When I taught kids to play violin and cello, I noticed that as they got better at playing a particular piece they would start playing it faster without realizing it. In my own learning experiences I’ve noticed a kind of subjective slowing as I get better, in driving a car, Irish step dancing, and handling a bell.
Recently one of the most common striking errors I’ve noticed is 2nds place being too high or too late after 1st place. I suspect this is related to ringers improving their skills without entirely realizing it. When learning to hunt, they may have felt that hunting up and especially getting out of lead required waiting longer than they expected before pulling. But if you wait longer than expected a whole bunch of times, you’ll probably start to increase the amount of time you’re expecting to wait! If you keep waiting longer than you expect at that point, you’ll end up being late.
I suppose this is all a reminder that we never get to a point where we’ve “learned” striking and get to stop thinking about it—we can always get better!
Among Sallies and Bobs 