The Think Tank

Today was a rough day for me. My shoulder was a little tired and sore to begin with, but that wasn’t the biggest problem. As had been the case yesterday and the last little while I just felt unsettled mentally: totally unsure of my abilities, not trusting my process, nervous even during practice. Unlike yesterday, where I was able to muscle a few shot in, today I was weak most of the time. I dropped an arrow in practice (never a good sign), I was not holding well and I was all over the ten instead of pounding out consistent holes.

I wound up down five and in second in first flight. I shot a few arrow after the round to try and get myself in line, and they were a lot better but still didn’t feel quite right, until the very end. Then it was as if a switch had flipped: I got my bow arm out straighter, which adjusted m hand positioning a bit, and bang! I was holding better, the nerves died, the nagging feeling I was going to miss went away… Everything was back to normal.

My elimination warm ups went well, I was feeling good and expected to carry the day. My first elim arrow held well and released well (I thought) but missed the X, as did the second. I was really surprised by that. The third arrow was a nine, but it went off too fast. I think I had the release a little hot as I had been speeding it up all weekend trying to get through my shots faster.

I thirtied the next end but only with one X and lost on X’s.

Afterward I went to River City Archery and shot for two hours straight, no breaks. I wanted to cement that good shooting and correct form in my head. Over that time a few other things came together, sort of like dominoes falling in sequence.

By the end if was feeling really good. My hand position was slightly Diffenderfer than it had been: the back of my hand is hard up against the bottom of the shelf, and the bow grip is centered more behind my thumb knuckle / fleshy part of my thumb instead of the center of my hand. After I did that I recognized the feel from the summer. I also had my arm almost straight, with the elbow nearly locked. It almost feels like this “locks” my shoulder into position and relieves a lot of stealing. I also made sure that I had my pinky on the little tab of the trainer thingy.

When I got all if that in place the dot barely moved while aiming, even when I was tired, and plot shot the bow stayed very steady and did not move much. I’ve gotten that part sometime over the last few weeks but not as consistently as when I got it all right today. Even when my shoulder was getting tired at the end, and on a anew of them that I held too long, I never had that “something is wrong” or “oh no, you’re gonna miss” thing going on. That all vanished as soon as I got my proper form back in place.

I left feeling very encouraged. This is the sort of thing that feels like I can repeat, and when I hit those steps, it’s sort of like paint by numbers: get the hand right, get the arm right, aim in the middle, pull through with the release and keep the bow arm aimed at the center after the ahot, and bang! X’s all night.

I even held one way too long, crept a little, pulled it back against the stops and reset and pounded an inside-out x. That made me feel good. Even ones that gots messed up In the middle could be reset and still pound the center. That’s a confidence booster.