It's Working! Wait...make it stop!

I woke up this morning at 139.5.  Score!

A quick trip to FRCF (recommended by Coach N) put me at 139.4 on the official scale.  That was after eating a light breakfast and half dressed.

Feeling confident, I came home and took a shower and a nap.  Forgot to drink water.

I woke up again feeling weak and hungry.

Oh shit, 138.

Ok so, now I'm eating some lunch (salad w/avocado + boiled egg, green tea, 2 spoonfuls coconut) and drinking liquids.  There is no way I could lift feeling like I do.  But I'm also afraid to eat and drink TOO much and undo all of this work.  Hopefully I wasn't already dehydrated and my body decides to hold onto this glass of water for dear life.

I'm WAY to focused on trying to pee.

Deload Day 2

I woke up this morning at 141 lbs.  Point five down,  two point five to go.

Lifting session this morning with Neil and Gabe, going up to 41 snatch and 51 c+j.  Maybe a little higher than I should have gone, but it felt good.

Now off to chug some more water and green tea...

Weighty Matters

Soooo....

Front Range CrossFit posted their meet schedule today.

Here it is.

When I saw it, my heart sank.  I was hoping that the 69kg class (which I signed up for) would be part of the lightweights OR that at least the 63kg class would be part of the heavies.  Not because I have any hopes for standing on the podium - not even close.   I lift significantly lighter than the other women.  So at the 69kg class, I most certainly will complete all 3 of my snatches before the next woman starts lifting.

Basically it will be me opening the second half of the meet like this:
Me snatch 1
Me snatch 2
Me snatch 3
....aaaaaaand then about 30kg more added to the bar so that they can begin the actual competition.

This is a lot of pressure.  Especially for someone who may fold under pressure.  If I could lift in the lightweight class, I'd at least have 1 or 2 lifters that had comparable weights as me.  Sure, they'd probably be women who weigh in under 48kg, but at least I wouldn't have to follow myself for all of my lifts.

I spent a good hour fretting and beating myself up for eating so poorly in Florida and being bitchy to my sweet undeserving husband.  Then I emailed the schedule link to Neil with a note reminding him that I currently weigh 141.5 lbs.  63kg = 138.5 lbs.  A difference of 3 pounds. His response:

"As your coach, if it really is 3 pounds I recommend losing it to lift in session 1.  Let's talk about how to do that."

I was working at a coffee shop when he called. The first question out of his mouth was whether I was interested in dropping 3 lbs. before the meet.  I said yes.  In the 1-second space between my answer and his next sentence, I thought, "Oh crap, is he going to offer me drugs?" Thankfully it was nothing that severe.  I am to limit sodium, carbs, fruit and starchy things like potatoes. That's it. In fact, I am pretty unconvinced this is going to work, especially since I don't eat a ton of grains/carbs in the first place. I have a little oatmeal in the mornings, but that's about it.  I do eat a lot of fruit.  And coconut cream concentrate.

Never being one to just take advice and relax, I immediately googled "diuretic foods" and made a shopping list and diet plan for the next 2.5 days.  I also researched how to lose water weight quickly.  I'm hoping dietary changes will be enough, but if not I'm prepared to try sweating it out.   A quick phone call to my (doctor) sister confirmed that 3 lbs can probably be dropped safely.  But that I may diet and sweat and restrict water and STILL come in .5 lb too much, so I should prepare myself to lift with the heavies just in case.

Three pounds in 2.5 days.  I really hope this works.

You know, every once in a while I step back and realize that this is just all so nuts.  I'm 35, about to compete in a competition I probably never should have signed up for and am now getting advice from bodybuilding websites on how to cut water weight. Who am I???

Four More Years

Thank goodness.

Deload Day 1

The meet is Saturday.  This week I'm supposed to be "deloading."  Coach's advice was to go up to around 80 or 90% of max on each lift and then finish with some non-difficult supplemental lifts (like front and overhead squats).

Apparently what I heard was, "PR your snatch."  Because that's what I did (44kg).

I promise I will do a real deload on Thursday.

