Sacramento slip up

Sacramento was about an hour and a half away and we were all looking forward to the competition. The gym was amazingly awesome and the competition was a small one for American standards, but still had over 70/80 people competing in it. The organisers were really efficient and everything ran very smoothly. The MC's in particular were instrumental in keeping the action moving and in getting the crowd involved before and after. The only Irish person who could possibly compare would be if Paudie Roche took the mike in a competition.

Donny and Rob both lifted very well and hit total pr's; Rob hit 127/153 and Donny hit 166/203, but he narrowly missed 210kg. Jon hit 152/185kg and Spenser hit 155/195kg. These were big numbers and the Cal Strength team took the overall medals. Two female lifters Joanne and Jenny bot qualified for nationals. Sami ended up with 100/126kg and lifted three out of six.

The gym has a powerlifting club, a crossfit club and a weightlifting club. It has absolutely everything a gym can want and it is all contained in what looks like an outdoor shed/warehouse. It was very hot that day and even when we were in the shade, we were effectively outdoors. We Irish boys were not quite used to that.

When we got there, we registered and ended up weighing in and waiting around for a few hours to lift. I was very stiff by the time that I started warming up, so it was a relief to get a bar in my hands at last. The plan was to open with 115/140. I warmed up in the usual manner and ended up missing 110, which was supposed to be my last warm up. I asked Glenn to put me up to 116kg as an opener so I could actually make 110 in the warm up room. For my opener, I only high pulled the bar. I then missed it out front and I ended up making the lift on my third attempt. The relief was enormous and it was not nice staring down the barrel of bombing out. This did not go as planned, but what can you do?

I had a good rest for the Clean and Jerks and I warmed up to 137kg. I asked Glenn to bump up my opener to 142 and after I hit that, I ended up only high pulling 148kg twice. This was extremely humiliating, but there is no choice but to simply get on with it. I wanted to hit this lift very badly, but fear clearly won the day. Frustrating, yes, but this will be one hell of a challenge to overcome and it will make me a stronger person when I do overcome it.

After the competition, I felt just like every single one of you reading this blog have felt when something you want really bad does not come out the way you have worked so hard to achieve. Everyone feels disappointment, but not everyone reacts in a positive way. Which am I? This is what I feel like:



Here is another cool video: