2015 Florida Open Summary
Good, bad, and ugly, I had some of it all. If you have followed the blog the past few months you know how little trigger time I have gotten, and how little practice I have had before really getting committed and starting again here in February. I was fully expecting the FLOP to be a major disaster for me. Most blogs I would hammer down on all the things that went wrong, and I'm not going to deny that things did, oh did they ever! However I saw improvement in quite a few things, and even if my score is going to be about the same as the last 2 majors I shot (Ohio and Bluegrass last year) I'm way ahead of the game, and I can "buff out" some of the errors I had.
L to R: Kozy, Me, David, Roy, Drew, Ryan, Les, Ralph, David, Raimondas
This match was both the hardest, and most enjoyable match I have ever shot. There was distance, swingers with partials, fast swingers, and some pretty tight shots. There were a couple of stages that were pretty straight forward. I had a great squad to shoot with, and this was the first time since the move that I have seen Les and Kozy. Adding to the squad was Limited GM Roy Steadman (and my travel partner for the match) so I had some excellent shooters to watch, and to work with on plans. Aside from the friendship part, great squad, great people to learn from. (2 GM's and 2 Master Class shooters....if you pay attention, and listen, you stand to learn.)
My biggest improvement was attitude. Last year when I'd have a bad stage and melt down, I would never recover from it, at Bluegrass I had a meltdown, and let it fester and carried it for 5 more stages before I righted the ship. In Ohio I had a bad stage and let it carry for 4 stages. You just can't do that. In Florida I shot 11 mini-matches. I had one train wreck of my own making, and I was unhappy, but it was completely forgotten when I got to the next stage, and built a plan based on shooting to slide lock, confidence right after a disaster. That's a baseball closer, or a football defensive back, gotta have a short memory for bad things. When it's all said and done, I'm really happy with this improvement, it's the single biggest thing I could have improved on, and I need to keep it together, remember how it felt, and carry it forward.
So what went wrong? 25 Mikes, and 31 Delta's. That alone tells me I was not focused on my sights because those are remarkably poor hits. Add in 214 Alpha and 81 Charlie, I did not have the A/C ratio I need, and expect. To compare it, Les had 277 Alpha, 64 Charlie, 6 Delta, and 4 Mike, and he felt the D/M were too high. That's a lot of points he had on me, and granted he will likely win the Production Division, that level of points is where I want to be. I need to be more accurate.
Accuracy Breakdown:
Why did I struggle? The most obvious reason is that I did not see my sights. The truth is there were some stages I felt like I had the front sight, the others I was looking beyond the front sight to the target, and I never saw the sights rise, or settle. That's an embarrassing admission, but when I breakdown my video, I remember what I saw, so I'm going to try to notate it, and see what is in common.
Swingers. I cant tell you the last time I practiced them. I had some luck, but I had a ton of struggles with the speed, and the fact that many were obscured, so there were very brief points where you could see them and hit. I had an awful lot of mikes on swingers.
Distance. There was some serious distance here, on Stage 6, where I started I had to run the stage twice. Second shooter, I had some mag issues, but I took some time and respect 2 half low targets in the sun, and had A/C and A/C on my first run. Thankfully there was a re-shoot because of no pasting, and I saved about 25 seconds on the reshoot, but I did not respect those same targets and ended up with 4 mikes. That's a huge swing, but in my haste to go fast, I never saw my sights, and I remember never seeing my sights come back down. I looked past the sight to the target.
Fixable:
I think my accuracy issue is totally fixable. It's not just going to go away, but dry fire, and live trigger time, with a focus on fundamentals, and it will fix itself. One of my goals was to shoot 90% points in a major match this year, in Florida I shot 76% points before penalty, and only 60% after. That's pretty awful. Last spring, early summer, when I was at my best, I was shooting 85%-90% points in a few club matches, so I know I can get back to that level of accuracy thru practice. Now it's just a matter of doing that, dry fire focusing on my sights and trigger control, shooting groups in live fire, and getting used to the recoil of my gun again.
Marksmanship is something I've worked on before, so I'm confident in my ability to get it back up to shape, I've done it, I know what and how to do it again. Now it's just a matter of my living up to my commitment and actually doing it.
