Well, I haven't been doing too well with my diet and exercise since the last post. While I managed to cut back slightly on my consumption of confectionery, I haven't yet managed to eliminate it completely and stick to my daily diet plan, so my weight has been creeping up again. I usually start out well enough each day, sticking with my planned breakfast and lunch items, but I'll then have a 'snack' while shopping or preparing dinner, and then also browse on confectionery after dinner while watching TV. My 'plan' is always to only have some fruit after dinner as dessert, and then to avoid snacking until bed time. The trick is to work out how to stick to my plan! Since it is too hot and humid to go for a long walk at lunchtime, I need to start going for an evening walk after dinner. While I've been doing an hour or so of air pistol 'dry fire' training using my
SCATT most evenings, I haven't started doing daily
5BX.
To make my SCATT training sessions more productive, I decided to try the
'kindergarten' training method outlined by Anatoliy Piddubnyy. I wrote out a 'script' for a single 1-minute 'shot' sequence, and dubbed the narration on top of a free classical track (Handel's 'Andante' from the 'Water Music'). Initially I was going to record the narration myself, but after getting poor recordings using a cheap USB microphone I decided to use a free online text-to-speech app to simply create a suitable MP3 file. Loading the two MP3 files into audacity was very simple, and it only took a few moments to edit out some unwanted parts of the narration and replicate it 10-times to create a recording for a 10-minute, 10-shot 'card', followed by a 3-minute rest, all accompanied by a loop of 3-minutes of Handel. I was initially going to create a 90-minute track for an entire 60-shot 'match' training session, but after trying out the 10-shot 'card' track I decided it was better to simply re-play that track for every 10-shot 'card'. That way it is a lot easier to take a break between 'cards', and to have amply time to get back into position and check my natural aim before starting each 10-shot sequence.
The first evening I tried using the
'kindergarten' method with my home-made sound track it seemed to work quite well - I got nearly all 9s and 10s, and only had one 'wild' shot (an 8) out of my 40-shot training session. However, the second night I tried training with this track I tried being a bit 'flexible' about adhering to the exact timing of the commands, and ended up holding my aim too long and getting five bad shots out of 40 (4x8s and a 7). So, I'll probably have to create a modified version, as the timing of some parts of each shot isn't quite right. Once I get the sound track exactly the way I want it, I'll use it for daily SCATT training sessions for a couple of months and see if I can consistently shoot 95+ on every 'card'. Currently I'm shooting between 89-96 for each 'card' of ten shots while SCATT training at home, although I tend to not shoot as well at the club on Saturday's, or when at a competition. Hopefully with enough training my shot timing will become 'second nature' and I'll be able to consistently shoot as well at competitions as I do in training.
At the moment the SCATT traces are showing my natural AM (
arc of movement) when I initially 'take aim' is a 'random walk' lying mostly within the '9-ring', and then tightens up as I commence my trigger release ('squeeze'). Using the sound track for training helps my shoot within 5-10 seconds of 'taking aim', rather than holding way too long waiting for my aim to be 'perfect'. Currently the SCATT results show that around 35%-40% of the final second of the trace before my shot fires is falling within the 10-ring, which matches with my result of getting slightly less than a 50:50 mix of 10s and 9s. I still need to avoid holding too long and trying to 'force' a bulls-eye - which sometimes works, but is almost as likely to result in a 'wild' shot of an 8 or a 7.
My initial training goals are:
1. Habituate a natural 'rhythm' for taking aim and releasing a 'surprise' shot within 5-10 seconds of taking aim. This should help eliminate any shots that are worse than a '9', and, based on my current AM, should result in a score of around 550-570 for a 60-shot match (averaging around 92-95 per card, and eliminate any 'card' scores below 90).
2. Add daily 5BX and light weight training (and loose more weight!) to improve my overall fitness, muscle tone and core strength. This should (hopefully) improve my natural AM ('arc of movement') over the next couple of months - ideally my SCATT traces should end up mostly lying with the 9.5 region. And should (theoretically) improve my 'card' average to around 94-97, and result in 'match' score of around 565-575. My SCATT traces should improve to around 50%-60% of the final second falling with the 10-ring.
3. Use mental rehersal and regular training to develop 'muscle memory' and make the shot timing 'second nature'. This should enable me to reproduce my training session performance during club shoots and local competitions, and get my 'live fire' match scores up around 550-560. My last two weekend club shoots were both in the mid 530s, so I still have a way to go to translate my SCATT results into live scores of 540-550+.
Depending on how much I can improve my shooting through regular training and improved fitness, I'm hopeful that I *might* be able to get a competition score in the 'top ten' during 2017. To achieve that goal I'd need to shoot around 565-575 in a 'sanctioned' (nationally recognized) match, based on previous national 'top ten' scores:
Range of 'Top Ten' score in Mens 10m Air Pistol in recent years:
2016: 568 - 579
2015: 568 - 578
2014: 569 - 577
It is somewhat depressing to realize that these national 'top ten' scores generally would not even be good enough to make the final of an ISSF 'world cup' in Air Pistol! I guess that explains why Australian's only came 36th and 44th in Men's Air Pistol at the 2016 Rio Olympics (the cut-off to even make the final eight was 580). The targets of the best qualifier at the Rio Olympics are
very impressive.
Anyhow, my 'dream' goals in shooting for 2017 are somewhat more modest (although probably still not realistic):
1. Shoot an 'A grade' score at a sanctioned competition (in Air Pistol, 'A grade' is 560+, and 'Masters grade' is 575+. I'm an 'A grade' shooter on the basis of having shot 560+ in a competition .... a *long* time ago). [If I achieve this goal I may 'reward' myself with a new Air Pistol, as my trusty old
FWB model 100 is looking a bit anachronistic when I go to sanctioned competitions... the
Steyr evo 10 looks nice]
2. Shoot a 'top ten' score at a sanctioned competition (Ie. around 569+)
3. Shoot a 'Masters' grade score at a competition (575+). [If I achieve this goal I'll definitely get a new pistol!]
If I'm serious about these goals I'll probably have to also radically cut back on the amount of 'diet coke' that I consume each day (~4+L/day!), as that amount of caffeine can't be doing my AM any good.
Anyhow, here is how my 'diet' has been going recently. Not looking too good ;(
. Fibre Carbs Fat Protein kCals Avg Wt Steps
g/dy % % g/dy /dy kg /dy
Week 34 50.9 63.7 21.4 115.6 3,353 94.2 9,071
Week 35 33.3 63.0 22.2 118.9 3,434 94.6 9,149
Week 36 36.7 60.2 24.3 129.9 3,578 95.2 9,592
Week 37 43.2 60.5 22.9 127.7 3,208 95.6 6,560
Week 38 36.1 59.4 25.7 118.8 3,187 95.8 6,602
Week 39 44.3 64.5 20.9 111.3 3,253 96.2 4,972
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