Lazy day!

So 5am I woke to the sound of the sky falling. By 9am I had given up any pretensions to leaving the house... I think we got a whole season of rain in a single day. So finally a day to start setting up what would be a 'man cave' if I was a man... funny how girls don't get a man cave... you'd think we don't need somewhere to break down and rebuild our bows, shoot a few arrows and beat up the ol' punching bag in peace. Or just fletch some arrows without fear of ruining the table finish etc
I've got the target set up, and the punching bag... still no room for the bow cases... :D my recurve is currently leaning against the bed in my room... I really need to get the bat cave sorted :D
But I'm an out of sight out of mind kind of girl. So the recurve will probably stay where it is. I won't do SPTs everyday if the bow needs setting up every time... lazy I know, but working around your own laziness is an art :D
Main focus at the moment is my bow shoulder. So set the shoulder low at pre-draw using lats to keep it down. I had this really strong, back in May 2009, and a weak shoulder shows up in my bad shots big time.. so it's a good place to work on this week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGmc-SK9zd8

Remember there is no spoon...

So... team selection done and dusted.

And what a calamity of misfortunes that was. Day 1 couldn't hit the side of a barn standing inside with the doors shut. No clue what was going on...but it wasn't pretty (1303...I'm pretty sure I haven't shot that bad since I first picked up compound..). Day 2 shooting was marginally better (1343)..would have been hard to be worse... but my back was freaking from too many days of driving and plane flights so I was actually crying with the first arrow each end. And then my draw hand cramped up baaad at 30m and I had to time out for an end and try and ease it up... 5.30am physio to get me sorted before matchplay, said it was just fatigue...stoopid body!!!!!! lost the semi-final on a one arrow shoot off by one point and then won the bronze. Not exactly quality shooting in either match.

But in the midst of this I rediscovered an old friend...patience. At the moment the technique is mostly sound, the strength is a work in progress... but that finesse just isn't there. Yesterday I just remembered that thing I always forget when I'm out of condition.... there is no spoon :)
That perfect moment of looking at the target, but not looking and just waiting for the shot to happen in it's own good time. Don't think too hard about it or it will slip away. Like trying to see a magic eye picture...well okay not a good analogy for the stereoscopically challenged, but hopefully you get the idea.

Of course the thing that makes the ultimate patience really work is having the physical strength the hold it... sigh! Lots of work to do. But what else does a girl do in her spare time really?

6am procrastination and why are we doing this??

So it's dawn and I'm putting off going for my run cos it's cold out there and anyone who ever met me knows that cold and Erika do not mix. I am that chick wearing jeans and a hoody on a 30C day when everyone else is boiling.

And so the brain turns to ponder a recent statement by our national shooting body, that running will improve your shooting. I recall being told that when I was a junior and being asked to think of the best archer I knew to prove their point...well he was over a 100kg most of his life. Amazing archer, but certainly not a benchmark for athletic supremacy. And even now...physique is not really a standard thing in archery.

All I've done since I started running again is gain weight (:D well okay insulin is helping that) but it seems a bit like I'm better designed to being a languishing couch potato than a runner if I want to be waif thin. And honestly as the possibly the fittest female compounder in the team selection this year... I can't say my scores have been my friend.

Awesome to see a new slim and slinky Pat Coghlan at the Australia Day shoot. I haven't been that impressed since Jorje Imenes dropped all his weight. Didn't recognise the man. But interestingly the scores at Aus Day were pretty poo all round. Our compounders at their best were called the 100kg club for a reason...Hahahahaha so maybe running just disagrees with our archery :D

But admittedly I like to run..so it's just me pondering rather than complaining...and avoiding the cold cold morning rather than the run :)

6Jan2011 Sunday Training

In the beginning there was archery...and then there was training and then there was video training and then there was youtube...and now there is blogging... sounds a little too close to Aussie slang for something else... but then that's not inappropriate for airing one's thoughts on the internet.

So this is for keeping my progress a little better documented..haha and we'll see how the discipline holds up.

Today I added 15 minutes of jump rope to my daily cardio. So current cardio regime is 15minute run at 12km per hour and 15 minutes jumping rope. Also 10 minutes of hill sprints when I pass the evil hill. May as well use it since it's there. Not a huge amount of exercise, but I'm an archer not an athlete :D

Shooting will be 160 arrows compound and whatever I can fit in recurve wise before running off to shout a friend arvo tea for her birthday.

Currently my main concern is how fat I'm getting and how much strength I've lost since my poor old pancreas packed it in. Insulin is freedom, but being healthy means I'm gaining weight dammit! So upping the cardio counting the carbs and getting back on track.

Goals: 200 arrows a day, better time on the running, a leaner Erika, and recurve!!!