End of the 2017 Outdoor Season

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Archery, Archery Family, Friends, Goals, Injury, Outdoor, Personal Best, Physio, Season Summary, Team Storm, Tournament, Training

This weekend’s Caledon tournament marks the end of my first outdoor season. Similarly to what I mentioned at the End of the 2016-17 Indoor Season, this season I was involved in a few more charity events, I set a couple new personal bests under tournament conditions (one at the Canadian Championships), I learned a lot about my form and the sport, I started a physical training plan, I met even more wonderful new friends, had my first injury to deal with, and I even managed to win another medal at a Provincial Championship!

It’s been an amazing few months, and I’m sad that it’s coming to an end. I am just now feeling recovered from my injury and I was just starting to really feel like I was getting into a good groove outside. I guess I’ll just have to figure out how to take that mental state and bring it inside for the Winter season.

Review of Plans and Goals

In my last end of season post, I talked about some plans and goals Norm and I had for the summer. While I didn’t achieve all of my goals, I did achieve many of them, and I’m really happy with how the season has gone overall.

First off, physio and physical training. I definitely didn’t put as much time into hitting the gym and working on cardio as I had hoped to this season. The back injury in July was a major setback, and delayed the advancement of my training program. It did however give me some much needed time to work on the mental side of things and to take a short break, which I feel was very beneficial as my average score for a 720 round jumped about 30 points during my recovery.

The early morning training that Norm and I had talked about doing was actually very successful! Most weeks, we were out at the range Tuesday and Thursday mornings by about 7am. We were even pleasantly surprised to be joined by another archery friend for many of the Spring mornings! Even though getting out of bed is hard sometimes, it was a really fun experience, and one I’m sure we’ll do again next Spring/Summer!

I feel like I have moved away from the weekly arrow counts I threatened you all with, mostly because I created a home just for them, and I felt like it was kind of boring for you. I did however keep up my promise of weekly posts, in a mostly journal type format. I expect this trend to continue, but during the shooting season transitions, there may be weeks where there’s nothing to talk about. I don’t really want to say nothing during those times, so I’ll have to come up with some interesting content to fill the gaps. Now that I have an Athlete Page on Facebook, there’s a good chance that I may do some live or pre-recorded videos. Suggestions have included Tutorials, Q&A, Equipment Reviews, and the like, but I’m always open to hearing other ideas. What would you like me to talk about? What would be interesting or useful for you to see on here?

And finally, goals. I had set out to open the season shooting 510/720 and end the season by getting up into the 550 – 600 / 720 range. Unfortunately, I didn’t meet my 575 or 600 score goals, but they were pretty lofty. Looking at my Tournament Scores chart for Outdoor 720, 70m, you can see that I have definitely been improving. I didn’t start out as high as I had hoped, but I feel very satisfied with how I’ve developed over the season and how I’m consistently scoring in the 550 range now, which is where I wanted to end the season. I learned a LOT about shooting outside, with changing weather and lighting conditions, and how they can affect your equipment and your shot.

And as a reminder, it’s not about how many 10s you shoot, it’s all about minimizing those lower scoring arrows. As evidence, I shot four 720 rounds this weekend, and I had almost the same number of 10s in each of those rounds. BUT, in the two rounds that were about 550/720, I had 12 arrows that scored less than a 7, while in the two rounds that were about 520/720, I had around 21 that scored less than a 7. Sure, more 10s won’t hurt, but less 3s, 4s, and 5s is even better!

Indoor Goals

For this upcoming indoor season, I have a few goals in mind. Firstly, I would really like to be consistently shooting 270/300s and having a peak score of at least 280/300 for a half round and 560/600 for a full round.

Second, there is at least one major indoor tournament that Norm and I have talked about travelling to; the Lancaster Classic in January. If we can get the time off work and afford the trip to Pennsylvania, it will earn us some very valuable competition experience, and we’ll have the opportunity to meet and shoot with so many archers we haven’t met before.

And finally, I would like to keep up, and advance my fitness program and arrow volume so that when Spring comes around, I’m able to go up in draw weight by a couple pounds.

