It’s now a week out from the Australian Masters decathlon. Most of the events I’m familiar with, or have some confidence that I will complete. However, there’s a couple that needed extra work. One is the hurdles, which I did some work on a while ago, and continue with some simple drills most days.
Another event I hadn’t done any work on was the pole vault. Two years ago, I did start to learn the basics, but due to an injury min a sprint a couple of days earlier, I had to pull out of the coaching sessions and never got back into it.
Today that all changed. With the free weekend with no competitions, came the opportunity to learn the pole vault. I picked up where I left off (basically halfway through “pole vault 101″ :) ) 2 years earlier and progressed through a set of drills to get the right actions happening - first on the grass, then into the practice pit.
After several successful jumps into the pit, it was time to get used to the actual vault, and the feel of planting the pole in the “box”. By the third attempt, I was easily able to vault onto the metre high landing mat.
To finish off, we setup the practice bungee cord, initially around 1.3-1.4 metres, which I was easily able to clear. At the end, I proved that I can easily clear 1.6 metres, with the potential to go a little higher. But I also found that just beyond those heights is my next challenge, as I move my position further up the pole, where more speed is required during the run up.
Now, I’m really looking forward to competing in the pole vault next week.
- Tony via Tumblr http://ift.tt/2llH00g
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