Hurts so good

I was going to go to the gym this afternoon, but after a great pole vault workout last night, I was pretty sore, so I thought it best to let the ol' body rest a day before hitting it hard again tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I'll do some weighted sled sprints, and some more low-bar inversion drills. The low-bar drills are where you hang upside down from a set of parallel bars, knees bent, feet above your hands; let your legs and hips down slowly toward the ground, and try to delay the return to Earth as long as possible. Right now, that delay is pretty much nil. I can grab onto the parallel bars (got a set for my garage), flip myself upside down, then start lowering myself back down, and -- boom! Feet hit the floor again.

The objective is to strengthen the core enough that I'll be able to hang upside down, lower the legs and torso, then bring everything back up again, over and over several times. The purpose is to strengthen the core muscles and become able to invert in the pole vault -- turn upside down after take-off and gain a lot more altitude.

After two sessions of low-bar, I'm nowhere near being able to actually do any reps, but I've been assured that the core muscles fairly quickly adjust to this move. Supposedly, in a month's time, the difference will be remarkable.

I sure hope so.

Earlier today, I registered for the Texas Senior Games in San Antonio. Last year, this was my first official meet and I managed a whopping 5-foot, 7-inch pole vault. I was so nervous, in fact, that on my first attempt at a jump, I completely missed the box with my pole, and sort of crash-landed on the front edge of the pit. The second attempt went much better, and I was doing OK until a sore calf muscle flared up. I had only been learning to jump for a few months at that point, and it was a good experience overall.

Less than a year later, and I'm threatening 8-feet bars now. That's a decent improvement, although I'll feel a lot better when I'm threatening 9-feet, and especially when I'm able to clear an even 10 feet. The day is coming.

Adios. Have a great workout, whatever it is ...