Rio 2016 Olympic thoughts and Form Updates

Like everyone else, I am very excited for the Rio de Janeiro 2016 Olympics. I have it all planned out, where I will watch the opening ceremonies with my family and with this drink  in hand. I saw archery for the first time watching the Atlanta Games in 1996. Athough I don't remember watching the archery finals in the olympics (were they even covered?), I do remember features on the American men's recurve team. I stayed up late to watch the USA women's gymnastics team win team gold and Kerri Strug's vaults and injury. It's a very special memory for me because not only was it in my home country but also introduced me to the world of competitive sports. And now one of the men going is from my very own state too! Go Zach! Good luck to all our teams and all the athletes competing in Rio, from other countries, that as I know as well! It's not all about the gold, it's about good sportsmanship too!

On that note, last time I met my archery club, a friend took some videos of me. I can finally feel my back tension! It took a lot of picturing it, description from my coach and trying to mimic motions sans bow. I started to cover ground, figuratively, pretty fast at the range. My focus is now 90% on my back muscles and how they compress versus aiming alone. But do you know how hard it is to watch a video of your progress and see how much farther you have to go? I am very happy with all the progress I've made and I know to phrase everything I still need to learn positively in my journal. It's all about the positive reinforcement. 

I took myself to MJ Rogers for another lesson. It was hot, super sunny (I have the sunburn to prove it) and not a ton of shade when you are surrounded by corn fields, but every once in awhile a cool breeze blew by us. I practice relatively close to the target there. Then MJ walks around and corrects my technique or demonstrates the right technique. Today I was focusing on my release. Apparently I was wasting energy letting my hand go to far behind my head. But if I can harness it and stop it at the right point, I can maintain alignment, angular motion around my spine, and have a much cleaner shot. Then I can shoot A LOT more arrows without getting tired half as fast.

Speaking of arrows...I ordered more Easton Apollos since half of mine are buried in the archery club field, haha! Due to a measuring error, on my part, I told Lancaster Archery's made to order service a number shorter than my draw length according to their system. MJ pointed out that the shorter length was actually better for me and I was pulling through the clicker a lot more. So my draw length is a little bit shorter than 28" now. I am not hung up about the number as long as it gives me the results I want. I'm trying out Spider Vanes which are really durable. Pink Easton pin nocks still. I'm thinking I may stick with this set up for a lot longer than I originally thought. I eventually want to try a barreled arrow and am leaning towards Easton A/C/Es. Apparently X10s won't do me any good until I am at least 40lbs in draw weight. I'm all for that because it will save me money as I get stronger and increase my draw weight.

Something told me that I was shooting higher than the 30# draw weight marked on my limbs. MJ hooked a scale on my string and drew an arrow through the clicker. After the 3 pulls through the clicker the average weight was around 32#s. And there was still room to bottom out my limb bolts. So we screwed them in all the way and low and behold, it cranked my humble 30# limbs up to 34#s! This has been a major goal for me to reach this year. I wanted to reach it by the end of the year and here I am already at it in mid summer! It feels SO GOOD! Better yet, I found a pair of 34# Winex limbs for cheap on eBay and they are on their way to me. So with a little bit readjustment I can pop those lovely, smooth Winex limbs on to my riser and shoot. I'm hoping I can crank them out to about 38#s before I replace them with a higher poundage limb. But I'll have to see how the Winex's behave. 

It's amazing how things come together suddenly. I'll be trudging along, running into walls, wondering what am I doing wrong? why aren't things working out? Turns out I needed to be stubborn and put in some long hard hours at the range this summer to reach my poundage goal for the year. In other ways my life has been sifted. I thought I had picked out the right degree program and found a great job for me. Then poof! the job went up in smoke and the degree program I am currently in could not be a worse choice for me. It was for a safe job and definitely needed by the world, but dear Lord I could never sit at a desk for that long cranking away at logs and numbers and policies and government regs. Give me sunshine, fresh air, nature, and room to stretch! I realized I had already started the right path back when I received my NASM CPT. But I need to learn more, receive more certs in different forms of exercise and conditioning and performance, and a bachelors in exercise science. I really want my bachelors but I also want it to be in the right field for me. Luckily I found a completely online program that fits the bill. I will start my courses Aug 8. 

