New Jump and New Poles are Hard!

Well some of you might have noticed by now that I'm struggling a little right now with meet results, but I want to let everyone know that I'm confident that the other end of this thing is going to be pretty big if I stick with it. I'm finally having some solid jumps in meets, and because of it I'm really unsure so far as to which poles I should be on! Also, at the end of last year I got a series of poles that fit inside of the series of IU's poles so I would have my own (almost) identical series. I have been committed to jumping on my own poles this year, and it has been a little different, especially since I am rolling through big poles from 16 steps (my full approach being 18 steps). In Reno I blew through my 5m 13.3 on my last attempt, and the next step is to be able to start on that pole on my first jump of the meet and work to the 12.9 after that. I'm feeling good about my speed and strength, and I know I will be able to make some big bars once I get the timing right on these poles. Last year from 18 steps at the USA outdoor championships with a tailwind I was on the 5m 13.3 with the standards on 70, and this year I've already blown through that pole from 16 steps. That is a good sign, but the next step is to actually make some decent bars. I'll be jumping at home tomorrow, and am hoping for the best. I'm going in there hell-bent on getting on my 13.3 for the first jump of the meet, and hope for the best.

Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.

Just for viewing pleasure, although I didn't think I'd ever post a miss at 5.20m from full approach, here is my last miss from Reno on the 13.3... It's a pretty good run and takeoff, and just a blowthrough.

Practice video and Meet schedule

Today I had a good jump session with a few solid technical efforts on smaller poles from 8 and 12 steps. I'm on the once-a-week jump practice schedule right now - and today was a good one. It makes me feel ready going into this weekend. I just hope this stuff transfers to my long run when the bar goes up! Not 100% sure about the bungee but it was either 4.60m or 4.70m - not important. Pole was a 4.60m 12.5. I was pretty happy about lining this one up and dropping my shoulders right down the middle instead of pulling up the bend.

I also basically finalized my indoor schedule, and thought I would let you guys know where I'll be for the season. Here it is:

1/21 - Gladstein Invite at IU

1/28 - 2011 UCS Spirit Reno Pole Vault Summit

2/5 - Hoosier Invite at IU (Tentative)

2/12 - Tyson Invitational

2/26 - USA Indoor Championships

3/12 - Fuzion Athletics Elite Meet

Looks like a pretty good lineup to me - I'm excited!!

Catch ya soon and hope to see ya in Reno next week!

Jeff

Starting to Roll

Well I had a pretty good jump session today, and I'm feeling really good about my progress and how well I'm rolling on the runway. Unfortunately I had a little injury to my back this past week and decided to take a light week this week, skipping the jump session this Monday. We did some good running on Monday and Tuesday, took a bit of a slower day Wednesday just doing some auxiliaries and bodyweight stuff, and then came in today to try a few jumps since I was feeling pretty good.

At this point I have to thank and give credit to my acupuncturist friend Sarah for putting a bunch of 3"needles in my back, glutes, hips and piriformas this morning... that stuff works!

I went in with the specific intention of taking just 3 jumps from 8 steps and 4 jumps from 12 steps. I stuck to the game plan exactly, and ended up having a really close jump at 5.35m from 12 steps on a 4.90m 14.2 on my final jump. I also have to give credit to UCS here - I just got two new 4.90m poles this week - a 14.9 and a 14.2 - and they are rolling over awesomely and are going to be a perfect transition into my 5m series that starts at 14.1. Awesome.

Anyway, below is the link to the last jump. I'm still missing it a lot up top by pulling up the bend, but everything else is comin along.

Looking forward to the home meet next weekend. Hoping for the best.

Stay tuned, friends.

