how hard is the decathlon

It's not very hard. You only have to be "decent" (at best) at 10 sports, instead of being very good at one. It's the triathlon of track.

The pole vault ain't easy.

I know it's not. But you don't have to be great at it. Handling a pole is something most of us are pretty good at already, I think.

The following assumes that the OP is not a troll. Maybe not a very safe assumption.

Salient Point wrote:

The pole vault ain't easy.

This. As has been long (and truly) observed, it's much easier to lose points in the decathlon than to gain them. A no-height in the pole vault (or high jump, for that matter) is a killer. And PV is not the only event that can be actively dangerous if you don't have a certain level of skill.

OTOH: If your ambition is simply to *do* one (decathletes talk about "running" a decathlon)--rather than to have any particular competitive/points goal--then it could be fun and very satisfying...not least because, at the end of the two days, you'll know you've given everything:

But without some basic speed, it could be extremely frustrating, too. Forget the 1500--the decathlon is a speed and power event. Ignoring the points involved, simply doing some events *correctly* calls for considerable speed: the 100/400 should be true sprints, LJ/PV/HH and often HJ are lost causes without a fast runup, and so on.

A year could be enough time to develop some speed, power, and strength. This is not the site for advice on such a program. (I've coached many multi-eventers, including some all-Americans, but wouldn't dream of giving a schedule to someone whom I didn't work with on a daily basis.) Use Google thoughtfully and look for multi-event-specific sites (they're out there) and ask for advice there.

I'll say this: the camaraderie among decathletes is second to none. They may be your competitors, but after the 1500 every person in the event is family--a true band of brothers.

I would second everything "Lease" wrote.

I would also add: Nothing says you can't finish out college as a steepler, and then start training for the decathlon after you graduate. This is what I did (I was an MD runner, started doing dec after college for fun).

The toughest event to find access to training is the pole vault, but if you are in the right area you will actually have access to many vault clubs. Where do you plan to live after graduation, or does that depend on where you get a job?

Or if you plan to stick around your college town after graduation, become a volunteer assistant and just work out with the team.

As far as expecting to train for the decathlon for 6 months and reach a "decent" level for a D2 decathlete, I would say this is probably unrealistic, but remotely possible. My first season of dec training, I scored a bit over 6000. This would be considered on the low end of decent probably in the D2 realm. I had 50 second 400m speed though already coming in, so I wasn't hemorrhaging as many points in the speed based events (100, 400, lj) as you might be if your speed isn't there. I am the same height as you and found my shot and disc was better than most people at my points level, you may find the same to be true.

Try entering some expected results in here:

http://www.decathlon2000.com/eng/884/decathlon-points-calculator/

If you decide not to try it your senior year of college, you have nothing to lose by trying it after you graduate. If nothing else, you'll have some fun learning some new events.

it's 9 Mickey Mouse events and the 1500m

I don't think it's a good idea to write-off your last year of college running by focusing on decathlon training. You'll likely get more satisfaction out of continuing your training as a distance runner, setting PRs in your events, and finishing better at your conference meet, etc. There's a "lot" to learn to become a proficient decathlete (decent at all events). The training is very time intensive. Training for the PV itself could be very demanding with no prior experience. Unfortunately, the 1500 is the generally the least trained for event in the decathlon. Dan O'Brien and a few others were notorious for "mailing it in" in the 1500 after strong performances in the first 9 events. If you are willing to sacrifice your progress as a distance runner, talk to your coach about trying some of the individual events to record a time/height/distance, then you will get a better sense of the training you would need in the coming year to be a proficient decathlete.

Holy geez its hard. Have you ever tried field events? Like really tried to be competitive in them? PV takes some serious man strength. You have to have stupid strength to even be able to compete in that. Then there's the hurdles which is a challenge.

Dec is fookin hard. No joke.

Doing a decathlon is only as hard as getting your coach to sign you up for one. Doing well is another matter entirely.

If you can figure out how to clear the opening height in pole vault and high jump in a D2 meet, you won't be that embarrassed.

Being tall doesn't help as much as you think it will in hurdling, but don't fall and you'll be okay. Your 400 will probably be a strength if you start to do some sprinting and you'd win the 1500 by a lot in just about any meet.

Give it a shot. Even if you're last, at least you won't spend the rest of your life wondering how you would have done.

snet wrote:

It's not very hard. You only have to be "decent" (at best) at 10 sports, instead of being very good at one. It's the triathlon of track.

It's not the decathlon of track of field?

With only one year left in college it's probably too late for you to be a good decathlete. Not only are there the athletic skills you have to develop but the bigger problem is the technique work for the throws/jumps which I don't think can be developed to an adequate level in one season.

I am not a decathlete, so take this advice for what it is worth.

If you don't know already, go out and find out how far you can long jump. In order to put up a decent mark in the long jump you will need speed and the ability to generate power.

The pole vault is very similar to long jumping so if you can put up a good number you could more than likely learn the pole vault. If you have the speed to long jump well you can probably hold your own in the sprints. If you can generate power in the jump, with some training you should be able to do okay in the throws and high jump.

The odd man out in the Decathlon in the 1500 and according to your fist post you have that covered.

