First Day Back to Training

It was a decent first day with no injuries or pain. Of course I?ll have to wait a day or so to see if that is true but at least I left the field that way.

Today - 8 X 100m @ 40-70%, 8 X 50m hills at 50-70%, six vaults from a 21' 6" run, clearing 10' 6" on a tiny pole, 10 X high bar pullovers, & 10 X parallel bar vertical extensions.

Rationale ? this time of year you take things back down to basics to refine technique and build a strength and speed base. For me that?s what I also do for rehab from injuries. My previous best jump on the tiny pole I used today was 10? so the 10' 6" clearance is a Personal Record (PR). My best of the year has been 13' 2 1/2". Still, today shows that the technical improvements are coming along. Think of a scale model - if I can perfect a vault on a smaller scale then I can transfer that efficiency to higher level on bigger poles and longer runs.

Injuries - Words of Wisdom - I got an email from a friend recently who said something so simple and profound, "pole vaulting is about having a good place to jump, feeling good when you jump, and working hard and continuous enough without getting hurt, that you can continue to experience periodic breakthroughs". Along those same lines, my late friend and orthopedic surgeon, Glenn Almquist, MD, told me that training at the elite level is like walking on a balance beam - if you fall off one side you get hurt, and if you fall off the other you're not progressing. The older you get, the more narrow that beam becomes. At dinner after the Drake Relays, 2004 Olympic Silver Medalist, Toby Stevenson said, "Yeah, and it's a longer fall and climb back up too!" AMEN!!

There is a difference between an injury and a ?ding?. An injury will keep you out for 6-8 weeks and a ding can range from 3 days to three weeks. Fortunately or unfortunately I have become a master of the ding in that I always seem to be nicked but never out with anything big. I?d love to avoid those dings all together. I believe the answer to that is better conditioning. Here?s the history of my current training and it is updated almost daily http://www.bubbapv.com/Pages/CurrentTraining.htm. Bubba