Cork Open report 2013

I did some very light bar work on the Friday with snatch and clean & jerk then hit the road for Cork. Everything felt super light and easy.
I Couldn't sleep Friday night so I got to the competition venue 3 hours early on the Saturday morning and helped out with the earlier groups weigh in. (Well, I tried to help out but as I was on the very limit of my weight class, I decided to hold off on breakfast and I was a bit dopey with the hunger!)
Finally weighed in almost a kilo under and proceeded to refeed slowly on easily digestible foods: banana, protein muffin- (thanks Mary) meat ball, bit of porridge. taking care to eat really slowly and only have small bits spread out over the hour or so before lifting.
I started my warm-up about an hour and a half before my group was scheduled to start, slowly rolling and mobilising from feet up. With about a half hour before start time, I started on to the bar work. I worked hard on keeping comp nerves at bay and keeping a good mental state while coaches Harry and Alex loaded up my bar and took care of everything else. Most of the time, I didn't even know what weight I was lifting; I was just told when to lift the loaded bar. This worked very well for me and I was in great form when I stepped on the platform. I felt very confident and sure of every lift and didn't have a single miss in either warm-up or on the platform.
I don't remember any of my lifts, just that I felt great in between.
I took a few minutes after the snatches to eat a couple of chocolate covered rice cakes and let my focus drift; I was starting to feel like holding the focus was a bit of work.
The warm-up for the clean and jerk was very similar to the snatch warm-up, I was very switched off to whatever was going on around me and just lifted when I was told to. I didn't miss a single lift in warm-up and once I stepped out to the platform, I had the same confident, happy, calm feeling that I'd had during the snatch. Again, I just remember confidently swaggering up to the bar, * scene missing * lift was good! All three were grand, meaning another 6 for 6 competition.
Later that evening, I found out that my attempts were 48, 50, 52kg on snatch and 62, 66, 68kg clean and jerk leaving me with a 120kg total at 62.2kg
bodyweight for 160 Sinclair points. My personal aim had been just 150!
I'm absolutely delighted with the day, I really enjoyed it and I'm confident that while I lifted the best I could on the day, I'll do more very soon.
I'm a bit less than 10kg off my previous pbs in both lifts and it might take me a little while to get there but I'm enjoying the journey.

I'd like to thank Harry and Alex for being great coaches and taking care of everything so all I had to do was lift the weight. Capital Strength in Dublin 8 is an awesome place to train!

Two out of three ain't bad

Went to Capital today. Usual warm-up and worked up to 46kg snatch for a single. No misses along the way, very solid.
Warmed up to 57kg Clean and jerk. No misses but still felt horribly heavy and Jerk still feels like a mess. I know I should calm down, I'm just getting used to the weight again. I'm pretty sure I could clean and jerk 70kg or more right now but technique might be a bit questionable and I am very against sacrificing technique for weight. It'll happen when it happens. More patience, less rush please!
Finished with some light and fast front squat doubles at 60kg and then some glute work.
Good snatch, grand clean, jerk needs more patience. It'll do for now. Feeling good about Sat.

Taper Tuesday

Spent double extra long warming up and started with 32.5kg snatch drops for triples. Easy.
Snatched 45kg for 4 easy singles. Very consistent :)
Cleaned 52.5kg for 3 doubles, grand.
Backsquatted 80kg fit six easy doubles. Yawn!
Taper week is boooooring! Can't wait for Saturday to lift the fun things with the fun people!

LIFT ALL THE THINGS

Friday: Some rowing, some rotator cuff prehab, some glute things, 130kg man's bar deficit deadlift, 140kg deadlift, an optimistic (but failed) 152.5kg deadlift attempt.

Saturday: Worked up to an easy snatch single at 49kg, missed 50kg 3 times because I got excited and forgot myself, got it with no question on the fourth attempt. Should be easier the next time now I know I have it. I just need to remember to get my feet out.
Worked up to a clean and jerk single at 67kg. I won't say it was easy but there was no question about it and I feel I could do it again on any given day.
Worked up to 84kg for an easy front squat single and left it there.
Now I am just about within 10kg of most of my 'before time lifts' which I have decided to discount as it feels like someone else did them. They are very irrelevant to the way I'm lifting now. Important thing is I feel solid when I lift and I'm (largely!) uninjured. I've a few aches but at least I can train! Great day :)

PR Wednesday Capital Strength

Wow, what a start to the week. PR'd the snatch yesterday and went for clean and jerk PR today. Well, didn't exactly go for PRs but that's how it worked out...

