Cautiously Moving Forward

So the bicep strain has settled into maybe a 20-30% setback instead of the 10% I initially thought, or the 40-50% I felt yesterday. I'll know this for sure after I finish at the gym this morning. There are a number of things I can do right now without any hint of pain that took me 10-14 days to be able to do before. That added with the fact that I have five weeks and not four, make it clear I can make a full recovery in time for Kamloops.

Fortunately my legs are good so I'll bump up the running to three days instead of two and stay on my gym/bars/stretch stuff. At the 14 day point I'll have my first jump day and it will be easier than my first jump day last month. I will have two more vault days, ramping up each time, also on Fridays, and then get ready to head to Canada. Like Sydney, the work on technique at the top should give me more out of my smaller poles.

I'm waiting to hear back from Kris and Don but I'm comfortable with no jumping for two weeks followed by three consecutive Fridays of jumping before I leave. What I learned in Reno was that had I stayed on my original start pole I could have jumped in the meet. I moved up too soon and too aggressively. I'm fortunate I didn't suffer a true re-injury.

I'll take these lessons and cautious optimism to heart and work toward the goal of winning a medal. My guess is that a first attempt clearance at 3.90 (12' 9 1/2") or 4m (13' 1 1/2") should be able to reach that goal. After that it's whatever pole, run or grip it takes to try and win. I've been honest and said all along that winning is unlikely due to the quality of the field with the younger guys moving into the age group. Considering the uncertain situation with my arm, a medal would be great. There is a lot of work between here and there and there are no givens at big meets. I just need to take care of me and my plan and then enjoy the event with my friends. Have a great day! Bubba