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Sat Dec 30, 2006 7:17 pm

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Junior Masters Athlete
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2006 6:57 pm
Posts: 3
Location: Vienna, W.V.

:P I'll be 50 in October. I was reading on line about some guys that were still vaulting, some I vaulted against in College. Anyway, it kind of inspired me to maybe come out and have some fun again with it. I've got a long ways to go. I started out 3 yrs ago powerlifting and got my weight down from 242 to 198. I'm now about 205. My bench is at 341 lbs., I squated 507 lbs. and can deadlift 541. I don't think strenght will be a problem but my wheels are gone. In college I ran a 4.3 40 with a pole. Last night I went out for some running and a speed work out and was running about 6 flat....just before I pulled. On my 5th 40 I tried to lift a little and the hammy went. Stupid me, to much to soon. Anyway, what should I expect. How fast am I going to have to be to have some with this. Is mid 5's too slow? My PR in College was 17'3". I'm hoping to get my weight down to 190 or less. At that weight I'll be about 14% body fat. It was kind of neat seeing that guys like Gary Hunter and Bob Crites were still around. We use to have some pretty good times at IU. I remember one time I was trying to qualify at a for nationals at a last chance meet at IU. On my last attempt at 16'6" I had my plant out to the side a bit and was thrown over onto the long jump runway. Should have bailed. Went through the right standard and landed square on my back and sholders. Anyway, I'd like to give it a ride again and just have some fun. It's better then the roller coasters and I really love this event. Any advise with some of you that have been there would be appreciated.

Thanks,

_________________
Mark Richards
Morehead St. University 1979
PR 17'3"



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Tue Jan 09, 2007 3:46 pm

 
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Journeyman Masters Athlete
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Joined: Thu Sep 07, 2006 4:17 pm
Posts: 39

hello polehopper,

There is a fairly robust group of masters vaulters out there. Sometimes it is just hard to find them. Not to direct you away from MastersTrack.com, but most of us that do communicate online, do it at PoleVaultPower.com which is dedicated solely to pole vaulting. (Sorry Ken :( )

Gary Hunter is certainly a masters phenom. I watched him for the first time at outdoor nationals in Charlotte in 2006. But you might be surprised at the quality of other vaulters out there also, including some older than 50. You asked how fast must you be in order jump well. I don't have an answer to that but I know Bud Held is not able to run fast (because of a knee problem which requires him to wear a brace) and yet he vaults very well. At age 78, he jumped 3.0m (9'10") for a new age group WR in May of 2006. His significant other, Nadine O'Conner, set a new age group WR at age 64 by jumping 3.12m (10'2.75") in July 2006. (However, Nadine can and does run fast.)

I certainly would encourage you to get out and take on vaulting again. It has been a fantastic experience for me. I vaulted in HS and college (graduated in 1968) and then didn't vault again until 2003. I was more aggressive than I probably should have been and had 4 significant hamstring "events" within the first 2 years. As Dennis Phillips (M55 US record holder but now 60) told me when I first talked to him on the phone about trying to get back into vaulting, "the vault has a way of finding your body's weakest link". And after you recover from that problem and hopefully remove it from the "weakest" category, the vault will find the current weakest link. From my experience and what I have learned from other masters vaulters, it will take 2 or 3 years for you to get your body "adjusted" so it can take the rigors of the vault such that your weakest link is sufficiently strong that it won't fail with normal jumps.

I don't know what my speed is or how much I can lift or press. My focus has been simply to learn the technique, develop a reasonably strong body, and focus on exercises that are as vault specific as possible. I strongly recommend learning style of vault as presented in Alan Launder's book titled Begginer to Bubka. If you have a chance, go to a camp where Alan would be coaching and learn from the crusty ol Aussie himself :wink:

That's probably enough gab for now. I'll try to check back more frequently and see what you might have to say.

- master



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