The Think Tank

I started feeling like I was getting sick last night, and that translated into today.  I had a headache trying to come on most of the day, partially plugged up ears and a scratchy throat.  I took pills which helped make me feel better, but I was sweating like a pig and I was having a really hard time getting through me shots strong.

I felt pretty confident after shooting last night, and I tried really hard to keep my focus on maintaining my form.  It was difficult to keep my mind purely on form, though, because Archer’s Afield is kind of dark (so I struggled to see a little bit) and I was a bit nervous.  My shoulder felt a little weak as well, so I wasn’t holding as well I have been the last few days in practice.

My first two practice ends were 10 almost inside-out X’s, which built a little confidence, but I started my scoring ends with 4 X’s and 3 X’s, which was disappointing.  I missed my fifth shot on the first end, and the shot was a struggle, and by the end I had lost track of my bow arm and the shot felt tight.  I knew it was out when I shot it.

For the most part I did a good job of feeling my form while I was aiming, focusing on the position I wanted my bow-arm and release arm to wind up in after the shot.  When I did that successfully, I pretty much always drilled the cross hairs on the X.  Basically, my score perfectly reflects my good shots: the ones that I focused on my form while I was aiming, and my bow came to rest on my hip and my release hand was on my shoulder (or just above it) the arrow was inside out.  When I failed to focus on my form, or struggled a bit and therefore lost track of something (usually my bow hand and/or arm), the arrow missed and missed badly.  There were perhaps 4-5 arrows where I felt my form was less than perfect and the arrow still caught.

Three arrows do stand out:

1. On the second end, my aim was solid X ring the whole time and my bow arm/release hand wound up in perfect position, yet the arrow hit at 6 O’clock mid-five.  The only thing of note was that it felt like I was looking through the bottom of my peep.  I’m not sure if that means I had my head out of position or if my anchor was slightly off, but it’s something I need to pay more attention to.  I have seen the exact same thing in practice a few times.
2. The exact same thing happened on the seventh end, and the arrow went in the exact same hole.
3. On the 8th or 9th end, my third shot was feeling perfect for a long time, but I held it a little long.  I was sitting rock solid on the X the whole time, so I kept pulling.  Right at the very end the dot bobbled down out of the X and of course that was when I released.  The shot was beautifully executed and hit exactly where I aimed it.  Unfortunately, I had aimed it just under the X.

The 12th end saw a similar problem, except that instead of sliding out of the X, I crept on my release arm just a touch and put the arrow at 12 O’clock mid-five. I was very disappointed in that, because I always try extra hard to clean my last round.  I did shoot two perfect shots on 4 & 5, both literally splitting the center of the X.

Additional information: —————————————

Start date: Mar 12, 2011 11:25 AM Target: NFAA/IFAA Indoor Total score: 300 50x