Micah Posted March 5, 2007 Share Posted March 5, 2007 Fish, I'm glad to hear that your routine is paying off. A question for ya...do you feel that keeping track of your "nemisis" at matches improves your preformance? I have generally avoided looking at the posted scores at majors, and tallying hf's at the club level... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 5, 2007 Author Share Posted March 5, 2007 Fish, I'm glad to hear that your routine is paying off. A question for ya...do you feel that keeping track of your "nemisis" at matches improves your preformance? I have generally avoided looking at the posted scores at majors, and tallying hf's at the club level... Last year I would have said "HELL NO"!!! This year is different. What's going to happen whenever I get to shoot with the super squad and I'm not just competiting with one guy who's on par with me or a little better but EVERYONE on the squad is damn good? I can't just go hide my head under a towel until it's my turn to shoot. I am using the matches now to practice for the time when I'm shooting at a high enough level that I can be on the super squad. I'm paying attention to my competition, but I'm not focusing on it; if that makes any sense. I struggled last year watching my rivals and then getting out of my game plan; especially when I saw them stumble on a stage. The temptation was to try and go for the throat and that always seemed to end up with me making the same mistake they did and not gaining any ground. This year the difference for me is that I'm staying with my plan, shooting my match and just keeping track of where I am in relation to the competition. For the DTC, I plan to get there a day early and watch the Friday super squad shoot, so I'll have a rough idea of times, etc that should be competitive and go from there. I'll also be watching them to sponge some stage breakdown ideas watching them shoot. Stage tactics are a weak spot of mine if for no other reason that I just don't have enough practice at it. Long story short, PB, I think it's stepping my game up a level to keep track. YouTube finally finished blessing the videos from yesterday's match - Here's my first stage win of the day, after struggling the first two stages - it was pretty challenging - the ports you could shoot from were too close for a big step and too far away for a couple of real steps, and as a righty, I had to retorque my body back to the left to get into position - good stage! Here's the second stage win - this is the first time that I've gone fast enough to win with mikes. On the pop up and swinger I threw a mike on each - the only time on this stage I really got off the sights. Rumor has it, you'll see this stage at this year's A4... I was very pleased here to hit fairly challenging partial targets on the move with no issues at all. Dry fire is paying off! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 6, 2007 Author Share Posted March 6, 2007 Easy 30 minute dry fire session, just tai chi draws and reloads. Reinforcing good technique that I may have lost at speed over the weekend. Something I discovered yesterday was that I reallly don't care to reload when I have to step to the left. Stepping to the right is automatic and feels like I do that even quicker than a flat footed reload. Guess what I'll be working on this week? Outstanding long workout at the gym today on my day off. Squats, OHP very heavy, closed grip bench (incline) heavy and a fairly light, but multiple rep decline bench. Since I had time to spend, I hit 14 sets of different ab work. I'm sure I'll be feeling THAT tomorrow... It's all good because I'm seeing the effects every time I shoot a match. You can skip over the following, because you'll be seeing it every day through the Double Tap match this month... It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 6, 2007 Author Share Posted March 6, 2007 Got up early before work and got in a smooth session working mainly on stepping reloads. Hit about 2.5 times as many going to the left as to the right. Some draws to warm up and then the reloads began. It would seem that when I reload going to the right the gun is lower and the mag well just sucks the mag in. Stepping left, the gun is higher - I don't know if this is a subconscious effort at not wanting to break the 180, but it's something that I'll be paying attention to.... It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 7, 2007 Author Share Posted March 7, 2007 Missed a workout at lunch today and made it up after work - this makes over 4 months that I have not missed a scheduled workout. Good stuff!! Intense cardio sessoin - 40 minutes on the elliptical with the last 18 pipping up against my max on two minute intervals. Ab work after... Dry fire tonight consisted of draws. Lots of 'em. Regular draw. Surrender draw. Hands behind back draw (will be on one of the DTC stages). Hands on wall facing left draw. Hands on wall facing right draw. And on and on. Mental note to self: When drawing turning to the right, right foot and right hand move in concert. When drawing turning to the left, left foot and right hand move in concert. Reloads consisted of flat footed, and then a series of stepping right and stepping left. I arranged a target on each of two walls, and engaged one, reloaded/stepped/turned and engaged the other. About 2X as many to the left. After just working on this today it's already feeling better and my left step reloads are almost as comfy as my right step reloads. Tomorrow, the adventure continues!! It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 7, 2007 Author Share Posted March 7, 2007 Good reload practice this morning before work. I was going to sleep in and not work this morning, but this little voice in the back of my head was saying "the Russians are practicing, the Russians are practicing!" I'm glad I got up. I really am. It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 7, 2007 Author Share Posted March 7, 2007 Good heavy day at the gym over lunch. Deadlifts, shrugs, speedwork on rows and swapped pull ups for pull downs. Every time I get to the point I don't want to do one more lift, I just think of my shooting goals this year and press 'em out. I think I'm starting to get