Another shooting log

7 yards and 10 yards. This is post Nevada.

If you compared this with my 7 yard targets from July, there doesn't seem to be a discernible difference by the numbers. Got about 55% bulls eye, which is comparable to July's shoot. But my grouping has tightened a bit, I don't land shots outside of the 9 circle as long as I stick to the technique. Plus I have much better stamina and don't take as long to get these shots off now. But I keep cutting myself short when I don't give myself a proper platform, so I will need to keep practicing until I can aim true.

The 10 yard, really good grouping, but a lot of them hit a tad high. Not sure if that's poor sight reading or a tiny flinching habit. But if I can just bring those shots in closer, this would have been something to boast of.

But I ought to be shooting a lot better than this after taking a four day course, so I will keep doing drills until I get it right.

Swimming log #1

There are some sports that just doesn't feel natural to your body. Swimming is one of them for me. I don't know if it's nature or nurture, but in the spirit of competition, I'm going to have to drill and train myself to swim better. Our next triathlon is next summer, which is still ten months away. That's plenty of time to dive in and get into swimming shape.

At the pool on Monday, I was winded after two warmup laps. Meanwhile three lanes over, the water polo team was cycling through laps like well... the chain on my bicycle when I climb hills. It's going to be a long ten months.

I did start wearing ear plugs, which drastically improved my comfort level in the water. I am able turn my head and roll my body more without worrying about water entering my ears. And now that I removed every possible excuse for poor technique, it's time to start building proper technique into my muscle memory.

I also started taking cold showers to adapt my body to cold water. Nothing feels as emasculating to a 200 pound guy as hyperventilating and panicking in cold water. Cold showers also have the added benefit of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reducing your water usage significantly (as you scramble to finish showering).

Swimming goals for myself to accomplished by June:
1) Develop good technique, elbows bent, fingers piercing the water, S-shape underwater.
2) Swim comfortably on the left side.
3) Swim comfortably taking breaths every two strokes.

Laps laps laps!

Shooting log #5

Actually, there's no shooting log. But I got into the 4 day defensive handgun training course in Nevada, scheduled to happen in two weeks. It's going to be 90 degrees out there, but hell, stressful conditions only make you better.

In the past two months, I've actually burned through 900 rounds of ammunition from personal practice and taking friends out. So I'm conserving my remaining ammunition and won't be shooting, since I will need about 800 rounds in Nevada. If I keep shooting at this rate, I won't be able to sustain buying ammunition even off the internet, may have to resort to loading my own. We will see, I think I'm better off cutting back and practicing more dry-fire.

I'm excited to go to Nevada. I heard the training is top notch; they have comprehensive lectures on the legality of defending your home, the emotional trauma you may go through and the moral decisions you have to make for yourself. Besides teaching you how to double tap somebody, they also train you to shoot in nighttime conditions and maneuver through your house (while the instructor is doing his best to distract and stress you further). Apparently, even police officers and soldiers benefit a lot from this. This is going to be awesome. (Especially if I become a better shooter than most police officers, shame on them!)

Now I just need to hope that my holster and extra magazines arrives safely from UPS.

Running log #4

I got up at 6AM to run 6 miles with a coworker this morning. We decided to practice run the 10k route that we will be racing in next Saturday at the Hayward Shoreline. This was one of the best runs I've ever done, we clocked in at about 45-50 minutes for our 6 mile run. My best time ever before this was 1:05. Essentially, pride instantly shaved 15 minutes off my time.

So did a healthy dose of trash talking. "Hey Nate, let me know if my pace is too fast for you." "Aw man, I don't think that's gonna happen today." My coworker runs 5-6 mile every morning at 4AM, but I just didn't want to lose. Throughout the run, we were exchanging leads, but he still burned me at the last 50 yards of the route.

The competition helped me hit a level today that I normally don't reach when I run by myself. I was running at such a speed that my lungs could barely keep up and my legs were starting to cramp. (They are officially cramped now, I can't walk up the stairs without sounding like a sailor.) But it's those fast twitch muscles that need training that they're not getting when I go on a long endurance run.

I wore my old Adidas shoes and found out with proper mental discipline, I didn't need the Vibrams to maintain technique. (And I also enjoyed some cushion.) I also noticed that when I sustained the proper technique, I started pulling slightly away from my coworker without any extra effort. It gives some validation to rumors that this technique gives you about 4% more efficiency, because I can feel that I was springing directly forward, instead of rocking through my feet and losing some energy in my ankles. I can't wait to try out the technique for the full 6 miles.

