I'm Back and is it fun!

[souleman]

As most of you know I had hernia surgery in August. I have done absolutely nothing since then...........until today. Here's a copy of the e-mail I sent to Bubba and Bob DeMuth about todays session.

Hi Guys, Well? I got to thinking that my ol' bod will never get over a crossbar again unless I do smething about it. So today I set the stuff up in the back yard and eased into a ton of jumping. I started with my 1550 cat and just did some run throughs following the mid mark chart for 7'. I couldn't believe it.....I WAS ACTUALLY OUT! Well that was so much fun that I figured I could try one or two with the cross bar up at 7'and grabbed the little 11'5" X 140 pole. I mean after all nothing was hurting so I was approaching this deal with a "so far so good" mindset. I blasted 7' (now this is after about 10 or 12 run thoughs with no crossbar, this is important to know cause I didn't figure I'd be able to last that long. My conditioning has been .....well it hasn't...so I was pleasantly surprised). So......let's try 7'6". I made the height but I hit the pad that was marking my take off point,so I was under. Counted it a miss. Hey Bubba, does this sound familiar? Next jump I made it and NO SPIKE MARKS IN THE PAD! YIPPEE! Following DJ's chart I put the crossbar up to 8' and that's where I just couldn't get things right, well except for half the time I didn't step on the pad so that was good. Best part was though I think I actually made at least 8 to 10 attempts at 8' and I didn't hurt anything...........much. My left elbow area and my shins (where the crossbar came right smack down on both of them after a miss) are the only thing that's sore. Now Bob, here's where it gets tricky. Right now as I write this, those are the only two areas that hurt. At our age, the real proof in the pudding is how I'll feel tomorrow. All in all, everything held up pretty good. I wrapped my hamstring with an ace bandage pretty tight and that actually loosened up a little as I jumped. Right now, it's no better or worse than it's been. And absolutley no gut pain what so ever. OH YEAH! It's good to be jumping again! Later............Mike

[Russ]

As a fellow masters vaulter who spends nearly as much time "healthy" as injured, let me say hallelua. Ease back into it so as not to get injured again.

Glad to have you back on the runway. Be sure to take tomorrow (at least) off.

[souleman]

OH, Trust me Russ......I'M TAKIN' TOMORROW OFF! I'll probably jump again on Sunday. Boy do I like that mid chart. Ya know I didn't hit the takeoff perfect everytime but the cool thing waswhen I started off to jump, I knew I was going to be "on". Everytime the bar was up, I made an attempt. Ain't it funny? When you know the steps are gonna be on, the confidence level is through the roof. I'm just waitin' to find out how I feel in the morning. Thanks again everybody for the support. I don't know if I'd keep doing this if all of youweren't so kind and supportive. Later...........Mike

[lonestar]

I can relate Mike. By contrast, I've had absolutely no desire to vault anymore whatsoever, however, I've been really fired up about coaching using as lot of DJ's list concepts and have been getting great results with me kids. On a whim, I decided to pick up a pole tonight to see if I could apply what I've been teaching, and just used the mid setup that one of my boys was using - 13'5 grip 45'0 mid. In flats, I jogged into his starting mark and accelerated through the takeoff and was moving the grip easily. I ended up going up about 4 poles and made 13'0 easily with a good shot at 14'0. Taking off as well as I ever have. I haven't worked out at all in over a year, and the last time I even jogged was well over a month ago. No warmup, no stretching, just stepped on the runway and jumped. It's a surefire formula for injury, but damn it felt good to plant a pole again! I actually got to within 2 poles of the biggest pole I used while jumping last spring, a 14' 180 tonight - of course now I actually weigh 180 instead of 165-70 when I was training! Too many Bud Lights!