THIS STUFF IS EVIL

Evil and delicious.

http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/coconut_cream_concentrate.htm

Orlando, which translates to Land of Ten Billion Calories.

Just back from Florida, visiting some friends.  On Friday, I attempted a training session at CrossFit Country.  CC was huge and amazing and intimidating (but also very friendly).  I'm going to blame my poor performance there on travel and the fact that my brain doesn't convert lbs. to kgs. very well.

In addition to my lifting day, I ate all of the bad food and drank all of the wine in Orlando. And did a little paddle boarding, but not nearly enough to balance out the damage. Halloween candy, cookies, cheese & crackers, wine, wine, wine, beer, wine. Not good. Not good.

Practice Meet

Neil, Gabe and I had a mini (by-ourselves) practice meet before I leave for a short trip to FL. 

It was...interesting.   I found out that perhaps I am not so great under pressure.  I was SURE AND I MEAN ABSOLUTELY100% SURE that I could snatch 40kg.  I chose it for my first lift.  I snatched 38 and then 40 with no problem in the warm-ups.  I felt great. 

First lift...BOOM.  I missed it.  The bar fell forward.  I think I was a little shocked.

I have no idea what happened.  I know I can lift 40!  Neil told me I should go up for the second lift, so I did.  42kg.  

Second lift... !@#$!   Another miss. This time backwards.  I landed perfectly in the squat but then just could not hold onto the bar!

This was turning into my worst fear.  That I would miss all three lifts.  I wasn't nervous at all before this happened, but suddenly this was NOT fun.  I decided to stay at 42kg.

Third lift.  I approached the bar.  Took a breath.  Snatched.  Good lift.   WHAT A RELIEF. 

All in all, the snatch portion of this practice meet did NOT go the way I had been playing it in my head.  I thought for sure I'd snatch 40.  Then move up to around 42 or 43 and then possibly go for a PR at 44 or 45.  My original goal for snatch was 40kg, so I am pleased with 42 at this practice meet.  But if I miss 2 lifts at the REAL meet I'm not sure if and how I will recover.  Ugh.

The C+J's on the other hand felt ridiculously easy!  I opened with a way low lift based on my snatch experience (48kg).  Then went to 52 and 55kg and just killed both of them.  My jerks felt just absolutely right on.  How the hell that happened I have no idea.  But I'd love if it happened again.

Especially since Neil and Gabe both went 0 for 3 on all their C+J's!  Where I am limited by my jerk, they are both limited by the clean.  Neil wasn't able to get out of his squat and Gabe kept catching the bar incorrectly.  It was really bizarre.  I feel a little like bad luck and wonder if I shouldn't go watch them...

Training Week, 8, Day 3

TWO PRs!

Snatch - 43kg
C+J - 55kg

At least I think so.  My left elbow still feels a little wobbly in the jerk.

The big difference today was that I did power cleans as opposed to full squat cleans.  I'm debating whether to do those in the competition.

We're having a practice meet on Tuesday.   I think I'm going to set my lifts like this:

Snatch 40kg / 42kg / 44kg
C+J - 50kg / 54kg / 56kg

That is assuming that I make all three lifts.   I know I can C+J 50kg every time.  However I'm much more unsure about snatching 40kg.  Some days the snatch feels right on, sometimes it's way off.   But if I start much lower, it would be hard to work my way up to where I'd like to be.

I don't want to hit a 38kg snatch and then miss 2 attempts at 40kg.  I'd like to hit my first 2 lifts safely and then make a PR.  My huge fear is to miss all 3 lifts.  That would be AWFUL.

Training Week 8, Day 2

Today I decided to rebel.  I deviated from my schedule.  That's right.  Deal with it.

I ignored cleans and worked on the jerk only.  Mainly because mine sucks.  So, I racked a bar and jerked up a ladder, increasing weight by 1kg increments.  Around 50kg I felt uncomfortable dropping the bar back down to my chest, so I just dropped to the ground and did the last few sets as full clean + jerks.  I went up to my PR successfully (54kg) but missed at 55kg.  I'm glad I did it.  It made me realize that full squat cleans are exhausting!

