Life At The UCS Spirit Reno Pole Vault Summit

This is only my 3rd time (2nd as an elite) at the UCS Spirit Reno Pole Vault Summit, and i just can't see how it can get better, but it does every year!! If you love the pole vault and you've never been out here, get your butt in gear and plan on it for next year because it is truly a unique experience. Last year when I arrived, hardly any kids and high schoolers knew who I was. Only some of the major fans of the sport and the local midwest kids. And then after the competition where I got 3rd place at 5.50m/18' 0.5" with a sweet hair design and a green mohawk, everyone wanted my autograph and suddenly I realized that I belonged in this sport as a professional. This year when I arrived... people knew who I was. That was the coolest feeling in the world. I was even signing autographs and talking to groups of kids and fans at the airport on the way out here! This event is the single most inspiring and motivational event in the world for an emerging elite athlete, someone who can vault higher than most collegiate vaulters, yet not quite competitive enough to keep up with the best in the world at most competitions. Being around all of these younger vaulters who look up to us and want autographs is inspiring in itself, and then to also be around world champions, olympic champions, world record holders, and everyone in between is just plain sobering. The whole weekend the discussion among the elites is to raise expectations and stop shooting for 5.72m or 5.80... We need to be shooting for 5.90m and 6.00m and higher. Just getting 5.72 and qualifying for the Olympics isn't going to get us a medal or even in the top 8 most likely. The trend has been that the Olympic Champion usually has to clear a new Olympic Record to win. I'm all for raising expectations and I don't think I've ever had a problem with mine being too low, as my goals are constantly to be the best vaulter in the world. Of course I want 5.72m, but as Brad Walker put it, it should just be a stepping stone in the journey to be the best. And that's where my head's at. I'm physically able to be the best pole vaulter in the world right now, at this very moment. There is nothing I NEED to do differently, training wise. I just need to vault higher, because that's the bottom line. Grow a pair, get on bigger poles, run faster, plant higher, and clear the freakin monster bars like I was made to do. I plan on starting that strategy tonight and I'm more than excited to jump with all of these elite guys tonight in front of the best pole vault fans in the world. And just because I admire the guy and hope that I can compete on his level soon, I'll say one last thing....... Bring it on Brad Walker. I don't know about the other guys, but I want to go head-to-head. Let's dance!

2012 Pole Vault Summit Intro Video

Here's my video for the 2012 Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nevada that takes place next weekend (January 20-21). I had some help from my friend, Micah Brown in shooting the beginning footage, and I edited it. He did an awesome job shooting some quality stuff that I could work with, so thanks Micah! Hope all of you like it, and I hope I see you next week! All of the elite vaulters' videos will be posted on the Pole Vault Summit - Preparing for the Summit page. Check em all out!

5.41m - 17' 9" at Wichita State

Height: 5.41m or 17' 9"
Approach: 18 steps
Pole: 5m - 14.1
Place: 2nd

This week was WAYYY better than last week... I gotta admit, I was a little worried about my performance last weekend, but I feel much better after jumping 14 inches higher yesterday. It was my first meet from my long run (18 steps) and I got on the biggest pole I've ever gotten on indoors - 5m - 13.7 (205lb). I jumped my PR of 5.71m/18'8.75 on that pole, as well as 5.70m/18'8.25" this past summer. So basically it's my money pole. I jumped on it confidently, which was a great accomplishment for me, mentally. This year has been great so far in all aspects, and it's only 2 meets old! I opened up the meet on Thursday at 5.06m/16'7.25" and cleared it first attempt, then cleared 5.21m/17'1" on either my first or second attempt, I forgot, ha. Jack Whitt opened up at this height and cleared it with ease. The bar then raised to 5.31m/17'5" and Jack passed. I cleared it on my first attempt I believe. Next, we go to 5.41m/17'9" and I cleared it either first or second... I need to write this stuff down right away, my memory is just sad... Anyway, Jack and I both clear it and we move to 5.51m/18'1" to attempt a new facility and meet record. It is also an important bar for me as 5.50m/18'0.5" is the qualifying bar for the US Indoor Championships in February. I'm still ahead of Jack at this point of the meet and I'm up first. I blew right through my 5m - 14.1 and grabbed my 13.7 for the next jump. Jack misses... I take my 2nd attempt and barrrrely nicked the bar on the backside and it falls as I hit the mats. Jack misses again, too. This is it, my last jump of the competition unless I step it up and clean up my jump. I bolt down the runway and do the exact same thing... Hit the bar with my chest on my descent. And Jack comes down and cleared it smoothly for the win. Oh well, I guess I won't have an undefeated season, haha. I was extremely happy for my progress, especially in less than a week. My first practice at my long run was on Tuesday but yesterday felt like I never stopped for an off-season. It was fantastic. And I got on massive poles and had plenty of height over 5.51m, which is great this early in the year, with my rough, early-season technique. Jack put together a great video of us jumping yesterday which I will put at the bottom of this post. I can't wait for the Pole Vault Summit in Reno, Nevada next week! I hope all of you are either going this year, or have a chance to go at least once in your life. It's an incredible event with more pole vaulting energy than anywhere else in the world. I vault next Friday, I believe. I worked all day today on an intro video of myself that the Summit asked all of the elite vaulters to do for them. I'm no video-editor, but I think it turned out pretty sweet! I'll post it on here after it gets posted on the UCS Spirit Pole Vault Summit website.

