Jumping Journal: January 23, 2007

Ahhhh, a little better.  At least last night I did manage to get around seven hours of sleep, far better than the three hours of sleep the day/night before.  I did notice that tonight felt a whole lot better while jumping as well.  I guess it does help when you are awake while you jump, LOL!

 

Timing and that crazy forward lean through the transition were the two main issues of the night.  The timing issue wasn't at all surprising, its been an issue for almost the past year now.  I still can't figure out for the life of me why changing boots would cause a jumper to start jumping late.  That's what has happened to me.

 

The first couple of jumps were quite late.  Jump three was getting better.  By jump four I was on the money with the timing.  I was still noticing that I had the forward lean going through the transition but I holding onto the position without falling down.  Cannonball had suggested yesterday that I should brush my skis.  I did this before jumping and it didn't help any.  I'm tending to think that the snow conditions has nothing to do with the problem.

 

On jump five I was real comfortable on the inrun so I decided to change the inrun position slightly to see if I could increase the shin angle and make myself use more/faster power at the takeoff.  The shin angle increase was nice but the timing was back to being late again.

 

Jump six was pretty much the same.  I decided to keep using the extra shin angle.  Jump seven was a little better with the shin angle but I was jumping with the upper body instead of the lower body.  I don't think I have ever noticed a jump being that chesty before.  The timing was better and I did get a little further down the hill but nothing like I could have gotten if I would have only jumped with the legs.

 

Jump eight was once again late but on this jump I noticed that it seemed like to keep myself from wanting to bend over at the waist like I have been doing the past couple of days that I might need to make sure and get my arms down by my sides while in the air instead of having them trying to "reach for my wallet".  I noticed that I was always bringing my arms up, more than likely to try to help balance myself.  This is what gave me the idea of relaxing the arms while in the air.

 

I ran back up the stairs to try the idea out.  I didn't really care whether I jumped on time or not.  I was focusing on making sure that I kept the arms relaxed.  It did seem like it helped to keep my body upright as I went through the transition instead of making me want to drop down like I have been doing.  I'm still not entirely sure what has changed but I do have my ideas.

 

I have a few things to work with tomorrow evening before the high school meet on the K25 at Storrs Hill.  A few of the kids from Andover are wanting to come over and jump the 50 so it looks like I'll be out jumping it before the high school meet instead of jumping the 25 with the kids like I have always did in the past.

 

Crash