How NOT to get ready for a competition

I am only laughing so hard because I have done that myself. Its a day meant for dirt clod shooting, not for record

Lol! Definetly not a good way to run a match! Since you've covered some of the things not to do I'll throw in a couple to-do's.

1: No coffee the morning of your competion, and no or very light booze the night before.
2: Eat bananas before you're match. They containt a chemical which will reduce nervous jitters. Eat several if you can.
3: See yourself doing well and remember, if you've practiced and are prepared you don't need to be nervous, and have every reason to be confident!


And number four is a little longer and for more serious improvement:
: Fifteen minutes of very slow draw, dry-fire, and reloading practice. The slow practice should be used as an opportunity to think before you do each motion/direction change. Use a mirror or a video recorder to review yourself. If you're bored doing this, you're not focusing or thinking hard enough. You brain shouldn't have time to be bored. This is a great way to improve muscle memory and speed, but I highly encourage you not to speed up your practice drill. Go at a very slow, and consistent pace, and end at that same pace.

I agree with TriTone. You do what you practice. Do it slow. Let the muscle memory develop. The subconscious will eventually take over. Speed will come.

I can see all the banana peels laying around.

and no or very light booze the night before.

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I have found the opposite to be true, in some cases. At least when it allows...

The subconscious will eventually take over.

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I have a 5-hour Energy at the shooters' meeting right before an IDPA match. It supposedly has about one coffee's worth of caffiene in it. I feel like it does lead to a sharper mental edge than what coffee does, and I don't feel "jittery". I'm not trying to take a precise rifle shot though.

I honestly don't know how much of it is "real" vs. how much of it is just a result of being part of my routine by now.

Aside from that, I also eat a small amount (fruit, beef jerky, and/or peanut M&M's depending on the day) and drink fluids in between each stage whether I feel like I need it or not. Once again, it is all about what has worked for me in helping maintain mental focus for a few hours.

9mmepiphany said:

I shot PPC for half a year drinking no coffee in the morning and the other half a year having a couple of cups as a comparison. I actually did better at the matches with the coffee and haven't found a reason to deny myself since then.

I actually found breathing and relaxation exercises to work the best

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Yah I don't really follow that one to religiously hehe I used to skip coffee in the mornings before auditions and I haven't really noticed A difference, ( I have all the coffee I want now). But if you are nervous coffee is known to increase jitters, and I used to get nervous before performances, I don't really anymore.

Like you said "A day shooting is a day not spent on the internet". And now you have the experience to know better for next time.

Everyone's had a bad day. Live and learn.
Coffee's an odd thing. If I have none I can't ever bear to look at a target. Too much and the shakes. Just right----well, it's just right.

5. By not double-checking your bag you have time for another cup of coffee. Your ammo's probably in there. You wouldn't forget it.

6. GPS and maps are for sissies. When you get near enough to the (new, never visited before) range, a magic light will just come on in your head and guide you the rest of the way.

7. Drive 200 kilometers to a match find I've left my trigger lock and ammo can keys behind. I found that in a pinch a screw driver and a rock will tear open a cheap trigger lock.

8. Drive 300 kilometers to the IPSC Nationals to find I've left my replacement contact lenses behind and my room mate snores like a 300 pound sow drunk on windfall apples, requiring double muffs in bed & a 600 kilometer round trip the next night to get my lenses.

8a. Get pulled over at 3am by the cops on the way back to the match venue in our nations capital (I'm an Aussie) with gun cases, cartons of ammo and chrome plated magazines loose in back, the final crescendo of Carmina Burana pumping out through the speakers like some demented classical version of heavy metal, my clothes still reeking of gun smoke and my eyes heavily blood shot. Looking back on it the officer was quite ..rational? Understanding? His partner freaked a bit though. :0


9. Forget to do the walk through on the last stage of the nationals, fail to engage (or even see) the last target, with the penalties making the difference between A & Master grade.

10. Go out for a drinking session with my ex and her federal agent boss after screwing the last stage. Sleep three hours and find I am now in the shoot off. With only the second hang over of my life. Needless to say I did not win it.

I used to go to matches to try and win medals. These days I think the war stories have better value. Except for the medal for defeating the reigning IPSC PD champion, the above mentioned federal agent boss. That one I kept.