Skydiving and Injury

I have a hard time speaking from experience on this one, as I am only in my first few days of injury to have gone through all the phases of grief that one might expect when it comes to being injured to the point of being grounded during the skydiving season, so I’m just going to shoot from the hip (pun intended) a bit and see how this turns out.

So far my skydiving season has started out a bit on the rough side. Between having the nice weather fall on days I’m hunkered down at the office and this hip/back injury that has me couch surfing for a few weeks, I’ve really only had one solid weekend of skydiving.

That said, I’m struggling a bit. With the type of injury I’m enduring (since, I can really only speak from experience here) I have good days and bad. Some days I wake up feeling amazing and then I’ll push myself and then come 6pm I’m laid up on the couch with this burning, tingling sensation all down my left leg. Other days I wake up with pain, rest a while, take some Advil then I’m good to go around lunch time. Still others, are just plain bad.

(Unfortunately, since the diagnosis, I’ve yet to have a completely good day…)

In a situation like this, the better days are tempting – especially when the weather is nice. I mean, I’ve had minimal opportunity to jump this season, so why wouldn’t I just risk it on days where I feel better to get in a little freefall?

Luckily, so far, I’ve been strong enough to remind myself that if I stick with PT for a few weeks and stay out of the sky I’ll have a much better chance of continuing my skydiving career for years to come than if I take one risk and one wrong step on landing to put me 4 giant steps back, or worse.

As someone who tries to be practical, that’s the best advice I can give to anyone who might have a minor injury this season, or in seasons to come. Take a deep breath, enjoy the time with your fellow jumpers (or even off the dropzone) on the ground, knowing that recovery is your first priority so that in seasons to come, jumping can be priority 1 again.

Talk to me again in a few weeks to see if my tune has changed…but for now, that’s the best advice I can give myself, or anyone like me.

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

Own it

Photo by Kevin King http://flickr.com/photos/divemasterking2000

One of the things I love most about skydiving is that it’s a constant learning experience. Even after you master one discipline, there’s always a new challenge on the on the horizon.

I’m a true believer that you can always improve, no matter how good you are at something.

That said, in order to improve, you have to be open to it.

Sometimes our skydiver egos can get the best of us, and rather than taking an objective look at our mistakes and soaking up the knowledge to improve, we throw out excuses to pad our egos.

Sure, nobody likes to cork out their first sit of the year, or be the guy who comes plowing into the formation and takes everyone out. And certainly, no one wants to be the guy who crashes his first landing of the season in front of the whole dropzone (yep, I was that guy this year), but making excuses for these things doesn’t do anything but hurt you, in the long run.

Personally I’ve found that sometimes simply owning your mistakes, acknowledging your areas for improvement, can do more for your ego than sitting around defending yourself while everyone rolls their eyes. So what, you f-ed up…we’re all human!

This time of the year, as we’re all a bit rusty from the long winter months, the learning curve tends to be a bit steeper as we get our wings back. As well all know, muscle memory only lasts for so long, so spring time can require a bit of re-training for those parts of the sport that seemed to come so naturally last fall.

It’s also important to remember that if you are a bit nervous about particular skills after a long period off, it might be best to ease back in with a few easy planned jumps, like 2, 3 or 4 ways. Hell, if you’re really concerned, do a couple solos so you can focus on yourself and get those butterflies out. In the end, no one is going to fault you for being overly cautious and concerned about the safety of yourself and others - especially during the early parts of the season.

Just one more reason to keep the beast that is the skydiver ego at bay – it could save your life.

Blue skies!

Ashley

Deal with it

Now that the skydiving season is in full swing, it’s time to get real about something – lifestyle.

What I mean by that is, figuring out what kind of skydiver you are and coming to grips with that. As the weather warms and many of my friends are out at the dropzone during the week (and tweeting about it, rubbing my sad little face in the fact that I’m stuck in my office on a day where it’s 69 degrees and sunny) this is the most difficult time of the year for those of us who can only be weekend warriors due to prior commitments.

Last year around this time I took a look at a few different types of skydivers and how you can learn to embrace that to enjoy life to it’s fullest – after all, isn’t that what skydiving teaches us to do?

