Vaulting in the Big Leagues

So, I don’t know if I mentioned this before or not and since I’m now a lazy college student I’m not going to look back through my posts, but we don’t have the facilities or enough people for me to get full jumps in at practice. I practice at 6:30am and usually it’s just me and my coach so we never pull out all the mats. By the time we did that some other team would be kicking us off the courts, and I wouldn’t get any practice in at all. All this means is that the only time I get to do full runways and jumps is at meets so we’ve been treating all our meets as practices. It also means that I don’t get a lot of practice swinging.

Which is where pool vaulting comes in. Once I got over giggling because pool and pole sound similar I started panicking because, as some of you know, I hate water and I hate going upside down. Two things that this workout was going to entail. And, since it’s no fun whining when Coach Doug isn’t around, I actually did it. And it was kind of a lot of fun. Pretty much my coach stuck a 16 foot or so pole in the pool and held it and I dove down and then held onto the pole and swung up to get used to being completely inverted. The only problem was when I threw my head back because then I’d get water up my nose and then start spluttering and dying but other than that it was a lot more fun than I’d been anticipating. I guess this is an example of why trying new things is good. But why put valuable life lessons into what is supposed to be a laid back account of a wacky practice?

Jumping once a week doesn’t really give me a lot to talk about, though next weekend is our Indoor Conference meet. Hopefully I’ll clear a height. But even if I don’t, Spring Break is coming up which means outdoor is officially starting and while Meadville’s weather doesn’t cooperate with this fact and continues to snow, hopefully I’ll be able to get outside and start jumping soon.

This past weekend I competed in my first A10 Conference Championship.  The team traveled to URI for two days for a fun weekend of track and field.  I didn’t know what to expect going into this meet. After competing in the NE-10 Conference for two years, I didn’t know how different this was going to be.  I was seeded 5th going into the meet, which is actually much higher than I thought I would be.

After completing an entire regular indoor season free of nerves, would you believe those suckers snuck right in on jumping day?  My first jump at 10’4″ was certainly a nervous one, but I got it out of my system and refocused.  I had to remind myself that it’s just me against that crossbar.  The only person I had to worry about was me.  I ended up clearing 10’10″, which is actually my lowest height of the season to get 6th place.

I was a little disappointed, but after thinking about it I was able to find some positives.  I am still coming off an injury.  My quad has had a HUGE knot in it for about 3 weeks now and this was the first meet I was actually able to cycle my leg through on the runway without a lot of pain.  Because of my quad, I’ve had to take it easy at practice which doesn’t allow too many jumps at practice. So it’s hard to work on full jumps when I can only take so many to rest my leg.  I’m really trying to pull everything together (TURNING. MY GOD! TURN, CHRISSY! ).  After the meet my quad was acting up and it’s most likely going to take a whole week of treatment again to get back feeling better for competition.

I’ve been thinking about what I want to do for practice this week–because the quad does become a problem and gets irritated very easily.  I can’t wait for the rest in between seasons to allow it to heal–but right now the opportunity just isn’t there.  BUT, we keep moving forward.  I’m hoping to qualify for ECAC’s next week and have to jump 11’9″ to do so, but I have to figure out a way to get some quality practice in at the same time without irritating my quad.  I’m sure it will all work out–even if it does mean just resting and start focusing on outdoor season.

Overall I had an amazing two days with the team.  It was just one of those meets where I was reminded how much I love track and field, my team, and how grateful I am to have this opportunity.  I also have never laughed so hard with my vaulters–we almost had one of our girls puke we were laughing so hard! (That’s gross, but we’re actually pretty gross girls. HAHA). It was a great time

With my season coming to an end I guess I should blog again.

Last weekend was our conference meet.  We traveled to Southern Maine to compete in both MASCAC and the Alliance (which is made up of The Little East and MASCAC).  Sadly Westfield took second to Worcester, but that’s besides the point.  Going into the meet I was seeded second over all, but for some weird reason I was nervous.  I knew winning MASCAC wasn’t going to be very hard seeing as how the second best girl was seeded roughly a foot below me, but here I was freaking out I was going to no height.  After warm-ups all I wanted to do was just jump and get the fear of no heightening out of me.  As the height slowly moved up, people seemed to be getting out left and right.  As I sat watching all but one girl get out at 8’6″ I couldn’t help but think how in high school that height wouldn’t have placed in some of my dual meets, and definitely not in my league meet.  Finally it was 9 feet, it was my turn.  In one jump, which was not very pretty I might add, I won the meet.  I ended up making 10 feet which broke the previous MASCAC record by a foot and a half.

