July 27, 2008
Well, unfortunately it has taken me this long to update my training log, but the outdoor season has flown by so fast, I literally cannot comprehend that the season is over.
I am going to give a quick recap of each meet… Here goes.
The outdoor season started out with an early trip to Columbia, South Carolina. We were overly anxious to start the outdoor season so early, but we wanted a tune-up before the Sea Ray Relays the next week. The day started out slow with the opening height being 9’6” to help some decathletes get some jumps in. It was cool and a bit windy all day. I ended up winning the meet… my first win since the Pennsylvania AAA High School State Championship in 2002. Booyah. I vaulted over most bars gripping low on small poles. I started at 7 lefts and moved to 9 for the last few heights. I cleared 5.05m pretty easily, and of course, at 5.22m, it started to rain… with a head wind. I tried to make some attempts, but never took off with rain in the face the whole way down the runway.

The next week we traveled to Knoxville, Tennessee for the awesome Sea Ray Relays. Being my favorite meet of the year, there is always a fantastic atmosphere at this meet, yet I never jumped well there. I started the day clearing 4.90m pretty easily. At 5.05m, I came down on the bar twice, made an adjustment and somehow blew through on the last attempt. In 4 competitions at UT, my personal record stands at two meets at 4.90m and two NH’s. I’m starting to not like Knoxville…

The next meet was at UGA for the Bulldog invite in Athens, Georgia. We all struggled to get into a rhythm at this meet, despite great weather, wind and atmosphere. I ended up jumping 5.15m and took some good attempts at 5.25m for an outdoor PR, but to no avail. Still a good meet and a chance to check out a new place. Thanks to Saraf for letting all of us crash in his house.

From here I had two weeks off, and I sure am glad I took them. The two weeks from May 3 to May 17 were a whirlwind. On the 3rd we competed at the Crawfish Street Vault in Columbia, SC. My first street vault… it rocked. This meet was a lot of fun on a fast runway… and we got to eat some serious southern cooking afterward. I jumped 5.16 at this meet. An official outdoor PR… but I really would have loved to clear the next bar of 5.31. I had some good shots once again… but no go.

We drove home and a day and a half later I was on the road again all alone heading down the road to Knoxville to avenge my past adversity at the Knoxville Twilight at UT. I failed my goal. I had a GREAT warmup and was pumped to finally jump well in Knoxville and maybe take some more shots at an outdoor PR. Instead, something was in the air. No one could get in the pit, and everyone was down poles. I NH’d… AGAIN. Knoxville is not nice. Maybe someday I will not NH or jump 4.90m there. Time will tell.

Two days later I drove home to PA for my cousin’s wedding… which was awesome. I drove back to VA that Monday. The next weekend Joe and I drove to UNC Chapel Hill for the UNC Elite Meet. I had a good day tying a pole and grip PR gripping 4.72m on a 4.90m 17.0 for my attempts at a lifetime PR of 5.31m. Again I did not clear the bar ut put plenty of height on a bar that with a 5 cm standard adjustment, would have stayed. Oh well. Progress in the right direction, and I still jumped an outdoor PR of 5.20m.

The next week my girlfriend, Abbey, and I drove to northern Virginia for our friend’s wedding. It was a lot of fun.
After that, we had some time to get ready for two Friday night meets in early June at the Gill Friday Night Vault Series at the Gill Factory in Champaign, Illinois. We stayed at Lori and Bryan Carrel’s house the entire week, and I quickly learned that they are amazing people. They are incredibly supportive to anyone and anything that is pole vault, and they made us feel welcome the whole week. We can’t thank them enough. At the first Friday night meet I opened at 5.03m and failed to clear any other height. For anyone who has jumped at the factory, you probably know… the runway there is FAST. And by fast I mean SCREAMING fast. It is a completely legal and level runway, but the construction and crossbeam setup of the runway makes is FAST. It was hard to adjust to the speed and I blew through poles all the way up to the 17.0 that I had gotten on at UNC. The next week I jumped 5.02m and missed 5.22m for the same reason, but felt more comfortable on the runway, which was good, because we were coming back to Champaign in a month for the Gill Factory Vault. Also, I set a lifetime pole and tied my grip PR by gripping 4.72m on my 4.90m 16.6. Good signs.