Felt really fresh and full of energy going in to training today. Legs were a little stiff from back squatting yesterday but I knew that would work out in the warm up and I was right.
I did about 5 sets of light power snatches off blocks at 33kg. This was a tactical move to prime the CNS for clean and jerk abuse next! I fired through these then on to clean and jerk warm-up.

Shoulders were feeling great thanks to a session on Monday with the talented Sports Rehabilitator, Kevin Warren (like a physiotherapist, only better. Email kwsportsrehab@gmail.com). I worked up to 55kg for doubles then on to singles. 58kg, 60kg, 62kg good, 64kg great- best jerk yet and 66kg good. Left it there because a 6kg PR is a lot when you're flirting with recovery!
Dropped down to 60kg then and all over the place! Couldn't lift my hat!! Few pathetic attempts at 60kg clean and jerks, then 55kg and called it a day and went on to clean grip Capital deadlifts. 3 sets at 85kg and then I went for a nap on the giant squishy sofa. Even some dark chocolate, a banana and a protein shake weren't enough to keep my brain awake in the car on the way home (luckily I was the passenger!)
I'll sleep well tonight, happy with how my lifting is progressing.
I'm starting to set my sights on my pre injury numbers. Sooon.....

PR Tuesday Kiwifit

Very happy with training today, felt very strong!
Warm-up was a complete pain in the neck though, I was dying to get through it to pick up the heavy thing! It takes as long as it takes though so after my usual warm-up, I did some drop snatches up to 32.5kg for triples. Easy, not really worth talking about.
Next I started snatching. I worked up to 37.5kg for triples, taking a few sets twice to make sure I was warmed up properly. Then I did 2 singles at 40kg, 42.5kg. Then I did 6 singles at 45kg which is a 2kg pb since I've started back training. It felt really easy, can't wait to see what's there for the Cork Open!
Next, I back squatted up to 85kg for 6 triples. Again, easy peasy! I'm happy that I'm using my glutes properly in this, it feels like I'm hitting much better positions and much stronger too. I could have done more weight but I'll be honest, the number on the bar is starting to sound scary, just because I remember how hard it was and how long it took to hit these numbers before so in my head, it sounds heavy. This will be my new challenge to overcome.
I finished off with some snatch grip Capital deadlifts up to 75kg for what was supposed to be 2 sets of 5 but left hand slipped a little on the 5th rep of set 2 so I dropped it back to 70kg for set 3. This was grand. Back, legs, glutes felt strong, I just need to catch the grip up.
All in all, a great day; I'm feeling really strong. I hope I can hold this feeling for the next ten days!
Think I'm going for a PR on the clean and jerk tomorrow. Can't wait to see what I got :)

Couples Training at ECB and an unexpected pb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUbUI58MUV0&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Great day at ECB squad today. Nice crowd. Also, I had a bit of cake last night at a wedding and I reckon that fuelled my lifting today. I felt so much more energetic and stronger than I have all week!
As this was the end of a bad week, plan was to keep it fairly light so after normal warm-up I started with snatch drops at 30kg for a few sets. These were much steadier and faster than the last time I did them, feel I'm starting to get the hang of them.
Next I went on to cleans and worked up to 63kg (bodyweight) for triples then 65kg for a few doubles which were easy. The last rep of the last set was a tiny bit forward and wasn't as fast to stand up as the rest but still good. Very happy with these and that's a pb for clean doubles, even from the before times!
Left it at that then, dying to get stuck in to training next week. More cake!

Short and sweet

In light of the rubbish training this week, kept it light and easy today.
Usual warm-up followed by power snatch doubles up to 35kg. I probably didn't give these as much attention as I should have but I don't respect 35kg as a weight. There's still a bit of bruising on snatch contact so I was feeling a bit tender but I can work through it so it's not a problem.

Front squats then; worked up to 76kg for a few triples. These felt really nice. I have much more control of my positions and I can feel my glutes working much better than they were in 'the before time'. My glute work during my enforced convalescence has definitely paid off.
Squad training in ECB tomorrow, hopefully get a new pb of some sort.