Friday, July 31, 2009

July 31 2009

Unofficial PA female top 20

Jeannette Gevers 470.379
Jacinta Read 422.617
Lee-Anne Dwarte 421.734
Anita Millington 421.47
Vicki O'Brien 419.481
Helen Marie Allen 409.377
Rikki Flanders 393.496
Anne Mort 391.371
Robyn Gleeson 383.227
Jennifer Wilcock 372.005
Deborah Hawker 367.363
Pranee Pascoe 346.996
Jay Wright 339.35
Julia Borissova 333.056
Sonja Rutherford 315.526
Melanie Taylor 301.5
Susan Greenbank 295.6
Julie Marshall 291.873
Barbara Bennett 290.602
Bronwyn Evans 278.496

I've increased my ranking from 8th to 5th, however Jeanette is still way out in front but only 3 points separating 2nd to 5th!

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Thursday, July 30, 2009

Nationals - blow by blow....

Arrived in Sydney Friday morning and immediately went in search of a decent latte and something light to eat. As luck would have it we came across a cafe 'Three Beans' using Toby's estate beans - as Stimpy would say... "Happy Happy Joy Joy"


Wandered back to the hotel and found the bathroom floor was 'wet" and the toilet leaking - yuk. We were quickly moved to another room down the hall. Then it was off to the competitors meeting, only to find ASADA had commandeered the room to give everyone a good talking to about doping control. Sat that one out.... Steve asked how I was feeling and what my openers were going to be. I said I'd dropped my squat back to be sure of getting depth and he offered to watch during my warmups but only to say something *if* I was looking shallow. I let on that my opening deadlift would be 170 -175. He looked a little concerned "Thats only just short of your best isnt it?" "Not any more" I replied confidently with a smile. My pet lift! Then into the meeting to get our entry passes and goodies, tshirt, lifting times and rack heights. Back to the room decided that a hot bath was in order but no... the water was barely lukewarm and I could piss harder that the pressure coming out of the tap.. Ordered, received and ate a room service dinner while the bath was running. Rydges Nth Sydney - do something about your plumbing!!

Slept, restless, up at 5:15am to be whisked away to the comp venue at 6am for a 6.30 weight in and gear check - too early, bleary eyed, still half asleep and hungry. 66.7 kg. Phew! Thought I'd misplaced my knee wraps and went into a panic - to find them sitting snug in my bag all along! Finally something to eat, however the muesli bars that looked so appetising were rather dry and stuck to roof of my mouth. Topping it off, no decent coffee.... sigh.....

I was in the 2nd flight of lifters so as the first flight began lifting, I began warming up. Stressing out about getting my suit on and wanting to get the first squat out of the way, I warmed up to 120 and before I knew it, it was show time! Flustered at how quickly they were moving I was late getting my wraps on and they were a bit NQR. Disaster struck, I failed depth on my first attempt at 127.5kg - what a crap way to start! I knew it wasn't heavy, so I put in a 2nd attempt at 135kg. Better prepared this time, wraps on early! If anything a little too early and had to wait with my legs losing feeling. But it was a good confident squat - 3 whites. Third and final attempt, ever conscious of my depth and the failures in the gym over the past few weeks I hesitated and dropped the attempt to only 140 . I had to get this. I walked out to the rack and grabbed the bar. I deserved to be lifting this weight, it was mine, I'd put in the hard work - take it. Unracked the bar and pleasantly thought "Hey my shoulder doesn't hurt" "SQUAT" called the ref, big breath and down I went, woo-hoo and back up - 2 white lights! Passed!

Feeling a little more relaxed by now but knowing that my toughest lift was coming up - Bench press. The warmups felt heavy and the shirt not tight enough, self doubt got the better of my and I lowered my opener to 82.5. I couldn't afford to bomb. The handout was a bit rough, and I struggled to steady the bar, but I got the lift, still in the competition but confidence was draining fast. Still, stupidly, I went for 90kg on my 2nd attempt. Again, bad handout, bar wobbling and - red lights. Attempt 3: 90kg again and again a fail - CRAP! Would anyone believe me that I'd gotten 90kg in training for the past 3 weeks? Well I guess Jen would. The handouts messed her up too and she only got her opener at 85kg - disappointing 'cos her 90kg presses in the previous weeks were so strong! I thought for sure she had 95kg coming.

Finally onto the deadlift - yay. So cocky! I'd seen the Black Agents notify a couple of girls already so I thought I was in the clear, so I warmed up my deadlifts right in front of them - with utter contempt! Steve tapped me on the shoulder, a gentle reminder not to slam the bar down.... :-) Last warmup at 165kg and then onto the platform. Good set up, back tight, calm.... big breath, reach down to the bar and PULL. Nice, 175kg - yeah baby! Good form. 2nd attempt in as planned - 185kg. The Agents moved in to watch the final lifts, I powdered my legs in front of them, sniffed up the ammonia (gawd damn cats piss) and off to the bar, set up perfectly again. Just as I began to pull the bar drifted forward and I was forced out of position, the bar was already coming off the floor. but not close enough to my legs, my back rounded and I had to grind up what felt like forever and locked it out, Every vertebrae in my back cracked in succession.... White lights! That's all that mattered. Leigh suggested only going for 190, but I stubbornly insisted that I would have an attempt at the masters national record. Attempt 3 - 193.5kg Steve came back to tell me that they wouldn't accept my attempt, it had to be a full 2.5kg increment because this was an open comp, only at a masters comp could I do a .5 increment, so he altered the attempt to 192.5 at which point I had a change of heart and really just wanted to do 190, but too late and 192.5 got loaded on the bar and my head want in the right place anymore. Out onto the platform, setup and as soon as I reached down I was out of position, no chance, I took hold of the bar and knew it wasn't coming with me from that position. But I was satisfied with the 185, its the one I'd counted on. No sooner had I got off the platform the Black Agents swooped down on me - Notified. Damn!
175kg

Spent, dehydrated, sweaty and excited. I started to get changed, stripped off the t-shirt to try to cool down, and started working the suit down, bit easier than the squat suit but still has to be peeled off the legs bit by bit. Sat down in all my glory, crop top and undies working the suit legs down by pulling at my fatty inner thighs when some random guy asked if I needed help. "To do what?" I asked "Get your suit off" he replied. "Ummm, no thanks, I'm right..." weirdo!

