OWA Fall Classic - Competition Recap

Now that we are getting into the 2014-2015 competitive weightlifting season, the standards are starting to be set. Two of the largest OWA competitions, the Fall Classic and WinterLift, now have minimum qualification standards required for competitors to be eligible to enter. The standards must be performed at a sanctioned event at least 30 days prior to either of these competitions. Both events are good measures to check out the competition and attempt to qualify for the provincial championships.

In order to qualify for events, competitors are required to hit a minimum total which is the amount lifted during the snatch added to the amount lifted during the clean and jerk. For the 2014 Fall classic, competitors in my weight class (75 kg) had to hit a minimum total of 108 kg.

For this event, I had to lose 6.8 kg in October. Let me say that again... I had to lose weight in OCTOBER! Both Thanksgiving and Halloween are events in October which I enjoy greatly, primarily due to the food! But alas, the event organizer decided that the best date to host this event was on November 1 - the day after Halloween. This meant no Halloween candy for me.

Before the last competition I participated in, the Kanama Summeriest, I also had to lose some weight. I didn't really take it seriously though, and ended up having to cut 3 kg in water weight in the sauna the night before weigh ins. In an attempt to avoid this issue before the Fall Classic, I tried to cut all my weight through diet manipulation. Thankfully, my previous life as a wrestler has prepared me well for weight cutting and I was successful in reaching my target, weighing in at 74.6 kg 2 hours before my event began. However, going without beer and mini chocolate bars was a challenge!

On the day of the competition, my goal was to hit both my opening lifts. Historically, I have this issue that a friend described as "monkey's having a shit fight in your head". Which, I must admit, is a pretty apt description of what goes on up there! So this time, I wanted to hit those bastard openers! I had planned to open my snatch with a 57 kg lift and to open my clean and jerk with a 75 kg lift.

Getting ready for my warm up, coach Adrian told me to tell my brain to "Fuck off", which is easier said than done. But we had a great warm up without missing a single lift on my ascent up to 55 kg. I went out, stepped on the platform and hit that 57 kg! Totally pumped, we bumped up to 60 kg for my second lift, which I successfully executed, meeting my previous competition PR. We decided on trying for 64 kg for my third and final lift, which if I had hit it, would have been a new personal record. Sadly, although I was able to get under the 64 kg snatch, my weight was too far forward and I fell to my knees. Upon seeing this, one of the other coaches apparently commented to coach Adrian, "Yep, THAT'S a CrossFit snatch!"

We had a quick turn around after the snatch component and began the clean and jerk right away. I aimed to open with a 75 kg lift. I hit this lift and the clean came up with ease! Jacked up, we went for 79 kg for my second lift, which was a competition PR. Aiming for a 144 total, we bumped up to 84 kg for lift number 3. On my third lift, I pulled the barbell off the floor and caught it low in the front rack position. In doing so, my elbows touched my knee, which I have now learned is a fail in weightlifting. So the buzzer and lights went off indicating that my attempt had failed. 84 kg would have been a new PR.    

After the competition was complete, the first thing we did was try to find a place to grab a great meal
and beer. We left Variety Village in Scarborough and headed West on the Danforth until we found a pub. What did I find instead you wonder? An absolutely delicious Russian Imperial Stout from Guelph's own Wellington Breweries!

Overall, I had a great competition and although I didn't hit new PRs, I did achieve my goals. I had wanted to increase my OWA total from the previous 135 kg and I had wanted to hit both my opening lifts. NAILED IT!

Now to start a new training cycle in preparation for the Winterlift in February, which requires a 122 kg total as a qualifying standard. Coach Adrian says that I have to focus on 2 objectives: (1) all my squats need to be pause squats (hooray!) to work on getting up out of the bottom and (2) I have to add hook grip to my repertoire. The ultimate goal is hitting a competition total of 144 kg (which I have previously hit in practice) to qualify for the Ontario Provincial Championships.

Thank you to all my friends from Royal City CrossFit who travelled to Variety Village to cheer me on. Guelph Barbell REPRESENT!  

Jennifer Kovach Memorial Workout - Competition Recap

Just after midnight on March 14, 2013, Guelph Police Service Constable Jennifer Kovach was responding to a call for assistance from a fellow officer when she lost control of her vehicle and struck a transit bus. Despite rescue efforts, Guelph Police Service lost an officer and a friend. Jen was hired and went through Ontario Police College at the same time as my husband.  

