Coleman's Creek Advanced PR

TRAINING LEAD-UP

Sunday, September 25:

Did a "recovery ruck" with 53# for 2 miles in 39:45 while waiting for SB at the FOP.

At the range, we started the cleaning process for SB's 6mm Creed RPR, zeroed, and did another Kraft drill.

It's weird how wasps like gun smoke.

Monday, September 26:

Open Yoga Flow at the USNWC.  It was good, and Ashley the instructor added in some challenging balance poses, too.  Afterwards, I did 2 miles with 30# and 2 yoga mats.

Still dry firing...

Tuesday, September 27:

HDT 31.1.2 (CORE) because it was able to make me sore, last time around.  I followed it up with 3 rounds of arm strengtheners plus 5 pull-ups per round.  After that, I did 2x [5 60#DLs, 5 60#Squat cleans, 5 60#push presses].  

Wednesday, September 28:

I did a 50#R to pick up free stickers from some stuff that a neighbor was giivng away, although they were gone by the time I got there.  At least I got in the ruck.

Thursday, September 29:

I repeated the "Mammoth" workout with a 45#SB and a 20#WV in 24 min, followed by a new workout that I created, called "Sniper Ready", where I used a 13#SKB and a 20#WV for 24 min.  It felt kind of hard.  

Afterwards, I did an unplanned 2.5 mile ruck with 30# to pick up some free spray paint that a different neighbor was giving away.  Given my shooting habits and related arts and crafts, it would be useful!  I didn't stuff the ruck with the extra 2x10#SBs, so that I could be sure to have space for the spray paint.

Saturday, Oct 1:

The FOP didn't work out for us, so we went to SB's house for dry fire practice.

We ran through some mock stages with pistol and rifle.  We are quite slow!  It's hard to imagine doing stuff for real, with much less time.

Afterwards, we went to watch our friend compete as his first BJJ match.  It's always interesting to see what others are passionate about.  Everyone has "their thing", and it's cool to see what crafts people devote themselves to in pursuit of excellence.

Sunday, Oct 2:

We met up with Scott at the FOP for a 2.5 mile ruck in 33:40 (not at weight, but at least with the event ruck), followed by a gear check, some pistol shooting under stress, choronoing of my AR15 for the upcoming TPG match, and some speed shooting with SB's bolt action 223.

Monday, Oct 3:

My dad visited, so I took him to Rocky Branch Park, which I had discovered in the lead-up to the South Fork Sampler.  We covered 2.5 miles in 1:01:39.  I used 50# in the rucker v3 20L, wearing Altra Lone Peaks, since I had already worn the Salomons on the previous day.  This ruck definitely felt heavier than what I used yesterday.

Since my dad was visiting, I took my dry firing to my bathroom, to avoid alarming him.  It forced me to try new props, which is always good.

Tuesday, Oct 4:

I did a 3.5 mile neighborhood ruck with my dad.  I used a 30#RPC, which meant no hip belt, so my shoulders felt it.

I did Weight Loss Yoga | Total Body Yoga with Adriene later that night.

Wednesday, Oct 5:

Self Love Yoga with Adriene

Pistol dry fire.  

I also tried to install the HE509-RD red dot on my CZP10C with some replacement parts that I was sent, but it was even looser than before.

Thursday, Oct 6:

HDT IR33-34.1.1 (arms and core) in 50 min, followed by 10 min of 3 rounds of arm strengtheners plus 5 pullups per round)

For dry fire, I picked random distances and practiced having to pick holds from my arm board data.

Friday, Oct 7:

Live fire is more fun than dry fire!

COLEMAN'S CREEK ADVANCED PR

Saturday, Oct 8:

I was back at Coleman's for their Advanced PR class with Posey and friends.  

We went into the formula that you'd use to pick a truing distance.  We went into details about wind and worked out our gun number data.

For the practical portion of the course, after zeroing with build and breaks, we dove into positional work. 

I still need to get better at follow-through.  I still need to use less magnification, especially during positional when your rifle is going to move more upon recoil.  

That night, I had planned to sleep in my car no matter what, but my rucking friends were doing a Land Nav HH-inspired ruck club event nearby, so I swung by to hang out with them for a while, and sleep there in my car.

It was good stuff, and well-planned.  While I was there, they did shelter building, fanny pack EDC, and made a fire for sausages.  They had done land nav exercises earlier in the day.

Sunday, Oct 9:

We zeroed from different positions.  It is interesting to see how your POI changes based on what position you're shooting from.  The D/A was negative in the morning!

(learning!  good tips from the instructors)

Afterwards, we split into two groups.  My group started with the mile range.  We worked our way from 1025yd out.  Unfortunately, the "mile" target didn't have an indicator light, and wasn't visible clearly enough for us to see hits.  It was like shooting into the darkness.  It wasn't a mile, anyways, so I don't feel as bad about not being able to say that I hit it that day.  It was a 0.8 mil target.  What's the point of a target for which you can't see impacts, though?

After that, we moved to the positional range, which had a great variety of props to use.  We got tips on each one, and then got to move around among them as we wished.  It's good to be able to take your time while experimenting with different positions and relative wobble levels.

Afterwards, I talked to the instructors to pick their brains about Mammoth, since they had all competed and done well there before.  

After the class, I spent some time on the range practicing ranging without a tripod, since it was looking more likely that I'd leave it behind to save weight.  It's not very easy.

Lessons from the weekend:

- Follow through

- Use the full arca rail length

- Simply moving the rifle from one position to another makes me breathe hard

- Moving the gun with the game changer can save time

- The wind flag on the tripod was useful

- I now know what a non-chambered round feels like

- Mil targets, so that you can track wind adjustments on subsequent shots

- Experiment with different positions and compare wobble

- Find opportunities to stabilize your elbows, when you can

Monday Oct 10:

Met up with the ruck club for CHAD1000X practice.  We began with a 1 mile warmup ruck to the steps with 30# in the 20Lv3 rucker in my ruck, where I carried a bonus 20#SB for the first half.  We did 500 step-ups to a stone block that was knee-height on me.  I did 100 normal, 100 carrying a 20#SB in my right and left handsf or rifle carrying practice, 100 normal, 100 with the SB on my back, and 100 normal again.  That took about 28:48.  We finished with 22 ruck pushups, and then rucked 1 mile back to the parking lot.

There are good metaphors for life and mental struggles here... 

• Just take one more step.  
• Nobody ever has to go through it alone.  
• We're there to carry each others' burdens.

Wednesday, Oct 12:

I miss these days... my left-handed shooting has somehow gotten much worse.  I need to figure out how to get back to this.  One tricky thing is that my arm strength only allows me to do so much left-handed shooting on a given day.