A Week with Vitali and Yelena

[lonestar]

This is the first installment in a series of posts I will attempt to make as an online log of a trip I am currently on.

About a month ago, a vaulter that I coach, Francisco Leon from Lima, Peru, was contacted by the Argentinian Athletics Federation. They invited him to participate in a competition against the best vaulters of South America, preceded by a week of training and consulting with Vitali Petrov and Yelena Isinbayeva. The trip for Francisco would be all-expenses-paid, and the third year Argentina has hosted it, although this was Frank's first invitation to it. It is only for the elite vaulters of South America.

Frank was very excited, and called me to tell me about it. I asked him to see if I could participate as a coach. After emailing the Federation, they agreed to let me participate as both a coach AND an athlete in the competition! This freaked me out, since at age 30 I haven't trained seriously in over 3 years. As Rodney Dangerfield once said "With the shape I'm in, you could donate my body to science fiction!" Still, I couldn't pass up the opportunity, and despite having to buy my own plane ticket, jumped right on it.

I had one week to basically get a step to compete with, and it was ugly. 4 jump sessions in 8 days - ouch! Didn't have much choice though. Just have to run with what I brung!

[lonestar]

The lovely gents at Continental Airlines in Houston were kind enough to inform us that our poles would not be able to fit in the baggage hold of our 767-200. They measured our bag at 187" and said the baggage length restriction on that aircraft was 119". After much arguing and dispute with the manager and futile attempts to contact someone higher in the company via phone, we were forced to accept the fact that they weren't going to take the poles, and we had to carry them back to our car and leave them behind. Luckily enough, Bubbapv came by the next morning and took them to his place for safekeeping.

So we departed on our 10.5 hour plane ride to Buenos Aires without poles, hoping that the other South American vaulters would be kind enough to loan us some, IF they had the right sizes.

[lonestar]

After arriving in Buenos Aires after flying all night, we took another 1 hour flight to Santa Fe, Argentina, where the competition is to be held.

On the shuttle from the airport to the "Holiday Inn," we spoke to a Columbian vaulter named Milena. We learned that she has 1 pole to jump on, period, and has jumped 4.00 meters on it. An older 14'6 Pacer Carbon that she grips around 13'0 on. We both thought "What could this girl jump with a good pole series?"

We were to learn that was a common theme in South America - many vaulters with only one or two poles, often the wrong fit for them. It is my mission as a dealer and coach to talk with my contacts at various pole companies when I get back to the states and negotiate some deals on poles for these athletes.

[lonestar]

Later on friday evening, we met up with the rest of the vaulters, including Fabiana, JeanPaulo, Henrique and Joanna from Brazil amongst other Brazilians, and German Chiarviglio from Argentina, along with Milena from
Columbia and Daniela from Argentina. I don't know the correct spellings or last names, but every athlete has been very nice, despite the fact that I don't speak much Spanish and zero Portuguese, and some only speak a little English.

We also were introduced to Elson, the Brazilian coach and his assistant coach Edemon, as well as Vitali. Yelena was pretty busy doing photos with everyone, although I met her while the group went on a bowling expedition the following night. She's been spending most of her time with her boyfriend, a discus thrower from Argentina.

I only spoke briefly with Vitali as he has been commandeered by Elson, the Brazilian coach. Still, Vitali and I shared a few common acquaintances, including David Butler of Rice University, Alan Launder, Roman Botcharnikov, Steve Chappell, and Galina Bukharina of Texas State, former national sprint coach for the USSR. Vitali speaks English, fortunately, and is a very nice man. Yelena also speaks pretty decent English and was very nice when I met her - I don't know if she's been in public for over 5 minutes without someone asking to take a photo with her!

[lonestar]

Yesterday, saturday, the athletes were brought to the track at 4:30 for a workout. Francisco and I did not know what to expect - we thought perhaps Vitali would lead us in drills and exercises, but he wasn't even there. We learned that in the past 2 years of this event, there was a camp-style format, but because of the low turnout of vaulters this year, they decided to abandon it and leave the solicitation of information from Vitali and Yelena up to the individuals.

