Vaulting in the Big Leagues

Hey so a quick update about this last week. First, last Sunday we had our Empire 8 championships up in Rochester, NY. There were only 7 girls entered for the pole vault. We got to the meet and the weather was ridiculous. Insane winds, and for part of the day a mix of hail, snow, and rain. Thankfully, they decided to have pole vault and high jump indoors for safety reasons, so it was perfect conditions for us! I went into the meet really nervous, because at the previous meet I had done terrible. I am used to warming up on smaller poles at practice with Branko, but my school has a very limited amount of poles so when we get to meets, I have to warmup on our smallest pole, which is now a 13’ 140. But for the last week I was finally able to trust the pole. I also have finally started going from 7 steps, and I feel much faster by the time I get to the box.

So we get to the meet, and find out that pole vault was delayed by 2 hours. That was nice, because I got to watch some other events and just sit and mentally prepare myself for pole vault. I had awesome warm up jumps, and came in at 9’2”. My coach got to see all of my jumps for the first time in a while, and he was impressed with the progress I have made. I got onto my big pole, which is a 13’ 145. I was only holding at 11’9”, and was still getting a lot of bend out of the pole. I ended up jumping 10’2.25”, which was a PR for me, and thus a new school record.

This past Thursday, we went to south jersey for the Stockton Quad meet, and only 2 people from each team could compete in each event. This led to a pole vault field of 4 girls. My warm-ups did not feel that great; I wasn’t moving my arms enough, and wasn’t landing very deep in the pit. I decided to open at 9’. I easily cleared 9’ and was the only person left. I think the fact that I had no competition now (I had already won the event) made my vaulting better. I had nothing to worry about now. I then went for 9’6”, then 10’, then went straight for the ECAC qualifying height of 3.25 meters, or 10’8”. AND I MADE IT ON MY FIRST ATTEMPT!! I did hit the bar on the way down, but it stayed up.

Then I threw the bar up to 11’ but at that point I was getting tired, and I only swung on one of my attempts. But it ended up being a pretty good attempt.

It is so nice to finally see all my work with Branko pay off. I have some awesome practices with him and it sucks when I don’t see that progress when I compete. But it is finally paying off and I am really excited to go even higher. I may even need to get on a bigger pole, like a 13’ 150, to get more spring from the pole.

My next meet is next Saturday at the TCNJ lion invitational. I hope to go even bigger this week. =)

I’ll keep you posted =)

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”.

Just a quick update:

I got back to school on Tuesday for intersession training, where only a limited number of the track team were invited back for early training.  I actually had no idea we had a meet yesterday until the day before, because it wasn’t on the schedule online. So, the meet yesterday was our first meet of 2011. The metro coaches’ invitational at the NY armory. Pole vault started at 1, so we planned to leave campus at 11. Due to the snow, we were a bit delayed, and didn’t get to the armory until 12:15 ish. I was worried that I wasn’t going to have enough time to warm-up, but I did.

My warm-up jumps were not that great. Stevens only has one pole I can really use, a 12’ 150, and I was used to using a 12’ 130 at practice for warm-ups. So because of my warm-up, and the fact that I had not taken any long runs in over a month, I decided to come in at opening height, which was 7’10”. I went into the meet thinking that it was just going to be another practice, and therefore did not think I was going to do that great. Well that was not true!! I definitely should have opened a foot higher! Every jump, however, I was just making it over the bar. I wasn’t finishing my jumps when I realized I had already made the height. I could have been getting a lot more vertical on my jumps, and I could have been turning earlier. But I was very surprised and happy when I cleared everything on my first attempts, and then when I jumped 3.00 meters; which is about 9’10”, also on my first attempt. I set the school record at this meet last year too, at 9’4.25” so I was excited to have jumped 6 inches higher after only 2 days of practice this week! I didn’t actually realize it until my coach pointed it out, but that’s actually an indoor PR for me! My grip was 11’3”, and I was running from a 5 step.

My first attempt at 10’4” was ok. I was more vertical than on any of my other attempts. The second attempt, I hooked my ankles around the bar, so that knocked it down. I moved my standards back for the last attempt. On the last attempt, I was pretty tired, and when I planted, I just couldn’t do anything with the jump, and just blew through it.

