Switching to my second Drenalin

Tonight I shot my second Drenalin that has a 1" longer draw length (28" cam, although the real DL is longer).

This bow feels really nice and smooth, more so than my other Drenalin, with a solid backstop to pull into. Also pulling 59lbs did not feel like 59lbs, more like 56/57.

The draw length is a little long but it felt good and allowed me to align better. I think if I can get 1/4" off then it will be spot on.

As for the shooting, I shot a 298/300 Worcester round. The shots overall were pretty goodand solid, with only a few iffy ones.

Other observations were that the grip needs to be swapped from the other bow, and I could do with more weight on the side rod to balance out the long rod, which I added a bit more weight to to stop the bow kicking upwards on the iffy shots.

Sunday I get a chance to use a chronograph to see what speed I am getting out of each bow, as I am struggling with 90m. I am right on the limit of my sight, and maybe the second bow will give me a bit more zip.

The next week or so will be used to see which Drenalin will be used for outdoors (depending on whether the DL can be set correctly) and then the fine tuning process can start.

Getting ready for outdoors

I have now started to set-up my bow for the outdoors, having completed my last indoor competition of the year. I still have some indoor sessions left but these will now be shot on single spot faces with carbon arrows.

For the first time ever, I will be spending time on trying out different configurations and documenting them so see what the best set-up is for my bow and my new arrows (Pro Tour 470's). Before it was a case of a rough tune and away I go, but now I am chasing valuable points needed for my County rankings and my target of Master Bowman, its going to be worth the effort.

I will look at the following:

• Paper tune: As it stands I always get a consistent left tear, which is an indication of bow torque. My hand position feels good, so it may just need a tweak with the left yoke cable on the top limb to track the string back to compensate. I have tried an extra twist and it seems to make a difference, but too much will mean the top wheel will lean too much. This needs distance shooting to see what affect it will have. This was done with good affect with my indoor setup, and was suggested by Liam Grimwood. It enabled me to get perfect bullet holes and my indoor scores have increased dramatically this year.

• Rest position: There has been much said about the horizontal position of the rest and its ability to reduce left/right torque. Some top shooters shoot with the rest over the bow hand wrist (not as an overdraw though). I will test this up to 50m, with the rest at different positions to see if it has any impact.

• Blade angle: To ensure good clearance, the blade angle of the rest can be moved. However, making the angle shallower will weaken the blade and could affect the vertical support of the arrow as it passes over it. This will need to be tested to see if it affects groups.

• Nocking point height: Again, moving this may affect groups so I will test this from zero to no more than 5mm to see what impact this has.

• Walk back test: This test will be done to check the centre shot and arrow spine.

Of course, any change you make has an impact on the other parameters of the bow, so its going to be a case of trying, testing and documenting the impact and understanding how the bow reacts. I also need to decide which I am going to try first.

Its important now to start to really understand bow tuning and how my bow reacts to changes. I need to become a professional with my own bow to maximise scores.

SCAS indoor championships

This competition turned out to be tough physically, with me shooting three rounds (192 arrows including practice ends) over 11 hours (yes, started at 9:30 am and finished at 8:45!).

I shot 572 for both the individual Portsmouth rounds and 561 for the FITA 18, with 572 matching my current competition PB. I started the Portsmouth rounds slowly, had very strong middle sections but drifted at the end, so I need to attack the round mentally throughout. I also need to ensure that I stand up straight to allow the shot to be executed off the back muscles. When I did this I was nailing the 10's.

With a high quality line up, including a former GB Field member and a current GB Para-Olympian (John Stubbs), I missed out on an individual medal but won the County Team award for Surrey, being paired with John Stubbs as the two highest scores by Surrey archers.

However, lessons learnt for next time:

• Shoot a low poundage bow indoors so I can shoot multiple rounds, maybe around 50 to 52 lbs.
  
• Make use of the seating to rest between ends. I stood for over 12 hours and this took its toll.
• Drink more water. I did'nt take any water and dehydration made it harder to concentrate.
  

