More Jumping = Rehab

My right hamstring was a little sore this morning yet I can vault. Mystery to me. Therefore I will drop all other training for the next week or so and just vault every third day. The objective is to get back to my baseline of 12' from 33'. If I can do that then I can jump 12' 6" from 44' and 13' from 55'. If I can't hit my baseline it's not worth going to a meet because I'm not ready.

Here ares some photos I got from a photographer in Sydney from the World Masters Games. Thanks to Geoff Jones of Sydney! The first jump is my opening height of 3.60m (11' 9 3/4") and the last two are from the 3.90m (12' 9 1/2") clearance. How do I know? The color of the tape on the end of pole. Click to enlarge. Have a great day! Bubba

Meet Planning

You can tell the season is starting to get closer as I'm sometimes posting more than once a day. I found out today that the Masters will vault last at the Altius Seasons Greeter outside of Dallas. No way I'm waiting all day and then driving home after midnight. Usually we go first because kids don't like to jump early and we like it. It's four hours each way.

SO, I will jump at my coach, Kris Allison's meets on 12/5 and 12/26. If I find out the meet north of Austin is jumping late I'll bail on that one too. It's just not worth the drive/fatigue level and a waste of a whole day and night away from home.

Have a good one. Bubba

Got Tired of Waiting

Well, I was coming back from a breakfast meeting and noticed that the drizzle had given way to 65 degrees and sunny so I changed and headed to the track to vault. Tomorrow's high is 60 with a low of 44 so since I have had extended rest I figured I might as well get the vault, run, bars components of tomorrow's workout done.

Not surprisingly I felt horribly flat since I've basically done nothing since last Thursday; not even stretched. I started on a cut 4m/16.3 that belongs to Don. A cut pole is simply a little weaker than the full length pole of the same flex. I could not even think of jumping on this pole from 21' so I moved to 32' and ran easy. Made 10' (3.06m) and 10' 6" (3.21m) on first attempts. I tried 11' (3.36m) twice but the pole was too small. I can usually make 11' on that pole with a good jump. I moved up to the full length series of mine and on to the 15.9/171 and made 11' easy on the second attempt but that pole felt too small. I moved to the 15.5/173.6 and went to 11' 6" (3.51m) and had three close jumps and stopped. So I got nine jumps today. Physically I felt flat but technically I wasn't that far off. A lot of rhythm on the runway is flexibility and I had less from no stretching. Not to mention that I've been sick.

I considered moving up to the next pole and going to 43' but I have a rule about moving back. Part of my baseline is that I have to be able to jump on at least the 16.3 and hopefully the 15.9 from 22' before I move the run back more than one stride. I'm sure I will be able to do this within the next two practices. Sometimes a pole that is a little too big from one run proves to be too small on the next one and that's what happened today. At least I've started.

I would say the right hamstring thing is probably 80% better but still there a little when I run so I ran at only about 20-30% in order to nurture a full range of motion without the grabbing - 4X40; 1X20+2X40; 20, 30, 40. Again I never felt that leg during my run or jump because the right leg is rarely injured on a right handed vaulter. Everything else feels fine.

I'll lift legs at the gym tomorrow and then get back on schedule with my garage lift on Thanksgiving with the next jump day being Saturday. Have a great day!! Bubba

OK - I'm Ready

Things always seem to work out to protect me from myself. And many times that's not enough. I thought about jumping with our Jr./Sr. High kids last night at the monthly All Comers Meet but a last minute lunch meeting made me feel too heavy. Today it's overcast and drizzly and yet another lunch meeting came up. Tomorrow, the day I'm supposed to restart, is predicted to be nice weather and I have no business obligations scheduled.

The bottom line is that I am ready to start. I wasn't planning on having a "phase break" with the limited activity from my sore right hamstring, or getting a bad cold, but at least nothing hurts now and mentally I can't wait to start either.

Unlike Sydney where I was coming off on an injury, I'm healthy now and have over a month longer to prepare for Kamloops. I will have six indoor meets on my schedule so the rule will be "patience". The week of meets will provide rest breaks along the way and the rest will be my normal training grind. Let the fun begin! Bubba

Moving On

I feel much better today but have no scheduled training. Normally I would run speed endurance but I'll skip that since I would like to start back fresh with my vaulting on Wednesday. Though it seems like a lot of starts and stops in my training the numbers don't lie. Since my return from Sydney I have manged to lift 354,193 pounds and done 168 bar exercises with 5 lb. ankle weights. I need to make this check every now and then to determine if I am truly moving forward as sometimes at this stage of the year it's hard to tell because of all of the changes. As of this past Friday I've only been home for six weeks.

The purpose of this overview is to demonstrate to myself that I am ready to jump well today. Yes, I will ramp back up through my small 13' poles starting Wednesday but that is for technical refinement issues and not because I'm coming off of an injury. If I chose I'm sure I could start on my smallest 14' pole and have a decent day, but that's not part of the big game plan. My rule is don't move up poles in practice just to make a bar, but rather stay on the smaller pole and figure out how to get more out of it, and then move up. We call it "facing your demons" because you have very little room for error on a smaller pole so you have to be able to make minute changes during the jump. This pays off in the long run.

My first meet is four weeks from this past Saturday. To put it in perspective, I had longer to train for Sydney after getting home from the National Masters Games, than I do since my return from Sydney to my first indoor meet. During that time period most would focus on "base training" but I've already done this.

I don't expect a 4m jump at the first meet but it could happen. I'll need a first jump 4m to get a medal in Kamloops so that is the consistency that I am working toward. The higher your consistent baseline the more upside potential there is.

BTW - World Indoors is over three months away and I expect to get much better between now and then. The rules are the same - DON'T GET HURT!! The poles I jumped on in Sydney are MUCH bigger than I use at practice so that is my guide. Get more out of small poles so that I can get more vaults in and refine the technique with less chance of injury, especially in the cold. The big poles magnify the technical progress with higher heights.

That's it for today. Still coughing but I don't feel like roadkill so that's a start. Have a fun day! Bubba

Sick!

I don't get sick often but when I do it's usually pretty bad. Though this is just a cold I'm benched. It's beautiful fall day and I'm supposed to be jumping but it ain't happening. I probably could but it would be foolish. I'll skip this rotation completely and pick it up Wednesday. The good news is that absolutely nothing on my body hurts. Sometimes things happen for a reason. Have a great Sunday! Bubba

PS - This just in - Parade Magazine says that to prevent colds we should get out and exercise.

I'm Entered!

The weather has not cooperated this morning plus I have a cold so I guess that means I wait until tomorrow whether I prefer to or not. It's 54 degrees and drizzly so there's nothing to be gained by fighting mother nature. I'll go out tomorrow and switch over to the Sunday/Thursday jump rotation. I can always lift legs in my garage on Thanksgiving so that's not such a big deal. OR, I could skip lifting this rotation, just vault and run, and then stay on my Wednesday/Saturday rotation. I'll play it by ear.

I filled out all of the World Indoors entry paperwork and sent it away to USA Track & Field in Indianapolis this morning. That's as official and committed as I can be since I have bought my air ticket, reserved my room and mailed my entry. Now I need to focus on a plan.

My biggest concern has been answered in that I need to jump well in Reno the last week of January but I can't take risks since it is only five weeks from Worlds. This usually means I will try to get more out of small poles and not push to use big ones like I will at Worlds.

Reality - getting a medal will be tough. It always is but especially when you have the meet near the US for the first time ever. Some very good vaulters pick and choose what International meets they vault in but when it's close to home they come out of the woodwork. My only prediction is that Kirk wins.

That's it for now. Have a great day! Bubba