Despite wet at times weather and a brisk south wind 20 spirited bounders carried on and carried [ME] up the hill in a fast paced and informative session.
Most people improved as they went along and seemed unaffected by the wet. When you are putting out a lot of heat it takes a lot of water to make it seem cold. Be thankful we don't do these in July like we did in the young [and stupid] years.
 
Some notes:
  • The pole dragging we did seemed to show almost instant improvement in everyone's pole plant.
  • Shin angle, the angle that the shin intersects the hill, is improved. That is fundamental. Now we work on "tipping over".
  • Balance drills [like in a mirror] sound goofy but they do work. Balance is not inherent, it is learned. That is why babies cannot walk. Already there is improvement within the group but there is room to improve. Treat that as a positive. If there was no room for improvement you would just be like me, old!
  • Find mental tricks to keep your focus. Hillbounding is never easy, excellent technique will make it better.
Back in the day (bear with me) we trained as a group and there was guy who was technically better than me (or anyone) and I would always try to match him stride for stride, be it rollerskiing or bounding. It never worked. I finally realized that to be able to keep up with him I had to be more efficient for me and not to try to match strides but rather find ways to hold my own. It did happen but is was my being "tired of being tired" that forced the issue. Being exhausted came be a great teacher and that's why bounding is such an important workout. Easy to say.....hard to do.
 
First Climb is at 5:30 next Tue. Good workout.