I'm a dweller. I tend to dwell on past experiences, what was said, how someone reacted, who did what, etc. It doesn't always serve me well. I go over & over what has already happened then forget to live in the current moment and move forward! For a couple days, as I continued to dwell on this past weekend while still wearing the pink wristband, I was reminded of another recent experience where the focus was specifically to "live in the moment." To avoid being overly verbose, I'll just say this, it was eye opening and a new goal of mine is to stop dwelling so much and enjoy the present!!! So here's my recap of the #womensproam2016 so I can fully appreciate this awesome experience and then move forward:
This was the most prepared I've ever felt going into a meet. I feel like I finally stopped chasing numbers & started working towards being a better lifter technically & mentally. One of the things Wade always says is "take what the day gives." I always heard that in a negative manner meaning if it's a bad day, take it down a notch, but I've learned (after hearing it multiple times now) it goes both ways! If the day is going good, take it & run with it! The hard part is recognizing what the day has presented. Saturday was a good squat day for me & it was time to take it. I had originally planned to open at 225, but a few weeks before the meet, I missed what was supposed to be my "easy opener." I made the decision to lower the opener to 220 and then after a few more days of thinking & debating internally, lowered it to 215, a weight I was confident I could get. Do you know how hard it was to change that number on the website?!?! Excruciating! Especially considering that was the same opener when I last competed in November. I'm supposed to be getting better! All this work on squats, completing an entire 16 week training cycle & I'm opening at the same weight as last meet? Noooooo! But I defeated my internal ego demons & reluctantly put down 215 as the official opener on the website. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as it placed me in the first flight throughout the meet. This meant I would be able to watch, cheer on, & video my teammates who were in the 2nd & 3rd flights without having to worry about being nervous for my next attempts. See how things work out? Anyway, back to squats. After some debate on when to start wrapping my knees, how many out I am & a near fight with my husband/handler, I smoked the opener. What??? I never smoke the squat opener in a meet. Who am I? This is where I should insert a funny thing Jennifer says that applies as the answer to that question: "My name is Annie Tallent Fry and I'm a good squatter." Don't ask. So the plan for the 2nd attempt is "if the opener goes well, 235." Yes, I'm that much of a meet day head case that I have to have the qualifier. So 235 it is, no thinking involved. It goes easy (& no near fights with husband/handler this time). Again, 235 went easy. Huh? I'm really not sure what to do here at a place where squats actually went well! I honestly did not have a planned 3rd attempt. I knew what I wanted, but it wasn't in the plan. The plan was to take what the day gives, good or bad. My usual 3rd attempt is a repeat of the 2nd attempt or the planned 2nd if I screwed up on the 1st, but here I am having squatted well two attempts in a row! What do I do?! I looked at Wade in the head judges chair (it's a strange, but interesting dynamic when your coach is also a judge; haters would say a conflict of interest, but then they also wouldn't know Wade). We had this seemingly 5 min back & forth dialogue where I mouthed numbers at him & he shook his head (you can see part of it in the video). I finally got the nod at 250 & off I go to the table. He believed in me & I didn't have a chance not to. Time for the third attempt. Handler/husband wraps my knees and I go up to the bar & I get the standard butt smack. Take an extra second to gather myself & all I can think is "damn, that's a good wrap, don't waste it." I giggle a little to myself (another inside joke). All I know is I'm not going to quit no matter what. Unrack. Oh that feels light. Weird. I hear various yells & cues, primarily "settle!" & "patience!" I squat & the pace is slower than I'd like it to be, but I hit the hole, rebound & start ascending. It gets stuck at the sticking point and somehow I never quit and end up grinding it out. It was the greatest lifting moment of my life! A 20 lb meet PR and the most weight I've ever held on my back period. Lots of cheers & hugs & high fives & now it's time to eat & relax a little & watch my sister-mates do the same. And they did.
