Why Pole Vault?

So I'll explain my comment from my last post "Pole vault seemed like the logical next step". The sport was just a fun hobby in university and pursuing it was never part of my plans. I blame the change in my thinking on 3 things. 1) the sport for being so fun. 2) my coach for telling me I had potential and 3) me for believing him. I knew that I loved jumping and if I didn't give it a shot I would likely regret it.

Am I any good? The answer's average, I went to university nationals twice but pole vault in Canada isn't very strong. I tried the sport for the first time in university and the months when I've actually practiced a couple times a week add up to about 14 months. My personal best is 4.60 metres, I would need at least 5.60 if I wanted to even think about olympics.

Why I'm doing it then? Refer to reasons listed at the beginning. I decided I would dedicate an 8-12 month period to find out if I can jump high. If I don't get over 5 metres (my best is 4.60 metres) during this trial run, I'm planning on working full time.

How it's going: As of January I had vaulted 3 times in the past year, so in Montreal I started pretty fresh. I've been jumping twice a week with smaller poles and shorter run ups and getting in shape on the other days. I've competed twice, I jumped 4m25 in early February and got 0m (missed my opening height) at Quebec's indoor provincials in Sherbrooke. A busy outdoor season begins in mid May, nationals are in Toronto at the end of July.

Note: I've never jumped outside before. It's the same thing with some sun, wind and sometimes rain. We start practicing outdoors next week, I can't wait.