Overall:
I made a comment that my passion for the sport was renewed because of the people I shot with. Seeing Les and Kozy brought all that back again. I had so much fun. If I was shooting with those guys still, I would never have wanted to try 3-Gun this year. That's how much fun it was, and how much I don't want to suck next time. I'm not saying I feel obligated to do well, but those guys invested an awful lot of time into working with me, and I did not show much for that investment this weekend. Next time out I want to show 'em that their investment was worth it. No, that's not the main reason, I want to do it for me, but every little bit of motivation helps.
A few months until I see 'em again, and we're shooting several major's together this year, I won't go as long without seeing 'em again. I really need to stay on self-motivation, and of course shooting with Linda helps too. It's early in the game, really just two weeks since I affirmed my commitment, and got back on the horse. That's a good start, and FLOP was a good way for me to see how far my overall performance has degraded, and give me a place to start working.
L to R: Myself, Roy, Kozy, & Les, post match, leaving Frostproof.
I'm going to get busy working on it, and go. I'm so excited to be practicing again, and it's fun again, I don't see it as work. I'm doing it because I love it.
Florida Open Prep
Not a whole lot more to do, the match is in a few days, and if I'm honest with myself, I realize I'm not close to where I wanted to be, so I'm not going down with any real expectations. A few weeks ago I said I just wanted to shoot the match and not DQ, which was a pretty pathetic attitude. The dry fire, live, and getting back on the daily practice bandwagon has really helped, but no, not even close to the top of my game.
I'm going to the match wanting to find the gaping holes in my game, to identify them, and to start fixing them over the course of this season. I'm going to take one stage at a time, and with no expectations, I'm going to reset after every stage, and forget about the previous one. I think from a mental aspect, I need to do this, I need to be able to treat each stage as a mini-match, bring my best effort to it, and not carry over any lingering effects of issues on previous stages.
I've never spent time on long range stages, never seen 25-35 yard double swingers, so this is going to be an eye opening experience. Just going and trying should help me set higher challenges going forward for myself, and in the long run, it's a positive step.
What I'm really looking forward to doing, is having a couple of days to hang out with Les and Kozy, it's the first time I'll have seen 'em since we moved, and while I don't want to interfere with their "game face" and match performance, I also know those two guys help me. The little e-mails, encouraging words, texts, they'll help me find as much success as I can down there. I'm really looking forward to it!
It's painfully obvious that shooting is a perishable skill, and a lack of live fire has really been an issue for me. There are limits in dry fire, simply things that I can't reproduce, like muzzle rise, recoil, and so on. Yesterday I had a sporadic issue with not watching my front sights, and I had moments where I was in "zone" and was able to shoot like the only things I was seeing were my front sights. In addition, I had an awful lot of mental errors that cost me, mental errors that I was not making last summer. I had a mag loaded to 7, I'd forget a stage plan, or lose my stage plan while making up a shot. These are all correctable, but I realize that I don't have a substitute way to practice that stuff, and yesterday it hurt. With Florida end of the week, I know where I'm at, I also realize it's not just dry fire, and live fire I need, but to stay focused the way I was last year. Last summer I would have called those things instinctual, this year I have to think about them.
Awkward lean to start since I had to transition and shoot on the move to 3 targets. Once upon a time I would have just used the starting position to turn and shoot from, and not shot on the move, or I would have "baby stepped" which is really crappy, and offers no benefit. Since one of my focal points is on the move, I wanted to take these moving, and I did. Hits were good on the first target, but by the 3rd target I had a C and D, so it's a step, but I need work.
2nd position I came into the open target a hair slower than I wanted, and then had the long angle to the steel, and because of the mikes had to eat a standing reload, that hurt.
3rd position I wanted to come into the head box only target because I felt like it deserved the extra time and if I transitioned from the star to the head box I would end up rushing it. I have no idea if that was the right decision or not, and I was so focused on the head shot, I forgot I was going to the star next, and I looked for another target. I ran the star really well however, probably the best I have ever done.
Final position I was slow on the transitional reload, but had good hits, and I felt like I was slow on the transition from the far target to the final far right target.
