Dogged Determination!!

My good friend and M70 vaulter, Steve Warr (The Colonel) inadvertently taught me a lesson about how fleeting it is to vault at a high level for very long as we age.  About 4-5 years ago he was just on fire just booming bars at 10' 6" (3.20m) with an occasional 11' jump.  I saw him at the last big meet of the year and he was outstanding. I saw his the first  meet of the next year and he wasn't the same guy.  Not even close.  In talking he said that he had a long year and decided to take some time off.  Like the air out of a balloon, it took him nearly three years to get back to close to that relative level again.  He doesn't run, lift, etc., so vaulting alone just takes too long.

I've seen other vaulters "take a little time off" and suffer the same issues as they struggle to get back to a level of fitness that they easily could have maintained if they had just kept doing SOMETHING!!  This is what has saved me this year. Even during the move and hectic work schedule I have stayed in touch with all of my components, though way scaled back.  At 58 I opened indoors with 13' (age graded 5.65m/18' 6 1/2") and outdoors at 12' 6" on what I would describe at best as "leftover" fitness.  I don't deserve those marks with what I have done lately.

Now I'm in a place to move forward with some real consistency again.  I know all of my training sites, routines, options, etc.  I came so close to "taking some time off" but I knew it would demoralize me to have to work my way back up from being and feeling out of shape.  It's so odd that when we feel bad about ourselves we become paralyzed into doing nothing, and when we feel good we're looking for the next training opportunity.  I had some really down moments and I'm sure there will be many more.  But for where I am right now and the fact that I'm set to really begin moving forward, I'm grateful to have dodged that bullet of lethargy.  Have a great day and thank you for being here!  Bubba

In honor of determined old guys aging well, Iron Maiden's, "The Trooper" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbT2lHtYtEQ