This was the meet that my coach and I had been waiting for! The slow cut, then panicky one; the long hard struggle though training of volume cycles and strength cycles. The frustrations of why lifts were feeling harder than they should and slower than they should. Many panicking moments from me, texting my coach asking questions.
It was finally here....Barbells and Brews 2017
The goal apparently was to become more consistent with my lifts (from my coaches standpoint). My goal was to hit some PRs on the platform.
Warming Up
This was the fun part. Because I was the last person to start my snatches in my session I had to hang out and wait for several minutes to even begin warming up. Sean, who coached me through B&B, told me to get out of the warm up area. Easier said than done, for me anyway. I didn't have anyone there that I knew really enough to hang out with. Mom hadn't shown up yet, she was working at a yard sale. So I kind of walked back and forth between the warm up area, hanging out in there, and between the crowd of spectators.
Finally I was able to touch a barbell. I let Sean know that snatches had been feeling slow from the floor and he told me to drive through those quads that I have. So I listened and used them during warm ups.
Snatching
I was nervous about my opener since I had only made my last snatch at the Appalachian Open back in July. Hitting an opening lift, just snatches, is always nerve racking for anyone. Last meet I went quick to my set up and got mentally distracted by the crowd in front of me and the judges. This time, I took the time to chalk up and look around at the crowd, get my bearings and then step onto the platform.
Snatch 1: 56kg
I walked onto the platform, placed my feet and hands on the bar. Got into my set up position and pulled the bar. Trying to remember in all that process, glad I hadn't gotten distracted by all the people in front of me, to be quick underneath the bar. Before I knew it I had caught the bar and was standing up easy with it. I got a little excited and started to drop the bar right as the center ref was lowing his arm for the down signal.
(for those that don't know...if you drop the bar before the ref gives the down signal the lift won't count)
I always forget this since I'm not use to having to get the down signal. Luckily it was close enough that I received credit for the lift. This I was happen about. It was good to get those nerves out of the way.
Snatch 2: 60kg
This is be the heaviest snatch I had attempted on the platform (at a meet). My PR is 62kg. I did the same set up for this snatch as I did the previous one. I took my time before stepping onto the platform again. Taking a glance at the crowd and the refs that would be in front of me. I had already chalked up my heads, gotten some tips from Sean, took a deep breath and stepped onto the platform to attempt my second snatch.
I placed my feet and bent down to grab the bar, left hand then right hand, bent my knees, head up and then pulled.
I swear I can never see the barbell passing in front of me, just the feel of it. How it feels coming off the floor, as it passes my hips and I start the pull and start to pull my body under. The next thing I feel is the catch overhead. How stable it is, was my body prepared for it? Everything felt solid, an easy catch. And stood it up easy.
This time I remembered to wait for the ref to give the down signal and dropped the bar. Another good lift!
Snatch 3: 63kg
This would be a great way to hit a snatch PR for me. And on the platform at a big meet! I did everything like I had the previous two snatches. Everything felt easy, even the catch. But for some reason when I caught the barbell overhead something happened and it fell in front of me. I wish I could pin point why I missed this snatch but I can't. Everything felt great.
I had tried this number about 3 weeks prior in training and was nowhere close to getting underneath the barbell. I would start to pull under and then stop. But honestly I was happy with that attempt that I had gotten completely under the bar and into the receiving position. Granted making this attempt would have been even better but I was happy with what happened.
Clean & Jerks
I was going to finish this blog at some point but unfortunately life gets in the way. Which is going to take me away from writing for awhile. Maybe I'll find the passion in me to write again and hopefully encourage some people and give hope to people out there along the way who are dealing with life's troubled spots.
I'm going through one of those troubled spots.
But until I decide to write again. Take care, God Bless and keep pushing forward with mental and physical strength from God.
Love,
Tiff
November 1, 2017
September 11, 2017
Learning What Calms My Soul + Back to Work
Time for Adventure
Monday, my mom and I took the day and went to Wrightsville Beach, which I believe I briefly told you about in the last blog post I wrote. I hit the gym that morning and then took care of some dogs and when I got home mom was hard at work on making out eclipse cereal boxes. She got cereal that I liked so it wouldn't go to waste. We didn't end up leaving until around 9 and by the time we got there we were hungry so we set up on the beach and then headed up to Oceania, a restaurant on the pier, for some lunch. I love crab cakes and and usually a sucker for them at a seafood restaurant so that's what I got. I still tried to stick to my nutrition plan while I was there.
Friday, I did have one drop in schedule for the day (a cat) that I took care of in the morning and then I had the rest of the day free. I texted my friend Krystal to see if she wanted to have a much needed girls day and get out and get some much needed fresh air. There's something about getting outside and away from home that just clears your head and being around water. We made reservations at Cape Fear River Adventures in Lillington to go paddle boarding for 2 hours. The weather was going to be gorgeous that day and the river ended up being pretty quiet. We wish we would have spent the whole day. It's one of my goals to live close to a place one day where I can go paddle boarding if I'd like to. Once we were put on the water we were told to go to the left, up stream, that way when we headed back we would be down river. It didn't take us long to paddle what the lady told us would be one mile so we went a little first and enjoyed the sun, trees, river view, and the water. We were able to talk about a lot of stuff...life, guys, school, work, what was important to us. And how we realize that the experiences we have, going and doing, is a lot more important to us than the things that we own.
Having things isn't going to make me happy and spending money on them isn't going to allow me to travel. I plan on budgeting how much I spend each month on personal things that I want to treat myself to and other than that I'm don't plan on spending any money. O but I will be buying a map to put pins in of all the places I've traveled. World, here I come!
The week before school started I was able to get out of my apartment from taking care of dogs, twice, and do something. I can't tell you how much it cleared my mind and took stress off of me.
Monday, my mom and I took the day and went to Wrightsville Beach, which I believe I briefly told you about in the last blog post I wrote. I hit the gym that morning and then took care of some dogs and when I got home mom was hard at work on making out eclipse cereal boxes. She got cereal that I liked so it wouldn't go to waste. We didn't end up leaving until around 9 and by the time we got there we were hungry so we set up on the beach and then headed up to Oceania, a restaurant on the pier, for some lunch. I love crab cakes and and usually a sucker for them at a seafood restaurant so that's what I got. I still tried to stick to my nutrition plan while I was there.
Once lunch was over we hung out on the beach and I worked on my tan more than mom did. It didn't take her long to go hang out by the pier in the shade. I like how dark my skin can get in the summer. And my tan never completely fades during the long months until
summer starts again. The eclipse was suppose to come by around 245 so when it started to get closer to that time mom and I tried to use the cereal boxes but it didn't work and you have to turn away from the sun to use them...that's no fun. We wanted to look at the sun to see the eclipse. Lucky for us plenty of people had glasses and nice enough to pass them back and forth to us.
Friday, I did have one drop in schedule for the day (a cat) that I took care of in the morning and then I had the rest of the day free. I texted my friend Krystal to see if she wanted to have a much needed girls day and get out and get some much needed fresh air. There's something about getting outside and away from home that just clears your head and being around water. We made reservations at Cape Fear River Adventures in Lillington to go paddle boarding for 2 hours. The weather was going to be gorgeous that day and the river ended up being pretty quiet. We wish we would have spent the whole day. It's one of my goals to live close to a place one day where I can go paddle boarding if I'd like to. Once we were put on the water we were told to go to the left, up stream, that way when we headed back we would be down river. It didn't take us long to paddle what the lady told us would be one mile so we went a little first and enjoyed the sun, trees, river view, and the water. We were able to talk about a lot of stuff...life, guys, school, work, what was important to us. And how we realize that the experiences we have, going and doing, is a lot more important to us than the things that we own.
The water felt great too and at some parts in the river you could actually see the bottom and stand up but we didn't jump off out boards there. Only when we couldn't touch the bottom did we jump off our boards. It felt great to do that a couple days before school started. We'll definitely head out and do it again but as an all day trip!
Life goals: travel more
I'm already looking at a trip to Australia next Dec. (tickets are almost $3000...got to save up for that)
Australia is one of the countries on my bucket list to travel and has been for years. (the others Italy and Greece, mainly. I wouldn't complain about a trip to a tropical island with clear blue green waters either)
Having things isn't going to make me happy and spending money on them isn't going to allow me to travel. I plan on budgeting how much I spend each month on personal things that I want to treat myself to and other than that I'm don't plan on spending any money. O but I will be buying a map to put pins in of all the places I've traveled. World, here I come!
Back At It
School started back two weeks ago and the first week was a little rough. A parent complained that I said something to her daughter that she wears too much makeup (she does) but I'm not going to tell the kid that. She's in middle school for crying out loud. I spent most of my time in the office that first week helping with paper work so when I was finally put in a classroom on Friday it was funny to finally see some of kids faces whose names I had seen on papers repeatedly all week.
