Tracking progress to achieve high performance

In a recent post I mentioned about my progress since last year and I thought it would be a good exercise to show it visually. In the last 10 months since returning to the sport I've managed to get myself back to where I was as a junior in the mid 90s when I was a National Junior champion to shooting the best I ever have.

In the chart below are various shooting events I've attended since my first competition back in May 2007. Each competition had 1 to 3 matches which I took the average of all scores shot during a particular competition. In total I have shot 12 matches at 6 different competitions in the last 10 months.


There are 3 notable lines on the chart:

593 - The World Record
578 - The BC Provincial Record
563 - The Olympic Minimum Qualification Score (MQS details)

I've also added a trendline so I could see how I was doing over time. The last marker around the 570 mark is located around the time the Canadian Nationals in Calgary are. That's my goal.

I've got a long way to go before competing Internationally, but I'm happy with my progress and intend to keep doing my best to get better. Even though I've been shooting higher than the Olympic MQS lately it doesn't mean much (yet). It's 'good'... but great comes after 580. ;) My last score of 568 would only have put me tied for 51st at the European Championships held a few weeks ago. Need more practice! :)

I also want to say a massive Thank You to all the new subscribers and readers of my blog. Thanks!

Day 2 - 2008 BC Airgun Championships Results - new personal best!

A great day of shooting today with a lot of high scores. I shot a new personal best of 568/600. Tyler Johnson and Edmond Lee both shot 569/600 and Dorothy Ludwig shot a new personal best also at 387/400 which is probably the highest score shot at the match when calculated by percentage. Nice!

1st in master class and new personal best

Edmond Lee was the overall Match Winner for men with a total of 1716/1800 (569,578,569). Tyler Johnson was the top male Junior with a total of 1698/1800 (560,569,569). I was 1st in the Master class with a total of 1694/1800 (564,562,568).

The results for both rifle and pistol can be found here.

Day 1 - 2008 BC Airgun Championships

Just a quick update...

The BC Airgun Championships consist of 3 matches, 2 shot on Saturday and 1 on Sunday. This morning I shot my highest since returning to the sport last May.. a 564/600 followed by a 562/600 this afternoon. If you've been following my blog and my progress since last year you'll notice my scores are slowly moving up.

I believe I'm currently in 3rd -- Two shooters who I really respect; Edmond Lee and Tyler Johnson both shot personal bests today. Impressive. Edmond shot a 578 which ties the BC record set in 2000 by Arno Baron and Tyler Johnson, still a junior shooter, shot a 569 which is a new BC Junior record. Tyler unofficially beat my BC Junior record (566/600 set in 1993) last November.

The aggregate score (out of a possible 1200 so far) for the 3 of us from today:

Edmond Lee - 1147 (569 + 578)
Tyler Johnson - 1129 (560 + 569)
Al Harding - 1126 (564 + 562)

More to come tomorrow...

2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix Results

Well I'm sitting at the airport about to fly back to Vancouver. I was going to drive to Niagara Falls but it's snowing and visibility is limited so I came out to the airport early.

I stayed in downtown Toronto last night and checked out some of what the city has to offer. What a great city! I walked around downtown with a friend of mine. At night the CN Tower lights up in an array of colours.

1815 ft of LED light awesomeness

The results for the 2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix can be found here.

The BC Airgun Championships are this coming weekend in Richmond, BC. The competition will consist of 3 matches with the winner determined by aggregate score.

Next stop Vancouver...

Canadian Airgun Grand Prix - Day 3

Day 3 of the 2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix...

This second match was a bit of a struggle after the 1st 10 shots. I probably should have waited to try my new Sauer shoes because it seemed like I could not get into a good groove at all. I probably went through about 35 sighting shots and used up a lot of time but once I started I shot a 96 for my 1st string of 10 shots. I ended up with a 555 for my 2nd match. The combined score put me in 11th in a field of approximately 75 male pistol shooters including athletes from Trinidad & Tobago, India, and the USA.

After the match, I ventured out with local friends to get a small tour of Toronto. I went and checked out the CN Tower and got to see where all the big sports facilities were - Air Canada Centre, Rogers Centre.

the world's tallest freestanding structure on land from 1975
until the Burj Dubai surpassed it in 2007

toronto from 1465 ft skypod level

when the roof is open you could watch baseball games

I'm venturing down to the Award Ceremonies in a few minutes and will probably update again tomorrow with complete results.

Canadian Airgun Grand Prix - Day 2

Day 2 of the 2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix...

My first round of shooting is complete and I finished the day with a 558 / 600. A decent score but under where I'd like to be (isn't that always the case? :)). I went in to today having slept great the night before and ate a good well rounded breakfast with lots of fruit.

I only shot 5 sighter shots which is less than what I usually do but everything felt 'on' so I started my first competition target right away. Part way through the match the clock mounted on the wall I was using to keep track of my time actually fell off the wall and broke on the ground. I had 20 shots left and knew I had lots of time so despite not being able to easily see a clock I didn't let time bother me. Take a deep breath. Take the shot. 10. Repeat.

