First Competition this Weekend

[hurdlesgal]

I am a complete beginner and have tried to vault twice now in practice, although only once with my coach who is now away on holiday until September. I need some basic insight as to attaining the highest height possible in my competition this coming Saturday. I am 36 years old, 5'7" tall, and 128 pounds and have a current flat 100m PB of 13 low. Currently I take a 6 step run-up (3 lefts) and cleared 1.80m (approx. 6 feet) in training the first day.

My goal is to clear 2.00m in the next month and I have the following questions:
1) Should I switch to an 8 step run-up (4 lefts) at some height or can I clear 2.00m on 3 lefts?
2) Should the uprights be at 40 cm or 50 cm? I can choose and don't know what would be better? Is there a certain spacing that is best for beginners? I don't seem to have a problem getting into the middle of the pit.
3) What size pole should I use? We have UCS brand and I think the ones I tried were 10 foot 8 inches and 11 foot 6 inches.
4) Should I even worry about rotating to the side in the air? (I think I am starting to but haven't worked on this yet)
5) How high up on the pole should I grip? I am trying to really punch the air on takeoff and find myself gripping higher and higher up on the pole as the height increases.

Any other tips for a total beginner getting over 2.00m would be greatly appreciated. I don't think I'll be able to practice before my competition on Saturday but am hoping to clear 1.80m (6 feet).

Pole vaulting is so fun! I wish they'd had it when I was in school. It is very cool to fly through the air even at low heights!

[rainbowgirl28]

Keep the standards at 80cm!! It is important to learn how to jump off the ground and swing deep into the pit. This will help you vault both safer and higher. If you are crashing down on the bar, lower your grip until you are swinging over it.

[hurdlesgal]

Thank you for your help. I was able to clear just under 7 feet (2.10m) this past weekend after a one hour practice session with my coach and then a 30 min. practice session on my own. Before that I had never attempted the event so I am really happy with the result and would like to go higher in my next competition.

My coach is away on vacation, however, so I will have to practice on my own for our next meet which is in one month. I would like to break our club record of 7 feet 3 inches (2.20m), so more help would be greatly appreciated, as I have only had one real coaching session in my life!

My specific questions are as follows:
1) I used a 6 step approach (3 lefts) to 2.00m and then changed to an 8 step approach (4 lefts). Is this a good way to approach these heights?
2) I had the standards set at 40 cm but moved them back to 50 cm at 2.00m which seemed to help a lot, as the first time at 2.00m I hit the bar on the way up. I had three misses at 2.20m, too, hitting the bar on the way up each time. Should I set the standards at 60 cm, 70cm or 80cm as the height increases? I have no problem getting into the middle of the pit.
3) Can I clear 7'3" without bending the pole? I have no idea how to do this and am just sort of going with the flow and doing things naturally. I did have someone take a picture of me going over and I was rotating to the side. An observer on the side also said that I had the swing down but don't exactly know what that means!
4) I took 14 total jumps (1.30o, 1.50o, 1.60o, 1.70o, 1.80o, 1.90o, 2.00xo, 2.10xxo, 2.20xxx) and came in very low because I had no idea I would be able to jump that high with so little practice. But I was exhausted by the end of the event. Where should I come into the competition and is there a certain number of jumps that most people take?

Thanks a lot for any help once again.

[altius]

Increase you run up to 5 lefts.

[Andy_C]

Hi Hurdlesgal,

I wouldn't worry too much about over-jumping during competition at this stage. That's more for later down the road when you've got a definite height you absolutely must clear (ie. Qualifying for something or for a major win). For beginners I would actually strongly encourage them to jump as much as possible during competition. It's almost like practicing but under competition conditions. Beginners should get as much of that under their belt. As you move towards more important meets you can then start thinking about cutting down the jumps and conserving energy. Now that's not to say that you should jump as much as humanly possible in each meet for now though. As always, listen to your body - if something is hurting then you should stop. Additionally, if you're tired to the point that your technique changes drastically, you should also stop. Generally, you should first notice a change when you're running. Typically the last strides get longer and heavier while the first couple of strides get weak. I recommend that you stop in this scenario not only to preserve your technique but also for safety considerations. By all means you can push it especially if you're going through easily, but keep it all in reasonable terms. You don't get bonus points for jump quantity, but you do benefit from practicing the "competition scenario" frequently and doing it well with good technique. I would strongly discourage people from continuing if their technique starts to falter considerably due to fatigue, that's not the type of practice you're after.


As for where you should start, a lot of that will be up to the vaulter. In a lot of cases, putting the bar too low will have an unwanted mental reaction from a beginner vaulter where they will start to jump differently from how they practice. Of course clearing the bar is good but for now the greater value should be placed in how well you practice in training and in competition.

All the best! Glad to hear you're loving our awesome sport!

-Andrew

[KirkB]

You're doing very well for a rookie ... clearly your hurdling experience has given you a good foundation for PV!

My advice doesn't really contradict Andy's ... but it is slightly different ... looking at your situation from a little different angle ...

I wouldn't worry too much about over-jumping during competition at this stage.

I think 14 jumps in a meet is a bit much. It depends on what condition you're in ... and it sounds like you're in fairly good shape to get such a good start in vaulting ... but I think any more than a dozen vaults per meet (or FULL-RUN training session) is getting to be a bit too much.

