Starting height in meets?

[pvdad81]

I was just wondering how other vaulters determine at what height to enter a meet and why. We usually start 2 feet below P.R. Are there any other strategies or rules of thumb?

[cdmilton]

I usually go by 1.5 feet below PR but it varies for each vaulter and their consistency.

[vault3rb0y]

exactly... i know a vaulter whos PR is 10'6 but she comes in at 10 because shes gotten that at every meet this year. Rule of thumb: come in at a hieght you havent had trouble at for a certain period of time (my period is generally 1 month). Also... if its a really big meet with a lot of competition... sometimes i will say im coming in at say... 12'6 but if there are still 5 guys in its not worth it to waste a jump, and ill pass to 13' or 13'6. Play it by ear... but come in at your safest hieght.

[nitro]

i go what i know i can clear no matter what goes wrong so i dont get tired and that is 10 inches under my p.r. u just gotta find something that works just for u.... or u could be like bubka who wants to take his like 5th jump at a world record for it to be the perfect jump

[polevaulter08nw]

so you come in at 15 corey?

[nitro]

ya

[vault3rb0y]

Thats gonna be interesting this coming indoor season... because my official PR is 14 but this summer ive been getting some jumps over the bungee at 15 from a 5 left run. Ill probably end up coming in at 14, which will be cool coming in at a PR :-P.

[polevaulter08nw]

im in the same boat, pr is 14'8 been jumping around 15'6 but idk that ill come in at 14'6 not intill i get off my injury and get back into form

[vault3rb0y]

yea... i actually came off an injury about... a month and a half ago. I strained a ton of ligaments in my foot when my spikes got caught in the matt on the way down, then rolled it. Im actually not doing any jumping at all until september 10th, at least. So im really excited to get back into vaulting shape, right now ive just been lifting and doing a few plyos. Good luck this indoor season!

[polevaulter08nw]

yeah once again same boat, haha coming off a late summer injury and doing stregth training aswell, i might start jumping around sept 20?

[euroeva]

our meets start at 7. I usually start at that even though my pr is 8.5 ft, cus I'de rather be safe than srry. A lot of people drop out at 7 though so it goes by rather quickly. Some meets i think can start at 6 if its a small school league. Not sure how it works cus here in philly they don't even hold PV meets unless it is for champs, cus we're the only school that does PV.

[pvdad81]

My son started vaulting about 2 weeks before the first meet. I was just happy that he could make the opening height. As the season progressed, I could see that coming in at 9' was goimg to wear him out before he got to his PR. We slowly raised his opening height. The first time we did this, he didn't re-warmup and fell into the box and hurt himself. Now he's at a 13'PR, we are trying to decide where he should come in at. What do you all think, 11'6"?