Stage 6:
This one started out pretty decently, not a bad turn and get to the gun, I hit the targets in the order that I wanted, and I thought my splits, transitions and hits were good. Issue one was moving into position for the 2nd array on the left hand side. Despite telling myself 10,000 times in walk thru that I needed to get to the back of the shooter box, I failed to do it. I had to do it to see a low target on the 2nd array, and only with a lean, not moving into position cost me the reset.
Reload was okay, and I had the gun up and shooting into the inside position on the right, but this was my biggest failure. If I went 1 for 1 on the steel, my plan was to take out the big popper back left, so my last position was only paper, and I could come in flying rather than having to line up another long shot. Problem was, I missed a popper, ran dry, and had to eat a standing reload before getting to the other position. Had I taken the small popper, I could have moved to the final position, like I tried to do, and taken the long shot, and not eaten the long reload. That mental mistake cost me.
Stage 2:
Unloaded start, something I need to work on more, but that was not a big time cost. I got out hit the first 2 targets pretty well, but when I came into the port I did not have my front sight, and missed on the steel, when I got composed and took it, I did not have enough to finish my original plan, and went dry again. Just a dumb mistake. I was pretty unhappy with this run, because it was a couple of mental mistakes that I just plain know better.
Summary:
First match in 90 days because of weather, and a few other things, and I can see that my "match skill" set needs to be brought back up to speed. That also includes a focus on my front sights, One of my "soft goals" is to earn 90% of points, and the only way I can do that is maintain a consistent focus on my front sight. I did not have it today, but it was definitely there in bursts The way I ran the Texas Star felt great, I actually tried to shoot on the move, I had some good splits, and some good transitions, so I don't think it was a total disaster.
Some of the issues are going to self correct with dry fire, and live fire work, and I'm definitely back on that. I've gotten my dryfire in for the past week each and every day, and I've done it effectively. I also saw improvement in things I felt I was weak in the past, and struggled with, so dry fire helps. What I did not see was consistency, and that will be a big thing going forward. In order to achieve my goals, I'm definitely going to have to get more consistent.
The last positive thing I see, is in my attitude. A year ago, I would have been frustrated, and been angry, and found very little positive in this match. This year, I'm willing to accept that I can find positives even when things don't go the way I want.
On the eating front, keeping up my log on My Fitness Pal, have stayed well under my calorie goal each day, and I'm getting smarter about my portions again. The issue normally is that I'm hungry as hell, feel cold, and am tired, I think that's in large part because I'm way under my calorie goal, and I can, and probably should have a couple extra healthy 100 calorie snacks during the day. Once I make it past the first week or so though, life will get infinitely easier, so keeping the willpower now is very important.
Last night in dry fire, we worked some core skills. Starting with El Prez, I set my par time to 6 seconds, and had no problem with that, so I gradually moved the par time towards a 5.0 second goal, but once I hit 5.4 seconds was struggling to push myself to meet the par. I have shot it live faster, so I know I can do this, and as the rust wears off, I think I'll see real progress with this one. I did however feel like I had a very good sight picture (something I can't always say I have) and I think I would have shot it very well.
We did several draw drills, and my time is even a little better than it was on Sunday, so gradually the rust is starting to come off. That felt good. The struggle for both of us was the reload drill we closed out with. Three targets, draw, six shots, reload, six shots, reload, six shots, par time was 6 seconds, and I could not manage it. My first reload was usually pretty solid, but once I was in shooting rhythm, my reloads got progressively sloppy. I can see where 2 reload 2 is key, I need to up my comfort and expand the skill. A single 1.0 second reload is nice, but there are very few reloads where I'm not in a shooting rhythm, and I need to maintain focus.
It was good to get back to old routines. I have not practiced since June. Really being honest about it last time I practiced it was before the Ohio Sectional. Shot my last Illinois match about June 8th and then my gun sat in the box til August. So it is time to chip away at all this rust that has built up since the move.
Goals:
I would like to earn my B card this year.
Would like to shoot 1 or 2 bigger matches in state.
Really want to focus on having solid/consistent matches.
Classifiers---I dislike them, I let them intimidate me completely...needs to stop
Commenting on the last goal~ I need to leave what happens on a stage, at that stage when I leave it and not let it put me in a down spiral for the rest of the match.