Hopefully this Friday I can put up a new PR of 55!

Clean + Jerk (heavy single) - 54kg
Front squats - skipped these because we did Fractured Fran the day before
Snatch Push Presses - 5 sets of 3 - (went up to 37kg)

Oh Boy Another Post About Food!

I thought I would track today's food intake to see if it was very different than the last post. I guess I eat a lot of chili, mixed greens and canned tuna, because all three items make a repeat appearance.  Oh and chocolate.  I swear I don't eat those things every day.  Well, maybe the mixed greens.  And the chocolate. Wheee, here we go!

Breakfast:

1/2 sweet potato microwaved with a pat of butter

Cup of hot water with lemon and grated ginger (much easier on the stomach than coffee)

Pre-workout snack:

Half avocado

A couple spoons of greek yogurt drizzled with honey

Cup of peppermint tea

Lifting session 10:45 am

Post-workout protein shake:

1/2 frozen banana, handful frozen blueberries, a little greek yogurt, coconut water, tsp fish oil, scoop of vanilla protein powder...blended and chugged.

Lunch:

Mixed greens, hard-boiled egg, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 can of albacore tuna, oil & vinegar

Cup of coffee with tsp of coconut oil

Snack:

Apple, small piece of chocolate dipped in almond butter

Dinner:

Large bowl of pumpkin, butternut squash and coconut soup (yum)
Small bowl of beef/bacon chili (also yum)

Very large glass of red wine (fuels me while I work)

Typing this, I'm still kind of hungry.  I may slice and warm up some peaches and cinnamon before bedtime.  Maybe a little butter on there would be nice too.  Hmmmm.

The end!

Training Week 8, Day 1

Time is slipping away.  The competition is 3 weeks away.

Snatch heavy single - 39kg.  Felt off today.

Snatch balance - 3 sets of 2 - Went up to 27kg.  I have lost ALL confidence on these for some reason.  Neil mentioned that you should be able to snatch balance as much as you can snatch.  And on the first day I tried these, I thought they were easy.  I'm not sure what has happened, because I would take the bar off the rack and just stand there frozen.  My body would not allow me to drop down into a squat.  It felt like jumping off a cliff.

Back squat - 5 sets of 3 - Went up to 61kg.

Tuesday is C+ J day.  My jerk is awful.  I really want to spend time working on my speed, confidence and positions.  I think I may rack the bar and do a jerk ladder instead of just cleaning it up every time.

My original "low" goal was to snatch 40 and C+J 55.  I'm letting the 55kg goal go.  I performed a very messy 54kg, but I'm not sure if I can repeat it.   At this point, I want to focus on hammering home 40 & 50 to make sure I can confidently hit those weights at the competition.

Training Week 7, Day 3

Heavy lifting day.

Snatch - 42 kg (new PR yay!)
C + J - 51kg (3kg below my max boo!)

And here's a video of my failed attempt at snatching 43kg.  I like to call it "Failed 43kg Snatch Attempt" or "Ohhhhhhhhh SHIT."  Enjoy.

Training Week 7, Day 2

(Tuesday, Oct. 16)

Clean & Jerk, heavy single - 54 kg (new PR!)
Front squat  - 5 sets of 3 (up to 53kg)

Overhead squat - 3 sets of 2 (up to 40kg)
Clean deadlift - 3 sets of 2 (up to 75 kg)

Training Week 7, Day 1

If you read my last post, you would know that I participated in a powerlifting meet yesterday.  So, lifting today was a little harder than usual.  Yep, that's my excuse.  Take it or leave it.

3-position snatch up to heavy.  Went up to 30 kg.

Then heavy singles.  Went up to 36 kg.

Back squats, climbing, 5 sets of 3.  Went up to 50 kg.  Yes I know.

Push press, climbing, 5 sets of 5.  Went up to 36 kg.

Snatch deadlifts, 2 sets of 2.  55kg.  That was rough.

