Jumping Journal: December 14, 2006

Something about temps in the mid to upper 50s in mid December just doesn't sound quite right.  Today the temps were in the upper 50s.  Even this evening after I got done jumping the temps were still in the upper 30s.

 

After spending another 1:30 shoveling the remaining of the steps on the landing hill it was time to get ready to jump.  I almost decided not to jump.  No one else had come out to jump and I was definitely on a little beat.  Sense talked itself into me and I went ahead and suited up and headed up the side of the hill.  I decided to go ahead and take a landing hill before taking the first jump.  It went much smoother than back on Tuesday.

 

I kinda figured that things tonight might tame themselves down a little from Tuesday night.  I was surprised to find out that they didn't.  The first jump started off right where I stopped on Tuesday.  The inrun was smooth and I didn't have any trouble keeping myself from getting compressed before the transition.  I decided that I would spend most of the night on just the inrun position.  I wanted to "force" myself to do it right and hopefully it wouldn't come back as a problem the rest of the season.  Time shall tell if this stratgey will work or not.  All I can say on the first jump is that it felt smooth and real comfortable.  The second jump is where things started to get a little interesting.

 

On the second jump I noticed that instead of just jumping like I have always did for the past six years, for some reason I was doing more.  I was actually chasing the tips.  I wasn't stopping the second that I started to make a move toward the skis.  Instead I was carrying forward with the move.  I was caught way off guard by it but I didn't react to the difference.  I just flew with and enjoyed it.

 

The third jump I ended up jumping about a meter late according to Cannonball.  The strange thing I noticed on that jump was when I found myself diving for the tips right from the takeoff.  I wasn't holding back any at all.  I truly can say I have never did that before.  I don't know why it has waited this long to happen.  I still can't figure out why it is happening now at the beginning of the season.  Last year at this time I was suffering massively, normally I do at the beginning of the season.  This year things seem VERY different.

 

On the fourth jump, I got the timing back down and the jump went even better.  It didn't seem like I was as aggressive as I was on the previous two jumps about moving to the tips but I was still moving in the right direction.

 

On the fifth and sixth jump of the evening I tried to get myself to put a little more power into the takeoff.  It did seem to be working and on each of the final twop jumps I was getting down around 33-34 meter area.  By comparison last year I hardly ever made it down that far.

 

I don't seem to be noticing the takeoff putting me as high in the air as I did Tuesday night.  I'm thinking the jumping has probably actually improved, again why now???  This is the strangest of all possible times for it to finally improve.

 

Now to get ready for two a day sessions coming up over the weekend.  Yes, the winter jumping season is underway.

 

Crash