Balance - Risk of the Razor's Edge!!

For better or worse, I decided last night that I think I feel good enough to jump low level on my 13'1"/4m poles this morning.  It's two weeks from Ft. Collins so why risk?  I felt like trash the day I jumped Thursday and again on Friday, but Saturday my body rebounded and felt somewhat recovered.  For me to move forward with the big picture I need to introduce a manageable challenge on days like this.  I figured I could start on my smallest 13'1", get in 2-3 jumps and stop; I got 5.

I've never been on my 1360/17.4 from 2 lefts/4 steps/22' and suddenly in warm up it feels I might have a shot at of doing it.  So I jump 10'/3.05m, 10'6"/3.21m and 11'/3.36m all on first jumps.  I move back to 3/6/33' and blow through my 1365/16.8 badly at 11'6"/3.51m.  The next jump I blow through my 16.6 but still make the bar.  So again I'm closing in on my benchmark of 12'/3.66m from 3/6/33'.  I made 11'8" from there Thursday and 11'6" today.

I'm thinking I need the next pole and as I go to walk across and step off the pit I feel a cramp behind my left mid leg near the inside.  I know it must be a cramp because I felt nothing before or doing the jump.  Still, it's biting at me pretty good so I stop.

I go the gym and decide for "trial by fire".  I start with my quad that felt tight last Sunday and all week.  No problem making my lifts.  OK, let's see if this is a hamstring ding.  I started with the lowest weight of 22 lbs./10kg and feel nothing.  I raise the weight up two more times and still no strength deficit.  Yep, it's a only cramp because I also have no pain.

I go home and start a long stretch to loosen any "ball" a cramp may produce.  It got looser as I went.  Tomorrow I will do 10 X sleds very slowly and see if it will let me build up.  If I can run sleds 100% before my last session a week from Tuesday then I'm a go for Ft. Collins.

Right now I'm pretty sure I'm 90-95% certain it will pass.  In warm up in Torino, Italy a year ago my foot caught the runway on one of my runs and felt similar to this.  I was able to work it out slowly and still jump high enough to get 2nd in the Word Masters Games.  So with two weeks I'm pretty sure this will be fine.  If not I'll worry about it then but I would be very surprised.

The difference between today and other days was that I really didn't feel like I was taking a risk.  I feel pretty much in control of my body and vault so I felt I could reel it in or cut it off if I felt an issue arising.  I think I just didn't hydrate properly last night and this morning, like I normally would if I'm jumping.  All in all it was a risk I believe was worth taking, and I never take risks this close to a meet.  Have a great day!  Bubba

ACDC - "The Razor's Edge" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w9PXA2UXAQ