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2017 Canadian Archery Championship | Championnat Canadien de tir à l’arc

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70m, Archery, Archery Family, Event, First Time, Friends, Goals, Injury, Outdoor, Personal Best, Physio, Team Storm, Tournament

This past week was all about the Canadian Nationals in Brossard, QC. I shot 314 arrows, nearly double what I had been shooting the two weeks prior and I worked with my physiotherapist earlier in the week to figure out some final plans and ideas to help minimize the effect of my injury. The plan worked out really well, and my back is feeling MUCH better. But, because I had been taking it easy, I had lost some of my stamina and struggled to continue to shoot strong shots by the end of each day. I’m meeting with him again tomorrow to work out a recovery plan. Hopefully I’ll be able to get back to full time training again in a week or two.

I shot a personal best on the first day, and achieved the first of 3 score goals I had set for myself for this season. I didn’t shoot as well on the second day, but it was still one of my highest scores for the season so far. During the elimination rounds on the third day I started strong, winning my first match, but I wasn’t  quite able to keep it up in the second. I lost two sets by only a single point or two and wasn’t able to keep up with my opponent. It was a great experience, and being only my second time doing eliminations, I learned a lot and and can’t wait for the next opportunity do it all again! Overall, I am very happy with my performance. It hasn’t fully set in yet, but top 10 in Canada with a 7th place finish in qualification and 9th in eliminations is very satisfying!

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Like other events I’ve been to, this one was no different. The organizing committee and all the volunteers work so hard for us. I can’t express enough how much your hard work means to us. Merci beaucoup! Every event I have been to has been full of friendly, hard working, dedicated people. The archery community is definitely one of the best! There is always a new friend at each event waiting to be made and so many interesting conversations to be had.

Michele, Dakota, Norm, and I carpooled out to Brossard and shared a room for the week. We had lots of fun and became better friends because of it. Thank you so much Michele for everything this weekend, I’m not sure we could have done it without you! Congratulations to Dakota and Norm who also shot personal bests this weekend, you guys rock!

Preparation & Recovery Planning

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Archery, Archery Family, Injury, Outdoor, Physio, Team Storm, Tournament, Training

As my back slowly heals, I’ve been able to get out shooting a little more in preparation for next weekend’s 2017 Canadian Championship in Québec. It wasn’t a lot, but this past week I shot 177 arrows, slightly up from the week before. It’s really hard forcing myself to not shoot as much as I want to, but I have to take it easy to avoid making this injury any worse. My physiotherapist and I have come up with what I feel is a pretty good plan for dealing with the injury leading up to, and during Nationals. When I get back from Nationals though, I will likely take two or three weeks off to get some good rest and hopefully fully recover from this injury.

Since the injury isn’t directly related to archery, knowing that I was still able to perform well with the pain and discomfort at Provincials, and having had a couple really good training sessions this past week with Norm, I feel very strong and confident about my form overall. There are still a couple issues that I’m trying to work through, but knowing what they are and how to fix them is a great start; I just need to stay mentally strong and focused for the duration of the tournament to minimize their impact. During my break, the mental game is something I’m going to be spending a lot of time on.

We’re really excited and looking forward to this tournament. It won’t be the last of the season, but it is the one we’ve been working toward all year. Plus, we’ll get to see more of this great country and meet many other fellow archers!

2017 OAA Target Championships

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70m, Archery, Archery Family, Arrow Volume, Friends, Injury, Outdoor, Physio, Team Storm, Tournament

I’m still dealing with back issues and haven’t been able to do any training since last week.  Hopefully, my physio appointment this week helps me start the healing process. The only shooting I did do was at the Ontario Provincial Championships this weekend in Sault Ste. Marie where I shot 262 arrows in practice and competition.

Norm, Shannon, and I all piled into the car early Friday morning for a long drive out to the Sault. On the way, we stopped by Sudbury to check out the Big Nickel at Science North. We didn’t record much of the archery, but we did get some video and photos of the trip. There was even a Rib Fest in town while we were there!

On Saturday, we shot two 720 qualification rounds for the Ontario Target Championship and I finished 4^th in my division with a 7.22 average arrow score. Since some of the divisions were a little smaller, they were combined to make for a single larger elimination bracket, putting me into 5^th overall. I was pretty satisfied with my performance, which was a little better than last weekend’s. I learned a lot, and even figured out something in my release that will make for more consistent shots in the future.

The Ontario Open was on Sunday. It’s a head-to-head style elimination tournament using Saturday’s qualification scores for seeding. I was very pleased with my performance overall, shooting a 7.4 average arrow and winning each of my three matches 6 – 2 to take the gold!