In memory of Jen and her service to the citizens of Guelph, the CrossFit community created the Jennifer Memorial Workout as annual "Hero" Challenge. CrossFit "Hero WODs" (or workout of the day) are a symbolic gesture of respect to the fallen and act as a tribute to those that have lost their lives in service to others. Proceeds from the event go to the Jennifer Kovach Memorial Trust Fund which finances an award for a graduating female student of Police Foundations at the Conestoga College Kitchener campus.

This event was a partner competition and I joined forces with Jay. Out of simplicity, we re-used the team name "Jacked & Classy". In hind sight, we perhaps should have used "The Dr & the Nurse". At any rate, the challenge consisted of 3 workouts. 

WOD #1 was "Death by Deadlifts". This was the workout which I was most fearful of, solely due to the sheer volume of deadlifts and my history of lumbar injury. The workout had a 10 minute time cap and involved a progression of 28-24-20-16-12-8 deadliest and burps. If your team was lucky enough to make it down to round 8 with time remaining on the clock, then you began to climb your way back up the ladder. Jay and I made it into the round of 12s and ended up finishing 7th out the 14 teams in the women's scaled division.

WOD #2 was "Run Beretta Run". This was a barbell workout, which I greatly appreciated. However, there was one twist - every minute one partner had to do a 60 yard sprint (FML - I hate running). Jay and I finished this one in 6:18 and landed 4th in the scaled division. The rep scheme involved completing 30 repetitions of:   

30 Thrusters

30 Power Cleans

30 Push Press

30 Back Squats 

30 Front Squats

WOD #3 was "72" which was Jennifer Kovach's badge number. This workout also had a 10 minute time cap and involved 72 repetitions of:

72 Box Jumps

72 Kettle Bell Swings

72 Wall Balls

72 Sit Ups

72 Over Head Walking Lunges

72 Clean & Jerks

Jay and I made it to the OHWL which really pissed me off because C&J are my bread and butter!! But I still think we had a very respectable finish. I'm not sure what our official finish was for WOD #3 but at the end of the day, Jay and finished in 3rd place. 

Definitely a good showing by all those in attendance. And a shout-out to the organizing committee who put on a fantastic event. Overall, I'm happy with our performance and I want to give a HUGE thanks to my fantastic partner who came in for this event after working a 12 hour shift!  

CrossFit is all about Community, right? Well not in our City!

DISCLAIMER: The opinions discussed here are my own and do not reflect those with whom I work, nor are they intended to be defaming.

In many crowds, CrossFit is often synonymous with Community. I think that it's fair to say that many CrossFit participants #1 reason for sticking with the effort to "increase work capacity over broad time and modal domains" is the CrossFit Community. In my experience, every time I have traveled to a new gym, I have encountered nothing but positivity and camaraderie - and this is something that I absolutely LOVE about the CrossFit. Now just because CrossFit propagates strong communities doesn't mean that everyone will always get along, which is expected. However, there is a difference between not getting along and creating barriers.

Recently, it was announced that there was going to be a local CrossFit competition hosted by one of the three CrossFit gyms in our city. This competition was advertised as a male/female partner competition with both Rx'd and Scaled divisions. I thought this sounded like a fun way to spend a Saturday with my husband. So I registered us for the event, not realizing the shit-storm that was about to ensue.

Not long after registering, the event organizer contacted me to inquire about my registration. Specifically, they wanted to know who my partner was and why we were registered in the Scaled division. So I responded and advised that there were certain movements, specifically heavy, high-rep deadlifts and muscle ups, which I absolutely knew that I could not achieve. In the interest of (a) completing the workouts and (b) protecting myself from injury, there Scaled division was the clear choice for me.

Now I could go on to explain why I am not an Rx'd athlete, but realistically, I shouldn't have to explain myself to anyone - but for the record, here it is:

I am not a CrossFitter. I have been exclusively training for Olympic lifting for the majority of this year. As a result, my lower body has become larger, stronger and heavier - which is great for lifting, but not so great for the gymnastics movements found in CrossFit.  In addition, a number of years ago I sustained a back injury while preforming high rep heavy deadliest at a CrossFit gym. My back has never and will never be the same. 