So I was very happy about yesterday considering it was the first meet back. Branko had told me the day before, he didn’t know if I should even jump, because my hamstring was a little sore, and he didn’t want to risk it. But I told him that I wanted to jump, even if I used it as more of a practice, and didn’t do a long run. I am glad that I jumped, and now I can’t wait for me meet next Friday. It’s the Gotham Cup, also at the NY armory. I have 2 vault days next week, and hope to set a new school record next week as well.

Also, Branko wants to work something out over the summer where he could come out to Patriot PV for a few days, and Patriot could go hang out at Apex for a few days. are. So Ingrid if you want to get in contact with him about this summer, and see what you can work out that would be great!  And he told me he reads my blog, so I have to be careful what I say about him…    :P

So i was so excited for my meet yesterday. So excited and nervous that I couldn’t sleep the night before. I get to the meet, find out men are going first, and this just makes me more nervous. Finally, it was time to start warming up. I did my warm-up and felt fine. Nothing was sore or tight. So then I started warming up on the runway. Having done a couple 3 and 5 step approaches, I was coming down on a 5 step approach and on my last step…POP. My hamstring. Oh no! I had such high hopes for the meet. My goal was 10’6″, which would have been a personal record, a school record, and an ECAC qualifying jump. So here I am, once again healing from an injury, unable to vault for a few weeks, probably until I get back to school for intersession training on January 5th. But enough about the bad news. Lets talk about the GREAT AND EXCITING pole vault practices I’ve been having!!!

So vaulting happens on tuesday and thursday in Oakland, NJ with Branko and Apex. Tuesdays are my small days where I focus on all the little things, starting from a one step, sometimes even a zero step. I do a bunch of ones focusing on getting my left hand up. When I have done it right enough, i move to a two step, no swing. Then after a bunch of those, I do a bunch of 3 steps, no swing, then 3 steps, swinging to a sit, then full jumps from a 3 step. These are great! I hold at around 10’6″ to start with, and have been wrapping myself over a 10′ bungee. Then sometimes I do 5 steps on tuesdays.

Thursdays are the days that I go big! I start off on a 3 step, doing full jumps. Then after only a few, I take some 5 steps. Pretty much the first week I started having big thursdays, Branko had me start doing 7 steps. Last thursday, I went through sooo many poles. I started on a 12′ 130, then immediately went to a 12′ 140, then a 12′ 150. After that, I went to a 13′ 135 holding at 11’3″ or 11’6″. Then a 13′ 140, then finally I ended up on a 13′ 145. I really liked that pole! The highest I held was 11’9″, and I was still getting a lot of bend, and was getting over a 10′ bungee with the standards all the way back. Last thursday, Branko was talking about me even getting on a 13′ 160 at the meet. I’ve never really jumped on a 13′ pole ever so that thought was just crazy to me! Pole vault practices are the highlight of my week. I have been stressed out with the amount of work I have, especially in the last week. You know you go to Stevens when you do spend the bus rides to practice and meets doing hw and studying! Yesterday after pole vault had finished, a few of us sat at the pole vault pits trying to figure out circuits hw!

Even though I am injured and can’t vault, I am still going to go to pole vault practices this week and just hang out with the vaulters and Branko, and help out the other vaulters on my team. Have some time that i don’t have to spend thinking about h.w. or studying. My stress relief for the week!

So all that stands between me and winter break is a lab report due tomorrow, some mech solids hw., an essay, a circuits quiz, and 5 finals. I won’t be headed towards home till December 23rd. Seems so far yet so close at the same time!!

So, with three vault practices completed so far, i thought i would give a quick update on how the training with Apex has been going, and the differences i have noticed in practice.

The first day, Branko noticed I was kind of disappointed with practice. it was the first practice so i was expecting to get back into it and just jump, but Branko is completely breaking us all down to build us back up. So, we do baby hurdle drills at the beginning of practice, and some walking and running pole plants. All using different techniques than what i’m used to. Then, we do several zero step runs which i actually like a lot. It is helping me push out my left hand, like i have never been good at before. Then, we do one step drills, holding the pole above our heads, and emphasizing our left arms. Then, we go to 2 step runs, with a plant. These are all without swinging. Then, we finally move on to 3 step runs. We start with not swinging, and after we get it right, we move on to the swing.

There are so many drills and techniques that i am basically relearning, or learning for the first time than what i am used to from Patriot, but i think it is good to have a different perspective on coaching the vault. It is definitely working so far!

So the ride to the place we practice takes anywhere from 45 min to 75 min depending on traffic, which is not fun when we dont leave campus until 7. By the time we get there, i am lazy from sitting on the bus. But today i had a great practice. Because I have been vaulting a lot longer than the other vaulters we have on the team, Branko has been accelerating me through the zero, one, and two steps, while the 5 other people from Stevens work more on the very short runs. Today, I got to 3 steps pretty quickly. I started off holding at 9’9″, and was doing everything well so Branko kept moving my grip up. He decided to put up bungees, at 7′, 10′ and 12′. So by the end of practice i was wrapping 10′ while holding at 10’6″ on a 12′ 130 from a 3 step! it was exciting, especially since i have only jumped 3 times since august. I was doing so well, but we had to leave to drive back to school. I could have jumped all night! that is the one thing i dont like so far, is that by the time we get to the facility and warm up, there is only about an hour and 15 min left to vault.

But overall, Branko is great. I can’t wait to start taking longer runs, and holding higher. He said he would love to see me go 11′ this year, but by the way i felt at todays practice, i see bigger goals! ECAC qualifying this year is 10’6″, but nationals is only 12′!!

I’ll keep you posted. My first meet is a month from today, CTC relays in connecticut. I cant wait!

Hi all! So with the official start of indoor track practice in 4 days, I thought I would write up a pre-season blog about college in the great town of Hoboken! So, Washington Street in boken was named one of the top ten streets in America. For all of you Cake Boss fans, I see the line to get into the shop all the time; it takes about 3 hours of waiting in line to get into the store. I don’t know how the line is always so long EVERY day!!! But, if any of you do go there, get the cannoli because they are so good! Also, a chunk of road collapsed into the Hudson River the other day. And a field that’s right on the pier has been closed for a year because of fear that it will soon fall into the Hudson. This was a field that we often ran on too.

School is going pretty well so far. Semesters 3 and 4 are supposedly two of the harder semesters, so the fact that I have made it halfway through this semester with pretty good grades so far is a relief. I am taking 20 credits, which is one more than I had last semester. I am taking just general engineering classes right now. I have electricity and magnetism, circuits and systems, mechanics of solids, differential equations, a humanity: philosophy (knowledge, reality, and nature. sounds fun, right?! Lol), engineering design III (we build and design a truss and a gantry hoist), circuits lab (a total blast! Haha), and finally, for my one required PE class as a varsity athlete, I chose basic swimming.

Fitting in all my pre-season workouts has been ok so far, because for pre-season all our workouts are done at school. So practices aren’t close to as long as they will be once season starts. Mondays, I have class from 9-1, then practice from 2-5ish, then class from 6-8. That’s going to be interesting. Tuesdays I have class from 10-6 almost straight through, then we leave for practice at 7 and get back probably around 10. AND, I got my winter season back from last year for medical reasons, which means I still have 4 full indoor and outdoor seasons left!!!!

So this is how my practice schedule is going to work. Mondays and Fridays I have practice at 2, which will be the harder workout days, focusing on either speed or endurance. So, I will be lifting on Mondays and Fridays also. Wednesdays are going to be tempo (recovery) days, which is good to have between two pole vault practices. Tuesdays and Thursdays is POLE VAULTING!!! We are going to a new facility in Oakland NJ called Ultimate Sports America. They have a straightaway of track with a pole vault pit on one side and long jump on the other. So starting NEXT THURSDAY I will be vaulting there and be coached by Branko of Apex Vaulting! I am excited to vault with Branko, because he was around at some of our practices last year, and seems like a really good coach. He has a large selection of poles for us to use. The smallest pole Stevens has is a 12’ 150, so I am looking forward to having some smaller poles to be able to warm up with. So I am really excited to get this year underway and can’t wait to start break my winter record from last year, and set a new school record in the spring!

I will post again once the season is underway to talk about my experience with Apex vaulting, and how the season is going in general. Hope everyone else is excited for the season to start too!

