Shooting The Awel Fain

Thanks to Coach Morris' lasting support and help, I managed to get an interview with Jamie & Louise on BBC Radio Wales yesterday, you can listen to how it went here

Click 'Listen Now' and Skip to 35 miniutes and 10 seconds for the start of our chat.

I went along to BBC Radio Leicester where I was put in a room on my own and linked into a call with Jamie, Louise and Coach Morris - live on air.

The Everyman Olympian looking like a hospital radio DJ.

I had a great time in that room on my own and would like to also thank Paul and Julie of BBC Radio Wales and Val of BBC Leicester for their help and being so welcoming in this process.

Best regards,

The Everyman Olympian, available for radio and other forms of interview upon request.

Radio Ga Ga

Thanks to the ingenious approach of Coach Morris to The Shooting Challenge, tomorrow morning I shall get the chance to be on national radio for the first time in the adventures of The Everyman Olympian.

Tomorrow from 9:30am - 10am tune into BBC Radio Wales if you get a chance, I'll be on there along with Coach Morris, being interviewed by Jamie & Louise - here's how you can listen:

FM: 93-96 & 104 if you're in Wales or the West of England

Or try Medium Wave: 657 & 882 AM

Or online, here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/sites/info/pages/frequencies.shtml

I'm really looking forward to it and hopefully you can join me.

Best regards,

The Everyman Olympian

On Target

This week I met up with Welsh International Shooter, Coach Morris for my final training session for The Pistol Shooting Challenge. But would I be on target?

The range we're using for practise is slightly shorter than the ones at a standard firing range, some would say this makes it slightly easier (those of you who shoot, for instance) but bare in mind that less than 2 months ago I'd never even seen a gun before.

This is a pic from a previous training session, before the beard came off

The aim of the evening was to get some final preparation time, make any minute adjustments needed to the sights of the pistol, and talk through range etiquette as well as the format for the event.

Range etiquette may sound a little like it's all about being polite and minding your manners, and in a way it is: this set of rules includes things like not pointing your gun anywhere other than towards the target wall, and never leaving a loaded weapon alone at your shooting point - seems obvious but as these unusual looking guns could be lethal then I for one am not willing to take any risks with one.

Coach Morris used the evening to go over the event in fine detail as well as see how I managed in a distracting environment, often talking all the way through my shots; while the range will not be full of people chatting, it will be full of my competition firing their pistols as and when they please during the 1hr 45 minutes we'll have to take 60 shots.

My personal goal for the evening was to shoot what I thought of as a 'clean card' - I'd never once shot all 10 pellets through the black centre of a target card (any hole that touches the black centre, counts as a 7 and above - the 'bullseye being a 10).

I shot 4 cards that evening, Coach Morris adjusted the sights twice. When it came to my final shot I looked down at the target, which was showing 9 'clean' shots and took a deep breath as I raised the gun...

Yahtzee!!!

I'd bagged a clean card in my training sessions at last, and with my final shot!!

As a reward Coach Morris allowed me a few rounds with the rapid fire mag in the pistol; 5 pellets slot into the loading chamber at once, when you've got your sights lined up you shoot all of the pellets in quick succession.

Blasting the hell out of the target felt great - better than any shoot 'em up game I'd ever played.

Here's the result:

As rapid firing goes I'm told this is pretty darn good for a first go - and that's coming from a Welsh International Shooter!

The Pistol Shooting Challenge will take place on Saturday 28th May at The National Indoor Shooting Centre, Wolverhampton.  I'll be ready.

Shooting: The North Wales Open & My 2nd Shooting Session

Coach Morris had invited me up to the North Wales Open to see how an Olympic shooting event would take place, I wasn't going to let a mere 200 miles get in the way...

The event was being held at the illustrious Ellesmere College Shropshire, a private school so grand it'd almost make the pupils of JK Rowling's self-imagined Hogwarts look standard.