About a month later we left for Grand Haven, Michigan for the Grand Haven Beach Vault. This meet is amazing. The picturesque beach of Lake Michigan plus the crowd, sun and top-notch field led to a great day. No one jumped overly well, but still a good competition none the less. I vaulted 5.05m pretty easily but struggled to get into a rhythm at 5.25m. Story of my life, right? None the less, a memorable meet, and many thanks to Dave for having us up for such a good time. We spent the night with our friend Bryant at his house and then departed the next day south for Champaign, Illinois for our last meet of the year.

The Gill Factory Vault was everything that we expected. Once again, we stayed with the Carrels all week, and picked up with the Nintendo Wii Mario Kart and Guitar Hero with their two boys right where we left off a month earlier. At the meet, we all jumped fairly well. I set a lifetime outdoor PR of 5.20m for 7th place. At 5.30m I set a lifetime grip PR on a tied pole PR gripping 4.75m on my 4.90m 16.6. I got a headwind my first two attempts, yet still took the jumps up. I had to bail on the first, but made a good look at the second and blew through the same grip and pole for the last attempt. Jacob Pauli vaulted 5.80m for the win.
And that was it… the season was over. After a plate full of buffalo wings with some new friends, we hung out at the Carrel house one last night and departed the next day for the 9 hour drive back to Virginia. A few Baconators and a LONG traffic standstill later and I was home for the summer.

All in all this year was everything I could ask for. I made some serious progress with some PR’s indoors and a lot of looks at a new lifetime PRs outdoors. I traveled with two of the best friends a guy could have for a sweet season of vaulting and seeing new places. Again, our coach, Bob, was there by our side the whole time… all on his own time. We are truly lucky to have him.
From here, Vertical Technique will be branching out and going NATIONAL! Joe is going to be the volunteer assistant pole vault coach at the University of Wisconsin while working on his PhD. Brian will spend the fall in Jonesboro, Arkansas with the Bell Athletics crew. I will still be in Blacksburg working on my Masters degree and training. We will also pick up VT school record holder Erin Mahony as the first ever female member of Vertical Technique. We are all looking forward to a little bit of rest and relaxation for the rest of the summer, and then the work begins again. Check back in next fall for an improved website and training log.
See you then… Bing.

 

March 9, 2008

It is hard to believe, but our indoor season is already completed. The last month and a half were great, in that we had three meets at home, with a weekend off in between each to do some training and rest.

The first meet was the Virginia Tech Elite, a new meet on the VT schedule. Getting into a rhythm early, I made the heights of 4.90m, 5.05m, and 5.20m on my first attempts. At 5.30m, I blew through on my first attempt, moved the standards back and blew through again on my second, then went up a pole and blew through again. With my standards fairly deep all day, I am glad that I am moving through poles, but frustrated in that I am not making the adjustments fast enough to leave some higher bars on the pegs. I need to get moving on poles earlier in the competition, so I can have the right pole in my hands at the right time. None the less, I attempted and jumped technically well at a PR, so that is never a bad way to end a day.

The next two weeks were frustrating. I struggled in practice to take off from my 9-left approach, which has always been infuriating for me. However, over years of getting angry and flustered, I have learned that that just doesn’t help anything, so I tried my best to stay calm and get down what I can in practice. That meant retreating and calling a few days of practice complete a little early, but I kept my head about me, which is a victory for me in itself.

Not much changed in warm-ups at the VT Challenge, our third home meet of the season. I felt horribly uncomfortable and unconfident in warm ups, only taking off on about half of my jumps. When the meet began for me at 4.88m, I was determined to take off. I did, and I got horribly jammed at the plant and bailed. Realizing that we are beginning to peak our training and that my legs are feeling good, I moved my step and check mark back eight inches to give me a little more room. Then I started cooking. Always feeling more comfortable when taking off as free as I possibly can, the adjustment paid off as I made 4.88m on my second and 5.03 on my first. Inching up my grip, I made 5.18m on my second attempt. At 5.28m, I blew through the 4.90 18.0 I was on and moved to our 4.90 17.5 gripping around 15’4”. I hit a 12’9” takeoff (not TOO bad) and boomed 5.28m (17’4”) for a new lifetime PR. I took one good attempt at 5.37m after running through on my first (unknown loss of confidence… I don’t know) and bailing on my second attempt. I need to get consistent and confident in practice to make sure this doesn’t happen again, but a PR none the less.

