Mid-Point Assessment of the 2019 Shooting Season

Today June 11, so we’re about half-way through the shooting season.  So I wanted to take the time to reflect on my performance thus far, and try to not only assess how my training and preperation has gone leading up to this point, but also identify any corrections I need to make.  You may wish to go back and read “Part I” of this series of acrticles where I talk about the start of the shooting season.

To date, I’ve competed in several local matches, three major matches, and I’m getting ready to compete in a third this weekend.  The first, and most successful major for me was the 2019 World Speed Shooting Championship (WSSC).  It was the biggest match of the year for me, and one I had the highest hopes for performing well.  I competed in three different divisions – Carry Optics (CO), PCC Optics (PCCO), and Rimfire Rifle Optics (RFRO).  When I shot the 2017 US Steel Nationals, I performed well below my expectations – partly because it was so early in the season (my 2nd SCSA match of the year to that point) but also because of a problem which has haunted me for many years – I do not sleep well in hotels.  At the 2019 US Steel Nationals, I tried using an over the counter sleep aid (Ibuprofen PM) which left me groggy and “in a fog” for much of the match.  I shot the worst time on 8 stages that I would shoot in any match that year during the 2017 US Steel Nationals.  Fast forward to the 2019 WSSC – having learned my lesson, I determined I would not take any sleep aids, which I think was a good decision.  But, I did wake up about 2:30am in the hotel the morning of my first match (CO) – about 4.5 hours of sleep.  I started on Pendulum and shot an abysmal 20.81 seconds on the stage – my worst every on Pendulum.  I dug deep, re-doubled my focus, and went on to shoot my best ever 8 stages of Steel Challenge – a 134.44, which included personal best times on four different stages.  That time was nearly a second less than my previous best time of 135.35 which came at the end of the 2018 shooting season at the Tennessee State Championship.  My time at the WSSC in CO was good enough to put me in 3rd place in B Class Carry Optics.  It was an absolute dream come true to place in my class and division in the absolute highest level of competition in the world in Steel Challenge.  It was also validation that the training plan I had set in place worked.  I heard so many other competitors from Northern climates complaining that the WSSC was only their first or second match of the year, and that they were “rusty.”  I had only shot 3 other local Level I SCSA matches leading up to the WSSC, but it was my training plan which made the difference.  Still, I know that my lack of sleep coming into the match hurt considerably.  Had I been 100%, I think I would have easily been below 130 seconds.  But with the new classifications scores, I was now less than 1.5 points from moving into A Class which is one of my 2019 goals.  I experienced the same sleep patterns for nights two and three as well while at the WSSC – I was waking up at around 2 or 3AM and unable to go back to sleep.  So Day 2 (PCCO) didn’t go as well as Day 1 but I still set three personal best scores and got closer to achieving the Master Classification I’m seeking this year in PCCO.  By Day 3 I was pretty worthless from sleep loss – I shot my new M&P 15-22 in RFRO and classified as a high C class.

The weekend after the WSSC I shot the USPSA JP Enterprises Midwest PCC Championship.  I hadn’t intended to – when I initially looked at the calendar I had thought the match would conflict with the WSSC.  But I was invited to go at the last minute by a buddy and rode along with him.  Even though this gave me the opportunity to sleep in my own bed, we had to get up so early to drive there and make the 7am shooters meeting that I barely got 5 hours of sleep.  I was sluggish most of the day and ended up missing a lot of targets because I couldn’t concentrate on a stage plan.  The worst example of this came on a speed stage which had a plate rack, a popper activator, and a swinger.  The stage proceedure was simple – shoot all the steel, reload, and shoot the swinger.  When the timer went off I shot the activator and inexplicably did my reload before shooting the plate rack.  The reload was fast and my shooting was great, but I ate a proceedural penalty.  I can’t explain why I did the relaod when I did it – I had fully intended to shoot all the steel first.  My brain just short circuited due to poor sleep.  I think under the best of circumstances, stage planning is a weakness for me.  Which is why I need a good nights’ sleep to perform at my best for any USPSA match.  This paricular match was particularly hot and humid – we hit 90 degrees pretty early in the day – which combined with my poor sleep didn’t help.  In the end I had a great time but had way to many stages with missed targets.  I had shot the match in 2018, which was the first time the match had taken place.  At that match my MPX went down after just 6 shots on the first stage, so I was pleased to have finished the match this year.

The following weekend I shot the USPSA Ohio State Championship – the Buckeye Blast.  This was a match that I had first shot in 2017 where I finished and abysmal 241 our of 312 shooters.  I recall staying at a hotel the night before that match, and sleeping poorly.  I missed the match in 2018 due to a back injury, but the 2019 match saw a bit of a repeat of 2017 – woke up at 2:30am and shot a terrible match.  Looking back, I think I shot a better match than in 2017 – I did finish 11 places higher at 230 out of 310.  The stages where I didn’t run past targets went very well, and I was pretty competitive with those in my class.  But again, I just couldn’t concentrate on a stage plan – the match had VERY simple, straight forward stages as compared to the complicated and technical stages from the weekend prior at the JP match.  There really was no good reason to miss any targets.

The SCSA WSSC was a huge bright spot for me and a great validaion of my training up to that point.  I also have to focus on the positives at the USPSA majors I shot.  No DQs and I shot well on most stages.  Honestly my goals for both the USPSA matches I shot was just to finish in the middle of the pack.  Had I been able to nail down my stage planning and execute them properly, I think I would have easily done that.  Part of me thinks I should skip USPSA majors all together due to my issues with sleeping in hotels.  Another part of me thinks I just need to double down on stage planning to overcome the fatigue induced short circuits.  In particular, once the stage plan is set, air gun the snot out of that plan for the full 5 minutes allowed – the stages where I did that the most were the stages that I air gunned the hardest.

In terms of what’s left in the last half of the season, I’ve got 3 SCSA majors (Area 5, Indiana and Kentucky) and one USPSA major (Area 5).  I’m really hoping I can redeam myself at the USPSA Area 5 match.  In terms of the SCSA matches, I’m going to stay the course hope to show continued improvement.  I’d love to see a CO division win at one or maybe even both of the State Championship matches.

I continue to do pretty well with my weight loss goals for this season as well – I’m down about 26 lbs. since January.  I’d like to drop another 10-12 lbs. before the end of the season, and try to re-integrate some level of weight training back into my regime.  But between my ongoing back issues, and the fact that I think I need impingement relief surgery in both shoulders, that may be tricky.  But with my 50th birthday coming up next year, I’d like to be in phenomenal shape.  It will just be a question of finding exercises I can consistently do that get the results that I want without too badly irritating my injuries.  If I start in November, I think I can get where I want to be by April.