One of my 2015 goals is to qualify for the Pan Am Masters and I've got a few different things planned to get there. My first meet was last weekend and I'M IN LOVE!
I am competing this year in the 53kg weight class so my first success this year was making weight at the meet. I've been "dieting" since September. Eating lots of food, but just slightly under maintenance level so the weight loss was slow and (mostly) easy. When I stepped on the scale that morning and saw 52.4, I did a little happy dance, SUCCESS!
I say "mostly" easy above, because there was one week, about two weeks out from the meet where I was tired, hungry, upset, crying and just feeling like a loser. The training mesocycle I was in was coming to an end and it had been hard on me and my body. I had also backed down my calories a bit to make sure I made weight AND my female hormones were not helping the situation any. Poor Jeremy. I literally cried every day I touched a barbell. He had to pat my head, hug me and tell me it would all be worth it. And it was! When I made weight it felt like a Super Bowl touchdown.
After the weigh in I slammed a Monster, a coffee, my pre-workout concoction and a donut. HAHA FTW I made weight! Apparently that gave me a little too much energy because Jeremy kept telling me to, "sit down!" and "stop wasting energy!". Like that drunk person who thinks they are stone cold sober, I thought I was as calm and as relaxed as a cheetah with a full belly lounging in a tree. Guess not.
The place the meet was held was tiny, so I had to keep my claustrophobia in check as I warmed up. And I had to get used to hearing that I was in the hole, and then bumped back, and then on deck, then bumped back. Thankfully, I didn't really have to listen. Jeremy did that job for me!
When I first stepped on the platform it was so cool. I mean, it was odd because 40 plus people are sitting 8 feet in front of you staring at nothing but you, but it was still cool! I hit my first snatch at 45kg and had my second SUCCESS of the day! My goal at this meet was to a) total and b) go 6/6. Hitting the snatch made me one step closer to both.
Weirdly enough, the second lift was when I got nervous. Who knows why, but I became way more anxious about hitting 50. I've hit it many times in training, but the people watching me that were SO COOL earlier now became a little embarrassing. They.are.staring.at.me. They.are.analyzing.my.every.move. I'm that weird girl that split snatches..... But I made the lift even with all those thoughts and did my little happy dance.
My third lift was 53 (my PR is 54.5), but I'd hit it enough it should have been fine. But the voices in my head got to analyzing everything. What do they think of my pre lift routine? Do I look stupid when I do this? And then the kiss of death..."THIS IS AN OVER BODYWEIGHT SNATCH". Lol, I'd hit it before weighing about 55 so that thought was really irrelevant, but that thought is what made me miss my last snatch. However, if we were using CrossFit rules I made that lift, but in weightlifting that cute press out just doesn't cut it. Oh well! On to the C&J!
I'll spare you the details on the C&J because they went great 3/3 hitting 64/68/70 complete with a full out, legit happy dance at the end because I had totaled! The over-analytic thoughts were still in my head during the c&j, but all the Monsters and donuts (yes, plural) had turned their volume down enough that I didn't hear them so loudly.
I didn't go 6/6, but I am totally ok with that. I didn't PR any lifts, but we hadn't planned for me to. We wanted my first meet to be relatively stress free and fun and it was. The fact that I won my weight class was pretty cool as well as being overall female Sinclair lifter and overall female master's Sinclair lifter. :)
Things I learned at my first meet:
Find the clock. Yes, I'm the idiot who kept hearing "one minute" but having no freaking clue where the clock was. I found out later that it was on that huge 55 inch tv screen to my right and I'm blind. Ok, 55 inch might be an exaggeration, but how I missed it is beyond me.
Put on a show for the audience. They are there to watch the show. They think it's cool that you have the guts to get up their and lift. They think it's awesome (albeit weird) that you split snatch. They want you to succeed!
Pack REAL FOOD: Yes, I lived on Monsters, donuts, one Kill Cliff Bar and a banana that day. But a bit of tuna and maybe some cold pasta would have been a nice addition.
At this writing, I am 42 days from lifting at the Arnold and am really excited about the training these next few weeks will bring.
PS: I would love some sponsors! Anybody want to put their name on a 53kg Master's Lifter?
PSS: I am an Amazon affiliate, so if you want to purchase something from Amazon, like this adorable Gremlin Gizmo, Amazon gives me a little thank you gift of a few pennies for referring you. But you don't have to purchase the Gizmo, anything you purchase through my link works. Weighlifting is expensive, every penny helps! :) :)
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