mikes, to me, this was like an "effort" penalty in football - I had to go for it if I had any chance at the match win and by doing so I learned that I can shoot that fast and be in control - because for the first half of the last stage I wasn zoning massively. I broke the zone by thinking "Hey!! I'm in the zone!! Check that out!!" Oops. So, while I came up short in the match, I'm pleased on several levels: 1. I did not beat myself up, stayed positive and kept fighting for the whole match. 2. My fitness routine is paying off. Long 12 hour day to go shoot a match and other than being tired, I am not fatigued. 3. My dry firing is paying off. There were a lot of very challenging shots that would have spooked me in the past but that I attacked today. I do have some visual patience challenges that I need to work on, but I think by the DTC I am going to be rocking and rolling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dfwmiket Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Like I mentioned, your movement is VERY solid now........and I can see the improvements in technique, too. Keep up the good work! -Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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