Rain, Rain!!

I don't have anything outside for a day or so but it's really raining. We need to squeeze a jump session in for the kids tomorrow or Sunday. My next jump/run/bars/lift day is Sunday also.

Today the forearm thing was minimal as I could do all of my lifts and bars with no issues. That definitely means a tendon is flaring the area since I have no muscle pain or strength deficits. I would occasionally feel a little bite but it's not bad. When I first felt this a month ago I couldn't squeeze toothpaste out with that hand.

I saw my partner, Sam (Fontenot, PT) today and he took a look at it and wanted to work on it in his clinic. I told him absolutely not; I want it to be as trashed as possible when I see the doc or he will send me home to "rest" for two weeks. Of course I would respond that I have just "rested" it four weeks because of this glute problem. So Monday I will get it injected with cortisone and a week later it will be good as new. I figured out that I got it from drastically bumping up my weights on lateral flys in an effort to enhance my shoulder stability.

Again this is one of those "protecting me from me" things. I FEEL very good but I have done very little for three weeks because of the glute/back/nerve pain, so that's a guarantee that I would strain a hamstring if I jumped at a high level right now. SO, I got a great week of running (four sessions) and will have another one next week and then I will be healthy and well. So the forearm ding protected me from hurting something else. They should both be ready about the same time.

I have thought many times that most of my dings have been upper body dings so I have been able to continue my lower lifting and running. This is just huge for a vaulter. For example, my four step run is usually 22' but yesterday it was 23' 6" and my 33' was 34' 6" - same steps with a longer distance means more speed, yet I hadn't vaulted in a month. No matter what little hurdle comes up, as long as I can keep running I won't really lose ground in the big picture. Actually I will gain ground. I know how to vault so that doesn't take near as long to get back or improve as gaining speed and power. BTW - tecnically I felt very good yesterday.

These upper body issues are because my runway speed and power are improving enough that I'm hitting some really big poles for me. Combine that with the fact that my new technique requires a lot of hard and constant arm pressure and it's clear that I need to bump my upper body strength and conditioning, not to mention getting a more rigid plant up earlier. I'll work on this with a long/heavy pole in drills.

That's all I really have on my mind today. Lifting and bars were awesome this morning as I could even do hang cleans with no back/glute problem. Life is joyous but will be better when I get the forearm shot and back to vaulting. My guess is I will skip the TWHS All Comers and come out at the San Marcos River Vault; or maybe not. Dr. Rand is a big believer in getting back out there and making sure what we did is working. Of course I will report more later. Have a great evening and thanks for your support! Bubba