... if you're tired to the point that your technique changes drastically, you should also stop.

This is exactly why I think more than a dozen jumps per day is a bit much.

... I recommend that you stop in this scenario not only to preserve your technique but also for safety considerations.

So if your body is only good for a dozen vaults or so, wouldn't you rather end at somewhere near your PR (or even a bit higher)?

As for where you should start, a lot of that will be up to the vaulter.

Start at a height that will give you the PR that you're striving for ... in a dozen jumps or less. i.e. To determine your starting height, assume an average of 2 jumps per height, and count backwards from your PR target. Hopefully, you should be able to almost GUARANTEE that you'll make that opening height. If not, then start lower. There's nothing worse than NH'ing (except getting hurt).

As RG said (you must have missed her point ... because you asked again) ... ALWAYS keep your standards on 80! Keep them there and adjust your grip ... NOT your standards. This will give you the MOST CONSISTENT technique that you can possibly have.

I've saved what I think is the most important advice for last ...

It's fantastic that you're having a blast by learning how to vault ... and it's great (but not fantastic) that you're already striving to break your club record of 2.20m. BUT ... and this may be a hard pill to swallow ... there's TWO more important things to strive for:

1. Stay healthy! Never, never, never risk an injury for the sake of a record. It's just not worth it. There's always a next time to break a record, but injuries can put you out for a week, a month, or a season. Don't risk it. There's always a "next time". To be perfectly clear, I'm not just talking about missing the pit or landing wrong. I'm especially referring to something like maybe feeling a twitch in your hamstring, but STILL continuing to jump. As Andy said ... STOP! You're a hurdler, so I'm sure you know what we mean here.

2. Learn how to vault PROPERLY! I think you're already striving for this ... but never, never, never compromise your technique for the sake of a record. Your current club record is NOTHING ... really. If you're not over that in your first meet, you'll be over it soon enough. BUT if you start picking up bad habits in your technique, they'll be tough to break later. I can't emphasize this advice enough. Technique NOW ... PRs LATER! Don't worry ... at the rate you're already going, they'll come soon enough! Again ... to be perfectly clear ... I'm referring to things like jacking up your grip or going for a lot stiffer (or a lot lighter) pole than you're used to ... in a desperate attempt to "set that record".

Since you're not bending the pole yet anyway, you can tuck this 2nd example away for awhile ... but whenever you start bending the pole, this advice is still solid.

Kirk

[Andy_C]

Hi Kirk,

No disagreements here. I just didn't give any specifics because I've never really seen Hurdlesgal train before and I'm not entirely sure how much she's capable of doing before hitting the fatigue-zone. But yeah, I agree 12-14 is a pretty decent number. And yes I forgot to add about aiming for the PR just before the fatigue-zone, that's a great point.

To Hurdlesgal:
Again a lot of this will be up to you. If you, at your current run up, are capable of jumping a lot during the competition, take the time to do so. This may be coming from a bit of a different perspective here in Sydney since we don't get that many chances to compete as compared to the US. In that case we really try to squeeze every drop out of every competition we have.

-Andrew

[hurdlesgal]

Dear Andrew and Kirk,

Thank you so much for your advice. I just had my second competition and was able to get over 2.20m which was really exciting. In fact, I landed standing up on my feet in the pit after going over 2.10m and 2.20m which makes me think that I'll be able to go higher with practice! I took 13 jumps this time -- 1.50o, 1.70o, 1.90o, 2.00xo, 2.10xxo, 2.20xo, 2.30xxx. I kept changing the standards from 50cm to 60 cm at 2.10m and realized that probably wasn't a good thing but made it on my third attempt. I also had to compete in 5 more events after the pole vault including the hurdles in order to score points for my team in our last match, so needless to say I was tired after a long but successful day (our team won the match!).

My problem now is that I need to find a coach because I've never practiced for the event outside of one session with one of our club coaches who showed me the basics like how to grip, plant, etc. and then once on my own. Basically I've picked up a pole four times in my life -- twice in practice and twice in competition. Like Kirk mentioned, I am afraid of bad habits forming because of my inexperience.

I'll be moving back to the metro NYC area this winter, but don't know if there are any coaches that would take on an adult vaulter? I am totally hooked on this event and want to see how high I can go with a bit of proper coaching and training!

I may have one more competition at the end of September depending on whether my entry is accepted and have contacted some PV coaches where I live in the UK to help me train for that in the coming weeks. Will let you know how it goes and thanks again for all of the advice. I really appreciate your help and encouragement.

[yankee814]

Metro NY Area has a couple of key coaches that have helped me a lot!

Timmy St. Lawrence up in Warwick. He has a fantastic facility... look for it at hvflyingcircus.com
Thats about an hour north of the city

Jim Henderson from St. Anthony's high school. Rumor has it that he's starting his own club out of an indoor facility in Hauppauge.
Again, a little more than an hour East of the city on long Island.

Nick Aurigemma from Cold Spring Harbor on long island. Doesn't have his own club facility but is always willing to help out

Some of these guys are on pvp also!

[mcafish]

jim has an indoor in holtsville.