And the Clouds Parted!!

I went out to jump this morning, a day early because I'm leaving town on business tomorrow.  As is common lately, there was a GIANT headwind so I decided to go home and try later.  I figured that after lunch I might be a few pounds heavier, and the afternoon tailwind might allow me to finally relax on the runway and maybe I would get some quality jumps in.

When I get a tailwind in practice I'm always very careful not to use it. In other words I do just the opposite of what you might expect.  Rather than using it to run faster, I actually relax and maybe even run slower.  I do this because I need to know I can duplicate that run in average conditions.  The difference is that I'm not fighting the wind AND training fatigue.

A couple of years ago I was kind of where I am now in that I was using smaller poles and a lot of pole speed.  The problem was that I lost the ability to hit big poles.  Somehow in warm-ups at Reno that year, it clicked back and I suddenly had that big hand pressure feeling again. Three weeks later I jumped 13'1"/3.99m as a 59 year old.

Today I decided that I was going to force myself to find pressure. The method would be that I would jump from 2 lefts/4 steps/23' even if I had to wear spikes.  I had my first take off with no bar from that run and I knew I could get it back.  I made 9'6" on my second attempt and 10' on my first. 

I knew the pole was too small for 10'6" so I moved back a stride to 3/6/33', and up a pole.  Though the pole was too small I made 10'6", next pole 11' on first jumps.  I stayed at that run and went to a bigger pole and made 11' again. Moved back to 4/8/43" and boomed 11'6".  I then moved up another pole and blew through badly at 12' and stopped.

Huge breakthrough day with control on every jump.  I over-hit the bottom and committed to my swing every jump and that's what got me in.  I'm back.

Now this is a phase break as I will do nothing for a week as my body prepares for me next level. When I return I will go back to lifting legs on both jumps days instead of one, and will run 10X sleds three days a week.  It may take me a while to regain the conditioning to move back to these poles, but when I do I should be at the next level.

Today I used six poles from three runs.  I have three poles left which means I could easily jump 12'6" on these poles.  Suddenly very optimistic.  I knew that today was the day I had to quit forcing myself to jump in bad conditions and just get a good practice in.  Thrilled by the breakthrough.  Have a great day and thanks for the support.  Bubba

ACDC - "Thunderstruck" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2AC41dglnM