Here's me working on the 3-position snatch.  Doesn't look good.  It looks so slow to me.  And I'm not getting enough power on that top pull / hip pop.

Bookmarking this video for reference before I try these again.

Mini Powerlifting Meet!

CFPH hosted their first (annual?) powerlifting meet on Saturday.  It was so much fun to lift with all the amazingly strong girls at the gym.  My scores were at the bottom of the pack (which I totally expected) but I still managed to set some new PRs for myself.  It was also interesting to see how I would react to a competition setting, even if that setting was in my own gym surrounded by athletes I know.  In other words, about 1000 times less intimidating than the FRCF Olympic meet.

Here are my scores:
Back Squat - 73 kg (current PR was 62)
Bench Press - 30 kg (awful)
Deadlift - 94 kg (current PR was 82)
Bodyweight - 64 kg

I made all three lifts on my back squat and was feeling great.  The women were all very supportive of each other, cheering every single lift made...even the missed lifts.

My bench press, however, was a DISASTER.  This meet was the 2nd time I had done a bench press in my life, so I'm not comfortable with the lift at all.  When you consider that I have naturally weak floppy arms, well....it wasn't pretty.   My first lift was at 30kg, something I knew I could do.  My second lift was 33kg, but it was judged a "no lift" because I didn't touch my chest.  For my third lift, I decided to go up to 35kg and just bombed.  I touched my chest with the bar and then couldn't push the weight up more than 2 inches.  Keep in mind that 35kg was by far the lowest weight bench pressed by any competitor.  Every other woman STARTED higher than 35kg and had at least 2 successful lifts.  So yeah, a little humiliating.  I honestly had a hard time shaking it off and felt super nervous going into my deadlifts.

Luckily I was able to pull all three deadlifts up successfully starting at my current PR of 82 up to a new PR of 94.  It was a really fun day!

Here are some photos so you can see my weird lifting face...apparently I do an impression of a blowfish.

73 kg squat

Meditating with 94 kg OMMMMMMMM

All the strong ladies.  And me.

Training Week 6, Day 3

Max effort day.

Was feeling like absolute crap last night.  Baby E has a cold, is constipated, teething and pretty much downright miserable.  Unfortunately I caught her cold.  (Luckily I'm neither teething nor constipated.)  That said, my performance today was a lot better than it could have been.

Snatch - 40kg (PR!!!!!!!!!)
Clean + Jerk - 50kg (Awful).

Jerks felt soooo heavy today.  Not really sure what was up with that.

Knock on wood, it looks like I may be reaching my lower set of weight goals for this competition.  If you'll remember,  5 long weeks ago, my coach asked if I had specific goals for the competition.  At the time, my PRs were 29 snatch / 45 c+j.   I was completely new to the lifts, so I had no idea how far I could go in 2.5 months.  I said that lifting 40 snatch / 55 c+j on competition day would make me feel proud... and lifting 50 / 65 would make me feel like a badass.   So, looking at my progress, I think I have a decent chance of reaching my conservative goals on competition day.   Here's hoping...

This Blog is Boring.

When I started this blog I thought I'd write about a bunch of stuff, not just make it a training log.  But the last several posts have been all about training, training training.  So now for a big treat I will bore you even further with a post about what I eat.

Shortly after beginning this weightlifting program, I ended my ~6 year career as a vegetarian.  I did this for a couple reasons.  I'll probably write more about it later, but the main reason is health.

Remember these lovely bruises?  That was only the tip of the iceberg.  I would have big purple welts on my shoulders after clean days.  And upper thigh bruises from snatch pulls.  Basically, it was time for some more iron in my diet.  I had a choice:  I could eat sixty cups of spinach a day and try to make it up with vegetarian-sourced supplements.  Or I could stop listening to my whiny bleeding animal-loving heart and just eat some GD beef already.

My significant other, also a former vegetarian, went full-fledged paleo when he started the Whole Life Challenge.  I (briefly) tried dropping all grains out of my diet as well, but honestly it made me feel awful.  So I'm down to 1 or 2 servings of grain a day.  There's no way I'm giving up dairy.

