US Nationals and a week off

Yes I know its been over a week since Indoor Nationals and almost a month since my last post, Yes I know.  This is how this all works, If I am happy about a meet, I going to be happy and excited about writing a blog and telling you all about it.  Well as you have guessed if you didnt already know I wasnt too excited about how the meet went and wasnt super excited to get on here and relive it.

I finished 3rd at USA Indoor Nationals, your all probably thinking,"Mark thats good, hundreds of people would change places with you in a second."  Well it isnt good enough, maybe thats what keeps me hungry even tho Ive been vaulting for 12 years, I just always want more.

I finished 3rd with a 3rd attempt clearance of 5.60m/18'4".  The bar went up to 5.72m/18'9" I was actually over the bar on my second attempt when I got a little lost in the air, opened my mouth to yell because I thought I knocked the bar off and when I yelled I hit the bar off with my teeth, Bummer!

Looking back now Im grateful for a little time off, Ive been vaulting for about a year and a half without a break so a couple of weeks will go a long way.  With this little bit of time off  Ive been going back and looking at my indoor season, not my best ever, but I think that Im right where I need to be.  Of course I want to jump high ever time I step on the runway.  I know this is a process, Ive made a lot of changes since September and I think Im a little over halfway to being where I need to be.  Ive got about 4 months until the Olympic Trials and I know that I will be ready when that time comes.  

The first thing Im working on is changing my grip over to glue, chalk and I have had a long fairly healthy relationship but here recently is just isnt working out.  This indoor season I just wasnt confident in my grip, i would be half way down the runway trying to adjust my grip on the pole.  Instead of focusing on the takeoff and what I wanted to do on the jump I was thinking about my grip and wondering if i would be able to hold on to the pole.   I decided with my time off that I would try a few different set ups with my grip and really try to make it work.  I asked Brad Walker and Jeff Hartwig what they used for their grip, Brad uses a glue that someone made him and cant be bought anywhere, so thats out, Jeff gave me a little bit more accessible technique.  I tried it out on monday and at the end of practice,  was able to use it confidently, not before the glue pulled my top layer of skin away and gave me a big blister.  So now Im waiting for the blister to heal so I can get back on the runway and get back at it.

This week Ive been testing myself to see where Im at and compare that to where I was back in October.  We do this so we know if the training were doing is working or not.  Monday I ran through a 5m speed trap with a 35m run in and ran 10m/second, I had never done this in practice before so that was a new PB.  Yesterday I did standing long jump into a sand pit and from toes to heels I jumped 10'1".  Weve also changed the lifting around a little bit, which has got me good and sore, along with starting up gymnastics again.

Next weekend Im going out to Chula Vista, California to do some training at the Olympic Training Center.  Im really looking forward to some great weather and outdoor training.  Ill try to do better on updating this beast a little more regularly.

Always Pursuing -Mark-

A week in perth

Im sitting on the beach watching my last sunset in Perth and there is this cool haze in the air that makes the sun reflect off the water in this really amazing way.  I can count 25 wind surfers and its cool enough to be able to relax on the sand without getting burnt.  

What a week it's been, forget the jumping, that wasn't so good but this week is the exact thing that I needed.  Im just can't stand being indoors all the time, I like jumping indoors, competing that is, but it gets real boring real quick, training inside all the time.  For the past 4 or 5 years I've really thought about getting out of the Midwest, at least while im competing and still jumping.  Getting to where you can train outside and not freeze to death in the winter months.  I could definitely live in Australia if it wasn't so far from everyone I know and love.  Anyway let me tell you about my week and why it's been so awesome that I would consider living here.

First of all the temperature had been in the 90's all week which has allowed me to get a real nice tan.  Second training has been great, the track and facilities here are great and the wind has been a nice tail everyday I've been here.  Except for the day of the meet, that was a little swirling but oh well, I guess it can't be completely perfect.  The hotel I've stayed at is right on the beach and I've swam in the Indian ocean almost every day.  Sunday I went with Russ Winger, and Tara Patterson to this little island right off the coast called Rottnest island.  We swam, snorkeled and drank Coronas all day in probably the most beautiful place I've ever been.  I was finally able to try out my waterproof camera and got some really cool video underwater.  I've been able to train every day at the track and today I jumped, I was really hoping to be able to train with Steve Hooker, one of the best vaulters in the world, and his coach Alex Parnov but communication has been tough and so I haven't really been able to.  I jumped today really working on posture and driving off the ground into the pole, posture pressure knee, is what my mantra was today.  Posture into the takeoff, pressure the pole and see the knee as I swing up.  It seemed to work well, Saturday I had some trouble since it was my first outdoor meet in dealing with the conditions and was kind of leaning back a bit at takeoff.  I jumped 535m/ 17'6" and had a really good jump at 555m/ 18'2" but couldn't keep it up.  

