So this weekend was my first meet. Basically to put it simply, I had the time of my life. The weekend started off Friday morning with getting everything together. Ended up leaving and getting to I-FAST to pick up Lance at about 3:30 when I wanted to be there by 2 at the latest . We dropped off my little sisters and continued up towards Midland. We ended up getting there around 9:45. Went to Logan’s Roadhouse after we checked in at the Midland Resort where the meet was being held. I ordered and I was starving so I just wanted it as fast as possible and the waitress goes, well it will be 30 minutes at least for the fillet so I was like just give me whatever steak is fastest but ended up with the fillet. Lance, goes to order and totally confuses the waitress! He wanted two entrée’s like usual and the waitress didn’t understand! It was great. Got back to the hotel around 11:30, did my warm-up showered and tried to get to sleep.
Meet- Day. Woke up at about 6:30 day of the meet. Equipment check-in was at 7 so I decided to be early. Took a shower and headed down there. Up to this point I was super super confident and thought I had it in the bag. When I walked down there all I saw was a bunch of MASSIVE dudes. I was extremely intimidated leading up the first lift. Did weigh in’s and was 315. Got all my rack heights and stuff. Headed back up to the room to get everything together and clear my head before the meet.
Got down to the convention center about 9:30 and they were already almost done with rules. Good thing about being me is I read the rulebook once a week for the last 7 months and had commands smashed into my brain. If I was going to miss a lift it was going to be cause I wasn’t strong enough, not cause of commands.
The first flight started and moved fast! Warm-ups went well, the rack was way too low but was fine. Hit my normal and did my last warm-up with a tight belt at 365 and just shot it up! I opened at 435.4lbs (197.5Kg’s) and it flew up. I was in the meet, I crushed my first lift. I had a smile that wouldn’t go away. Second attempt was 474lbs (215KG’s). Absolutely crushed it. Felt light as hell so I decided to go balls out. I knew I had 500+lbs in me so I went for broke and decided for a 518.2lb (235KG) third attempt. It was light off the racks, I hit the hole and it was a grinder but I finished it. I was so happy at that point I knew that today was going to be a great day.
I’m not a bench enthusiast. It’s my worst lift right now and something I really need to focus on for this next meet. I opened at 237lbs. Felt so light in my hands. Second attempt was 253.5lbs. Again was pretty easy but felt heavy as hell in my hands. Once again, I went for broke and attempted a PR. 275.4lbs. I felt my butt come off the bench and after I locked it out I started laughing because I hit it but knew I was going to get red lighted for my butt but only got 1 red. The only red of the entire meet for me.
Now came my favorite lifts. Deads. These moved so fast because a couple people dropped. I thought I was 3 out but was really on deck. I didn’t get my glass’s off and pulled my eaaaasy 474 opener. Second attempt was 511 or something and was ridiculously easy. Once again went for broke and called for 551.2lbs. It broke the floor easy but about 3 inches from lockout my glutes were smoke and had some trouble getting it but finished the lift for a 77lb PR. Squat PR was +92lbs and bench was +10lbs. Not bad for 7 months of powerlifting type training experience.
Won Junior SHW RAW division and qualified for Collegiate Nationals which was huge for me. I had a 1344.8lb total and only was expecting to hit about 1300. Overall had a great time and was glad I did it. My next meet is probably going to be Nov 20th in Cleveland, Ohio. My goals for that meet realistically are going to be a 540lb Squat (+22lbs), 295lb Bench (+20lbs), and a 575lb Deadlift (+23lbs) = 1410lb total. Those are my goals. I feel like if my taper and conditioning go as well this cycle that I should be able to get relatively close to that. I felt like I had some left in the tank on both bench and deadlift this meet but with it being my first meet going 9/9 was more important to me than anything.
