Early Sled Feels Good

This is then 18 year old Amanda Bartrim who just represented Australia in the World Junior Championships in Canada. I think you can click to enlarge. I always tell our vaulters that your body needs to swing in one long lever until the hips hit the hands. Extend your left leg up the pole and pull without turning as the pole extends with your back to the bar and let the turn come as a natural result. She does it here beautifully. NOW, her PR is only 4m (13' 1 1/2"), so how much stronger and faster does a person have to be to jump this high the wrong way if she is this perfect? BTW - this is the pit in Sydney where I won the World Masters Games.

Ready to Jump Thursday

I was planning to try some very low level vaulting on Thursday and Sunday and apparently that will be the plan. Unless I feel something odd warming up Thursday I should be OK. I felt like I could have jumped Sunday and today my running felt even better. Of course I will be very cautious but it's nice that my body is getting back to accepting all training components again.

The Outdoor Season Officially Ends Today

August 31 is the official end of the outdoor season as no marks are accepted. I intentionally did not compete this year because I did not want to rush through a ding and turn it into something big. Also I didn't want to put up a substandard mark. I remember I went through a time where I got so sick of jumping 11' 6" (3.51m) and barely missing 12' (3.66m) that I made the decision that I would just start at 12'. It really made me step up my game and gave me some consistency at a higher level. My thoughts were that I can't get stuck with 11' 6" if I never jump at it. But would I rather no height (nh - fail to make a bar in 3 attempts) than to make 11' 6"? YES!! The result changed my thinking and expectations. I need to make 13' (3.97m) my start height if I want to reach my goals this year and right now that feels far away. But who knows; just follow the progression. Impatience means you have no confidence in your plan.

New Favorite T-Shirt

I'm wearing my Kamloops World Championships T-Shirt a lot and will continue to this whole year as a reminder NOT TO BE HURT AT BIG MEETS!!!! After National Indoors on March 5-6 I'm shutting down and taking my vaulting and training down and ramping back up slowly until the big meets. NO unnecessary risks. My old coach, DJ used to say that you can count on vaulters getting hurt with 1-3 weeks out from a big meet. I need to do the opposite like I did for Sydney.

Have a great day and thanks for being here! Bubba

Transitions

Of course, all of life is about transitions, but training requires constant monitoring. I felt like I could have jumped at a low level yesterday but I chose not to. Very good overall workouts yesterday and today. Today's transition feels familiar but strange in that I still feel like crap from the ramp up to lifting but the strength is coming back. Feel like crap but strong means that soon it will be "feel good AND stronger". It will be nice to complete this ramp up cycle. If you remember I dropped my lifting for the most part after the cruise so I could get back into jumping. I'll have one full week and then I'll miss a rotation while I'm in San Francisco on business. Get back and two weeks later have a little meet to jump in. Transitions.

Got a lot of response to the snowflake to avalanche yesterday. Seems people could relate on a lot of levels. One mentioned that my best guy avalanche jumped 18' 10 1/2" (5.75m) and he was only 5' 8". An argument for Jillian at 5' 3". I only mention this because it keeps me going that you guys are here and supporting my efforts.

This will be the hardest year I have ever trained and I have the least chance of placing high at Worlds next year. I'll be near the oldest and several athletes have jumped higher already than me. Believe it or not, it's a challenge to make something happen when the deck is stacked against me. Because that will make it a bit easier when in 2013 I will repeat the same hardcore ramp up for Worlds and the World Masters Games that summer when I will have just turned 60 to be the youngest in my group. Try as might, if I get in the top five next year I'll be thrilled, but watch out in 2013. If I can force myself through the challenge of this year when I'm really an also ran, then I will be pumped for Brazil and Italy in 2013. Consider this base training for then.

Hard to stick to the plan sometimes but this is about transitions. When I start jumping the first thing I want to do is get my run back and start moving through poles. It's not even September so there are over 10 months left to the big meets - CHILL and stick to the plan. The run will move back soon enough. Every year except the last two I have always run from 14 and sometimes 16, so it's not like it's new to me. But it is URGENT that I carry my current technical efficiency with me or I'm not ready. I have cleared 12' (3.65m) from 4 steps and 12' 6" (3.81m) from 6 steps and so far 12' 9" (3.90m) from 8 steps. What sense does it make for me to move back to 12 steps and start at anything lower than 13' (3.97m)? But I'm not ready to start there and either is my body. But it will within the next few months. Until then, stick to the plan.

That''s my rambling for today. Hope you have a great one and thanks for hanging around with me! Bubba

Let's Talk Snow

Seems a strange topic in this Texas summer weather, but I like to say that every avalanche began as a snowflake. The great Australian coach and author, Alan Launder, says "that which is technically desirable must be physically possible". The former head of USA Track & Field Pole Vault Development, Bob Fraley says, "once you know how to vault, 70% of your improvement is how fast and strong you can get". I believe that you constantly work your technique while you are working your speed and strength. That way they both come together and you can become an avalanche.

Our little girl, Kara, who just started 9th grade this past week and jumped 10' this summer, has not even become a snowball yet, as far as her athletic development for the pole vault. She lifted weights for the first time last week and feels beat up as should be expected. She sometimes tells me that she doesn't feel like she has the strength to hit a bigger pole. That is part true but the more important part is that if she hit it before it hit her she would immediately be "much stronger". Let's say she is the ear of a snowman, maybe even a big ear. Not a snowflake but a small snowball gaining momentum.

Momentum? Business, training and life is about gaining momentum. I believe that the more momentum you gain, the harder you should work to keep it going. I described my idea of momentum to Nancy the other day as a child on a swing and his/her feet can't touch the ground. Try as they might, very little progress is made to get that swing moving. Once it starts it is a little easier to keep it going and even to gain more momentum, but if they stop to rest they are back where the started and the struggle begins anew. That's why masters athletes can't take time off. It's said that a person at 60 will lose over 40% of their strength with a six week break. Get back on the swing buddy, you blew it. It's easier to do SOMETHING just to maintain rather than start over every year.

Max will be a sophomore and has been with us since the 5th grade. He was stuck for the longest time because his body had not grown yet. Now he's over 6' tall and the proper technique he learned early on is starting to magnify as his tools increase. He will become the body of a snowman this year and then progress well from there. Like Kara, he comes from a great and supportive family and is very focused and determined.

Jillian is a senior and made it to our regional meet last year. She is a little snowwoman. She has a winner's attitude and excels at everything she tries. Being about 5' 3" could limit her but I won't tell her that because she will do her best to prove me wrong.

When they leave us, it becomes someone elses job to take them from snowman to avalanche. I love building snowmen and snowwomen! These kids are a joy to be around and I love watching them discover the finer points of the event. When I used to build avalanches I never thought I would enjoy this part so much. The more I think about it, the more I wish the kids would have come to me with the skills they are leaving us with. Would have been much easier.

Me? I'm the snowman you built on a snowy day when everyone was having fun playing. A few days later I'm falling a part, melting in places and don't look at all like myself. I'm starting to get that dirty gray and brown look as my athletic life cycle nears the end. THEN, a new snow storm comes in and covers up some of my flaws. I'll never be an avalanche again but neither will the guys I compete with. In my mind, I can train hard and smart enough for long enough to remain respectable. At our age, that is as close to an avalanche as you get. Have great day! Bubba

PS - Went over 16 million pounds lifted since my return on 1/1/2005;
16,006,658 & 10,724 bar drills.

Nancy's Birthday

We have an All Comers meet at the high school this morning but Don and Gary are covering for me so I can spend the day celebrating Nancy's birthday. Though she is only two months younger than me she likes to pretend it's many years. It's a running joke where she wishes me a happy 60th when it was really 57. Hey, if I were 60 I would be the youngest guy in my group. It will happen soon enough, good Lord willing.

Have a great day! Bubba

Fall is in the Air

I got up to let the dogs out this morning and get the paper about 5:45 and I felt a chill in the air. I went in and told Nancy that I thought it must be in the 60s and will be pleasant weather to walk the dogs - dry and cool. The news showed a chilly 76 degrees. I guess compared to mid 80s for our wake up, this IS Fall. I saw in the paper this was the hottest August in our city history. We broke records for a high temperature for the lows a few times but never a high temp for a high. The record for August is 106 and we only got to 100. Thanks for small blessings.

Good lift this morning. My body is over the mini shock of getting back to lifting after the break before going to Kris' and the few days I took off afterwards. Did not feel the hamstring on hang cleans which was a little surprising. Good news. Makes no sense that you can not lift for a week and still be sire when you restart but that's aging. Have a great day! Bubba

Protecting Me From Me Again

This seems to come up a lot. I get an injury/ding, it rains, my schedule changes, or SOMETHING that keeps me from going out and doing something that I know is a risk.

Today I ran 10 X hill/sleds at 20% and felt really good and felt strong in the gym and on my bars. This is by far the lightest hamstring strain I have ever had yet I think it happened so that I would let that little outside knee/calf tendon heal. It's barely there now but it sure has gotten better FAST since I backed off.

My right hamstring is more sore than my left so THAT was a problem averted by the small ding to the left. And if that's not enough, I almost picked up a pole to play around with Don this morning, one week out, and the man with the pesticide spraying machine comes out and makes us leave. Somebody is watching out for me because it's common knowledge that I can't be trusted to make the right decisions to protect myself from me. I'll take that blessing for what is is and be very happy.

Have a great day and many thanks for being here! Bubba

Off Day

A little sore from my first rotation back to training. Today is my normal travel day but it got moved to Friday due to a change with a lunch with a physician partner. Tomorrow I'll be back on to my regular schedule so that is great. Though it always seems to get changed I function better on a schedule. I still get everything done but a schedule is nice.

Yesterday we had a major, but pretty short storm come through right about the time I was going out to the track to meet the kids to vault. The temperature dropped from 99 to 79 in 20 minutes and then wind picked up the pole vault pit and blew it up against the fence. I haven't seen it yet but one of the coaches called me and a kid posted it on Facebook. I'm guessing it's back together by now, but that was some excitement for us.

In 1973 I was at outdoor nationals my freshman year of college, and we had a storm delay/tornado warning during qualifying. We were under the stands and I saw pieces of the pole vault pit flying by and rolling end over end and two of the sections jumped a fence. Thirty minutes later it was clear and the pits were put back in place and we continued qualifying.

Speaking of that day, a turning point in my vault career, I learned that even though I had won my first six college meets, that out of 40 guys, I wasn't good enough to even make the final. I was very disappointed and disillusioned. The next day I looked up all of the vaulters I had watched and hung out with them, talked to them about their training, technique, etc. In 1975 and 1976 I won that national meet back to back. So this "shocking crisis" was either going to be the end of my career or the beginning. I chose the latter.

Have a wonderful day and thanks for being here for me! Bubba

PS - the guy who won the meet in 1973 was kind enough to spend a lot of time telling me his insights. He was quiet and kind of shy but was very nice and answered everything graciously. That guy was Steve Hardison, who I still jump with in masters meets today.