Indoors vs. Outdoors

I got a few emails about why my indoor PR would be so much lower than my outdoor PR and also inquiring what is the difference between the two types of jumping. In general, indoor PRs are lower because these are the first meets of the year so you're usually not in great vaulting shape yet, and you don't have a wind assisting you to run faster. That said, the world record is a little higher indoors than out - 20' 2" to 20' 1 3/4". Another thing to consider is that many athletes don't have that many opportunities to vault indoors.

We are an exception in our area because vault coaches have built indoor facilities to stay out of the heat and cold. Two of our meets this year will be at indoor football practice areas at high schools that have a couple of runways/pits on the perimeter. My coach, Kris Alison, spent a fortune to build a huge building to house an entire training center with weights, gymnastics, etc., with two pits and runways inside.

My deficiency? For me personally I made some technical changes to my vault in very early 2008. I could take off and get in on a big pole but when the bar went up I either wasn't in far enough to attempt a clearance or would come down on the bar badly. This meant that I was letting pressure off of the pole in order to go vertical. Recovering from an ankle sprain on my take off foot I decided to get to the bottom of this by starting on tiny poles. That year I blew indoor nationals in Boston and got 4th because I did not trust my new technique which required that I use stiffer poles so that I always felt tension on my hands. It was a very frustrating lesson but that ended my season with a jump of 11' 1 1/2" (3.40m). I vaulted 13' 5 1/4" (4.10m) outdoors that year.

As I sometimes do, I took this new discovery to another level and tried to see how big of a pole I could jump on from 33'. I got on my 14'/170/17.2 but in the process strained my triceps and got a tendon inflammation. I screwed around with this rehab for about 4-6 months before a sportsmed orthopedic physician injected cortisone at the tendon attachment and showed me how to train around the problem. So in 2009 I was only able to vault in one indoor meet, indoor nationals in Landover, Maryland where I won with my opening vault of 12'. At 12' 6" I got a little hamstring ding and stopped.

This year I have seven indoor meets on the schedule and I'm already in decent shape so I'm hoping to create a training environment that puts up some good marks all season long. At the end of this season I will take a very long break and re-tool my running and lifting for 2011 when the National Senior Games will be in Houston and the World Masters T&F Championships will be in Sacramento. I will be 58 and my age group will be full of young guys much better than me unless I make this overhaul.

Got a garage lift and bars this morning as well as a speed endurance running session today. Looking forward to it. Have a great day! Bubba