The next morning I went to the Westfield Athletic page to read the write up about the meet.    The second line read “Led by outstanding record setting performances from….” don’t get to excited they forgot me.   Way at the bottom I finally got my line “Westfield’s other first place in the MASCAC meet was recorded by freshman Amy Auclair in the pole vault with a winning height of 10-1/2″.   Not making a height  in a meet is disappointing but you forget it and move on. Not being recognized when you doing something like break a record hurts.  Its not something I will easily forget.  I know it might sound like I’m selfish and just want everyone to know what I did, but that’s not it at all.  I want someone to care about pole vault like all other event are cared about, I guess that is just to much to ask sometime.

In other happier news my season has been very good.  I’ve been consistently make 10 feet, and during the last meet I used a 13′ 130 and didn’t die!  My Shoulder has been doing a little better, it has it days when it hurts but for the most part it doesn’t hurt.  I’ve been going to rehab twice a week, but I haven’t started lifting yet. (But I’ve been told there’s no more avoiding it.)  This weekend I will be going to D 3′s and hopefully using a 12’6 130 and finally making 10′ 6” for the first time in a very long time.

Well, since I last posted, a lot has happened over here in Hoboken. With the snowy weather, and no indoor track to use, our workouts consisted of a lot of warm-ups, medicine ball workouts, lifting, and pool workouts. And of course, pole vaulting on Tuesdays and Thursdays. After setting the school record at the Armory, my hamstring decided it did not want to cooperate. At our second meet, the Gotham Cup, I ended up scratching because my hamstring was really tight, and it was the feeling I got right before I pulled it back in December so I knew I could not jump. But by the next week I was ready to go for the Wesleyan invitational. WPI was at the meet, and so was Ingrid. I was doing pretty well, and almost cleared 10’ on my first attempt, but on my second attempt, I strained my hamstring again. I was so upset because I had been doing really well, and this meant that I was not able to compete at the Empire 8 championships, our conference meet at RIT.

I spent several weeks getting treatments at the trainer, massage treatments by my coach, and a lot of stretching. In between all of that, I did a lot of aqua jogging pool workouts working on getting my knees and toes up. I still went to pole vault practice, even though I was not able to sprint. I spent a whole practice doing zero steps, and even worked on swinging from a zero step. The next practice I spent the whole time at a 1 step, and then the next practice I spent the whole time at a 2 step. Finally, the Thursday before our CTC championship meet I was able to do 3 steps. I probably would have been able to 5 step, but mentally I was not ready.

So because I have not done anything more than a 3 step in practice, Branko and I decided that I would use Saturday as more of a practice, and compete only from a 3 step. I used a 12’ 130 pole, and held at 10’9”, running from only 33’. I think the other girls at the meet were soo surprised to see that I had such a short run. I opened at 8’1”, and cleared that on my first attempt with my standards at 70. For my first attempt at 8’7” I pulled my standards in but I really needed them back further, so for my second attempt I pushed them back to 73 and cleared it easily. 9’1” I cleared on my first attempt. My second attempt at 9’7” was really good! The top of my jump was probably my best of the day. If I had only pushed off the pole a little bit more, I would have cleared it. I felt my stomach brush up against the bar on the way down, and then it fell off L Both my coaches and I were very happy with my jumps. I tied for 3^rd place out of 11 girls. To be able to beat most of the competition from a 3 step while they were all going at least 5 steps made me feel great about my technique and how I am improving. I can’t wait to see how all of the little stuff will pay off when I move back to a 5 or 7 step and get on some bigger poles! Next up is the last chance meet, in 2 weeks, where I hope to qualify for ECAC’s which is 10’6”.

I’ve finally woken up from my cold medicine coma long enough to type up a quick entry about last weekend.

I did not compete at Boston Indoor Games because of my quad, but last weekend we went to the Yale Giegengack Invitational and I jumped 11’3.75″ for a new personal best and second place overall  I just keep on adding a few inches each time I jump. Haha.