For example, here is a list of Rx'd exercises that I can't do:

- Chest to bar pull ups

- Handstand push ups

- Ring dips

- Muscle ups

- Pistols

- Knees to elbows

- Toes to bar

- Heavy loads for high reps

- Heavy deadifts

Now some of these movements I can get occasionally like a single HSPU (kipping) but I certainly can't string them together to finish a WOD. I can however, rock heavy singles on squats, cleans and snatches, because THAT is what I train for. Also, these movements require me to maintain an active lumbar spine and therefore, my back injury is not aggravated (when preformed in a controlled manner).

A few weeks went by and I heard nothing more from the event organizer, until I received the following email message:

“I have given this a lot of thought,

There is one workout that has the movements you are wanting to avoid by being in the scaled division. The wod is structured in a way that it will be very difficult to even make it to the movements that you can’t do. The other workouts are all ones you can manage.

I suggest that you participate in the Rx’d division where you belong. It is unfair to have you in the scaled division alongside men and women in their 50’s and 60’s, and beginners, don’t you think?”

So I did give this some thought. I talked it over with my partner and my coach, and we still came to the same conclusion, that because I am unable to perform everything Rx'd and because I have a chronic back injury, the Scaled division is the appropriate place for us. Not to mention that my husband, who is employed in a career which requires that he be physically fit, also wanted to compete in the Scale division to avoid heavy loads. It is important that he avoids injury as to not be sidelined from his career. We responded a second time and advised, that although we can appreciate the concern, we want to remain in the Scaled division.

To be honest, that was a lie because I CAN'T appreciate the concern. I have participated in a number of CrossFit competitions and I have always been a Scaled competitor. In those competitions, the Scaled division has been fiercely competitive and the majority of participants are people like me (not 50 & 60 year olds). I have never placed better than top 20 in CrossFit, so I am clearly not a threat to knocking any deserving person off the podium.

Five days before the competition, we received a message explaining the details, such as what time to show up, what to expect at registration, etc. The very last statement in this message was the following:

“In the interest of fairness _______ (name removed to protect the identity of the parties involved) reserves the right to move you into the division we feel best suits you and is fair to everyone else.”

Clearly, this statement was referencing myself and my partner.  It seemed to us that regardless of what we had signed up for, that this person felt that they were qualified to make decisions about our athletic capacity for us - when in fact, they have no qualifications to do so. All the fun I had been hoping to have, the idea of participating in a partner competition with my husband, had been crushed.

So I responded to the event organizer and asked that we be removed from the competitive roster. I said that I strongly believe that when you offer a service for which money is exchanged, that service should be provided and the customer should be able to choose what service they are willing to pay for. We registered for the Scaled division because that's the service which we were willing to pay for. We should not have to justify our choice to anyone. The only reason why this has become such an issue is because we have a past history of acquaintance with this person.

I also pointed out that legally, you are unable to claim that "______ reserves the right to move you into the division we feel best suits you", especially after registration has closed. Primarily, this statement was not advertised or communicated to the participants during the registration period. Therefore, participants were unable to decide if they were willing to accept this term before committing and investing financially. Secondly, you cannot force people to participate in a division they do not feel comfortable in, especially when competitions require the participants to sign liability-release waivers. And thirdly, unless you personally coach the participants in question, it seems unlikely that you are qualified to judge the athletic capacity of people whom you do not train.

As I see it, CrossFit is about community and inclusiveness. All of this posturing regarding this upcoming local (meaningless) competition does not make us feel included in the local CrossFit community. We were looking forward to having a fun day of jovial competition among our peers from the Tri-Cities area. We did not register to win, we did not even register to be competitive, we simply registered to have a day of athletic fun in a partner setting. So what I have come to learn is, not all CrossFit gyms are about community, there are a small few that prefer dictatorship.

Competition Recap - Kanama Summerfest

Guelph Barbell Club

Since my return to Ontario this spring, I have been trying to compete in as many weightlifting meets as possible to increase my comfort with this type of event. Thankfully, Ontario has a much larger number of weightlifting clubs than the East coast and there have been 4 competitions in the past 5 months. I have had the opportunity to compete in the last 3 out of 4 OWA competitions and I have learned that I seem to have a mental block where I can hit better numbers in practice than I can in competition.