First Meet Of 2012 In The Books

Height: 5.05m or 16' 6.75"
Approach: 14 steps
Pole: 5m - 15.3
Place: 1st

Boy was that a hell of a first meet... It was completely not how I pictured it in my head, even after warmups, which went very well. I opened up at 5.05m and blew through on my first attempt. I went up a pole and sailed over it on my second attempt. Boom, first bar of 2012 and a long road ahead... Well when I went to the next bar of 5.20m or 17', the 5m - 15.3 pole that I had just used felt extremely soft and didn't give me anything in return. I brushed the bar off on the way down and was very confused that I might have not moved the pole like I should've. My take-off and positions were great except I wasn't clearing the bar. I was really confused and so was coach, but we decided to go UP a pole and see what happens. We moved the standards in a little and went up to my 5m - 14.9 and I blew through it. Just as we suspected, the 15.3 was too soft so it was over-bending and "shooting" me straight up and straight back down. So by going up to the next pole, we eliminated the over-bend and just about cleared the bar by a foot. Instead, I brushed it on the way up and there goes my second attempt at the scrawny 17' bar. We decided to take the last jump with the standards as far back as they would go and I still hit it coming out up top. Which means either the pole was giving me nothing or I was flagging out really bad/kicking out at the bar. I don't feel like I was kicking out that bad but the whole meet was so weird that who knows, I definitely could've been. Long story short, I had a jump-off with one of the vaulters on the KU team that I've trained with for the past year and a half, Alex Bishop. We were tied at 17' so we each got another crack at it. We both missed the bar on our fourth attempt so it was lowered 5 centimeters, due to the "jump-off, no-tie for 1st place rule"... We missed again, it dropped 5cm lower... and we missed again... and one more time... and then finally I made 5m or 16' 4.75" and he missed. We were exhausted and both pretty upset with ourselves for not doing any better than that during the jump-off. But I came out with the win and that's really all I wanted to say for this entire blog post is that I won. It's pretty embarrassing to have to tell you that I jumped 5.05m at any point during an Olympic year at the age of 23, but it happened and I must move on. Hopefully you still have faith in me because I feel that good things are coming. First, I need to adjust to my recent weight gain of 8 pounds and speed I have acquired over the last 3 months. I have been hitting the weight room hard and eating right and taking a whey protein supplement in order to help gain some muscle mass. I did just that and now I weigh a consistent 184 lbs, which is a big difference on a pole. We'll just have to see how this indoor season goes! Wish me luck! I'm hoping to jump at K-State next week from a long run to prepare for the Reno Pole Vault Summit. I hope it goes a little (a lot) better!

All I Wanna Do Is Sleep

Sleep is so unbelievable important in my sport. Sometimes I take for granted the opportunities I have in front of me and the amount of time I have to get a good night's sleep. Of course I celebrated New Year's Eve with some champaign and not going to bed until 1am or so, but I figured waking up after 10am like I did would've given me the amount of rest I needed to stay on track. Wrong. At times like these, when I'm at work (bored) and had a ridiculously hard time getting out of bed, I remember how important it is to stay on a sleeping schedule. My body definitely needs one nowadays. I mean, by no means am I old, but I used to be able to sleep just a few hours a night and train just fine, but it wasn't until I found the value of sleep when my training capacity increased by leaps and bounds. Sunday night I got about 8 hours of sleep and last night I got 7... it may seem like a normal, if not substantial amount of sleep for you, but my body needs more than that to function at 100%. I need at least 8-9 hours of sleep to feel rested and ready to take on the world. Today is a vaulting day and I absolutely, with all my might, disgustingly HATE not feeling 100% on a vault day. I'm pretty upset with myself for not getting enough rest lately because having good vault sessions is key to one's confidence on a pole. I need these vault sessions to count, especially since we only vault twice a week. Over the holidays I couldn't vault for a week and a half and I've only had two vault sessions in the past 3 weeks! I like to take full advantage of ALL of my few vaulting opportunities. Advice to all: If you want to be successful, treat your body like the machine that it is... There is no excuse for not fueling and refueling and maintaining it as a finely-tuned piece of equipment. It's the only one you'll have so keep it running smoothly!
I failed at this for most of my life, so don't make the same mistakes I have!