Almost Stupid + Golf Revisited

As the title suggests, THIS could have been the day I would be kicking myself about for the next year. As I stated yesterday I didn't feel I would be ready to vault today. I woke up feeling better but still a "maybe". I talked to my training partner, Don Curry, last night and we agreed that today I would start with my smallest 13' pole (171.6/15.9) and work on the bothersome technical issues on my extension up the pole. Seems I can do it fine on big poles or small poles but not the in between poles.

Why the change in plans when I knew I would be at risk? As also mentioned yesterday my central air went out at our house. I have an extended home warranty and a maintenance agreement so long story short, I get a brand new one for $60. The problem is I will lose half of today and all day tomorrow coordinating this replacement, so jumping tomorrow is not an option. Add to that the fact that Nancy, her mom (93), me and the two dogs are getting ready to head to a hotel for the day and night. Last night the house only got down to 80 degrees and the sun is already out bright and hot.

SO, I can't jump Thursday so let's try a low level day Wednesday? During my warm up I was starting to feel pretty good. As you do when you feel pretty good, I started to increase my rhythm. Still everything is A-OK. Then it happened. I hopped over a drainage grate on the inside of the curb of the track that drains the football field. As I quickened my pace on the other side I felt a sudden twinge in my right hamstring. Not pain just a little weakness. Right handed pole vaulters strain left hamstrings, not the right one so I knew this was a fluke resulting from my soreness from training and lifting. Left alone it will fine tomorrow or the next day as there was no pain or injury. Here goes that 18 year old mind trying to convince the 56 year old body that all is well and that I can still jump at a low level since I have never hurt my right hamstring in my entire career since I was 12 years old. I hook up to the 30 pound sled and do my four easy 50m hill runs. I'm carefully watching for any sign that it might be OK or not.

Then it hit me - I've got you guys. The whole reason I write this is to manage stress and anxiety by sharing my inner thoughts about my approach to training for this huge event. I remember telling you that every single time that I have been hurt I KNEW it was a distinct possibility yet tried to go anyway. The result today, thanks to you, is that I put the sled away when I was finished, locked up and left the track to go to my leg lifting session. Never even took my poles out. I might have been able to jump today but it wasn't worth the risk and I knew it. I felt nothing in my leg while lifting and I'll jump again Saturday morning with a clear head and fresh body. Crisis narrowly averted. Thank you!

An old lesson remembered - so what was it today? When you get busy you tend to skip the easiest things and for me that was stretching. I stretch 5-6 days per week and have only stretched once since my hardest training day Sunday. Again, I know this but today was a very scary reminder that it wouldn't be on the training plan if it weren't urgent to get done. I can assure you I will not miss another stretch session.

Golf and Pole Vaulting Revisited
According to the Houston Chronicle today, last week Doug Sparks got a hole in one in golf on the 15th hole of the Cypresswood Golf Course. That would be my 78 year old dad. After my mom's passing just over three months ago he has renewed his passion for golf. As I told him shortly after she died, he had been a 24/7 caregiver for three years and now he's lost his job. Therefore he had better start learning about what he likes to do again. I related my blog post to him about the similarities of golf and pole vaulting and he agreed, it takes just a few good shots to get him anxious to be back out on the course. Needless to say that one shot will have him back for quite awhile.

My mom was a big leader and supporter of all of our interests but she pretty much forced my dad into golf, not that he minded. He had retired after 44 years at AT&T and had joined their ladies walking club. It didn't take long for them to kick him out because he's not a lady, had no gossip to contribute, but plenty of opinions about theirs. To break it to him easily my mom enrolled him in a golf training group called the "Century Club" for those aspiring to break 100. Two weeks after he joined the group they were on the cover on Golf Digest as a new senior's movement. Today he shoots in the low to mid 80s and this was his third hole in one.

That's it for today. Gotta get to the hotel and some cool air. Thanks again for being there and present in my conscious!! As a result I am still 100% healthy. Bubba

Odds & Ends + Thanks!!

