Update to the 2013 Outdoor Season

Outdoor season is well underway so I guess it’s time for a post huh?!  Sorry to all of my readers for not keeping you up-to-date with all of my adventures on here.  This post has been a long time coming. 

I’ll start from where I left off…

After indoor season finished up in March, I took a week off then got back into a rigorous base training cycle with 4 days a week lifting and high intensity running workouts.  Unlucky for me, I had a horrible sinus/ear infection for the first 3 weeks!  Boy does that effect training.  Every time I tried to workout I felt like I was going to pass out, fall over, or both!  No fun :( So eventually I got over that and was really getting into great workouts, then a few weeks before my first outdoor meet I got lower back spasms.  I was out for a good 5 days and had super light workouts for the next 5 days trying to build my back tolerance up.  How frustrating!  Going into my first big week of outdoor competitions (April 20, 24, & 27) I was a little weaker and less confident than I would have liked.  I ended up no-heighting my first outdoor meet at the Kansas Relays.  What a terrible feeling.  I definitely beat myself up mentally after that.  To me, there is no excuse for not clearing a bar in competition.  I had to regroup quickly, travel to Des Moines, IA, and get ready for the Drake Relays Mall Vault in 4 days.  I jumped 4.60m(15’1”) there!  Such a great way to get my confidence back.  I love jumping in the Mall Vault!  The atmosphere is so electrifying with people lining the runway, loud music, and clapping!  Who wouldn’t love that as a vaulter?!  Two days after that was the Drake Relays Elite Competition where I jumped 4.53m(14’10.25”) to place 3^rd behind the Olympic Silver and Gold medalists in the 2012 games!  So my first week of outdoor competitions started off rocky, but in putting that NH behind me I was able to move forward and clear high bars just days later :)

Kansas/Drake Relays 2013

After those 3 competitions I cleared my schedule and didn't have a meet planned for the next month in order to catch up on lost training.  Well, a couple weeks into that I got another round of back spasms.  What a downer.  :(  Luckily that time they weren't as bad, and I was able to get back to my normal routine within a week.  But now, I had a little over a week until my next competition!  Although vaulting was up and down all throughout the past few weeks, I was regaining a lot of confidence.

During my month off of competing, the Missouri Valley Conference Championships were held.  I want to give a special shout out to Indiana State University's Men's and Women's Track and Field Teams for winning both Championship Titles!  Congratulations to Head Women's Coach, Angie Martin and Head Men's Coach, John McNichols for receiving Coach of the Year awards!  I'm so proud to be a part of ISUTF's legacy :)

2013 Outdoor MVC Champs!

Olympic Training Center Chula Vista, CA

Now that you all are up to speed from the last couple of crazy months, I just got back from a 2 week trip to the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA.  I went out there with Mary Saxer, Shade Weygandt, and their coach, Danny Wilkerson, to get some great training in along with 4 competitions.  We had a great time out in the perfect weather of Southern California, exploring the OTC, competing, and getting work done!  The first meet at the OTC I jumped 4.60m(15’1”), a great jump for traveling 2 days prior!  I rested up and was confident and ready for the next OTC meet one week later.  Well…I was running fast and jumping better than ever…I was on too small of a pole, it over-bent, and snapped in half during warm-ups.  Ugh.  My hands instantly swelled and bruised, but I was Okayed by the athletic trainers to keep jumping.  I decided to get back on the horse, come in a bar lower than I originally planned, and compete.  I mustered up the courage to run down the runway on my first attempt of the competition and cleared my opening bar of 4.30m(14’1”)!  

My poor pole and hands :(

My whole body was shaking from fright and adrenaline, but I was so relieved.  That was a huge step for my mental toughness!  I only cleared the next bar 4.40m(14’5.25”) that day, but I took every jump and competed.  The next meet was at UCLA 2 days later.  Again I jumped 4.40m(14’5.25”)…this time, in not so favorable conditions.  Throughout the next week I did lots of rehab on my hands, wrists, and my right arm flexor tendon.  I came back and jumped 4.60m(15’1”) in my last meet at the OTC!  What a great way to end the trip, but I am definitely hungry for more!  That 4.70m(15’5”) bar is so close I can taste it!

After these last few extremely frustrating months with a lot of ups and downs, I have learned a lot about myself.  In order to be a pole vaulter you have to factor in periods of highs and lows, you have to learn to let bad practices and meets go and keep the great ones fresh in your mind, and you have to persevere through every element imaginable.  I have also learned that I have a lot of fight in me…I am a competitor.  I will not go down without trying everything possible to jump my highest. 

With that said, my next competition is the SYCAMORE PV OPEN, Saturday, June 15, 2013 @ Indiana State University!  There is an open competition @ 12:45pm, Elite Men @ approx. 3pm, and Elite Women @ approx. 6pm...POLE VAULT only!  It will be my last meet before USA’s, so please come out and support!  Bring a chair, sunscreen, and hands for clapping!  :)

Thanks for reading!

Kylie
@ratherBvaulting
www.facebook.com/pv.kylie