If you have been following my blog, you know that several weeks before Nationals, I had actually decided to cancel. I was swamped with work, and the timing didn't look like it was going to work out at all. Therefore, I switched my training, focusing on higher reps and more frequent training sessions to drop weight. It was working well too, I dropped weight and cut size off my waist while maintaining muscle mass.
What I didn't maintain, was all of my power.
Then, one week out from nationals, my two year old was sick and throwing up all night. Like dominoes, each of my kids got hit and my wife too. I tried to hold out, but it eventually hit me as well. By the time I got onto the plane, I had had the tummy flu for a day and a half. So I made it through a day of airports and planes by living on pepto bismol and dramamine.
I'll skip the details, but let's just say I got little to no sleep for a few days, and had to try to force myself to eat. By the time Sunday rolled around, I was tired and achy. If I was at home, I wouldn't even train under such circumstances. But- I had come to compete. So, I was gonna do what I could.
I went into the warmups feeling good, but then I made a terrible rookie mistake. As tired as I was, I planned on my last squat warm up set being 405. I loaded up the four plates and went to it- but my mistake was this: 4 plates at home equals 405 pounds. But competitions use KG plates. Me being as tired as I was, I forgot that each red plate was 25KG or 55 pounds instead of 45. After adding the bar and the clamps, I was "warming up" with 495. I dont use knee wraps or sleeves during my warm ups... so I took what little energy I had left, and burned it in the warm up room.
I went out and got my opener- but it felt hard.
The next squat attempt, which was 25 pounds less than what I did at State in February, hit me like a truck. I was solid on the way down, but then I had nothing to push with. What you can't see in the video, is my stomach cramps. Just putting my belt on caused my stomach to spasm violently, and not just the outer muscles, but the inner muscles too. I couldn't tighten my core at all.
After scratching on #2, I was asked if I was going to try again. I replied with, "I'll go once more. I'll either get it or go down fighting."
Yeah... I went down like a sack of potatoes dropped off a roof and crashed at the bottom of attempt three. By the time I managed to get out of my wraps and make it outside, I nearly vomited from the stomach cramps, and could barely sip my gatorade because my hand was shaking so badly I nearly spilled the bottle on the ground.
(By the way- excellent spotters at this meet.)
Good news- at least I made the first attempt, so I was on the board. Now, all I had to do was try and figure out how to stop the cramps and make whatever come back I could.
Nate did me a solid and kept an eye on the competition so I could try and take a nap before my flight came up for the bench press. During that time, I called home and chatted with my family for a few minutes. After getting some encouragement from my wife and sons, I decided I had to make good on my promise to come home with a medal.
I warmed up on the bench after my short nap, careful to load the right kind of plates. I hit my opener pretty easily.
I went up a bit and got the next attempt as well.
For attempt 3, I thought I could hit what I got at state in February... but my tank was running low again, and I hit a wall at the sticking point. If I hadn't been sick, I might have been able to grind it out, but as it was, I was just happy I had only scratched once.
We moved right into the deadlift. I warmed up in the back, sipping on gatorade and finally able to get rid of the shakes in my arms. I was downing pepto bismol like it was going out of style, and making frequent stops in the men's room. Not a fun way to do a competition.
I opened with a light deadlift, and pulled it up.
For attempt #2, I just went with 529. I figured I needed something over 500, but wasn't sure how my strength was going to last. The stomach cramps were back in a bad way, making it difficult to get the belt on, much less get into proper lifting position. I pulled up 529, but it was a lot slower than it should have been.
Then, for #3, I just said to heck with it all. Forget the cramps. Forget the sickness. Forget the tiredness. I hadn't even been able to try for a PR all day. So I was going to do it on deadlifts. I tried for 575, which would have been about 10 more than what I got in February.
You can see I pull it off the ground just a bit... and then it promptly kicked my can and pulled me right back down.
I'm not even going to admit to my total. It was terrible. It was, in fact, lower than I got a year ago in the regional competition. However, fighting and sticking it out proved to be worth it, as I did end up bringing a medal home to show my boys. Given what I was fighting through, let alone the fact that I only just started competing a little less than a year ago after a long and hard fight with a debilitating disease, I am happy with what I accomplished. It certainly wasn't my best, but it was the best I could do that particular day.
When it was all said and done, I walked away with third place. (Funny thing, even if I had been at my best, I still wouldn't have taken second or third. Those guys on the podium with me were beasts. Deadlifting well into the 700's.)
