Great Weather Wasted

It was near 70 degrees today and I had the top down on the car on the way back from the gym. Absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately I was unable to do much with it. I don't think I have felt this flat since my first practice after Sydney. I think mainly from not stretching, though I also didn't warm up at all either. I'll explain that in a minute. Over all I felt good but just not loose or snappy and it's my fault. Easy fix. I knew five days off would not be good but I had no real choice with a death in the family and Nancy needing my help with everything.

Like I mentioned before, the main pit is out of order and this time of year the other pit goes right into a big headwind. I wanted to get a few jumps in on some small poles to see where my arm is. I figured I would just warm up as I went on small poles but I was so flat and the headwind was not helping. On a 13/167 I tried 10' from 32' and it took me three times to be able to complete the jump and when I did the pole was so tiny I thought I was going off the back of the pit.

The good news is that my arm didn't hurt at all and I was also able to do all of my bars normally without really having to be careful. Actually the original plan was to have a clean bar day before attempting to jump but I just combined them today since I was at such a low level.

My poles are being shipped to Reno Thursday so I packed and re-taped all of them today. I'll jump on some bigger poles in practice Thursday and then I'll be set for Reno. They are putting a new box in on the main end on Tuesday so I'll be back on that pit Thursday. I'll end with a few jumps on my smallest 14' (4.30m) pole.

Right now I'll be cautious going into Reno and if things feel normal, which I expect, I'll crank it up to where I was in Belton as far as what pole I use on each height. If I'm a little off I can still easily make those heights on one pole down. I'll expect the best and adapt if I have to.

What's funny to me is how bad I hurt when I have extended time off. I had two days off and then June died and that added three more. Everything heals short so I'm limping around bent over. I feel far worse resting than I do training. I only missed one two day rotation so the issue isn't the activity; it's that I did not stretch. That's easily fixable. Have a great day! Bubba

PS - brother Bill got out of Afghanistan from his 3rd tour and should be in Houston by Friday.