Today in traveling to Sydney, it's a bit sad to leave this beautiful place and the great weather, I guess the weather hasn't been quite as nice in Sydney.  I will be staying in the Olympic village in Sydney and I compete Saturday.  Im looking forward to trying out my new cues and really hitting the box hard and blowing some bars up.  

As beautiful as this place is and as much as im dreading coming back to winter in Indiana there's a huge part of me missing that I have to get back to.  Happy Valentine's day Amanda, love you and miss you.  

Always Pursuing,
Mark

No dramas man! Update from Perth

No dramas is my new favorite saying, picked it up at the Sydney airport when the virgin Australia crew was trying to get my poles from international to domestic. After trying to fit them on the bus, which of course didn't work, I came back inside and the guy said "no dramas mate", yes! If only every time I flew with poles it was no dramas mate, life would be so much easier. Needless to say I made it to Perth, 48 hours after leaving my home in south bend, indiana driving to Indianapolis, flying to Atlanta, flying to Los Angeles and then to Sydney, then I had to wait 9 hours for my next flight which I spent seeing the Sydney opera house and walking through the botanical gardens, which was really cool. Finally made it to Perth at about 9 pmthis time which is 8 am east coast time. Spent the day relaxing yesterday on the beach before heading to the track and doing a little shakeout and lift. I got to see steve hooker at the track and found out that he will not be competing for a while which of course is a bummer but all in all I just hope he's good to go when the time is right, and a little meet in february really means nothing in the scheme of things. I'm heading to the track soon to hopefully vault a bit and then I really don't know what tonight and tomorrow hold, I do know that im pumped to jump on Saturday, that track is fast and a sweet tailwind is expected. I jumpe around 6 pm here which is 5 am eastern time Saturday. Always pursuing, Mark

Week of workouts and Meyo Invite

Hey everyone, I wanted to jump on here and first tell you that Im going to be jumping at Notre Dame at 6 on Friday.  If your a local fan it would be awesome to have you come out and cheer me on, Ive jumped well at ND in the past, last year I jumped 18'5" and this year I have my sights set on 19'.

Training has been going well this week, I have heard from a few of you that you wanted to know what my workouts were so here they are.

Monday
3 Part Dynamic Warmup
5x50m fast 5min rest between reps
Clean and Jerk 4x3 205lbs
Speed box squat 4x3 405lbs Box Jumps in between sets
Incline Press 4x4 60lb dumbbells
Lat Pull Down 4x8

Tuesday
Gymnastics
3 Part Dynamic Warmup
Pole Vault

Wednesday
3 Part Dynamic Warmup
Bike Workout
2x8x15s hard 45s easy 5 min between set
High Pulls 4x3 205lbs
RDL 4x3 185lbs
Lunge Step ups 4x3each leg 115lbs box jumps between sets
Dumbbell Row 4x6 55lb

Thursday
Good warmup
Strides
Ice bath

Always Pursuing -Mark-

Reno Pole Vault Summit

Reno Pole Vault Summit, this event is one of the few reasons that I dreamed of becoming a professional pole vaulter. When I first attended the Summit it was in 2007, I was totally in awe of these guys that were jumping over 18ft, I remember thinking there wasnt anything I wanted more than to be one of the elites jumping in front of everyone. 2 years later I was in the elite division and what an honor, every year has just gotten better and better.  This year was no different, I was there for 2 days before I jumped and through the meetings my thoughts kept going back to the elite competition.  I had good reason to be pumped up for the chance to jump, the week before I had picked up 4 brand new Carbon Skypoles the morning before I jumped.  The poles were 5.10m/16'9" ranging from 205-215lb ratings.  That day was the first meet I had ever jumped on only 5.10s I had put a great jump together on my final attempt at 18ft but the pole was too small.  At Reno I knew I had 2 more poles in the bag so I was confident that I would have enough poles to jump on, little did i know I would need probably 2 more.

The time leading up to the comp was filled with meeting people and seeing friends and fans from all over the country.  I love being able to interact with the athletes and coaches and give my insight on training and vaulting.  One of my favorite times of the summit is getting to sit down with about 15 high schoolers and tell them a little about myself and answer any questions they might have.  Its a more personal way for the kids to get to know me and pick my brain, this year was awesome as usual.

