Patience & Caution Rewarded

If you remember, I didn't vault on my last scheduled day because of an odd feeling in my right hamstring. As mentioned, right handed vaulters hurt their left hamstrings, not the right so I didn't think it was a big deal. I just didn't want to take the risk so I skipped the jump session. Today I came out and felt relatively good so I took a calculated risk and did no warm up. I know that sounds completely contrary but I was running late because I had to open the house up for the guys to install the new AC. Don was already there and then Gary Scheffe showed up so I needed to get going. I think my warm up consisted of jogging down and asking Don about what pole and run I should start on. We decided to start on my smallest 13' foot pole and warm up on the runway as opposed to the grass, which I rarely do. I don't know why but it sounded fun. Maybe it's because of the low pressure of a small pole plus the promise of more vaults. Whatever, it worked today.

In total I took 10 jumps on eight different poles. Normally I'll get through 4-6 poles in practice so this was really a different type of day. Technically, starting on the smaller poles also allowed me to work on the problem issues I was concerned about. I made 11' on the 4m/15.5/176, then 12' on the 14.7 and tried 12' 6" once on the 14.3 but it was too small, all from 32' 6". I moved to 42' 6" and went to my first 14' pole and had a decent jump but it was too small. This is the pole that I ended the last practice on. I moved up to the 17.2 and made it on the first jump. This is my short run start pole for a meet if the conditions are bad. I normally start at 12' so to make 12' 6" on it today at the same run I would use in a meet was a nice confidence builder. I moved the bar to 13', my run back to 53' and up to the 17.0. On the 2nd vault I brushed it a little on the way down after clearing with decent height. I stopped right there and was again very grateful to be uninjured.

The lesson of the day was patience. Take care of the technical aspects and don't get in a hurry. Don kept bugging me to extend a phase that I was rushing. He was exactly right but sometimes when you're doing it the timing lies to you. The feeling is that you are behind in getting to a position whereas in reality, I'm there too quick and lose a ton of energy. I had a great practice with no hints of pain or any type of injury or ding. I 100% credit Don for his guidance today from the warm up on small poles, to jumping on every pole rather than skipping poles, to executing each position completely rather than rushing to the next phase. Don was the man today. I'll take these lessons and reminders with me to Oz.

Physically I felt like I was jogging down the runway and then executing a sound technical jump. The intent was to not have to run hard, yet I kept moving to bigger and bigger poles. I'm still two poles down from my big meet start pole but that's OK for today. That's it for jump days until I see Kris on Friday.

Don also got with me to make the final decisions on what poles to ship to Oz. We made one change in adding the pole I got over 13' on today. Even though I normally skip that pole it may work out if the conditions are bad. So I have seven poles total - three glass poles and four carbon fiber poles. Basically it's a small pole series of three poles, a mid/transition pole, and three regular meet big poles. The bag is packed and everything fit. I have room for one more pole but I don't feel the need as I think I'm covered for all conditions.

I feel pleased for today and a little relieved. I had no intention of moving to bigger poles or longer runs but it was comfortable and well within my physical abilities minus maybe 10-15%. I'll hit the big poles with Kris and then back down to the small ones again for technical clean up and to avoid injury. When I walk away from Kris' I need to feel like I do today - healthy. That's my only goal. I'm writing that here and now as a reminder. NOTHING is more important than leaving that high level session uninjured, even if I don't have a good session. Then there will be a HUGE sigh of relief. At that point the hay is in the barn. There will be nothing I can do to get stronger or faster in the next 3.5 weeks that would be worth the risk or injury, so back off and enjoy the small pole stuff and some quality training. Think back to August and September of last year when I was grinding away think about Australia. The pages on the calendar keep flying by and in no time it will be over. For right now, pay attention to detail, stay focused and don't take risks. Thanks again everyone!! Have a great Labor Day weekend! Bubba