I have a very sparsely used park 2 miles from my home. If I walk over there and walk back that gets in 4 miles but with little terrain (fairly flat). They built a 1 mile walking trail in the park and paved it, which has tons of terrain. In fact if you go one way, you get one huge hill and the rest is pretty much down hill but if you go the other you come down one large hill and the other 3/4 mile is all uphill. They also made sure to tilt the track so your ankles get a good workout on a banked track area. That is where we get to run then throw. There is almost no one there and I know those folks that are as a rule including the maintenance staff. So I found and set up some sections of pine log about every quarter mile off the track at different distances and heights. I try to run when I get there anyway. So I arrive, walk a mile there to check out target placement and make sure I'm not going to run into or scare anyone. Then I run the next rotation stopping every 3/4 mile just long enough to throw three into the target then pull them and move on. The goal is to get in 6 miles of walking and at least 1 mile of running with throws every morning. If I have time I reverse my direction and get in the second run mile on the easier rotation.
I had noticed three things out in my practice area that I already wanted to combat. First, distractions were a problem. Shaded areas changing, low light at the end of the day, sun in my eyes, branches I would hit with my hand while throwing, even insects around my face, caused me to throw much less accurately. Second, if I keep my eyes on one definite spot or "target" on whatever I was trying to hit, I throw much better. In other words a stump with a black spot on it (painted on or natural) is much easier for me to hit than one where there is no "center" mark at which to aim. Finally, the more tired I got or the harder my heart pumped, the harder I tried to throw (without realizing it) and often it would exceed the necessary flying conditions for the knife and instead the knife just smashed into it without any point release control. I was always throwing much better in my first 20 minutes than in my last 15 minutes and I could tell that it was caused by my throwing faster and harder all the time.
The running and throwing seems to help a good bit. I have a long way to go. But I know now that I have to ignore distractions. They are everywhere and I work every day at that. On the track the sun comes from all sorts of angles and some of the targets are partially hidden behind tall grass and others I have to throw through narrow partly obstructed pathways to get at them. Also I am learning to concentrate on keeping my throws consistently hard and angle of release true, regardless of the heartbeat and my fatigue. Even though I enjoy swapping knives regularly at home to make myself adapt to what is available, I try to do the run with three particular heavy 9" knives I made. They are nothing special. I just wanted to be sure I was not having difficulties due to knife differences and have 3 that I like. All I can say about them is that they are all 9" long, heavy, 3/16" thick and have a very sharp point grind design that I've tried and I like. (I carry them in a scabbard while running) I'm sure there are other ways to accomplish the same aims but so far, given the fact that I wanted to get in a walk and run every day anyway, it seems to be a good exercise for me. By the way, I had a new Grandson born yesterday. He is my third and I am happy to say, the first two love to throw both knives and hawks, out back with me. They also love archery, kayaking and shooting sports. So as my wife says, we now have another one to corrupt!