We had one week of school and then a day off because of Labor Day, so that wasn't too bad. I didn't do anything because I had a two different dog families to take care of. So a low key weekend for me.
Nothing too exciting so far this year but it's only just getting started.
Bad Dreams
Last week I had the same bad dream two nights in a row and a bad feeling that Monday as well. I can't remember the last time I've had the same bad dream, but it's like the bad dream two nights in a row was a continuance of the night before. There has to be a meaning behind it.
Some friends and family, and myself, all decided to take a trip together in Europe. We were camping in someplace as well that wasn't in Europe. One of my friend's parents tagged along with us and I'm not sure why. But from about the middle of the trip he was trying to kill each of us, even his own daughter. We were running and hiding from him in the woods and in places in very old tall run down business buildings. Ones that has things destroyed inside, lights falling from the ceiling, windows broken, desks pushed all over the place. Almost made me think of as if it were haunted. We would be running and all of a sudden he would pop up out of nowhere in front of us. And of course we either stand and stare in terror or scream and run. I don't remember exactly anyone who was there, other than family, except in the last part before I woke up Fidget was there. At the very end of the dream I jumped through a building window, not out into the open air, just a broken one inside the building. Anytime we would see her dad we all kind of scattered and ran in opposite directions only to find each other again later. I'm honestly a little weirded out by the dream.
So the bad feeling I had that Monday had to do with Fidget. I just had a feeling that whenever I heard from him next he was going to give me some bad news, something I didn't want to hear, something that was going to hurt me. So the bad thing I did was I told him I had a bad feeling about something with him and left it at that. I didn't bother explaining that to him until about 2 weeks later. Horrible of me to do. Ever since I've had that feeling I've backed off from him because I don't want him to tell me something I don't want to hear that will hurt. But let's be honest, he still crossed my mind every day. The last thing I want to do is stress him out and I'm always afraid that I will. Just wish I could hear from him.
But on a brighter note, I'm looking forward to this weekend....I'm going apple picking. I'm in the mood to make some apple pies for some reason!
So the bad feeling I had that Monday had to do with Fidget. I just had a feeling that whenever I heard from him next he was going to give me some bad news, something I didn't want to hear, something that was going to hurt me. So the bad thing I did was I told him I had a bad feeling about something with him and left it at that. I didn't bother explaining that to him until about 2 weeks later. Horrible of me to do. Ever since I've had that feeling I've backed off from him because I don't want him to tell me something I don't want to hear that will hurt. But let's be honest, he still crossed my mind every day. The last thing I want to do is stress him out and I'm always afraid that I will. Just wish I could hear from him.
But on a brighter note, I'm looking forward to this weekend....I'm going apple picking. I'm in the mood to make some apple pies for some reason!
August 22, 2017
How Time Flies
14 Aug 2017
Jeez, it's almost been a month since I last wrote. I honestly wish I could say I was sitting outside by the pond write now typing this blog, but it's so bloody hot outside. Being outside gives my head clarity. Now if only I was out of town enjoying the breeze. I think that might be the only thing I enjoy about it changing to fall is a little bit of the weather cool off at night. (O and the fact that it won't be so damn hot in the gym in the mornings...there's no AC.) Enjoy the air outside then. But I enjoy the summer months, just not the heat at night. Summer for me means time to relax and a bomb sun tan. I haven't honestly had a lot to write about.
July felt like it flew by, it's crazy. And August feels like it's doing the same. Part of me is happy about that because I have some things to look forward to in September, like Barbells and Brews at the end of the month and classes start. But the faster August rolls by the closer I am to work starting again. I've been so busy this summer I don't even feel like I've gotten a lot of time to even vacation. And that feels weird. But it's good to be busy!
Training & Nutrition
After the Appalachian Open I threw myself into my programming making that my main focus especially since I was still feeling good from my PR clean and jerk. Little did I know that my coach's programming would take it's toll (high volume) and snatches would start feeling slow as shit. Each week is was sets to failure and the sets increased every week! Holy moly, and of course my goal was to push myself even harder each week and to make myself sore. Mission accomplished on that end...quads, glutes, hamstrings, and upper body!
This past Saturday I was so busy with pups that I wasn't able to workout so I just made up for it on Sunday. It was a rough week in the gym. Monday with my last day of goblet squats and it being my last movement, sets of 5, I almost said screw it and went home. The gym has started to become super crowded in the mornings before PT hours which was part of the reason I was just ready to call it quits and go home. I mean I have a kettlebell at home that I could use that is the same weight as the one in the gym I use. I sucked it up and did it anyway. With a little bit of yelling at myself in my head.
Sunday, I talked to my coach and he added plyometrics into my programming. I was really looking forward to my deload week, taking it nice and easy and letting my body recuperate. But back to the grind I went on Monday and today felt better than yesterday. My body was definitely exhausted yesterday. I had no desire to do anything at all after leaving the gym. I have actually enjoyed doing the box jumps. I'm just glad those suckers at the gym are soft cause I definitely didn't pick up my feet on one of them at all and landed completely on my shins!
I am worried about my nutrition and have asked my coach to take a look at what I'm eating and if I'm doing anything wrong because I just feel like I am. I was down to 54.9 kilos when he first started me on my new nutrition plan for Barbells and Brews at the end of September. We are trying to get me down to 53kg class for this meet. Since being on the base for the new plan I've jumped up to 56.7kg and am concerned that I won't make it down to 53kg. I mean almost 4 kilos in about a month and a half. My brain is freaking out and trying to trust the process but it's hard right now. I can't explain how much my mind is freaking out right now! I start cut 1 on Sunday and I'm sending my nutrition to my coach most likely Saturday so hopefully that will help and I can not freak out so much.
What Has This World Come To?
I never type things like this because part of me feels it's better to keep my opinion out of this political mess and all the craziness of the world. Anytime someone posts something political these days it ends in more fighting and people turning against each other.
North Korea is claiming they are going to launch a missile at Guam, and honestly I'm worried cbeause I've got a friend deployed there. As ready as soldiers are to go to war I always pray that it doesn't happen. What happened to North Korea that made them believe that the USA was responsible for all their problems and we're the enemy? What makes people not just want to get together and talk and make compromises or even explain why the feel a certain way? Yes, communication is hard between people when you feel resentment, hurt, etc. It's hard to change our points of view on things and I know I don't know everything going on with the situation on NK and I'm not even going to pretend like I do. But a country hating another so much just baffles me. It honestly hurts to think that people can think this way. But I know that if NK does decide to launch a missile at Guam the boys are ready to go after'em.
The incident in Charlottesville where people were ran down by a car trying to stand against racism is just sad. What does it matter what color someone's skin is or what they believe? People with Nazi beliefs still exist and that honestly baffles me! People are deemed superior by the traits they carry. And maybe I'm just naive. I'm not going to pretend to know the whole situation because I obviously don't. But I do need to stay more up to date on what's going on in this world, or it will give me more anxiety (haha). I figured all that was gone. After hearing what happened to so many people during the Holocaust how can people still believe in things like this. I know racism still existed towards blacks but towards peoples beliefs and lifestyle? And then the incident in Charlottesville led to a statue being pulled down in Durham of a confederate soldier and stomped on. And then Maryland started moving several of it's statues out overnight and now more places are removing Confederate statues. I understand that it does have some negative memories for many people, but that is apart of our history. We remember our past and see how those events have brought us to the great place (inspite of all that is happening today) we are today.
We have so many more freedoms, choices, and luxuries than many other countries do. Where in the world did people get the idea that they could act like idiots in this world? I'm truly am shocked and broken hearted by how people are acting these days. It's like they were raised in a barn yard and can act however they what. I honestly am not sure what to say about how people are acting these days. And I understand there is a lot of hate for Trump. How he reacted to what happened in Charlottesville is shocking to people. He didn't really seemed that concerned with what happened. And honestly I feel like he's more concerned with his popularity and posted tweets on twitter than he seems to be with what is going on. Focus more on what your country needs to have done and the issues that are going on, like people being run down for their views. The big issues between countries is just as important as the big issues that happen in this country.
But when talking to a friend last night he was reminding me that towards the time when Christ returns people will turn against each other for race and religion. We as Christians will see what they are doing and how they are acting is wrong, but they will think it's the right thing to do. Now am I saying that time is coming? No, but it is a scary thought to think about.
So What Else is Going On?
Work (school) starts again in, o jeez, about a week. And I start school at the beginning of Sept. Only for a month and a half though. And then maybe onto the class that follows that. This would mean I would be taking 3 classes back to back in a full semester....hmmmm. But that's nothing compared to when I was in college taking 4-5 classes per semester. So why am I complaining about taking 3 classes back to back? I guess I'm just nervous since I'm taking sign language and last time I kind of freaked out on myself. Just deep breaths and I'll be okay.