1st dry fire practice ( in awhile)-- Sunday Night-
WHOA!! Tons of rust! I picked 3 dry fire drills to work on.
Trigger Control at Speed
Transition Component Drills
Reload Components
Not one of them could I hit where the timer was set at. Trigger Control at Speed- really notice the slap of the trigger due to not finding the re-set. The sight goes down and to the left. By far the work drill for me was the Transition Drill--I have always struggled with this drill. I don't see the sight, I drag across all targets. I am aiming to low. Reload Drill- I was sloppy, stuff I know I can work on. Either I was on and turned the gun correctly, and did the whole process decent, or I was bad.
1st live fire practice ( in an even longer time)- Monday-
Was great to get back on the range. When you're there, nothing else matters, but you and your practice. I was intimidated at first staying behind what felt like a backstop to me. But I quickly got past that with the first pull of the trigger.
We ran 10 yd groups that I was ok with. 15yds I struggled. We had a turtle target out at 25 yds and I had them all on paper but not in a group.
As a whole on other drills I notice my splits at ranging between.30-.35. My transitions are in the .50's. My draw started out hairy at a 1.9, but then slowly got it down to a 1.5.
BILL DRILL- Well for some crazy reason, I can't count to 6! Seems so stupid, I need to laugh at myself. I started out at a 3.3 then got down to 2.79.
All in all a good practice, needed to get out there and get going.
I still see my flinch, and need to seriously work on finding the re-set to my gun, I don't most of the time..... I slap the trigger and my front sight is dancing down and to the left.
Back In The Saddle
Day 1 back on the diet, and I'm in the game again. I made the call to use My Fitness Pal to log again, (ldsundevil827) and I'm off and running. Putting things in perspective, right now, I'm allotted 2170 calories a day, with three exercise days a week. That puts me dropping my first 10 pounds by March 9th, should be easy enough, just need to stay on things, and eat right. I've got this, one day at a time, one meal at a time.
Today is also day 2 of getting ready to shoot again. I hemmed and hawed all January long about a shooting partner, and after some long discussions, Linda and I are going to partner up to shoot and work together. The biggest downside is that it's easy to skip practice, for us to say "let's watch TV" or something like that, and that she is not pushing me. I got a great benefit from working with Dave, because he was an equal, and with Les and Kozy because they were infinitely better than I was, so I had to push myself harder.
The honest truth is that Linda has a lot more potential than I do in USPSA, she's quicker, faster, and has good instincts, so while she may not be where I am today, I think she can rapidly catch up, and surpass me as long as she is committed to working at it. By our teaming to work in 2015, I think that she'll move in that direction, and she'll definitely have me nagging her to go practice. This has meant a deeper investment, a second timer, more targets, and double the ammo. Right now we are committed to a live fire practice 200-250 rounds once a week, and 6 dry fire practices a week, 15-30 minutes per session. We're going to try to work 2 local matches a month, weather permitting, My goal is to earn my "A" card, and get competitive within that division, I'm going to give Linda access to the blog, so she can write as well, and she can put her goals, and track her progress.
Yesterday we worked fundamental skills in dry fire in order to brush the rust off. Trigger control at Speed was the starter, I was about 1.6 second in my first run thru, by my 3rd set, I was able to hit the par time of 1.2 seconds with pushing it, it was not comfortable, bu that's a good thing. We worked Transition Component Drills, with a 1.6 second par time, and that was a struggle for me, I was in the 1.9 area pushing myself, I know that needs some work, and today at the range I saw it in person. Finally we worked Reload Components, we ran a set of reloads with a 1.6 second par time, and struggled, I think we were around 1.8 seconds. We broke it down to the micro drills, and after a few runs, I had the Burkett Load to the .6 second par time with relative ease, then we ran two sets of the follow up, seat mag, extend and sight picture, and again after a few, I was comfortable with that part at .6 seconds. Then we came put it all back together, and my reloads were around 1.4 seconds, which was a .4 second improvement after starting that way cold. I need more work here, I had to go "robotic" to make sure the cant was right, the mag was out, and everything was right. More repetition here will smooth that out.