So we decided to do a warm-up with the Brazilians. Their coach Elson has been mentored by Vitali for 4 years, and he uses Vitali's entire approach to everything. Our warmup consisted of jogging 3 to 4 laps on the infield grass with pauses about every 50 yards to do foot-strengthening exercises, such as walking on the heels, walking heel to toe, walking on the outside of the feet, and on the inside. Elson told us that Vitali strongly believes in developing foot strength, since it absorbs a lot of impact, and it is essential in injury prevention.

Then came static stretching for about 20 minutes, followed by mobility exercises, and then a ton of running drills: strides, skips (high knees), bounding, hopping, without a pole first, and then with a pole. Elson passionately emphasized hips first, run forward, emphasize everything forward and upward, pelvis tucked under the abdomen, knees and ankles aligned properly, chin up. His criticisms both of his own athletes and of Francisco and I were harsh, but necessary. He is a caring coach, and demands perfection.

After the running drills, they did a series of body-weight exercises, including partner-assisted handstands, abdominals, and other vault-simulative drills. I videotaped all of these.

Elson also took the time to work one-on-one with Francisco on planting exercises. Vitali breaks the plant into 2 halves, but the timing of each action and arm position is so precise, Francisco, a 17' vaulter, could not execute it to Elson's satisfaction over numerous attempts. I will go more into detail about this concept later.

An evening of bowling and comradery followed our workout and dinner, and we our about to leave for today's workout. Frank and I will attempt to get a vault practice in using some very weird poles we're borrowing!

[rainbowgirl28]

We were to learn that was a common theme in South America - many vaulters with only one or two poles, often the wrong fit for them. It is my mission as a dealer and coach to talk with my contacts at various pole companies when I get back to the states and negotiate some deals on poles for these athletes.

I dealt with some of that with my teammate from Guatemala. Shipping poles in and out of much of South America is extremely difficult and expensive. The pole companies could give them free poles and it might still cost over a thousand dollars to ship them there and pay fees and take months.

[achtungpv]

I dealt with some of that with my teammate from Guatemala. Shipping poles in and out of much of South America is extremely difficult and expensive. The pole companies could give them free poles and it might still cost over a thousand dollars to ship them there and pay fees and take months.

Maybe one of the dozens of South American caravans that travel down I-35 from Minnesota on a daily basis can take some!

[AVC Coach]

Regardless of the outcome of the competition, you and Francisco should have fun with that opportunity and experience. I'm jealous! Keep up the posts so I can live vicariously through you Kris. Enjoy!!!!

[lonestar]

Today, sunday, we went to the track at 5pm to workout. Everyone who is jumping in the meet jumped today. German Chiarviglio and Fabiana Murer are not jumping in the meet since they are in their recovery cycle of training, but they were there watching the workout, along with German's parents, who are very nice people.

The girls jumped first. They began the day with general warmup, then 3-6 step walking, jogging, running plant drills. Petrov believes in dividing the plant into 2 phases: plant one to above the ear on the penultimate step with the right elbow turned out to the right side, and plant two an equal push upwards and forwards as the last step is about to touch the runway. A couple of points of emphasis were hips forward, lift the knees high, be solid in the torso, open the right shoulder, be very tall. Petrov is a perfectionist!

After doing some planting exercises, the girls did takeoffs on their biggest poles from 6 steps. Straight pole takeoffs, attempting to max out their grip. Running posture, running with high knees, actively pushing both hands upward/forward and maintaining push after takeoff were key cues.

One of Vitali's criticisms of some of the vaulters (especially Frank and I) were that they run too fast too soon in the approach. Tall, high knees, development of the run (as he called it - he doesn't like the term acceleration for some reason). The girls did a lot of these 6 step takeoffs, and then some long-run takeoffs, and a few full jumps over a bungee. Runway development was the only concern, as it should be.