So this week is insane due to tests, presentations, projects, etc. so i thought i would give an update as i procrastinate from studying for my calc test that is tomorrow, while sitting in chem lecture. my last final is may 13th, and i am both excited and sad to see my freshman year come to an end. When people told me college goes by so fast, i did not believe them, but having experienced it, i can’t believe its 1/4 over already!

Although track wise my year has pretty much sucked, i am kind of glad i got my injuries out of the way now, and hopefully the next few years will be injury free! i do come out of this year with the indoor school record, but i jumped it with unknown stress fractures the plus side is that my coach is trying to get my indoor season back so that i still have four full indoor and outdoor seasons of competing left. this is kind of up in the air though because i jumped in 4 meets this winter, and also jumped at Empire 8′s, which is just about half way through our season. So hopefully with a letter from the athletic doctor saying he prohibited me from competing is enough to get me my season back. and if i do the 5 year masters program at Stevens, then i will be here for another 4 track seasons!

As of Monday i have been cleared to start running again. Although i feel healed, i am somewhat afraid to start training again. If i am not totally healed and start running too early, the stress fractures could return right away and i will be out for another 3 months. I have been going to physical therapy to keep up my leg strength while not being able to run and jump, but that is now over and now it is time to start lightly running, biking, and slowly working myself up to be able to sprint down the runway again. Hopefully this fear of re injury will go away as i start training and i will be able to jump all summer in preparation of next indoor season.

As for my summer, I am applying to be a counselor for the summer program ECOES at Stevens, that i did as a junior in high school, and if i get that position, it is approximately 5 weeks that i will be at school counseling high school students. I hear from them either later this week or early next week, and i really hope i get the job. The rest of my summer will be spent at Patriot Pole Vault! I can’t wait to see you guys again and can’t wait to practice with the club again. it has been too long!

Well, things haven’t been going as i wanted for my first indoor season. Since the meet that i broke the school record in, my shins are back to hurting, and worse than ever. I have jumped in 3 meets since then, each time barely making my opening height. My heights keep getting lower and lower. After 9′ 4″ i went 8’6″. Then the next meet i went 8′ 4″, and at empire 8′s, despite coming in 4th and getting 4 points for my team, i only jumped 8′. I have seen the sports doctor that visits campus, and he has sent me for x-rays, that came back negative, and now i am going for an MRI this week. I am on anti-inflammatory medicine as well as pain killers. The doctor says he will not medically clear me until we figure out what is going on and i am pain free. And, it is definately more than just shin splints. Considering the doctor has no idea what could be wrong, and the fact that he will not medically clear me to run, the chances of me competing again this indoor season is very slim I am upset because i wanted this to be a great first season, and i wanted to keep re-breaking the school record. I may just have to wait until spring to set new records :/

However, the girls team came in 3rd at Empire 8′s last Sunday. It was a fun meet. We took a bus up to Rochester, a nice 7 hour drive each way, and the meet was at RIT. I got to see my cousin Rachael, and my aunt and uncle. The girls broke many school records at this meet…5 i think…and we had the best showing ever in school history. And, I was the first women in Stevens history to pole vault at Empire 8′s. haha.

Well, I am hoping the MRI shows what is wrong with me and hopefully I can get back to vaulting pain free asap. Until then, good luck to everyone else, and maybe I will see you at some meets…

BTW…I am most likely going to watch our team at a meet in Springfield on Saturday. If anyone is going, let me know. It would be exciting to see some Patriot vaulters. It has been tooooo long!

and…i just remembered…at the meet there was this woman who was sitting on the bench at the pole vault pits and my cousin Rachael looked over, and said to me “Rebecca, is that Jenn Stuczynski over there?” I looked over and was like, “no that doesn’t look like her”. Although the man sitting next to her looked very much like her husband Rick Suhr. And after thinking about it, she did slightly look like Jenn Stuczynisk…So i may have been 5 feet away from her on Sunday. haha!

This is my second week of being at school with basically only the track team. Well, part of the track team. I actually have been enjoying it because we get to spend a lot of time with the team. The only bad part is that there is a lot of free time during the day, and I don’t know how to spend most of it. Because the cafeteria is not open during the intersession break, the coaches have to provide us with 2 meals a day. This normally consists of cereal for breakfast/brunch, and Qdoba for dinner. This week, we were split into groups and have to cook for the team. Tonight is my night. I am with 2 distance guys, and we are making tacos. Then it is off to the armory to vault tonight.

