[enyca]

enyca on May 10, 2004 at 3:53 pm #9240

First comp of the season…

Triple jump – 14.54m

Season's best, but not too happy with the distance. Only got 2 legal jumps in so was a bit inconsistant. Not so much approach problems but it is apparent I haven't got used to the speed and power I have built up over the winter season. I feel these can be rectified by doing more "short approach" jumping off 12/14 strides to get used to jumping with speed.

Conditions were typically british…rain, wind and cold, although I think I coped well. I placed 5th out of 16 (this was a senior competition) so I was happy about that. Next comp is the county championships and with some reasonable conditions I am hoping to jump 15m. I'll keep you posted.

(I am 19, 77kg, 6 feet tall)

[jumpscoachmike]

jumpscoachmike on May 10, 2004 at 6:29 pm #27843

Great job. Looking forward to your results…

[enyca]

enyca on May 18, 2004 at 3:56 pm #27844

Unfortunately, my second comp of the season didnt go too well. There was this horrible swirling wind which played havoc with my normally reliable approach. I aborted my first jump due to balance problems (not quite used to my speed yet) and my next 4 jumps were fouls. This has never happend to me before and it was frustrating. By my last jump I had given up the cause and pulled out to protect my body from breaking down which it likes to do all too often.

Unfortunately I didnt win my 7th county championship in a row but a couple of good things came out of it.

1) I was feeling awful that morning and 2 of my fouls were in the region of 14.90-15m

2) My running is still improving

3) My aborted jump was measured at 13.62 which was still enough to give me silver(!!)

I wonder what I'll be able to do when I actually feel like competing…? Next comp is in 2 weeks and training is still going well, just waiting for it to materialise in my competitions.

[enyca]

enyca on May 31, 2004 at 7:32 pm #27845

Third Comp of the season…14.61m

It's a season's best but I'm still not happy with the way I'm competing at the moment. What's frustrating is that training is going so well but competing hasn't quite come together yet…and I'm running out of time to qualify for the world junior champs in July.

I fouled my first 2 jumps (I'm still nnot comfortable hitting the board at speed…somethiing I REALLY need to work on). I didn't over step the mark but aborted both jumps due to the unbalanced feel of the take off. Subsequently I had to get my last jump in as a safety so I could make the last 3 rounds and thats when I did 14.61.

I felt there was so much more to come as the 14.61 was comfortable, but then the niggle I have had in my right knee surfaced in the latter part of the comp and I couldn't really put everything into my last phase as a result, even though my take-off was becoming consistent and my hop and step were far better ( I was hopping and stepping approx 10m and only managed a 4.50ish last phase!!). Other recorded jumps were 14.55 and 14.51, I can't remember the other one.

Next comp is in two weeks so I can give the knee a rest…hopefully it will come together and can hit the big "one five"…

[enyca]

enyca on June 16, 2004 at 3:12 am #27846

The season gets more and more frustrating…but there are still good things to come out of it all.

One of my poor points this season was that I hadn't actually got my first jump in at all outdoors due to balance and speed related problems. I seem to have sorted that out now and last weekend I got my first jump out and it was solid, landed in and around the 15m mark by the side of the pit.

Unfortunately this was a marginal foul but I was still encouraged. I lost my stride pattern and rhythm in my following jump and couldn't "get the jump oput" and fouled again. The third jump need to be a safety to make the last eight. I jmped a tentative 14.57m but in such a high quality field (eighth was 15.32) I didn't make the top eight.

I wasn't frustrated with my jumping but rather that I didn't have 3 more jumps becuase I felt in very good shape. Next comp is the GB Under20 national championships and world trials, hopefully it'll come good then.

Quick question for the coaches out there…At the moment in training I am doing short approach jumps off 12 strides and I have jumped 14.75m (my full approach is 16strides). Is this a good indicator of how far I should be jumping off my full approach?

[jumpscoachmike]

jumpscoachmike on June 16, 2004 at 6:34 pm #27847

enyca-

14.75m from 12 strides should indicate that you will jump farther from your full 16 stride approach. I think this will be the case IF of course your full approach in competition is well controlled, speed is maintained throughout the entire jump, and you are executing the 'little things' correctly.

[enyca]

enyca on July 1, 2004 at 3:25 am #27848

The season gets worse…14.87m PB

I had the Great Britain National champs and world junior trials at the weekend and unfortunately couldn't get it together and came 4th. I jumped 14.87…a personal best…but the sad thing is that this was my safety jump in the 3rd round ti make the top eight. It was very comfortable and I wasn't putting in full effort for fear of fouling.

My plan was to use the first jump as a safety to make sure I make the last eight, as my best jumps usually come in the first few rounds and this would calm me down. I followed this plan but still came out with a foul (which was over 15m). In my last three jumps I managed to hurt my back a bit and couldn't get it together. I guess a "coasting" effort of 14.87m means there's a lot to come hopefully!

The other unfortunate thing was that the three jumps ahead of me were aided by illegal tailwinds, whereas my jump was legal!! Very frustrating.

Any help from coaches would be appreciated…I haven't recorded an opening jump yet this season despite having a consistent approach I have marginally fouled several times this season. In training it doesnt seem to happen but in competition it materialises itself. What can I do to try and eliminate this problem?