[souleman]

Kris, thanks for the vote of confidence. Here's what I wrote Bubba.
You know what I found pleasantly surprising was that I actually felt like I was shortening up my stride from the mid mark to keep me out. When I was a kid I ran with my knees going up and down rather than long strides. That's how The mid mark chart was forcing me to run today. Most of my jumps I'd do the "one-two" walk step to hit my left foot on the mid mark and then I was off to the races. You just ain't whistlin' Dixie when you said those gremins come out at 8'. I was getting off fine but just didn't have enough strength to get me going up. I know I was "flaggin" pretty bad and that's why I couldn't get over 8'. And I wasn't about to cheat either. I was running fast enough to hold up higher and get over the 8' but I am going to keep playing this game (Bubbas' Face your Demons game) until I can get over the bar, starting where I'm supposed to, taking off where I'm supposed to, and holding on where I'm supposed to. If I have to cheat a little at Reno to protect my self esteem.......well that might be another story. Later..........Mike
So I'm stickin' with the chart and going to "get it right". It can't do anything but help me go higher when I have to. One thing I found about jumping the low height (hey! at least it wasn't my normal 2'6" to get me in the pit) other than the fact that I couldn't, I made a bunch of attempts. After it was all over, I figured I jumped about 30 times this afternoon. WOW! For me that's really something. So I'm no where near anything that should make the over 50 guys worry, but man I had a ball today! Later............Mike

[lonestar]

Kris, thanks for the vote of confidence. Here's what I wrote Bubba.
You know what I found pleasantly surprising was that I actually felt like I was shortening up my stride from the mid mark to keep me out. When I was a kid I ran with my knees going up and down rather than long strides. That's how The mid mark chart was forcing me to run today. Most of my jumps I'd do the "one-two" walk step to hit my left foot on the mid mark and then I was off to the races. You just ain't whistlin' Dixie when you said those gremins come out at 8'. I was getting off fine but just didn't have enough strength to get me going up. I know I was "flaggin" pretty bad and that's why I couldn't get over 8'. And I wasn't about to cheat either. I was running fast enough to hold up higher and get over the 8' but I am going to keep playing this game (Bubbas' Face your Demons game) until I can get over the bar, starting where I'm supposed to, taking off where I'm supposed to, and holding on where I'm supposed to. If I have to cheat a little at Reno to protect my self esteem.......well that might be another story. Later..........Mike
So I'm stickin' with the chart and going to "get it right". It can't do anything but help me go higher when I have to. One thing I found about jumping the low height (hey! at least it wasn't my normal 2'6" to get me in the pit) other than the fact that I couldn't, I made a bunch of attempts. After it was all over, I figured I jumped about 30 times this afternoon. WOW! For me that's really something. So I'm no where near anything that should make the over 50 guys worry, but man I had a ball today! Later............Mike

Mike,

The only thing I really do different in the application of the list than Bubba is match the number of steps we take more appropriately to the grip used. For example, a tall, fast vaulter trying to use a 9'10 grip from 6 steps will just blow through like crazy unless they practically walk in there and pull down on the pole at takeoff to slow it down. Instead, we'll go from 4 steps (or 2 in some cases) and start from the same proportional mark from that run as dictated by the stride length on the list. If the mid for a 9'10 grip is 33'0, instead of starting at 33'0, we'll subtract the average stride length on the list for that grip (4'5" x 2 steps or 8'10") and start at 24'2 running 4 steps and taking off in the same spot. It will slow you down enough so that you won't blow through, but still be able to run the right stride lengths and use the same grips for the height.