Another indoor PB

I shot an indoor Portsmouth round at Friars Gate Archers on Wednesday and despite a small wobble mid round (56/60), I posted a new practice PB of 583. I had set a goal to shoot 585 so I came pretty close. Most of the shot were really, maintaining back tension and pulling through the shot with good trigger pressure. What was most pleasing is that I shot 119/120 on the last dozen with really strong shots.

This was off the back of a previous session practising on a FITA 18 face where I allowed the shot to execute automatically by staying relaxed and focusing on aiming. This worked so well I shot a personal best of 16 consecutive 10's, something I have never achieved before, even on a practise round.

It's off to the SCAS and Sussex indoor championships on Sunday, so I look forward to carrying this form into the event.

Allington Castle Worcester/Portsmouth Open

On Sunday I shot an unusual Worcester/Portsmouth double round at Allington Castle Archers.

Well, I shot the Worcester round, and despite coming second in the first session, I shot a disappointing 296 out of 300. My form was terrible and my frame of mind was not right, so I packed up and did not bother with the second session.

Looking back I wish I had, if I had sorted my self out for the session I could have won the double round, and I don't like to give up at competitions.

After thinking about why I had issues with my form, its just down to posture and alignment and how shooting indoor can make you feel a bit cramped up, compared to shooting out doors where the style is much more natural and relaxed (due to the increase elevation of the bow).

After some practice tonight, it maybe that I need to lengthen my draw length by about 1/4". I was trying to touch the tip of my nose with the string but this meant collapsing slightly to do so. However when I shot without trying to do this, the alignment felt OK, and I was able to bring the elbow round in line and the aim steadied.

Arundown Triple Worcester

On Sunday I shot a triple Worcester round at Arundown, and came 2nd, 1st and 1st for the single, double and triple respectively.

I am happy with the placings, OK with the scores (298, 296 and 298) but not that pleased with how I shot. However, this was the first competition since having the coaching session, but I did not shoot as well as I have been in practice. The main factor was not being able to relax. If I relax then there are more points to be had, and a perfect 300 is on.

More PB's tumble

I shot a partial FITA (90m,70m and 50m) and a Long Metric this weekend and have once again wiped away my old practice PB's.

If I had completed the partially shot FITA with just an average 30m score, I could have been on for a 1320+ FITA. If I was to shoot 50m and 30m and plug in the Long Metric, I could have had around 1340+.

It seems unbelievable I am talking about this level of scoring, even in practice. Even taking into account tournament conditions, I will still be looking at comfortable MB scores. If I add up all my practice PB distance scores that works out at 1352, on the dot for GMB.

Todays Long Metric of 658, is about 20+ points ahead of my usual practice scores. This was all down to relaxing fully the bow arm and had, maintaining back tension and being confident on the trigger. I had also sorted out some travel issues on my release aid.

It seems that the coaching I had had a few weeks ago from Liam Grimwwod has once again contributed fully to my scores increasing.

More PB's broken, all down to coaching

Today I shot a 30m Frostbite round and 3 doz @ 90m. After last Wednesdays Portsmouth PB I was feeling confident, and despite a few dodgy shots at 30m, I shot a practice PB of 355/360.

With this I decided to score a 3 doz @ 90m, and shot a 325. This was totally unexpected, and have never got near this in practice or competition. In practice I have shot 315 but this was a one off, I am typcially around 300 - 305 on average.

The 90m was achieved by relaxing and expanding the top half and chest. This had a great affect on alignment (not in a collapsed position) and really steadied the aim to the point where there was almost no movement on the scope's dot on the gold at times.

So thats three relevant distances shot in 5 days, all PB's by some margin, and all down to applying the principles that Liam has shown in my coaching session.

Finally break the 580 mark

I shot a Portsmouth round for the first time since getting coaching from Liam. Due to the weather shooting has been limited. However, taking into account all I was taught and trying to apply that to my shooting, I broke the 580 point barrier by shooting a 581.

Lately my average Portsmouth scores have been low to mid 570's, but hitting 581 was no fluke. I could feel the changes working and apart from a few dodgy shots, it felt good.

