I know, it's been a long time. Over three months, in fact, since I last pounded the keyboard to update you with my archery adventure. It's not that I don't have much to say, more a case of finding time to sit down and commit it to the interwebs. So, what have I been up to since I last posted at the beginning of July?
One of the highlights was taking part in the Surrey County Championships for the first time. I was hoping to shoot in the Masters (over 50s) category, which had 70m as the longest distance last year. Sadly, this was changed this year, with Masters competitors shooting 90m along with the other gents. At the time of filling out the entry form I had not even attempted shooting 90m, so I decided to enter for a 70m round making me ineligible for any medals. On the day the weather was showery and blustery, in sharp contrast to the previous year, where temperatures rose into the 30s. My shooting was not the best, resulting in a score of 464 for a WA (Ladies) (one above my handicap) but it was an enjoyable day nevertheless.
In the middle of July, Mrs EA and I had a child-free holiday in southern Bavaria. Being eagle-eyed she had spotted a hotel that had an archery centre 100m away, so we reduced our socks-and-undies count to include our archery kit in our baggage allowance. (This took more time to achieve than the flight to Germany). Plans were immediately scuppered on arrival in Germany where we were told that the hotel had been overbooked and that we had been 'upgraded' to a different one half a mile down the road. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the weather was so wet that we visited the archery centre only once during the week and the replacement hotel was a genuine upgrade and much closer to the centre of town. The archery centre is set up mainly for 3D and field archery so I had my first attempt at shooting 3D targets and I have to say it was a little disconcerting at first but quite enjoyable. Do look them up if you are planning a holiday: Bogensport Zentrum Chiemgau
The week after returning from holiday I had the second session with my coach, concentrating this time on alignment. I had developed the bad habit of not keeping my upper body perpendicular to the shooting line with the result that I wasn't expanding to the point where the load at full draw was being borne by my bones rather than my muscles. I think this may have been contributory to the flare-up of tennis elbow that started around June and continued for a number of weeks before I sought professional advice. Luckily my job comes with private medical cover so I was able to book an appointment with a local physio who inflicted a great amount of discomfort on my back and neck and advised me to change my computer mouse and do some simple stretching exercises. It sounds odd, but it has been effective.
Looking out of the window as I type this, Autumn has definitely arrived after a lovely September and our midweek outdoor sessions have given way to indoor archery. This is my first indoor season shooting barebow so there is bound to be some material for a separate post.
Whilst preparing this, I re-read my January post New Year New Goals and reviewed my goals for the year:
1. Improve my consistency
2. Achieve my 2nd class classification
3. Regularly shoot at 70m and above
4. Enter at least three outside competitions
I am glad to say that I have achieved all of them, although you could rightly argue that switching to barebow before achieving 2nd Class doesn't really count. Much of this is thanks to the advice and assistance of the people at my club who are always willing to help, whether or not they have a coaching ticket.
"What about goal number 5"? I hear you cry!
5. Don't leave it more than two months before your next post!
Hmmm. Least said.....