Today, we left at 9:30 to begin our drive to Scarbough where we were going to compete at the Kanama High Performance facility. There were 4 sessions in total and we were in session #3, scheduled to weigh in at 11:15 am and begin lifting at 1:15 pm.  I had a bit of difficulty making weight this time around, so I had to hit up the sauna and go without food/drink for about 18 hours prior to weighing in. The combination of me without food & coffee in the morning + highway 401 gong-show traffic, made for a very, very HANGRY Marcy. Thankfully, I stepped on the scale at 74.6 kg and quickly began re-hydrating/refuelling.

My goals for this competition were (1) to hit both my opening snatch and clean & jerk and (2) to hit a new C&J personal record. Annnnd.... I accomplished neither.

Making her weightlifting debut in my old wrestling singlet!

My teammate, competing in the 69 kg division and the only Masters lifter, had a fabulous weightlifting debut. She hit 5 out of her 6 lifts, and if I remember correctly, I think she hit new PRs for both. Being the only Masters competitor, she impressed the hell out of everyone. The crowd was particularly fond of her, cheering as she bounced like a giddy school girl after making her final snatch.

In the practice room, my snatch has been plateaued at 140 lbs (63.6 kg) for 8 months. My C&J, on the other hand, has been continuously improving and is now up to 175 lb (79.5 kg).

Today, I competed in the 75 kg division and planned to open with a 57 kg snatch and 75 kg C&J. I felt great this morning (after re-hydrating and refuelling after my weight-cut) and didn't miss a single lift during warm up. Then I walked out on the platform, ready to hit my first lift - AND I failed at 57 kg. Frustrated, I walk back to my coach who gave me the swift kick in the ass that I needed, and then walked back out to my second attempt. I hit the 57 kg snatch the second time so coach and I decided to try 60 kg for my third and final lift. Thankfully, I hit the 60 kg, which tied my best-ever competition lift from the Toronto Pro Show. But much to my irritation, a 60 kg competition lift is a far cry from the 63.6 kg I hit in practice just last week.  

After reading an article from Catalyst Athletics about the dos-and-don'ts of competition day, I decided to try eating the recommended Snickers bar in between the Snatch and the C&J (I'm not exactly sure if it helped though).

Again, I easily hit all my warm up lifts for the C&J, but I failed my opening lift at 75 kg. And it was UGLY! It looked as though I had never hit that weight in my life! I struggled up out of the bottom and found that both my pinkie & ring fingers were stuck under the barbell. I had to bounce the bar of my collar bone twice, just to get my fingers in the appropriate place from which to jerk. I tried to centre myself, take a deep breath but I completely bailed on my jerk (which is my strongest lift, by the way). So again, I get the necessary kick in the ass from coach. I KNOW that I can hit this number, I have been hitting it consistently for weeks. So I go back out there, I ripped the bar off the ground, cleaned it up easily, and punched the jerk hard. There was actually an audible sound of shock from the crowd, they were seemingly amazed that this lift came up so easily after the last attempt was such junk. Feeling good about this lift, we decided to try for a 79 kg third and final C&J (as my last competition PR was 78 kg). Unfortunately, I didn't pull back on the bar enough and caught the clean on my toes, failing to get up out of the bottom of the clean.

In all, we had a good day. We saw some fantastic lifting, including a 64 kg woman hitting a 100 kg C&J, and had a lot of fun. I scored a 135 kg total and have thus qualified for both the OWA Fall Classic and Winter Lift. But I am still disappointed with my inability to get out of my own head. I need to get to the point where I can consistently hit my opening lifts, regardless of how heavy they are. In the meantime, I will be heading back to Royal City CrossFit to hit up another strength cycle and work on my headspace! And maybe hit up a few CrossFit competitions in the area just for some fun! Until next time, LIFT ALL THE THINGS!

NAMASTE

Stretching, mobility, yoga, no matter how you say it, I don't like it. Although I understand that stretching is important and even useful given the amount of stress we put on our bodies by participating in activities like Olympic lifting and CrossFit, I just can't enjoy doing it.