So I will learn everything I can about exercise and how it helps us use our bodies to the fullest. I use it on my own life as much as I can-listening to my body told me I was eating too much and when I decreased my portions and kept moving, I lost a few stubborn pounds. I also have been doing lots of pilates sessions on the reformer with my pilates teacher for overall strength to shoot better and love the results I see, not only in my shooting, but in my muscles. I am so much stronger and leaner than I used to be. And I am not hung up about the number on the scale. I've been skinny weak-literally a wraith, due to depression and anxiety, and I've been skinny strong. I know which one I prefer. I proved this to myself fighting the wind on a nearby lake as I steered a standup paddle board for two hours. That's no joke people. It's a full body workout, like archery, and keeping myself upright meant I was so sore the next day! There were a few times when I thought I might lose my balance but I bent my knees to absorb the shock of the waves. If I could absorb the shock, I wouldn't fall. I'm looking forward to using that knowledge on dry land too. 

So lots of good things happening-physically and mentally in my life! I am so thrilled to be in this brain space; I am old enough to know myself and what I want, and young enough to chase my dreams. I'm going to do what I love doing and see where it leads to me. And it's going to be dang near impossible to dissuade me. No rose colored glasses on my face, I simply think this is the only way to live life. 

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!

New Equipment...again

I randomly bought a Kaya riser on eBay. It's a K3 and she shoots so smoothly. She makes shots with my yellow infinitec (brand?) riser feel all clumsy and heavy. There's something about the Kaya riser, since it's all carbon, that makes it shoot very quietly with more of a dead feeling in your hand. The arrows seem to fly rather than act like a shotput throw. Honestly it's probably all in my technique and the "magical" feeling of new equipment but I had one of my best practices ever yesterday.

Let me back up. On Sunday my informal coach helped me tune the riser a bit and he moved everything that he had already tuned on my old riser. The only thing missing from the riser is the clicker. Shooting without it is a lot more fun. My coach says the clicker is really a mental thing and that I am drawing back as far as I need to without it. I'll take that with the clicker! But this wasn't the best practice though. I'm still missing a few of my arrows argh. 

I went back by myself yesterday to shoot. It was a picturesque fall day and windy (which didn't turn out to be a big problem.) The range is surrounded by trees turning colors and the weather was cool but not too cold to numb my fingers. I put together my new rig and walked over to the public targets for some more practice. Apart from a bit of sight adjustment since I was practicing so close to the targets, i was shooting better than I ever have. I really focused on keeping my bow arm up and keeping my grip light on the bow so I could let it fall forward. And it made a huge difference! Everything seemed to flow better. Before long, I had been shooting almost 2 hours and i wasn't shaking at all. I attribute this to using the right muscle groups and all the workouts I do with my trainer. We're already a month in but I feel stronger already. Perhaps having a chest workout the day before helped me pull back farther? I am worried that I really only shoot my best when I am alone. I love being alone at a range and focusing only on shooting but I also need to show improvement when I'm with my coach. And after my coach left on Sunday there was this other guy who wanted analyze every single freaking shot I made. I should've told him to shut up because he was sucking all the joy out of it for me but after awhile he stopped talking to me and i was so ready for it. I'm a chatty kathy but when it comes to shooting I am very selective with whom I listen to for advice.

So I am ready for more practices like that one. Here's looking forward to my next day off and at the range with my new riser.

Clicker Practice

I managed to get out on my own 3 times to practice at my local range. I am trying to remember and pull together all the technical aspects I learned at my last lesson with my coach. There's a lot to remember.

1.) My stance-open with 75% of my weight on my back foot and my weight more forward on the balls of my feet.
2.) My bow starting open and as I draw pulling more to a close.
3.) My grip-lightly holding the bow with my pointer finger and thumb with the rest of my hand relaxed. With my weight balanced right I should be able to "push" my thumb towards the target.
4.)My draw-extending the time for the last .25" of the arrow to pull through the clicker to about 3-4 seconds.
5.) keeping my arm steady and not rushing the shot.
6.) release and follow through.

It's a complete balancing act. And I mess up a lot.

The good news is that I can feel when I'm warmed up and my left shoulder suddenly moves the way I envision and my release is better and my shots are more consistent.

The bad news is that it's exhausting using the clicker and I constantly have to remember to conserve my energy.

I am working out now with a personal trainer twice a week with the goal of gaining long and lean muscle. And to gain strength. I am also doing yoga inversion classes every other week because that will also help me get strong. And I am going to pay for archery lessons from now on. They are pretty cheap to begin with. I've nixed buying a better bow right now considering that I'm just beginning and have a lot of debt to pay off. It will come when I am ready and am in a better financial position. And to add to that I started a full time job this month and am taking an online course to become a certified personal trainer.

