TRAINING LEAD-UP
Sunday, April 2:
45 min Yin Yoga "Full Body Stretch" with Travis. I decided to give Yin Yoga a try, since I generally prefer to stay in positions for longer, compared to the "flow" classes where you are moving the whole time. I wished that this instructor gave more cues about form, though.
Monday, April 3:
HDT IR30-31.1.2 (legs and core) in 24 min, which was easy, but still a good warmup and active recovery. Afterwards, I did my home-grown "Mammoth" workout with a 20#WV and 40#SB in 23:34, and I did a 1 mile ruck with 20# plus a 40#SB afterwards.
Tuesday, April 4:
Cadre DS's "KB Crusher #17" in 7:45 with a 40#KB, followed by the 12/26/22 Tiny Apartment WOD in 17:17, followed by Peleton with Alex Toussaint for a 20 min climb ride covering 6.36 miles using up 240cal
Thursday, April 6:
My homegrown "My Invention" workout for 30 min, followed by the 12/29/22 RuckWOD.com workout in 10:47 with a 30#R, followed by a 2 mile run with nose breathing only, starting off easy and then pushing in the second half.
Saturday, April 8:
Yin Yoga "Foundations" with Travis Eliot - flexibility and beyond. The position holds were about 2x longer than I would've liked, so I started to feel some pain despite not pushing the ROM. I think I prefer something halfway in between vinyasa flows and yin yoga, after doing my second yin class, which may not be enough data points, but it is what it is. Faster practices provide more active recovery and blood flow.
Sunday, April 9:
Morning neighborhood ruck covering 6.5 miles in 2:08:09. I was eager to get out after 2 rainy days, not that I mind rucking in the rain... I just don't want to have to do laundry afterwards, to avoid having wet clothes sit around for days. I caught Pokemon and collected nails from the sides of the road to protect tires. I went an an easy pace, wearing MACV1s and carrying 30#.
Had a nice taco night with my parents afterwards:
Monday, April 10:
Also did a casual ruck 1.5 mile with my parents around the neighborhood with 30# in the Rucker v3, wearing Ballistic trainers.
I practiced removing and re-installing my bike tires... the front tire isn't that bad, but there is a lot going on with the back tires, so that one takes longer. For the Rev3 Adventure Race, we'll have to do this so that we can put our bikes in our 2-person canoes, with both racers and their packs inside as well, while going down a river that has some small rapids.
Tuesday, April 11:
Cadre DS "KB Crusher #16" EMOM 16 with a 30#KB, followed by a 30 min Tabata Ride on the Peleton with Dennis Morton.
Wednesday, April 12:
50# in the Rucker v3, wearing Salomon XA Comps at a 13:47 pace. My HR felt high, but it was warm, and I was wearing long sleeves in the sun. My body wanted to ruck today.
Made a burger with some patties that my mom had prepped before she left...
Friday, April 14:
I did my home-grown "Sniper Ready" workout with a 20#WV and a 13#SKB in 24:37, followed by the HDT O2 Depletion 25 min AMRAP with a 30#R. Afterwards, I did a 1 mile ruck with 30# wearing Ballistic trainers.
Saturday, April 15:
Kayaked 7 miles in 2:55 to get used to it again, in preparation for the upcoming Rev3 50 hour Adventure Race. We'd be using canoes, but with kayak paddles. I took a new route this time, and ventured towards some sort of plant. I did dock at one point to use the "restroom".
APRIL REGIONAL PRS MATCH @ COLEMAN'S CREEK
This was my first PRS match. I had done one PRS-style match before, at the Tactical Sniper Series #4 at Sawmill... I call it PRS-style since the stages weren't blind, so you got to see the targets and know the distances to plug into your Kestrels ahead of time.
This one was pure PRS, though, which meant rifle only. No rucking or physical component at all... just efficiency in movement, building good positions, wind calls, and spotting shots and making good corrections.
This was my fifth precision rifle match overall, after TSS#4, Sniper's Unknown, Guardian Team Match, and Mammoth.
This match was directed by Dan Posey, who's a top competitive shooter and instructor, with good real-world experience, too, so it was going to be good.