Still no competition schedule. It's really not that important but you like to know what time of day you jump, especially because they are coming into Spring as we are going into Fall. Once I know then I can check weather for trends that time of day and see what temperatures, wind, humidity, rain, etc. If it's evening or night it changes what I need to take to make my grip stay sticky. If it rains it requires something else. Sure you take this stuff anyway but mentally you need to have already been there and worked through the details as far in advance as possible.

Reading this blog I realize how much my schedule and daily events make every attempt to knock my training off. Somehow I manage to get it done anyway. I had no idea that my life is day after day of constant adjustments in order to remain accountable to my training. Is that any way to live? I don't think I know another way. I need exercise to stay sane (releatively) but I need a reason to work out, so there you go.

To that list let's add that it will be 95 today and our central air went out during the night so the house is already 76 at 8 AM. So I won't stretch this morning as I have other things to juggle. I'll do it later today when it is real hot in the garage where I will just crank music, take my time, sweat and enjoy!

My gut feeling is that I will wait until Thursday to jump. I considered going on the short cycle and jumping tomorrow but Sunday was a high intensity day and I'm pretty sore today. I'll give it a day on the side of caution and see how I feel Thursday. Worse case I'll drop down to my mid-level 13' poles, work my way up, and clean up some technical things that are bothering me. As you can see I'm a big planner but I also don't hesitate to make changes if I feel it puts me at risk when the day arrives.

I feel somewhat frustrated today because I'm not able to control my schedule this week as much as I usually can. But hey, life is full of surprises and you just deal with it. On top of that I felt like Sunday was a breakthrough day but now my body tells me that it's not ready for that demand every vault day. I could force it and be maybe 60-70% safe that I don't get hurt but it's not worth that risk. I just have to remember Sunday - I started on an easy pole and finished on a big one. What's wrong with that? I don't HAVE to start on a big pole for it to be a good day. But when I can I will be ready for big jumps. Apparently not yet.

The biggest thing that keeps going through my mind is that every time I have gotten hurt I knew I was at risk and took the chance anyway. I simply can't do that. When I woke up this morning to let the dogs out, my body said "you are NOT jumping tomorrow". I think I need to listen. Thanks!! Bubba

PS - I have gotten some very nice emails from people watching this blog from lifelong friends to fellow vaulters. Thank you so much as you are very special to me. Do me a favor - if you see anything glaring that I'm missing or reasoning wrong, shoot me an email and let me know. This is truly a team effort and I am very grateful to have you all on board.

Ho Hum - No Schedule Yet

I've been on the business side of healthcare for 22 years now, specifically working with relationships between physicians and therapists. Because they are always with a patient and I am always on the phone, I schedule all of my phone calls. So this morning I do my bars and get the garage set up to lift before my 8 AM call. I call the guy, as scheduled last week and he needs me to call him back in 30 minutes. Of course this kills my workout because he just split my only allotted time for the day. I'll have to skip the stretch but I went out and cranked through my lifts with minimal rest in order to be done before I have to make this phone call. As you can figure, I'm totally booked from that point forward. So "Ho Hum" is a way of saying "let it go" and get your work in anyway.

We're expecting the final competition schedule today so I know what time I vault. It's not on the website yet but these folks have done a great job at communicating with us. There website does say the Games begin in 40 days. Sorry but until we are under four weeks I have a hard timing feeling like it is real.

I'll get a long stretch in tomorrow and am considering jumping again Wednesday rather than wait for Thursday since I lifted legs yesterday after I vaulted. We'll see how I feel. Have a great day! Bubba

Patience Rewarded + Random Thoughts

Nancy and I were to have breakfast with my dad and sister-in-law this morning so that put me warming up at the track in the dark at 5:45 AM with my first jump at a bar at 6:45 before the sun showed up on the horizon. Because of this I re-thought my plan to start on the first 14' pole. I reasoned that at the last practice I had to go to my 43' run to use my 13'/14.7 and 14.3, so today I would try and use them from 32' and be more aggressive. That turned out to be a good plan as I again made 12' on each of those two poles. I did not try higher again as I was looking to solidify a few technical issues. I mention this because I ALWAYS raise the bar after a clearance. I will start progressing the bar again next time.