Warmups for the elite comp went really well for me, I wanted to take as few jumps as possible because my hamstring had been bothering me.  I took 3 jumps from long run and on my last one I cleared a bungee that was at 5.72m/18'9"!  I decided that it was time to step it up and to enter the competition at 5.52m/18'1" which is higher than I ever have started a competition before.  The comp started at 17ft and I think there were 7 people still jumping when the bar came to 18'1" and I was next to last on the order.  Now the energy at the Summit is unlike anywhere else in the world, Ive always had a little trouble keeping my head and being able to relax especially on my first jump of the comp.  I knew this and so I did everthing I could not to keep from getting anxious and overly excited.  My first jump of the comp is the video below and as you can see I didnt clear the bar by a foot but I made it pretty easily.  I wish I could of seen the video because if i had I probably would have gone up a pole right away.  I stayed on the same pole at the next height 5.62m/18'5" really blew through the pole on my second attempt and went up to the biggest one in my bag and blew through that one as well!  That pole was a 5.10m 12.7 flex and I was holding about 16'6" which is higher than I have ever held before!  I can tell you that even though I didnt jump as high as I wanted the things I was able to do and poles I jumped on mean big things for the season to come.  I ended up finishing 2nd in the comp behind the American record holder Brad Walker who jumped 19ft the easiest I have ever seen it done.  Seeing that jump really pushes me to be better, knowing that he is already jumping that well means I have to be at my best to compete with him which is a great motivation.

To wrap it up I had a great time at the summit, to all those athletes, coaches, and parents I met it was an honor, keep up the great work!  Next on the schedule Im planning on heading to Indiana University this weekend to jump with my buddies Jeff Coover and Dustin Deleo.  Im looking forward to jumping on those big poles again and hopefully some bigger ones.  Ill update how that meet goes and hopefully have a new PR to report.



 

 Always Pursuing
-Mark-

Reno Pole Vault Summit Video

Always Pursuing -Mark-

Practice video and quick update

Thought Id upload a few videos of practice yesterday, my good friend Adam Pierson came down from Chicago for a few days and gave me a couple of things to work on.  Adam is originally from Bourbonnais, Illinois which is the same town as ONU where I went to college.  He vaulted at University of Illinois and moved to Texas training as a post collegiate, Adam helped me out a ton in my first years out of college.  He noticed that right after takeoff I needed to push upwards more, so we tried it out yesterday at practice and it really seemed to make a difference in opening up the bend of the pole allowing me to be in a better position as the pole unbends.

Im opening my season this weekend at Grand Valley State University up in Allendale, Michigan on Friday.  Im really excited to bring it full speed and see how the changes Ive been working on make a difference on some big poles.  




Always Pursuing -Mark-

GVSU Holiday open uggh and a little update from practice

Competed at Grand Valley State University in Allendale Michigan on Friday.  I can say I wasnt too pleased with how it turned out, but I instantly learned what I needed to fix and was able to do so today in practice so all in all it was successful.  I decided to jump from 7 lefts at the meet and can say that most of the things I had been working on all went down the drain.  I was not getting my foot down at the takeoff and therefore was hugging with my left which led to not catching the pole and only jumping 5.15m/16'11".

So after watching videos for a couple of days I went in to practice today working on those two things.  I am still wanting to drift into the takeoff rather than being quick and putting my foot down.  I was able to do that towards the end of practice and it made a lot of difference.  Next was the hugging, after looking at the videos of the meet I saw that since my grip was as wide as it was I was never really able to get any chest penetration in the jump and this led to me hugging the left arm in to swing upside down.  That has never really been taught to me it seems that it just started to happen in the last couple of years and has been something Ive really been trying to change.  Today I thought I would try to narrow my grip, which ended up being just the change I needed, rather than the left being almost in front of my face at takeoff now its up and over my head, allowing the chest to come through and create space in the pole.  I was very happy with a few of the jumps where I was able to do both, foot down at takeoff and chest drive through.  This led to poles being too small, and finishing  my jumps.

While the meet was not so good, I did just want I wanted to and found the things that needed to be fixed and luckily how to work on them and fix them.  Now the challenge is doing it on longer poles from a longer run.  I hope to do this on wednesday which will be my last practice before heading to Amanda's parents house in western New York for the holiday.  



Always Pursuing -Mark-

Stay Warm Sale! Hoodies Only $27

In my part of the world, Northern Indiana, its started to get cold, I know a lot of you are lucky enough to live where its not cold and will never be cold, I envy you.  But for the rest of us, why not don a warm hoody that  shows your support for an Olympic hopeful.  I have a limited number of hoodies and because Im in a Christmas, giving mood Ive reduced the price to 27 dollars!!!






Always Pursuing -Mark-

Demo at GM

About a month and a half ago I talked with my gymnastics coach Andy Poe at Gymnastics Michiana about doing a demo into the foam pit at the gym.  I kind of forgot about it and last week Andy reminded me that the meet was coming up this weekend and wondered if I was still down for doing a demo.  I of course was as Gymnastics Michiana has helped me out a ton and thought it would be a good chance to get my name out in the community a bit more.  We ended up making a box out of about 4 2x4's, the "box" was flush with the ground so I ended up putting a mat down to jump off of that gave me about 3 inches off the ground which helped things a bit.  I grabbed a 14' 160lb pole from Notre Dame to use from 2 lefts which ended up being almost too small as you can see in the video as I nearly clear the pit!  Hope you enjoy, I sure did.

Always Pursuing -Mark-