Today was in all accords a bad day. I think even the most optimistic of competitors would have trouble finding any good from today's meet. There are a few fleeting moments of optimism that I can't seem to hold on to--maybe they will become more apparent when I awake but for now they will continue to evade me. I think it would be best to work backwards and start from the ending.
   Two weeks before Nationals the last place I would want to find myself is on the DL yet here I am ready to go to sleep terrified of how my hamstring will feel when I wake tomorrow. Six hours ago on my fifth long jump I felt it pop in much the same way I did a month ago when I originally injured it--this time it seems to be higher up and I feel it's much too soon to speak but so far it doesn't seem to hurt as much when I contract it as it did last time.
   When I woke up this morning I felt good, a pinch away from great and not far off excellent. The pain in my hamstring was mild, my ankle felt healed and my lower back didn't seem to be an issue. Then when I started my warm-up at 10:40am I felt amazing, I had one moment in particular where I felt like I could jump 20.00m. By 11:40am I had so much adrenaline I couldn't see anything going wrong--oh how wrong I was. When I arrived to my event I was surprised to see there was a delay. So I waited, trying my best to keep warm, A skip ect. but when I went back to the pits I was in shock to find it was going to be at least another hour--I lost my mental edge and became lethargic, unsettled and uneasy. Physically I began to tire but the biggest toll the delays took were mental.
   I started warming-up at 10:40pm and continued to do so until about 2:00pm--well over two hours, then after nearly 30 minutes of runways and marshaling it finally came time to jump... At 2:30pm, two and a half hours later than I was expecting...

There was a problem with the wind gage so I wasn't able to get accurate wind readings but judging from the track events that were being run at the same time the wind was probably in the -1m/s to -2.5m/s range (highest on the second, fifth and sixth jumps)

Jump 1-13.27m, it was actually my highest opening jump this season so I was feeling pretty optimistic, it took my mind off of the poor conditions.
Jump 2-13.32m, A little farther but technically worst. I think the only difference was the wind let up a little bit.
Jump 3-Fault, I over-hopped and couldn't manage a step phase, I think I was getting too much height on all my jumps but this was just a little worst.
Jump 4-13.54m, it didn't feel too bad actually at least compared to the first three. It still didn't feel as good as they have been recently but the main problem was the landing--I lost probably close to 30cm from where my butt landed. Even the video shows it was... brutal.
Jump 5-13.54m, the same as the last but to be honest it didn't feel like a very good jump at all, the phases seemed to be rough and I was losing speed in the transitions.
Jump 6-13.37m, I honestly thought this one was a lot farther--I thought it was at least 13.80m but I guess not. I think the wind was highest on this one, in the -2.5m/s  range.

It was about an hour later before long jump was marshaled and even that seemed like an ordeal. Originally it was supposed to be in the opposite direction as triple jump and so that's the direction, I and everybody else, used to get a mark. After 20 minutes we were told that the pit was too low so none of the jumps would be able to count. Another 20 minutes was spent in the opposite direction....
 
Jump 1- 6.01m -0.7m/s, just a terrible jump my heel was really sore from triple jump where a bruise was starting to form. I can't even remember the last time I jumped 6.01m...
Jump 2- Fault -0.3m/s, not much to be said...
Jump 3- Fault -1.3m/s (6.39m), a little better but it was about a 1/4 of a centimeter fault.
Jump 4- 6.05m/s -1.3m/s, I really have no idea how to long jump, I feel just spending one practice on it would give the instant gratification of 30cm. Flat, terrible landing, weak take-off ect. ect.
Jump 5- Fault -1.7m/s (6.38m), the dreaded jump where I felt my hamstring go. Surprisingly if I managed to somewhat finish it well... kind of. My landing was almost as bad as those from triple jump earlier, left probably 15-20cm in the sand. MUST MUST MUST MUST learn how to finish a jump... Also like a centimeter fault.
Jump 6-Pass, for obvious reasons.

I feel I must make a list of Pros to keep from driving myself insane.

PROS

• The HD camera I bought seems to work and gives pretty solid quality.
• On a terrible day when everything went wrong I still jumped my pb from last season (which was under optimal conditions) 
• There's a chance my hamstring was just a bad cramp and I may wake up fine. Even if it is pulled it doesn't feel as bad as last time. 
• The video (which I'll probably post tomorrow) was very helpful in pointed out a few obvious technical mistakes i.e. upper body position.  
•  I'm due to have a day with a find over 0.0m/s