Today at the range, we shot some groups at 10 yards, 15 yards, and 25 yards. We worked on some medium transitions, from 10-15, and vice versa with about a 10' spread between them, and we closed out with some Bill Drills. My 10 yard groups were excellent, my 15 yard groups were decent, and my 25 yard groups took a while to tighten up, I'm going to have to get some video, because I sense a flinch, I ran a good group, but all in the "C" zone left (metric target). On the transition drills, my draw was in the 1.4-1.6 range, with .5 transitions, and that's slow, last spring I was running .38 transitions on those types of distances. Splits were in the .21-.22 range.
Bill Drill was slow, I think I started at 2.79, but the last ones I closed at were in the 2.08 area, with all Alpha's. Draw was the slowest part, and I never got my transitions below .20, which means work, again, last spring/summer my splits were consistently in the .17- .19 area. Again, not perfect, but considering how little work I've done in the last 60-90 days, I saw some progress, I just see 30 days of working the rust out to get back where I was at, and before I can really start pushing hard forward.
Tonight we're going to work some Core USPSA skills, and I'm going to dry fire El Prez, a Plate Rack Drill, Partials, and 5 minutes on One Handed Shooting, before closing with a few more minutes on the Bill Drill. One of Linda's biggest area's of need is picking up the speed, and pulling the trigger faster, for her, some extra focus on things like a Bill Drill should really pay off, for me, they all help, but a little focus on strong and weak hand shooting should be a good thing.
2015 Plans (Pt. 2)
In November I wrote a blog detailing what went right, and what went wrong for me in 2014. I've been putting off the follow-up to it, because I was not really sure where I should be going. The reality is that over the past few weeks, I've had to do some real honest self-evaluation and that's never a pretty thing to do. I suppose I avoided doing that, because I had an idea of what I needed to do, but the cold hard reality of why I needed to it, and what had been holding me up from doing it was immobilizing me. Today though, I acknowledging what those issues are, and I'm going to take steps to go forward, and deal with those things.
The move to Austin in 2014 was great, I love my job, I love being here, I'm as happy as can be with that. I love spending time with the family, sharing adventures, I'm happy with those things. Where I'm dissatisfied, is when I look in the mirror. I don't like the guy I'm seeing there. A few years ago, I worked at diet, I worked at fitness, and I dropped over 50 lbs in pretty short order. Since then though, I've made stabs at different diets, and even when I made progress, I lost my will to succeed and gave up. I used the travel excuse, and it is a challenge to eat healthy when you are on the road, and have to eat out 6-9 meals a week. All those things contributed (along with Migas, Tex-Mex, BBQ, and Chicken Fried Steak), to see me put all that weight back on. I look in the mirror, and I'm genuinely upset.
November 2013 thru mid-June 2014, I was a practicing son of a gun. I religiously did my dry fire, I weekly got in my live fire, and I saw good progress in my shooting skills. When I accepted the new job, and got caught up with packing, and moving, I started to drift away from shooting, not out of choice, but I just did not have the time with the huge life changes we were experiencing. When I got to Austin, I wanted to explore, get Linda and Lauren excited about living here, and there was some shooting involved, but not a lot of practice, and I think we all know what happens when you don't put in the practice time.
Both the fitness and the practice tie in to my focus for 2015 though. In that last blog, I think I correctly identified things that I'm doing strongly, and some serious shooting shortcomings. I looked up my last El Presidente that was an official classifier, (March of '14) and I ran 7.62 seconds, 56 points and a 7.35 HF which was about a 71%, and that was a solid "B" run. Several weeks ago, I ran it in practice, my best time was 5.35 seconds, 50 points, and a 9.28 HF, which is about a 90% run. My draw, reload, splits and transitions are solid enough to get me into "A" class. Runs were between 5.35 and 5.92. My biggest issue has always been consistent points, but I'm finally able to feel that I'm starting to see my sights well going fast. The video below shows some good to it, but it also shows where I was inconsistent. That's going to be a big focus for 2015, getting consistent.
Fixing my draw, and getting a little elbow bend has really been all I have accomplished the past three months in practice, which sucks, but for me that's been the first step in being more consistent, and shooting more points. I'm not where I want to be, but I'm actually improving. That's the one thing I'm going to build on.
