Reno - One Week From Today

I learned this morning that we will vault in the big show on Friday night at Reno. This is also when the elite men and women jump so there is a huge crowd and a lot of excitement. The top five vaulters in the world in my age group, M55, will be competing together for the first time. Should be very challenging and fun. It would be amazing to see five M55 people over 13' (3.97m) but I think that is probably what will happen.

Jumped with Kris today and got about as far as I wanted to. I was mainly checking my bicep and a little grab I have had in my right hamstring. I started with a 33' (10m) run on a small 13' 1" (4m) pole at 12' (3.66m) and had a good jump then moved up to a bigger 13' 1" pole and had a better jump. My hope was to get on my smallest 14' 1" pole (4.30m) from 43' and I was able to do that but the pole was too small. Went up to the next one which is my meet warm up pole and made the bar by quite a lot and stopped. Mission accomplished - no pain and nothing injured with one week left to prepare.

I did my bars and went over my game plan with Kris and my training partner, Don Curry during lunch. I'll lift legs and do bars tomorrow, lift upper in my garage on Sunday, run on Monday, stretch of Tuesday and Wednesday, jog/stretch/stride on Thursday and be ready for the big night Friday.

My poles were packed and shipped to Reno today from Kris' place. I taped up my new 14' 7" (4.45m) pole. Of course you can't really tell much about it until you jump on it but it felt good to carry and plant in the box. If anything it feels a little smaller than my biggest 14' 1" pole but the longer reinforcement piece will make it a bit more of a challenge to get in on. If things go well I'll make 13' on the big 14' 1" like Belton and then go to the new pole for what will be a new American Record. That will give me three jumps to adapt. All five guys could make this height.

I would love to jump well at Reno and I expect to, but the competition will be seriously strong. I will use the time to refine my pole strategy for Canada. If the new pole doesn't work I want to know now rather than then so I'll "live by the sword and die by the sword". Go big or go home.

I feel pretty good for being a week out and know I will feel great on that night. If I jump a PR and get 5th I'll be happy. I just need to execute my game plan like everyone else will. Looking forward to the opportunity to be in that type of stellar environment. Whether I deserve to be in that company remains to be seen. Stay tuned and we will find out together. Have a great night. Bubba