After watching Jennifer set a new all time world record squat (NBD), it was time for me to start warming up on bench. Warm ups go well & I'm ready to go in plenty of time. A few weeks ago, I said out loud in training, one of my goals is to go 3 for 3 on bench. I don't care what the numbers are, I just want to hit all three attempts. I asked my teammates to help hold me to that & keep the ego in check. I've hit 155 in training recently, but bench is a bitch on meet day. I can't explain it, it just is, so it cannot be taken for granted. There may not be any magic fairy dust on the platform, but I'm convinced there is evil demon contaminate scattered on the bench platform. I opened with 135, an old nemesis that I've come to rely on as a close friend (we've seen each other many many times now). 135 goes as an easy confidence building opener like it should. I call the planned 2nd attempt, 145, which has also become a fairly easy weight to hit consistently in the gym. I get the lift, but one of the judges threw a red light which means my butt must have come off the bench a little. Dammit! Now I'm stressing and I'm at the point where in order to hit my goal, 3 for 3 on bench, I HAVE to keep my ass in check (literally & figuratively). I call for 150. I wanted to ask for 146 (ha!) but I didn't think it would go over too well asking for half pound plates.... So 150 it is. I had just given the table my 3rd attempt and Jennifer runs over & asks what it was going to be. I told her & she said "hew, okay just checking." My teammates take "keeping me in check" seriously! So it's time to bench. Handler/husband hands off. Jennifer is knelt down on one side. Wes is knelt down on the other (we're very serious about keeping asses in check here, did I mention that?). The load is decent, not great, and I start to grind automatically. I feel my butt start to come off the bench & I could see that one of the judges had already thrown the red. Instead of pressing it on out. I gave up. I shook my head & said take it. I'm not proud of this. It was disappointing. I could blame this or that, but bottom line, I quit. The exact thing I thought I had just finished learning about during squats!!! I could have pressed it on out and got all three reds, but I didn't even give the judges a chance to make the call. Arrgghhhh! Handler/husband is mad. Coach is clearly frustrated. I'm irritated with myself. So much for 3 for 3 on bench. Womp womp. Insert lots of sadness here. I still ended with a 10 lb meet PR so it isn't all that terrible, but certainly not the best I could have done. The bench unicorn still remains to be seen, but it's getting closer. I told you bench is a bitch. You can bet your ass (& mine) that I won't make that same mistake again.
There was a loooooong break before deadlifts. I had plenty of time to eat and hydrate & rest & think about that missed bench attempt, but when it was time to warm up, I tried to think about the task at hand: just focus on the opener, Annie: 275. One attempt at a time. And don't think about the fact that I need exactly 305 lbs to get a 700 total, the ultimate goal. Grrrrrr. I had cooled down too much and had to go through my whole pre-warmup, warmup routine again. By the time I started pulling, I felt better, but my back was starting to get tight (probably from squatting a PR a few hours before!!!). Warmups weren't feeling great. I couldn't find my groove (another Wade-ism I've come to rely on). I would normally pull 135 for a couple singles, 185x1, 225x1 and be done in the warmup room. Handler/husband saw my frustration and suggested I pull another single at 245 to see if it felt better. It did. My brain was finally ready to go. The opener didn't quite go as well as I'd like though. I didn't quite hit that sweet spot I know & love. So instead of going for my planned 2nd attempt, 305, I went with 295 instead. Seems like a small margin to some, but 10 lbs can be huuuuge for 112.6 lb girls. 295 was the right call. I found that sweet spot again & put some confidence back in the game. Now with this newly rediscovered confidence, do I go for the PR? Do I go for the planned 3rd attempt anyway, 320? Do I let my ego take over again & screw me? I've found my groove, right, so why not go all in?! Deadlift is my bread and butter after all! Hell no!!! It's not even a question. "Always protect the total" is the mantra & deciding factor. 305 it is! I never doubted it was going. It wasn't as fast or easy as I'd like, but it went. All white lights. The coveted 700 lb total @ 114 is mine!!!! 700 on the nose, not a pound more or kilo or ounce or whatever unit of measurement you wanna use. It's mine! Everyone is happy. More cheers & hugs & high fives & I probably cried a little. Now.... Time to move on with the day and continue watching my teammates, friends, new acquaintances, and the rest of the ladies in the meet be badasses, set PRs, and break records. My tiny little piece of the story has ended and I was ready to see what else the day had in store!