Our final meet of the season was a Vertical Technique role reversal. With me being the only one of the three of us having a PR this season (two actually!) Brian and Joe had their day. With the vault being the last event going on by over an hour and a half, Joe double PR’d vaulting 5.33m and 5.38m in a then empty field house. Brian followed with a season best 5.51m (18’1”), finishing strong in a season that was very trying for him. All of us knowing that there is a 5.60m or 5.65m jump in him, Brian has been frustrated with his results so far this year. But this meet proves that he is on the right track and it is only a matter of time, in that he made 5.51 look easy. I had an off day, only jumping 5.05m after a horrible day of warm-ups and with very little consistency. Looking back at the numbers from my starting mark, mid and takeoff, I now realize that due to our running training peaking out for this meet, I should have adjusted my starting mark. Comparing with our last meet, all of my marks were inside, and with our legs feeling and performing great with our peak, that extra room probably would have allowed me to get comfortable and have room to hit a good plant. It is extremely frustrating when you miss a performance, especially when hitting your peak, but it has done nothing but light the fire for the outdoor season.

Now I am looking forward to taking time off, hanging out with our good friend Thorsten Mueller, who is visiting from Germany in a few days, and then hitting the training hard once again. Outdoors in only a few weeks away, and I need to take advantage of every opportunity we get to perform!

 

 

February 4, 2008

Well it has been quite some time since my last log entry and that is, in large part, due to the last month passing by at about 100 miles per hour. I will try to recap as best as I can…

Holiday break was fantastic as always. Being home with my family and friends is always a great time, and with some good luck and good weather, I was able to do the majority of my running workouts outside in the sun! Lifting with some of my best friends is always a welcomed event for the holiday break, and all of this gave me a big boost to really surge ahead for the indoor season. I was so ready to go, I ended coming back to school with my girlfriend the afternoon of New Year’s Day to start up the new year at VT. As an added bonus, the indoor track has now been set up and that is always an awesome motivation-builder for the new year.

After two weeks of training and working on controlling my long run, we had our first meet of the year, the VT Invitational. Thinking about nothing other than what we have been working on all year… a nice relaxed, accelerating run, tall plant and big chest drive, I set a new lifetime PR. After spending my entire college career as a very consistent sub-17-foot vaulter, I FINALLY snagged my first, jumping 5.25m (17’2.75”) on my second attempt. I was gripping 15’4” on a 4.90m (16’1”) 17.5 (~185lb?) Pacer Carbon when it went down. I took one or two good attempts at 5.35m (17’6.5”) before ending the day. This was probably the most physically and mentally exhausting meet I have been in in quite some time, in that I took my first warm up jump around 12:15 pm and my last miss was at around 6:30 pm. Also one of the best meets I have been in, due to so many people setting lifetime PR’s. Ten vaulters were left at 5.25m and seven remained at 5.35. As a club, Vertical Technique did well with Joe also jumping 5.25m and Brian jumping 5.35m. A great day I will never forget.

The next week we traveled to East Tennessee State, where the Niswonger Invite always seems to be a great meet. With a new, fast runway, we were all looking to challenge some new PR’s again. After working on coming through the middle with a more effective swing all week, I seemed to overlook what was getting me results all season. I was so focused on the swing so much, I didn’t hit my plant very well all day, causing inconsistency, and I only jumped 5.05m. An off day… nothing to get worried about.

The next week was extremely interesting. With Joe unable to travel with us, Brian and I traveled to Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, Michigan. GVSU was kind enough to invite us to a great meet, and it resulted in a great trip. Road tripping it up there in my Rodeo, Brian and I arrived after a day of driving to shake out in what we found to be a fantastic track facility. A fast runway, great facility and awesome crowd resulted in a great meet. With only 10 or so people vaulting in the guy’s section, the meet went fast, but it went extra fast for me. I struggled a bit in warm-ups, but came back to destroy my opening height of 4.90m with one of the best opening jumps I ever had. Unfortunately, I made the same mistake that I made the week before, and didn’t make 5.05m due to inconsistency with the plant. It was a long way to go for what is my lowest meet of the season thus far, but none the less, GVSU put on a great meet, Brian got a good mark on the board, and it was a great trip. I am looking to going back up that way in the future!