The biggest change was making the release aid trigger a little lighter and allowing the relaxation to execute the shot, rather than pulling on a heavy trigger like I have done in the past.

The other change was to really focus on aiming, and getting that dot locked onto the X. I am really looking forward to the indoor competitions with confidence.

Coaching from Liam Grimwood

I had a 3 hour coaching session with Liam Grimwood and it proved to be very useful and a good confidence builder.

Liam identified a few areas with me and the bow that needed tweaking, but thankfully nothing major. This included adding about 1/8th inch on my draw length so that the string just touched the tip of my nose, opening my stance and moving the grip onto the correct part of my bow hand (was just touching the life line).

As for the bow, we paper tuned my indoor setup and got the arrows flying straight at about 1m. This was achieved by bringing in the centre shot and tweaking one of the yoke cables to just lean the top wheel a bit. This meant that the string will track a bit to one side during the shot (only a minute amount).

We also looked at my stabilisation, and added some weights to the bottom of the riser to stop the riser waggling at full draw (riser is top heavy). All of this had a remarkable affect on my aim which was rock steady, but the biggest affect was using Liam's release aid.

My Choc Addiction release is on its last legs, and has up till now had a very heavy trigger. I tried Liam's Just'B'Cuz release with a lighter trigger (but not a hair trigger). This was far better, alowing me to just rest my thumb on the trigger and just relax, without having to pull hard, which meant my front shoulder would rise the more I pulled. This really steadied my aim, and I was drilling the X on the FITA 18 target I was shooting at.

Liam was very pleased with my release technique, and said this was a good as it could be, with no issues. This has given me real confidence.

Overall I am delighted and really look forward to training hard with this new set-up, and would suggest to anybody to book a session with a top pro, its money well worth spent.

Lessons learnt in 2009 and looking forward to 2010...

So, its New Years Eve 2009, and I am sitting here wondering about 2010, and what I have learnt from my first full season shooting compound.

I attended plenty of competitions this year with the aim of getting competition experience. I did not know what to expect in terms of scores, but overall I think I can be pleased with what I have achieved. I have got into the Surrey County Team and have shot a couple of FITA 1300's.

It has been difficult with the travelling and the cost of accommodation (Lilleshall being one such venue), and next year I intend to travel to those that are no more than 1.5 hours drive away. I might treat myself to one overnight stay; the Meriden FITA Star being one that I really liked.

As for my shooting, there are plenty of things I have taken from this year, some large, some small niggly things, but they all add up. Here is a run down of the main things I have noted and will carry into 2010, hopefully a better archer.

• Relax, and not worry about the score. When I do relax, my shooting improves. I have to learn to trust my technique.
• Keep pulling until the shot goes off. This results in far better and accurate shots, but I get sloppy sometimes.
• Write down my shot sequence and attach it to my quiver. That way I can remind myself of what to do when my form starts to suffer.
• Practice 90m/50m much more, and make this a priority every week.
• Don't keep changing my set-up, give changes a chance. I did this far too much and it set me back on several occasions. If something works well then don't change, even if my form suffers. It wont be a fault with the bow or the set-up.
• Try and space out the competitions to allow me to practice effectively between each one.
• Have a competition set of arrows separate from my practice set, and only use them to confirm sight marks. Maybe treat myself to some X10's or ProTours!
• Carry on with the weight training as this worked well and meant I was able to hold the bow steadier.

For next year, my goal is to shoot PB's, and not have any expectations. I will continue to set goals for scores as this has worked for the indoor rounds, but I must learn to not get down hearted if a round is not going so good. These things happen.

I will also not give up any rounds that are not going well. I should just use it as practice and remove all score expectations and relax and enjoy it.

I am having some coaching on the 4th of January with Liam Grimwood, and I am looking forward to this being a spring board into 2010.

Give it a rest!

Not much has happened over the last few weeks so nothing to really report. I shot a Portsmouth last night, and set my self a target of 575, and shot 573, so again, goal setting is still working and I am hitting 570+ regularly now.