To be successful, you have to have a plan, a mission, a goal, something to work towards and you have to be consistent in executing that plan, but you can't plan out every single moment. You have to be willing to make adjustments, if needed, in order to achieve the ultimate goal. You can't predict what will happen or how you will feel in the future or allow yourself to dwell in the past. All you can do is prepare for & execute the parts of the plan that you can control and then live everyday in the moment, take what each day gives you, appreciate it, learn from it, teach somebody else about it, and then move forward. Time to set some new goals, Annie! And yes I finally took off that 3 day old pink wristband!
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
110lb Total PR: A Year In Review
Ask me how I put 110lbs on my total and I'll confidently tell you, consistency. Simple, yes. Easy, no.
I started working with Aaron Thomas just over a year ago. When I started working with him my current total was 865lbs. In the beginning he just did my nutrition. I totaled 910 after my first cut with him. My lifts were a 360lb squat, 190lb bench, and 360lb deadlift. After this, I hire him to do both my programming and nutrition.
The first thing we did was cut to the 114 weight class. I lost somewhere around 10-15lb in tissue and then cut 6lbs in water. During this time is when I learned a thing or two about consistency. I learned quickly that I was going have to stick to the plan 110 percent to make this cut happen. There is always a reason to not stick to the nutrition plan. ALWAYS. There is always a party, a family gathering, a holiday, not enough time, not enough energy, work, kids, there is always an excuse. I tell myself I won't let these things derail me, I will not allow any excuses. I was strict. Very strict. Strict as in I didn't take bites, I didn't take tastes, I didn't vary, I didn't sway. I was the asshole who showed up at Grandma's on Easter with tupperware meals. It didn't take long before it became easier. Tupperware at Grandma's didn't seem as sad after the first few times. It was during this time that I built more mental toughness than anything else. I could talk a lot about the training and I'll get to that, but this is the first layer. The training was hard. Much harder than I have ever trained. I totaled 945lbs at 114lbs. 370lb squat, 200lb bench, 375lb deadlift. The second highest total in the world.
Next up, meet without wraps at 123lbs about 6 months down the road. I did a mass first and bodyweight reaches around 140lbs. This was actually fun. Really fun. I got to be a little less strict, eat a lot and my boobs came back to me (yay!). The training was ridiculous. The volume was out of control. What about that sounds fun? Uh, food, lifting all the weights, getting all the muscles, and boobs......what's not fun? I also happen to get really strong. At the end of the mass, we tested my lifts and they landed with a 415lb squat, 220lb bench and a 405lb deadlift, all gym lifts done throughout the week.
My big take aways for this phase were:
1)Volume is King!
2) If your training isn't hard and isn't challenging you, it likely isn't changing you
3)There is a lot to be said for training just to get strong and put on some mass. It felt good to take a mental break from meet prep and bro out a little.
To give you an idea of the amount of volume I was doing, I counted the number of reps I did at the peak of the high volume phase. On a Monday, I did 56 reps with bench. Different variations and different rep schemes. On a Friday (deadlift day) I did 93 reps of various deadlifts and squats. NINETY THREE! I'm only counting my working sets, this does not include my warm ups.
I started working with Aaron Thomas just over a year ago. When I started working with him my current total was 865lbs. In the beginning he just did my nutrition. I totaled 910 after my first cut with him. My lifts were a 360lb squat, 190lb bench, and 360lb deadlift. After this, I hire him to do both my programming and nutrition.
This is the beginning of 2015, before I had any nutrition plan in place. Around 134lbs here.
The first thing we did was cut to the 114 weight class. I lost somewhere around 10-15lb in tissue and then cut 6lbs in water. During this time is when I learned a thing or two about consistency. I learned quickly that I was going have to stick to the plan 110 percent to make this cut happen. There is always a reason to not stick to the nutrition plan. ALWAYS. There is always a party, a family gathering, a holiday, not enough time, not enough energy, work, kids, there is always an excuse. I tell myself I won't let these things derail me, I will not allow any excuses. I was strict. Very strict. Strict as in I didn't take bites, I didn't take tastes, I didn't vary, I didn't sway. I was the asshole who showed up at Grandma's on Easter with tupperware meals. It didn't take long before it became easier. Tupperware at Grandma's didn't seem as sad after the first few times. It was during this time that I built more mental toughness than anything else. I could talk a lot about the training and I'll get to that, but this is the first layer. The training was hard. Much harder than I have ever trained. I totaled 945lbs at 114lbs. 370lb squat, 200lb bench, 375lb deadlift. The second highest total in the world.