Zeroing
We got to zero in the morning, and the zero range was open all day, in case we needed to check anything during the day. After I had an issue a few days ago with my turrets not turning anymore because the turret screws must have gotten loose, I had eyeballed the reset of the turret. I was totally expecting to have to make adjustments to my zero, but to my surprise, my first shot was dead center, so centered that I didn't even see the hole initially and thought I was completely off-paper. My second and third shots were within an inch, so I stopped it there. I know that groups with more round counts are what you should do, but my SD is high, so I'd be chasing a lot of noise if I did more and tried to make adjustments. I just went with what I had.
Check-in
There's one big bay at Coleman's Creek that goes out to 1,200-some yards. That's where we'd be checking in. I took advantage of the time to range and make a range card, and identify landmarks.
We received a 2-page list of stage briefs, so I started drawing out diagrams to turn the words into pictures that would be easier to follow, and I started churning the numbers to get dope. The one thing to note is that by the time you get to some of the stages, the D/A could be completely different, and you don't know what your stage sequence will be, until the match starts. It doesn't hurt to get started early, though... best case, you have data, worst case, you need to update the numbers a big, mainly for the longer distance shots.
The match would end up running from 8:30am-3pm. There were three women total, so I wasn't alone. We were all on different squads, though... I think they set it up so that there were as many squads as there were stages... 10.... so we'd each start on a different stage and then rotate throughout the day. Every stage would last 105s.
Stage 6:
12 rounds
There were 5 IPSICS at 857, 921, 1019, 1116, and 1247. From prone, you shoot the 3 nearest targets with 2 shots each, and the 2 farthest with 3 shots each. Prone is my jam, so I was glad to start with it. Something familiar for my first ever PRS stage. As an added bonus, I got to shoot last for this stage within the squad, which was good for me, since I'd get to see how others handled it first, before doing it myself. At PRS matches, everyone watches everyone else shoot. People will even help each other out and share wind calls or talk about how their positions worked out, sometimes. There were a lot of people to get through, and after a while, I was eager to go and get it over with. I like finishing early, anyways, so that I can prep for the subsequent stage, with the hold data, mag loading, and other gear prep.
Well... I only ended up earning 2 points, out of 12.
- I had to hold more wind than I thought, and I probably made the mistake of thinking that my misses were due to fundmentals or bad luck with velocity variability instead of wind, so I didn't use results from one shot to inform the next, enough, definitely from one target to another, and even more so within a target during multiple shot attempts.
- I forgot to dial for my second target.
- I didn't check bubble after every shot.
The one good-ish thing that I did was that I used a 12-round mag, which saved me time on a mag change, although time wasn't an issue, since I got all 12 shots off. Time had been my worry, but it was fine. I say "good-ish" because I had intended to test it out, since I had never used the MDT 12 round mag before, but I forgot to do that during zeroing, since my zeroing process had been so smooth and speedy.
I got 59/67 on that stage.
Stage 7:
10 rounds, 8 possible points
There were 4 KYL lollipops (not gongs like I'm more used to with KYLs) at 532yd. First, you had to engage them from a tank trap (using any position), must hit to move on, and then you went to prone next to the tank trap and repeated the targets (with whatever ammo you had left).
I was able to hit 2 from prone before running dry due to earlier misses.
The crux of the tank trap was stable.
Again, I didn't run out of time. I should've taken the time to check bubble more.
I didn't have to hold for wind on this stage.
I got 6 points, which made me 45/67 for the stage. A little better than my first stage.
Stage 8:
8 rounds, 8 possible points.
There were 3 squares at 303, 452, and 480, and then one diamond at 855yd.
You get on a big pile of rocks that offered multiple position building options (standing or modified prone, if you can build it), and then shoot 2 shots per target, near to far.
Looking at other shooters from the bottom of the pile, the standing option seemed to be the most obvious, but one guy successfully used modified prone, so I did the same. That's the benefit of seeing others shoot first.
There were some trees in the way on the closest target, but it didn't end up being an issue. You could barely see the closer target from that position, but even with normal length bipod legs, it was still doable.
I did hold 0.5L for the 855, but I probably didn't need it. 0.1L was good enough of a wind hold for the other targets.
I got 5 points, 41/67th for the stage. OK.
Stage 9:
8 rounds, 8 possible points.
This was the "PRS Skills Stage", where you shoot off of a standardized barricade that has 4 total positions, with the two on the left and 2 on the right mirroring each other, which makes it fair for lefties vs righties in my opinion.