Here's an example of how I eat on a lifting day.  The times are all approximate and this really varies from day to day.

6:30am :: Oatmeal with a handful of "stuff" thrown in (banana, coconut flakes, walnuts, dates, mango, etc.).  1 cup of coffee with teaspoon of coconut oil.

8:15am :: Lifting session.  GRAAARRR! (that is my roar).  I drink cold water and hot peppermint tea during the session.

9:30am :: Shake made with scoop of protein powder, frozen banana, pumpkin puree, coconut water.

11:00am :: Lunch.  Bowl of beef chili (recipe based on this one) except I add beans and top with soft goat cheese...mmmm

1:30pm :: A snack.  A peach, a carrot, some hummus.

4:00pm :: Hungry again, but it's not really time for dinner.  Mixed green salad with 1/2 avocado, handful of grapes, olive oil & vinegar.  Handful of almonds.

6:30pm :: Now it's dinner time but I'm not that hungry.  Tuna fish.  Green salad.  Bottle of beer.

9:00pm  :: Hot cocoa with heavy whipping cream, cinnamon, sweetened with a tbsp of maple syrup.

I don't measure anything.  I eat as much as I like.  I'm probably not eating enough because most nights I wake up around 2am feeling very hungry.  This is totally new for me since beginning weightlifting.  It's nuts.  Lifting doesn't really feel like that much work at the time.  I'm doing it 3 hours a week along with one CrossFit WOD.  I stuff myself with food.

My husband has dropped over 35lb since he started eating and exercising this way.  I am starting to see my stomach muscles!  I will never go back to hours of running and counting calories.

Training Week 6, Day 2

Clean + jerk - heavy single (52kg)
Front squats - (climbing) - 5 sets of 3 - (Up to 54kg) new PR!

Snatch push presses - (climbing) - 3 sets of 3 - (Up to 31kg)

C+J deadlifts - (climbing) - 2 sets of 2 - (Up to 80kg) new PR!

Today Neil told me I need to forget about the percentages when doing my lifts.  So, instead of trying to calculate 80% of my current front squat PR, I was supposed to just warm up, find a weight that feels difficult and then do climbing sets, adding on weight each time.  This is a little tricky for me since I'm not sure what my max is on several lifts.  

For example, the PR I had written on the board for front squats was 46kg. Last week I worked up to 45kg. This week I started at 45kg and went up to 54kg, a new PR.  It's different working by "feel" instead of just a prescribed percentage.   But it was nice putting new PRs up for both my front squats and deadlifts.  

Training Week 6, Day 1

Snatch ladder.  Here's a thrilling video of me going from 25 to 37kg.

I sent this video to Neil since he wasn't there today.  And, apparently I am an idiot because I was supposed to do the THREE POSITION snatch, working up to heavy and THEN the full snatch for the last 2 lifts.  Whoopsie daisy.

I also did 5 sets of 3 back squats, working up to 55kg.

By that time, everyone was done, so I didn't fit in my snatch balances or snatch pulls.

Also, snatchity snatch snatch snatch.

Training Week 5, Day 3

I HAVE A LIFT PARTNER I HAVE A LIFT PARTNER!

Her name is Nadia and she's not a boy.  :)   We're going to lift together Sundays and Fridays.

She's on a starting strength program, but said she'd follow my lead, so we did max effort day today.  Also Neil watched/coached us instead of lifting, which I really appreciate.

Snatch - 38kg (hit my current PR, failed at attempts of 39 and 40kg)
C+J - 53kg (new PR)

Clean + jerks felt good today.  Settling my weight back on my heels and thrusting my head under in the jerk really helps to make the bar go up and not forward.

Training Week 5, Day 2

Writing this a little late.  This was Wednesday's lift day.  This week is not going so well.

Clean & Jerk, heavy single (48kg)
Front squat  - 5 sets of 3 (went up to 50kg)

Overhead squat - 3 sets of 2 (went up to 35kg)
Clean deadlift - 3 sets of 2 (went up to 55kg)

Training Week 5, Day 1

We moved to a new apartment over the weekend.  I'm going to blame my crappy day on all the energy I spent moving boxes.