This is the day of weigh ins, June 2015. 113.6lbs, with a 6lb water cut.
Next up, meet without wraps at 123lbs about 6 months down the road. I did a mass first and bodyweight reaches around 140lbs. This was actually fun. Really fun. I got to be a little less strict, eat a lot and my boobs came back to me (yay!). The training was ridiculous. The volume was out of control. What about that sounds fun? Uh, food, lifting all the weights, getting all the muscles, and boobs......what's not fun? I also happen to get really strong. At the end of the mass, we tested my lifts and they landed with a 415lb squat, 220lb bench and a 405lb deadlift, all gym lifts done throughout the week.
My big take aways for this phase were:
1)Volume is King!
2) If your training isn't hard and isn't challenging you, it likely isn't changing you
3)There is a lot to be said for training just to get strong and put on some mass. It felt good to take a mental break from meet prep and bro out a little.
To give you an idea of the amount of volume I was doing, I counted the number of reps I did at the peak of the high volume phase. On a Monday, I did 56 reps with bench. Different variations and different rep schemes. On a Friday (deadlift day) I did 93 reps of various deadlifts and squats. NINETY THREE! I'm only counting my working sets, this does not include my warm ups.
September, 2015. Around 140ish pounds here.
After the mass, we start the cut to compete at 123lbs. Somewhere in here, I get a job from hell. As training intensity builds so does the stress from my job. I start feeling the stress of my job creep into to my training. It sucks. Really sucks and I'm having trouble figuring out how to fix it. I'm persistent. I am a self proclaimed queen of the turn around. By the time I realize I need a turn around, it's a little too late. My right arm dies and refuses to bench. This happens somewhere around 5 or 6 weeks out from my meet. You can read about that on my other post: The Evolution of a World Record Squat: Pleasure vs. Happiness. I do the meet anyway. Turns out, doing the meet with a dead arm, made me better. Way better. The take away here is recovery. I knew this was important but I hadn't quite figured out how to read the signs. Being persistent and the self proclaimed queen of the turn around probably hindered me here. Nonetheless, I ended the meet with a 892lb total and an American record squat in sleeves at 363lbs. Before I started training with Aaron, the most I had ever squatted without wraps was around 305lbs in the gym. Just for some perspective.
After that, I took a few weeks off, healed my arm up, and quit that awful job. Then I started training for my most recent meet where I pr'd my total.
Working with someone remotely has it's own set of challenges. Communication is key. I should clarify. TRUTHFUL communication is key. I do my best to be up front about what exactly is going on. If my weight shoots up and I suck at the gym it doesn't do me any favors by keeping the fact that I went out partied all night and ate like asshole from my trainer. I need the plan to work, if I throw a wrench in it, I need to tell the engineer. I pay Aaron to make the plan. It's up to me to follow the plan. You've got to stay the course. You've got to go through some growing pains as a coach/athlete for it all to come together. As long as I'm holding up on my end, I trust he's holding up on his. The take aways are:
1) You need a plan
2) You need to follow the plan
3) Communication is important
4) Adjustments are ok, and a good sign people are paying attention
5) Consistency
6) Consistency
7) Consistency
So in just about a year's worth of time from our first full training cycle together, Aaron and I have managed to put 110lbs on my total by way of 420lb squat, 215lb bench, and 420lb deadlift.
Ask me how I put 110lbs on my total and I'll confidently tell you, consistency. Simple, yes. Easy, no.
Left is February 2015. Right is April 2016.
Bodyweight is ~122 in both pics. In both I did around 7-8lb water cut.
Monday, April 18, 2016
A 1055lb Total and Trusting the Process....But Do You Really?