I was still competing with my quad injury and it did throw me off a little.  My rhythm on the runway felt a little off and I couldn’t cycle my leg through as powerful as usual, but I kept powering through.  Going into the meet I really wanted to focus on getting upside down (turning better!–sheesh! I’m gonna do it one of these days!) and not keeping my trail leg long throughout the jump.  Well, you use your quad a lot to do that so it got irritated quickly.  I was still going in competition and had the bar at 11’9″ and after one pretty solid attempt I had to pull out of the competition.  :-(  I’m pretty confident that I’ll have that jump next time I compete.

I won’t be competing at the BU Valentine’s Day invitational, but I’m still going to try and go.  This week’s focus is getting my leg ready to jump at A10s (and battling a cold!).  I have treatment on my leg everyday, keeping up with my rehab exercises, and studying videos to get mentally prepared for the meet.

Well it’s finally happening, my form improvements are finally transferring into PRs! All of last year I was getting so frustrated because based off of video, my form was improving a ton, but it wasn’t transferring into heights. Well that’s finally happening now and let me tell you, it was well worth the wait. For those of you are beginning to get frustrated or feel stuck, let me reassure you that it will get better, you just have to keep with it. I felt like I was stuck at a plateau, but my persistance has finally paid off!

I had a lot of hope going into this season since I started the season off with two meets clearing 12′, which I only did a few times all of last year. At my third meet at Yale, I cleared 11’9″ then had plenty of height over 12’3″ but knocked the bar off on my way down. Then my next meet at Reggie, the Boston Indoor Games, I cleared 12′ on my first attempt and actually had some height on it. My other clearances of 12′ this year, I was lucky the bar stayed up. Then I chose to put the bar at 12’4″ and cleared it on my second attempt, finally PRing after over a year and half lull (my last PR was at New Englands my senior year)! And after watching video from that meet, I noticed a lot of things I can still fix. My 12’4″ jump wasn’t even with my best form, so I knew I had even higher heights in me. The biggest things I need to work on is getting my top arm fully extended in my plant, allowing my shoulders to come under quicker, and then just sticking with it. I also noticed that 11′ is getting to be a pretty low opening height for me, “a waste of time and energy” in the words of Brenner.

So yesterday, at the Battle of Beantown at Harvard, I opened at 11’6″ (higher than I ever had before). I cleared 11’6″, 12′, and 12’6″ (well 12’5.5″, stupid metric conversions haha) all on first attempts! At both the Boston Indoor Games and Battle of Beantown, I ended up on a 13′ 160, a heavier pole than ever before. I know my form is continuing to improve too since I cleared 12’6″ on a 13′ pole, which means I was clearing higher than my hand grip which is quite exciting to me.  I can’t wait to look at video of it.

We have 2 weeks before my next meet, so until then I’m going to work on getting on 13’7″s. Since I was vaulting on a pole well over my body weight with standards at 80, I think it’s about time to get on the 13’7″s!

I ask myself that almost every day, in almost every context. What should I be doing to get ready for this essay? What should I be doing with my free time? And the place you really should not be thinking this, but I do all the time, is what should I be doing for a workout?

Lately the other vaulters and I have been on our own for practices. I can’t really say that’s true of all of us vaulters. Some of the group have been blessed with great running ability, or great jumping ability. But me? I vault. I am pointing zero fingers saying, this person isn’t doing stuff, this person isn’t giving us workouts. I guess the only person to blame is myself. If I really wanted this, wouldn’t I have made the effort to either build a workout, or have someone build one for me?

Which brings me to my next point- WHY should I be doing this? I loved vault in high school. The competition was fun, the practices even more so. We worked, we improved but we had fun. Lately to me, collegiate pole vaulting hasn’t been as much fun. It’s been painful, stressful and makes me feel inadequate. Yes, I finally got up to my high school PR (and even technically beat it by 1/4″) but I don’t feel as accomplished as I once did.

I know Kyle asked a lot of you a while back why you ran, why you vaulted? I would like to ask the same thing. I guess I am looking for a reason to stay Varsity and not just switch to Open. I by no means want to quit vaulting altogether, but maybe it’s time I think about what I need to do in order to be my best, and feel my best.

I recently joined an organization that makes me feel great about myself. I’m confident, happy and everyone there just makes me more confident and happy. Varsity pole vault has been the opposite of that lately. I just want to get back to that place where pole vaulting made me happy.

So, tell me why you run? Why do you pole vault? email me your responses at jacqueline.foti@wpi.edu