Snatch Heavy Single: 35 kg.  And it felt HEAVY.
Clean + Jerk Heavy Single: 45 kg.  And it felt HEAVY.
Both lifts 70% x 3

I took some video of myself and noticed that my snatch starting position is way off.  My shoulders are supposed to be over the bar, not 4 inches back.  I've been trying to keep my weight on my heels, which meant my shifting my hips and but back further, pulling my shoulders inches behind the bar.  Then, the bar swings out and back as I clear my knees.  I'll try to fix this on my next snatch day.

Training Week 4, Day 3

C+J - 52kg.  
Sort of.  My left elbow isn't really locking out correctly, so I'm not sure if this would have counted in competition.

But in other news..
Snatch - 38KG HOLY EFFING ESS.  My current PR was 35.  I have no idea how I was able to do this.  I think I found the elusive "pocket" because it felt easy.  I pulled fast and somehow BOOM I was under the bar.  I tried again at 39kg with no luck.  

These numbers make me feel more confident about reaching my goals of 40 & 55 by the competition.  Four weeks down, five weeks to go...

Training Week 4, Day 2

PR HELL TO THE YEAH.

Clean + jerk - heavy single - 52 kg. PR!
I think.  I was by myself.   And there was a CrossFit WOD going on around me, so it was a little stressful.  There may have been a very small press-out at the top.  I need to start recording video of my lifts so that I can check on these things.  But the point is I hoisted 52 kg above my head and it stayed there.

Front squats - 80% - 5 sets of 3 (45kg).
I keep pitching forward on these and have also noticed that my rack position really strains that teres minor muscle I mentioned in another post.  I don't feel the pain until I finish the squats and put down the bar.  Then this searing pain shoots through my shoulders.  I think I need to work on my rack position a little more, keeping the weight on my heels.  Also tightening my upper back and squeezing my shoulders before the beginning of the clean may help.  Who knows.  Not me certainly.  My last 2 lifting sessions have been by myself, so I'm just working on instinct.

C+J deadlifts - 105% - 2 sets of 2 (55kg).
These felt weirdly heavy.  I'm not sure why.

Finally, I was supposed to do some snatch presses, but Baby E got bored of watching her mama lift and started crying.  So we headed home.  Oh did I mention I have a baby?   I'll have to make up the snatch presses some other time.

Training Week 4, Day 1

A good day.  I woke up late and asked if I could lift during the 10:30 am CrossFit class.  Gabe lifted at that time as well.  I think the 2 hour change makes such a difference for me.  I never feel fully awake at 8:15, whether I get out of bed at 6am or 10 minutes before class.  Also we were lifting outside in the fresh air which felt kind of nice.

I PR'd on my snatch at 35kg and think two things are helping me:  1.) Making sure I go through the Burgener warm up before the lifts and 2.) Just not thinking at ALL during the lift attempt.  I think by clearing my mind I am able to go faster and explode more on the 3rd pull than if I'm constantly mental-checking my knees, my elbows, thrusting my hips and so on.  So from now on I'll probably just walk to the bar, grip it, think "SPEED" and lift.  

Heavy snatch - 35kg (PR!)
Snatch balance - 80% 3 sets of 2 (27kg)
Back squat - 80% 5 sets of 3 (54kg)
Snatch pull - 105% 3 sets of 2 (39kg)

Finished with a set of bench presses at 30kg.

Just realized I should have done 33kg on my snatch balance.  I went down 3 kg instead of up 3.  Will have to fix that next week.

Snatch day OVER.  Looking forward to Wednesday's clean and jerk.

Training Week 3, Day 3

Heavy Lift Day

C+J - 50kg.  I feel as though I could clean 60 kg.  The jerk is what holds me back.
Snatch - 34kg (PR...I think).  Coach didn't see this, so I'm not sure if it would have counted in competition.  I think there was a little press out at the end.