So, the question remains, how do you come to grips with being purely a weekend (or occasional) skydiver?

Suck it up, that’s how!

In all seriousness though, you have to make a conscious decision about how skydiving fits into your life. For some, they just can’t stand not having skydiving play a significant role in their lives, so they take risks, make adjustments, and find a way to make the sport a greater part of their lies. Others, like myself, have a such passion for what we do on a daily basis and, though we wish we could be out there on the nicest days of the year jumping with our friends, we know our other responsibilities help round out our life.

Of course, there are other variations of this – if you didn’t read my post from last April, be sure to do so, I don’t intend to repeat myself and bore y’all…clicky clicky.

Anywhoosits, the point here is this: make a decision about your life, when it comes to skydiving, career, family, and how all those pieces fit together, at embrace it. There’s nothing saying you can go down one path and make a change later on as your needs and preferences change, but there’s also no point in stewing over the fact that the other parts of your life are taking away from your passions (skydiver or not).

So, if you’re a weekend warrior like me, don’t waste your energy on envy when your fellow jumpers are out at the dropzone on a sunny Wednesday afternoon while you’re “stuck at the office” or wherever you are. Instead, dedicate yourself to your commitments, to your passions, and know that come Saturday morning, you can wake up to the smell of Jet A with a smile on your face, knowing that the weekend is yours to play amongst the clouds.

(Note: yep, that’s a bit of a pep talk for myself as well, even the preacher needs a friendly reminder every not and again.)

If you’re lucky enough to be heading out on a lovely weekend for your freefall fix, be sure to enjoy it a little bit more for the rest of us who are with you in spirit.

Blue Ones Kiddies!

Ashley

Great to be back

After nearly 5 months on the ground I was finally able to get back into the sky this weekend, and can I just say that it’s so great to be back!

As you can imagine, there were some pretty intense butterflies going on, but given that it was sunset load and I did a simple 2-way freefly I was confident it’d be a good jump.

Sure enough, once that door opened my adrenaline took over and we had an incredible freefly (sorry kids, no video this time, what with my new BoneHead REvolve and I don’t have a Contour to mount…yet).

I have to admit though, my muscles are a bit out of practice. Sure, the sitfly came fairly natural and my brain was firing on all cylinders (until the landing, but we’ll get to that) but I couldn’t help but think to myself that the wind seemed stronger than usual. The triceps are definitely feeling it, though I’m guessing it’s a combination of the freefly and packing a virtually brand new parachute, which is always a slippery struggle.

After separating from an awesome 2-way I tracked and dumped around 4 grand, just to give myself plenty of time to get adjusted. My opening was beyond perfection so the extra time wasn’t exactly needed, but better to be safe than sorry.

The winds were a bit breezy up top so I turned in around 700 ft to start my downwind, performed a beautiful flat turn to get myself lined up perfectly where I wanted to land.

I was coming in all excited when, at about 15 feet, my brain stopped. Completely froze right then and there. Which means that my toggles made it to half brakes and stopped. Needless to say, what could have been a nearly flawless skydive ended in not-so-graceful fashion and a leg strap that needs a thorough scrubbing.

So I walked away pumped about the freefall and a bit red faced from the tumble. But, it solidifies my need to get in a canopy course stat. My confidence under this new 120 isn’t what it was with my previous Sabre 150 and Triathlon 135. I went through this once before in my skydiving career, being a bit of a headcase on landing, but this time I refuse to let it get the best of me. I know what I’m doing, or what I should be doing, so seriously, what’s my deal?!

(Note: Sometimes, giving yourself regular pep talks is all it takes to get your head out of your a$$ and get with the program.)

Regardless of the minor stumbles in the road, I couldn’t be more excited to get back into the sport that I’ve become so passionate about. I walked away that evening not only with a huge smile on my face, but feeling the weight of 5 months of stress on the ground slipping away. It was as if it I left it all in the airplane just prior to exit.

Sometimes, there’s just nothing better than a good skydive to make you appreciate your life. Can’t wait till the next one!

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley

Overcoming Butterflies

For most of us involved in adrenaline sports, butterflies are a natural part of the game. They can be fuel in some instances. After all, what’s a good adrenaline high without pre-jump butterflies?