Shooting:
In IL, Les partnered me up with Dave to begin "Plan B", and it was interesting, undertaking the process, going to classes, working classifiers, setting up dry fire routines with, and committing to weekly live fire with someone I had never met prior to that. Once "Plan B" was complete, I got to "tag along" with Les and Kozy, and both are intense (in very different ways) but our live fire had them on a whole 'nother playing field than me. I did however, not miss sessions, I went, I learned, and I made progress. I knew that if I did not show up, I'd hear about it, I'd be given a ration of shit. I fed off of that intensity, and it helped me be honest with my own practice habits. The past few weeks, I realized how much that meant, and how easy it is to say "I'm busy, I have something else I need to do, it's just this one time...." I can't allow myself to do that, and practicing with someone else is just something I need right now to help me keep my commitment. Is it a sign of weakness to say I'm not able to do it solo? Maybe, but no matter how much I want something, it's always easier for me to have someone to share the experience with. I'd talk to Dave, Les, and Kozy during the week, we'd talk shooting, talk drills, I was bouncing ideas, I had technique help, or par time assisted, I'd be given suggestions on drills to work to help what I wanted to fix, and I had people who were invested in me. People that I fought equally as hard to accomplish my goals because I wanted them to be proud, feel their investment in me was worth their time.
In the above video, look at the "thumbs up" reaction when Linda did well on a classifier from Les and Kozy, and look at the heads down, disappointment from both of 'em when I blew the run, and lost my cool. Those guys bled for me. I can't thank them enough, for that, and while I know they still do, I need someone daily in my face for 2015 to work with.
That leads me to resolution one. I need a practice partner to push me. Timmy is a "Pro GM", and he runs a lot of solo drills, and does his stage work with another GM, so I'm not seeing that. Linda and I talked about it, but it means a different level of commitment from her, and there are some pluses and some definite minuses to working with her in 2015. I don't want it to be easy to say "another day" when it comes to practice. That said, there are a couple of other people that are good enough, or strong enough shooters that I think I could learn from, and still bring something to the table with.
Resolution two is that I'm going work on things I'm not good at. Draw, transitions, those things may be low hanging fruit, but those will improve without a high focus on them right now. I'm seriously lacking in field course skills, I need work on position entry and exit. I need work on strong hand and week hand, and I really need work on shooting on the move. Watching video's over the course of the year, I realize that if I was bad at something, I shot to avoid it. I would go position to position, and would cost myself all sorts of time, which means I also need to stage plan to incorporate those skills I'm working on.
Resolution three, is that I'm going to keep my cool all the time. Little mistakes are not going to bother me. I see video's where I know I made a mistake and either all out melt down, or swear, and let it impact my next few shots. Mistakes happen, that's not a problem, but it becomes a problem if when a mistake causes me to keep making more. I need to cut that off. The QB who throws an interception, the DB who gives up a long TD. Short memory, stay focused.
Improving on field courses is not really a resolution, but it's going to be the result of how I want to practice this year. I want to shoot some major's, and finish within my "class" to the winners. If I earn my "A" here shortly, then I want to shoot 75% at least of what the winner shoots. Right now, I know I can't do that.
Fitness:
This is a big part of what I'm missing. When I've had to shoot 10-12 stages in a day, I've been exhausted, burned out, and done for before I was done shooting. Being physically out of the game, took me mentally out of the game, and I'm just not going to keep putting myself in that position. In addition, I need an awful lot more quickness, and explosion in my game, and getting in shape will play a huge part in that. I break down fitness into a couple of categories.
Weight loss, I've done the goofy diets, I've tried the stupid replacing a meal with a shake, eating certain size containers of food, and for different reasons they've been tough. You know what's worked for me? Counting my calories. When I went thru my weight loss before, I used My Fitness Pal, and in 6 months of using it, I never once went over my allotted calories. That taught me not just about portion control, but it taught me how to eat to keep sugars, salts and other key parts where I needed them to be. The other part of that successful run, was that I did it at the same time as some other work folks, and it was a daily competition sort of things, that kept me on my game, kept me motivated. I'm going to be a little more willing to have a "cheat" day here or there, but I'm going to use this to build the right habits, and keep them. Trying to be "perfect" made things harder than they needed to be, and I'm not saying I'm going to the other extreme, that I'll cheat every single day. When someone comes to visit this year, I can go out for BBQ, or I can enjoy some higher calorie Tex-Mex. I can't do it every day, and I may end up working out harder, but keeping sensible, and in moderation work. Project eat right begins on Monday the 5th. I'm not gorging myself, but there are a couple of Guinness in the fridge, and when they are gone, they'll be gone for awhile.