--------------------

My shoulder has been bothering me.  However it's been hard to pinpoint the exact point of pain.  I went to a sports massage clinic and found that I've strained my teres minor, a small muscle that assists in rotating the shoulder.  My guess is this has to do with my poor snatch form.  Just stretching and icing for now...and hoping for the best.

Training Week 3, Day 2

Clean + Jerk - Heavy Single (50kg) New PR!
Overhead squat - 80% 3 sets of 2 (30kg)
Front squat - 80% 5 sets of 3 (40kg)
Clean pull - 105% 2 sets of 3 (55kg)

Body Weight - 141 lb

-----------
I like C+J days 1000x better than snatch days.  The lift just feels natural to me.  Or at least the clean does.  My jerk is still pretty wobbly.  But both movements feel like something my body is made to do.  The snatch on the other hand feels unnatural and awkward.  I hope that will change soon.

One thing I learned today:  Weightlifting at 8:15am is difficult, but much easier if you wake up more than 30 minutes before you lift.  I've been rolling out of bed at 7:45 and dragging myself to the gym up to now.  This morning I got up at 6:15 and felt much more energized during the session.

Training Week 3, Day 1

A very bad day.

I blame 2 things:

My weak shoulders (10%)
My poor attitude (90%)

Training Week 2, Day 3

Max effort day.  But try telling that to my shoulders.   This is the first time I failed to reach a new PR on both lifts.  I hope I haven't hit a snatch plateau at 32kg.

Snatch - 32 kg

Clean + Jerk - 48 kg (new PR!)

I sometimes wish another girl was training with me.  It's definitely fun to lift with Neil & Gabe, but since they use the same bar there is a natural back-and-forth that just doesn't exist for me.  Not to mention they lift much MUCH heavier weights, so it's slightly humiliating to fall down on my butt trying to hoist a measly 30kg.  That happened twice today.

Before class, Neil was joking about how I was "hand-picked" by him.  

"That's a lot of pressure," I say, laughing nervously.  And then,  "Actually, it's not."  

"It's totally not." 

I am so new to this that there really aren't many expectations.   And a big part of him "choosing" me was that I have a flexible job that allows me to lift during the day.

"I'm probably going to come in last," I say.

"You probably are.  But you're going to go up there and do your lifts with amazing form."

That really is my main goal.  I want to lift at least 2 weights I choose for the competition.  I know failures happen, but if I'm going to lift the smallest amount of weight in the entire competition, I better lift the CRAP out of those little weights.  

Training Week 2, Day 2

I spent a long weekend in San Francisco with my sisters....and came back in no shape to lift.  So, Day 1 of this week was a bust.

Here's what I did this morning, with a heavy rainfall outside the garage and and a soothing classical music soundtrack.  So much better than Guns n Roses Radio.

Snatch, heavy rep (32kg - new PR)
Snatch balance - 80% 3 sets of 2 (30kg)
Back squat  - 80% 5 sets of 3 (50kg)
Snatch pull - 105% 2 sets of 3 (35kg)

Training Week 1, Day 3

Clean + Jerk - Heavy Single (47kg) New PR!
Overhead squat - 80% 3 sets of 2 (25kg?)
Front squat - 80% 5 sets of 3 (40kg)
Clean pull - 105% 2 sets of 3 (50kg)

Body Weight - 140 lb

-----------
And now I'm off to spend a great weekend with my sisters in San Francisco!

A Little Wisdom from Henry D.

Black and Blue

I think I may need some more iron in my diet.

Training Week 1, Day 2

Warm up
Snatch - heavy single (31kg) new PR!
Back squat - 80% 5 sets of 3 (48kg)
Deadlift - 80% 1 set of 5 (63kg)
Push Press - 75% 5 sets of 5 (28kg)

Weight - 138lb  This was on the gym scale, which may be set differently than ours.  This would put me in another weight class for the competition.

Notes:
Drop into full squat on snatch lifts.
Keep elbows still and bar secure on push presses.

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And for your enjoyment, some gangnam style.