That said, when too many flutters start happening in your belly, that can spell disaster. Not only could too much nervousness prove to keep some people firmly planted on the ground, but if you do make it up, it could be detrimental to your skydive.

Don’t let butterflies get the best of you. If you’re new to the sport and doing your first tandem or are starting AFF, you might feel like you’re going to throw up before every skydive (I know I did in the beginning) and that’s totally natural to have those feelings. Skydiving is anything but natural, so when you tell your brain that you’re about to jump out of an airplane at 14,000 ft and plummet to the ground at 120mph, your body wants to send every signal that it can that this isn’t right.

Believe it or not, it’s not human nature to want to put yourself in danger. Of course, our higher brain function does allow us to understand the safety of what we’re doing and the thrill that we know will ensue, even when our bellies might be telling us otherwise.

So how can you overcome nerves that may seem dibilitating at times in order to pull off the kind of skydive you want? Here are a few tips from yours truly:

1. Visualize the kind of skydive you want – this goes more for the experienced skydivers than those who have never jumped before, but if you can take a couple minutes before every skydive and envision it going the way you want, then you can take those butterflies and apply them to make what you want to happen, happen. You might be surprised how powerful this foreshadowing might be.

2. Breathe – this seems to be a theme. Take a couple deep breaths before you jump, and don’t forget to breathe on the way down. This is the best way to ensure that you stay relaxed in the skydive. Easier said than done, yes, but all it takes is a little practice.

3. Talk it out – this kind of goes along with visualizing the skydive. No matter if this is your first ever skydive or your 10,000th, talk it out with those you’ll be jumping with. It’ll help give you a better sense for what is expected from everyone on the jump.

4. Keep jumping – the more you skydive the less your nerves will get the best of you. Success breeds more success. You’ll learn faster and be able to figure out any issues you encounter. Practice makes perfect, as they say.

So tell me, fellow skydivers and adrenaline junkies, what are some of your rituals for keeping your nerves from interfering with your sport?

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

Yoga and Skydiving

Over a year ago I did a post about yoga and skydiving, so consider this the second, more elaborate installation.

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For those who have been following along, you likely are aware that I’m extremely passionate about yoga. As someone who has had a personal practice for 8 years, I’m a firm believer in the power of yoga.

Injury prevention and self-reflection, among other aspects, can truly be achieved through regular practice. What I’ve also found, in the 2 seasons I’ve spent skydiving is that, when I’m practicing yoga regularly, my skills in the air improve as well. There are a number of reasons why this might be – given all the facets of yoga that have the potential to improve quality of life.

I’m sure there are a number of you out there rolling your eyes at all this, but hear me out, you might be surprised how much a regular yoga practice could help you in skydiving. Check this out:

* Muscle memory and strength - If yoga and skydiving have one thing in common more than anything else, it’s muscle memory. The more you practice, the easier it gets. With both sports. In yoga, you’re elongating and strengthening your muscles which helps make the “postures” in skydiving that much easier to attain. Manipulating the air to get into a proper sitfly position is exponentially easier after hours spent in Utkatasana (Chair Pose).

* Mind/Body Awareness - yoga presents an opportunity to free your mind through meditation while practicing a set of physical postures. It allows you to focus your attention on you, to generate a greater sense of self and meld your mind and body into one during your practice. This can come in very handy in the sky. Lots of times all it takes is thinking about moving in a direction and then it happens. Knowing how your body reacts in each situation and/or posture you throw at it can only serve to benefit you in skydiving, as everything is happening so fast and there often isn’t time to give too much thought to your next move.

* Reflecting – that said, yoga helps not only to strengthen your body, but to strengthen your mind. Anyone who has practiced before has likely experienced the last pose (typically) of any yoga session called shavasana – also known as corpse pose. It’s often referred to as the most difficult pose of the practice, even though it’s the least strenuous. I know, right, doesn’t make sense. But in yoga, it does because it’s the time where you’re supposed to take everything you learned in the 60 or 90 minutes of practice before that and reflect on it, learn from it. Quiet your mind and soak in what you learned about yourself while letting all other thoughts pass out of your brain. This comes in very handy after 60 seconds of freefall that seemed like a whirlwind. When you’re tuned into your senses on a higher level, it’s much easier to reflect on what took place and have a legit discussion with your fellow jumpers. Of course, GoPro playback also helps.

