Meh, the past few months have been jam packed and flown by in the blink of an eye...
I became a grandmother again, with little Mia being born on November 17th.
I've completed the PA coaching course and passed the exam.
I've been on P1, more often than not - such a drag....
And... I sat thru a week long training course at work and passed my OCP exam (on my birthday!)
I still dont have title for the land I bought and have had to find a new place to live (again) as I was unable to extend my rental lease... So I am moving again in early Jan - blahhhh. (although the new place does have a dishwasher and aircon - a bonus for summer (if/when it arrives).
I competed at the Commonwealth and Oceania Championships in New Zealand, with some moderate success. Entered the 'Open' Division, struggled like crazy to get under 63kg, despite some severe dieting, ended up in the sauna the day before the comp to get the last 1/2 kg off.
The 2 months leading up to the event saw me having huge doubts about whether I could do it. Getting back in equipment was not easy, not like riding a bike. I thought I'd never be comfortable and the weight felt like a tonne. I was fortunate to have great training partners during that time, especially Dave &Tommy for squats, Bro, Jason & Big Cam for bench and Luke for deadlifts. They got me thru, they got me over the line!
All the equipped ladies were scheduled to lift on day 1, in the morning, but the breakup of the lifting groups saw me on my own in the second flight of lifters. We were very limited for coaches as everyone was arriving at different times of the week depending on their lifting timetable. The sharing of coaches didn't work too well will the few coaches we had concentrating on the girls in the first flight. John Myers kept checking on me thankfully, but I know he was stressing a little as he was lifting in the next session, and would have head off for his own weight-in and gear check.... So mostly on my own for warmups, my plans went out the window as I tried to work in with the Canadian team who were kind enough to help load the bar, but its unnerving to warmup without spotters and no-one to double check depth... Not feeling confident I lowered my opener 130. Wayyyy low, got wayyy low for depth too. Still not feeling confident I only went up 5kg, all whites again. Decided to try and make up some ground, jumped 10kg to 145kg. What a grind... but I got it, but I was already on the backfoot, with Aimee from NZ leading with a 162.5 squat...
If I thought the squat was bad, bench was going to be worse, hearing from the first flight that the press calls were extremely long, and again very little help with warmups, except to get my shirt on, again I cut my warmups and touching in the shirt was near impossible without a couple of sets to work it down, a luxury I didn't have, and a coach who didn't know me, bombed my confidence with doubts, so I lowered my opener way low again. Hit all 3 attempts 80, 85, 90. In hindsight, I should have backed myself and left my opener where it was, I had a little more in the tank for bench.
Deadlift... My biggest lesson learned here... Opened with an M2 World record, and easy opener, got it and my mind just switched off. Went for 190, which I've pulled so many times before and dropped it.... 3rd attempt... fade to grey.... lights are on but nobody's at home. I've done this before, once the first deadlift is done, I just switch off. Something I need to address, mentally! Not a strength issue, I need to find the trigger to switch back on. Something to work on for 2014.
Here's are few more pics from the comp:
And here's where it failed... so close...
Finally able to relax and eat up, my weight jumped back up to 65kg in no time. It felt good! Until....
The night I got home from NZ, I woke about 3am... Violently sick... I thought it was food poisoning, but it lasted over a week... nausea, vomiting, diahorrea. If it didnt come up, then it went straight thru. Gross huh? I lost so much weight, rock bottom under 62kg. And to top it off, sciatica pain! I couldnt lie down, I couldnt stand up, I was so much pain. My plans to go back to training to do some high volume recovery training were dashed. Stretching made it feel good, so after I was over the worst of the virus I went into the gym for some strechting. 5 mins with Bro and a bit of active release and it turned the corner. The man is a miracle worker.
So now its the end of 2013. Time to start planning for 2014.... Time for shit to get serious!