Jeff

New Years Eve Jump Session

Today I went in for a jump session from 12 steps at UNI with Jacob, and ended up having a pretty good day. I have been having some confidence issues from the longer approaches finishing jumps on the right poles, and finally had a few good jumps today. My best jump was a blowthrough on a 5m 14.5, but instead I'll post the next jump which was a clearance at a 5.30m bungee on a 5m 14.0. I mostly missed this jump, but I'm hitting the downswing hard, getting a hold of the pole through the bottom and I'm (sort of) committing to the jump even on a decently big pole from 12 steps. After this I took some decent shots at a 5.40m crossbar on the 14.0, but realistically I had taken too many jumps and was out of legs from there.

Happy Holidays and the Future

Well I'm back in San Diego for a few days, getting some solid training in (though over the course of 4 days I have trained at 3 different outdoor tracks), and can't complain about the weather and being able to run longer than 60m on a straightaway. There isn't a whole lot to do around here during the day, so we spend a lot of time relaxing, stretching, hydrating, and preparing for the day's workout. It's a pretty solid environment for training for sure.

In a few days I'm going to head back to the midwest, but I'm heading to Cedar Falls, IA to train with my good buddy Jacob Pauli for a week or so. I usually really enjoy my time in Iowa, and am looking forward to some quality training with Jacob. I'm also getting some brand new UCS 4.90m poles (14.9 and 14.2) shipped straight to Cedar Falls next week so we can hit some serious mid-approach jumps. I can't wait.

At the moment, I'm planning on opening my season with a rust-buster on January 8th at home, getting another little meet in two weeks later at home, and then hitting my real season opener at the Reno Vault Summit at the end of the month. I have to give thanks for Steve Chappell and the boys from UCS for being beyond cool to me and inviting me to the summit. The guys at UCS are ridiculously supportive of my dream, and I'm so lucky to have them as friends and contacts. I recently shot a little video for them answering a few questions about my training leading up to the summit, and I hope you guys can check it out and enjoy it soon on their website for the summit.

Anyway, that's pretty much it for me for now, but this blog looks boring so I'll post a video from last week of myself jumping a PR for 3 bounds with a 2 step walk-in.

Stay tuned!

Jeff

Good Training and A Few Vids

Well training has been going well. I just finished a hard three-week cycle, and am going into a much needed rest week, where I take the volume down by about 50% for a week and give myself a chance to recover and enjoy the holidays! Here's a video from my last jump session from 8 steps on a 4.60m 13.0. I've been really working hard on hitting an elastic position through the bottom and letting that help me get out of the "window" quicker and swing long and fast. Things are starting to look good from here, and I ended up having a few good jumps on this day during my first session from 18 steps. Anyway, here's the 8 step jump:

The next video is from today's lift session. I wanted to work up to a heavy double in the power snatch from the low blocks (which is a tough position for me). I ended up working up to 90kg (about 200lb), and even that felt pretty light and I caught it nice and high on both reps. Last year at this time I was diving into the hole to catch 95kg for a single, and this year I feel like I am way ahead of that. Here's the video:

Anyway I'm headed to San Diego this evening for the holidays, but I should be getting in some good training out there, and I'll be sure to update! Happy holidays!

Jeff

6 Step PR

Well I dont know why it took me so long to post this, but I jumped a 6 step (3 left) PR last saturday. My previous PR was 4.65m from outdoors last year just after the USA championship on a bungee, and last saturday I made 4.70m and 4.75m crossbars during my session. Here's the video of my 4.75m jump. There's also a link to a more clear version on the right in my "Run PR" list.

The pole was a 15' 13.6, which is a 195 (I think), and the grip was somewhere around 14'3'' or so. I was definitely happy about the jump, and the flow through the bottom. In a perfect world I would be on a bit softer pole with the standards back at 80, and would come around the pole better up top, but the 13.6 is the softest 15' pole that I have, so I have to make it work! Anyway, maybe soon I will be able to roll that pole a little better and be able to catch the ride better up top.

Other than that, training is going great. We're doing some heavy running on the track right now, lots of heavy sled pulls and sled pushes and a good amount of bounding. Today I'm going to try going back to 12 steps on the runway. Lets hope for the best.