PoleVaultPower.com

it's been a while since i've made a post... this is my first year of vaulting in college and i'm pretty frustrated at the moment. i've been doing a lot more speed and strength training here, and thus i have gotten a lot faster and stronger than i was in high school. my problem right now is that my speed has gotten out of control, so to speak, to the point where i am having a lot of trouble transferring my runway speed into a successful vault. my vault coach is primarily a sprints coach, and he has me focus a lot on my run, but now it's like i'm forgetting to vault at the end of it. my run is also pretty inconsistent, and i do tend to stride out sometimes, so i know i have some other things to work on as well. but has anyone else ever had this problem? i know that ultimately speed will help me jump higher, but are there drills or something i can do to learn how to control a faster run and translate it into a higher vault?? thanks so much for your help, guys!!

not sure where this is, but I read some posts about pole runs that seems to be about this exact problem. You should probably search for it and see what you get.

If you do pole runs into a slide box you can think about getting your hands into the right position without worrying about crashing on the vault. I would first do pole runs on the track without any box or towel or even measuring your steps. Just count your steps and work on pole drop. Next, do it with a measured run and towel. This way you are progressing by steps toward the full vault at full speed. This has helped me before.

PV Pirate, I think I saw you jump at UAAs. It was a couple weeks ago, so I might be getting you and your teammate confused, but as I recall, you were hitting pretty far away on your mid mark and having to take really long steps on your last couple strides to make it to the box.

But I could be wrong, it was awhile ago

yep, that was me at UAAs!! i thought i recognized you there too, rainbowgirl, but i wasn't sure at the time... anyways, i'm having some problems with striding out on my last few steps, but sometimes i do manage to get decent run in. basically, i'm just not being consistent. i've been reading through the old posts and it looks like i need to learn some more about these mid mark drills and give those a shot. thanks for the advice so far, everyone!!

Yeah I think you are striding out at the end because you are too far away. You are probably reaching yourself under, which is probably making your coach tell you to back up more.

I would do a lot of pole runs where you start your run a few feet closer and work on getting those steps down. It will feel weird at first, but when you get it down it will be a lot more comfortable and consistent.

I probably have the same problem as you - striding out. I guess this is what I get for being the only sprinter vaulter on my team - the rest are distance (excluding 2 guys, but they basically show up when they feel like it...)

Not exactly sure what to tell you, but do box drills and get comfortable not striding out. Its what I need to work on - with box drills its fine, but I feel as if I'm going too fast when I plant as well...

When you go to the track for pole runs do not use a sliding box but use Dave Johnstons mid mark chart to align your runup . penultimate stride and takeff. You are in whats called a transitition phase but you have not done anything to assist the adaptation to your higher level of physical performance (speed).
Exa. If you are moving from a 3 to a 6 stride approach you must do at least 150 take offs on the track with that approach before it moves to the pit for an easy transition.

Rick Baggett

thanks!!!

i was recently having this problem of my last few steps being very long. to fix it i take a larger first couple steps-kind of hop a step or two and then make them smaller and by the time your at the end they're right where they should be

what is this Dave Johnstons mid mark chart?

FlyerChick4 wrote:what is this Dave Johnstons mid mark chart?

http://www.polevaultpower.com/docs/djmidchart.doc

Look in the Technique forum for posts by dj, he's made several posts explaining it.