First Full Training Day

When I look at today's training compared to my first day after Belton on 1/1, I feel a lot stronger and better conditioned. If you remember I had a slight groin cramp I wanted to protect so I hit the cardio hard on the Gauntlet (actual stairs) and bike, as well as bumped my lifts up to 28 reps instead of 18 one day and 12 on another. I was surprised how far I came in such a short time and I got some reward in Reno when bigger poles started to feel smaller. I'm hoping for the same this time around.

Again I will train for four weeks and not jump. I will however do all kinds of drills gripping the end of a 16/175 including sprint drills with ankle weights combined with more sled/hill running. The objective is to cover more ground with less effort and have a very stiff body hitting the pole at take off. This results in a big pole feeling small and produces higher jumps.

I tell the kids all of the time that once you can get the pole past vertical, all jumps feel the same. To get a bigger pole past vertical requires better strength and technique as well as speed and power. So that's the mission; how big of a pole can I get past vertical so I can get launched?

Jumping in practice is fun but not when it's cold, so I'm fine with this. I remember when I was getting ready for the World Masters Games in Sydney that I would sometimes take between 1-3 jumps in practice and stop. I got this from World and Olympic Champion Steve Hooker. One year he was coming off of injuries and knew he could get hurt again so his jumps would be limited. Because of this he would stop when he hit 1-2 jumps correctly. He said that his focus was so much better that he really didn't need many jumps and that he would be better off getting in better condition. So that's where I am. If it were spring or summer I would jump at least once a week and sometimes twice. But since the weather is crap anyway, then why not just crank away? Hard to argue with an indoor PR in Reno after not jumping for four weeks.

Speaking of Reno, I finally got that jump on my computer so I can pause and advance frame by frame. I've posted it here but here is a direct link
http://www.bubbapv.com/Bubba-410m.mov

PS - a special salute to the nutcases who joined me on the "Tell the Geico Woodchuck's story". I foolishly said to a few friends, "I wonder what their names are". From that came a back an forth story about who they are, where they came from, their families, prison records, girlfirends, etc. Too funny. Now - come up with your own "Most Interesting Man in the World" quotes.