My savage swim bathing suit finally came after trying to figure out what patterns and solids I wanted to mix and match. I finally made a decision on Independence Day when they were offering 20% off haha. Hey, I saved about $40 on a $200 bathing suit. I know, I know...$200 for a bathing suit is a bit ridiculous but I love these things. And they get to express some of me that some people might not get to see. O and I can basically get 4 bathing suits out of just one.
Mom and I went to the beach on Monday (8/21), and basically spent the entire day there. I had to run around a finish taking care of some animals first that morning after hitting the gym. And while I was gone, because neither one of us really cared bout the eclipse of 2017 at first we didn't bother to get glasses, Mom ran and got some cereal boxes to try and make us a way to see the eclipse, even though it would be a reflection. We got there and got lunch first on the pier at Oceania. I'm a crab cake lover! And then back down to lay out in the sun. This girl's got to work on her tan haha. I did stop one of the paramedics because I got bit by something and it has made my hand swell up. Not sure exactly what it was that bit me. Just hoping it gets better soon! As it started getting closer to time for the eclipse we started trying to use our boxes...no luck though. They didn't work. But people were nice enough to let us look through their glasses every so often. You could feel a change in the weather and the sky got gloomy but no complete darkness like some other places had. It was definitely cool to experience. We stayed on the beach until 6pm and then headed home. I actually feel asleep on the beach! Just glad I didn't get burnt. That would not have felt good. But back to the beach on Friday for some girl time with Krystal.
Fidget...
I don't get to talk to him a lot and I know he's busy with work. And I knew that work would keep him busy. But it does suck not being able to talk to him. I am ready for him to come home though. As far as I know he is doing well while out of town for work. I pray for him practically every day; far more than I pray for myself. Part of me hopes he surprises me when he gets back.
July 21, 2017
Appalachian Open
This weekend was all about me getting away and relaxing as much as it was about my meet. I had been so overwhelmed with taking care of so many dogs that by the time I was done running around taking care of all of them I was completely over it. I went through a tank of gas in 2 days! So from the end of June to the 10th of July I was slammed with taking care of dogs while families went out of town for the holiday weekend.
But that's besides the point. I have been on a high since my meet and I couldn't be more excited. Granted the meet didn't turn out exactly how I would have liked it to, but it was amazing regardless of that minor fact. I enjoyed, competing with my teammates (Heavy Metal Barbell), staying and watching my coach compete and just being able to spend time with fellow teammates and really feel like apart of the team for the day. It's hard for me to feel apart of a team when I'm so far away.
And of course I had some fun along the way on the trip also. Treating myself to a couple of outings.
Drum Circle
So Asheville is known for its hippie vibe. And you can definitely see that by some of the things around you. Events that take place, how people dress, all the farm-to-table restaurants (which I'm not complaining about those at all).
When I finally reached Asheville after the long 4 hour drive Friday I took a nap, barely, and wanted to get out on the town. I had asked for recommendations from friends, and got plenty of ideas for things to do and places to eat. My friend had mentioned a drum circle that happens every Friday night at one of the parks in the middle of downtown. Another suggestion was the salt caves but the drum circle just really caught my attention.I had bought a new dress that is white and floral, has a deep v and a nice open back. I'm a sucker for open back clothing. I even took the time and worked through the frustration and curls my hair. And if you know me, dressing up in a nice dress that can be summer casual and curling my hair is kind of a big deal. I just wanted to feel pretty and attractive in a place where no one knew who I was.
So I decided to head downtown to the drum circle. It's just a bunch of locals who get together on a Friday night and play their drums and people come out and dance. Even people with tambourines show up. It was very cool to watch and see how people just jump in with their different drums. People even came up with a cart full of drums. I was honestly shocked by this. The audience and the drummers filled up within an hour of being there.
Being there and out doing something was amazing. It relaxed me, although I did feel a little out of place being out of town even though no one else knows that I'm from out of town. I hung out for about an hour and a half and then headed back to the hotel. I wish I could have stayed longer but I needed to get as much rest as I could before the meet Saturday.
Warming up for snatches felt great! I was moving fast, catching them easy just like the previous week. I was confident in them. I was starting toward the middle of the pack because there were only about 6 or 7 of us going "heavy." I don't really call what I lift as heavy, not yet anyway. Warming up was fun and I was relaxed. Talking to the girls on the team. It was a little nerve racking for me though seeing Sean run back and forth taking care of 3 athletes that day and checking to see how far out we were from taking our place on the platform to lift. What I think made it worse for me is when I could hear them call the weights that needed to be loaded on the bar and I hadn't taken my warm-up snatch yet that was right under that weight and it would soon be my turn.
It was announced that I was in the hole and then next up. 56kg/123# was on the bar
Attempt 1...
I wasn't paying attention to much and almost forgot to put my singlet all the way one. I was ready to go and just having fun. When walking out to get chalk we had to walk passed the platform, which later got changed.
I hadn't bothered to take a look at the people in front of me when I stepped on the platform before touching the bar. Normally I get use to my surrounding in front of me before I lift. I bent down to grab the bar and looked up to spots. As soon as I looked to spot the caught sight of the center referee and it completely through me off and my nerves got the best of me. The bar went up easy but I had too much power and it fell behind me. No lift 1
Attempt 2... No worries, I could get it on the next attempt. This is weight that I can snatch for a double, so no big deal. It was my nerves, the first lift was over so no big deal it was out of the way so I should be fine. Time for attempt 2.
I pushed the bar forward a bit because it just felt too close to the back of the platform. I typically lift toward the front. After pushing the bar forward I bent down the grab the bar, left hand then right (even though I'm a right handed person). The center judge didn't bother me. I caught the bar and then my arms decided they wanted to half way give out and there went the elbow bend. I straightened my arms back out and stood it up but I knew ultimately that it was a No lift.
No lift 2.
I told Sean I was almost tempted to go up in weight. I knew it was a weight I could hit so I wasn't too worried about missing my 2 lifts, only the fact that I needed to hit my last on in order to get a total for the meet. Honestly, that hadn't even crossed my mind. I thought Sean was walking over to change my weight so I went and laid down for in the warm up area trying to relax cause I thought I would have some time between my second and third lift. I sure he thought, "What the hell is she doing?" Needless to say, I was just following myself and only had 2 minutes.
Attempt 3... This was my last shot to hit this weight. And my last shot to get a total. A little nerve racking and frustrating because it shouldn't have happened this way. No pressure...
Finally! The 56kg went up like how it should have the first time with easy, quick movement, easy catch. I made it look like a walk in the park. Finally a lift that would count toward my total.
I had gone in with the goal of hitting either 61kg (a competition PR) or a 63 or 64kg lift (a life and comp PR).
Snatch: 56kg
C&J
Warming up for C&J was going great as well. I was moving fast with these too and catching them well. I had been having trouble with them three weeks prior. I was again getting anxious when my weight was being announced higher than what I was warming up with. I was scared I wasn't going to be ready when it came time for me to take my first lift. But that was about to be the least of my worries.
While warming up I finally got to 60kg. Now while I warm up and am only hitting weights only for 1 attempt I don't use collars. These plates and bars were new and slippery. I went to clean 60kg, not problem. I started to stand up with the weight and the plates on the right side started to slip toward the end of the bar. I thought well if I tilt it back the other way the should slide back toward the inside of the bar....o better not do that or the plates will slip off the other side. So I just let them go and as soon as they fell off I just tried to control the bar as I knew the left side would be doing the same from the uneven weight distribution. As soon as the plates fell, there went the left side. I hung onto the bar, probably a stupid decision. Once the bar plates had slipped off the bar and to the floor and I was hanging onto the bar as it tumbled in the other direction everyone was looked at me.
I was irritated and that point and took out my collars threw them on the bar and went for the lift again. Next was 63kg.
Attempt 1...
I was ready for this especially after what had happened in the warm-up area. Plus I was more relaxed after snatches.
65kg was on the bar. A weight I knew I could hit at 95% of my max. I chalked up my hands (I'm a self-proclaimed chalk whore) and walked onto the platform and pushed the bar forward with my shin. It was too far back for me. I bent down to grab the bar, left hand then right. Set up so my chest was up and I was looking beyond the center referee. If I looked at him, I'd lose my focus. I started my pull and tried to hit as close to my hips as I could. Kept my torso tight and caught the bar quick, stood it up easy. I always pause a for bit in between by clean and my jerk. I caught my breathe, focused and hit my jerk. Moving fast and sinking under the bar. It was a good lift.
Attempt 2...
