The Think Tank

My jaw and ear were hurting very badly over night, and because of that I got very little sleep.  I was taking ibuprofen and pseudaphed every three hours to keep the pain and inflammation down.  By the time I started shooting I was also in quite a bit of pain from my neck muscles cramping.  It apparently showed in face, because several people asked mom if I was feeling alright.

My game plan for shooting was the same as it had been before:  Just keep shooting my form and trust that the arrows would find the middle.  I started out feeling pretty confident given how things had gone the day before in Bow.

My practice ends were pretty good, but as usual by the time I got to the scoring rounds I was getting tight and having a harder and harder time getting through my shots.  I started right off with a miss on the first end off of a really crummy shot, one of the ones where I aim pretty good and think it is there right up until the point of release, when my bow arm flies around and my release hand pops straight back.  That pretty much set the tone for the rest of the day.  If half of my shots felt like good ones, I’d be surprised.

I finished with a 297 / 15x.  I was frustrated and disappointed because I really wanted to better my scores from the first two Shootups to help ensure a higher position at the Final, but instead I was worse.  No help at all.

I qualified in third and tried to stay positive for the eliminations, which in my heart I felt I would lose because every time things got a little bit tough, I shot bad shots and hit nines.  Still, I tried to keep my head together and kept telling myself to hit my form.  I went on to lose my elimination round and wound up in 4th place. As usual, the two guys shooting in the round immediately after mine shot a 58 and 57 respectively, which sucked because I shot a 59 in mine.

Upon later reflection I realized that while I had been telling myself to “hit your form,” I had not been holding that form after the shot.  When I made an effort to hold my form after the shot, I did a better job of getting into the correct post-shot form.

I also bought the Neat trainer thingy from Cory after the shoot.

Additional information: —————————————

Start date: Jan 8, 2012 10:48 AM Target: FITA Total score: 297

— Sent from my iPhone

We got to Wilderness Archery about an hour early, and I warmed up a little.  I was feeling a bit nervous but not too much.  I did a very good job of keeping my focus on pulling through my shots, and not thinking about my score.  Around the 6th end I started feeling a little bit nervous since I had not yet cleaned a whole half in a tournament or league this year.  It was mild, but there was a level of excitement and nervousness that continued to grow.  By the time I was in the 9th end, I was very nervous.  My heart rate was noticeably high, and I was bobbing all over the target when I was aiming.

I missed my second arrow on the 9th end, meaning that I cleaned my first 28 arrows, a new record for me.  My X’s were lower than I would have like, but I was satisfied with the 299.  I placed second, 2 X’s behind Rick.

When the Elims came around, I was still sort of nervous feeling but I held it together pretty well on the first end.  On the second I was fighting my release pretty bad, and I tried letting down several times, but finally I pushed a rough shot and hit a nine at 12 o’clock on my third arrow.  I figured that would be it for me, but Kitt missed his last arrow as well, which meant we tied.  I was irritated I had dropped the point and I was determined not to lose the shoot-off.  I let my first arrow down three times.  Kit was done with all three before I had fired my first shot.  I struggled through them all, but I came out with three good shots nonetheless, and finished with three X’s.  That was good enough to win.

I was still nervous and still struggling in the Final, and I shot another 9.  I figured that pretty much did it, and that assessment proved to be correct.  I stayed in in 2nd place and won $66 bucks.