After these two clearances I moved back to 43', skipped my first 13' carbon fiber pole (13.7) and went right o the biggest 13' pole (13.2) I have and IT was too little. I went into the shed and got my smallest 14' pole (17.5) and made 12' by quite a lot, yet that pole was too small. So my patience was rewarded. I had a total of eight vaults but all were at a high level and far more consistent technically than the last time. I guess my rehab is over because I felt well within my physical abilities and never felt at risk of injury though I've not been on a 14' pole since August 11, at Nationals. The good news is that the pole felt too small from the 43' run, as it usually does when I'm jumping well. So at least physically I'm back to 100%.

Reality check - I'm still four poles down (weaker) from my normal big meet start pole (55' run) and one down from my start pole if I choose to start my meet from a 44' run. My opening height is always 12' (3.66m) and my objective is to easily make it on either of these pole/run choices. Knock on wood but I have made each height except my final height on the first attempt of every meet I have been in for the past year and a half. Part of this is that I use a much bigger pole than is needed to make the heights. Remember that I just cleared 12' from 22' 6" last week whereas I start at 43' or 55' in a meet. The difference is from 22' 6" I made it by a few inches and on bigger poles I make it by over a foot with a bigger margin for error.

I'm going to move up my leg lift day and do it today so I will feel good again on Thursday, when I hope to use only 14' poles. These next three sessions will solidfy the poles I will take to Australia.

I found out yesterday that my friend Tom Rauscher is going in the M60 group where he should be a threat to win. Hoping the best for him and look forward to seeing him. He won't be on our flight but will arrive Sunday as we get there Friday.

There is one "official tour company" who books this trip for all of the athletes. So almost all of the passengers on our flight will be athletes in various sports going to the Games. The LA to Sydney leg is 14 hours so I'll try and sleep as much as possible since we arrive at 8:25 AM. I'll want to be on their time immediately so oversleeping has always been the best way for me.

That's it for today. I jump five weeks from Tuesday but the email activity has jumped drastically as final plans are being coordinated. Tomorrow I find out what time I compete and then will know what time it will be at home. I got a new netbook with a wireless adapter that can work off of my cell phone so I can remain in contact. That's it for now. Thanks for being there. Bubba

More Training Adjustments

It's a lazy day waiting on the jump day tomorrow. I saw Don this morning to pick up some poles that just got back from Stanford. We've decided that if I can get on my first 14' pole tomorrow without pushing my run then that's the plan. That would give me four high level vault days before my poles get shipped. I feel fresh so we'll give it a try. Worse case it will be too stiff and I will move back down.

I'm adjusting my lifting from 28/18 reps to 18/12 for the rest of the way as that is my standard in-season ritual. I think this will make me feel a little better on jump days. In fact I skipped today also so I wouldn't be stiff for tomorrow. So after the jump day I'll get back to a more normalized training pattern. Until then I'll hold my breath and hope for the best. Bubba

PS - Looking at my training log I was off two days, had a bad vault day, and now took two more days off. To the outside that might sound odd but from my seat it's making sure I stay uninjured and not over trained. Today is the two week mark of this program and I have already lifted 190,379 pounds and done 154 bar drills. The body has to be eased into that type of training load. If you listen to your body it won't have to yell at you.

Olympic Stadium Weather From a Local

Another change in plans as I won't lift legs again today. I'm feeling surprisingly good after yesterday so this may be the window that I can feel totally healthy in my legs. The old me would have just charged forward and made a twinge hang on longer or even worse, turn into something of concern. I'm already at a level that I could be able to earn a medal so I need to be smart and not try to force things that don't need forcing.

Below is the response from Phillip about the weather conditions in the Olympic Stadium. Bubba
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Thank for the question Bubba, always ready to promote my country...

Weather at the main track:
(This below may not agree with ad billboards, it's my own appreciation, out of experience there.)
Sydney Athletics Stadium is known for having had all four seasons... in one comp.
At other times it's good, of course. For instance beautiful sunshine... while it rains everywhere else. Or viceversa.