Ellesmere College: Impressive building, poorly photographed

Training: Week #54ish

After a 4 mile run around my brother's home village of Hook in leafy Hampshire the evening before, I was feeling chirpy though slightly anxious as I set off in the car with said brother to start my training for The Judo Challenge.

Saturday 26th February

I'd managed to meet Coach Skillcorn the week before and he'd assured me that I wouldn't simply be used like a rag doll into the dojo (the name of the room where you practice Judo is the same the world over).

My little/older/wiser/marathon running/brother had come along to take some photos and possibly drive the car back if I was a broken man at the end.

The hour long session started with exercise drills that would later prove to incorporate actual Judo techniques - I hadn't realised at the time I was sliding along on the mats that I was already starting on my path to Judo mediocrity.

Sweating from the warm up drills I then began to learn basic Ne Waza (kneeling techniques) and Osae Komi Waza (holding down techniques) before moving on to escaping methods, Kensestu Waza (arm locks) and Shime Waza (strangles and chokes)...there Waza lot to remember! (apologies Coach).

Coach Skillcorn shows me how to taste my own Adam's Apple

I'd started training for Sport 13 and found another one I instantly liked!

Sunday 27th

Coach Skillcorn had kindly emailed me some training tips which I could do away from the dojo and in the hotel gym as I was away all week, so that eve I was back on a rowing machine for the first time in a while.

Set to Level 7, I did 10 1 minute splits: 1 minute hard rowing, followed by 1 minute going slow x10.

I maxed out at 340 watts on the first minute and struggled to hit 250 watts regularly on the 10th set - this was before I found the Average Watts setting.

The idea of recording the watts was to gauge stamina - the aim being to maintain similar levels throughout the rowing session, clearly I had work to do.

Afterwards I got on the cross trainer for a bit, then hit the showers.

Monday 28th

In the evening I joined my workmates for 5-a-side footie, had a cracking hour (literally - shins clashed with my closest colleague, bruised bones) and managed to score a goal - I'm no player as my mates will testify so I was over the moon.

Tuesday 1st March

On the treadmill early bells and managed to get a new PB for 3 miles before work, 26:26 - not rapid I know but as a fat lad I was chuffed!

Personal Best's don't always look pretty!

In the evening after work I headed back to the gym and repeated my rowing training for Judo, this time I used the average watts setting and managed 257watts on my first set, 191 watts on my 10th at Level 7.

Wednesday 2nd

My tweet after the morning session in the gym said it all:

'Could only manage 2 miles in 18,24 today...shins, calves, knees, toes - all aching with different pains. Gutted'

In the evening I drove to Wrexham to meet Coach Morris to begin The Shooting Challenge...

The hospitality of Coach Morris & his wife Karen was so welcoming and a real treat after nights alone in my hotel, I felt very humbled in the presence of two such prominent folk in the world of Shooting.

During my first lesson I was shown the precious, hand crafted guns used for this technical event, had my handle shaped to suit my hand (amazingly they are made of wood!), discovered I would be able to use the very gun Coach Morris himself hopes to use in the Commonwealth Games 2014 - how generous and cool is that!! - and all the while I wore the shooting frames to enable me a chance to get used to only using my shooting eye.

My 1st Shooting lesson with Coach Morris

2 and a half hours later I left with the confidence that we could do this, I had homework and a method of mimicking the shooting frames - game on!

Thursday 3rd

A morning visit to the hotel pool to test out whether 20 years away from front crawl (freestyle) had taken their toll didn't go so well - the pool was more suited to leisurely souls and too busy to really get any lessons learned, so I opted for 20 mins in the sauna instead.

Feeling disgruntled with my last 2 gym visits I was determined to improve on my rowing, so I upped the difficulty to Level 10 and the attitude paid off: I managed an average of 235 watts in Set 1 and finished Set 10 with an average of 221 watts.

Friday 4th

I looked down at the clock as I hit the 3 mile mark on the treadmill, I'd felt like poop for the last ten minutes but a smile broke out when I saw I'm equalled my PB of 26:26.

Happy Days