Meet recap 😃 Thank you for letting me share my journey.

My meet was on Saturday and I was in the second session, weigh-ins at 12:30, lifting started at 2:30. The big guys went in the morning session. There were a lot of lifters so the director has been breaking them up this way.

It was a hot day, in the mid 80’s. That’s fine but this place has no AC, no windows for cross ventilation, just one garage door that they opened but it was in the back and did little. He had three giant fans but they did nothing unless you stood in front of them and then it was just a tiny breeze. So it was hot, stuffy, well into the 90’s in the corner where you waited to get on the platform. And the flights were small, so it was going pretty fast. Maybe I’d have five minutes between my lifts.

(Not excuses because these factors don’t matter in the scoring, just setting the scene.)

My husband drove me and we met my coach and her husband. My coach was awesome, her husband and mine sat together in the audience and talked and they videoed me (only coaches permitted in back, unlike times past).

We had a plan, weights for if I felt good, or not, and we’d adjust as we went along. Very conservative openers because you want to feel good, confident, get some numbers on the board. Every single weight option, from low to best/high, I had done before BAM! I got my first and second squats, 182# and 192. I’ve done those so many times. But the heat and the speed and my nerves, the 192 felt janky and heavy. Before my third attempt I had to seriously try to calm down. We opted for 205#, a number I’d successfully done at a previous meet, but I got stuck halfway up and unlike any other time where I could keep grinding, this one…I couldn’t move. So that was all reds 👎

My bench has been giving me trouble, a puzzle I’m working on, so I wanted to just have fun, go super easy, nail it all. And I did. Got all three, 77#, 82, and 88. I have time to work on my bench.

Deadlift opener was an easy 231#. Second was to be 253, then third we’d see how I felt with 270, 276, or if I was feeling off, 265. I’ve done all these before. So when I went up for my second at 253 and:

https://youtube.com/shorts/G5RW9HdMi3Q?feature=share

I was…what the actual…my coach had me doing those for doubles for weeks! Yeah it’s heavy but I could do two! I wanted to give up. I had one last attempt in the whole meet and I kept thinking of my last disaster meet and I didn’t want to go through that. I told her I was done, I didn’t want to do the last one. She said, NO. You ARE doing this. Put on your headphones and go sit and wait for you to be called up. You ARE doing this.

And she was great. She prompted me with the cues. She said I’d done this and I can do it. “You will do this.”

And as I sat there I got mad (not at her). I got so mad. I was sitting there seething. How dare I not be able to do this. And the more I got mad, the more I was just mumbling and talking to myself, saying I’ve done this, this is stupid, the goddam weight, MF weight, you bitch 😤😤😤

And they said, “Bar is loaded”

https://youtube.com/shorts/MruHyQn3A9c?feature=share

And that was it. I almost cried. I’m so proud of whatever, however I got that mindset to do it.

So there were no records broken, and they would have been my own records I broke but it still would have been nice. I got second place in my age/weight class.

And now since I decided to drop out of the November meet, I have a real offseason to work on getting stronger.

Thanks for letting me share! Hopefully the links work, after all my jawing here.

I love love love having a coach (that was my coach’s husband yelling in the videos, as he is also a coach). I love being a part of their team. It’s just a little pricey and I think I’m going to have to stop going for awhile, until I get closer to my next meet, maybe three months out. This week is just recovery and the plan is to do many more bodybuilding, power building work, more variations of the lifts. During meet prep, there isn’t as much time for that. I have equipment at home. It is good to have someone program and push you, show you how to be effective and efficient doing even accessory work, but I’m going to have to come up with something. It will work out!

Hi there Allie 👋 

It is so inspiring/impressive that you are still going strong at this; what a Legend 🤩

Having this type of outlet is so beneficial for our bodies, mind and soul. Living life passionately as you are, is great for longevity as well.

Thanks for sharing 😎

omg…I just saw that Tim Wakefield has died at age 57 😢. He was a great Red Sox pitcher and helped lead them to the World Series. This is so sad. I don’t know the details. It just came across as a news banner on my tablet.

I watched the AFL grand final this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m not usually big on sports but got right into it. It was such a close game, so it was very exciting.

The captain of one of the teams appeared so magnetic/charismatic that I was compelled to look up his chart after the game. He is a Sun conjunct Uranus, Aquarian! ♒️

And Dick Butkus. RIP 🙏