Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Deirdre's First PL Meet

8/22/09 - Sat - MEET DAY (IPA CT STATES)


The past few workouts up til this were blah and nothing interesting so I'm skipping them.




I consider this meet to be a great success in several ways, in that I actually competed, I made all new PRs, and beat all the other raw women in my total. Plus some CT state records and IPA records.

General

Drove down to CT on Friday night, and got nabbed by a statey for speeding, my first ever. :(

Got about 7 hours sleep, which is pretty awesome for me. Got up before the others and put on my rugby gear to put myself in the right mindset.

Weigh-in : 126

Wtf? I've been weighing in on Nathan's scale as 130+, so this was a surprise. If I had tried to make 123 it would have been trivial. This turned out to work out in the end because I was the only one in 132.

Squats warm-ups, 170 (90), 185 (95), 195 (105?)

So nervous.

Warm-ups : Not bad. Tried both (sketchy) monolifts, and those felt fine even though I only used one for the first time two weeks ago.

The competition bar was 55lbs instead of 45, then I think for one of my sets of 135 they put the weight on wrong. I did my set and nearly freaked out, because it felt way heavier than it should have. Then I found out it was 20lbs heavier and was relieved. Definitely nervous before first attempt.


1st : Easy. Didn't need to work to get myself psyched up because my heart was beating wicked hard anyway.

2nd : Also pretty easy, slightly slower than the first.

3rd : PR+5? Good. Solid. Not fast, but never got stuck anywhere. I was debating between 195 and 200 - 200 has been my long term goal, but I wanted 195 to try and get my 600 total, and didn't want to overshoot (195 was already 5 lbs over what sheiko recommended). Nathan was being conservative, while other dudes recommended I got balls-out. I listened to Nathan. I wish I had just done 200. That 5 lbs will be important later.


Bench warm-ups, 115 (90), 125 (95), 130(105?)

Bench warmups were really rushed, and i skipped some of my planned sets. Definitely not feeling as ready for bench attempts as squat attempts. Took more effort to get psyched up, but then again bench always does.

1st : Easy. Pretty fast apparently.

2nd : Good, but not as fast.

3rd : Definitely hard enough. Another case of debating 130/135. Possibly would have failed on 135. But this is a PR+5(or 10?) anyway.


Deadlift warm-ups, 240 (90), 255(95), 275 (105+?)

Warm-ups : Not bad. Got them all in. My quads were starting to feel sore at this point, which made me worried. Was feeling the fatigue of the day, and thus had to really work myself up hard. Loud music helps, along with timing.

1st : No problem

2nd : Starting feeling my back round slightly, but apparently not as much as I thought.

3rd : This was the big one. I got this, I got my 600 total. This was also a +10 pr (i think). So while I was getting really psyched up for this, I was fighting off worries that I couldn't get it, or just about how important it was to get it.

Back felt more rounded, but apparently again, not as much as I thought. It wasn't fast, but it wasn't too slow, and I never stuck. Solid.

Total / recap 600 @ 126

Woohoo! Almost all goals achieved. If I had done 200 squat, and had actual tried to make 123, I would be classified as master. Next time, I will be.

I out-totalled the other two raw women, including the girl 10lbs heavier than me. Got two trophies, one for open 132, one for junior.

Set 4 CT state records, and 4 IPA world records (http://www.rychlakpowersystems.com/MEETRESULTS/CT09.html)


And now apparently I'm ranked 17th in the country for my total in Raw women's 132, and 15th for my deadlift. Cool! Check it on PLwatch.


New goals: 300 deadlift. 140/145 Bench. Bigger squat. Basically aiming for a 700 total someday. Next time I'll be in 123.

6 comments:

  1. Wow. I feel honored I was sitting at the same table as the 17th strongest woman in the country. Giant props Deirdre!

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  2. Way to go, Dee! Like Gordon said, I'm honored to be talking to one of the top American powerlifters =).

    And what's this about getting up before the others? I distinctly remember you being hard to wake, and Nate took a shower first anyway. Then again, I refused to get up till 7:45 or so, so what do I know.

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  3. I think that the outcome of this competition is better than perfect. There is no reason to be sorry for 5 lbs here and there.

    More random stuff:
    -- During competition, it is important to listen to your coach (=Nate), and completely ignore everyone else. Other than yourself (sometimes not), only he knows if you got an extra 5 or an extra 20. When the competition is done, anyone's opinion may be interesting to hear.
    -- I'm almost sure that 700 is much closer than it looks, because of technique. This is more than just movement pattern, and it takes some time to figure out little nuances like speed, tension, whatever. Unlike what other people may claim, there isn't a single way to fix problems, and also what works for person 1 will not necessarily work for person 2.
    -- Pressing 140/145 is selling yourself short (unless it's a short term goal); 185 within a year sounds like a more reasonable objective.

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  4. Oh yeah, 140/145 is a short term goal. 185 is a crazy awesome longterm goal, I can't even conceive of it currently.

    I do know that I still have lots of wiggle room in my form for all my lifts. I have no where near nailed it down, so once I do, those bigger numbers should be reachable.

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  5. There are a lot of small adjustments and twists that can make a big difference. I'm sure that the TPS people are saying this, but here is some random stuff:
    -- upper body position: exactly like SQ / DL.
    -- feet in front (more leg drive) or tucked under (decrease ROM).
    -- lat drive: ask someone to tap on the bar as you are lowering it. If you feel something new in your lats, there is probably no lat drive. So put the weight on lats instead of on shoulders (difficult to explain).
    -- more lat drive: pressing yourself into the bench, not the bar away from you (also difficult to explain).
    -- bar over wrist over elbow: because extension is not efficient.
    -- elbows: tucking and flaring.
    -- triceps activation: very strong grip and pull the bar apart. Try mini bands doubled over wrists.

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  6. Wow. Major, major inspiration. !!!!!!!! Hero!
    :D

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