*Flexibility – this may not seem like a priority for most skydivers, but if you’re little like me, any belly jumps you do will require you to virtually fold yourself in half when arching to stay with the group. It also helps if you’re considering dipping your toe into the world of freestyle.

*Awareness of Breath - okay how many times have you heard instructors telling their students (or how many times were you told) to breathe, it’ll help you relax in freefall. Well, this is another area where yoga can help. Each posture and flow is determined by the breath, that’s your focal point for most of the practice. If you take a few moments before every jump to breath deeply, bring your attention to your breath just as you would in a yoga practice, you might be surprised how much easier the exit comes off. Relaxing into the skydive is just as important for your performance as relaxing into a yoga pose.

So how about that, did you think yoga and skydiving could have so much in common? From my point of view, for what it’s worth, practicing yoga in tandem with skydiving can be beneficial for both your skydiving and your yoga practice.

Of course, you don’t have to take my word for it, here’s an article from Nadene Bayerbach over at Dropzone.com that delves a bit deeper into how specific aspects of yoga can be beneficial to your time spent in the sky.

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

Complacency can kill

It might be a bit dramatic, but it got you reading…and sadly, it can be very true.

For most, this goes without saying. As skydivers, awareness and attention is pounded into our brains from day 1 in AFF (or Static Line, or whatever training program you pursued).

But as we progress in the sport and become more comfortable – as with most aspects of life – we tend to have a element of complacency about us.

Expectations that things are going to work out the way they “should,” that our main is going to work perfectly, that everyone will fly the landing pattern, that the winds will stay steady for us to tiptoe out that landing, even that our packer will be having a good day so we can get right back up and do it all over again are not uncommon.

Of course, it helps to think this way, to visualize that everything works out the way it should, so you can focus on the tasks at hand. In fact, there’s actually an element of safety in doing so. But you can still do that while remaining an active participant in the safety game.

Doing small things like practicing your emergency procedures in the plane (touch those handles before every jump, just to remind yourself), working out and sticking to a dive plan with your fellow jumpers, and keeping your head on a swivel under canopy are a few good habits to get into to keep yourself, and those around you, safe.

One of the other things I do is try to stay as educated on the sport as possible. Read the incident reports and why things happen. Watch videos, learn from the good and the bad. Use your downtime (literally) to keep yourself aware. The more your head stays in the game when you’re on the ground, the more you’ll be with it in the sky.

Remember that muscle-memory stuff that was pounded into our heads as students? Same goes for your brain. Keep it active in the sport, even when you’re not jumping for one reason or another. That way, you won’t have to work so hard on that next outing to remember the little nuances of the sport (“is it normally a left-hand pattern?” “wait, do I turn right or left when approaching another jumper under canopy?”), it’ll all be fresh in your mind.

The take away here is that, no matter how skilled a skydiver you are, accidents happen. Luckily for us, there are a number of things you can do to help prevent these accidents from happening. What I mentioned above are just a few of the things you can do, recommendations that I’ve learned from my experiences. What other safety habits do y’all have?

Stay safe – and aware- out there!

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

Cravings

Freefall cravings are hitting hard these days. I haven’t been able to get any time in the sky since the end of the season and it’s eating away at me.

Over the holidays I lived vicariously through my friends who traveled to Florida and other exotic places (yes, when you live in Chicago, Florida is considered exotic) for skydiving, which I worked long hours to fill in for my colleagues who were also gone on vacation.

Last year at this time I was ramping up for 10 days in Florida for the Everglades boogie. That seems like ages ago now. This year we have nothing planned – though we did just talk about taking a trip the other day, whether it’s a quick road trip somewhere a little warmer or even just a weekend at a local dropzone that’d be willing to throw us out of an airplane. I’d take hop ‘n pops at this point.

Anyone know of any dropzones within driving distance of Chicago that fly on sunny winter days?