Sean asked if I wanted 67 or 68 next...ummm 68! I had hit it the week prior for a single so I felt like I could hit it here and after how the first lift went, I had confidence. The pull came easy with this one as well, standing up was a little harder though. I almost got stuck in the middle and honestly struggled there for a little bit but told myself that like hell I wasn't standing up without that bar on my chest (more of clavicle/collar bone than chest). I stood it up and had to take a little longer before the jerk because I almost blacked out for a second. I sometimes forget to breath when I struggle to stand up out of a heavy front squat. I think I saw black for about a second and almost felt myself wobble. I caught my breathe, focused and hit my jerk just like I had before, nice and solid. Good lift
Attempt 3...
I have to try not to think about the weight that's on the bar when it comes to 70kg because it's always been a mental thing for me. I chalked up my chest for this one because it started to slip on the 68 attempt. This would be a big lift for me. Finally breaking that mental barrier and a new personal and competition PR. I have been trying for 70k for months! Always close but never making it. Again I walked onto the platform and pushed the bar forward, this time with my hands. Every time I had pushed it forward previously the bar would end up crooked and my OCD kicks in with that haha. The pull went easy and so was the catch. I was still moving fast and I couldn't believe it. I actually stood this one up easier than I did my previous attempt. Yes, it was such a relief to finally stand up with something I had struggled to stand up with for so long. I was smiling on the inside even though my face nowhere close to showed that. When I went to start the lift I was so zoned out and focused on hitting it. Time to catch my breathe and refocus for the jerk. I honestly feel like I stand between the two too long, but who cares as long as I hit the damn lift. I went of the jerk and somehow in the middle of it al caught it wrong.
Because of that after the catch I stood up out of it quick crossing my back (left) food behind my right and wobbled overhead while walking forward. But I wasn't letting that bar go. It wobbled I walked but I held on to it. The center referee gave me the down signal and from there it felt like it took about a minute for them to give a Lift or No Lift verdict. It was a good lift!
I stuck around for the rest of the meant and watched Tayler and Sean (who coached me) lift that day. The are both heavy lifters (the weight they move). Watching both of them is amazing and I want to be like them when I grow up. There was a lot of good energy in that place that day. I hung out with the girls and talked to them. It was good getting to know them and wish I had more time to.
But my next priority after the meet was over was to relax. My mom had told me about a tubing company called Zen Tubing where you can pay $20 bucks and tub for a couple hours down the river. How long it took to get down there river depended on the speed of the water which was mostly determined by the height. The location I went to was suppose to take 2 hours.
Zen Tubing + White Duck Tacos
There were two locations to go to for Zen. Depending on which location you went to, depended on how long it would take you to get down the river. Because I wanted to relax I decided to go to the location that would take 2 hours to get down. It was going to be a 15min drive from my hotel and when I first arrived my GPS took me to Bent Creek Park. I panicked for a second and was able to call hime and find out they were only a little bit further down the Road
The best part, you only pay $20 bucks and tub for a couple hours down the river. How long it took to get down there river depended on the speed of the water which was mostly determined by the height. It started to drizzle a slightly on my way to the drop in point but I wasn't worried. It that's the worst that it was going to be I would be fine. The water was in the 70s. One of the workers asked me if I wanted a paddle and my first thought was yeah it would come in handy if I got stuck on some rocks on in a tree. Little did I know that paddle was going to come in very handy!
About 20-30min in to my trip is started pouring down rain! I did have my cell phone on my but I had bought a waterproof case to put it in while on the trip...you never know who I might need to call while out in the middle of the water haha. My tub was starting to fill up with water, there was a middle seat to it not the tubs with the hole so my butt touches the water. Next thing I knew I would be full of water and floating down the river. Even though it wasn't that cold outside, between the rain and it being really muggy outside I was starting to get cold, or at least my hands were. I don't do very well when my hands and feet get cold, but my feet were crossed underneath my in the pool of water I was sitting in in my tub. But my hands weren't going to last very long as they started going numb about an hour into my trip. And this ride was suppose to last 2. And that's when my trusty paddle came in handle. My ass paddle myself the rest of the way down the river. Want to know how fast that went?
When I was put in at the drop in point I was the very last person to be dropped off and get into the water before they didn't take any more people for the day. Well needless to say I passed about 4-5 groups of people riding down the river...that got in an hour ahead of me! The first thing I did when I hit the finish point besides turn in my tube was grab my keys and high tail it to my car to get warm and toasty before heading back to the hotel. I hit the nice warm shower after that.
Now it was time to decide what to eat and stop into The Chocolate Fetish on the way back and grab some truffles for me and mom. I had so many suggestion on places to go eat while in town it was crazy. And I was in the mood for tacos. But there was another place I was debating about called Salvage Station. They have live music events and just looked like a cool place overall. By the time I headed out for dinner it was nice and sunny out! Figures it would be sunny after I went tubing. I think I debated between Salvage Station and White Duck Tacos for a good 45min before I finally decided. I wanted to go and be downtown in that atmosphere so that's where I headed, and snuck into a parking lot I didn't have to pay for parking (cause you have to pay anywhere you park downtown) and hoped I wasn't towed by the time I got back!
I walked the streets of downtown to White Duck and passed Pritchard Park again, where the Drum Circle was on was Friday night. They had people break dancing out there this time. When I got to White Duck I saw that there was a line, but thankfully White Duck isn't that big so the line wasn't that long. You paid for each taco that you got and they had many different flavors...different chicken recipes, seafood tacos (crab/fish), and I think they even had a duck taco. You could get Sangrias or different beers and the also had some sides. I couldn't decide whether I wanted chips and queso or if I wanted watermelon with mint. I eventually decided on the watermelon with mint, and got 2 tacos (thai peanut chicken and a buffalo chicken taco). Both were very good. Definitely somewhere I would go back to and try more tacos. Only thing I wish they would have had was outdoor seating. I love sitting outside and eating this time of year.
As I walked back toward the chocolate shop I stopped to try and watch the break dancers. There were so many people standing around watching them it was kind of hard to see them. Short girl problems! I didn't stay long because the chocolate shop wasn't going to stay open long and I was worried about my car so off to pick out some truffles I went. I grabbed some that I knew only my mom would eat...dark chocolate. And then I grabbed some I knew we would both like but for her covered in dark chocolate. I'm glad that had the same things I would like in something she would like as well. There were so many truffles to choose from and I wish they would have something that was cookies 'n cream flavored but they did have chocolate covered oreos, high heels made from chocolate and little boots made from chocolate as well. They have some you can sample each day. Friday I had tried "Shot in the Dark," it had espresso in it. I'm not a fan of anything coffee related at all but I tried it anyway. Still not a fan and it's not exactly that great for me anyway. When I went and got chocolates they had a basil pistachio truffle to sample. You could definitely taste the basil and I liked that taste but maybe no so much as a chocolate. I was hesitant to eat this one as well because of the pistachio. I have an aversion to those as well but for a good reason I think. That's for a different blog post though. After the chocolate shop I went back to the hotel room and tried to start packing up and make sure I had everything together to head to Charlotte overnight so I could sine my mom since I hadn't seen her since she had had her knee surgery.
My overnight trip to Charlotte was great. My mom and I went and got ice cream on Sunday night at Dairy Queen since it was national ice cream day. I ended up with a blizzard, not what I had planned on getting at all, and she got a fudge brownie with ice cream. I helped her out with some chores on Monday and she helped me vacuum out my SUV and I left around 12ish to head back home and she had to go to her first outpatient PT session which she was completely nervous about. I definitely will need another trip like this more during the year.
Until Next Time Next meet:
Sept 30th
Barbells & Brews in Charlotte
O and just a little update on my birthday trip next year. Turns out United doesn't fly to the location in AZ I'm looking to go so looks like I'll be using my voucher for somewhere else and actually purchasing my ticket to AZ for my birthday trip. Now back to the books on where to use my voucher to. I have 5 more months too book a place to go with that ticket....
But that's besides the point. I have been on a high since my meet and I couldn't be more excited. Granted the meet didn't turn out exactly how I would have liked it to, but it was amazing regardless of that minor fact. I enjoyed, competing with my teammates (Heavy Metal Barbell), staying and watching my coach compete and just being able to spend time with fellow teammates and really feel like apart of the team for the day. It's hard for me to feel apart of a team when I'm so far away.
And of course I had some fun along the way on the trip also. Treating myself to a couple of outings.
Drum Circle
So Asheville is known for its hippie vibe. And you can definitely see that by some of the things around you. Events that take place, how people dress, all the farm-to-table restaurants (which I'm not complaining about those at all).
