Dan Carter

[dcarter]

And another thing. I believe the club is having a clinic in March. Sign up to help with that. There will be a bunch of us there that will need pointers.

I am already going to be helping with it. The first class we had was a lot of fun and I'm sure the folks got their money's worth. My problems with confidence happen after I have had a bad stage or a bad match. I can't seem to get the monkey off my back and get back to doing what I know I can do. I had several matches last year that were just plain BAD. I look forward to seeing you in March.

[dcarter]

I will be working on movement again tonight in the basement of my station. I have to work on keeping the gun up as I enter a position. Isn't any sense in standing around looking at the target and not having my sights where I can use them. I'm still hoping the M&P9L will be on the production list when I start shooting. I've been doing most of my practice with the 4" just in case it isn't. My workouts haven't been on schedule because of all the snow we got but Monday I'll be back to doing it daily. I guess I'll be starting a little earlier than I thought with my shooting season. Looks like Miamisburg is holding a classifier match that I'm just going to have to make. I want to make "A" class early this year and I pray that my skills have improved enough to back it up. I bought some new shoes and 4 new mag holders to help with some of the things I was having problems with. I need to get back out to the range and put some live rounds on target. I miss the feeling or recoil.

[Gary Stevens]

Hey Dan, I would pay good money, not much mind you, but I'd chip in part of my bail out money to see you on a segway

Do you ride those things Over the Rhine?

[steel1212]

Hey Dan, I would pay good money, not much mind you, but I'd chip in part of my bail out money to see you on a segway

Do you ride those things Over the Rhine?

Dude, from what I hear I wouldn't be riding in anything around the rhine unless I'm packing serious heat!

[Chris Keen]

Hey Dan, I would pay good money, not much mind you, but I'd chip in part of my bail out money to see you on a segway

Do you ride those things Over the Rhine?

Yes but his Segway has fuzzy dice and curb-feelers.

[Gary Stevens]

I heard a rumor that it had training wheels on it. Just saying.......

[Ray_Z]

Dan, when you loose weight, where does it go? I'd like to make a 65 #deposit.

[dcarter]

Had a great workout this morning and had some good (but brief) dry fire practice. I got a new set of ear phones for my MP3 player so the buds wouldn't fall out of my ears every 10 seconds. As far as the segways go, I refuse to ride one. I mean honestly can you see my big butt riding one of those silly things? I'll try to get a picture of me on one just for laughs. No Gary they don't have training wheels but they might as well have. I know of 2 officers who have already had accidents on them. Who ever came up with a segway as a good "patrol" vehicle had to have spent a little too much time in the property room smoking some of the evidence. They are working on special details for officers to ride them for special events or in certain areas so a lot of guys are interested in getting trained just so they cane make some extra money. I don't need money THAT bad!

[38superman]

Dan,

I really think you have your head in the right place with the physical training.

So many of our fellow shooters don't seem to appreciate the importance of it.

Movement plays such a large role in this sport, fitness is paramount.

I worked out hard for several years and could see real improvement.

Unfortunately, life threw me a curve that took me out of the gym for a while.

Before I could blink, 20 lbs of fat wrapped itself around my body.

Keep working at it.

Perserverence is everything.

[dcarter]

I feel your pain! I gained most (not all) of my weight after I tore my knee apart chasing a 16 year old drug dealer. I spent 6 months sitting on the desk doing nothing and eating chicken wings. I learned a lesson in the process.....Go around the bus stop bench not over it! I got my man but at a price too high for a juvenile drug conviction. My biggest problem now is learning how to eat right. Not just what I eat but at what times of the day, the amount and how many times a day. I'm trying to eat 6 small meals a day and workout with cardio and weights. I'm not really interested in "losing" weight as much as I am about moving the weight to a different areas and made up of muscle instead of fat. If I should happen to lose weight in the process so be it. With my job and being on 3rd shift it is a stuggle to make it work the way I wanted it to. I HAVE to pack my food and then have the time to eat it when I need to. The problem is you never know when your going to get stuck on a crime scene or directing traffic for hours without being able to have time to eat. I won't go into all the little problems because I want to stay as positive as I can be. I started this plan with success in mind and that is the way I plan to stay. I still get in about 30 min of cardio a day except Sunday when my gym is closed and I try to stay away from drive-thru food as much as possible. I'm hoping that I can get all of this worked out soon so that I can make it work for life and not just for my off season. Your extra 20 lbs is what I lost lost year in the 3 month off season. You should be able to knock that off in short order if you work on it. My goal, as I said, is to move the weight but it would be nice to see a thinner me in the mirror. Stay possitive, make a plan and keep working at it.