I couldn't believe it was over - so quickly and already contemplating "what next?"

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Tuesday, July 21, 2009

July 21, 2009

Arghhh 2 lousy points!

I missed Best Female Lifter by 2 lousy points. A mere 2.5kg more on my total would have secured it! Arghhhh..........

Oh well....

Congratulations to Anita Millington - Best Female Lifter :-)

I can however console myself with winning my weight class.

Weighed in at 66.7kg

Squat 140kg (308lb)
Bench 82.5kg (181.5lb)
Deadlift 185kg (407lb)
Total 407.5 (896.5lb) Graded Elite II

In the Bench only comp Sunday morning I got 85kg but still missed the 90kg.

I have no explanation for the lousy benching... after getting 90 in training for previous 3 weeks I just couldn't get it together for the comp. Good deadlift tho' - almost triple bodyweight and maintained status quo on squat - well really some improvement 'cos depth is a big factor with PA. Overall a pretty good result.

Thought I'd made clear of ASADA too, they notified Jen and Anita I think sometime after their 2nd squat (bit of a no-no) but as soon as I was off the platform after my last deadlift - bang - notified! I was so dehydrated too... plus they wanted blood.... and not just a little 8ml but a double hit 16ml, big needle left a nasty puncture mark and bruise. (The picture doesn't do the bruise justice)












(L-R) Me, Deb,Mary, Rikki, Jen, Mami

The Southern Belles did pretty well - we were awarded best Female club with little Deb taking gold in the 52kg class, Rikki taking gold in the 60kg class and myself and Jen taking Gold and Silver in the 67.5 class. Mary and Mami did not compete this time. Mary will be back on the platform later this year and bringing little J-Bear (Jacqueline) into the world a couple of months ago :-)



They guys did well too, When the results are up on the PA site I'll post some more accurate details but from memory Tim won his class, Simon placed second in his class and I think Yoji got some PB's.

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Tuesday, July 14, 2009

July 14, 2009

This may or may not be the last update before nationals. No promises...

Whinge mode = on.
Had to re-submit my quarterly whereabouts after discovering that:
a) ASADA will not ask for me by name at reception and
b) Oracle will not escort them to my desk without first calling me.

Catch-22. So my workplace is not suitable for my 1 hour per day anchor. I'm hoping this mass update doesn't trigger some alert in their database. Anyhoo its a damn shame 'cos the office really is the best place to locate me :-(
Whinge mode = off.


Now, on to Nationals. Last of the heavy sessions completed on Sunday with me being squished with 145kg - quite literally too. I had the cross bars set too low and after failing about 1/3 the way up I had to set the bar on the cross rails and there I became pinned with my belt digging me fair and square in the ribs. Nice bruise!

Lessons learnt
1) set the cross bars higher
2) Need to do heavy box squats off parallel.

Hahaha true to form, I haven't even competed yet and already I'm planning out post comp training........... Since there are no more comps I'm interested in this year, this might be a good time to get serious about changing my squat stance - wider. Certainly my deadlift improved with the change to sumo and I need something to kick in for squats.

Bench and deadlift are looking good for competition PB's.

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Friday, July 10, 2009

July 10 2009

Update on the PA website:

Aussie Championships to be the Biggest Ever (09/07/09)

It's official, the 2009 Australian Powerlifting and Bench Press Championships will be the biggest ever. Entries for the event are now closed and the field is set at close to 100 lifters! The Championships are to be held at the North Sydney Anzac Memorial Club over the weekend of the 18th and 19th of July and will feature Australia's finest lifters. Depth across all weight divisions will ensure exciting competition, most notably in the Men’s 125kg class. Perennial champion Andrew Logan will be looking to defend his title against exciting newcomer and former NRL star Odell Manuel, and the resurgent Stephen Pritchard. The men's line up also includes multiple Master world record holder Wim Van Weenen and Masters 2 World Champion John Myers. In the women's division, the battle for overall honours will be a tightly contested affair in the absence of dual World Champion Jeanette Gevers who has passed on the biggest meet in Australia for the biggest meet in the World - The World Games! Joining Jeanette is current men's number one lifter Richard Hozjan which in turn paves the way for a new overall men and women's champion to be crowned. Anita Millington, Lee-Ann Dwarte, Anne Mort and new PA lifter Vicki O'Brien are the main contenders to battle it out for overall honours for the women. In the men's, along with the trio of 125ers, talented junior Chris Catalbiano and the larger than life super heavyweight, Nathan Baxter, will also be in contention for best lifter.


Woo-hoo I rated a mention! :-)

So there are 15 Female competitors overall, 5 in my weight class! 5 competitors in the bench press comp on the Sunday.


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Thursday, July 09, 2009

July 9th 2009

Not long now.......

Last deadlift session last night. Have some mighty bruises which I hope will heal at least a little bit over the next week. Last big bench and squat this weekend coming. A final light workout on Tuesday, just to keep everything moving.

Settled on 67kg giving me a little bit of play should the comp scales be different to mine.

Not much else to report. Feeling good. Ready to roll.

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