When I finally reached Asheville after the long 4 hour drive Friday I took a nap, barely, and wanted to get out on the town. I had asked for recommendations from friends, and got plenty of ideas for things to do and places to eat. My friend had mentioned a drum circle that happens every Friday night at one of the parks in the middle of downtown. Another suggestion was the salt caves but the drum circle just really caught my attention.I had bought a new dress that is white and floral, has a deep v and a nice open back. I'm a sucker for open back clothing. I even took the time and worked through the frustration and curls my hair. And if you know me, dressing up in a nice dress that can be summer casual and curling my hair is kind of a big deal. I just wanted to feel pretty and attractive in a place where no one knew who I was.So I decided to head downtown to the drum circle. It's just a bunch of locals who get together on a Friday night and play their drums and people come out and dance. Even people with tambourines show up. It was very cool to watch and see how people just jump in with their different drums. People even came up with a cart full of drums. I was honestly shocked by this. The audience and the drummers filled up within an hour of being there.
Being there and out doing something was amazing. It relaxed me, although I did feel a little out of place being out of town even though no one else knows that I'm from out of town. I hung out for about an hour and a half and then headed back to the hotel. I wish I could have stayed longer but I needed to get as much rest as I could before the meet Saturday.
Appalachian Open
SnatchWarming up for snatches felt great! I was moving fast, catching them easy just like the previous week. I was confident in them. I was starting toward the middle of the pack because there were only about 6 or 7 of us going "heavy." I don't really call what I lift as heavy, not yet anyway. Warming up was fun and I was relaxed. Talking to the girls on the team. It was a little nerve racking for me though seeing Sean run back and forth taking care of 3 athletes that day and checking to see how far out we were from taking our place on the platform to lift. What I think made it worse for me is when I could hear them call the weights that needed to be loaded on the bar and I hadn't taken my warm-up snatch yet that was right under that weight and it would soon be my turn.
It was announced that I was in the hole and then next up. 56kg/123# was on the bar
Attempt 1...
I wasn't paying attention to much and almost forgot to put my singlet all the way one. I was ready to go and just having fun. When walking out to get chalk we had to walk passed the platform, which later got changed.
I hadn't bothered to take a look at the people in front of me when I stepped on the platform before touching the bar. Normally I get use to my surrounding in front of me before I lift. I bent down to grab the bar and looked up to spots. As soon as I looked to spot the caught sight of the center referee and it completely through me off and my nerves got the best of me. The bar went up easy but I had too much power and it fell behind me. No lift 1
Attempt 2... No worries, I could get it on the next attempt. This is weight that I can snatch for a double, so no big deal. It was my nerves, the first lift was over so no big deal it was out of the way so I should be fine. Time for attempt 2.
I pushed the bar forward a bit because it just felt too close to the back of the platform. I typically lift toward the front. After pushing the bar forward I bent down the grab the bar, left hand then right (even though I'm a right handed person). The center judge didn't bother me. I caught the bar and then my arms decided they wanted to half way give out and there went the elbow bend. I straightened my arms back out and stood it up but I knew ultimately that it was a No lift.
No lift 2.
I told Sean I was almost tempted to go up in weight. I knew it was a weight I could hit so I wasn't too worried about missing my 2 lifts, only the fact that I needed to hit my last on in order to get a total for the meet. Honestly, that hadn't even crossed my mind. I thought Sean was walking over to change my weight so I went and laid down for in the warm up area trying to relax cause I thought I would have some time between my second and third lift. I sure he thought, "What the hell is she doing?" Needless to say, I was just following myself and only had 2 minutes.
Attempt 3... This was my last shot to hit this weight. And my last shot to get a total. A little nerve racking and frustrating because it shouldn't have happened this way. No pressure...
Finally! The 56kg went up like how it should have the first time with easy, quick movement, easy catch. I made it look like a walk in the park. Finally a lift that would count toward my total.
I had gone in with the goal of hitting either 61kg (a competition PR) or a 63 or 64kg lift (a life and comp PR).
Snatch: 56kg
C&J
Warming up for C&J was going great as well. I was moving fast with these too and catching them well. I had been having trouble with them three weeks prior. I was again getting anxious when my weight was being announced higher than what I was warming up with. I was scared I wasn't going to be ready when it came time for me to take my first lift. But that was about to be the least of my worries.
While warming up I finally got to 60kg. Now while I warm up and am only hitting weights only for 1 attempt I don't use collars. These plates and bars were new and slippery. I went to clean 60kg, not problem. I started to stand up with the weight and the plates on the right side started to slip toward the end of the bar. I thought well if I tilt it back the other way the should slide back toward the inside of the bar....o better not do that or the plates will slip off the other side. So I just let them go and as soon as they fell off I just tried to control the bar as I knew the left side would be doing the same from the uneven weight distribution. As soon as the plates fell, there went the left side. I hung onto the bar, probably a stupid decision. Once the bar plates had slipped off the bar and to the floor and I was hanging onto the bar as it tumbled in the other direction everyone was looked at me.
I was irritated and that point and took out my collars threw them on the bar and went for the lift again. Next was 63kg.
Attempt 1...
I was ready for this especially after what had happened in the warm-up area. Plus I was more relaxed after snatches.
65kg was on the bar. A weight I knew I could hit at 95% of my max. I chalked up my hands (I'm a self-proclaimed chalk whore) and walked onto the platform and pushed the bar forward with my shin. It was too far back for me. I bent down to grab the bar, left hand then right. Set up so my chest was up and I was looking beyond the center referee. If I looked at him, I'd lose my focus. I started my pull and tried to hit as close to my hips as I could. Kept my torso tight and caught the bar quick, stood it up easy. I always pause a for bit in between by clean and my jerk. I caught my breathe, focused and hit my jerk. Moving fast and sinking under the bar. It was a good lift.
Attempt 2...
Sean asked if I wanted 67 or 68 next...ummm 68! I had hit it the week prior for a single so I felt like I could hit it here and after how the first lift went, I had confidence. The pull came easy with this one as well, standing up was a little harder though. I almost got stuck in the middle and honestly struggled there for a little bit but told myself that like hell I wasn't standing up without that bar on my chest (more of clavicle/collar bone than chest). I stood it up and had to take a little longer before the jerk because I almost blacked out for a second. I sometimes forget to breath when I struggle to stand up out of a heavy front squat. I think I saw black for about a second and almost felt myself wobble. I caught my breathe, focused and hit my jerk just like I had before, nice and solid. Good lift
Attempt 3...
I have to try not to think about the weight that's on the bar when it comes to 70kg because it's always been a mental thing for me. I chalked up my chest for this one because it started to slip on the 68 attempt. This would be a big lift for me. Finally breaking that mental barrier and a new personal and competition PR. I have been trying for 70k for months! Always close but never making it. Again I walked onto the platform and pushed the bar forward, this time with my hands. Every time I had pushed it forward previously the bar would end up crooked and my OCD kicks in with that haha. The pull went easy and so was the catch. I was still moving fast and I couldn't believe it. I actually stood this one up easier than I did my previous attempt. Yes, it was such a relief to finally stand up with something I had struggled to stand up with for so long. I was smiling on the inside even though my face nowhere close to showed that. When I went to start the lift I was so zoned out and focused on hitting it. Time to catch my breathe and refocus for the jerk. I honestly feel like I stand between the two too long, but who cares as long as I hit the damn lift. I went of the jerk and somehow in the middle of it al caught it wrong.
Because of that after the catch I stood up out of it quick crossing my back (left) food behind my right and wobbled overhead while walking forward. But I wasn't letting that bar go. It wobbled I walked but I held on to it. The center referee gave me the down signal and from there it felt like it took about a minute for them to give a Lift or No Lift verdict. It was a good lift!
My missed attempts at snatch (unfortunately don't have the
one I made) and all my C&J attempts
I stuck around for the rest of the meant and watched Tayler and Sean (who coached me) lift that day. The are both heavy lifters (the weight they move). Watching both of them is amazing and I want to be like them when I grow up. There was a lot of good energy in that place that day. I hung out with the girls and talked to them. It was good getting to know them and wish I had more time to.
Zen Tubing + White Duck Tacos
There were two locations to go to for Zen. Depending on which location you went to, depended on how long it would take you to get down the river. Because I wanted to relax I decided to go to the location that would take 2 hours to get down. It was going to be a 15min drive from my hotel and when I first arrived my GPS took me to Bent Creek Park. I panicked for a second and was able to call hime and find out they were only a little bit further down the Road
About 20-30min in to my trip is started pouring down rain! I did have my cell phone on my but I had bought a waterproof case to put it in while on the trip...you never know who I might need to call while out in the middle of the water haha. My tub was starting to fill up with water, there was a middle seat to it not the tubs with the hole so my butt touches the water. Next thing I knew I would be full of water and floating down the river. Even though it wasn't that cold outside, between the rain and it being really muggy outside I was starting to get cold, or at least my hands were. I don't do very well when my hands and feet get cold, but my feet were crossed underneath my in the pool of water I was sitting in in my tub. But my hands weren't going to last very long as they started going numb about an hour into my trip. And this ride was suppose to last 2. And that's when my trusty paddle came in handle. My ass paddle myself the rest of the way down the river. Want to know how fast that went?