There is no magic fairy dust on the platform. I said this to one of the younger lifters in my gym. It took me 9 meets and one dead arm to figure this out, but there is no magic fairy dust on the platform.
In December I competed with an arm that quit working and it changed the way I viewed meet preparation and execution. In training, before I go into the gym I know what lies ahead of me. I know what lifts I have to do and I know what numbers I have to hit. I know how I feel that day and I know if it's going to be easy, hard, or somewhere in the middle. I make calculations in my head about how I'm going to get to working sets, I go through the entire session in my head and make plans; if this, then that, if not that, then this. I do this all before I even step foot in the gym. There is no pressure from myself to hit certain numbers or reps, there is only a well thought out plan and execution of the plan. I am a hell of a gym lifter.
Pre-dead arm, come meet day, after a hell of a training cycle, after all the calculations, after all the execution, I let all that out the window because there is magic fairy dust on the platform. On the platform, it's easy. I don't have to think. I don't have to calculate. I don't have to evaluate. Make the calls to get to the end number that I decided on months ago. Ignore everything else because there is magic fairy dust on the platform.
In December, my bench press went away and so did all of my magic fairy dust. I went to the meet in December with a one track mind. Come hell or high water, I was taking a squat record. Nothing else mattered. I knew I had it, there was no pressure, there was only execution. That dead arm changed my mind set on the platform. It changed my approach. It forced me to trust the process.
I say it all the time to new lifters, 'trust the process', turns out, I had no idea what I was talking about. I didn't trust the process. I just trained and got to a meet and said fuck the process, throw the weight on the bar and watch me........fail. I thought something magic happened on meet day and all I had to do was step onto the platform and everything would fall into place. There is no magic fairy dust on the platform.
After December I took a few weeks off and still trained but nothing serious. Next meet was to be in April and back to the raw with wraps division. My training cycle started slow. Eventually, the momentum picks up. I'm back in the thick of a training cycle and back to being a hell of a gym lifter. As with every training cycle, when the momentum picks up, my mind starts racing, it starts racing all the way to third attempts and totals and world records and magic fairy dust. But I'm changed. I'm different lifter. I trust the process. The process is day to day, one lift at a time, you can't rush the process, you can't force it, you can't predict it. You can only plan it, adjust, and execute.
Talking with Wade, talking about numbers and attempts and all the things. I said to him, I've just got to be able to put it all together. He said no. He said, all you have to do reveal what's already there. It's there, you know it's there, you've done it, all you have to do is reveal it. It clicked. I decide to give myself some credit and stop questioning what I may or may not be capable of. I know how to plan my work and work my plan. I'm fucking awesome at that but for some reason, come meet day, I forget. Not this time. THIS TIME I will trust the process. THIS TIME I will pay attention to warm ups, THIS TIME I will adjust, THIS TIME I will execute, THIS TIME I will reveal what is already there.
Squat. I'm nervous. I've been nervous all morning. There's all these people here who I've only ever "met" on the internet. I don't know how to act. Ignore everything. Solid plan. My training partner and best friend Annie is in the first flight. Her first two attempts are good. Third attempt is called. She seems nervous. She seems unsure. I'm nervous. I'm unsure. I don't remember what I said to her, or if I even said anything at all. I remember wanting this lift for her so badly, selfishly, because if she got that lift, it somehow was going to set me up to have a good day. She goes up to the bar, squats, depth is plenty, sticks at the sticking point, grinds and grinds and stands up with the bar. I want to cry, but force myself to get it together. The tone has been set. It's going to be a good day.
Squat warm ups go ok. Feeling better than expected but not as solid as I would have liked. Roll with it. First attempt, 385lbs, good, not as fast as I wanted. The squat is my lift. My strategy going into the meet was to go for it in the squat and then stack up as many attempts as possible with bench and deadlift. Second attempt is 420lbs. It's a somewhat risky call but I know I have it, it's going to tell me what to do for the third. 420lbs is good for a 2nd attempt. A little slow, a little sticky. Some debate with my coach and handler about what to call for the 3rd. We decide on 435lbs. I knew it was going to be a stretch. BUT that was plan all along. I was going for it. I miss. I'm ok with it. It was a solid call and solid attempt. On with the plan. I suppose I should mention that the 420lb squat breaks the all the world record at 123lbs. I'm happy about this, yes, but I've got shit to do.
Bench warm ups are feeling solid. Bench is weird at meets. It just is. Maybe I'll figure it out one day. Opener is 195lbs. Fuck you dead arm. Moves fast and easy. 210lbs for a second. Still easy. Bar speed slows just a tad. Speed is my secret weapon. When my bar speed slows, it's an indicator of the end. I talk with my coach and handler and say 220lb will be a stretch, 215lbs is a sure bet. I say fuck it, I'm going 215. Stack up the wins. Stack up the attempts. Stack up the total. 215 is slow and ugly and good. 3 for 3 on bench, trusted the process and trusted myself.
Deadlift. My least favorite lift. Though, it is fun on the platform. People are loopy and tired from the long day. It's just the right mix of silliness, intensity, the downward slide to finish line. Warm ups feel good. REALLY good. Holy shit, I think Aaron Thomas freaking nailed the taper on my deadlift. Scratch that, I know he did. Cautiously enthusiastic. 380lb opener. Butter. 410lb second attempt. Butter. I feel my lower back round ever so slightly. An indicator. Hastily talking with my training partners, coaches, husband, and they say go for it. So I did. I called 420lbs. They meant go for it more. Kinda funny. It was conservative. But I had a plan. I worked the plan. 420lb was solid attempt. I'd give myself maybe five more pounds for sure, ten would be a question. 3 for 3 on deadlift. 8/9 for the day.
I feel proud of myself. Really really proud of me. It's humbling. I trusted the process. I trusted myself. I allowed myself to be great. I revealed what was already there. I ended with a 1,055 pound total. That's one hundred and ten freakin pounds on my best total.
I won best overall raw lifter. I beat a woman that I thought had magic fairy dust. The best part is that I had no idea. I had no idea how close I was to winning. I didn't care. I only wanted to do what I knew was there. There is no magic fairy dust on the platform. I won with .021 points.
#poweryourown
In December I competed with an arm that quit working and it changed the way I viewed meet preparation and execution. In training, before I go into the gym I know what lies ahead of me. I know what lifts I have to do and I know what numbers I have to hit. I know how I feel that day and I know if it's going to be easy, hard, or somewhere in the middle. I make calculations in my head about how I'm going to get to working sets, I go through the entire session in my head and make plans; if this, then that, if not that, then this. I do this all before I even step foot in the gym. There is no pressure from myself to hit certain numbers or reps, there is only a well thought out plan and execution of the plan. I am a hell of a gym lifter.
Pre-dead arm, come meet day, after a hell of a training cycle, after all the calculations, after all the execution, I let all that out the window because there is magic fairy dust on the platform. On the platform, it's easy. I don't have to think. I don't have to calculate. I don't have to evaluate. Make the calls to get to the end number that I decided on months ago. Ignore everything else because there is magic fairy dust on the platform.
In December, my bench press went away and so did all of my magic fairy dust. I went to the meet in December with a one track mind. Come hell or high water, I was taking a squat record. Nothing else mattered. I knew I had it, there was no pressure, there was only execution. That dead arm changed my mind set on the platform. It changed my approach. It forced me to trust the process.
I say it all the time to new lifters, 'trust the process', turns out, I had no idea what I was talking about. I didn't trust the process. I just trained and got to a meet and said fuck the process, throw the weight on the bar and watch me........fail. I thought something magic happened on meet day and all I had to do was step onto the platform and everything would fall into place. There is no magic fairy dust on the platform.
After December I took a few weeks off and still trained but nothing serious. Next meet was to be in April and back to the raw with wraps division. My training cycle started slow. Eventually, the momentum picks up. I'm back in the thick of a training cycle and back to being a hell of a gym lifter. As with every training cycle, when the momentum picks up, my mind starts racing, it starts racing all the way to third attempts and totals and world records and magic fairy dust. But I'm changed. I'm different lifter. I trust the process. The process is day to day, one lift at a time, you can't rush the process, you can't force it, you can't predict it. You can only plan it, adjust, and execute.
Talking with Wade, talking about numbers and attempts and all the things. I said to him, I've just got to be able to put it all together. He said no. He said, all you have to do reveal what's already there. It's there, you know it's there, you've done it, all you have to do is reveal it. It clicked. I decide to give myself some credit and stop questioning what I may or may not be capable of. I know how to plan my work and work my plan. I'm fucking awesome at that but for some reason, come meet day, I forget. Not this time. THIS TIME I will trust the process. THIS TIME I will pay attention to warm ups, THIS TIME I will adjust, THIS TIME I will execute, THIS TIME I will reveal what is already there.
Squat. I'm nervous. I've been nervous all morning. There's all these people here who I've only ever "met" on the internet. I don't know how to act. Ignore everything. Solid plan. My training partner and best friend Annie is in the first flight. Her first two attempts are good. Third attempt is called. She seems nervous. She seems unsure. I'm nervous. I'm unsure. I don't remember what I said to her, or if I even said anything at all. I remember wanting this lift for her so badly, selfishly, because if she got that lift, it somehow was going to set me up to have a good day. She goes up to the bar, squats, depth is plenty, sticks at the sticking point, grinds and grinds and stands up with the bar. I want to cry, but force myself to get it together. The tone has been set. It's going to be a good day.
Squat warm ups go ok. Feeling better than expected but not as solid as I would have liked. Roll with it. First attempt, 385lbs, good, not as fast as I wanted. The squat is my lift. My strategy going into the meet was to go for it in the squat and then stack up as many attempts as possible with bench and deadlift. Second attempt is 420lbs. It's a somewhat risky call but I know I have it, it's going to tell me what to do for the third. 420lbs is good for a 2nd attempt. A little slow, a little sticky. Some debate with my coach and handler about what to call for the 3rd. We decide on 435lbs. I knew it was going to be a stretch. BUT that was plan all along. I was going for it. I miss. I'm ok with it. It was a solid call and solid attempt. On with the plan. I suppose I should mention that the 420lb squat breaks the all the world record at 123lbs. I'm happy about this, yes, but I've got shit to do.
Bench warm ups are feeling solid. Bench is weird at meets. It just is. Maybe I'll figure it out one day. Opener is 195lbs. Fuck you dead arm. Moves fast and easy. 210lbs for a second. Still easy. Bar speed slows just a tad. Speed is my secret weapon. When my bar speed slows, it's an indicator of the end. I talk with my coach and handler and say 220lb will be a stretch, 215lbs is a sure bet. I say fuck it, I'm going 215. Stack up the wins. Stack up the attempts. Stack up the total. 215 is slow and ugly and good. 3 for 3 on bench, trusted the process and trusted myself.
Deadlift. My least favorite lift. Though, it is fun on the platform. People are loopy and tired from the long day. It's just the right mix of silliness, intensity, the downward slide to finish line. Warm ups feel good. REALLY good. Holy shit, I think Aaron Thomas freaking nailed the taper on my deadlift. Scratch that, I know he did. Cautiously enthusiastic. 380lb opener. Butter. 410lb second attempt. Butter. I feel my lower back round ever so slightly. An indicator. Hastily talking with my training partners, coaches, husband, and they say go for it. So I did. I called 420lbs. They meant go for it more. Kinda funny. It was conservative. But I had a plan. I worked the plan. 420lb was solid attempt. I'd give myself maybe five more pounds for sure, ten would be a question. 3 for 3 on deadlift. 8/9 for the day.
I feel proud of myself. Really really proud of me. It's humbling. I trusted the process. I trusted myself. I allowed myself to be great. I revealed what was already there. I ended with a 1,055 pound total. That's one hundred and ten freakin pounds on my best total.
I won best overall raw lifter. I beat a woman that I thought had magic fairy dust. The best part is that I had no idea. I had no idea how close I was to winning. I didn't care. I only wanted to do what I knew was there. There is no magic fairy dust on the platform. I won with .021 points.
#poweryourown
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