A huge thank you to the hosts, the organizers, and all the volunteers who put on a fabulous event! And

Making Mistakes, Making Progress

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70m, Archery, Archery Family, Arrow Volume, Outdoor, Team Storm, The Archers of Caledon, Tournament, Training

This week was pretty tough. I still managed to shoot near to my average arrow volume, but that’s only due to having another double double 720 this weekend. In total, I shot 432 arrows this week, but it should have been a much higher count. Earlier in the week I strained my back while doing some gardening and it’s still sore. The hardest part was resting; basically doing nothing for three days. All I wanted to do was to keep shooting, training, and working on the things my coach and I had last discussed. I probably shouldn’t have shot the tournament, especially with Provincials coming up next weekend. Thankfully, it seems to have worked out ok.

The week started off with something a little different; Field Archery. Norm convinced Brennan to come check out the club and as part of the tour we gave him, we shot the field course. I like to think of Field Archery as golf for archers, so I may occasionally refer to a target as a hole, since there are several different targets on a field course, like there are several holes on a golf  course. One of these holes had an option of shooting through some rather tightly grouped trees, so of course we took the opportunity!

Midweek, I met with my coach to discuss the concerns I had last week. We concluded that the changes were being caused by my recent form changes, and as long as it’s comfortable and consistent, it’s not an issue. He had some other suggestions for me to work on, but because of the gardening related back pain, I wasn’t able to do any further training this week. Instead, I used the tournament to really focus on incorporating his advice into my shot process. It’s definitely not something you should do during a tournament, but with my sore back, a lack of training this week, gusty wind conditions, and Provincials fast approaching, I decided I wouldn’t be too concerned about my scores and instead focus on working the new elements into my shot process to prepare for next weekend.

Norm got a few good clips of some of my less than ideal shots from the tournament. You can really see that my spine alignment is much straighter and my whole body is much more stable. You can also see how much my head is moving and how unstable my bow arm is. Granted, it was pretty windy, and I was slightly injured. Still, it’s something to work on.

Overall, I’m pretty happy with my performance this weekend, especially with the issues and weather that I had to deal with. I’ve regained confidence in my form, and I’m getting better at being able to read changing wind conditions.

Sun & Rain & Sun & Rain & Sun & …

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70m, Archery, Archery Family, Arrow Volume, Outdoor, Peterborough Archers, Peterborough Fish and Game Club, Summer Solstice, Team Storm, The Archers of Caledon, Tournament

We have had some rather consistently inconsistent weather this week, with lots of sun and frequent “popup” thunderstorms. But I still was able to shoot 485 arrows outside this week.

Now that Summer has officially arrived, it’s almost a guarantee that it will at least be reasonably warm out. But this week, most of those calm and warm sunny mornings have turned into quick torrential downpours, followed by more sun. On a couple days, it even switched back and both several times throughout the day!

Early in the week, I shot my first Canadian 900 round at The Archers of Caledon. Every year on the Summer Solstice, they host a fun 900 round that starts at about 7pm and runs until about dusk. The timing works out really well, being the longest day of the year, we can usually finish the full round just before it’s too dark. Afterward, we celebrate with pizza and mingling (or more shooting inside)! I had a really good time, and can’t wait to do it again next year! The weather was absolutely perfect, too. Calm, warm and for some reason, the bugs left us alone!

On Sunday, Norm and I headed out to Peterborough to shoot a tournament at the Peterborough Fish and Game Club hosted by Peterborough Archers. We had a really good time, and the volunteers did a wonderful job organizing the event and making lunch. I started off the round a little rough, but finished really strong to manage a non-training personal best score. After lunch, as we were about to start the second round, a series of intense storm cells moved though and the round had to be cancelled. It was pretty fun waiting for one of the cells to pass before we could pack up without everything getting soaked or blowing away.

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Here’s a short video that Norm took as it started to hail:

On the way home, we drove through another one of these storms, with even more hail. The entire road was covered in a thick layer of hail and water that only lasted no more than a few minutes before it was sunny again.

Before arriving at home, we took a detour to have ice cream on the patio at Dairy Queen. Even though half of the tournament was cancelled, it was still a pretty great day.

Double Double Sunburn – June 12, 2017

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Archery, Archery Family, Arrow Volume, First Time, Lighting, Team Storm, Tournament, Training

This week was mostly about reinforcing my form changes, building volume, and forcing myself to get some rest prior to the two double 720s I shot. In total, I shot 692 arrows, half of which were during the four 720s I shot Saturday and Sunday at The Archers of Caledon.