When I was put in at the drop in point I was the very last person to be dropped off and get into the water before they didn't take any more people for the day. Well needless to say I passed about 4-5 groups of people riding down the river...that got in an hour ahead of me! The first thing I did when I hit the finish point besides turn in my tube was grab my keys and high tail it to my car to get warm and toasty before heading back to the hotel. I hit the nice warm shower after that.
Now it was time to decide what to eat and stop into The Chocolate Fetish on the way back and grab some truffles for me and mom. I had so many suggestion on places to go eat while in town it was crazy. And I was in the mood for tacos. But there was another place I was debating about called Salvage Station. They have live music events and just looked like a cool place overall. By the time I headed out for dinner it was nice and sunny out! Figures it would be sunny after I went tubing. I think I debated between Salvage Station and White Duck Tacos for a good 45min before I finally decided. I wanted to go and be downtown in that atmosphere so that's where I headed, and snuck into a parking lot I didn't have to pay for parking (cause you have to pay anywhere you park downtown) and hoped I wasn't towed by the time I got back!
As I walked back toward the chocolate shop I stopped to try and watch the break dancers. There were so many people standing around watching them it was kind of hard to see them. Short girl problems! I didn't stay long because the chocolate shop wasn't going to stay open long and I was worried about my car so off to pick out some truffles I went. I grabbed some that I knew only my mom would eat...dark chocolate. And then I grabbed some I knew we would both like but for her covered in dark chocolate. I'm glad that had the same things I would like in something she would like as well. There were so many truffles to choose from and I wish they would have something that was cookies 'n cream flavored but they did have chocolate covered oreos, high heels made from chocolate and little boots made from chocolate as well. They have some you can sample each day. Friday I had tried "Shot in the Dark," it had espresso in it. I'm not a fan of anything coffee related at all but I tried it anyway. Still not a fan and it's not exactly that great for me anyway. When I went and got chocolates they had a basil pistachio truffle to sample. You could definitely taste the basil and I liked that taste but maybe no so much as a chocolate. I was hesitant to eat this one as well because of the pistachio. I have an aversion to those as well but for a good reason I think. That's for a different blog post though. After the chocolate shop I went back to the hotel room and tried to start packing up and make sure I had everything together to head to Charlotte overnight so I could sine my mom since I hadn't seen her since she had had her knee surgery.
My overnight trip to Charlotte was great. My mom and I went and got ice cream on Sunday night at Dairy Queen since it was national ice cream day. I ended up with a blizzard, not what I had planned on getting at all, and she got a fudge brownie with ice cream. I helped her out with some chores on Monday and she helped me vacuum out my SUV and I left around 12ish to head back home and she had to go to her first outpatient PT session which she was completely nervous about. I definitely will need another trip like this more during the year.
Until Next Time Next meet:
Sept 30th
Barbells & Brews in Charlotte
O and just a little update on my birthday trip next year. Turns out United doesn't fly to the location in AZ I'm looking to go so looks like I'll be using my voucher for somewhere else and actually purchasing my ticket to AZ for my birthday trip. Now back to the books on where to use my voucher to. I have 5 more months too book a place to go with that ticket....
July 12, 2017
Gaining & Losing
It's a love hate relationship with workouts. I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. I may no have a love hate relationship with working out in general, just from month to month some movements in my programming.
The Gain
I have been on a hypertrophy template for the past 3 months and I'm suppose to be changing to a strength template next month. Not going to lie, I'm a little nervous! This past month of hypertrophy has been my favorite of the 3, focusing on double instead of triples like it was last month.
I've been happy with my strength on my back squats, which have steadily gotten heavier with each progressing week, and although my push press has grown in strength slowing I couldn't be happier with it. Around week 3 I hit another PR on my snatch, only 1kg (62kg from 61kg)but I'm getting closer and closer to a heavier snatch and I love that. Snatch is my favorite movement of the two, probably because I seem to be able to get more PRs with a snatch whereas clean and jerks seem to take me a little longer. I think C&J are more of a plenty block for me than anything.
This past week I've had to workout in the afternoons because of all the running around dog sitting I've been doing and having to take care of animals in the morning trying to get to the gym just wasn't going to cut it. Honestly, when I walked into the gym on Friday afternoon I was definitely not in the mood to be there. I have max doubles every Friday. But on another honest note, I think my body likes afternoons better because I have more fuel in my system than first thing in the morning. More/better fuel = better performance
I always warm up snatch doubles with doubles starting at 60% until about 75% and then switch to singles until I get to the weight I want to attempt. Warming up with doubles the entire time would just wear my body out by the time I got to the heavier weight. I felt good on all my doubles and singles and normally got 56/57 on my snatches but I decided to make the jump to 58kg and see how it went. I hit them easy, but of course I forgot to film it. Great! But for some reason I decided why the heck not, and went for 60kg double (2kg under my max)! I hit those easy as well. Maybe I should have gone up more but that gave me a lot of confidence leading into my meet this upcoming weekend.
I tried to stay nice and relaxed with my C&J as well. I was feeling good with these as well on the catch to stand up out of the bottom of the clean so I tried a weight I've been struggling with this entire month, 66kg. I was able to stand it up once and realized it was just a positioning thing. So I figured why not and jumped it to 68kg, my max. I was able to stand up 68kg for a single but couldn't get there for the double. So I decided to call it a day on doubles and try to and single clean so I jumped to 69, which I should have gone 70. I was able to get the 69kg up. I was happy and decided to stop there for the day since I had a lot of other things in my programming that I needed to get done. I probably could have gone fro 70 but didn't want to push it.
The Loss
So I've been on my cut nutrition plan for 4 months now slowly cutting from 58kg lifter to a 53kg lifter. I'm currently at 55kg, which is nice. And nice we're moving slow so that I can still keep my strength while losing weight. Lose weight to fast and I lose my strength. I'm curious as to what I will look like at 53kg. Some days are harder than others, especially heavy programmed lifting days because it's a lot of food. Sometimes I may not make all my macros for that day, specifically carbs at lunch time. But I try and make those up later in the day..mostly at my night snack haha (probably shouldn't make them up then).
I have thrown in a spoonful or two of some ice cream just to get it out of my freezer. But overall it's going well. And I'll have to see what I weigh-in at at my meet on Saturday.
This Saturday I have a weightlifting meet in Asheville. I'm feeling ready, not only for a good meet but also to get some time to relax and regroup of all the craziness of taking care of dogs over the 4th of July weekend. I finally am out of dogs at my place as of the 10th but have been dropping in on a dog to do some walks. But that's besides the point.
I'm lifting Saturday morning, but I'm headed up there Friday morning/afternoon and going to enjoy myself later in the afternoon. I have recommendations from friends about things to go do and places to eat and from my mom as well. I think one of the coolest things someone has recommended so far is the Drum Circle in downtown on Friday nights. So I'm excited to go and check that out.
After competing on Saturday the goal is to go tubing on the river to relax and have some fun, hopefully it doesn't rain. That would stink haha
Either way, I'm looking forward to getting out of town and having some fun time to myself. I love traveling! And honestly can't remember the last time I was in Asheville besides to see the gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn. Those are honestly my exciting plans for the weekend. And I'll probably stop by and stay the night in Charlotte until Monday to hang out with family for a bit.
My Meet Goals:
My goals for this meet are a snatch PR (not a meet PR), and hoping for a C&J PR as well.
My wishes:
Snatch: 63/64kg
C&J: 70/71kg
Never hurts to have a goal.
Other Things In Life...
I am honestly feeling pretty good this summer. I've been motivated to start somethings I've always wanted to do and I won't say how that motivation came about. But I want to try the church choir, socialize a little bit more (I tend to be a home body once I get home from work or just rather hit the pool), I'm getting back into my ASL online class (after taking a week off from all the dog craziness...just reviewing right now), and but I'm thinking about registering for classes at the local community college here. It would be a good way to for me to get some ASL socialization in also.