The first time I tried yoga, I was in a grass hut on a beach in Jamaica with KBW et al. Even in such an idyllic setting, I had difficulty enjoying the activity as I soon realized that my body was not built to behave in this way. One decade later and I find myself being prescribed yoga by my athletic therapist as homework.

In order for me to benefit from yoga, I have to go to the "specialty" studios which offer the "hot" variety. Trying my best to stretch in a heated room is the only way I can actually get some movement in my tight muscles. I have tried going to the regular classes (non-heated) at the YMCA and have found that I cannot stretch well at room temperature and I am just as tight when I leave the class as I was on the way in.

In my opinion, the problem with yoga is multifaceted. First and foremost, I am not good at it (and I hate participating in activities in which I do not excel!). But to compound my own selfish issues, I also cannot stand the YOGA PEOPLE! I have difficulty taking the instructors seriously when every word that comes out of their mouth is such a steaming pile of asinine jabber! Although a 60 minute yoga class does leave me with some increased degree of mobility (albeit short-lived), I actually leave the class with a higher level of anger and frustration than I had when I went in.

For starters, I cannot accept the terminology. Last week, an instructor directed me to "approach my postures with compassion". WTF? What does that even mean? Another, advised me to "thank yourself for being present with yourself today". uhhhh, thanks - self? Whaaaat?  And hey, how about picking up a textbook of human anatomy and physiology? If they did, they would realize that telling me to "open my front side body" makes ZERO sense. Also, in no circumstance whatsoever, can putting pressure on the throat during a forward fold "stimulate your body to loose weight or gain weight, whatever it needs". If that were the case, everyone could achieve that "yoga body" just by putting pressure on their throat.

Also, yoga people often think that yoga is THE only thing that is good for your body. I was told by an instructor that I shouldn't lift weights because "it's dangerous" and the only thing I need to do to be healthy is .... YOGA. I don't think yoga is going to help me get strong enough to PR my Clean & Jerk! I was also told by a Bikram yoga instructor, that Bikram is the best and the only yoga you need. For those of you not familiar with Bikram, they do the same postures, in the same order, every class, to infinity. The Bikram instructor told a story about how she had tried a Moksha class, and she was sore for 3 days following this adventure. Apparently this was evidence that all other forms of yoga were wrong, instead of considering that perhaps by changing the postures for once, that her body was actually challenged in another way.    

I can handle being the least advanced student in the yoga room. I can even handle the obsession with drinking purified water out of glass mason jars (because plastic or metal water bottles? Bitch please, do you even yoga?!).  But I can't handle goofy and incorrect terminology made up by a bunch of hippies, too lazy to learn human anatomy. I miss my CrossFit Mobility Boot Camp hosted by physiotherapist extraordinaire Corena where we could laugh, poke fun at each other and name poses after the remedial students (The Douillette pose, anyone?). I miss getting REAL instruction, REAL adjustments, in terminology I can understand - like "stretch those medial hamstrings"!

I long for a way to be more mobile without the infuriation that yoga fosters in me. Sadly, I don't think the yoga people are going to change the way they instruct. So I am stuck with it! NAMASTE

The Importance of Community

There is strength in numbers. 

I've never been much of a "team player" in the context of sport. As a child, I participated in gymnastics and swimming. As a teen and young adult, I was a competitive freestyle wrestler. Now, I train for CrossFit and Olympic weightlifting. All of these activities are very independent and lack the dynamic of group sports.

Until recently, I didn't realize the extent to which group support had an effect on me. While training to compete in the sport of wrestling, I never trained by myself. We trained together as a team on the wrestling mats, we had group weight training sessions in the morning before class and when it came time, we ran together to cut weight before tournaments. As it turns out, I have learned that I need to be surrounded by those suffering from the same sort of self-induced agony for optimal performance.

Since I began CrossFit in 2007, the 12 months I spent training at CrossFit PEI in Charlottetown showed the greatest overall improvement in my skills and strength. There are a number of factors which contributed to this success such as good  coaching and programming, but today I want to discuss the positive effect of community.

