Change of Plans

Ah, the joy of the blog outlet of stress!! I'm listening to my body and trying to be mature. After 10 straight days of training with no rest day, I have decided to take Tuesday and Wednesday off and then resume my regular training schedule Thursday instead of staying on this compressed one. This will give me a rest day every two rotations.

I've made this decision because my training and vaulting intensity is rising pretty fast and I don't want to risk injury. For example, these very short run jumps make the right hamstring a little sore and weak feeling because of the quick step right before I take off. NOTE - a vaulter usually strains the left hamstring so the right one is more sore than strain. In fact I don't think I've ever strained my right one since I was 12 years old. I felt it warming up yesterday and even more when I ran afterward yet I was able to vault at a very high level. Still, that's too big of a signal to ignore.

I can't imagine that lifting legs today would make it feel better to jump by Thursday so I skipped it. I hate it but you just have to try and be smart here as I compete six weeks from today. If it bothers me at all on Thursday (never does) then I won't jump and will just run but run easy with a focus on rhythm. I've only had this a few times and it goes away real fast if you don't irritate it. So let the patience begin and thank you for yours. I need the outlet. Bubba

PS - the bottom line is that if I had to compete Thursday I would be fine - 100%. What I'm concerned about avoiding is repeatedly training something that's telling me it's tired. It may not bother me much today but could possibly turn into something bigger and we can't afford that to happen.