I did say I would try blogging more frequently with this extra time that I have now, so I suppose this is the start. I’ll try and mix things up a bit though since I’m sure hearing about just my training and competitions could get old. Be on the look out for some movie reviews as I try to put on the movie critic hat especially since I watch so many of ‘em. I’ll also probably get some World Cup commentary up (soccer/football was my first sport after all).

After last weekend’s meet I came into this week’s training with the mindset that it would be a fresh start of sorts. To be honest, I’m mostly satisfied with my season thus far anyways, especially considering that I’ve only competed 3 times,  but I wanted to focus on perfecting those things that have been holding me back. My goal was to begin that process in with week’s jump practice.

Of course, we started the practice with plenty of approaches. I didn’t tape them because I wanted to focus on getting the same internal rhythm down on every approach and in every practice without the assistance of the camera, so you’ll have to take my word on the fact that they were pretty good and certainly better than before. My problem arises in competition settings, but I was at least able to focus on not even thinking or peeking at the board and maintaining my speed by driving the whole way down.

We wrapped up the practice with 4 short approach jumps at near maximum intensity, followed by some plyometric exercises with additional weight. Here are jumps 1 and 3 of my series with the second one (jump 3) being the best of the 4. The patience in the first two phases of jump 3 aren’t bad at all and I’ll take it for a short approach. I feel as if the extension on my landing wasn’t what it usually is though and I didn’t have enough height in the jump phase. Lastly, I didn’t have nearly as much speed after 2 phases on the third jump as I did on the first one which probably cost me a good bit as far as distance is concerned.