CrossFit PEI Members at the 2014 Spring Fling

I fell in love with the CrossFit PEI community. Such a fun group of people to train with! This group of CrossFitters were varied and unique, I loved driving the 40 minutes from work to Charlottetown just to have privilege of training with them. Because of this, I rarely missed a work out and when I was at the gym - I busted my ass as much as possible. And this paid off in terms of performance. Just to name a few successes, I added 70 lbs to both my front & back squat 1RM personal records, I added 20 lbs to my snatch PR and 30 lbs to my clean and jerk. 

Have you ever performed better in front of a group than while training alone? With a bit of research, I have learned that this is known as the Köhler effect, which is a phenomenon that occurs when a person works harder as a member of a group than when working alone. The Köhler effect was first described in the 1920s by German psychologist Otto Köhler while studying members of a rowing club. Köhler found that when the rowers trained together in groups, that the group performance (endurance) persisted longer than that of the weakest members of the group were able to accomplish while training as individuals.

After returning to Ontario, I have found my performance to be somewhat reduced. This was quite surprising considering I had switched from CrossFit training to exclusively training for strength. At Royal City CrossFit, I was mainly training with my coach. Occasionally there would be another weightlifter on the platform with us, but this was not the norm. Recently since beginning my new job, I switched to morning workouts where I would go to the gym during a CrossFit class and lift on the platforms alone.  Each week, little by little, I found the lifts were becoming harder and my strength appeared to decrease. 


So why have I apparently become weaker? The answer, it seems, is that it's all in my head. I was getting very frustrated with my performance, until I dragged my ass in for a 7:00 pm weightlifting class at Royal City CrossFit. The change in my perspective, and in my performance, was almost immediate. I was affected by the Köhler effect. Just being in an environment where the platforms were full of lifters, where the music was loud and the cheers was contagious, resulted in my performance being better than it had been in months. I squatted more weight and was more consistent on my lifts, and the only reason that I can come up with is that there were other people in the room.


From now on, I plan to continue training in the evenings with the rest of the RC crowd who are interested in weightlifting. Even though we train independently and we are only competing against ourselves, it seems as though we feed off of each other's strength. There's something positive and motivating about good training communities. Fighting through a challenging session with a number of like-minded peers seems to offer more benefits than doing it alone. I look forward to continue to find strength in numbers among my weightlifting peers. Let's go lift all the things!        

Cutting Weight for Olympic Weightlifting VS Wrestling

First, let me qualify what I mean by cutting weight. I am not referring slowly losing weight responsibly over a long period of time, I'm talking about deliberately losing weight over a short time in an effort to make a particular weight class for competition. Cutting weight isn't really a healthy habit to get into and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone! But to be honest, I have cut a number of pounds during my time as a competitive wrestler.

Running the Tough Mudder 2012

It appears as though I am attracted to sports with weight classes. When I retired from wrestling, I swore that I would never cut weight again, yet here I am - cutting weight for an Olympic lifting competition. As a result, I have become reacquainted with LSD. What is LSD you ask? ... Of course I am referring to "Long Slow Distance" runs, something that I (and many former wrestlers) absolutely hate.

I am definitely not a runner. At just under 5'6 and sitting at approximately 170 lbs, I do not have the physique of a long distance athlete. In fact, I have the swagger of Stay Puff marshmallow man! My running is not efficient and I never feel comfortable regardless of the distance. Yet, I do it anyway (and complain for most of the way!).

I have begrudgingly run many, many miles for the purpose of weight cutting. In wrestling, you cut weight in an attempt to gain an advantage by being the largest competitor in a weight class. Wrestlers often cut water weight through dehydration and then weigh in on an empty stomach to officially weigh JUST under the maximum for the weight class. Additionally, wrestlers weigh in the night prior to the competition and therefore have a minimum of 12 hours (sometimes 17 hours) to refuel, rehydrate and regain your strength prior to competition.

Blizzard Beatdown Crossfit Competition

In weightlifting on the other hand, you actually want to be the lightest athlete in the weight class. If 2 competitors lift the same amount of weight during a competition, the athlete who weighed the least during the official weigh in is crowned the winner. Additionally, weigh ins for weightlifting competitions occur only 2 hours in advance of the   start time. ONLY 2 hours from weigh ins to competition time! As a result, I realized that my standard go-to of cutting all my water weight in the sauna is no longer an option.

