October was a tough month for me. To those of you that think I dry practice because I enjoy it, read on.
This Month’s Skills
I missed eight days this month, doubling the days of dry practice I have missed so far this year. A couple things were going on. First, I don’t do dry practice because it is fun. I do it because it conveys a benefit to me. Many of you have written in or said things like, “I wish I liked dry practice.” I wish I liked it, too. I do it in spite of not terribly enjoying it, but I did find I needed a mental break.
This coincided with us having family in town. Though they aren’t anti-gun they aren’t exactly gun aficionados and I didn’t feel like explaining why I was in the yard every day drawing my gun and aiming at a target…and again, I wanted to spend all the time I could with them. Finally, I have a ganglion cyst on my left wrist. You can see it from some of the photos in last month’s dry practice post. I wanted to give my wrist some rest time….so I decided to move to SHO. I spent the latter half of the month working SHO draws and trigger control, an area that I need work anyway.
Despite missing an entire week this month (and other day) I have still dry practiced all but 16 days this calendar year. On top of it, I’ve done double days 60 days this year (adding in either carbine or shotgun). I feel pretty good about that.
My Results
I’m very close to 50 hours of dry practice this year (with my EDC gun – add ten hours with rifle and shotgun). I love watching minutes turn into hours turn into work-weeks. Minutes quickly turn into hours and it’s not hard to find ten minutes a day. What have you done?
Below are my day-by-day results of the past month.
January 1 – 15: 150 minutes, January 16 – 31: 160 minutes
February 1 – 15: 150 minutes, February 16 – 29: 140 minutes
March 1 – 15: 150 minutes, March 16 – 31: 160 minutes
April 1 – 30: 300 minutes, May 1 – 30: 280 minutes
June 1 – 30: 280 minutes, July 1 – 31: 300 minutes
August 1 – 31: 290 minutes, September 1 – 10: 290 minutes
October 1: 10 minutes presentation
October 2: 10 minutes reloads
October 3: 10 minutes malfunctions
October 4: 10 minutes presentation
October 5: 10 minutes presentation
October 6: 10 minutes presentation
October 7: 10 minutes presentation
October 8: 10 minutes reloads
October 9: 10 minutes malfunctions
October 10: 10 minutes presentation
October 11: 10 minutes presentation
October 12: 10 minutes presentation
October 13: 0 minutes
October 14: 0 minutes
October 15: 0 minutes
October 16: 0 minutes
October 17: 0 minutes
October 18: 0 minutes
October 19: 0 minutes
October 20: 10 minutes SHO
October 21: 0 minutes
October 22: 10 minutes SHO
October 23: 10 minutes SHO
October 24: 10 minutes SHO
October 25: 10 minutes SHO
October 26: 10 minutes SHO
October27: 10 minutes SHO
October 28: 10 minutes SHO
October 29: 10 minutes SHO
October 30: 10 minutes SHO
October 31: 10 minutes SHO
Monthly Target: 310 minutes
Monthly Actual: 230 minutes
Cumulative Target to Date: 3,050 minutes
Cumulative Actual to Date: 2,970 minutes (49 hours, 30 minutes)
Cumulative Actual w/ Carbine & Shotgun: 3,480 minutes (58 hours)
Current Streak: 10 days (138 previous)
Tobacco Free: YES
