journeyintoselfmatters

One week later and here I am posting the results. Oh well.
Miami was incredible. The competition went smoothly, the crowd was fun, most of my powerlifting buds were there...and I GOT SECOND PLACE! This, in and of itself, is a HUGE accomplishment for me. To give you an idea, I am usually placing much lower than that (last year I placed 6th). Due to a few key movements in weight classes, as well as decreased participation (most likely from the economy) I was looking, before the competition, to place second. However, Priscilla Ribic, world champion, who normally is in the 148lb weight class, moved up to the 165lb class. Now, if I was able to get all my lifts in, I could make a run at first place.

Squats: I ended up lifting a 330lb squat. My 3rd attempt I failed (347). I hate to say it, but I knew then and there I needed that squat to stay in the race. Donna Marts, my competition, is a really good bencher and decent deadlifter. I was pretty disappointed after that lift, because I did my classic "getting soft" in my midline when coming out of the hole. While my midline is MUCH stronger since I started crossfitting, it is still my weakness.
Bench: 226 lb personal record! Bench was soooooo smooth. I hit it right in the groove Check it out:


Deadlift: Got 330 lbs on my second attempt. That matches my personal record. But it was a heckauva lot easier than the last time. Went up like a rocket! My 3rd attempt, the coach wanted to drop me down, since Donna made her last deadlift and there was no chance for me to win, but he didn't get the attempt change turned in in time. So, I tried to pull 363. Yeah. 33lbs over my personal record. It was ugly. But hell, I got it off the floor before I started shaking like an egg beater!!! Here's that funny video:


So all in all, was a great day. I ended up pr'ing on my total by 10 pounds! And second place! I still can't get over it.

So what is next? I am taking a break from powerlifting for 3 months (at least) to concentrate on crossfitting full time. I think that this switch-up will help to strengthen some, if not all, of my weakness. Plus, I really want to see what that will do to my body composition. Hell, swimsuit season is coming up right? But seriously, I am thinking of traveling back to Miami is August for the North American/Pan-American Powerlifting Championships. Not sure about that though, so will keep ya posted.

As some of you know, I will be competeting in my 4th USAPL Women's Nationals on Sunday morning. One great thing about it? It is in MIAMI!!! Talk about a great location! Another awesome thing about it? I have a chance to place 2nd.

At first I thought -- ugh...pressure -- As usually my placing is around 5-6. This year though there is a huge drop in the amount of women competing, which makes my placing possibility higher. I will have to hit all of my lifts. My numbers will matter much more than they have any other year. Good thing I have Gregg Jones, master number-worker helping me out! But in the end, that pressure I felt after first seeing the roster has dissipated. Why? Well I figure that it truly is the same as any other competition I go to. I always put down my best. I always go 100%. And who knows? Maybe this tight competition will make me go 110%, 120%? Lets hope so...I am looking for some rockin PRs. More to come...

I've been awful about posting lately! So sorry! I get caught up...then say - well I got these great photos on my camera of Crossfit Omaha workouts, so "wait until you get those uploaded onto your computer" and then put off posting until I have those done (which I haven't yet), etc. etc. I think that it is just time to repost. Especially as it has been 2 weeks since I have posted last. Sad. Honestly, not sure that I remember all of my workouts!



Well anyways, what I really wanted to say is that I have been doing this little experiment: drinking a lot of Guinness! I've told my friends that I am convinced that it is making me stronger. Or really, maybe that is just an excuse to have more of it! I actually think that Guinness is clearly placed on the right side of the Healthy/F-off Scale, and try to convince myself that it is placed higher on the healthy axis than it probably should be. No matter though, I have upped my Guinness intake for the past month and it seems to have paid off (see that squat workout below)! Got to love the scientific method.

01/28/2009:
3 Rounds for time of:
21 - 24 inch box jumps
15 - 14 lb wall ball
9 - 77 lb sumo deadlift high pull
Time: 11:41

01/26/2009:
Powerlifting squat day:
Worked up to 335 for 2 repetitions. Full gear. Felt AWESOME! Given that my one rep max at this weight is 347, I think I am gonna kill the squat at women's nationals. Must be all that Guinness.

1/22/2009:
Did good ol "Kylie L" (7 rounds: 7 burpees, 7 pullups, 7 box jumps). Finished in 11:16. I remember this one back in August and how much I hated it! I checked and back then I finished in 14:39...now thats a pretty decent improvement :)

1/21/2009:
Modified the Crossfit Omaha workout a bit...needed to go heavier in the deadlift since I am so close to Women's Nationals: 185# DL 5 reps20 Air SquatsStill did 5 rounds. Finished in 6:53. My back was screaming at me...I just screamed back.

