It’s just a matter of time before I get my timing down…

My approach this year has been, respectable. Not great and not “exactly” where I think it should and eventually will be, but it is far better than last year. As a result, I am hitting the board with far more speed and my timing on each phase is a bit out of wack because of it. I feel as if I end up rushing things on the jumps rather than taking advantage of the extra speed and enjoying the ride on each phase. It boils down to timing though, because that is what influences foot placement and arm position; the two things that help to minimize ground contact time and also determine the amount of speed conserved throughout the jump. As I learn to be patient I have also got to slow things down in the air until exactly the right moment when I end up exploding into the next phase. So with that said, here is the product of my competition at the Armory this past weekend.

The above jump is actually the main reason that the competition wasn’t a complete waste. It certainly wasn’t my farthest jump of the day and the approach wasn’t even as good as it has been in recent competitions, but this jump teaches me enough to make up for the lackluster distance of my best jump of the meet. After all, indoors isn’t about distances anyways remember? Even though I am actually “mostly” happy with the approach on the jump, the hop phase is what really caught my eye. I was more patient than I had been at other competitions and got some good distance on the hop. The final two phases are horrible but that is where the timing becomes an issue.

Once I get my timing down I won’t crash on the transition of the hop-step and will be able to explode into the second and then into the third phases. I will also be able to make efficient use of my left arm rather tucking it like I did here. Even though I slowed things down a little, it wasn’t slow enough considering the ground I was covering and I ended up basically falling back onto my right foot rather than being active and exploding into the next phase. The end result is a horrible second phase and horrible posture in that phase. It seems I also cut the cycle of my right left short on the hop phase. It’s always the little things.

Even with all that, I can say that this jump is a quality one in my book because of the lessons learned from it. Even though my hop phase is the only worthwhile piece of this jump I feel as if this jump will be the template for the huge ones to follow. It’s just a matter of time before I get my timing down.

…And when I do…