A logical idea. In reality though you will notice long jump isn't that closely tied to pole vault success. For example compare bubka and lavellinie in the long jump, they are a good two feet different (bubka being far superior in long jump), but in pole vault they are number one and two all time, only a centimeter apart.A better test might be to test some basic tests of athleticism, such as standing long jump, overhead backwards with a shotput.

Greased Lightning wrote:

I am not a decathlete, so take this advice for what it is worth.

If you don't know already, go out and find out how far you can long jump. In order to put up a decent mark in the long jump you will need speed and the ability to generate power.

The pole vault is very similar to long jumping so if you can put up a good number you could more than likely learn the pole vault. If you have the speed to long jump well you can probably hold your own in the sprints. If you can generate power in the jump, with some training you should be able to do okay in the throws and high jump.

The odd man out in the Decathlon in the 1500 and according to your fist post you have that covered.

At the high school level you need to be able to be OK at each event. At the college level to score at your conference meet you need to be able to qualify for your HS state championships in 7 of the 10 events. To make NCAAs, you would probably need to score in most of the events in a decent college conference.

You need to be a good NFL combine type guy with the ability to adapt fast and jump off of one foot.

The 100/200 guy with a 40 inch vertical is going to do far better than the 800/1500 guy that is smart enough to figure out the technical events (in the long run that is).

The most difficult part is not competing in the actual 10 events, it is pretty much just 2 hard days of practice. It is balancing training for all of the technical events while still getting in enough speed and power training.

For most people, just training for all 10 events and getting some decent quarter training in (something close to 300 at least once a week at a fast pace), will be enough volume to run under 5:00 for the 1500.

Where most people go wrong is trying to focus on what they are good at instead of building a complete multi. You can b.s. 10 foot in the pole vault while trying to drop your hurdle time from 16.0 to 15.7, but that is like 30 points. While the same amount of effort to drop those .3 you could spend once a week with a good vault coach and put a meter on your PR which is about 300 points.

I understand that long jumping is not the sole indicator of pole vault success, It does correlate strongly with success in the decathlon however. http://nrich.maths.org/8346 .In this article it says that in the 100 best decathlon scores of all time on average the event that the athletes scored highest in was the long jump. Followed by sprints.I agree the standing broad jump and overhead backwards with she shotput are good indicators of power but they do not indicate speed. For example, when I was in high school we had a strength and conditioning class that all the athletes pretty much had to take. When we tested we did the standing broad jump as well as a medicine ball throw overhead backwards. I set the school record in both and in the throw it was by over 4 feet. There were a number of guys in that class that would have smoked me in the 100 meters.Also, I believe that just as Bubka was a better long jumper than Lavillenie, he would have been the better decathlete as well. My opinion of course.

Salient Point wrote:

The pole vault ain't easy.

Wrong!

Pole Vaulting is easy, put a stick and your hands jab it in a box in the ground and lift off...

Being good at it though ain't easy

I was a decathlete in HS. You aren't going to be running PRs in the longer events. That 400m turns into a 54-55, that 1500, maybe a 4:20 if not higher. 200 on the bench? What event requires a similiar motion to a straight forward bench? Incline bench? Yea, shotput, PV.

Doesn't sound like you have ever picked up a javlin before. Some guys have natural throwing form as it comes out smooth, but for most it will fly sideways. It takes time to learn the form and then get some power behind it. High Jump is the hardest technically because so much can go wrong in a short amount of time. PV is learnable with time and resources. The basics are not as hard as most make it out to be.

All that being said, I've seen some really junk Decathlon results in some bigger D1 conferences. Stuff I was doing in Sophomore year of HS, and I didn't even pursue the sport past HS. If your coach is down, why not give it a go.

I realize that I wont be PRing in many events due to the fatigue of competing in 10 events in 2 days. And I am not saying I am trying to go to Nationals for the decathlon either, or even score points at a conference meet. I just want to know if 6 months is enough time to train for one single decathlon and be semi-competitive in it. I plan on racing the steeple every other weekend during the outdoor season, I just want to compete in a low key decathlon to say I did it. Its not going to ruin my season for the steeple as I will be doing my primary steeple training above all else. I have picked up a Jav before and I threw it 145' when I was just screwing around. I have very good athleticism and the throwing events wouldn't be a downfall, even though I am a distance runner, I am still pretty strong and would be able to handle myself. I feel like the hardest events for me to learn in the short amount of time is Pole Vault and High Jump. My sprint speed is decent, I have run a 12.7 for a 100 once into a headwind so I feel like that wont be a major downfall either. Thank you all for your advice! Keep it coming!

That is an interesting article, I hadn't seen that before. I get hung up on pole vault and hurdles being big points that I forget that long jump is bigger points for the really fast dec guys, because it isn't for me.I was mostly arguing that his speed is what it is. We know the OP isn't very fast based on his 400 time being only a 53. My idea of the ohb, standing long jump, and similar power tests is because these will give some good insight into his shot and disc ability. Also standing long jump is pretty well correlated with long jump ability. There are elite lj guys who can barely run sub 11 in the 100, because they have excellent "springs."You are probably right that Bubka would be a better decathlete than Renaud. Renaud did a dec a few years ago (he did hurdles, lj, and pole vault before becoming a vault specialist) and he did quite poorly. His goal was to set the dec world best for vault, and he only jumped like 15 feet.