Seeing the World With Eyes Wide Shut

Many times our eyes are wide open to the risks and possibilities of our actions, but the view is shielded by our denial or false sense of invincibility.  This little hamstring ding is by far the mildest strain I have ever had.  After only four days, my range of motion is coming back fast, along with my strength.  My rhythm and run cadence have picked up with minimum flare.  Yesterday I even did a few take offs jogging down the runway.  SO, that is exactly why I will not jump in the meet in Austin three weeks from today.  Sure I will be vaulting but not at a level I would want to risk in a meet.  I won't allow my bright vision to be clouded by progress and optimism.  Things are going to well to create or risk a setback.

I have been looking at some older training logs and noticed that I have jumped very well during my heavier lifting times where my weight was in the 171-173 range.  I even had some good days in the 175 range.  I like feeling more powerful and like I'm hitting my poles with mass.  As a dieted and trained down for the big meets this year I felt increasingly faster but overall didn't have the same SLAM when I hit the pole.  It's got to be a weight/momentum thing because even at the lower weight my bench press and other strength measures were at PR levels.  I'm not that concerned about it but when I lift consistently I tend to be a little more hungry and tend to weigh a few pounds more. With the combination of the very scaled back lifting, and the training in the heat, I think I lost a lot of power along with my weight during the big meet season this year.  Can't do that again.

Another thing about being heavier is that I can start in the lower middle of my pole series and get to the higher end by the end of a meet.  When I'm too light I can barely get on my smallest meet poles.  I'm glad to have the new smaller poles but the objective is to never need them in a meet.

So why all of the talk about weight and mass?  I'm still shocked how much better technically I jumped on Wednesday by being 3-4 lbs. heavier.  You would think the poles would throw me less but I actually felt I had more control because of the power.  The final test - 171 at Reno for 13' 6" (4.10m) and 163 at Sacramento and 12' 6" (3.80m).  At Reno I was fast and powerful and at Worlds I just felt fast.  I'll keep an eye on it.

And now it's time for some football - retro style.  Have a great weekend!  Bubba
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxzfc-Yb0V4&feature=related