All tracks in Sydney are built with the main straight pointing north-south.
Reason I mention this is that the runway they use the most is an E-W one, on the left side of the track.
There is a runway next to the opposite straight and another one right next to the main stands, also N-S.
The problem with the side runway in September to November are the left winds (southerlies coming eventually from the roaring 40's) with bursts of head wind, not nice. Last season we also had rain squalls until December.
We can't help with the wind unless we move the mats. For the rain I use a sticky Krylon repositionable spray. When you dry the grip (need to keep at least one towel dry) it becomes sticky and you can jump. If your towels get wet, then you've had it.
If there is a strong southerly (left) or westerly (head) wind we can request the mats be moved to the back straight for a tail wind.
When the wind stays tail, then that runway is beautiful, but that depends on the weather front, and that is not always predictable, actually hardly ever predictable.

We have, at times, moved the mats to the rear runway only to find out that after warming up the wind shifted to being tail in the previous runway.... you just can't win in this place sometimes. You know... I tried not to whinge to the officials and maintenance crew, and just let them do what they think best for once... the result has been a whole comp with nice tail wind and another with side and some bursts of tail wind. Not bad considering we would have moved the mats in the first place and end up with head winds after the wind shifted.
I know for a fact that the maintenance crew doesn't know why they do what they do, but they seem to guess right more often.

Well, really in the 1960's my coach used to say we had to learn to vault with head wind, with side wind and with tail wind, in rain or shine. I don't mean I learned how to do it, I mean that it's good if we learn to vault in all weather.
When I compete in Sydney I remember his words quite often, though!

There is a runway with no wind, of course. Even if there is wind, it opens and blows next to the pit, not into it. That is the runway next to the stands. But my experience tells me that you need to have Steve Hooker, Tim Mack, Eugenie and Brad Walker, all at once, for them to use that runway, otherwise it will not happen.

So, my honest advice is "come prepared". In other words, stiffer as stiff pole, pb pole, training pole and soft pole. Fresh tape, rosin, lighter fluid, sticky spray and chalk/magnesium powder plus a couple of towels.

Now, after saying all that, sometimes that runway is really, really nice. I have movies of Sergey training at 6.10m on that very same runway. Saw Kim Howe clear 4.65m there and young Blake do the NSW U18 record with 4.95m.
They seemed to have no problems whatsoever...

Kind regards,
Phillip Carrero,
Level 2, ATFCA pole vault coach.

East & West Pole Vaulters,
PO Box 155, Campbelltown 2560. Australia
Phone/Fax: 61 02 4647 0988
Mobile: 0466 224 663
Website: www.carreroart.com.au/polevault/

Bad Day on a Good Day

Sometimes you feel good but jump crappy. Today was one of those days - hate them!! I guess a bad day of jumping is better than a day that I'm injured so I shouldn't complain. My technique was all over the place today. I did one good thing on most jumps but it takes more than that. I think part of it is I was feeling pretty good from the two days rest and I was being super careful not to run too hard. As a result my timing was very inconsistent. For example, on my next to last jump I was too careful on the run and came down on the bar at 12' pretty hard even though I had a lot of height. On the last jump I ran right and hit the pole hard with my arms and it was way too little.

The number one thing is to create pole speed with a solid body at take off. You're either the bug or the windshield as far as energy transfer goes. I started on the 15.0 (13-176) from 32' and made 11' and then 12' on it but I wasn't getting in as far as I was the last day when I felt flat. That's a mystery to me. A big part of that is that the box is starting to come up on me faster as my run improves and moves back, so if you're a little off there you lose energy. That's a one day adjustment so I should be past that now.

I moved back to 42' the 14.7 (1380) and made 12' easy. Moved to the 14.3 and did the same. I didn't try higher because I was too inconsistent. Part of the problem of "rehab" is that your run is closer so the poles you are used to moving may not move as easily. For example, I was at 42' today and I'm normally at 44' or 45'. It may not sound like much but 2-3' further back with only 8 steps is a big difference in speed and power. That said, I feel healthy enough to start to attack my run and take off like I'm used to.

Long story short - very frustrating as I had some components of some very big jumps for the level I'm vaulting at, but I never did the same thing right two jumps in a row. My vault requires pressure on my hands and when I catch myself finessing I get into consistency trouble. When I jumped 12' from 22' the other day I HAD to do everything right or I wouldn't be in far enough to go for the bar. Today was flat out sloppy. I need to be more aggressive on may take off step while still being cautious on the runway speed. Bubba