After the competition was over I took a look at all the toys Cibles Canada Targets and other vendors had for sale. I purchased a pair of Sauer pistol shooting shoes. These are probably some of the flattest shoes I've ever seen.

shocked at the awesome flatness of sauer

I took them to the equipment check to make sure It was okay to swap shoes and use these rather than my regular sneakers I usually wear. Checked and ready. I'll be trying them out during tomorrow's match.

I'm currently hovering around 10th place. The top 8 men and women will do a Finals match tomorrow afternoon with another 10 shots scored to the decimal point. There are several countries here; mostly Canadian and American teams but also shooters from Trinidad & Tobago, and India. Roger Daniel (Trinidad and Tobago) is currently in 1st place having shot a 576 / 600.

Canadian Airgun Grand Prix - Day 1

Day 1 of the 2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix...

The nice thing about this event is it takes place right in the hotel. They take over the conference rooms and have a good setup for registration, equipment check, scoring room etc.

I checked in and got my registration package and had my equipment pass the gun check and went over to the main area to do some practicing.

air rifle shooter practicing

During practice time I like to get a feel for the range; how the lighting is in the room, how the targets look, how the target carriers operate, where the washrooms are. Details.

Practice went well with about 30 shots taken. I don't really have a set number of shots I take during practice, it is more a case of knowing when things just feel right. The gun is sighted in and shots are going where you expect them to. No need to over do it.

My first match is tomorrow morning at 10:15 am EST and I'll post up results after.

New season, new look... a shiny new allanharding.com

A few weeks ago I was working in Photoshop to come up with a better presentation for my shooting blog. I had a bit of extra time tonight before going to practice and wanted to get something new up before I left. Let me know what you think:

new look for allanharding.com

Now I have this new look just in time for the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix which I will be updating daily from.

I fly out tomorrow morning and have practice and registration on Friday and then shoot the 1st of two matches on Saturday morning.

Volunteer Opportunities - Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games

Living in Vancouver and knowing the Olympics are coming to the city in a couple years is pretty cool. On February 12th, the Volunteer Opportunities website is going live so you can sign up for some 25,000 jobs.

...from the Vancouver Province:

"We have a shift of people making sure that the flame doesn't go out," said Donna Wilson, 2010's boss of human resources. "We fondly know of them as 'flamewatchers.' "

I'm going to submit an application maybe I'll get to be a flame watcher! :)

The process for becoming a volunteer sounds lengthy with phone screens and a 5 hour security screening and training session. You will be able to apply at www.vancouver2010.com.

I leave for Toronto next week and will be blogging daily once there.

2008 B.C. Airgun Championships - February 29 - March 2

The Joe Elkin Memorial - 2008 BC Airgun Championships are being held once again in Richmond, BC on February 29 - March 2nd. The BC Target Sports Association website has been updated with PDF downloads of the Regulations and Registration forms.

That will be an extremely busy week for me as I'll be in Toronto from February 21 - 26 and then will only have a couple days before the BC Airgun Championships.

Less than 4 weeks to go until the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix. Exciting! :)

"Ban handguns says Toronto mayor"... uuuhhh yeah okay.

From : National Post

"Mayor David Miller called for a total ban on handgun ownership after the fatal shooting this weekend of a passer-by outside a club on one of the busiest stretches of Yonge Street."

I haven't blogged about the negative perception handguns have by some people. It's truly unfortunate how tragic some violent crimes are. It's also unfortunate that more often than not a gun is used during the crime. If all guns were banned some other weapon would be used. It won't prevent crime, it would just reduce crime with handguns, something else would take it's place. Tasers? I welcome any comments about where you stand on this issue.

I worry about what all the negative news means for my sport. I primarily compete with air pistols but would like to be competing in the 50m pistol events this coming year. Both are Olympic events. Hopefully getting all of my paperwork in order won't be difficult.

Now for the good news...

My hotel and flight are all booked and confirmed. I'll be in Toronto February 21 - 26, 2008. I'm looking forward to this match, being an Olympic year I suspect a lot of national teams from other countries will be attending. The event has room for 300 competitors so it is definitely going to be interesting to see how I do.

If you're going to the Canadian Airgun Grand Prix next month (especially anyone from British Columbia) let me know (email me: al [ @ ] allanharding.com), I want to make sure we get our teams registered and to see if we can get a BC Team dinner or something going one night.

2008 is MY year... everyone's actually!

Happy New Year!

Well I was going to spend some time over the Holidays to clean up my blog a bit but instead I got sidetracked building a little Facebook application which I just finished the first version of tonight. It's called 2008 is MY year and lets you enter goals for 2008 and track your progress to achieving them. The nice thing is starts to show you where you're investing your time which can lead to some clarity in your personal work / life balance.

I found myself keeping notes on Post-Its, note books, sometimes in text files on my PC or laptop but I needed something a bit more concrete to help me accomplish them. Now I've got them right in Facebook (and soon outside of Facebook). If you have a Facebook account do me a favour and try it out and offer up any feedback you can. Thanks!

As for shooting... vacation is over. I'm back in training mode and getting ready for my 1st big match of the year -- The 2008 Canadian Airgun Grand Prix next month in Toronto.

Wishing everyone all the best this year! This is YOUR year! Go!