National's napalm in the morning

I ended up competing well yesterday and enjoyed myself in the process. There were a good few lifters who could not make it and were missed, but everyone who came gave it their all. I ended up hitting my targets of 116/147 and had a good day at the office. Zag hit 100/128 and missed the Jerk on 135kg. Byrdie hit 110/146 and made the Jerk that eluded him in the Europeans. Cillian hit pb's also as did many other lifters. All in all, it was a great competition. Here is what I did:

I weighed in at an easy 93.3kg. I cleaned up the diet over the last few weeks and dropped around 2kg of fat, so I ended up going down to 93.3kg because I knew that if I hit my targets at that weight, I would get a 300 sinclair for the first time. After the weigh in I ended up going home for two hours to chill out--Irish competitions only have one weigh in due to small numbers-- and I came back afterwards.

I lifted in the last group and my warm up went swimmingly. After ten minutes or so, I looked across at Alex--A Latvian lifter in his first Irish competition. He wore runners when lifting!--who was just having a good time. I recognised that I was getting far too intense and then I just chilled out a bit and ended up Snatching well. Here was my warm up: 3x2@40 1x2@60 1x1@80, 90, 99, 104--I actually Power Snatched my last two warm ups because although my technique felt great, I was not finishing the pull.

My opener was with 108kg and it was fast, but hit out front a little so I had to adjust at the bottom a bit before rising. This was the first time I have ever been able to do this in a competition. I then moved onto 112kg and this felt far more in the groove and for my third attempt I went up to 116kg which I had missed in my last two competitions. This felt sweet again and it was the way I lifted, rather than the weight, that pleased me. I can feel my technique getting sharper and it was very encouraging.

For the Clean and Jerks, I warmed up with doubles with 60 and then singles with 80, 100, 115, 125 and my last warm up was with 131kg which I actually missed in the Jerk! I went out a few minutes later to an opener of 137kg and hit it pretty easily. Looking at the videos I can see my weight was not over the bar enough and that I was leaning back a little much in all the Cleans and using my back a little early. This should be easily fixable. I then went up to 143kg and 147kg for my final attempt. Like my Snatch, this was a 1kg pb and I was happy to get it because I have not been hitting many heavy Clean and Jerks lately.

I am already looking forward to the Ulster Open on May 29th and I should be hitting bigger weights as I am two weeks into my competition period of training and this will get me used to the heavier Clean and Jerks again. What I want in Ulster is 118/150. One step at a time and if it is there, I will go and get it. If not, so be it. I need to keep getting stronger and more disciplined in the mind and I should be getting the lifts that I have the potential to get. Love the journey.

I only have a few videos, so liet me know if you have any constructive criticism: