Get Ready!!! New Year of Competitions to come!

Now that World Championships in Hamburg has come to an end it is time to prepare for the upcoming year! I would like to just take a moment to Congratulations to the USA team for getting 5th place in the World and everyone who competed and received metals!! A huge Congrats to Will Metcalf for bringing home the Gold in 24kg Biathlon. Will has made a huge comeback from being injured and not being able to compete in many meets this year. Results from World Championships
Next year the IUKL World Championships will be held in Dublin, Ireland, USA Nationals will be in Chicago. If you plan to go to these competitions plan now and start saving so you don't have to worry about travel and hotel. There are some other great meets to get to so plan accordingly so you can compete at the events you want. I haven't decided which competitions I want to get to yet but here are a few I have in mind. Holiday Kettlebell Sport Championship in December,  West Coast Classic in February, Punch Sarasota in April, USA Nationals in August, World Championships in November. Those are what I have planned but I don't know what the schedule is going to look like so there might be some adjustments. Also something I brought to question was to stay at 73kg weight class or drop to the 68kg weight class and compete there. The USA team had a pro and amateur in 73kg but no one in the 68kg weight class. So there is a spot that is open for competition. Time to plan!!

In recent news I competed at the Georgia State Open Kettlebell Meet in Norcross, GA. The weight categories were compressed because of it being a small competition. Only 19 lifters so there wasn't a lot of competition so rather than saying I got first I'm prouder of my results. I weighed in at 73.8 kg (only one in my class) lifted 24kg Biathlon. My training leading up to this competition wasn't the best and has been very inconsistent so my goal was to hit a few targets. Jerk 80 reps and Snatch 160 reps. Here is what I did!!







Overall pretty good meet for myself. It's time to continue to prepare for the West Coast Classic in February but first the Holiday Kettlebell Sport Championship in NJ in December. More training ahead. And I have switched to the Adidas AdiPower shoe. It has a composite heel and it feels snug on my feet which is something I had a problem with before with other shoes. Also I have the Virus Intl compression shorts on which feel pretty great. If you have a chance check them out...similar to 2XU but not as expensive!!

Update last couple months(Sept-Oct)

After Nationals in August I declined to compete in Germany at the World Championships. I didn't plan accordingly to fund my travels. So beginning now I plan to save so I have no excuses to travel where ever the championships are held. As far as training has been going, since I decided not to go to World championship training has been off. I am starting back up the road to Master of Sport in Biathlon. So there will be steps to achieve first before getting to the Master of sport level. 1) One step that I have achieved was getting CMS in June in NJ. The goal is to achieve similar results with the 32s. 2) Next goal will be to hit the (100+ Jerk, 200+ Snatch) 200+ points with 24s. That's something I have been working on for some time now. 3) Over 150+ points with 28s- New objective.

This November I will begin my journey. I am setting up my competition schedule for the next few months. Nov 15th I'll be competing in Atlanta, then February 7th San Francisco at the Ice Chamber, April will be in Sarasota, FL, and then I'll set the rest of the year up. From Nov to Feb there will be enough time to train and prepare for California.
Some of my recent training is showing some promise in hitting my target with the 24s. My two weak areas are my rack in jerk and my endurance on the snatch. The rack has always been an issue because of my lack of flexibility in the hips and upper back. Snatch endurance just takes more practice and fine tuning my technique. Here is a quick workout with the 28s and 24s snatch.
    
Competition is coming soon so this will show where I am at in prep for the West Coast Classic in San Fran. I will be journalling and making sure I get every training session in. Consistency will be key at hitting the targets that are set. More to come....I've been looking into some other training methods to add to my training- more along the stretching and mobility areas.