Rearranged

Uncertain Path

I spent most of the day at the Arcadia Invitational, one of the most elite of the high school meets in the US.  I saw my buddy Kirk Bentz, who was officiating, Bob Olson, and Murray Mead within about three minutes.  Four of the top 6-8 M55-59 vaulters in the world on the field together helping or officiating for the high schoolers.  Cool!  Kirk gave me an official pass so I could go anywhere as long as I didn't cause trouble.  Love these guys!  I'm especially close to Kirk, who was cool enough to come hang with me at LAX on my way to Sydney for the World Masters Games. I won there and then he won World Indoors four months later.  Definitely one of my best vaulting friends.

Standing for several hours destroyed my legs and back, not to mention the one hour plus drive and the hike from the parking lot.  Because of this I bailed on today's training and will rearrange what I do tomorrow.  I was going to go to the gym today, and then lift in the garage tomorrow and run.  Today? NO WAY!!  Since the kids are on spring break next week, I'll skip running tomorrow, do a double lift instead, and run on Monday.

The meet next Sunday is not a big deal but I need it as a dress rehearsal for what I want to do as far as pole progressions in Texas.  Therefore I want to come in well rested and at the appropriate body weight.  I'm more than certain I am going to go to Denver the Monday after that meet so I will need to plan my training for there too in addition to my business needs.

Long story short, I seem to be constantly making little tweaks here and there to what I'm doing on a daily basis.  Not shocking by any stretch, but what is a surprise it that I'm very comfortable and not stressed by these sometimes major shits in the daily plan.  I guess that at this point I feel that I'm in striking distance enough that I'll be fine as long as I get my components in and stretch.  Have a great evening and thank you so much for your support!  Bubba

"Rearranged", by Limp Bizkit - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QWOc0HnItM

Cruising

We have had a ton of whales spotted here this year.  Captain Dave from Dana Point Harbor was on the Ellen show yesterday talking about it.  Please click to enlarge.

I took yesterday off because I had a little twinge in my right deltoids on my last incline set on Tuesday.  It ached a TON that first night and has felt better over the past two days.  Still I wanted to be careful and go real light.  So I put on my shoes and got up to push myself off the bed and STING, there it is again.  Oh well; I'm going to find out where I am.  And I did.  Nothing!  Didn't feel it one bit on my power sets; a hellish combination of curl, upright row, overhead press, and dumbbell lateral fly.  Set one I do 8 of each of those exercises with no break so it's a set of 32 reps.  Then 6, then 4, all with heavier weights.  NEVER felt a thing.  AWESOME!!

I've been running my 10 X 50m stadium ramps every other day, knowing that at some point it will catch up to me and I will start to feel like I'm tearing down.  Not yet today.  If I get past Sunday that will give me five sessions or 50 reps over a 10 day period.  I'll do 6 on Wednesday and be ready for my meet on Sunday.

The ding under my right leg pops up every now and then but I never feel it when I'm running and certainly some of my running s very hard.  I'll just trust it and keep training without vaulting until the meet next Sunday.

I'm shipping my poles to my coach, Kris Allison's house for the Texas meet.  Right after the meet I am driving a rental truck back out with our remaining belongings.  The sale of our house will close 5/15 so I need to get the stuff out.  It will give me a chance to see my dad, but it also means I don't have to ship the poles back as they will be in the truck.

That's it for now.  pretty uneventful but a nice comfortable routine of consistent training.  Have a great evening and thanks for being here.  Bubba

Sublime - "What I've Got" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Uc3ZrmhDN4&ob=av2n

World Indoor Results

The M55 at the World Masters Indoors in Finland today was won by Wolfie, of course, at 4m - 13' 1 1/2".  My friend Kristian from Iceland was 2nd at 3.70m - 12' 1 1/2".  http://www.fidalservizi.it/wma_2012/DAY3/Gara089.htm

I didn't train today and will do a double tomorrow.  Felt a little twinge in a small muscle in my deltoids on Tuesday so I wanted to give it another day.  Looking forward to that tomorrow.  Have a great day!!  Bubba

Fun Day!

Today was my 10 X bleacher ramps day and it went well.  I'm pretty fatigued near the end but that's normal with my other training load.  But that's not the fun day part.  We had a home meet today at the high school and the other team didn't have a vault program.  Being the great guy he is, our head coach, Craig Dunn puts the word out to the other team that if they had any kids who would like to try and vault that we would teach them on the 2nd pit.  Four girls showed up.  Having never touched a pole in their lives, two of them were over 8' and another over 7' 6", and the 4th ... well 3 out of 4 ain't bad.  But these girls jumped for two hours.  Our kids who had already jumped, not only taught them, but jumped with them for another couple of hours after their event was done.  Now THAT was cool.  Have a great evening!  Bubba

Guns & Roses - "Think About You" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfOtJ98d1Ms
BTW - reading the book by Slash.  BY FAR the best of the rock and roll bios.  Much more than the crazed behind the scenes stories.

Another Day of the Grind

Gaining momentum!  Ah, consistency in training and life!!  Sucks in a very good way.  Have a great day and thanks for your support!  Bubba

Train Kept A Rolling - Aerosmith - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJC6E86hJ_I

Agitation to Peace

I learned a long time ago that I'm fairly easily agitated and high strung and that exercise keeps me in balance.  With all of the things I have going on right now the gym is the last thing I want to do.  Unfortunately that builds and feeds itself and then you can't make yourself go.  I went and came out a different person.  Good for me and those around me.  I try not to bother others with my issues but sometimes it bleeds over.  Long story short; great gym workout and not a moment too soon.  Bubba
Limp Bizkit - Break Stuff - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpUYjpKg9KY&ob=av2e

Time Slips By

It always amazes me how much you can gain and how far you can slide when you are leading up to or coming off of a big meet.  I try to always stay within "striking distance" of a big jump - 4-8 weeks.  As masters athletes we train for meets like fighters train for fights.  We can't do it effectively week in and week out without either injury or losing conditioning so we have to pick targets on the horizon.

In four weeks I will jump at my alma mater, Texas State University, in the first alumni vault at their big invitational meet.  In two weeks I will jump at a local masters meet.  I'm in striking distance of a decent jump in two weeks and of a big jump in four weeks.  Once my jump is on, then I focus more on fitness, running, lifting and bars so that I can magnify what I am already doing correctly with my vault. 

Ten days ago I had my best practice since I arrived in California.  Six days ago I got on my 1465 from 6 steps.  Now the only thing I accomplish by jumping is the risk of injury.  So time ticks away and as I edge toward a couple of good shots to get a decent jump.  All the bets this Sunday.  Thanks for your support.  Bubba

Green Day's Good Riddance (Time of Our Lives) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnQ8N1KacJc