Yesterday I got caught in traffic coming back from Austin and was only able to shoot about 40-50 arrows before I ran out of light. I was amazed again to feel how crisp and clean my shots are feeling. It was easy to call up the visualization of the field in Beijing. Easy to get into that "sweet spot" of great bone alignment. Easy to call on the right muscles in my back. Best of all, it was easy to make the decision to carry out the rest of the shot in a clean, confident way. That is a small miracle in itself.

Only problem is that I am incredibly sore. From fifty measly arrows! Thank goodness it's not my old injury of my left scapula, which comes from letdowns. This one is a much more proactive ouchie--in the muscles under my right scapula, the side that helps me draw the bow. I'm also feeling some alarming pain in my right forearm, which could easily be my radial tunnel syndrome flaring up again.

I'm not sure if I should shoot today. When this happened last week, I'd already scheduled a day off the very next day. I already took the day before yesterday off, because I was busy. Seems like I ought to keep working in compensation, but I don't want to overdo it. Also, my dad doesn't work on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so it would be good to shoot today so I could get his help with last minute tuning. It would be very useful to get in a couple practices today, but I don't know if that would be too much, even if I kept the arrow tally down.

That's historically been one of my problems; to this day, I still don't quite know my limits. I've lost track of the number of times I've completely overdone an exercise regimen, too much shooting, swimming, wheeling, crutching, kayaking, physical therapy, or some combination thereof. Usually I have trouble getting as motivated as I think I ought to be, but one out of every five days of exercise or so, I get really pumped up and want to keep going and going. That's when I tend to hurt myself, even though I don't think an average able-bodied person would have to stop so soon.

I don't think that's what has happened here. I've been swimming gently once a week, doing laps in my wheelchair twice a week at low intensity. I always warm up and stretch before every activity. The only thing that has changed is my focus when I shoot. As my dad just pointed out, ever since my revelation in Colorado, I've been making the decision every single shot to have a great execution. That means more power, more intensity. In short, I think I'm incredibly sore because I'm behaving a little bit more like a professional archer.