Al Doing Running Contacts
Over a 48" A-Frame And Then Over A 49" A-Frame
This Video was shot the week of April 3-8, 2006. The A-Frame is moving up quickly now, and it is going up at the rate of 1/2 inch after each practice session, which usually is only twice a day. So it goes up 1 inch per day maximum and some days it goes up only 1/2 inch. Each session is only 2 times or 3 times over the equipment.
The first runs on the video are from when the A Frame is at 48 inches, and more importantly, the stride regulators were set at 12 inches from the apex, and at 4 feet from the bottom of the A Frame. The hoop was about 8 to 10 inches away from the bottom of the A Frame.
48 Inch Runs:
Run 1
Landed at 2 1/2 feet from the apex. The Second stride hits at about 5 1/2 feet from the apex. One hind foot might have gotten the contact because Al pushes off the 3 foot slat, and then two feet hit the ground, with one maybe getting some of the contact. This would make a judge get jumpy I think!!.
Run 2
Landed at 2 feet from the apex. The Second stride hits at about 6 feet from the apex, with one front foot landing on the slat which would be in the contact zone. One hind foot gets into the contact zone on that stride. When Al pushes off that stride his two front feet hit the ground, with one maybe getting some of the contact.
Run 3
Landed at 3 1/2 feet from the apex. The Second stride is at 5 1/2 feet from the apex. There were several feet that hit the contact zone.
49 Inch Runs
For the 49 Inch A Frame I kept the upper Stride Regulator at 12 Inches as it had been at 12 inches for the lower height, but I moved the lower Stride Regulator to 3 feet from the bottom of the A-Frame. I left the hoop in the same location so it actually was further from the bottom of the A Frame as the A Frame had gone up 1 inch.
Run 1
Landed at 2 1/2 feet from the apex. The Second stride hits first at 4 1/2 Feet and then 5 Feet from the apex. Then Al's next stride is a big one, and he basically launches over the contact zone, and lands on the ground barely missing the contact.
Run 2
Al's first front foot landed at 4 feet from the apex, and the other front foot landed at 4 1/2 feet. Al's next stride landed on the ground, and I couldn't see anything hitting the contact. It was a very speedy effort though, with lots of enthusiasm, so he got "Baby Guts" at the end.
That wasn't working!! So the next time we did it, I raised the A Frame again to 50 inches and moved the top Stride Regulator down to 18 inches from the apex, and left the bottom one at 3 feet from the bottom of the A Frame. I also moved the hoop closer to the bottom of the A Frame and this configuration seems to work as Al is getting into the contact zone consistently. He is taking 2 strides after his landing to exit the bottom of the A Frame.
As of April 12, 2006 the A Frame is at 58 Inches. The higher it gets, the easier it seems for both Al and Simon.
My Questions are:
When should I start reducing the size of the Stride Regulators?
Is this a good configuration or should I try something else?
When should I start to take the stride regulators out of the picture? I'm thinking of randomly removing them, but when they are in place, they will always be in the same position.
Anything to suggest??!!
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