Stepping into the New Year

For my first full day back in Stafford, I went to the gym. First off, I stepped on the scales to find I'd lost a couple of pounds.

WTF? How did I lose weight over Christmas? I ate like a horse! [1]

Anyway, the cross-trainer was happily no challenge, although the upper body machines were tricky. And then my right knee started hurting while doing the leg press, on the outside edge of the kneecap. Weird. So I stopped that and went home. No aches or pains today, but I'll drop the weight next time.

Today I've pottered about, partly usefully, and have just enjoyed an early lunch of curried scrambled eggs. Time now to don my thermals and head over to Lichfield for some shooting.

Then back again for thawing out, ironing, tidying, and preparing for work tomorrow.

Happy Sunday everyone!

[1] A carnivorous horse that likes a few pints over dinner.

Twanging

Three updates in one day. My goodness.

Anyway, went to the club for the first time this year.

I started by shooting a few ends without a target and then tried to carry that feeling over to shooting at a target face. To the uninitiated this may sound odd; however, anyone who has played golf can tell you it's easy to hit a perfect drive into a practice net or at the driving range, but when you're trying to aim for a narrow strip of fairway or the green, it's a whole different story. The same goes for archery (except you always try to miss the green :-).

Given my bow is entirely untuned and the arrows are completely unsuitable for the draw weight, I hit a surprising number of 10s. Then my coach told me I was doing exactly what I hoped I wasn't - forward loosing. This is when you lose tension at the moment of release and the string hand comes forward rather than flowing back along the neck. I was doing a bloody good job of faking it, as my hand stayed in contact with my neck throughout, but it was still happening.

Bugger, thought I. How can I fix this? It was then that the advantage of shooting a light bow I can physically dominate came into its own. I realised my bow arm was collapsing slightly during the draw, so paying a bit more attention to maintaining extension solved the problem with my release. I know it sounds a bit mad that the problem with one arm is caused by the other, but it makes sense if you're an archer. After all, both arms are connected by a nut in the middle ;-)

Nearly sixty arrows was enough for me. Lots of work to be done before I can turn the bow weight up. I hope to hit full bow weight again by the end of the outdoor season, but I won't rush it.