So, I had my first collegiate meet last Friday! It was the Metro Coaches Invitational at the NY Armory, which is a really nice track, and has a really nice vaulting area. I was extremely nervous up until I got into the armory and started warming up. We practice at the armory, so it wasn’t the first time I jumped there, which I think helped me to be less nervous. My vault coach was not there because of work so Drew, the other vaulter on my team, helped me out with steps and I did the same when he vaulted later. The day before, my coach told me all he wanted me to do was to have fun. He told me it was one of the best places to compete, and I should just enjoy it and use the meet as more of a practice. However, that was not what I wanted to do. I wanted to crush the school record! And that I did! The opening height was 8’4.25”, and I came in there. I held 4 handgrips down on a 12’ 150 pole and ran from a 5 step. This was the first time I had done a full run since I pulled my hamstring so I did not want to go to a 6 step. I actually felt really good, and was bending the pole. I wasn’t inverting, though, and was basically just shooting out horizontally.

I ended up jumping 9’ 4.25” for a new school record!!!! I almost made 9’ 10” on my last attempt. This is from the article about the meet on our school’s athletic page:

“Competing in her first collegiate meet, freshman Rebecca Tylock obliterated the old Stevens pole vault record by a remarkable four feet, clearing  9’ 4.25” at the event.”

We got back around 9 Friday night, and were exhausted. We had a meet the next morning at West Point, because coach wanted us to get used to having back to back meets. This was not good for me though. Physically I felt fine, but I think I was mentally drained from the day before. My vault coach was there for this meet, but it didn’t help much because I was just having a bad day. I came in at 8’ 6” and just managed to muscle my way over, avoiding a NH. I was frustrated, but Bronco the Apex Vaulting coach, who was at the meet on Friday also, told me that I was only human and competing 2 days in a row, was not something a lot of people could handle. And that was exactly how I felt.

My next meet is this Friday at the NY Armory once again. This time it is the Gotham cup. I think opening height is 9’ 4.25” so hopefully the 2 days of practice this week will hopefully get me over opening height on Friday. I hope to re break the school record, and hopefully PR on Friday. I will keep you updated.

Just a quick update as the end of the semester draws near. I have three finals next week then i am done! I will be back in MA on the 19th.

As for track, things are not going as I would like. Or more like, they are not going at all. Right before thanksgiving break i pulled my hamstring doing flying 20s at practice. I rested up for about 2 weeks, hoping I would be able to jump on our meet last sunday, the 6th. I tried warming up the thursday before the meet and aggravated my hamstring and it hurts again, after it finally had felt better. So i did not jump on sunday. And, my vault coach last night said I should give it a couple more weeks before I sprint again. So right now i am just doing the bike, pool workouts, and stuff like that. It became even more frustrating when the head coach decided to emphasis on the bus ride home that this was the first meet in a long time that no women school records had been broken. If I had jumped, I would have broke the record.

On the other hand, our vault coach seems to be helping our guy vaulters a lot. Even though they did not do as well as they wanted to on sunday, the guys’ form was much better than the first day they vaulted here. Matt, our vault coach, is breaking us down and getting back to the basics before he rebuilds us. And it certainly seems like it has helped the guys so far.

We practice at the NY armory, and there is club that actually holds it’s practices there as well. They are Apex Vaulting, the coach is Bronco. He is apparently one of the best coaches in NJ. At practice there are a couple of guys over 14′, and a couple girls at 12′. And, like Patriot PV, they have a lot of poles, so once I start practicing again, I will be able to borrow poles from him during practices. I will be starting up heavy practices after winter break.

My winter break is really short. I have to be back at school for practice on Jan. 6th, and there are a couple meets during that first weekend. Nor really sure which one i will be going too. But that will be the first meet i compete in .  The two meets are the metro coaches invitational and the army invitational. One is on a fri, and the other on sat.  I can’t wait to compete again!

So now back to studying for finals and such. I will see you all at Patriot PV practices at hit quarters hopefully a couple times during winter break!