[souleman]

Based on what I read on another thread, what I'm doing is, because I'm about 5'6"to 7" tall, I moved my mid mark and take off point out about 4 to six inches. I'm still holding on at the "charts" recommended height. So, at 7', my hand hold was 9'2", my mid mark was 31'6" and takeoff was 6'6". At 8', my hand hold was right under the 10' mark on the pole, mid mark was 33'6" and take off was 7'4". For the life of me I just can't do a 2 or 4 step approach and feel comfortable with it.Otherwise I probably would. It's like I don't have enough time in my mind to get ready to jump once I start the run up. All in all though, Doing this "face your demons" game is going to help me a lot. And like Bubba said, working at these heights ( other than the fact I really can't jump much higher) gives me a chance to make a lot of jumps per session and not get hurt. I haven't jumped that many times in one session since high school. Oh, by the way? It is the "morning after" and I feel pretty good! I'm sitting here typing with a tenze unit on my elbow which was the only part on my body that ended up being a hot spot. Thanks for the input and keep it comin'. Later...................Mike

[rainbowgirl28]

For the life of me I just can't do a 2 or 4 step approach and feel comfortable with it.Otherwise I probably would. It's like I don't have enough time in my mind to get ready to jump once I start the run up.

Maybe you should have somebody watch or film your first couple steps. You might be taking walking steps, or just really weak steps out of the back, which would make it awfully difficult to vault from 2 or 4 steps.

[vaultwest]

Souleman
Glad to hear you are back at it. I had surgery a couple of years ago on my ankle, so I know how hard it is to make a comeback, Good Job.
But I must say you are making it tuff for me.

This time of the year my training is just running, weight lifting and gymnastics, no jumping, I am just trying to get as good of a base as I can so I can make it through the long vault year ahead, and I try to make myself into the best athlete I can before I start to jump again, sometime around Thanksgiving, so reading about your jumping is getting me all excited about jumping.

It's going to be hard to wait until November until I can jump. But this training regime has worked for me for years. Actually I have been doing this training regime for about 30 years so I doubt that I could change it even if I wanted to.

Which brings me to a little fact about my vaulting that Becca told me I should share. I hope this doesn't sound like bragging, hopefully it will just be a motivator for every one. Anyway hear goes. I have just finished up 40 consecutive years of vaulting (clearing a bar). I love telling young vaulters that not only can they not imagine vaulting that long I think they really can't even imagine what it would be like to even be 40 years old. My other streak that I maintained last year is that I have made 13' or higher for 32 straight years.

My two streaks really help keep me motivated so besides hoping to jump higher next year and all the great times with my vaulting brothers I use whatever I can to keep up the motivation for the tuff times when injuries, soreness and just that inevitable slowing of run, reduced jumping ability etc. seems to make this crazy endeavour seem maybe not worth it, I look to those things and go out and just do the workout I need to do. That's all for now
Vault On

[lonestar]

Based on what I read on another thread, what I'm doing is, because I'm about 5'6"to 7" tall, I moved my mid mark and take off point out about 4 to six inches. I'm still holding on at the "charts" recommended height. So, at 7', my hand hold was 9'2", my mid mark was 31'6" and takeoff was 6'6". At 8', my hand hold was right under the 10' mark on the pole, mid mark was 33'6" and take off was 7'4". For the life of me I just can't do a 2 or 4 step approach and feel comfortable with it.Otherwise I probably would. It's like I don't have enough time in my mind to get ready to jump once I start the run up. All in all though, Doing this "face your demons" game is going to help me a lot. And like Bubba said, working at these heights ( other than the fact I really can't jump much higher) gives me a chance to make a lot of jumps per session and not get hurt. I haven't jumped that many times in one session since high school. Oh, by the way? It is the "morning after" and I feel pretty good! I'm sitting here typing with a tenze unit on my elbow which was the only part on my body that ended up being a hot spot. Thanks for the input and keep it comin'. Later...................Mike

You've adjusted the marks properly to your height - good work! What might be a better tradeoff would be to take 2 walking steps into a 4 step approach with that same grip setup - might give you the needed momentum to feel more comfortable setting up your vault. You can take even more jumps from 4 than 6 steps also.

[souleman]

I'll give it a try on Sunday. More surprises (as far as the body goes) the legs feel as good as they did before the jumping. I really gave the arms, shoulders, and back a good workout though. Pretty sore. But a good sore. Later..........Mike