When I decided to begin competing in weightlifting, I didn't want to cut weight. I feel much more comfortable with oly shoes on my feet and a barbell in hand rather than trotting along with runners. My first weightlifting competition was in December of 2012 where I competed in the heavyweight division (75+ kg). I hadn't checked my weight once prior to the day of competition and then I arrived and weighed in at 75.6 kg. If only I had known my weight, I could have cut that 0.6 kg and competed in a lower weight class! As a result, I lost to a competitor in my division who weighed in at 96 kg (as there is no maximum weight in the heavy weight class)!

This time around, I wanted to be more prepared and that included cutting weight. Since I registered for the 2014 Toronto Pro Show, I have been watching my diet and hitting the LSD runs 3 times a week. Now that I am a few days out from weigh ins, I have cut out all of my normal starchy carbs and as result, I am beginning to get a little grumpy. If all works out as planned, I will be weighing in at something LESS than 75 kg (165 lbs) on Sunday morning. Toronto Pro Show, here we come!  

Injuries and Getting Older

INJURIES. They suck. Really.

I was competing at CrossFit Saint John's Maritime Spring Fling Competition when I had a disappointing lift. For weeks, I had been looking forward to this competition because I was excited for WOD#2 which was a 1RM Snatch and 1RM Clean. My partner and I had decided that I would perform the snatch and he would perform the clean. Snatches are my favourite.

Just 7 days previous to the Maritime Spring Fling, I had tested my 1RM in preparation for my next weightlifting competition. In weightlifting, you have 3 lifts to reach a 1RM. I began with an opening lift of 125 lbs. I then hit my 2nd lift at 135 lbs. My current PR is 140 lbs, so I attempted 145 lbs for my 3rd and final lift. I managed to get under the 145, but lost my balance and dropped the weight. Disappointing yes, but it was only a training session and I was confident that I would achieve that 145 lb lift at the CrossFit competition in Saint John.

However, I did not achieve my new PR lift at the Maritime Spring Fling. I hit my opening lift at 125 lbs easily. I set up for my next lift at 135 lb and .... a miss. WTF?! I set up for 135 again and missed again. Frustrated, I set up one more time. I pulled off the floor, hipped in and moved the bar towards the overhead position. Only instead of catching the bar solidly, one shoulder rotated forward and my body began to twist to the left. As I struggled to try and stabilize my core and save the lift, I felt pulling and popping in my right elbow. My first thought was "FUCK!" (of course) as I dropped the bar and told my partner that I was done. My second thought was "Oh no, now I'm going to end up with a blown ligament like Adrian!"

I'm still not clear on why I failed my lift. I'm not certain if I put too much pressure on myself to hit a new PR or if I was too self conscious about performing well in front of my CrossFit PEI family. Either way, I didn't preform as expected and ended up with what could have been a debilitating injury.

As soon as I walked off the platform, there was a big bag of ice ready for me thanks to my roommate and our team manager.  And thankfully, one of our CrossFit PEI team members is a physiotherapist. So after some ice and an assessment from the boss-lady, I went to buy some compression sleeves from one of the vendor booths. For the rest of the weekend, I stressed about the possible severity of this injury and kept the compression sleeve on (even slept with the damn thing!). I even emailed my athletic therapist from the tournament to schedule an appointment for Monday afternoon after I returned to Guelph.

During my discussion with my athletic therapist, I described how I had treated the injury with ice, rest, compression and elevation. During this conversation, I was reminded of my earlier days as a competitive wrestler. In my late teens and early 20's I suffered a number of injuries on the mat. I sprained a ligament in knee, I hyperextended my elbow, dislocated my thumb, maybe e a concussion or two ... (that explains a lot, right?). At that time, I never would have treated an injury. "Walk it off" was my motto. I remember shoving a dislocated digit back into joint during a break in a match and going back out to finish wrestling. Ice? Pffffft - didn't need it. Rest? hahaha - for the weak!

Now here I am some 10+ years later and I'm terrified of injuries. My 20 year old self would call me a huge baby. I just watched a friend suffer a knee injury and struggle through 4 or 5 months of reduced activity while waiting for an MRI. Another friend blew the ligament in his elbow attempting a 215 lb snatch. He had to wait for an MRI, surgery and is still undergoing rehab to get back to lifting. After watching these incidents and others, I now treat my injuries with respect. I pay more attention to how my body feels and I take rest when I feel like I need it.  Because I'm fearful of sustaining some kind of injury that will prevent me from training.