1/20/2009:
Powerlifting: Bench and Deadlift. I found out that my bench shirt needs replacing because 220 (or was it 230?) felt like I wasn't getting any pop out of it. Took a look at the seams and it was time to thow that one away! Can't remember how deadlift was...

1/19/2009:
Powerlifting: Squat. I have no idea what I did that night...and don't have my book in front of me to record it here.

1/17/2009:
Powerlifting: Deadlift. Once again, can't remember.

1/16/2009:
CFO workout of 50-40-30-20-10 rep rounds of: Box Jumps, 20 inch box ; Situps. Finished in 17:23 and I remember that night I finished last out of the group. That sucks. Box jumps and situps are both weaknesses of mine that I need to continue working on.

I think that I'm all caught up now on the workout posts...

Ok -- I am done with winter! 4 more weeks until beautiful Miami Florida. Honestly, the weather better not let me down there - it must be bikini weather...and tank top weather. I miss my tank tops. Honestly though, I am getting pretty excited for this competition. My training has been a bit erratic, for instance the blizzard like weather we had on Monday prevented me from going to Lincoln to train with my powerlifting coach, but that's how it always is. I never train like I would like to. Every competition I always go back and say that my training will be more consistent the next time around...but it never is. I guess at least I am having fun. That's why I do it anyways!

Tuesday I went to Crossfit Omaha and did the WOD of:
5 Rounds
12 full clean squats (I did 77#, Rx'ed was 95#)
15 pushups (Rx'ed was 21)
Time limit: 20 minutes

Positives about this workout: I finally got the motion of slapping the bar against my thighs down pat. I have bruises (painful nasty ones) to show for it. Ricky, one of the trainers at CFO, is fantastic at breaking down complex movements into phases and really amazing at showing/teaching these movements.
Negatives: I did not finish in the time limit. I was FIVE pushups away from finishing. This was most definitely a case of 'the pacer' coming out in me. I paced myself way too much. I get to a point sometimes in these 'moderately' heavy workouts where I am afraid of form-breakdown and that fear makes me slow down. I remember hearing while I was on round 4 someone call time and it was 17 minutes something - I kicked it in gear and honestly think that round 5 was my fastest! And despite my screaming thighs and occasional grunting (which I never do but couldn't help myself here - I so wanted to finish in time...) I blasted through the squat cleans. For the final 15 pushups I went as fast as I could but my dang arms kept on failing. Being that close yet still failing to make time made me mad. But a postive in all of this failing was a breakthrough in my limits. A realization that I can complete complex movements (safely) under far more stress than I think I can. I am grateful for every time that I have a breakthrough like this because they are those catalyst moments that will only propel me forward. So Tuesday was a good day.

Tonight I am off to Lincoln to train powerlifting - no blizzard to stop me today.

Was perusing my favorite sites today and found this article by Jon at AgainFaster.com : DONT QUIT . I really love the way Jon writes - simple, to the point and inspiring. Take a look!

Was at CF on Saturday and participated in a team workout -- I think that team workouts are the best. They push me to work harder because I am not only accountable to myself, but also to my teammates. Was a good time and left my calves hurting even until today (Thursday). Also on Monday I did some powerlifting training. I haven't benched in a long time. I think even since the competition! I worked up to 195 x 2 with the shirt on. Not a bad workout, considering the time off!

I also can't believe that I am only5 weeks away from Women's Nationals. I will compete again at 148 since my bodyweight has been hovering low. It should be an awesome competition - with my goals for this one being the following: Squat: 350-360# range; Bench: 230-240# range; Deadlift: 340# range. Personal Records all around! Can't say where I feel like I will place, since I am not sure of my competitors yet. I always do go in with the goal to never place last! Which, you know, may sound bad, but the caliber of women competing in the 148# weight class is outstanding. There are a few world champions and world record holders.

Tonight I'll be training squat and deadlift -- more than likely putting the suit on (which I LOVE!). I'll also hit up Crossfit Omaha on Friday and Saturday. I need to force myself into a rhythm again since the holidays got me all "cheered up"!

Weakness: MIDLINE Strength. Resolution: Work my @ss off to make it strong.

Today I really felt that weakness. I did the following:
3 Rounds:
Row 500m
15 Deadlift 155#
15 KB Swings 1.5 pood

After round one I dropped to 1 pood. My midline was screaming at me, and I didn't feel comfortable enough swinging that KB around. I finished in 20:13.