Norm and I have been continuing our early morning (6:00a – 7:00a start times) training sessions, and with this recent heat wave, the mornings have been fantastic! I have found training in different lighting conditions to be very challenging, yet also very rewarding. On the Archers of Caledon practice range, the early morning sun is fully in my left eye, while my right eye, the one that I aim with, is in full shade looking at a target that is also in full shade. It’s a very odd sensation and a difficult situation to adapt to. Additionally, the tournament range is at about a 90° offset, meaning sun is fully in my right eye, a little in my left eye, and the target is backlit. These lighting issues really only exist early in the morning though, after about 9:00a the sun is high enough that it doesn’t make too much of a difference any more. Still, it’s great to have the opportunity to train in a variety of conditions.

On Saturday, we shot our first “double 720”. Basically, that’s just two 720s in one day. We then followed it up with another double on Sunday! That’s four rounds of 72 arrows, plus warm up/practice before each one (for me, it was almost half of my weekly arrow count). I was worried that I wouldn’t have the stamina to keep shooting strong shots all the way through, but with my training, eating well, and staying hydrated, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the last couple ends of the fourth round I was able to keep my shots strong, keep my shot cycle consistent, and wasn’t feeling much fatigue. I even went for a jog after helping to put all the target butts away.

The weather was amazing this weekend, mostly calm, clear, and hot. It was about 30°C each day, mainly sunny, and only a little wind on the Sunday. Even though I lathered up with sunscreen each morning before shooting, and again each day at lunch, I still managed to get a small sunburn on my wrist. I think it’s because my watch had rubbed some of the sunscreen away though. Norm wasn’t as lucky, I think he missed some spots on his neck and arms and has turned into a lobster. We both definitely need to find some better clothing to help mitigate potential weather and sun issues. For example, my bucket hat isn’t very breathable. So while it does great at keeping the sun off my head, it also holds a lot of heat. It’s also not waterproof, and will hold a lot of water (or sweat). I’d love to hear any suggestions you may have for sun and rain protection!

Oh yea, Norm finally started his own blog! Mostly to document his #60DaysOfDev progress, but also to talk about life, archery, and gaming. You can check it out at Bows, Bosses, and Binary.

Video/photo feedback is such a great tool! While my recent form changes are settling in, I’ve noticed something else to work on next. One of the great things about sport, is that there’s always something new to work on. It’s either just a posture thing or a core strength thing, but basically, my back will arch a little, especially when fatigued. This means that my hips and shoulders come out of alignment and my back is working harder to stabilize me during the shot, rather than sharing that job with my abs in front.

First Archerversary! – May 21, 2017

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70m, Archery, Archery Family, First Time, Pilla, Team Storm, Tournament, Training

On May 19, 2016, Norm and I began our first archery lessons. On our first “archerversary” we helped with setup for the first outdoor tournament of the season at The Archers of Caledon, and our first outdoor tournament ever. This week, I shot 510 arrows.

The first day of the tournament was pretty windy, and the second day was raining. We had a great time and learned a lot from the experience. I, unfortunately, had problems with my sight on both days, entirely because of my lack of experience . On the first day I had accidentally adjusted my sight in the wrong direction. So, while I was still shooting good groups, the groups kept getting further away from the center. On the second day, I just didn’t adjust the sight enough, so by the time I finally figured it out, the round was nearly complete. I did manage to keep shooting good strong shots for the most part, and finished the tournament with a solid two ends averaging 50 points each. I didn’t score as well as I had expected to, but I learned so much and had a great time! Thank you so much to April and her amazing team of volunteers and judges who make these things happen!

This was the best clip I could find, it’s from toward the end of the windy first day (after I “lost” my hat) and you can see I don’t “stay in the shot” after releasing the arrow. I believe this was one of the ends that I had to rush a couple of the arrows as I was running out of time. Having to let down so many times, and wait for the gusty wind to calm a little can really eat up a lot of time.

Earlier this week, the weather was really warm early enough in the morning that we could get out and do some training before work. We even convinced Shannon to join us on our early morning training excursions. We’re hoping that we can get out two or three times a week before work and then again after work, in addition to our usual evening training sessions and trips to the gym.

Later that day, after some Canada Post stress, I managed to retrieve the package containing my shiny new Pilla glasses. These things are amazing! They arrived just in time for this weekend’s tournament. I really noticed, especially in the sun and wind, that my face is much more relaxed and I don’t get as much wind in my eyes. I’m so glad I was able to get these in time!