There was a single circle target at 400yd. That one was actually really hard to find prior to the stage, I guess because it was shot up so much with everyone's 8 shots going there repeatedly. No paint left.
You shoot 2 rounds from each position. At this particular range on this particular target, though, the downward angle on the target made it such that I had no way to shoot from the upper 2 positions without standing on something to get more height. The MD arranged for a cinder block to be brought over, fortunately. Not ideal, since my feet can only go wherever the block is instead of having the whole ground's surface area to work with, and it can be a little wobbly, but it's better than not taking those shots at all.
The left side is easier for righties, because your left hand can stabilize the barricade bag and gun while you shoot, since there's space for your hand, even when the bag is up against the beam on the right side of the bag. You can pull the rail into you. From the right side, you can't do that, without losing the benefit of having one edge of the bag brace against the pole.
My bipods fell off halfway through, which is fine for this stage, since bipods weren't in use, but it shows that I didn't go through any pre-stage checklist.
The target looked crazy small during this stage, for some reason.
I got 7 points, which put me at 18/67... woo-hoo! It was a nice first experience with the skills stage. It would be my last "good stage", though, and the last time where I wouldn't time out.
Stage 10:
By this time, it was 11am, and the DA had risen to 1300. It was 67 degrees, with a 4mph wind from the 10 o'clock.
For this stage, we had 10 rounds and 10 possible points.
There was again only one target on this stage... a coyote at 593yd.
You shoot 2 shoots from anywhere on a cattle gate, and then move to a different level of your choice, and repeat 4x.
I struggled big time.
My strategy was to use a low rung to get more stability close to the ground and use tripod rear, but I had trouble getting my rear bag plus gun in there... it just wouldn't fit... the flat ColeTac bag wouldn't fit, the Schmedium wouldn't fit. I gave up on the rear bag and tried to go "hard on hard", which you could maybe get away with if the bottom "hard" is perfectly level such that you don't have to apply any cant, but you are unlikely to have a perfectly flat platform. I had to apply cant, so then you're doing edge on hard and trying to control the angle of the edge with your fingers, and it's an impossible task.
A fellow competitor had kindly agreed to help video the stage for me, and after I ate up tons of time, he felt bad for me, and encouraged me to try the bag again, and tilting the gun to get everything to fit. That trick worked, and I got off a single shot in time. It would be my only point on this stage. At least I didn't zero.
Afterwards, he showed me a trick, where you put your flat bag on arca towards the front of the handguard, away from your scope, so that you don't even have to try to get the scoped portion of the rifle into the gate. Amazing, and so obvious, after the fact. That was very kind of him to show me the trick.
Other struggles that I had... even on 12x, which I consider fairly low power, it took me a while to locate the target. Also, I should've given up on that gate and maybe tried to go on top of the gate... I wasn't 100% sure if that was allowed, but looking back, no reason why it wouldn't be. Don't settle for bad positions.... move if you need to.
My 1 point made me 57/67.
Stage 1:
8 rounds, 8 possible points
There were 2 IPSICs at 607 and 609... equal to me.
On this one, the way the brief was written was different from how it was supposed to be shot, which caused confusion. The way it was scored was you start from the right arm of a tank trap, and shoot 1 ea at the targets, right to left. Then switch to a slanted spool top and repeat. Then go to the crux of the tank trap and repeat. Then go back to the spool and repeat.
The verbal instructions from the RO to reiterate the brief must've mentioned the difference, and I must've missed it, since the other competitors knew how it should be shot. I was going for 2 shots per target from each position, which makes the round count not make sense, I know, but that's how it was written. Anyway, that caused me to get a "wrong target" on my second hit on the first target, and so I had to move on to the next position. The tilt of the spool and the size of it made it a tricky shooting position. Modified prone would've been nice, but others went barricade style, so I did, too.
I timed out before shooting from the tank trap a second time.
Eye relief was tricky when I had to tiptoe to shoot off of the top of the tank trap arm initially.
I got 2 points, which was 52/67.
Stage 2:
10 rounds, 10 possible points.
There was a circle at 472 and a diamond at 670yd.
From the top of a rock, which was big enough for modified prone, shoot the near then far target. Move to prone on the right of the rock and do far and near. Go back to the rock to do near then far. Prone on the left to do far then near. Then back to the rock for one more near then far.
The RO at this stage did do a good job of pointing out where the brief didn't match how the stage should be shot.