All I need now is some decent sleep and I'd be in good shape! I e-mail pictures to my coach after every practice and he says I'm making good progress. Just have to outweigh my fatigue with my enthusiasm ;)

1 step forward and 2 backwards

Everything has come together for my first ILF rig. Today was the first day I shot it completely together (with all my own parts.) My arrows will come back to me with veins and knocks and pins and points in a couple days, hopefully.

I have noticed major progress:

Stabilizers make my shots much smoother. It's like the difference between shooting a handgun and a rifle. They do make the bow heavier but you can rest it on the long stabilizer before each shot which helps. If I move correctly and release the shot well it's as if I am shooting of a ledge and the arrow flies in a beautiful arc through the air. There is nothing more rewarding than seeing that followed by the thunk of the arrow in the target face. Only thing that could make it better would be hitting an X!

My new sight is a DREAM. It's built like a tank and doesn't move unless I crank the dials to turn it. Then it moves in tiny increments so it can adjust to the smallest change. Well worth the money and I can use it for 20 years.

My whole release has greatly improved. I still have to remind myself to use my shoulder but when I do, everything flows better. Hold straight, engage shoulder, pull to anchor point. My coach is helping me develop a checklist for each shot. It's a lot to remember!

Slippery new things to learn:

Since I shoot southpaw style I need to bring the string to my nose at the same time my anchor reaches my chin. Then I need to keep the blur of the string in my peripheral on the right side of my riser handle. And the aperture on the far right. So it goes riser+blurry string+sight aperture on my target=baddabaddabing a nicer shot. It's a lot harder than it sounds because I am trying to manage the limb weight and line everything up. By the time I get everything on line I'm already shaking. This is where slowing down and thinking through each shot before I shoot is really helpful.

Keep my elbow down, stay up right. And I'm sure there will be another slew of things to remember once I start using my clicker. I'm hoping to have my arrows back within a couple days. Then everything will change again. I've been warned not to fight the clicker. If we measured the draw length correctly and if I move correctly, then hopefully that won't happen.

Workouts are going well. I just need to keep doing them and follow up with eating right. I can already tell I'm stronger than 2 weeks ago when I started intense workouts. I was sorta letting my cardio go because I was focusing so much on my arms and core. But really I need to do that too, not only for keeping in shape and getting stronger, leaner legs, but also for the mental discipline. Lordy oh lordy...am I going to need it.

I had to stop shooting today, due to fatigue, much sooner than I wanted to stop. But I was only training bad habits and shooting very shaky shots, so there was no point in continuing. It's so hard to stop when I look forward to it each day of the week. But now since I have my own equipment I can shoot every week on my own. It's good to receive instruction but it's also good to shoot on your own with a quiet mind and without interference.

Maybe if I can get in enough practice, I can compete in the club tournament at the end of the season.

My first ILF rig

Well, I've been shooting with a borrowed ILF rig from a friend/coach for a couple months now. The first time I shot with it, I knew I wanted to head into olympic recurve style for sure. It was always my main goal and I was happy to confirm it.

Wading through the best traditional recurve bows seemed tough, but this is a whole new world!

Do I stick with ILF or try out Formula limbs? Do I go all out on a sight or save money on a cheaper one? Which riser geometry do I like better? Compound that with the fact that it's very hard to try left handed equipment before you buy it, meaning the riser and the sight, and I felt completely overwhelmed!

But then I took a step back and more experienced archers encouraged me to start cheap which determined an ILF rig. Then it was a matter of SF forged plus riser or something else available sooner. Luck would have it, there was an Infinitec riser for sale on eBay and it was LH! Said friend said it would last me 1 or 2 years and since the price was right plus I bargained, I took the plunge and bought it. My very own lovely, erm, mustard yellow lefty riser.

Next, I had to answer the limb question; do I keep borrowing or buy my own? I really want to go shoot every week, not every 2 weeks so I bit the bullet and decided to buy my own limbs. The same friend came through again and found a pair of used limbs comparable in performance and cheaper than the ones I was looking at brand new. It's such a significant price reduction that I'll buy them on Sunday. This same friend also got lucky in his own major haul from Rod White and has a intermediate clicker and plunger to lend me. Did I mention that he's also making me a string? This is guy is a archer girl on a beer budget's true pal.

I also need to shout out to the person who lent me his riser and limbs for so long. Without you I would have progressed at a snail's pace and had a much longer and harder road to plough. You've put me leap years ahead of that and I am truly grateful. I'm looking forward to many more club days of shooting with you.