This past weekend, Brian, Joe, redshirt senior Erin Mahony and I traveled to Indiana University. We arrived after about 8 hours of driving at our friend Jeff Coover’s house. Jeff and his roommates were kind enough to let us crash in their house for the night, and we definitely appreciated it! Indiana University proved to have one of the nicest indoor facilities that I have seen, and the meet was also top-notch. I again focused on hitting my approach and plant, and I ended up missing the middle of my vault a bit. My swing was slow and less effective than I would have liked, but my consistency came back with authority, and I was able to make the adjustments needed to make 5.15m (on third attempt). At 5.25m, it was just Brian and I left jumping, which was cool, and I started to finally hit my stride. I ended the meet blowing through the same pole I jumped 5.25m on three weeks ago, so it was a good end. I did, however, wish I had made the adjustment sooner, in that with another pole, 5.25m and probably more would have been there. Live and learn.

Now in the heart of the indoor season, I am looking forward to staying home for a few weeks and jumping on the beautiful VT indoor runway we all love. Hopefully another PR or two are on the way!

 

 

December 13, 2007

Well… I am FINALLY finished with my first semester of graduate school. After an extremely stressful last few weeks preparing for one of the most grueling finals of my life, I am finished and ready to do some training over break without school looming in the shadows.

We recently competed in an opener meet at Liberty University on December 1 st, and the outcome was good and not so good. Only jumping 4.85m, I had a really good day on the runway. My approach and takeoff were as good as they have been all year, and I put some big height on five meters, twice brushing the bar on the way down. From past experience, I know that I typically on any third attempt, I need to have the standards set five to ten centimeters deeper than what I would normally expect due to adrenaline. It happens all the time… except this time. No big bar this time, but there are many more meets to come, and many more PR’s to leave up.

On a different note, our uniforms are finally complete and look awesome. With some serious help and input from Runabout Sports, we are hooked up and ready for the indoor season… and our warmup jackets haven’t even hit the market as of today. Sweet.

I am looking forward to training hard the next few weeks, because Christmas break is scheduled as a rest week for us, and that makes being home and seeing family even better. I am dialing in my seven-left approach and looking forward to moving back to nine lefts pretty soon. Eight? I don’t like even numbers. Seriously though, I do not get much more from seven to eight and I like nine much more than eight anyway.

January is right around the corner, and I am getting more and more excited.

 

 

November 5, 2007

The last two and a half weeks have been very interesting.  I have had nothing but good vault practices (which implies that something was accomplished and I went home happy), and that is unusual for me, especially with all the changes that we are making to my vault.

I have become comfortable with a high grip on larger than normal poles from my 5-left approach.  It was a process... The first few days from 5 consisted of me driving my chest off the ground, and as a result of the change, the top of my vault was pretty ugly.  The next few days consisted of hitting good tall positions and being aggressive with my swing, resulting in a smoother, prettier top end.  This past Saturday, I moved my approach back to 6 lefts, and began crushing big poles with an even higher grip. All things considered, I am on stiffer poles than ever before, gripping higher than ever before from short run, and my jump is still considerably smooth.  All good things.

I do have to keep reminding myself that this hot streak will soon end... I am not trying to be a pessimist, but the reality of the vault is that bad days are certainly common, and eventually one or two or a hundred will arrive.  It's the nature of the beast, and all vaulters have to deal with it.  However, I am going to try and keep it up as long as possible.

This past week started a new cycle of training, and we are all excited about trying new things with our running and plyometric workouts.  We (mostly Brian) designed the workouts to incorporate faster intervals while still maintaining decent distances for endurance.  It's quite a nifty trick.  We are also beginning to work on some straight pole vaulting, which has always been difficult for me.  However, the changes being made with my vault are obviously going in the right direction, because not only did I have a lot of fun while straight poling, but I also got to work on some finer aspects of the takeoff and swing.   I think we are all going to benefit from the new system, and I am anxious to see what type of results we see. 

On a side note, Joe and I made a hefty purchase of some Pacer Carbon poles to give Vertical Technique a pretty large assortment of carbon beauties (between our pole series and Brian's series of gigantic logs).  We ultimately have a huge series of poles with no more than a 2.5 pound increment between them all.  With a Rockback pole bag also on the way, we can't wait for everything to arrive and get jumping on them.

Our opener meet at Liberty University is sitting and waiting at the end of this cycle on December 2.  Recently, Coach Phillips and I have discussed whether I will compete from 6 lefts or 7 lefts that this competition and we have decided that 7 would be better for me (it takes me a while to get up to speed).  This means that next week I will continue with 6 lefts, right on schedule, and leave 6 for 7 a week or two earlier than anticipated.  7 is a good approach distance for me, so I am looking forward to it!