Thankfully, my injury was not as severe as I originally suspected. I was concerned that I may have torn or strained a ligament but in fact, I only tore some muscle fibers. A few sessions with my athletic therapist (Basic Motion, baby!!) and I am back to normal. I even hit a 135 lb snatch in training this week to prove to myself that my elbow can handle the weight.

With a solid elbow after treatment and 2 more weeks of training ahead of me, I look forward to competing at the Toronto weightlifting championships! And this time, the snatch PR is definitely happening!    
 

Using my "Snatch" to make new friends

Just a bit of fair warning, the title of this blog might have lead you astray. Trust me, this is not THAT kind of blog ;) The motivation for the Snatch Monologue is based on my love of the lift.  So if that statement confuses you, or you are just not interested in Olympic lifting, CrossFit or athletics in general, then this blog is not for you. You might just want to mosey on. If you are interested, then great - stay! Read on, hopefully you will have a laugh and maybe even leave me a comment.

If you are a female reader, then you will understand where this post is coming from. I'm sure that even a fairly in-tune male reader has noticed the somewhat territorial and occasionally caddy behaviour which can exhibited by females in various environments. The formation of groups and the slight fear of newcomers happens, and as a new member of any group, you just have to find a way in.

Enter the CrossFit gym environment. CrossFit is all about community, friendship and inclusiveness. Many of the friends I have made at CrossFit gyms are some of my absolute favourite people to spend time with. But I can understand the daunting experience it is to walk into a new place, where you do not know anyone and try to do something new.

Although I was introduced to CrossFit in 2007, I did not become a member of a CrossFit gym until I moved to Guelph, Ontario. At the time, it was a relatively new gym with a very limited membership base. Therefore, I was one of the few members and did not experience the "exclusivity" of female gym members. I left Guelph over a year ago and moved to PEI for work where I joined CrossFit PEI in Charlottetown. When I entered this new-to-me gym, I found that it was a very established business with a large client list. During my first class on that fateful Saturday morning, I counted 40 participants, 40!! But being the East coast which is the most friendly and welcoming part of the country I have seen, these CrossFit PEI members welcomed me into the fold without hesitation. During my tenure there, I made some wonderful friends with whom I had some great laughs and good training.

Fast forward to the present - April of 2014. Due to unforeseen circumstances surrounding the lack of employment in PEI for my husband, I decided to move back to Guelph so that we wouldn't have to be keeping separate residences (in different provinces!). For me, one of the most important things I had to figure out upon returning to Guelph was joining a CrossFit gym. Luckily, while I was gone a few of my friends banded together and decided to open their own CrossFit affiliate. Even better was that they were offering Olympic lifting classes in addition to CrossFit. I was sold!

So although I knew the gym owners, I did not know any of the gym members and was going to have to try my luck at breaking into this group. I should mention that when I was home visiting the previous December, I encountered a little bit of this "exclusivity phenomenon" from a few of the female members, so I already had evidence to suggest that I was going to be facing some challenges.

On my first day in the new gym I walked in and found "SNATCH 3x3" written on the white board. Of course, this made me smile as not only do I love Olympic weightlifting, but the snatch is my favourite lift. So I pulled out my bar and got down to business. After a warm up, I started my ascending progression starting with 95, then 105 and ended with 115 lbs. Considering none of the other female members in attendance were lifting more than 85 lbs that day, 115 x 3 was apparently decent. I finished lifting and we moved on to the workout of the day (WOD) and at the end of it all, I left feeling like I was going to like this new gym.

Since that day, I have had a number of women in the gym approach me and ask about by background and if I would offer some pointers on their lifts. In fact, one hilarious interaction went a little like this:

"Hey, are you Marcy?" "OMG, I've heard so much about your snatch!"

So from this experience I have learned 2 things. (1) Apparently, there is nothing like a solid snatch to get some immediate gym credibility and break down the walls of the female exclusivity group and (2) CrossFit gyms are the only place where you can say: "I've heard a lot about your snatch" and not have it taken in a dirty way.

Stay tuned for more adventures in lifting & CrossFit!