TRAINING LEAD-UP
Tuesday, May 5:
No workout, but since my sister was visiting, we went to see Big Pete. It was her first troll.
Wednesday, May 6:
With a new PATHFINDER training class (048) active it was time for another APFT.
- 47/40 Push-ups
- 79/76 Sit-ups
- 47/40 Push-ups
- 79/76 Sit-ups
- 15:59/17:00 2-mi run... probably my slowest yet, but I had to stop twice due to my post-nasal drip issues... plus, it was raining, plus, the sole of my right shoe came off with about 0.15 mi left! Fortunately, I wasn't far from the finish line, since it creates like a 1in difference in limb length. I liked that shoe... it was the Saucony Vizpro with reflectors built in. It was good for safely running at night on the streets. The shoes are well over 10 years old, I'm pretty sure. While they may not have a ton of miles on them, I'm sure glue degrades over time.
I did a 2 mi ruck afterwards in 30:28.
Thursday, May 7:
No workout, but went to Stowe Botanical Gardens with my dad.
The kids' castle big toy is now open.
Since this was our third time visiting, we tried out the trails that went out towards the back of the property. There's another trail that makes a big loop around the grounds, but the main garden is fenced off from that, maybe so that people can't just walk in to the garden from outside without paying.
We also discovered one section with some pretend animal skeleton and a swing and the ruins of a building, that we hadn't seen before.
Friday, May 8:
Root to Rise & Gentle Yoga for Tight Hips with Adriene.
I did "My Invention+" in 48:17 afterwards. It felt pretty good and was redemption from last time. It probably went well since I'm quite tapered right now, after the low-workout week in Orlando.
I did a finisher of a 3 min high plank with a 30# RPC.
I went to Coleman's for their night shoot.
I started with the May AET Drill
- 7yd
- 1/4 sheet paper as a target
- Load 2x [1x2 and 1x4]
On the beep, draw and shoot 2, reload, shoot 4.
Repeat.
The slower of the two times is what counts, and the standard is 5s.
I did 4 full mags of pairs and 4's from holster to warm up and to get enough empty mags to load for the drill.
I tried 6x... no auto-loads on the first two tries, plus drops and a time in the 7.XX range. My second two tries were the best with a best time of 6.82s, where auto-loading worked. I did two more but rushed and dropped points and was slower with no auto-loading again.
I did 2 more mags to practice and learn recoil patterns in my gun but dropped 1/3 of the shots.
I worked on the Bill Drill with the same target and distance. My best was 4.58s with all hits, but I was more often in the 5s range with drops. I have to slow down to get hits on this target and this distance.
I did some pistol practice moving between two positions, about 7yd apart, shooting at 1/4 sheets of paper 7yd away. Again, need to slow down to get the hits.
I leveled it up with forwards and backwards movements into position, too. All shooting static, only moving to get into the 4 positions. With 15yd for the back positions, I had to shoot super slowly and patiently.
I practiced multiple distance targets next, to learn to throttle up and down appropriately. I was doing that before when running, but this would help to isolate just the shooting throttling. I loaded up with 2x6 and would alternate targets with pairs. Transitions are also a core competency here. I wasn't too happy with how I did with the misses...
I did the same drill with rifle next, by adding 10yd to each target distance. I also mixed in different positions, doing 2 standing, 2 kneeling, 2 seated, 2 prone. For kneeling, it worked out better when I had my left forearm on my right leg, vs just the boney elbow with slidey skin. I did account for height over bore. I felt slow and clumsy, since I was starting to get tired after 2 hours of pistol, though.
I went to what I call "The Forest Bay" next, for some mid-range rifle practice on different props. It was also good ranging practice. I misranged a 410yd target at first because it appeared as if it was in a treeline in the back (where other targets are), when it was really on the top of the hill in front of that. It's always a good practice to scan L vs R as well as up and down. I shot 2 mags of 77gr and didn't have any wind to worry about.
While trying to shoot at the targets, I also observed that even my lateral movements to switch props would cause enough shift in the distance to the target that I'd miss without re-ranging and getting new dope. I also noticed that the ocular focuses of the left and right sides of the Vortex Fury binos are different... it's not my eyes... I used the same eye in both to test.
I stayed here on this range for the night shoot. Unfortunately, my IR wasn't strong enough to allow me to see any targets at night. Another guy was with me, and he had trouble, too. Some guys came running up later on, and they had more powerful gear that could light up the 260yd targets, but I couldn't even see the 175yd ones. It was kind of a bust for me as far as night shooting goes, but it was fun to make a new friend on the range. There was also one pistol target that we could shoot at, too. I mostly spent 24 rd shooting at black splotches that represented the berms where the targets were, only hitting a few times.
Saturday, May 9:
Rucked 5 mi at Pharr Yarns Family Trail with my dad, wearing MACV2s and 30# in a Rucker v3 shorty, in 1:53:56.
Sunday, May 10:
Glute and pec PT v1 in 28:37, seemed pretty strong. Then HDT "SIAS" 15 min AMRAP with a 40#SB with 4 rounds and 33 reps, a good one... I should do more of this for TTG prep. Finisher was 2:30 6" with a 40#SB
And family time.
Monday, May 11:
Dedicate - Day 3 - Observe & Yoga for People Who Sit All Day with Adriene
And family time.
Tuesday, May 12:
No workout, but went out to dinner at Rooster's with my sister and mom.
Wednesday, May 13:
Rucked the Ren Park short track trails and the City Park neighborhood playing Ingress, using MACV2 8" and 30# in the v3 shorty Rucker. I had felt peppy in the morning, but I had no desire for intensity or strength work by the time evening rolled around, so I rucked.
