New Stuff

• Good strong gym lift today and a nice afternoon to go watch the kids.


• Need to get my hotel for next Friday before the Granbury meet.


• Ray Boyd and his daughter, Alana, from Australia are visiting and may come out on Saturday morning to vault. Ray was a two time Olympic Vaulter and three time Commonwealth Games Champion. His daughter is Australia's best vaulter. Looking forward to seeing them.


• Got a new guitar ordered today. Talking with Rusty I'm a little limited with my "beginner" one so I stepped up a notch to an Ibanez RGD2120Z Prestige. Swamped on work stuff but thanks for being here today and every day! Bubba

Another Cold Travel Day

No workout today. Decided not to skip this rotation as I won't vault again until Granbury next week. More important to feel fast and powerful on the runway than to get in a jump day with a slightly tender groin. Leave it alone. Sled/hills don't hurt it so let's run!! Have a great day!! Bubba

Insights

I've read a few things this week that really apply. The first is that Australian Olympic and World Champion, Steve Hooker says he hasn't been vaulting, not because he is hurt, but because he wants to start the year completely healthy. If that means missing some meets then fine. I missed all of last year's outdoor meets for that very reason. I wasn't hurt but needed to get everything well and I did. My goal was to be able to have all practices on 14' 1" (4.30m) poles and I never got close - 10%. This year so far, I have been only on 14' 1" or 14' 7" (4.45m) poles for the past nearly three months, so the plan is working. Now if I can just not get hurt.

That is the other thing I've been thinking about. My training is a series of ramp ups and ramp downs. I train very consistently until I start to feel really run down (3-4 weeks) and then I skip a rotation (3 days of training) as a phase break. For a meet I miss another rotation so that brings me back to fresh. Instead of starting where I left off on my lifting/bars/running, I ramp back up again. At least so far this is proving to be an effective way to manage my training load and how I feel.

Finally I am not really running on the runway. I'm trying to come in well under control and load the pole with my body and swing. As a result I'm not having the number of leg issues yet I'm on much bigger poles - 15.7 in Sydney and a 14.8 so far this year. All of these things are, so far, knock on wood, allowing me to creep forward. I just need to keep creeping and not get in a hurry. It's much better than a long series of dings, and it has me at a much higher consistent level of training.

Have a great day and thanks for being here with me. it really does help a lot! Bubba

A Day Late This Week

Since I'm jumping one day a week during this streak of meets I will only do one rotation of all other training components. Because of that I skipped yesterday and will run a day late which I am fine with. So I lifted legs today and will run sled Wedenesday in order to feel good again on Saturday. After Reno I've got five weeks to national indoors and will ramp back up to twice a week. Everything feels good with no hint of the groin thing. I will remain cautious. Have a great day! Bubba

Got a Pole Back

Well, Kris jumped on my "twister" pole I gave him yesterday and in five jumps it never twisted once. This means that I was holding it slightly off center on the one jump I took on it. He insists that I take it back in my series because it is such a great feeling pole. This simplifies my series because I can either stay at 12 steps on that pole, or move back a stride to the two biggest poles. I like to have the option.

My right groin is pretty sore today. Remember it bothered me a little after the last meet? That said, it is not injured and did not bother me during or after the meet yesterday. I'll go through my regular training this week and keep an eye on it but don't expect it to be an issue. It's more the result of a continued raise in pole size and intensity that my body is trying to adapt to. Saturday at the University of Houston (U of H) I will warm up and if I feel it at all I will stop and wait for the meet the following weekend.

Have a great Sunday and thanks for being here with me! Bubba

Busy Days & A Nice First Meet

LATE ADD - On my first jump of the meet I got about six steps down the runway before I realized I still had my ankle weights on. Pretty funny. I took them off and made it but it created a little laughter and comments. I wear ankle weights between jumps because it helps me warm up more quickly after sitting around.

REPORT - Swamped on Thursday as Nancy and I went to Kris' place early Friday to have all of my poles flexed. I started with nine 14' 7"/4.45m poles, cut 5.5"/13 cm off of the bottom, and some more cut from the top so they don't hit the lower crossbars. At the end of today I have a six pole series I can count on. I gave three to Kris. Why?

When flexing the poles we found out that for the most part we only lost .1 flex points by the 3.5" cut I made last weekend. Upon re-flexing we found that two poles were identical with one being skinny and one being fat, so I gave Kris the fat one. On the top end of the scale, my biggest pole proved not only too short when cut, but it too was identical in flex to my 2nd biggest ones, so I also gave that to Kris. Down to seven poles.

At the meet today we had 16 vaulters in my division and I got 3rd overall. The second oldest guy was a college freshman so I was easily three times older than most of the field. The opening height was to be 10' 2"(3.17m) but a girl needed it start a foot lower. It was about an hour before I came in at 11' 8" 1/4 (3.57m). I made that easy on my first jump on pole #1/15.8, from 10 steps. Moved up to the 15.4 and made 12' 2 1/4"(3.72m) from the same run. Moved to 12 steps and the 15.1 and made 12' 8 1/4" (3.87m) on the first also. From the same run at 13' 2 1/2" (4.02m), I had a really good jump and the bar almost stayed up. The pole felt a bit too small so I moved up to the 14.9 and had a huge jump but brushed it on the way up. I then moved to the 14.8 for my 3rd attempt and it twisted in my hand a little at take off. I had easy height but once it twisted I lost my control a little on the top and came down on it. Since it is only .1 bigger than the one before it I gave that one to Kris also. And now there are six poles.

Considering I haven't ever jumped in a meet on any of these poles, and I vaulted on six of them today, I feel really good about where things are. Quick poles with much bigger height. I have two bigger poles I have yet to jump on and I'm about to go to a few places that are great to jump at. In the end I gave Kris back three poles which will be trade credit should I need one more bigger pole to top my series. No lose situation.

I'm tired but pleased with the progress. The more I can jump on these poles the better I will have the timing and should get more height out of each one. For tonight, I'm not hurt and I feel positive about where things are going. In Australia at Worlds I was on a 15.7 and today I was on a 14.8 - that is a MUCH bigger pole from the same run. Looking for bigger things but I will remain cautious with my body.

Thanks for hanging in here with me and sorry I was without my computer for a couple of days. have a nice Saturday night! Bubba

Travel Day

Heading out pretty soon but will come back this afternoon and do 6 X 50m hill/sleds and have a long stretch. I told Nancy that I already felt pretty good by Monday/Tuesday so that's a good sign. Normally I'm just starting to come around on Thursday. I'm cautiously optimistic I can move through some bigger poles and put up a decent jump at Saturday's meet. Have a fun day! Bubba