The last competition was all about my very rational goals, but this time there was just one –> I wanted the official National Record.
After a couple of hours driving to get to Södertälje (a very nice club near Stockholm), I was pumped to do a good score. The situation was that I had already done the points needed but it was during a remote comp, so it was not an official record. I was sure that I could do it, however, my last training session the day before, had me hitting 26s and not grouping at all. There was no explanation as my shot felt good so I tried to brush it off and concentrate on each arrow as best I could.
Warm up was as planned. Equipment check, stretching, elastics. We had three ends before scoring which were yellows and a funky red (not that issue from last time which I push the bow arm through clicker – instead it was a spaced out bow arm that would not hold still for the shot). It was weird and just shaking out shoulders a little more after the car ride seemed to fix it.
Scoring began with yellows – 10 9 9 which was ok and better than the last two comps. BUT 27.7 average would tie me with the National Record so I needed a little more from one arrow. Second end was 10 10 8 and then 10 9 9 and then 10 9 9. So of course after 4 times 28s, I hit 10 10 7. It was out at 3 o’clock and was close to blue so it could have been much worse. My bow arm was not steady – or at least it was not feeling steady even if most arrows were going yellow. Whatever was happening was muscular so I would need mental strength to override the physical weakness.
So at the half, I was one point under what I wanted/ needed. It was only a 30 arrow comp, thus there was no room for mistakes. Every arrow mattered.
Then I did 10 10 9 – super close to a 30… and this brought me back on pace. Very nice group to the right. A click of the sight led to 10 10 8 which was centred but popped up. And then 10 9 9 on round eight.
Breathe.
That self talk when closing is so important. You really need to know what you need in the moment. Perhaps you need to be nice and gentle in order to convince yourself to hang on a little more, but for me in this exact moment, I needed to fight. I needed to keep focused on the right movements and timing of each arrow, which is why the next round was… let’s just say eventful.
I use my time. Very often I can be on the line all by myself with 15 seconds left.
I had already shot a 10 and perhaps another 10 liner… then for arrow 27, I was up and aiming. Ten seconds left.
BEEP.
So there I was holding and knowing that I did have 10 seconds remaining.
Since I am vertically challenged, the person who was controlling the timer did not see that I was still on the line… and he pushed the button a little too early.
I let down. Very quickly the judge confirmed the time remaining so I could still shoot the arrow.
Now when any technical issue happens in competition, the real fun happens when you need to shoot arrows while everybody else is watching. It was the most quiet moment of the whole evening.
Breathe.
10.
Walking up to the targets was kinda cool. It looked like a 30 but didn’t quite get it. Having a 29 did mean however that I was one point up and had a buffer of 3 points for the last round.
FYI –> Doing those kinds of calculations is very ill advised in comps. It is activating the wrong part of your brain when you need to be more into your shot sequence. Also, there is no guarantees even with 3 points – it is like celebrating before your get to the finish line of the race. Do not do it. Stay focused because anything can happen.
Last round, first arrow 9. Then a 10. Final arrow 9.
I knew when it went in that I had the record.
Very cool feeling.
A few people knew that it was possible so they were happy to find out it was official.
The official timer came over to apologize for the early beep, but I assured him that it was all OK. He was very relieved when I told him that I got the National Record too.
Officially 281. It beats the eleven year old record of 277.
Then I had to drive another two hours.
I arrived home before midnight and was already thinking of the next comp… which will be tomorrow.
Let’s see what happens.
