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Sunday, December 20, 2015

Hello Long Cycle!!

After the World Championships in Dublin, I noticed that there were a few athletes that competed in both Biathlon and Long Cycle. This happened in the professional as well as amateurs. A couple well known lifters are known to compete in both one of them being Ivan Denisov.
As a goal for myself in 2016, I would like to be proficient in all lifts of competition. Eventually be able to lift 32s in both biathlon and long cycle with good results in both. Why? This makes training interesting :) Also one lift correlates with the others. Training Jerk and Snatch help with Long cycle and vice versa. Example: training Jerk helps with rack and fixation, while long cycle helps with cardio allowing you to lift at a higher rpm in jerk and snatch.
Here is one long cycle session from last week. I'm also starting to do more band work and this is helping with jerk and fixating much quicker. (more on that later)



Sunday, December 13, 2015

World Championships 2015 Dublin, Ireland: Re-cap

It's been a little over two week from the World Championships in Dublin, Ireland. Over 36 countries and 560+ athletes. The USA team brought over 50 athletes to compete this year. Almost all professional weight classes were filled up and there were more than 2 lifters in certain weight classes for the amateurs. Some even went against each other in flights. That helped to make things more exciting for the USA team. The competition went on for 4 full days (26th-29th). These were long days as amateurs started the day and the professionals finished it. The schedule for the competition: 26th Nov, Biathlon and Women's Snatch- Men- 63kg, 68kg, 73kg and 78kg, Women- 58kg and 63kg; 27th Nov, Biathlon and Women's Snatch- Men- 85kg, 95kg, +95kg, Women- 68kg and +68kg; 28th Nov, Long Cycle- All weight classes- Amateur, Professional and Veterans, 29th Nov, Veterans Men's Biathlon and Women's Snatch.

First part of the trip and competition was a bit hard but not difficult. It was the task of registering and weighing in. Since we had a lot of members it took longer than we thought. Thank you to Judi and Rhonda for doing their best to keep this part organized and running smoothly. i was a bit frustrating seeing other teams go in, pay and weigh in before we had a chance to even start. Eventually we finally got to weigh in. I weighed in at 67.3kg (148.06 lbs) which was 1.54 lbs under my weight class. It felt good to come in strong and feeling good (although a bit dehydrated from the 3 hour wait). I had till the following day to rehydrate and eat a hardy meal.

Competition day: I got there early with some of the team. Amateurs were up first so it gave the professional lifters some time to relax and enjoy the amateur lifters put up some great performances. Eric Hayes and Carter Berry both had some great performances; Eric 117 reps in Jerk, Carter 156 reps in Jerk. The rest of the team also put up some really good numbers stepping up on the international platform. Some of the judging was strict and some of it wasn't. It's all subjective to the judge(s) watching the lifters.
I came up around 3pm Ireland time. First up was Jerk. Not my best lift but it was something I had worked on for the last 3 months to improve. Here is my set.

I thought I felt good but nerves probably got the best of me. I got stopped after my 32nd rep for a shoulder infraction. I though I was okay resetting my rack position but it was viewed as illegal rest. There is nothing I could do after putting the bells down. Now I know what I can't do and will have that as a focus during my training going forward. Next up was Snatch.


Snatch is my stronger of the two lifts because there is no real rest position besides the lockout. I hit a personal best of 85 reps (5 better than in Aug). I'm proud to represent the USA in World competition and I hope to do it again. Thank you to all who supported me during this journey!!

Please check out some of the other great lifters from the USA: Juan Pellot and Rick Martins in Long cycle, Chris Doenlen, Aaron Guyett, JT Netterville, John Lesko, and some women Melissa Swanson (141 reps in Snatch!!), Brittany VS, Erin Mercadante, Ryle Reeves and can't forget my FL sister Cayla and Teri!!

When I made the decision to lift at the 68kg weight class I knew what could happen with regards to strength and endurance. My improvement to my endurance was definitely noticeable as I hit new PRs when I ran long distances. It also effected my strength possibly more than I thought. Going forward I will stay at the 73kg weight class but keep my weight around 70-72kg. During the weight loss process when I reached this area I felt really good.

Now back to the basics to really work on my technique and find what works best for me. It's kind of what everyone says when you experience something bad. It was an eye opener but this time around there is more work to do. I have plenty of more reps and great sets ahead of me. More competitions to come and another World Championship in the future. I'm back up to 163lbs and ready to get back to work.
Time to lift and lose some pounds ;) Excited for the road ahead!!

Happy Holidays Everyone!!