Dan

[dcarter]

I didn't get to the gym today because court took too long. I worked from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am and started court at 9:00 am. I didn't get out till 11:30 am. My wife had a meeting to go to at 6:00 pm so I had to get my sleep in before she went to that. I have court again tomorrow and the next day but I normally get out around 10:00 or 10:30 so I SHOULD be able to get my workout in. I'm taking my CED with me to work to work on mag changes and draws.

[dcarter]

I spent another 30 min doing cardio yesterday after court then spent another hour doing some dry fire. My new mag holders work great. My only issue is the pivot screw. It tends to loosen up so I'm going to do something about that. I think I'm going to buy one more before I start shooting again. I was working on my draws yesterday and I have almost every start position down under a second for the first shot. Mag changes are getting a lot better. I have had real problems in the past with not grabbing the mag correctly and then trying to figure out how to shove it in the pistol the way I pulled it out. I worked with reloading from all 4 pouches and am consistent with all 4. I will work on more movement drills tonight.

[dcarter]

I had a good cardio workout again today and about an hour of dry fire (SO FAR) today.

I found a picture I found kinda funny

Now would it be scarry to see this SWAT team coming at you or would you be laughing too hard to care?

Edited February 12, 2009 by dcarter

[dcarter]

I didn't get to the gym today. I was just way too tired. We had a very busy night and I was up all day taking care of the kiddies. I will make it up with a workout on Sunday (my off day).

[dcarter]

I had a great workout today at the gym. 30 minutes on an eliptical (spelling?) and an hour of dry fire. I'm going to try to get out of court as early as I can and get to the range for some live fire. I did get some bad news today at work. Looks like they are going to transfer me to a different district. Maybe it is time I transferred. I have been in my current district for 10 years. I just don't want to learn all of the streets again. Finding my way around a new area like a rookie. Anyway, I haven't checked my wieght lately but my pants fit looser so I must be doing something right.

[dcarter]

Got out to the range and put a few hundred rounds through my M&P9L. Worked on movement from box to box about 10 feet apart. I was trying to get the same spacing I used in dry fire to see how different my times would be. I'm just a tad slower with live rounds but my shots on on the money. Range was about 20 feet with steele plates. Also worked on precision and some moving and shooting. I didn't do any reloades because our range is cement. That just kills a mag dropping it on rough cement.

[dcarter]

I skipped my workout today. I just felt crappy (and lazy) with the cold rain we are getting. I will get back to it on Monday and will try to get back out to the range or to the F.A.T.S. machine as soon as I can.

[dcarter]

It has been a while since my last entry. I have been pretty good at getting to the gym and doing my cardio with the exception of this weekend. My wife and I went on a mini-vacation and had a great time. I figure a little buttering up before the shooting season starts couldn't hurt. I just got back from the range and had a great practice. I worked on movement after a lot of drill work. All told I shot close to 700 rounds today. They say when things are going well to keep training....so I did. The range was supposed to be having S.W.A.T. training today but they canceled it so I had the range all to myself with an unlimited supply of ammo. I could have stayed a lot longer but I had to get to the gym and then get home. I just saw the stages for Area 6 and it looks like a lot of fun. But my first major this year will be the Indiana SS/Production match at the end of this month. I only have 1 local match before that so I don't think I'll be setting any records. I hope to get back out to the range for some more live fire tomorrow after court. As I was working on movement today I had 2 three foot boxes set out and 3 targets for each box. I would shoot three targets, move to the next box, shoot three targets and move back to the other box reloading as needed. I used full magazines so I could shoot 2 positions without running out of mags too soon. This turned into a good cardio workout as well. I'm really starting to get the hang of keeping myself low into a position and leaning out as my last one or two shots are fired. The boxes were about 20 feet apart but after a few times through this drill they didn't seem that far. My one mistake was that I didn't use my timer. Next time I will work this drill with time to see what I'm doing. It may have felt fast but who really knows. I have a beginners class coming up on Saturday that I'm teaching with Ray and Dave and I should get some trigger time in there as well. If I had one area I really needed to improve on since I started this diary is to follow my eating plan more closely. It has been way too easy to say "I've been doing great! I deserve to have a good meal out." This has been my only real problem area thus I have not maximized my potential for better fitness. I still have a couple weeks before my first big match so I'll see what I can do.

