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-

It's been too long since my last post so figured I better jump on here and give a little update on how things have going. First of all I will tell you that the fundraiser was a great success! We ended up raising over 1200 dollars at the silent auction and t-shirt sales. I had a great time with the kids that came out, they went through a series of activities to teach a healthy lifestyle. They did a bit of yoga/stretching, jump rope, and basketball drills. I awarded the kids with gold medals and everyone seemed to have a great time. I have to give a big thank you to the Montessori school of Elkhart and my wife Amanda for organizing the entire thing.

Since then I've been focused on training hard and preparing myself for the season to come.  Workouts have been going well, Im feeling fit and strong.  Vaulting has been going well also, my main focus right now is the last 6 steps of my approach, keeping those legs rolling over quickly keeps me in the best possible position at takeoff.

Sometime soon Im going to try to put a video together, a day in the life kind of thing, so that you guys can follow me through my workouts, vault and lifting sessions, and gymnastics.  Im going to try to work on that in the next couple of weeks so make sure to check back for that.  Today I will leave you with a rundown of my day yesterday.

10 a.m.  Head to Notre Dame, full warmup, 600m jog, skip, karaoke, backwards skip, hamstring flicks, side skip.  Stretch, hamstring, IT bands, groin, quads, calves, glutes.  2x50m stride at 60%. 2x straight leg bound, high knees, butt kick, karaoke, backwards sprint.  2x50m stride at 75%  prone and supine star rolls, inverted scissors, plow exchange, hurdle seat exchange, leg swings.  A skips 2x30m B skips 2x30m, powe skips for distance.  2x60m stride 80%  A run, B run, 50m sprint 95%

6x 40m pole runs with small hurdles last 6 steps starting 13'8" 2.05m in between each hurdle.  3x Overhead Back throws between each run.

1:00pm  Gymnastics, 2x10 parrallel bar swing dips, swing up dip, swing back dip.

10x hang from high bar, hold knees at 90degrees for 2 sec, roll hips upward, extend legs into a pike straight/ bubka.
2:00 pm Lifting at Notre Dame, 4x3 hang clean 250lbs, 4x3 box squat 385lbs, 4x6 incline DB press, 65lbs, 4x8 Lat pulldown 165lbs.

Got back home around 4pm, I love days like this, i always feel like ive accomplished a lot.  Oh and once I got home I roll out with a foam roller, go through my rehab exercises and ice.  Much easier day today, little bit of General Strength, and vault tomorrow.


Always Pursuing -Mark-

CordaRoys beanbag video

I am proud to announce my debut as an actor/spokesman in this web commercial.  My wife contacted Byron the owner of Cordaroys asking if he would want to work together.  After learning about me he said that when people ask him what is inside the beanbags he tells them its the same thing as a pole vaulter lands on.  So we worked with the local dealer Sean, who has a display in University Park Mall in Mishawaka, brought the beanbag to Notre Dame and shot this awesome video haha.  It took me about 12 takes to shoot the talking part and probably 15 jumps to actually make the bar and land on the beanbag.  It took us a while but it was worth it and so much fun. I hope I get to do something like this again. Enjoy!





Always Pursuing -Mark-

11/11/11 Family Fun Night and Fundraiser

Hey guys I wanted to jump on here quick and make sure everyone knew about the fundraiser thats going on tonight at the High Dive Park Pavillion in Elkhart, In.  Its going on from 6-730pm tonight, Im really excited because this is not only a fundraiser, its a chance for kids and familys to come and learn a little more about living a healthy, happy life.  I love to meet people and tell them that Im training for the Olympics because I show them that anything is possible, seriously, I was never an amazing athlete.  When  I got my drivers license at 16 I was 5'4" 104lbs too small to play football and was picked on a bit for my size.  Well luckily the Lord had a plan for my life that included me growing a bit and when I got to college I learned that if I worked hard enough anything was possible.

When I talk to kids I try to explain to them that Im no superstar, I wasnt a high school phenom, the guys and girls that are amaze me because that wasnt me.  If you are or were one of those phenoms, use that gift to all your ability.  I know we tell kids they can be anything they want to be but its another thing to show them an example and hopefully thats what I am to them.

So although tonight is a fundraiser to help raise money to support me in my Olympic pursuit, its a great opportunity for me to give these kids something to shoot for to know that anything is possible, be it the Olympics, going to college, being a doctor or the president.

I have to thank Mike McGrath of PoleSkins.com for donating 4 posters, Jerry Hofferth from Hofferth Chiropractic for donating 2 massages, Andy Poe of Gymnastics Michiana for donating a certificate for a free class, Fuzion Athletics Bethel College for donating 2 camps,and Ashley Whitaker  www.agogocc.com for designing the awesome shirts.

And finally to all of you, for the donations to the website, shirts that have been ordered, and every once of support that i get from all of you I cant thank you guys enough.


Always Pursuing -Mark-

New T-Shirt Designs!

Hey everybody! I am very excited to tell you that I have new t-shirts! I have been working with Ashley Whittaker of Go Go Creative Consulting. Ashley designed the first shirts and I loved what she did the first time around, well she blew me out of the water with these new designs! Also when I say Ive been working with her I just asked her to design me new shirts, all the credit is hers. Seriously if you guys need any design work done please check her website out and contact her.  Right now I have about 15 of each shirt, as requests go in I will probably pick the 2 with the most interest.  If you are interested go ahead and order as many as you want, these are costing me a bit more so Im upping the price to $18 which still includes shipping.  Thanks guys, these shirts have been a huge help to me and offsetting my training and travel expenses, things would be a lot harder without help from all of you.
Always Pursuing
Mark