Competition Day

Today I competed in the AWA Provincials (AB Olympic Lifting). It was my first ever competition. Here's my thoughts about the process:

3 Months To Competition:
I'm super stoked. I start training with Mike. I'm getting really really excited to train and have huge gains.

2 Months Out:
Into the groove of new training routine, feeling stronger in every aspect. I have lot's of time to make gains!

1 Month Out:
I've plateaued on the olympic lifts. Getting frustrated. Feeling fatigued most of the time.

2 Weeks Out:
The crying begins. I've gotten a lot stronger on all the assistance training but I'm missing oly lifts that I've done before. My grand expectations have been diminished. I know that it's a mental block I need to get over, and that I can physically handle heavier loads. I am feeling really frustrated because I don't know how to 'get over' the mental block.

1 Week Out:
I begin ruminating about my strategy. I end up deciding to do the following for my lifts: (1) something heavy but I know I can get (2) something just under my current PR and (3) something slightly over my my PR. I feel really nervous, but ready.

The Night Before:
I start looking for inspiration so I watch a million youtube videos and 2011 CrossFit Games repeats and I'm continually positive visualizing. I am getting heart palpatations just thinking about the competition. So now its time to calm the eff down. I knit. I do my nails. I feel good.

The Morning Of:
Time to get angry. I watch some more videos. I make a KILLER breakfast. I am ready and full of rage to unleash on the barbell.

The Competition:
I feel a million different emotions up until I do my first lift. It all happened so fast that I didn't really have time to get nervous. I power snatched my 3 attempts just because my major issue is getting under the bar so I just did what I was more comfortable with. Everything felt really good. The clean and jerk was felt heavy but solid. I weighed in at 48.56 kg which put me into the 52 kg category. I shouldn't have eaten my "killer breakfast" :(.I ended up doing:

Snatch: 30/32/35 kg
Clean and Jerk: 45/45/48 kg

I re-did the 45 kg C&J because the first attempt the bar didn't follow me down on the dip (too fast) so I ended up pressing it out for lack of power. The second 45 kg attempt felt a lot better because my dip was slower and the bar came with me. The 35 kg snatch and 48 kg C&J were both a personal record for me so I am super stoked about that. Considering I'm a stress case and lifting in front of people scares the crap out of me, and my confidence issues, I'm pretty happy that I was able to achieve a PR.

Overall, the day was really fun and it was amazing to see such strong people lift stupid heavy weights over their heads. I would definitely compete again. Its an enormous exercise in self improvement and such a head game (for me at least) but it's so worth it!