Am I going to tell you I blew away the competition? That I was perfect? No I am not. I was far from perfect. I can tell you with one hundred percent honesty that I gave everything I had to give and left it all on the platform. As for blowing away the competition, I don't know about that either. I did bring home three first place medals, but if my real competition is myself I didn't defeat her. I also feel quite strongly that everything happened exactly as it should have. I am not disappointed with my performance, I know some of the things I need work on and I will do better the next time.
I picked my own attempts for this meet and planned my own warm up. The next time I will add more stretching and rolling time into my warm up, but I am pleased with the lifting I did to prep my body for the lifts on the platform.
At check-in something completely unexpected and exciting happened. The meet director asked me if I would be interested in being a referee. A chance to learn more about the sport I love and to get to observe other lifters to see their technique excites me. Judging others lifts is less exciting, but I am still intrigued and I intend on giving it a go. I will need to take an open book exam scoring a minimum of 90+%, and then a practicum during a meet sitting with a referee judging 100 lifts with 90+% accuracy. Once I complete those two steps I would need to take SafeSport training.
Back to the meet. Squats were first. I got my first squat of 330#. It felt good and I chose my second attempt 363#. I did not get to depth, I was close but not quite there so it was a no lift. My third attempt I decided to go with 374.8#, my PR from NH. It would have been a good lift, but after the squat command was given my foot slipped on the platform, an automatic no lift no matter how good the rest of the squat. I was disappointed, but I know things like that happen and I was able to brush it off, chalk it up to experience and sit to watch some of the men squat before I warmed up for Bench.
My bench presses did not go well. I got my first attempt of 176#. It felt good, not too heavy so I went to attempt 2: 192#. For whatever reason I could not get it to lockout. My shoulders were sore and in retrospect I probably wasn't braced as tightly as I should have been. I also failed my third bench attempt of 192#. I would love to tell you I handled that as well as the squats, but I did not. I came off the platform after my third attempt, had Hailey help me get my belt off and then I went off by myself to melt down.
I cried, I let all the negative voices in my head berate me, but there was another voice there too. A quieter voice, but a more powerful one. It sounded suspiciously like my coach. The voice reminded me it was a setback and a minor one. That yes, there were issues with my bench, but they could be worked on, the weaknesses could be trained. It was my decision to make whether I was going to wipe my eyes, adjust my attitude and go fight, but that voice reminded me people believe in me, it reminded me that there is a small, but growing part of me that believed in me too. I wiped my eyes, stared myself down in the mirror and went back out to watch some bench press.
Warming up for the deadlift I felt good. I remembered to brace and rip the bar and push my hips through at the end. My first deadlift was 376# and it felt light. My second I went for 407# and it was a good lift as well. The third attempt was 435.4#. It came off the floor well, I just didn't lock it out to the satisfaction of the referees. I will be working on that....because I have so much more than 435# in me.
At the end of the meet someone I don't know came up to me and said he didn't care what the referees thought of my deadlift lockouts, that I put that bar down gently like there was a baby napping in the next room. He said he was impressed with the strength that showed. I thanked him for his comment.
I did not go 9 for 9. My total is less than it was for the NH meet. Those are facts. I could be depressed and upset about that, but I am not. I gave my all, I did the best I could do. I took home three first place medals: I did something right.
I am taking this week for recovery. I tweaked my left ankle a bit and my shoulders are sore. There will be two Yoga Corr classes and a spinning class this week, but I won't touch a loaded barbell. After this week it is time to get back in the game and prep myself mentally and physically for the Northeast Regional Championships.
A couple of pictures and then I will let you get back to your lives. Me, I'll go back to recovering.
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| My medals: 1st for Women's masters 1st for my weight class Last one for Best Female Lifter at the meet |
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| Letting the beast out to play. This is what I do. This is what I love. |
Thanks for reading!
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