[dcarter]

I am really starting to get excited now. I have a little over a week before my fist match and a little over 2 until my first major. The closer it gets the more I want to practice. I didn't get to do any dryfire last night because we had another fatal accident on I-75. A young lady that just turned 21 ran into the back of a work truck and she was killed instantly. We spent almost all night on that and had to shut down I-75 for about 6 hours. I did get my workout in after work so at least I did that. I will do my workout after work tonight and maybe get some dryfire in before I go to bed.

[dcarter]

It's been a little while since my last entry so let me start by saying I've been busy! I have had a couple of live fire practice sessions and almost daily dryfire along with my cardio workouts. I'm down 12 pounds and a lot stronger in my legs. I still have yet to make a real effort in the way of strength training except my exercises with a grip exercise. I've been concentrating on splits, draws and movement exercises along with a few table starts. I also have been touching on a few of the elements I will see at Area 6 this year. My first local is about 3 days away and my first major is just a week later. I want to get to the point where I am confident at stage 1. I have always had a problem with the first stage of a match and I really want to get over that. I helped run a beginners class at MRPC and had a great time. It ran a lot longer than I had thought and had to leave early but I did get to get some trigger time in.

[dcarter]

Had my first match of the year yesterday. We broke a record for the number of shooters with 88 people. I thought it was going to be a very very long day but it turned out to be very cool! Everyone did there part and most of the shooters were done by 2:30pm. I had a great first match. With the exception of 1 bobbled reload and a NO Shoot on stage 2 it felt very good. I could feel the difference in my movement and the work I put into my mag changes (for the most part) has paid off. I could be a little faster on transitions (which is where I got that No Shoot ). Seeing all the old gang was worth it no matter how I shot. I will continue to work on my reloads, transitions and movement as well as keeping my cardio workouts going. I have my first major match next weekend and I will be working on elements for that match this week. Shooting and reloading while moveing to the left and to the rear, strong and weak hand shooting to name a couple. I have court a lot this week as well so I am hoping I can get out to the range after court on at least a couple of those days.

[dcarter]

The results for last Sundays match are up. Looks like my times have improved so the work on my movement is paying off but stil needs some work. I had 2 stages that I had problems with and it showed in the results. I'm going to concentrate on the next match and work on elements for that match in the next couple days. I didn't get to the gym today because my 6 year old got sick at school and had to pick her up. I'll get back on that tomorrow. I was sent an e-mail today by my club director wanting to know if I would be interested in a slot for Nationals. As much as I want to go I don't think I could make it because of the expense. Maybe next year.

[dcarter]

Man, you can tell you are geeking when you are packed and ready to go for a three hour drive for a match that is still 3 days away! I don't think crack is this addicting.

I got my workout in today and will be doing some dry fire tonight. I think my court case for today was cancelled so I won't tell my better half and go to the range instead. I need to work on some strong and weak hand shooting and some more movement before this weekend. Looks like I will be wearing pants to the match because it will be cloudy and 51 degrees.

[dcarter]

I had a great time at the SS/Prod match in Indi today. I shot well for the first 6 stages and then tanked it on stage 7. It was such a disappointment too because I had a nice run going with some difficult steel targets "when all of the sudden" my game plan flew out my butt and I forgot to engage one of the targets. BAM....total of 3 Mikes and an FTE. OUCH! On the good side of things I had a few very good stages and I didn't get DQ'ed. I had a great time with my squad and maybe learned some things in the process. All in All a good time. Now it is time to work on my next match. My work on movement is really showing in my times. Now I need to work on putting all these little elements together and executing my plan.

[dcarter]

Well my gear is ready for todays match at Oxford. I just found out yesterday that I am being transfered to another district along with a bunch of others being moved around. I don't understand why they are doing this with this many officers just before summer. The city is going to fall apart! We are going to have a bunch of officers who have no idea where they are or the people in the area. It is going to be a mess! I don't know what this is going to mean for me personally but I do know I should be able to make more money as district 1 has all the good details. Anyway, I'm going to try to put all of the elements of my training together at Oxford and come home with a better showing than at my last local. I have just a couple more locals before the Area 6 and I really want a good showing there.