Weeeeellll.....

So. That wasn't what I was hoping for. My first NH in a while. I was really excited during warm ups at the meet today, because for the first time in 2 weeks my legs felt awesome! New shoes made all of the difference. My run and plant felt spectacular!! They are really coming together. And everyone noticed too, which did make the NH a little less painful.

The bungee was at 13'6 during warm ups and I had 2 great attempts at it with a decent amount of height over the bar. Given how everything felt I was certain that I was going to get a PR. But as it turned out, the top end of my vault hasn't progressed as much as my run and plant. I had just enough hesitation before I started pulling that I was just running into the bar every time. It was very frustrating, and I was pretty upset. But I know things are moving in the right direction. I haven't really practiced at all the last 2 weeks because of how rough my legs felt. So I need a lot more work on the runway in practice. It will come. I have no doubts. :)

Keep Moving Forward

So... It's been a crazy few weeks!! Vaulting is definitely progressing. My last competition was 2 weeks ago. Though I didn't have a new PR, I jumped on my 13'7 poles for the first time (which, if you know me at all you know that's a big deal!). And the following Monday I had possibly my best practice ever. For the first time I was conceptually able to move my focus past the plant onto the second half of the vault. It felt amazing! Since then I have been dealing with some really bad shin splints so we have taken practices pretty easy. The good news is that I think the only problem was that my shoes were really worn out. And I just bought them 2 months ago! I guess that's a sign of how much we've been running...

The best news of the last 2 weeks is that I have a job (finally)!! And I couldn't be more excited. I am working for Eddie at the Health Shoppe in West Knoxville. I'm doing my best to catch on quickly, but there are literally thousands of awesome products for sale in there. So I am trying to study up when I'm not in there so that I can actually help people that come in rather than just manning the register. But everyone that I work with is awesome. I'm really excited to be there. If you're in the area you should stop by and say hi.

I have three more meets left in the 2011 season. My goal is ultimately to get a new PR. I have been making drastic improvements on so many different aspects of my vault that I'm starting to get a little impatient to see some results on the runway. I know it's coming. I have also started to work with a great sport psychologist in town. I have a new mental strategy for approaching my vaulting. Today will be my first day trying to put it into action. I am super excited about it. Maybe later on I'll let you know what it is, but for now it's my secret. :)

We are competing again at the Friday Night Heights series on the UT track tonight. Hopefully the weather will hold off... It's sunny now, but the meet starts at 6pm and according to the weather channel there is a 100% chance of thunderstorms at 6.... Wish me luck!!

Help Support Geoff!!

So those of you that know me well have heard, but for everyone else let me fill you in... My boyfriend Geoff Fryer has qualified for the BMX world championships!! Unfortunately they are in Copenhagen, Denmark which isn't exactly a cheap trip. But races like this are what we train for, so we're doing all we can to raise money so that he can make it to the race. Here are the T-shirts that we are selling:

If you would like to get one and help support Geoff on his journey, simply visit his blog (http://flyerfryer.blogspot.com/) and donate $20 or more. Be sure to include the size you want and where to send it if you aren't local for either of us. If that is too confusing you could also give your donation here on my page too, I'll make sure he gets the money. Promise. :)

Just a note on why supporting a rider like Geoff is worth it: while he's had an incredibly successful downhill career, he is very new to the BMX scene. He has been racing barely a year and he's already qualified for the world championships. I think that says a lot. We both know that we couldn't make it through our careers without support from amazing people like you. And even if you can't afford $20 right now, every little bit helps. We will be eternally grateful. :)

Friday Night Heights-Thursday Installment

So last week's meet went well. My goal for that meet was really just to have fun, relax, and takeoff. I had no run thrus, which is the first time I had a day like that in a long long time. My grip was very very low and I was on a very small pole, so the height wasn't anything spectacular. But my run felt great and I had fun.