Fitness. Again, last time I lost weight, I was on the treadmill for at 30 minutes to an hour every single day, with no breaks, no days off for five months. Insane right? Everyone knows that your body needs a break here and there, but I was deathly afraid that if I skipped one day, it would let me skip another day, and it would spiral out of control. That's garbage, and I know it. I've got more will power than that. I'm breaking my workouts into both cardio and strength. Treadmill for the time being because every hotel fitness room has one, and I have one at home, and I'm shopping elliptical now because I think it provides a better benefit for my time invested than just a treadmill. Going to keep doing the miserable 7 day aerobic with weight routine I did in October, I hated it, but even I saw improved flexibility, and cardio plus weight work is good. The last part is a decision on either free weights, or looking at bow flex. I'm not 100% sold, but I want a workout that I can run both at home, and when I'm on the road.
The reality is that when I'm on the road, I'm not a drinker, I don't go out to bars, and after my last call, and unless I'm taking a customer to dinner, I'm back in my room by 7pm. I have ample opportunity to both workout, and to get in 30-40 minutes of dry fire. The short version is that I've got no reason not to accomplish my goals.
Summary:
I have been, and am the biggest reason that I have not hit my 2014 goals. Setting aside the other stuff, I did not accomplish what I wanted to accomplish because I did not put in the work, or make the effort I needed to make. How's that for a bit of honesty? When I lost my 50 lbs a few years ago, when I went from D to B in 5 months, I did it because I was committed, invested, and motivated. I was none of those things for the 2nd half of 2014, and I regret that. A night shoot, my last match, reminded me how passionate I am about shooting, and also how much I miss Les and Kozy. Those fuckers are working, why aren't I?
I'm committing to 4 workouts a week for now.
I'm committing to hitting my calorie goal 28 days a month, and NEVER being more than 10% over on a cheat day.
I'm committing to finding a practice partner.
I'm committing to 10% of my dry fire to strong hand/week hand drills, all year long.
I'm committing to 5 dry fire sessions of at least 30 minutes a week.
I'm committing to at least one live fire session of 200-250 rounds per week.
I'm going to lose 10 lbs a month for the next 5 months, we'll see where I'm at then, and plan the rest of the year.
I'm going to shoot 75% of a winners points in at least one major match in the 2nd half of 2015.
I'm going to earn my "A" card.
I'm going to reach 90% of points shot in a major match.
I'm going to keep my cool, and not melt down.
I need to sit down with Les, and pick his brain, and put together measurable goals and run 30 day rotations on my drills to keep things fresh, and challenging. I'm need to determine what dry fire practice will help me most with ports, positions, and so on. I need to set-up tier goals that work for me.
Realizing that I'm getting into 3-Gun this year, those goals are separate. I'm not focused, nor am I committed to it, I'm doing it for fun. Will I practice shotgun reloads? Sure, but I'm not going to focus on them, 3-Gun could be a 6th dry fire day during the week. I'm going to enjoy it, but I'm going to achieve my USPSA goals this year. I want to know I took myself as far as I could commensurate with what I'm able to commit.
The biggest thing I'm going to do, is I'm going to be honest with myself, and I'm going to stop and frequently evaluate what I'm doing. If something is not working, I'm not going to beat my head into a wall doing it over and over, I'm going to find another way to get the solution. I'm going to keep doing things that make me better, and I'm going to be honest when I'm not putting in the effort I need.
I've got a ways to go, but the last few weeks helped me realize that if I take responsibility for my goals, and my actions, only then will I accomplish what I set out to do. That sounds small, but sometimes it's the little things that get away from you. I'm done making excuses. In December 2015, I want to be a thinner, healthier, more fit, person, who is taking a winter shooting break, and able to say "yep, I rocked out 2015 to the best of my ability and left it all out there."