However, I am still having issues with my rest and the large arrows. Due to the weight of the arrow, it bounces off the rest when drawing. You have to **really** steady. It was noted by another archer that the long rod was really wobbling and could be the cause. I have extended the long rod and it does flex a lot, although it shoots well. I have to get this sorted, either by changing the long rod (don't want to do that), get a stiffer blade or maybe open up the blade a bit so the arrow sits deeper down.

Oh well, no more shooting for a few days now due to Christmas, but it will soon be the new year and I really look forward to ramping up the practice ready for the outdoor season next year.

Need for concentration

I shot a Portsmouth round last night, and probably shot the best round I had ever shot in terms of shot execution, and it was really nice to follow up on the second session from the Surrey Indoor in Sunday. At one stage I shot 14 consecutive 10's and simply could not miss (have never done that before).

However, I blew my chance of a PB (OK, its only a club night shoot) because I shot one arrow on the wrong three spot face. Granted it was a 10 and a great shot (that's all that matters ;-)), but I should have been paying attention more. Even during the aiming process something felt a little odd, but the shot process had started and I didn't think it was because I was aiming at the wrong spot!

That cost me 10 points, and I finished with 568, it could have been 578.

I need to learn to pay attention, get my alignment right and come down if something it not right.

Other than that, I am delighted with how I shot, and I feel now I have stepped up a level and look forward to building on that over the coming weeks and months. The bow is shooting unbelievably well and am delighted with it and its set-up at the moment.

I should have been a weight lifter!

So, today I shot in the Surrey Indoor Champs. I had high hopes going into this completion having won it last year.

I started the first 6 arrows very well, having shot a 59. The next 6 turned out a 57, so 116 for the first dozen, a nice start. Thats when the problem started. I started getting really pumped up to the point that I got the shakes. This meant I could not draw the bow without the arrow jumping off the rest. If I was weightlifting it would have been ideal with all that adrenaline flowing! When this happens I get really stressed. So, I swapped my thin blade for the wide one normally used for my fat alloys (I was shooting my outdoor arrows). The problem is that this altered my sight marks significantly in that I had gone from the middle to bottom right on the 9/8 scoring zone. I then spent the next 18 arrows or so getting back into the middle. The rest of the round was pretty good but the damage was done. I finished up with 565, not so good.

The next session was far better, and I shot 572, a competition PB. I did not punch any shots and pretty much all of the shots were executed as explosive surprise shots. The only down side was not relaxing some time so the aim was not quite steady so some were a bit off. However, its probably the best indoor round I have ever shot and am very pleased.

I am also very pleased with the Mathews, it is shooting very well, especially with the draw length reduced down. I had changed the stabilisation the day before and took off 500 grams of weight from the bow. I lengthened and but lightened the long rod and just left one side rod to balance out the sight. This seems to be working really well and I am able to aim much better. The extra weight I did have meant I was tensing up if the shot did not go off in time. I look forward to shooting this setup outside at distance.

Using a hinge release

Last night I got out my new Scott Longhorn hinge release and tried to shoot a complete round with it (although I did not score). So far I have only shot random ends of practice with it.

The biggest problem I have is learning to relax, and it is critical when shooting a hinge style release. The other issue is how do you activate it?

I started the evening trying to relax the index finger and pull with the rest, which works sometimes but it is a form of punching. I then tried to make a relaxed fist around the handle and actively pull around the elbow off the back. This seemed to yield the best results. In some ends the shots were fantastic, but others were not as I did not get the hand pressure on the handle right, or my bow arm was too tense and the aim was erratic.

The other issue I need to address is after drawing the bow with the release aid in a forward position, I need to gain confidence I can grab the rest of the handle without it going off. I has not so far but this just needs more practice to gain that confidence. I am happy with the speed the release aid is set to.

So, what do I think? I think that practising with the hinge release and mastering it will eventually pay off, but like anything, it needs time and patience.

Also, I shot with my new cam that has reduced the draw length down to 27" from 28". It feels a little cramped and I need to increase the length of the D-loop to help bring the elbow round and correct the anchor point which is a little too far forward. However it does mean I have much less facial contact from the bow string itself.