Shooting log #4

I'm skipping shooting log #3 because I'm too lazy to post the pictures for it. But today, I went shooting with a former ballistics research lab buddy from college.

My accuracy was really off today and I attribute that too switching up to different stances and shooting rhythms. Today I switched back to the weaver stance and experimented with a shooting rhythm where I fire one shot, lower my pistol, keep my eyes on my sights, lift up the pistol and squeeze the trigger instant my sights swing over the bulls eye. I was trying to figure out a way to avoid aiming the pistol at the bulls eye for too long of a time, because the arms start to get tired and waver more.

I scored very little bulls eye shots with this shooting rhythm, but I had a lot of shots that grouped near the bulls eye. So for a timed match where squeezing off shots quickly with moderate accuracy is more important than dead on accuracy, this technique could help me rack up points.

I also started noticing why people dislike the trigger of the Glock. It does have a very long trigger pull, which totally throws off the first shot if you aren't careful. I think this will be the only handgun I will purchase, so I will stick to the Glock and perfect it.

After our shooting session, we strolled over to the outdoor range where people were shooting rifles at targets 100 yards away. It was a bit incredulous to watch them shoot without scopes, because targets 100 yards away are really tiny. The rifles at the range included two AR-15 variants, one AK-47 and some sort of bolt-action gun. What can I say, except I want a rifle now?

Golf log #1

Today I was introduced to the sport of golf by a friend. It's amazing how different sports emphasizes different skills. Golf heavily emphasizes good technique and mental relaxation. The technique alone has so many variables to tweak that it's definitely what my friend calls a "lifetime sport." For a beginner's level of golf consciousness, there was already body rotation, foot movement, foot balance, arm movement and head movement to adjust for. I can't wait to find out what more I need to tweak and adjust for when I become proficient at golf.

I found it interesting that golf had more in common with shooting than it does with other ball sports. And here I decide to analyze the different sports I have been dabbling in and list the components emphasized: physical strength, physical endurance, mental focus, mental endurance, and technique consistency.

1) Running emphasizes physical endurance, mental endurance and physical strength. It doesn't require much mental focus nor technique consistency.
2) Swimming emphasizes physical endurance, technique consistency and physical strength. It doesn't require much mental focus or mental endurance. Technique consistency will help you save energy, but missing a beat won't drastically hurt you.
3) Biking emphasizes physical endurance and mental endurance. There's practically no technique involved and only some physical strength (unless you are touring).
4) Golf emphasizes technique consistency, mental focus and mental endurance. There is a little bit of physical strength involved, but nowhere near the level needed in the above sports. However, technique consistency is key, because one wayward hit may literally put you in the pits.
5) Shooting is similar to golf where it heavily emphasizes mental focus, technique consistency and mental endurance. There's little physical component to shooting, but mental focus is extremely critical. If the barrel wavers one millimeter, the shot will waver inches on the target.

Edit: My number one fan asks, "what about dragonboat?" I'd say dragonboat is similar to swimming, where it emphasizes physical endurance, technique consistency and physical strength. I just noticed that so far I've only listed characteristics for solitary sports, and dragonboat is different from swimming in that you need a level of team chemistry in order to perform well.

Shooting log #2

Well, today I introduced two friends to the sport of shooting. It's cool being the coach and them being the students. I actually had to sign a coach waiver at the gun range, making me responsible for everything they do. Heck at this rate, I might as well work towards becoming a certified instructor.

But thankfully, shooting is pretty easy to pick up. And a gun like the Glock is designed to be so simple that there's really not much to it. And after a couple snap cap drills, my students started to dial in around the bulls eye. :)

Anyways today I started shooting from 13 yards out and accomplished a 30% bulls eye rate. It's encouraging for a first time try because what is an orange circle at 7 yards is an orange dot at 13 yards. How people dial numbers at 20 and 25 yards is beyond me, just the movement of your arms from breathing is enough to move you halfway across the target.

I also started experimenting with different shooting stances. I notice that a lot of IDPA and IPSC competitors use the isosceles stance, but I was more accurate shooting from the weaver stance. This probably means that there are different layers of learning curves and I am on the newbier one.