No videos of my lifts (yet) and not really sure that I want to see them. Not necessarily bad, but the minute the lift was over, I knew what went right and I knew what went wrong.
I made the decision to open conservatively. A fellow teammate, who can snatch a little more than me, surprised me when he said he was opening with 80. I thought he would be opening a lot higher. I had planned on opening at 82 but when I heard him, I dropped it down to 80. I have been opening my CJ at 128-130 but lowered that to 126. I immediately felt better.
We had 4 other lifters in the same session, so our coach was spread thin. One of those was lifting in his first meet, so naturally he needed some attention and coaching. Makes sense and I am glad our coach worked with him the way she did. I have been used to her telling me what weights to hit and when so I felt behind when it came to being ready. I should have paid more attention to what was happening than I did so this was on me. I just would have liked to have done more reps with lighter weights before moving up. On the platform, I hit 80 and it flew up so fast that I nearly lost it behind me. That was a big confidence boost for me. We jumped to 86 and again it felt light, but like an idiot, I dropped my head and looked down before I was totally locked out so I lost the lift in front of me. Same thing happened with 88. I was pretty bummed about this because I could have (and should have) hit all 3 of these lifts. They weren’t heavy and were not near my max. Just technique gave way to bad habits. Something else that I need to work on.
For the CJ, I wanted to make sure that I was getting some more reps in so I didn’t wait to start moving. I knew one of the other lifters was opening at 128 so I took my queues from when he started warming up. I wanted to do doubles at the lighter weight and then be about 10lbs off my opener a lift or two out. I timed this a lot better as I hit 267 about 2 lifts before I went to hit 277 on the platform. For some reason, I didn’t get the lift. My coach said I didn’t lock the lift out. I have never had this happen in training or competition before. Strange. She said it wasn’t a big deal, just to stop rushing it. The next lift, 128, felt a lot better and I got it. I knew I could breathe a little easier because at least I had a total. Funny how it went from wanting to go 6/6 to “Oh crap can I please just post a total” real fast.
As I walked around the back, I knew my next lift was 130. That is a lift I have made plenty of times. But 128 felt a little heavier than it usually does. I was looking at the screen in the back to see where I stood and before my 130 attempt, I was sitting in 3rd place for Master’s Sinclair. I was sitting behind my teammate I mentioned above, mainly because his snatch was a lot heavier than mine. I was only credited with hitting 80 but he had moved on to his 92 after missing his second lift. His CJ isn’t nearly as heavy as mine, though. He opened with 103. I thought that if I had at least hit my opener then that alone would put me above him. I guess body weight came into play. I know I have to weigh more, so my Sinclair was just 2 under his, meaning if I wanted to bump him down a notch I absolutely had to hit the next lift.
130 came up and I took a little more time on the jerk. It felt a lot better but still was more of a fight than I wanted. After I dropped it, I remember looking out into the audience to where my coach was standing and giving her a “thank God I made that lift” look.
I was so proud of our entire team. I came home on a high. Natalie, our Masters female lifter had qualified for Masters Nationals earlier in the day. Not bad for just her second meet. And she crushed her attempts. So much so that one of the judges said she needed to add about 20-30kg to the bar. Impressive day and I so proud of her. Not sure how vocal she is about it, but she is a cancer survivor and just an all around amazing person. I love having her at the gym and being a part of what we are doing. In our session, all of our male lifters came home with a medal in their respective divisions. I had a couple of people say to me “Man, there are a lot of your guys from your team here” which made me feel good that our team is growing. I loved seeing how everyone carried themselves, also. Very friendly and professional, having a great time. That is what it is all about.
I finished 1st place in the Masters 105+ Division and 3rd place overall in the Masters division by Sinclair. I was absolutely not expecting any of that. A lot of my placement has to do with one of the guys cutting weight down to a 105, which opened up our entire division. This was not even my best meet. I finished 3 for 6, going 80/130/210, which is 11kg under my best meet total. I was shocked to even hear my name on the podium. It made me proud for fighting for that final lift and not giving up. Overall, it was a great day.