Afterwards, the 4 guys that will jump in the meet wednesday jumped. We followed the same progression of exercises as the girls, although we could do anything we wanted to. Vitali was quick to correct my left hand, making sure it stayed in front of my chest, and didn't drop, but only raised upwards. Also, emphasis on a relaxed grip with hands, fingers closed, but not death grip. We spoke a lot about "moving" the pole both before and after your foot leaves the ground, and how after I would leave the ground, I would let pressure off of the pole, when in fact I should be continuing to apply pressure upwards after my foot lost contact with the runway.

When Frank and I finally got back to our long runs to do some takeoffs, Vitali immediately said something to the effect of "Ahhh...the American run...is all the same...pahpahpahpahpahpahpah....too fast too soon and no develop run. You need to run pah pah pah pah pah pah pah pahpah pahpah...develop run." The emphasis then became coming out of the back with very high knees and not opening the front leg beyond 90 degrees until the thigh was traveling downwards, and then a fast clawing action. Gradual buildup of of rhythmic tempo, tempo increasing with pole drop synonomously, left arm staying in position in front of the center of the chest, but being loose in the shoulders, not tense. Divided plant, 1 on penultimate and 2 as the last step touches down.

Lots to think about! It is difficult to come down a runway thinking about implementing each of these steps because you are trying to please this legendary man and earn his praise, and Vitaly did give praise, but always had constructive criticism. Sometimes it was hard to understand his point via the language barrier, since he can't always think of the right vocabulary to use, but we got a lot out of it. He was emphatic about not jumping too early in the training season, but spending 1000's of repetitions in the sand, grass, and track perfecting the plant from slow/walking to fast/running, and reproducing the same movements at all speeds.

Frank and I are blown away by how little we realize we actually know about pole vaulting and coaching it. It's a bitter pill to swallow when you realize that after 12 and 17 years in a sport, you really don't know what you're talking about after all. Not to say we haven't had success at various levels, but the purity of the model is extraordinary, and offers a lot of food for thought.

Tomorrow we have a press conference to attend, and then we will be making dozens of copies of Fabiana's periodization, designed by Vitali and Elson, along with tons of diagrams of exercises and training information created by "the man." Easy workout day since we compete wednesday.

[lonestar]

Regardless of the outcome of the competition, you and Francisco should have fun with that opportunity and experience. I'm jealous! Keep up the posts so I can live vicariously through you Kris. Enjoy!!!!

Thanks Morry - I honestly don't care about the competition results, and despite the fact that there's prize money, nobody is training to compete right now. It's everyone's recovery cycle, or at the most, the beginning of their general preparation/base cycle. The important thing is that we are here to learn, and are having a lot of fun and making new friends in the process. What could be better! Wish you could be here with us.

[cdmilton]

Sounds like a great experience. I am jealous!

[Bruce Caldwell]

When Frank and I finally got back to our long runs to do some takeoffs, Vitali immediately said something to the effect of "Ahhh...the American run...is all the same...pahpahpahpahpahpahpah....too fast too soon and no develop run. You need to run pah pah pah pah pah pah pah pahpah pahpah...develop run." The emphasis then became coming out of the back with very high knees and not opening the front leg beyond 90 degrees until the thigh was traveling downwards, and then a fast clawing action. Gradual buildup of of rhythmic tempo, tempo increasing with pole drop synonomously, left arm staying in position in front of the center of the chest, but being loose in the shoulders, not tense. Divided plant, 1 on penultimate and 2 as the last step touches down.

Lots to think about! It is difficult to come down a runway thinking about implementing each of these steps because you are trying to please this legendary man and earn his praise, and Vitaly did give praise, but always had constructive criticism. Sometimes it was hard to understand his point via the language barrier, since he can't always think of the right vocabulary to use, but we got a lot out of it. He was emphatic about not jumping too early in the training season, but spending 1000's of repetitions in the sand, grass, and track perfecting the plant from slow/walking to fast running, and reproducing the same movements at all speeds.

Kris this might be why we always hear of AMerican vaulter jumping very high with short runs.???????? Then only jump 6 inches higher wiht a long run