a little borderline OCD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 8, 2007 Author Share Posted March 8, 2007 Draws tonight. Hands at side, hands at surrender, strong hand and weak hand. All about 1/2 speed. Printed off the stage descriptions from the DTC and did 10 reps to every start position; or shall I say, as best I could figure out. Tried to break the unusual ones down to just the basics - like the laundry bucket stage..... Knowing how sick Porter can be sometimes I'm not going to invest a lot of time and effort into that which I don't know for certain, but I'll give it my best guess. It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 8, 2007 Author Share Posted March 8, 2007 Reloads in front of the mirror this morning. Wanted to make sure the only things moving were my hands/arms. Life's good, except I had to stare at myself in the mirror first thing in the morning. That's a shock, for sure! Boxer's drill at lunch today: Jog, fast walk, shuffle/whatever 100 yards. 20 pushups. Jog, fast walk, shuffle/whatever 100 yards. 20 sit ups. Jog, fast walk, shuffle/whatever 100 yards. 20 lunges. Sprint 50 yards. Walk 150. Repeat x 4. I do this on a football field, so it's easy to know how far to go. Sounds deceptively easy, but I can tell you it's pretty hard by the 3rd or 4th rep... Helps build stamina; and helps my match performance, so it's worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 9, 2007 Author Share Posted March 9, 2007 Everything on the move tonight. Draws and reloads. Almost felt like a cheat session although I probably did more reps than usual. Worked reps with the gun during commercials on the History Channel's telling of the last stand of the 300.... Worked draws and reloads on a variety of directions - forward and side to side. It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 9, 2007 Author Share Posted March 9, 2007 short session of reloads and "group" shooting this morning. Won't get to shoot this weekend, but that's ok, practice session on Tuesday.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 10, 2007 Author Share Posted March 10, 2007 Another solid effort at the gym today at lunch. Bench, OHP, Rows, leg press, leg curl. Everything chugging along nicely and lifting heavy like today is not killing me for a week after - progress!! Adding an extra set, to max effort on each heavy lift. Today that was bench and row. Will do so through next week, and then start to taper the following week to make sure I have plenty of energy for the DTC. The plan is coming together!!!! No gun work tonight - well earned day off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 12, 2007 Author Share Posted March 12, 2007 Meant to dry fire yesterday - but got stung by a damn bee on my strong arm, inside the elbow. Apparently, I'm somewhat allergic because my arm swelled up pretty fast - luckily I chugged some benadryl pretty quick which kept the swelling under control, but otherwise pretty much knocked me on my ass the rest of the day... Still have a little knot on my elbow and it still uncomforatable, but not enough to keep me from doing anything. Dry fire tonight, again working on stationary draws and reloads first, then movement - side to side, and forward. Worked on shooting around barricades and around walls - worked on visualizing where the target was behind the wall so I could be ready to shoot as soon as I cleared the wall. Two weekends to go till DTC. Can't wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 12, 2007 Author Share Posted March 12, 2007 The "why" Reading through Saul's 'mental' book leads one to answer the question why? Why the hell am I waking up in the morning and dry firing, thinking about shooting all day long, dry fire when I get home, think about shooting before I got to sleep, drive all over God's green earth shooting on the weekends, etc etc etc.... Well, after contemplating this for a few days I discovered my answer. I'm doing this for the moments in a match when it's just perfect. Those moments when the world just stops turning and seconds seem like minutes. Those moments where there's no thought, just movement and flow. Moments where I see the sights move, hear the brass hit the ground and the 'snap' of the notch in the mag hitting the mag release. Those moments are just about the most peaceful moments I get and they are priceless; well worth the effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
XRe Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Go get checked out for that allergy - reactions sometimes get worse upon repeated exposures (meaning that, next time, a little Benadryl might not be up to the task....). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 12, 2007 Author Share Posted March 12, 2007 What, me go to a Doctor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 Absolute ass-kicker of a workout at lunch today. Medium wieght on squats and OHP, but heavy reps. When it came time to work on my CGBP, I had to take off about 30 pounds or it was futile. This is the first time since I've been hitting it from Nov-current that I've had to back off scheduled wieght... I imagine it's good because I was at 100% at the OHP. No slack today!! Went through the DTC match starting positions and hit each one at least 10 times. Worked in some reloads to keep the reload monkey honest and called it. My arms and shoulders are like jell-O; if I did any more tonight it would have been counterproductive and slooooopy. Will hit it hard at the gym the rest of this week, to failure and beyond on my heavy sets. I've been adding an extra set to failure last week and will this week. Next week I'll taper off and rest for the DTC; I expect to be full of energy! Main concern now is getting rest and starting my hydration now. It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 Reload work this morning. Just snapped right on in. It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Back on my 3 week cycle for arms, started week 1 today. Switched from doing machine curls to preacher curls, with dumbbells so I could change wieght quickly. Arms officially dead the rest of the day. 10 sets of 10 reps curls and tricep extensions one after the other with no rest. Descending