A lesson in compound archery

Here is a video of Braden Gellenthien shooting a world record 120/120 with 8X's. If ever there was an inspiration and something to aim for, this is it. He demonstrates great alignment and follow through on the shot.

Tension is bad

I shot tonight indoors and it was good, as well as bad. The good was I shot using my trigger release and did not have a single punch. It was bad because I could not get the shot off sometimes. I did not get enough pre-load on the trigger with my thumb and despite pulling the shot would not go. This caused tension and the collapse of my shot.

It was only after driving home that I realised that a lot of this was down to my release hand having too much tension, therefore pulling did not allow the hand to contract and activate the trigger during back tension.

When I have relaxed my release hand before it has had a remarkable effect, so I need to get this into me shot routine and work on it.

However it was not all lost, there where some fantastic shots tonight that nailed the X, and no punches (came down instead which is good). It seems that in the last few weeks the punching has subsided, although definitely not cured, yet.

Shooting at distance after long break

Due to the weather being much better today, I managed to find some time to get down to the range before it got dark to get back into shooting the maximum distances, in this case 100 yards. Its not since the Inter Counties match back in September that I have shot 100 yards, although I have shot a few 70m ends at the club since.

After getting a sight mark I was pleasantly surprised at shooting some good ends, with a solid 50/50 split of arrows in the gold and red. OK, not earth shattering, but considering I have been focusing on indoors the last 5 - 6 weeks I proved that from a standing start I can still get good groups at 100 yards.

I followed on from Saturday's shooting, ensuring that my draw elbow was round and in line, and this had the expected affect of rooting the aiming dot on the gold. When the shots were executed cleanly the arrows landed (mostly) in the gold.

I am very pleased with how this went, and am looking forward to the outdoor season already. If I can get a good run of distance practice over the winter, and get the niggles sorted with my bow and setup, I should be in for some good scores next year.

Alignment is critical

I spent a few hours at the Quicks indoor range on Saturday due to the poor outside weather. After a few ends my aim was not as it should be, with the dot moving around to much. Whilst it was pretty much in the gold, something was not quite right.

Then I discovered that my alignment was wrong, in that the line from the tip of my elbow, through the arrow and through the bow hand wrist and finally the grip was not a straight line. This was simply down to my draw elbow not being pulled round onto the back muscles. It only took about 1/2" of movement to bring it in line, and suddenly my aim steadied to the point it was locked on the X ring most of the time.

I also shot my trigger release and managed to shoot most of the shots without punching the trigger. Out of the 70 or so shots only about 3 were punched. I still have issues with not pre-loading the trigger enough, so this needs some more work. When I did pre-load properly, the arrows nailed the X ring with surprise shots, with the shots going off within the optimal time frame of about 2 - 3 seconds.

I was also pointed out to me that whilst my elbow alignment was good, my front shoulder is not pointing towards the target enough. When doing this properly, it makes my draw length correct. No need for that new cam! By not having the front shoulder set properly I am shooting from a slightly collapsed position.

So the moral of the story is that alignment is crucial. Just a small amount to extra movement can make a huge difference to the steadiness of the aim because the body is using the bone structure to support the weight of the bow, and not the muscles.

Coaching

At the weekend I had some coaching from a club member and former England archer Tim Roberts.

Tim shot for England many years back and was kind enough to spend some time with me to go over some issues I am having, mostly around target panic.

When in front of a blank boss, like a lot of archers, I have no trouble at all executing a good shot, repeatedly, over and over again. Other than a few minor issues, my basic form is good and everything looks right. It certainly feels right. The feeling I get when shooting at 90m when a perfect shot is executed (the ones that land in the 10/x and you know it before its even hit) is the same that happens in front of a blank boss. So I know the technique is there.

However, as soon as there is a target then the fear of missing is over powering, and the more you fear it the more chance you will miss!

I think that having coaching will help. Having somebody there to tell you what needs work but most of all what is good will help with my confidence and ultimately help me overcome my target panic. If I am confident then I will be relaxed and this helps.