So I haven't written about Fidget in awhile. And I've wanted to keep a lot of all that private. I haven't talked to him in 2 week and I know a lot of it has to do with his job so I'm not too worried about it. Only thing that does worry me is the last conversation we had we didn't get to finish and it as pretty important. He's got a lot on his plate and I'm honestly I'm just scared I'm going to lose him in the whole process of everything and what he's got going on. So when he reads this, which he does read my blogs, he will know a little how I feel. I've emailed him and told him some of my thoughts but not this one. This one I'm scared to tell him. Because let's face it, sharing feelings makes us completely vulnerable. And that's always a scary thing to do. I'm always worried that something I tell him (although he's pretty good about it) will make him run in the opposite direction of me. He's told me I don't scare him but we've said we would be honest with each other. So I'm trying to be, no matter how hard it is.
It's always easier telling strangers your feelings because you have no idea who they are, especially this way, and they can't really say anything back to you about it.
Although, I've told you how crazy dog sitting has been for 4th of July I have loved every minute of taking care of the dogs I've had. This a truly saved me this summer and I'm so thankful! I have some dogs that I've meet that I've loved, some that I would never sit again haha which happens to plenty of sitters. I have met some amazing dogs that I end up treating like my own that I hope to have some day.
The Gain
I have been on a hypertrophy template for the past 3 months and I'm suppose to be changing to a strength template next month. Not going to lie, I'm a little nervous! This past month of hypertrophy has been my favorite of the 3, focusing on double instead of triples like it was last month.
I've been happy with my strength on my back squats, which have steadily gotten heavier with each progressing week, and although my push press has grown in strength slowing I couldn't be happier with it. Around week 3 I hit another PR on my snatch, only 1kg (62kg from 61kg)but I'm getting closer and closer to a heavier snatch and I love that. Snatch is my favorite movement of the two, probably because I seem to be able to get more PRs with a snatch whereas clean and jerks seem to take me a little longer. I think C&J are more of a plenty block for me than anything.
This past week I've had to workout in the afternoons because of all the running around dog sitting I've been doing and having to take care of animals in the morning trying to get to the gym just wasn't going to cut it. Honestly, when I walked into the gym on Friday afternoon I was definitely not in the mood to be there. I have max doubles every Friday. But on another honest note, I think my body likes afternoons better because I have more fuel in my system than first thing in the morning. More/better fuel = better performance
I always warm up snatch doubles with doubles starting at 60% until about 75% and then switch to singles until I get to the weight I want to attempt. Warming up with doubles the entire time would just wear my body out by the time I got to the heavier weight. I felt good on all my doubles and singles and normally got 56/57 on my snatches but I decided to make the jump to 58kg and see how it went. I hit them easy, but of course I forgot to film it. Great! But for some reason I decided why the heck not, and went for 60kg double (2kg under my max)! I hit those easy as well. Maybe I should have gone up more but that gave me a lot of confidence leading into my meet this upcoming weekend.
I tried to stay nice and relaxed with my C&J as well. I was feeling good with these as well on the catch to stand up out of the bottom of the clean so I tried a weight I've been struggling with this entire month, 66kg. I was able to stand it up once and realized it was just a positioning thing. So I figured why not and jumped it to 68kg, my max. I was able to stand up 68kg for a single but couldn't get there for the double. So I decided to call it a day on doubles and try to and single clean so I jumped to 69, which I should have gone 70. I was able to get the 69kg up. I was happy and decided to stop there for the day since I had a lot of other things in my programming that I needed to get done. I probably could have gone fro 70 but didn't want to push it.
The Loss
So I've been on my cut nutrition plan for 4 months now slowly cutting from 58kg lifter to a 53kg lifter. I'm currently at 55kg, which is nice. And nice we're moving slow so that I can still keep my strength while losing weight. Lose weight to fast and I lose my strength. I'm curious as to what I will look like at 53kg. Some days are harder than others, especially heavy programmed lifting days because it's a lot of food. Sometimes I may not make all my macros for that day, specifically carbs at lunch time. But I try and make those up later in the day..mostly at my night snack haha (probably shouldn't make them up then). I have thrown in a spoonful or two of some ice cream just to get it out of my freezer. But overall it's going well. And I'll have to see what I weigh-in at at my meet on Saturday.
This Saturday I have a weightlifting meet in Asheville. I'm feeling ready, not only for a good meet but also to get some time to relax and regroup of all the craziness of taking care of dogs over the 4th of July weekend. I finally am out of dogs at my place as of the 10th but have been dropping in on a dog to do some walks. But that's besides the point.
I'm lifting Saturday morning, but I'm headed up there Friday morning/afternoon and going to enjoy myself later in the afternoon. I have recommendations from friends about things to go do and places to eat and from my mom as well. I think one of the coolest things someone has recommended so far is the Drum Circle in downtown on Friday nights. So I'm excited to go and check that out.
After competing on Saturday the goal is to go tubing on the river to relax and have some fun, hopefully it doesn't rain. That would stink haha
Either way, I'm looking forward to getting out of town and having some fun time to myself. I love traveling! And honestly can't remember the last time I was in Asheville besides to see the gingerbread houses at the Grove Park Inn. Those are honestly my exciting plans for the weekend. And I'll probably stop by and stay the night in Charlotte until Monday to hang out with family for a bit.
My Meet Goals:
My goals for this meet are a snatch PR (not a meet PR), and hoping for a C&J PR as well.
My wishes:
Snatch: 63/64kg
C&J: 70/71kg
Never hurts to have a goal.
Other Things In Life...
I am honestly feeling pretty good this summer. I've been motivated to start somethings I've always wanted to do and I won't say how that motivation came about. But I want to try the church choir, socialize a little bit more (I tend to be a home body once I get home from work or just rather hit the pool), I'm getting back into my ASL online class (after taking a week off from all the dog craziness...just reviewing right now), and but I'm thinking about registering for classes at the local community college here. It would be a good way to for me to get some ASL socialization in also.
So I haven't written about Fidget in awhile. And I've wanted to keep a lot of all that private. I haven't talked to him in 2 week and I know a lot of it has to do with his job so I'm not too worried about it. Only thing that does worry me is the last conversation we had we didn't get to finish and it as pretty important. He's got a lot on his plate and I'm honestly I'm just scared I'm going to lose him in the whole process of everything and what he's got going on. So when he reads this, which he does read my blogs, he will know a little how I feel. I've emailed him and told him some of my thoughts but not this one. This one I'm scared to tell him. Because let's face it, sharing feelings makes us completely vulnerable. And that's always a scary thing to do. I'm always worried that something I tell him (although he's pretty good about it) will make him run in the opposite direction of me. He's told me I don't scare him but we've said we would be honest with each other. So I'm trying to be, no matter how hard it is.
It's always easier telling strangers your feelings because you have no idea who they are, especially this way, and they can't really say anything back to you about it.
Although, I've told you how crazy dog sitting has been for 4th of July I have loved every minute of taking care of the dogs I've had. This a truly saved me this summer and I'm so thankful! I have some dogs that I've meet that I've loved, some that I would never sit again haha which happens to plenty of sitters. I have met some amazing dogs that I end up treating like my own that I hope to have some day.
July 1, 2017
Slowing Down
We have a lot in common with people more than we know. If only we took the time to get to know that person. I've learned this over many years.
A friend in college thought I was a mean person until we had to pair up as scuba partners during scuba class only to end up being best friends in college during out major.
My younger cousin I found out last year deals with anxiety and depression like I do. She's more closed off to everything and opening up to others than I feel I am but I'm not looking from the outside at myself either. I have noticed that she lets her anxiety control some of the things she does and how she feels about things. And I know this all to well, but as I have gotten older that has gotten better.
It's All Relative
So my cousin came into town last week to visit for a couple days. It was basically a weekend visit during the week. I wasn't busy with dogs which was kind of nice. She loves antiques and thrift stores so we went around town to the two thrift/antique shops that I could think and then stopped in a boutique that I love downtown. I always get in trouble in that place and know I shouldn't even walk in there.
We talked about school for her, she's going to school for American Sign Language interpretation. Which I completely admire her for. I've always wanted to learn sign language and ha started at one point but then stopped because I felt like I was horrible at it. We talked about what she wanted todo when she graduated and what her most popular options were and how some of the positions are hard to get into. What really surprised me was how closed off she was telling me the deaf community is to hearing people. She was telling me that how some deaf people wouldn't even bother speaking with her when they found out she was hearing. It saddened and shocked me honestly.
We spent most of the time talking about guys though as most girls do to each other and spilling our man issues. Hers had just broken up with her during finals week...great timing bud. And lord knows what mine is doing. I still can't figure him out and I'm a little scared when it comes to him honestly, but anyway. I remember being confused like she was when things just go wrong out of the blue. Our boy talk and anxiety/depression talk was over Cracker Barrel and hiking. Wednesday was a nice day for a hike and we were out for about an hour and then went to play trivia that night. I did my best to entertain her while she was here and I hope that I was able to give her some advice about boys and dealing with her anxiety and that it's okay to take medicine for it. I remember I was scared and stubborn about taking medicine for it at first. I can't really but into words why I was scared me but it did. I still am a little ashamed of taking medicine but don't try and hide it as much but I'm sure when I take it people are wondering what I'm taking medicine for.