sets. Owie. Hit draws and reloads tonight when I got home from seeing 300.... Nice flick! Some historical inaccuracies, but overall an enjoyable bit of escapism. I'll look forward to the movie based on Gates of Fire and wish that they'd make a flick about Xenophon's march with the 10,000..... Draws were all moving. Either advancing on one target or transitioning from one target to the next; working on snapping the gun over. Reloads the same - either moving forward on one target or transitioning from one target to the other with a reload in the middle. It's good. I'm definately on track for something special at DTC. I can feel it. And a little from Mushashi tonight: With your spirit settled, accumulate practice day by day, and hour by hour. It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 14, 2007 Author Share Posted March 14, 2007 Smoked some reloads before work this morning; solid dry fire coming tonight. It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 15, 2007 Author Share Posted March 15, 2007 Good strong session at the gym today. Medium to light wieght, lots of reps. Next week will be harder. As they say, the only easy day was yesterday.... Solid, solid dry fire tonight. Worked with targets at various ranges, from 10 yards to 5. Single and multple targets; and swapped from the lower A zone to the upper. Cranked out some speed tonight, but without a timer. Will get on Anderson's drills tomorrow night to put a buzzer on the exercise. Draws, reloads and transitions. about 60/40 moving/stationary. Yesterday at the gym I introduced a new item to my lexicon. "Championship set". What's that, you ask?? When I'm tired, done, and wanna quit and go home, I'm doing one more set for the Championship. Press it out and go home. Did the same thing tonight at dry fire. I got to a point and wanted to quit but did a Championship set for both my draws and reloads of an extra 20 each. I figured that a Champion ain't gonna quit when it gets tough.... It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 16, 2007 Author Share Posted March 16, 2007 Boxer's drill at lunch today - with a championship set of an extra 20 pushups, situps and lunges. The drill really does look easy on paper, but man does it kick my butt. Finished with 3 sets of pullups.... Workout tonight was Anderson's #1, 3, 16, and finished with 7. I haven't run a timer in practice in over a week I believe, and I was wondering what might have happened to my speed. Shouldn't have worried, duh, took a tenth off every drill. Everything felt really good, draw and reloads getting dialed in to where I want them - for the time being. One more day of extras at the gym tomorrow and then next week I'll just stick to the schedule as written and taper off for the DTC next weekend. I will have tons of energy!! It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 17, 2007 Author Share Posted March 17, 2007 Some reloads this morning before work, as is becoming my usual AM routine. Good heavy day at the gym; bench, OHP (Light today), row, leg press/curl. Next week's taper will be welcomed, because I'm feeling the last two weeks for sure... Some generic fondling of pistols tonight. Going to shoot IDPA in the morning and then practice with my USPSA gear in the PM after the match. Then USPSA on Sunday; ergo, I'm not really going to do a dedicated session tonight, just take'n it easy. It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 18, 2007 Author Share Posted March 18, 2007 Shot IDPA this morning in CDP with my CDP/SS 1911. Very happy with the day's efforts - I dropped a buttload of points per stage, but I would say the vast bulk of them would have been A zone hits on a USPSA target. No mikes and one penalty for a bonehead speed reload that I should have put some more thought into... Stayed around and practiced after the match - about 6-8 bill drills to warm up and then one and a half times through the Standards drill I've listed earlier... (post 31?) First time through was a little sloppy - then the timer we were using went belly up and we finished without a timer, just hitting the reps. Shot the seecond time through on my own, with my timer I grabbed from the car - shot about 2/3rds of the drill before I got kicked off the range from some CHL shooters and their class. I figured I was going to get kicked off, so I started with the hard stuff at 50 yards. First time I've shot this drill that I've picked up every shot at 50 and 35 yards. I think that's a good thing. The other item of note on the drill was that where the last time (maybe 3-4 weeks???) that I did this drill, I was having to work pretty hard to make all the times. Not the case today, I finished every drill with time to spare, without feeling rushed. Progress that I can attribute to dry fire because my reloads and draws are smoking. I was hearing the mag hit the ground and the mag going in the gun at almost exactly the same time. Cool! Match tomorrow - for those local folks reading, you'd better dust off that front sight. Think you're gonna need it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catfish Posted March 18, 2007 Author Share Posted March 18, 2007 Shot USPSA today as the MD - much better effort than last month's MD experience. Had one trigger freeze stage, but otherwise pretty solid effort. 1st Limited and 3rd ovl. Was pleased because after my trigger freeze stage, which really pissed me off, I pulled it together and won the next (and last) stage in Limited, 2nd ovl for the match. Reloads were really good today, as was my draw. Shot the Standards drill (post 31) again after the match, 2nd highest point total to date (603), and best point total for shooting it 'first'. (The only time I've beaten that score was when I ran it 2x in a row....) A first for me on the drill, however - NO MIKES!! I picked up all the 50 yard shots, all the 35 yard shots and all the head shots. Ergo, I'm pleased. Today is the last tough day till DTC. Good solid week coming up at the gym, and likely some fairly easy dry fire. It is like me to have a great draw I smoke my reloads I move with authority I focus on every stage, on every shot Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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