Until then, I’m continuing to live through those of you who were able to get out and skydive this Christmas. Any stories you have to share are welcome.

Blue ones!

Ashley

It’s all custom!

Well it’s official, my brand new custom rig is complete thanks to the recent addition of my Sabre2 120. It came last week and I’ve been so excited to see it – even more so to fly it!

Custom teal with black ribs, one white and one black cell. LOVE!

Thankfully, CSC has plenty of riggers on staff that don’t mind helping a girl out. Though I’ve seen slinks put together a couple handful of times, I’m still not confident to do it myself. What can I say, I like to have someone who really knows what they’re doing make sure I’m squared away.

Between Doug (the dzo) and two rigger friends it was hooked up in no time. The hard part, was that first pack job. Ugh! Even though I was packing a 120 into a bag and container sized for a 135, it was still a bitch to get in there. It took me 2 attempts to get the slippery ass canopy into the bag, and another three attempts to get my container closed. But let me tell you what, it was worth the struggle.

That first jump was a three way freefly fun jump with Rick and Stephanie. We did a knee lock exit, of sorts, and broke off into a campfire sit. I have to admit my head wasn’t totally in the freefall as I was anticipating deployment.

I was going to pull a bit high, but by the time we broke off and I felt I’d sufficiently tracked away, I was at 3 grand.

The opening was a bit squirrely, with a long, long snivel but sloppy pack job could have lots to do with the weirdness. Once I got situated under canopy I was in heaven. Once again I had a canopy that responded to my direction and I managed to get to the ground in a decent amount of time. The flare was nice and strong…light winds and the landing was tip toe.

I couldn’t be more excited about this canopy. Thanks PD!

It’s too bad that the end of the season is so near. I just might have to plan a warm weather trip for the near future…any suggestions?

Blue skies!

Ashley

The New and Exciting

One thing I’ve come to see in my short time in the skydiving world is that skydivers are the ultimate live-in-the-moment creatures. This is something that I love, mostly because it’s taught me how to live in the moment more in the other aspects of my life…which, I think, makes life more enjoyable.

But of course, playing that devil’s advoate role that I love so much, we can’t forget about the other side of that, the one where we have a tendency to seek out the novel…to only really enjoy the things that are new and exciting.

On the surface, that doesn’t sound so bad, but when it comes to things like progression in the sport, being ADD (ooh, look, shiny new wingsuit, I want to try that) doesn’t bode so well for your desire to improve those freefly skills.

Think of it this way, you can’t bitch and moan about not sticking that head down when you only practice it every two months because your attention is constantly drawn to other elements of the sport. It takes practice, and determination. Muscle memory can’t be built without regular repition, so unless you’re a natural at everything you do, this tendency to trail off can harm your progression in skydiving…heck, in any sport really. For anyone who has been paying attention, can you tell this is a mini-lecture to myself?

I’ve noticed my tendency to be distracted by these shiny skydiving objects too. Going back to my first few months in the sport, freefly showed it’s pretty little face and pulled me away from RW. Then came camera flying, then wingsuiting – and it’s only been a year and a half…so you can see how this could carry out in my skydiving career. Ha!

The good thing is, when it comes to skydiving at least, no matter what you’re doing in the sky, every jump teaches you the art of manipulating the air in order to do the things you want as you’re falling toward the Earth. Each skydive gives you roughly 3,000 ft. to practice your canopy skills. The key is, taking advantage of these opportunities, by living in the moment and using every second to your advantage.

Which brings me back to my first point, that skydivers are some of the best when it comes to living in the moment. Wow, this came full circle. Not sure I started out with that plan, but that’s where it’s ended up. This was going to conclude with a life lesson, and I think it still can — one that’s geared mostly toward the skydiving community and it’s this: live in the moment, enjoy each and every second while you’re doing it, and be sure to take advantage of the time you’re given. But, don’t let your need for novelty ruin what you’ve spent so much time building.

Ohh…check that out. Maybe it’s not so skydiving focused after all. “Don’t let the need for novelty ruin what you’ve spent so much time building.” — that can apply to any aspect of life, relationships, career, sports…you name it.

Hope this was as an enlightening of a post for you as it was for me.

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley