I got my lift and stretch in the this morning so it's off to work. Out of town people in today and I'm out all day tomorrow.
I've added lifts for arms and shoulders back in for stability and power at the take off. I remember in 1997, my coach, Dave Johnston, told me I needed to get to my upper body lifting if I wanted to be able to handle the bigger poles when I get to them. He was right then and I keep hearing his voice telling me this; so I have started those lifts again. Considering that I have had two tricep injuries and three biceps injuries over the past few years, I don't know why I got away from it anyway.
Have a great day and thanks for being here. Bubba
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
More Weather Changes
After 29 on Saturday it was 69 this morning. I had to unplug the space heater and plug in the fan. Another good lift and stretch. Off to the dentist then will figure out tomorrow. I have a lift and sled/hills or just a lift depending when I have to be where for business meetings. Have a great day! Bubba
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Let the Week Begin!
Just to be careful with that little right groin thing, I chose not to attempt to vault today. Since I felt it during warm up on Wednesday, yet it didn't stop me from having a good day, I figured it wasn't much too worry about. BUT, certainly this is not the time of year to guess wrong so I skipped vaulting. That said, I never even felt or noticed it during my 8 X 50m hill/sleds.
As I mentioned earlier in the week, I went back to sled running and away from the raw speed stuff I have been doing for the past six weeks. I used the sled + 10 lbs. (4.5 kg) like I did last year and quickly noticed that I had lost a lot of power and conditioning for this type of running. I was surprised to be getting out of breath, which normally only happens in the summer when it's hot. Sounds dumb but that actually made me feel very optimistic. By about #4 I was starting to step up to the power I needed to keep a powerful and quick stride going. History tells me that will appear on the runway very quickly in the form of more power and covering more ground with less effort. COOL!! I'll do 6 X 50 hills/sleds on Tuesday or Wednesday. Today I also continued to feel very good on my lifting bars and stretching.
It's going to be a strange week for work but it shouldn't change my training. I have a guy coming to town to see me and my partner on Tuesday, but I may also have to go to Dallas on the same day to see another partner. I still have my travel responsibilities on Wednesday and then on Friday Nancy and I will head to Kris for the Saturday morning meet.
Kris has a huge metal building so it can be cold in the morning. So warming up at 8 AM to compete at 9 AM will almost always be cold this time of year. Actually it will probably be 10:30-11 before it's my turn to jump. As luck would have it, the forecast for Saturday is a low of 61 and a high of 74. Not bad considering this meet last year it was 25. Although I have jumped a few times recently this is considered the first meet of the season as indoor rankings begin on 12/1. Hoping for a good start.
Have a great Sunday and thanks for your support. Bubba
As I mentioned earlier in the week, I went back to sled running and away from the raw speed stuff I have been doing for the past six weeks. I used the sled + 10 lbs. (4.5 kg) like I did last year and quickly noticed that I had lost a lot of power and conditioning for this type of running. I was surprised to be getting out of breath, which normally only happens in the summer when it's hot. Sounds dumb but that actually made me feel very optimistic. By about #4 I was starting to step up to the power I needed to keep a powerful and quick stride going. History tells me that will appear on the runway very quickly in the form of more power and covering more ground with less effort. COOL!! I'll do 6 X 50 hills/sleds on Tuesday or Wednesday. Today I also continued to feel very good on my lifting bars and stretching.
It's going to be a strange week for work but it shouldn't change my training. I have a guy coming to town to see me and my partner on Tuesday, but I may also have to go to Dallas on the same day to see another partner. I still have my travel responsibilities on Wednesday and then on Friday Nancy and I will head to Kris for the Saturday morning meet.
Kris has a huge metal building so it can be cold in the morning. So warming up at 8 AM to compete at 9 AM will almost always be cold this time of year. Actually it will probably be 10:30-11 before it's my turn to jump. As luck would have it, the forecast for Saturday is a low of 61 and a high of 74. Not bad considering this meet last year it was 25. Although I have jumped a few times recently this is considered the first meet of the season as indoor rankings begin on 12/1. Hoping for a good start.
Have a great Sunday and thanks for your support. Bubba
Saturday, November 27, 2010
COLD Off Day!!
I went out to watch the kids this morning and the pit had ice all over the cover. Fortunately there was no wind so it warmed up pretty quickly. I decided to wait until my regular scheduled running day for sleds which is tomorrow. It will be warmer and then I will hit the gym for my lifting.
I cut off my biggest 14' 7" (4.45m) today. I wasn't sure it would be long enough after I cut it so I left it out of the eight poles I cut last week. Today I took the time to compare it to the others and it worked out as expected so I cut it too.
I won't vault again until the meet at Kris' this weekend. December 1, begins the indoor rankings season so I'd like to put up a decent mark. His facility can be pretty cold early in the day but the next several meets will all be warm with elevated wood runways with rubber on top - FAST!! So if I can get a good mark at Kris' and then just hope to improve on it as I progress through the new poles.
On Friday Nancy and I will drive up early and I'll spend the afternoon with Kris flex testing my poles. We will flex them on a 14' 1" (4.30m) span so I can get a relative comparison to the poles I have jumped on for the past two years. I really need to know those numbers so we can mark the poles.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Thank you for staying tuned with me! Bubba
I cut off my biggest 14' 7" (4.45m) today. I wasn't sure it would be long enough after I cut it so I left it out of the eight poles I cut last week. Today I took the time to compare it to the others and it worked out as expected so I cut it too.
I won't vault again until the meet at Kris' this weekend. December 1, begins the indoor rankings season so I'd like to put up a decent mark. His facility can be pretty cold early in the day but the next several meets will all be warm with elevated wood runways with rubber on top - FAST!! So if I can get a good mark at Kris' and then just hope to improve on it as I progress through the new poles.
On Friday Nancy and I will drive up early and I'll spend the afternoon with Kris flex testing my poles. We will flex them on a 14' 1" (4.30m) span so I can get a relative comparison to the poles I have jumped on for the past two years. I really need to know those numbers so we can mark the poles.
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Thank you for staying tuned with me! Bubba
Friday, November 26, 2010
Repositioning
I've quoted Tony Robbins before when he says that a plane on the way to Hawaii is off course 99% of the time but still gets there safely because of a series of many small adjustments. I'm evaluating my present program and how it may blend into my goals for next year's off season and decided that I will change some lifts and add some cardio two days a week. Nothing major but these are things that always make me feel faster after a hamstring rehab so why not do them now? I'll work on it today and get it in front of Kris. Have a great day! Bubba
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Happy Thanksgiving!!
Just finished a nice lift and stretch and will now start to help Nancy get stuff ready for dinner later today. My dad, brother Bill (5.30m/17' 4 1/2" in the late 70s), and his wife, Lauren are coming.
As far as vaulting goes I think I'm done until Kris' meet on 12/4. I'm comfortable with my poles and would like to focus on getting back in the swing with my sled/hills, etc. Have a little right groin soreness but not enough to be worried about. I felt it yesterday during warm up and though it never bothered me jumping, it was in the back of my mind so I'll leave it alone. I want to clean up my tiny hamstring catches with some extended stretches and maybe a visit to Ashley or Sakina next week. Overall everything is a go and I'm really healthy. I'm being overcautious but I think that may be how I stay out of trouble a little bit.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thank you for being here with me on this journey!! Bubba
As far as vaulting goes I think I'm done until Kris' meet on 12/4. I'm comfortable with my poles and would like to focus on getting back in the swing with my sled/hills, etc. Have a little right groin soreness but not enough to be worried about. I felt it yesterday during warm up and though it never bothered me jumping, it was in the back of my mind so I'll leave it alone. I want to clean up my tiny hamstring catches with some extended stretches and maybe a visit to Ashley or Sakina next week. Overall everything is a go and I'm really healthy. I'm being overcautious but I think that may be how I stay out of trouble a little bit.
Hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thank you for being here with me on this journey!! Bubba
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
A PERFECT 12 Hours!!
Last night I got a call from masters studette, Dinah Anderson, telling me that an assistant coach at the University of Houston was going to open up the indoor facility for a few hours on one weekend day over the winter for masters vaulters. Unbelievably AWESOME!!
Today's Vaulting - This morning I got up and it was 73 degrees and dry so I headed over to jump about 7:45. Warming up I felt like I always do on the first jump session after a meet - CRAPPY. On top of that the wind was in your face one jump, across on the next, etc., so I really needed to take it easy on the runway. Not ideal but let's go.
Still I took out my bag with all of my "new" cut 14' 7" (4.45m) poles and pulled out the smallest one marked, 167.8. It was thin and light with a good pre-bend, but as I expected, STIFF. I was able to start getting some bend from 6 steps but not much. At 8 steps it felt stiff but real quick so I started getting nervous that my experiment would fail. I got Don's tape measure and saw that I was only gripping about 12' (3.66m) so of course it's stiff and quick. At 10 steps I had a real pole in my hands but still felt a little quick so I moved my grip up to about 12' 9" (3.90m) and put a bar up at 12'.
After that jump I looked at Don and asked what just happened. I knew I hit it right and got launched but I kind of bailed out to see where I was. Don looked stunned and said, "you cleared that by 2' (60 cm) and you quit on the jump". WOW!! That is my new start pole from 10 steps and I bet that soon I can use it from 8. Moved to 12' 6" (3.81m) and made that easy. Don said the pole was too small, and though I had a foot (30 cm) of height with my hips, I almost hit it on the way up with my chest. So two BIG clearances on my first new pole. More importantly, it was easy. No struggle to get the pole moving.
I moved up a pole and stayed at 10 steps and cleared 13' (3.97m) quite easily. I decided that I would move back to 12 steps and go up a pole, to the one that had rejected my timing in the last two meets. BOOM, cleared 13' again easily.
At this point I'm starting to feel a little dead and didn't want to risk injury by continuing. BUT, I took the bar down and took that infamous "one more jump" anyway. My reasoning was that without a bar I would run easier and I really needed to know if the next pole would twist in my hands like it did in Austin last month. It did not and it felt great so I stopped right there and finished up my sleds before heading to the gym. FANTASTIC day!! Could not be happier!! The poles feel great and I can easily transition from one to the next.
Before I answer the pole questions I keep getting, I want to say that we changed my running away from the raw sprint stuff and back to the sled. We decided to do this partly because I was getting too many reps after I jumped and my feet were starting to hurt. The other part is the sled helps you cover more ground on the runway with less effort. Glad to be back to that.
POLES - Bruce Caldwell at Essx first told me this summer that he thought I should move up lengths because of my jump style. We've known each other for 35 years so he knows my jump well. He told me that he would make me a 15' 1" (4.60m) pole in a 14' 7" (4.45m) body. I'm not the fastest nor tallest guy. If you look at the photo from Sydney, or any other big meet of me with the other vaulters, I'm almost always the smallest one or two guys. BUT, I jump up really well at the take off, so a longer sailpiece/reinforcement piece, "picks me up" at the take off. So many people move forward at the take off, I am also rising almost immediately and this helps me get on bigger poles.
Caldwell's reasoning was that if I got 14' 7"s and they didn't work and had to be cut down, then I would be where I am right now, on a 14' 1" (4.30m) pole. But with my angle off the ground, IF I could roll a 15' 1" sail, then great; but if not, cutting it would still give me a greater benefit. NOTE - Bruce does not cut my poles but he knows that I'm going to, if needed, until they are perfect for me. Manufacturers HATE it when their poles are cut, but what am I going to do, train real hard and hope I can get on them when I'm 60? NO!!
So me and Kris cut 2" (4 cm) off of all of my poles on day one. Sunday I cut another 3.5" (6 cm) off for a total of 5.5" (13 cm). So right now my poles are on a 14' 7" sail and YES, the pick me up AND roll so I can time up the top. I could not be happier with these poles. Today I used four of the eight in my bag, and had I felt better I could have used maybe two more. PERFECT!
So here's the catch, I felt crappy yet jumped higher with less effort because of the longer sail picking me up at take off. I didn't have to work nearly as hard as I do to hit a bigger shorter pole yet I'm getting much more explosive lift off of the top of the jump.
Pretty awesome if you ask me. I may or may not jump Sunday but I will get to Kris early and have all of the poles re-flexed on his flex machine on a 14' 1" span, so I can make a relative comparison as to where they fit in against my 14' 1"s. This will provide me an invaluable point of reference as I move to still bigger poles. But consider this; today I was four steps closer at 13' than I was at the meet Saturday yet it was too small. Better energy transfer on to a bigger pole that is matched to my jumping style. My guess is that this will allow me to jump on much bigger poles and hence go higher.
For today, I'm thrilled. My start pole can be used in any conditions. Next time I will try to use it from 8 steps. If I can do that, I can probably make 13' on it from there. That means 13' 6" (4.12m) from 10, 14' (4.27m) from 12 steps and so on back to 16 steps. Enough for today. VERY excited with this breakthrough. Thanks for being here and supporting me!! Bubba
Today's Vaulting - This morning I got up and it was 73 degrees and dry so I headed over to jump about 7:45. Warming up I felt like I always do on the first jump session after a meet - CRAPPY. On top of that the wind was in your face one jump, across on the next, etc., so I really needed to take it easy on the runway. Not ideal but let's go.
Still I took out my bag with all of my "new" cut 14' 7" (4.45m) poles and pulled out the smallest one marked, 167.8. It was thin and light with a good pre-bend, but as I expected, STIFF. I was able to start getting some bend from 6 steps but not much. At 8 steps it felt stiff but real quick so I started getting nervous that my experiment would fail. I got Don's tape measure and saw that I was only gripping about 12' (3.66m) so of course it's stiff and quick. At 10 steps I had a real pole in my hands but still felt a little quick so I moved my grip up to about 12' 9" (3.90m) and put a bar up at 12'.
After that jump I looked at Don and asked what just happened. I knew I hit it right and got launched but I kind of bailed out to see where I was. Don looked stunned and said, "you cleared that by 2' (60 cm) and you quit on the jump". WOW!! That is my new start pole from 10 steps and I bet that soon I can use it from 8. Moved to 12' 6" (3.81m) and made that easy. Don said the pole was too small, and though I had a foot (30 cm) of height with my hips, I almost hit it on the way up with my chest. So two BIG clearances on my first new pole. More importantly, it was easy. No struggle to get the pole moving.
I moved up a pole and stayed at 10 steps and cleared 13' (3.97m) quite easily. I decided that I would move back to 12 steps and go up a pole, to the one that had rejected my timing in the last two meets. BOOM, cleared 13' again easily.
At this point I'm starting to feel a little dead and didn't want to risk injury by continuing. BUT, I took the bar down and took that infamous "one more jump" anyway. My reasoning was that without a bar I would run easier and I really needed to know if the next pole would twist in my hands like it did in Austin last month. It did not and it felt great so I stopped right there and finished up my sleds before heading to the gym. FANTASTIC day!! Could not be happier!! The poles feel great and I can easily transition from one to the next.
Before I answer the pole questions I keep getting, I want to say that we changed my running away from the raw sprint stuff and back to the sled. We decided to do this partly because I was getting too many reps after I jumped and my feet were starting to hurt. The other part is the sled helps you cover more ground on the runway with less effort. Glad to be back to that.
POLES - Bruce Caldwell at Essx first told me this summer that he thought I should move up lengths because of my jump style. We've known each other for 35 years so he knows my jump well. He told me that he would make me a 15' 1" (4.60m) pole in a 14' 7" (4.45m) body. I'm not the fastest nor tallest guy. If you look at the photo from Sydney, or any other big meet of me with the other vaulters, I'm almost always the smallest one or two guys. BUT, I jump up really well at the take off, so a longer sailpiece/reinforcement piece, "picks me up" at the take off. So many people move forward at the take off, I am also rising almost immediately and this helps me get on bigger poles.
Caldwell's reasoning was that if I got 14' 7"s and they didn't work and had to be cut down, then I would be where I am right now, on a 14' 1" (4.30m) pole. But with my angle off the ground, IF I could roll a 15' 1" sail, then great; but if not, cutting it would still give me a greater benefit. NOTE - Bruce does not cut my poles but he knows that I'm going to, if needed, until they are perfect for me. Manufacturers HATE it when their poles are cut, but what am I going to do, train real hard and hope I can get on them when I'm 60? NO!!
So me and Kris cut 2" (4 cm) off of all of my poles on day one. Sunday I cut another 3.5" (6 cm) off for a total of 5.5" (13 cm). So right now my poles are on a 14' 7" sail and YES, the pick me up AND roll so I can time up the top. I could not be happier with these poles. Today I used four of the eight in my bag, and had I felt better I could have used maybe two more. PERFECT!
So here's the catch, I felt crappy yet jumped higher with less effort because of the longer sail picking me up at take off. I didn't have to work nearly as hard as I do to hit a bigger shorter pole yet I'm getting much more explosive lift off of the top of the jump.
Pretty awesome if you ask me. I may or may not jump Sunday but I will get to Kris early and have all of the poles re-flexed on his flex machine on a 14' 1" span, so I can make a relative comparison as to where they fit in against my 14' 1"s. This will provide me an invaluable point of reference as I move to still bigger poles. But consider this; today I was four steps closer at 13' than I was at the meet Saturday yet it was too small. Better energy transfer on to a bigger pole that is matched to my jumping style. My guess is that this will allow me to jump on much bigger poles and hence go higher.
For today, I'm thrilled. My start pole can be used in any conditions. Next time I will try to use it from 8 steps. If I can do that, I can probably make 13' on it from there. That means 13' 6" (4.12m) from 10, 14' (4.27m) from 12 steps and so on back to 16 steps. Enough for today. VERY excited with this breakthrough. Thanks for being here and supporting me!! Bubba
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