Not all goes well all the time for a masters vaulter. - Jun 17, 2013
This year started out great as indicated in the post below. However when I went to the National Championships in March I was plagued with leg cramps and it prevented me from performing up to my self imposed standards. That was a humbling experience.
Then, on April 11, while setting up a pole vault drill at the high school where I coach, I had an accident. I wasn’t vaulting so I wasn’t wearing my helmet. But while checking out the setup for the drill I lost control and fell back toward the runway. Unfortunately the pole vault pit is set up on a paved surface and front buns only extend to the front lip of the box. The back of my head hit the ground and I suffered a concussion. Although I have been told I am pretty hard headed, it was no match for the pavement. Because I don't have memory of what happened immediately before my head hit and for several minutes after, I have to hypothesize exactly what happened. No one actually saw the accident but there were people very close by who came to my attention quickly.
I was taken by ambulance to the emergency room at the hospital. They were concerned for possible neck and/or spine injury as well as internal bleeding in my brain. Fortunately none of the tests or the CAT scan found any severe internal problems. They were also concerned that maybe I had “blacked out” and then fell, in which case they worried something might be wrong with my heart. So I was on a heart monitor while in the hospital and for the first two days at home. But no problems were found. I only spent a little over a day in the hospital.
Except for the obvious issues of the external damage to my scalp, the most serious issue I have had to deal with has been vertigo and dizziness. That has subsided considerably. Now I only experience that when I move or hold my head in certain positions and I have learned how to avoid those positions or motions.
I have gradually done some conditioning building up to doing some actual vaulting from short approach during the past two weeks. So I'm on my way back, hoping to be as good as new sometime this summer.
