Lessons Learned - Grateful Not to Be Hurt

A long and trying day that ended with a first jump clearance at 13' where I stopped because I felt a little hamstring twinge at take off. As predicted, we made history with four guys over 13' with me being the 4th. My buddy Kirk Bentz jumped the same height but I had misses at 12' 6" and he did not. Charlie Brown was 2nd at 13' 5" and Gary Hunter won with a new American Record of 14' 1", exactly what I said it would take to win.

I'm disappointed that I could not continue but pleased that I did not get a ding or injury. I will train and condition for the next four weeks without jumping just to be safe. So what did I learn?

My plan was flawed to start on the 2nd pole because I did not realize it was much bigger than pole #1. I jump on it all of the time but only after I am warmed up. SO, in an effort to move the bigger pole in warm up I called on my body to be too quick and snappy too early on and I started feeling a hamstring ache and flare within two jumps. DANGIT!!!!!!!!!!!! I took one more jump on #1 and stopped. For the entire time I waited to vault I was certain that my hamstring would give out on me before I ever cleared a bar, maybe even on my run through. So to get all the way to a 13' first jump clearance was a victory in itself as far as meet and crisis management.

In retrospect my training has been good but I've trained my body to be faster and quicker yet with no jumping it doesn't get to "test" the new body. After this four weeks I will go to jumping at least one day a week. I'm very pleased with my progress but I can't have misfires like today. Had I just started on the regular pole and warmed up during the meet like I always do, I would have been fine. It was good enough for Reno and should be for now. You can't jump start that speed and quickness on this body that quickly. I've learned.

So how bad did the day get? I didn't make my opening height of 11' 6" (3.51m) until my 3rd attempt. So much for saving jumps by starting higher. Preparing to jump higher too soon caused me to tweak my hamstring whereas my normal plan would have avoided this trauma completely. In fairness I made the bar by a very long way on both jumps but on #1 I brushed it on the way down and #2 my pole hit it after I easily made it. Now I make it on #3 or go home with nothing. All I could think was pulling my hamstring on a 3rd attempt no height. That would be a very long eight week rehab thinking about my stupid mistakes.

The next height was 12' (3.66m) and I made it the first jump. Not so lucky at 12' 6" (3.81m) where I too made it on my 3rd. Same thing, brushed on the way down with huge height then boom it on #3. What a HUGE waste of jumps. Now I'm at 13' and on my first jump I feel a weakness and a twinge just as I leave the ground. Not knowing if I'm hurt or not, I complete a great take off with a sloppy clearance and it stays up. I had no choice but to stop or very certainly be limping around with ice on my leg right now. Hard decision but the right one.

Here's that jump at 13'. When I look at the video and I'm about to get out of the pit the only thing I was thinking was "Am I hurt? I can't tell yet. MAN I sure hope not!" Then I got up and was fine. Close call. Scary that I did not know if I was hurt or not during the jump but just went through the instinct and finished it while hoping for the best. Here's a direct link so you can hit pause and advance frame by frame.
http://www.bubbapv.com/Images/Bubba13.MOV

The other thing I learned was concerning my grip being 2" too low. It needs to stay at that grip I have been using. When I moved up the 2" the poles felt a little mushy like I was slowing the vault down from over gripping.

I met some great people and had many come up and tell me they read this blog. Thank you so much! As you know, we're in the same boat so I'm happy to share my struggles with you. Great seeing you all and thanks to everyone for your support. Back to work for me. Bubba