2016 Archery Resolutions

Wow...I've had this blog 2 years and started it as a journal for my archery progress. I'd heard of other bloggers talking about blog analytics but thought, yeah right that'll never happen to me. At first, I didn't even make this blog public. Imagine my eyes bulging a foot in front of my head  shock as I saw I had viewers from Egypt? Hong Kong? Mexico! This is truly amazing. I've met quite a few archers from the US and other countries on tumblr and as one said recently though a message, 'Meeting archers online is always bittersweet.' But you never know, I have many travels in my future and I hope that the majority of them are archery related. And I will always try to reach out to fellow archers. That's what's so great about the archery community.

As everything else in my life is getting a revamp, why not the ol' blog too? Let's be honest, even my tumblr account colors make me cross eyed. I want to offer my readers a polished, quirky place to read about my journey and all things archery obsessed. I don't know about you all, but the airplane window template and the dandelions in the grass with the blue sky just aren't cutting it for me anymore.

Some equipment news-I finally managed to sell my yellow infitec challenger riser to a JOAD club in Florida. And my SF axiom + stabs and Beiter vbar, are on their way to another archer in California. Great thing about selling archery equipment? I suddenly had money to buy HMC+ stabs I found on archerytalk. I got them for a great deal (hi Scott!). I've ordered this vbar and the thing most archers seem to swear by, a bow trainer. There's no other way for me to build strength since my ceilings are too low for my bow and it's too cold to shoot outside. And honestly, shooting at an indoor range is a luxury right now so it doesn't happen often. Can I move here yet?

I really want Winex limbs. So archery resolution #2 for 2016 is to be at 34# draw weight by the end of the year. The only way I will get there is if I can pull a bow string or something similar every day. And the only way I can justify paying that much is if I can make a 4# jump. And get my family to chip in for maybe half the price? (Good thing Christmas and my birthday pretty much rub their backs together lol.) And with new limbs will come new arrows but I'll cross that  bill erm bridge when I come to it. I don't anticipate X10's happening this year.

So a recap:

Archery resolution #1:  to upgrade to HMC+ stabs
Archery resolution #2: to upgrade A Southpaw Archer Girl-make it worth reading and easy to navigate!
Archery resolution #2: to buy 34# Winex limbs by the end of  2016.   Accomplished in July 2016!

And that's only my archery list. But I'm already good on goal #1 on my other list-I passed my CPT exam! I'm starting out at a gym soon and I don't think "NEWBIE" could be written bigger on my forehead but I everyone starts somewhere! I've picked up Pilates seriously again and am loaning my new trainer my archery book put out by Kisik Lee and his team of coaches and archers. I'm really interested in getting more certifications through NASM and getting certified in Pilates too.

If you've hung in there with this post for this long I applaud you! Lots more to accomplish this year!

Beginnings

Hi, I'm Madeline. I'm a twenty something wife and mother of 2 kids. I have always enjoyed watching recurve archery and after taking one class in college, I am taking the plunge and starting it again.

The internet is saturated with food blogs, lifestyle blogs, fitness blogs and interior design blogs and although I peruse those daily, I find very little available for the beginning archer apart from youtube videos. I am in contact with my local archery club and have picked the recurve coaches' brains about where to start, equipment, actual coaching and they keep telling me that they think they are overwhelming me. Not the case! I am absorbing all the information easily and want to document my experience going from beginning archer to hopefully a competitive recurve archer. Why recurve specifically? Because that's what I enjoy. Hence the blog. Why the blog name? Because I am a lefty and left eye dominant, that's why ;) I love writing and have finally found a niche of interest to me that isn't supersaturated with information already.

I shoot a 30# Samick Sage recurve bow. You can see it here.

I am still trying to find a finger tab and arm guard. I have cheap arrows from Gander Mountain until I can afford nicer ones and have a reason to shoot them. My target is cheap bullseye target from Walmart. I can shoot in my backyard with the target against a hill for safety. I can shoot as far as 40m away at my target. But naturally I will start much closer until I can back up little by little.

I have taken 1 shot with my bow-laugh all you want-and got royally slapped by the string. This means my form sucked. I need to fix my form, build upper body strength and shoot and shoot and shoot to get better. Until I have all my equipment to safely shoot, I am researching technique and learning from the pros and other amateur archer blogs, via the internet, in both compound and recurve archery.

Archery is a lot more than just standing and shooting.You need not only the mental discipline to train but correct body mechanics so you don't get hurt shooting. You don't have to be super athletic although you don't want to be so big you have a hard time getting the bow near you. I do workout a lot-running throughout the week and biking, total body training with free weights, body weight moves and yoga and pilates and p90x. I would love to do triathlons too. It's the daily discipline of exercising and the actual accomplishment of finishing the goal that makes me mentally strong. I also tend to eat in a 90:10 clean, whole foods to not so clean food. I know in order to perform at my best, I have to eat the very best food I can. I also try to eat 90% plant based diet simply because my body tells me it likes it. And I don't feel sick even if I have a little bit more than I really needed. Strong body + strong mind = happy Madeline :)

Lots to learn-let's get shooting!