Now-arrows! Since I want to eventually be shooting a very thin spine for optimal flight and apparently, the arrow's spine size will change according to the poundage, it was best to start cheap yet again. (I know, I know-I'm still researching all this scattered information that seems passed down from teacher to student rather than in a good ol' book. Thank goodness for the www!) Friend making the bow string recommended two types to choose from: carbon express medallion xrs or easton apollos. Xrs are over $8 an arrow while apollos are under $6 an arrow, so I picked the latter. The next step is truly, accurately measuring my draw length, which I will do, again, this Sunday at the archery club. Then I can type in a number, press ship-and I will have new arrows and corresponding points (the arrow tip), nocks and pins. Again...I will be lent blue fletchings. But whether they are still passable after I'm ready to move on to a different spine, I don't know.

That being said, a new sight will be under way too, the shibuya ultima, so it's one I'll never have to replace. And while I'm at it-why not buy a new case to haul all this stuff around? I'm looking at the Easton Club XT Recurve Pack in blue. It's cheaper than Hoyt and will do the job well. I guess I'll have to get over the fact that it looks like it has a diagram of CNS on the outside. Sorry Easton, design team, I guess you thought it looked like a dynamic arrow?

The riser and limbs will eventually be replaced. So will the clicker and plunger. I have others that are pricier on my wish list, but they can wait.

Wait-there's more!

On the workout front-I really have to get stronger. Shooting itself is a good workout but I'm rounding it out with core and ab workouts 3 additional times a week. I also plan on leg workouts with cardio and the occasional SUP on a lake nearby. I am consciously reaching for protein, veggies, healthy fats and whole grains over sweets and empty calories in chips and I can really tell the difference already. I increased my free weights mostly from 5lbs in each hand to 10 lbs in each hand. I am going to price out gyms in my area so I can get access to weight machines that will strengthen my back. This is all for improving my shooting and maintaining a healthy weight and lifestyle. (I do have the occasional treat-I'm human ;)

So, it's been a long time researching and weighing and finally I can make some purchases. I can't imagine not shooting right now-I'm simply not very happy when I can't shoot my bow frequently. Along with my kids and the support of my family, archery is really a lifeline for me and giving me a much needed direction for my life.

I will post pics as soon as I can upload them!

More Practice

I got to the range for the first time in 2 weeks. I am borrowing equipment from another recurve archer and he's coaching me a lot too. I've decreased my poundage so I can concentrate on my form, incorporating my shoulder mechanics into each shot instead of only using my arms. I switched from a 30# draw to 18# and then back up to 24#. It is so nice shooting an ILF rig instead of a traditional bow. The traditional bow has lots of pros and is great for beginners but I am somewhere between beginner and intermediate and an ILF better suits my style right now. I usually start with fairly tight groups and get frustrated when they loosen up to the size of a basketball. I got frustrated because it seemed to happen pretty fast today and I still wanted to shoot. I shot more for over an hour. It's amazing how tired I get considering how short a time it is. I've been doing quite a few arm exercises but I am going to increase them and make sure I eat enough protein to build more muscle. I also need to slooow down. I tend to shoot my arrows pretty fast and my fellow archer pointed out how much weight I am holding. He said, 'Give your muscle time to rest and take a deep breath and then shoot.' I really need to work on that.

These days I've been reading as much as I can and watching as many archery videos as I can to learn better technique. And I just may be drooling over my archery equipment wish lists online. But that will come when I have the funds. I have to get a few other ducks in a row before I can splurge on some equipment.

I also met some other recurve archers today and one who actually competes. It was great to talk more with another archer and get some more perspective, ogle her equipment and talk about how hard it is to test equipment physically yourself before investing in it.

On the exercise front, I've been waking up early to go running around my neighborhood. It keeps my weight down and is great for mental discipline. The actual shooting is a workout in itself. My arms are much more toned and have more muscle then they did 6 months ago. I can also notice more definition in my core muscles. Ideally I want to be doing daily weight lifting and programs like crossfit, barre workouts, yoga inversion classes to increase my strength and overall fitness. SUP is a great core workout and fun. I hope one day to complete an ironman triathlon. This is all in the hopes of improving my archery ability, remaining fit and taking care of myself.

I never want to take the joy out of archery that I feel now. I look forward to shooting so much and love the challenging process of each shot. I get super excited when I shoot a tight group and it's a plus when they are all in the gold. I must look like a 3 year old with how excited I get but honestly it's just sheer joy. And I haven't felt that in so long that I will never give up that feeling ever again. Here's hoping I can take it to the next level soon.