Unfortunately, nobody was on glass early in my stage, so my hits weren't getting called. People were spotting shots for each other to help the ROs out, but they dropped the ball on me. There were some hits that I thought I should've gotten on an easy 472 target whose misses I should've been able to see. I wonder if I had hit but not gotten the calls, or if my ammo disintegrated before getting to the target like it had at Guardian.
During all of this, I started to exit the right prone position too early, since I still had another shot to take. Too excited about the hit, lost focus.
Another messy thing about this stage was that the target indicator had fallen off at some point, so I lost some time trying to re-establish whether the target that I was looking at was my target... it might've fallen off during my stage, but I wasn't sure.
Messy on multiple fronts.
I got credit for 3 shots, which put me at 51/67. Who knows how many I actually made, though. I didn't consider asking for a re-shoot or anything, although in hindsight, maybe I should've.
Stage 3:
9 rounds, 9 possible points.
No dialing allowed! Only holding.
3 square targets at 438, 498, 559, unpainted.
From the left side of a rock where you could set up modified prone, shoot 1 per target, near to far. Then, go to the top of the rock and repeat. Then go to prone to repeat.
I held zero wind, which worked for the first target at least, with 7mph at 12 o'clock... headwinds can be tricky, though.
I hit my 1st, 3rd, and 4th shots, at least. There were some shots that were misses where I couldn't see the misses, though. I don't know if my bullets disintegrated or if I simply shot poorly. I would wonder if I held the wrong way, but if I hit the third shot, then I don't think so.
I timed out before taking my first prone shot, which is too bad, since that's where you can shoot fast and easily.
I got 3 points only, for 44/67.
Stage 4:
10 rounds, 10 possible points
1 IPSIC at 868 only.
Shoot 2 rounds from the bench (standing modified prone), prone, spool, prone, bench.
I timed out right after my second time in prone... at least I got through my second time in prone.
I made the first tow bench shots, but despite using the same hold, I missed high by a lot on 5/6 shots from the spool and from prone. The seasoned shooter who had helped me on the cattle gate suspects that it could've been tricky uphill wind. Who knows.
What I should've done better was correcting based on where my first hits were landing. I think I thought I migh've jerked and used bad fundamentals, so I repeated the same hold instead of adjusting. Lesson learned. Trust my fundamentals, and adjust... believe the bullet.
Stage 5:
By the time I got to this last stage, I was ready to be done. 10 stages is a lot, especially when you're still new to it. It takes a lot of focus, along with just the fatigue of shooting and being outside all day, not that it's anything crazy.... but there is mental and physical stress that accumulates.
12 rounds, 12 possible points.
There's a bear target at 495 and a boar target at 606.
From each of 4 different height stumps, shoot 1 at bear and 2 at boar. I had to stand on a cooler for the tallest stump. I didn't position the cooler in a good spot... it was too close to the stump, so I had to stick my butt out to get the right distance away. I guess I could've stopped, adjusted the cooler, and re-built the position, if I really wanted, but I tried to make it work. It was wobbly, too... cooler on gravel.
With exactly 1 mil of difference between the holds, I tried holding instead of dialing.
I never successfully hit the bear, since it was a "standing bear" that was therefore skinny, but I did hit the boar.
Pacman up for the GC worked nicely.
I might've forgotten to hold wind once.... who knows, maybe more times than that.
I started dialing after I started missing the bear without being able to see any misses, in case I was holding in the wrong direction, but that didn't seem to help.
I ended up timing out.
One guy before I went asked me if I wanted to adjust my bipods... it did in fact help to have them streamlined, to make maneuvering easier than my usual bipod leg down position.
By this stage, we had rotated to where I shot first. I was glad to be done.
Overall
- It was a good learning experience.
- The match tested a good variety of skills
- I was 57/67 open, 3/3 lady (1 point behind 2nd, and a ton of points behind first)
- I was pleasantly surprised that I didn't time out on my first 4 stages... I certainly did everywhere else, though... I wonder if everyone had the same experience, or if I just got worse as the day went on with managing time.
- Competitors were friendly and helpful.
- Wind reading skills are important, and using info from one shot to the next is important.
- Stage briefs can be written in a way that doesn't really match how you need to shoot it sometimes, so don't take it for granted... pay attention to verbal briefs and make sure that counts make sense.