This week Friday Night Heights was moved to Thursday night instead. (HUGE thanks to Chris Kane who covered my coaching for the night so I could compete) We had some vaulters come down from Virginia Tech, plus a couple other local collegiate girls. So we actually had a good sized group and everyone had company to jump with. I inched my grip up a little, and jumped on the biggest poles I've ever jumped on. The only problem is that I was blowing through my poles.... And my grip is still almost a foot below where it should be! Haha. Looks like I may be running out of poles soon. Overall I was happy with it. It was progress. And the men had a GREAT competition. Ended with a 3 vaulter jump off and 2 guys going 17'4. Good night! Looking forward to more Friday Night Heights, and possibly some street vaults in the future?? :)

Wish Me Luck!!

In a couple of hours I'm heading down to Tom Black Track here at UT for my first meet in what feels like forever!!! Tim Mack has gotten some officials together so that we can have some USATF certified pole vault meets here in town. There are 4 post collegiate vaulters here (training with 4 different coaches... craziness) so getting the chance to jump locally is huge for all of us. The US Championships are less than 3 weeks away. I think only one of us has a realistic shot at qualifying, but it's on all of our minds.

I feel like my practices have gone well lately. I am running from a full run finally, but still gripping low on a really small pole. My biggest challenge has been to push myself past my comfort zone. We have moved my run back significantly, and I'm really trying to push that free take off. Trying and jump up onto the pole rather than simply running off the runway and just letting it take me up. They are really small changes that will have a big impact on my vault. And it's taking me a while to come around. I am still having a lot of run thrus. I know I could go ahead and move my run in, move my grip up again back to where I was last season. And I would have a realistic shot at qualifying in the next 2 meets. But I would rather not give in, keep everything where it is and just push through it a few more weeks until I make that breakthrough. It may mean waiting another year to get my shot at competing at Nationals, but I know it will pay off immensely in the long run.

It will just take one good day on the runway to get over this hurdle, so I am not totally discounting my chances yet. Today my goal is to build on my last few practices. I want to push myself to relax and open up my run. And take off right from the start. I am not worried about heights right now, I just need to embrace that my run feels different and just go with it. If I can minimize the run thrus today I will be happy regardless of the height!!

Great Friends, Good Company!

It's been a few days. Quick update... Saturday I had a great running session. I was feeling pretty tired since it was the end of the week, but I had a great day. We did 40m pole runs with the pole and I dropped about 0.40 sec off of my time. I was pretty happy with that. As soon as I was done got a quick haircut (had 8 inches chopped off! Much much improved!) and headed to Nashville to watch our good friends Greg and Mandy get married. Mandy is now officially Mandy Bandy, which I think is the coolest name ever! :) It was a gorgeous ceremony, with hundreds of cicadas providing the background music.

Sunday was a nice relaxed day off spent on Geoff's family farm. It's always nice to catch up with family. Monday I got to vault from a full run for the first time since indoors. If you account for the change in my grip, my run has moved back 3-4 ft in just 2 short months. So it is taking me a little bit to get used to how different it feels. I am much faster on the runway, and I am also trying to move my step back. So I am having a lot of run throughs right now while I make the switch, but I am still taking off on a lot of them. And I am starting to get used to it. I think I should have it down and dialed in very soon!

My body is rebelling a little bit over the last few days, so Tuesday was an easy day of sand pit drills and light pole runs. But everything is improving and getting smoother. Today I vaulted again, but I actually had some company out on the runway! You have no idea how awesome it is to be around others working towards the same goal. The past 2.5 years have seen lots of lonely workouts. And if I have had company it has been high schoolers that usually just make me feel incredibly old. So it was a welcome change, and I think it worked well. 3 vaulters and 2 coaches, gettin' it done! Hopefully we can have another practice like that soon! I loved it.

Inspiration

I know I am giving my life up for sport, and I should be watching Nike commercials and football movies to get my inspiration to keep going. And I do. Sometimes. But I always try to remember that in the end, it's just sport. Life is more important. And people like this inspire me more than anything in athletics ever could.

http://youtu.be/8SbXgQqbOoU