Training Week 1, Day 1

Warm up
Snatch up to Max (29kg)
Snatch 70% x 3
Clean + Jerk up to Max (45kg)
Clean + Jerk 70% x 3
Strict pull-ups 3 sets of 5 (used band for assistance)

Body weight: 142 (I'm tracking this because I may end up in a lower weight class).
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After class, Neil asked me for my goals for the competition.  His are:

Be injury free on Event Day

Snatch 85kg

Clean & Jerk 120kg

Have Fun

Here are mine:

1. Have fun

2. Make at least 2 of my 3 lift attempts (on both lifts). 
I don't want to make one and then miss the others - or worse miss all 3.  

As far as the numbers...I'm not sure how far I can go in 8 weeks.  Maybe this is something I have to wait to find out.

Based on nothing...

-Current PR = 29 (snatch),  45 (c+j)
-Numbers that would make me proud = 40, 55
-Numbers that would make me feel like a bad ass mo fo = 50, 65

3. Snatch ?? kg
4. C + J ?? kg

and yeah injury-free is a good goal, so I'm making that my fifth.

5. Injury-free on event day

Starting Somewhere

In May of this year, I joined CrossFit, everyone's favorite fitness cult.  I heard about CF from my younger sister, a former competitive gymnast who is much MUCH more athletic than me and 1000 times tougher.   I'd see photos of her on facebook lifting tires, running obstacle courses, hanging from bars.  It looked awful and painful and like so much fun.

The only thing I really knew how to do for exercise was run.  And that was getting old.  I wanted to shed some baby weight and, lucky day, there was a CF gym less than 1 block from my house!  It only took 3 months for me to find the courage to contact them.  I made an appointment with Neil, the owner.  On the first day in a private meeting, Neil put me through a simple fitness test and I nearly puked.  I loved it.

Four months later and I'm almost completely brainwashed.  I don't eat paleo and I don't wear cheesy t-shirts with quotes about burpees, but I love walking over to the little garage to be tortured 4 days a week.  I don't have my pull-up yet and barely have a pushup.  But I can crank out double unders with the best of them. And apparently I have a pretty good clean + jerk for a beginner.

And that's where this all begins.  A week ago, I hit a clean + jerk PR at 45 kg.  Neil pulled me aside after class.  He complimented my lift and mentioned an upcoming olympic weightlifting contest.  

"I think you should consider entering it.  You have a natural talent.  Talk it over with Mike."

If I was interested, Neil would start me on a weightlifting program and coach me up to the event.  I said I'd consider it, but on the walk home I knew I'd do it.  And so I registered.  Why not?  Anyone could enter.  You didn't have to qualify.  It would be fun.  What do I have to lose?   I pranced around cutely, telling Mike he was going to need to step up his game or his wife would soon be out-lifting him.  

I went to bed still riding high on my coach's praise and my 1 nice clean + jerk.  Then, around 2 am, I sat straight up in bed horrified. Oh God. What Have I Done.  What was I thinking?  Can one simple compliment really make me cocky enough to enter a WEIGHTLIFTING competition?  With WEIGHTS?  That you LIFT?  I checked out the scores from last year's competition and saw that the woman who took last place in 2011 lifted *significantly* more weight than I do.  I'm dead.  I'm dead.  I'm dead.  

Slightly calmer in the morning, I rushed to the computer and watched a bunch of clean+jerk and snatch technique videos.  I looked for blogs on this topic, but couldn't find anyone stupid/brave enough to enter a competition a couple months after learning how to do a snatch.   Or at least no one willing to publicly write about it.  So, that's what I'm going to do.  This blog will be both a (boring) log of my lifting progress and (probably more boring) journal of the experience.   Maybe I will help some poor gal out there in a similar situation in the future.  Note to future gal:  What were you thinking?

The competition is November 10, 2012.  There's a good chance I will come in dead last.  But I'm determined to get back to my original goal of having fun.  I have to think that my coach saw something in me; I trust him and know he wouldn't tell me to enter as some kind of 8-week long sick/complicated practical joke.  

Wish me luck.