Thursday, May 14:
18A "Dynamic Warmup" in 25:42 felt pretty good. Then 45 min Rolling Hills Ride with Hannah Frankson with 13.38 mi, 407 cal, 84 ave cadence 42 ave resistance, 133 watt ave output, which was challenging but reasonable.
Friday, May 15:
Training with Em.
Worked on recoil management with a better grip pinching the back with palms.
Practiced moving sooner after finishing the last shot, right after follow-through on the trigger.
I need to work on landing with feet spread apart and stable.
Worked on throttling up and down on speed based on the difficulty of shots on body vs head, and also with distance changes. Somehow, I go the same speed regardless of distance, so I may be able to push it a little faster on the closer ones, since I'm hitting everything.
I need to only reset to the wall, vs fully off the trigger.
For runs, I might want to let go with my left hand more often, to run faster.
Saturday, May 16:
I did a zone-2 run at Latta Nature Preseerve, sticking to the Hill area for the most part, to maximize Ingress points. I had a bad ankle roll on my left foot towards the end, unfortunately. 9.2 mi in 2:41:34. Ingress or the internet was really slow today, so I had many long pauses. 17:34 ave. It seemed easy to stay in z2 today. I wore Altra Superiors. It was pretty much a fasted run, but it was fine, since I wasn't hungry. My dad walked while I ran, as usual.
Afterwards, took my mom to First Watch. It's my second time going to this chain (first time was in Bentonville, AR). Everything on the menu looks good. This location recently opened, so there was an hour long wait to get a table. Worth it to me!
Sunday, May 17:
18A "Upper Body Prep" in 23:40, then "Pull-up" in 31:35.
MAY BLACKSTONE THIRD MONDAY USPSA MATCH
Stage 1: <Virginia> - "Down the Middle" Classifier
- Start hot, hands by sides, standing in the box
- On the beep, shoot 2 per tux IPSC
Learnings/Outcomes: 12/12 div, 20/20 overall
- 5A, 3M in 6.90s = 0% HF
- My first time doing a USPSA Classifier at a match
- I saw my sights I thought, so I must've yanked it
- I didn't remember doing my proper grip with a strong left palm smash
- My misses were left but vertically OK... left by an inch or two
- I had really wanted to get all A's
- Sad about letting my coach down
- I went far to near and sped up.... the cadence sounded reasonable... though sometimes, I end up making bad shots trying to keep a cadence when I should really go off of sights being ready
- I even chose a particular pasty to aim for on the target like I heard a guy suggest to another guy
Stage 2: <Virginia> - "Too Close for Comfort" Classifier
- Start hot, in the box, hands by your sides
- Shoot 1 hit each on 5 targets (4 full and one head) in any sequence
- Reload mandatory
- Shoot 1 hit each on 5 targets (4 full and one head) in any sequence
Learnings/Outcomes: 9/12 div, 15/20 overall
- 10A in 13.00 = 3.8462% HF
- Loaded 5 in mag 1 to force a full, clean reload without having to fight a round already in the chamber, and to make it obvious to me that I need to do a reload and not forget
- I went slow, and it went well for me
- I went for the top half of the head, to make sure I got all the points
- I went L->R then R->L
- I'm glad I remembered 1 shot per, since we're used to doing 2 shots per
- My cadence on all 5 was somewhat equal, but maybe that makes sense since the head was also the closest shot
Stage 4: <Comstock>
- Start anywhere outside the shooting area, facing downrange, hot and holstered, hands by your sides
- On the beep, shoot 2 IPSC 2 hits ea @10yd from the back box.
- Run to the left box and shoot 1 full, 1 head, and 1 full IPSC @3yd, 2 hits ea
- Run to the right box and shoot 3 full IPSCs @2yd, 2 hits ea, working around a NS
Learnings/Outcomes: 10/12 div, 15/20 overall
- 14A, 2C in 18.97s = 4.0063% HF
- Not sure where the C's came from, since it had felt pretty clean... maybe the head shots not being high enough for A's?
- My foot placements in the boxes were wide and good like I wanted, without having to think about it.
Stage 3: <Virginia>
- Start with hands and feet on the XX's, hot and holstered
- On the beep, shoot 1 full and 1 up-side down and partially NS IPSC from the right side of the wallls, leaning against the bay wall, with 2 hits ea @15yd
- Shoot 2 full and 1 upside-down and partially NS from the left side of the back box, 2 hits ea, @15yd
- Run to the left box and do the tux classifier again (4 tux's @10-12yd)
Learnings/Outcomes: 10/12 div, 14/20 overall
- 17A, 1M in 28.60s = 2.6224% HF
- The 1M was on the 3rd to last tux target, off the left again... urg.
- I noticed resetting the trigger just to the wall for the first time this match... I had forgotten to focus on it during the other stages, despite wanting to focus on it
- I topped off the gun to be 18rds beforehand
- I took my time with the shots, and it paid off
- I ended up going close->far on the tux's this time, since it was easy to access (and natural to want to go after) the close one first
- I was mindful about where the A-zones were on the upside-down targets, although you'd naturally want to go for those spots based on center of mass anyways
- The cadence on the tux's did slow down like it should as you go farther away
Overall: 11/12 div, 16/20 overall
- Go as slow as it takes- Need to check why I yank left on the tux's
- Continue good wide foot placement in boxes
- Continue paying attention to upside-down targets, topping off for 18 round stages, letting go of the left hand to run when it makes sense, moving reasonably quickly between spots
- Continue going for the top half of head shots
After the match, I still had some nerves to burn off, so I rucked 4 mi in 1:21:26 with a 40#WV, which wasn't bad, since I was mentally prepared to suffer. I wore MACV1s.