But I told her later after she got back home what I usually tell myself when a guy breaks my head and how I keep my head up....
"Show him what he's missing!" It just reminds me to not wallow in the fact that some guy has just broken my heart and to pick myself up and better myself. Set goals and reach them. Make them impressed by the person I have become if I ever run into them again and be like damn why did I ever give that girl up. That's what runs through my head in the mist of all the heartache.
Fire Truck Festival + Pew Pew
So we all know when kids are young at some point the boys love fire trucks. They'll walk around with plastic fire helmets and how can you not think a little kid is cute at that age. Well Spencer, NC was having a Fire Truck Festival this past weekend and for my niece's birthday my mom got us tickets to actually ride on the train that was there and look at all the different fire trucks. There were fire trucks from all different places in NC and all different models. My favorite was one from 1914. I don't know why but I'm attracted to the older body styles. There was also a pink fire truck that for breast cancer, bounce houses for the kids to play in and then some of the fire hoses were out and being sprayed so the kids and adults could cool off. I just kept myself in the shade as much as possible.
The train ride was okay. It was an older style passenger train and we passed by museums and I think the one thing I thought was the coolest is, if you ever watch the show Thomas the Tank Engine and saw where they kept the extra train cars and had the circle type track for all the different engines/cars to pull out and be put on a certain part of the track, there was that there too. Yes, and Thomas the Tank Engine show was the first thing I thought about when I saw that. I tried getting a picture of it but we had passed most of it by the time I had realized it from paying attention to my niece and nephew on the train ride. Other than that none of us were really that impressed with the entire experience. By the time we were down, we were dealing with tired and crying kids who were just completely over the whole experience. They were both asleep about 15min into the car ride back to my sister-in-law's house.
Mom and I both went home and took a nap after that. I had really wanted to relax and I knew that since we were going to get done early in the day from the Fire Truck Festival I might be able to do something I wanted to do for once and have some fun. I have been wanting to go shooting for awhile so later that night mom and I went into Concord and went shooting. I need a lot a practice and it had been awhile since I last shoot so I wasn't expecting anything close to being good. I actually surprised myself and had some pretty good grouping minus pulling to the left but I have more confidence now than I did last time I shot.
I've thought about it a couple times and my goal eventually would be go to and compete in a shooting competition.
My niece's birthday party was the next day and it was Moana themed. I got there about 30min late because I had gone to the gym that morning and had laundry that I needed to get done. I know...bad Aunt for being late to my niece's birthday party!! She got a Hatchimal from her mom's aunt and as soon as that thing pecked through the shell she was peeling the shell off herself wanting to get that hatcnhimal out! I get patience runs well in the family haha
House Updates
I haven't started on my big pallet project yet, but I decided to add some better towel hooks in my bathroom other than the 1 command hook that I had for myself. I thought well if my cousin is coming into town and if 16.4 (we're going back to calling him Fidget) comes back and takes a shower at my place where in the heck are they going to hang their towel when they're done. I wanted it to match my shelf that I had made in my bathroom so I used industrial piping again. I am enjoying this decorating/sprucing up thing.
I also had ordered a pillow case from Thirty-One Gifts about my love for weightlifting. I can't help it...what I love bleeds into my decorating. So now I have an extra throw pillow for my couch which I'm completely in love with and what weightlifter wouldn't be.
A friend in college thought I was a mean person until we had to pair up as scuba partners during scuba class only to end up being best friends in college during out major.
My younger cousin I found out last year deals with anxiety and depression like I do. She's more closed off to everything and opening up to others than I feel I am but I'm not looking from the outside at myself either. I have noticed that she lets her anxiety control some of the things she does and how she feels about things. And I know this all to well, but as I have gotten older that has gotten better.
It's All Relative
So my cousin came into town last week to visit for a couple days. It was basically a weekend visit during the week. I wasn't busy with dogs which was kind of nice. She loves antiques and thrift stores so we went around town to the two thrift/antique shops that I could think and then stopped in a boutique that I love downtown. I always get in trouble in that place and know I shouldn't even walk in there.
We talked about school for her, she's going to school for American Sign Language interpretation. Which I completely admire her for. I've always wanted to learn sign language and ha started at one point but then stopped because I felt like I was horrible at it. We talked about what she wanted todo when she graduated and what her most popular options were and how some of the positions are hard to get into. What really surprised me was how closed off she was telling me the deaf community is to hearing people. She was telling me that how some deaf people wouldn't even bother speaking with her when they found out she was hearing. It saddened and shocked me honestly.
We spent most of the time talking about guys though as most girls do to each other and spilling our man issues. Hers had just broken up with her during finals week...great timing bud. And lord knows what mine is doing. I still can't figure him out and I'm a little scared when it comes to him honestly, but anyway. I remember being confused like she was when things just go wrong out of the blue. Our boy talk and anxiety/depression talk was over Cracker Barrel and hiking. Wednesday was a nice day for a hike and we were out for about an hour and then went to play trivia that night. I did my best to entertain her while she was here and I hope that I was able to give her some advice about boys and dealing with her anxiety and that it's okay to take medicine for it. I remember I was scared and stubborn about taking medicine for it at first. I can't really but into words why I was scared me but it did. I still am a little ashamed of taking medicine but don't try and hide it as much but I'm sure when I take it people are wondering what I'm taking medicine for. But I told her later after she got back home what I usually tell myself when a guy breaks my head and how I keep my head up....
"Show him what he's missing!" It just reminds me to not wallow in the fact that some guy has just broken my heart and to pick myself up and better myself. Set goals and reach them. Make them impressed by the person I have become if I ever run into them again and be like damn why did I ever give that girl up. That's what runs through my head in the mist of all the heartache.
Fire Truck Festival + Pew Pew
So we all know when kids are young at some point the boys love fire trucks. They'll walk around with plastic fire helmets and how can you not think a little kid is cute at that age. Well Spencer, NC was having a Fire Truck Festival this past weekend and for my niece's birthday my mom got us tickets to actually ride on the train that was there and look at all the different fire trucks. There were fire trucks from all different places in NC and all different models. My favorite was one from 1914. I don't know why but I'm attracted to the older body styles. There was also a pink fire truck that for breast cancer, bounce houses for the kids to play in and then some of the fire hoses were out and being sprayed so the kids and adults could cool off. I just kept myself in the shade as much as possible. The train ride was okay. It was an older style passenger train and we passed by museums and I think the one thing I thought was the coolest is, if you ever watch the show Thomas the Tank Engine and saw where they kept the extra train cars and had the circle type track for all the different engines/cars to pull out and be put on a certain part of the track, there was that there too. Yes, and Thomas the Tank Engine show was the first thing I thought about when I saw that. I tried getting a picture of it but we had passed most of it by the time I had realized it from paying attention to my niece and nephew on the train ride. Other than that none of us were really that impressed with the entire experience. By the time we were down, we were dealing with tired and crying kids who were just completely over the whole experience. They were both asleep about 15min into the car ride back to my sister-in-law's house.
Mom and I both went home and took a nap after that. I had really wanted to relax and I knew that since we were going to get done early in the day from the Fire Truck Festival I might be able to do something I wanted to do for once and have some fun. I have been wanting to go shooting for awhile so later that night mom and I went into Concord and went shooting. I need a lot a practice and it had been awhile since I last shoot so I wasn't expecting anything close to being good. I actually surprised myself and had some pretty good grouping minus pulling to the left but I have more confidence now than I did last time I shot.
I've thought about it a couple times and my goal eventually would be go to and compete in a shooting competition.
My niece's birthday party was the next day and it was Moana themed. I got there about 30min late because I had gone to the gym that morning and had laundry that I needed to get done. I know...bad Aunt for being late to my niece's birthday party!! She got a Hatchimal from her mom's aunt and as soon as that thing pecked through the shell she was peeling the shell off herself wanting to get that hatcnhimal out! I get patience runs well in the family haha
House Updates
I haven't started on my big pallet project yet, but I decided to add some better towel hooks in my bathroom other than the 1 command hook that I had for myself. I thought well if my cousin is coming into town and if 16.4 (we're going back to calling him Fidget) comes back and takes a shower at my place where in the heck are they going to hang their towel when they're done. I wanted it to match my shelf that I had made in my bathroom so I used industrial piping again. I am enjoying this decorating/sprucing up thing. I also had ordered a pillow case from Thirty-One Gifts about my love for weightlifting. I can't help it...what I love bleeds into my decorating. So now I have an extra throw pillow for my couch which I'm completely in love with and what weightlifter wouldn't be.
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