Well, drat...

Today's steel challenge match got canceled. Drat. Just because there is snow on the ground, a temperature of 5 degrees F, and a wind chill that brings the apparent temperature into the negative degrees doesn't mean we couldn't have shot!

Of course, i'd have done really really badly (cold is BAD) -- but I would have liked to have gone shooting today.

[sigh]

Ah well---back to dry fire practice.

I really need to create a program of practice for myself. Lately, I've been doing a decent job of practicing basics (reloading, drawing, trigger control, transitions) but it has been fairly haphazard--what I'm doing on any given day depends on how I feel.

While that isn't a bad thing, that doesn't mean that it couldn't be better. As a teacher, I _know_ better. One day of this and one day of that isn't the best way to instill good habits, particularly if "good habits" include increased ability and speed. Yes, I'll get better this way---but not as much as if I organized it a bit better.

So---homework for myself for this week: Create a month-long program of dry fire practice, with at least 5 minutes of practice per day, but in general, at least 20 minutes of practice every other day. I realize this doesn't seem like much, but with a good focus of practice, and an intelligent progression of practice, I should see results. At the end of the month, I'll evaluate, and see what comes next.

Relevant references: Anderson's book (Refinement and Repetition), Brian Enos's site and book, and Matt Burkett's videos.

Hopefully, sometime in my next post I'll make some commentary about what I came up with.

Shooting is fun, and I enjoy it thoroughly---but I also want to get better at it. (Master class--still going for that goal of Master class in Production. That won't be the end, of course---but it is the goal for now. I should also say that merely having a Master class card isn't the goal---being a consistent Master-class shooter is the goal. There are plenty of people who have high-class cards, but lose consistently to lower class shooters. I don't want to be one of those.)

Speaking of training to get better, I really may end up going to the Chapman Academy in September. We'll see---still have plans to make and such---but I may go out there for their 3 day class. It seems more likely now that I've talked to Julie about it, and written them and learned more, and checked on hotel costs and such...