This past Saturday I headed to Clifton Park, NY for my second powerlifting meet. I signed up almost a year ago for this as a birthday weekend treat. Well I do have to say I felt less prepared for this meet than my last and there were many factors in that. Overall, squats went as expected and I PR’d in deadlifts. I was all ready to PR for bench, but unfortunately my set up screwed me up and I missed my second two lifts due to where I had the bar. I did not scoot up enough which messed me up when trying to press the bar. I knew I had the strength to do so and I was upset and mad about that. However, it’s just a meet and I lift “light” compared to most at the meet so I knew I wouldn’t medal or anything and it was more for fun and experience.
Let’s back up a bit to Friday evening. We drove out to Clifton Park and it was only a 2.5 hour drive which wasn’t bad. It was spitting rain a good portion of the way which was that annoying rain where you want to use your wipers but there isn’t enough rain to constantly use your wipers. I was also on high alert for deer and did see one off the side of the road. I am happy it’s light out later as it was light most of the way and Brian took over the driving half way through. We stayed in a nice new Fairfield Marriot that I was able to get the room with credit card points so that was exciting. The hotel had that new hotel room smell to it (yeah I’m probably crazy). I worked on stretching and rolling a bit before showering and heading to bed.
Saturday morning we had an alarm set for 6:15 which is now considered sleeping in for the both of us HA. We were slow moving though. Check in started at 6:45 and we were about a 15 minute drive from the gym. There was a Panera in the parking lot over from out hotel, so we stopped there for coffee for Brian and a bagel to go for me. I also found out I had my free Panera birthday treat so I grabbed a cookie while there too. I saved the food until after weight in knowing I was close to the top of my weight class this meet. It wasn’t too bad waiting, but I did start to get hungry driving over. Then we pulled into the wrong gym parking lot. I later found out a ton of others did the same. The gym we were lifting at had the smallest sign on the bottom of the plaza signs that we ended up one parking lot too far.
So we got there about 7:15. Check in was smooth and then I got my rack heights and weighted in while talking to some other women. I weighted in about 3 pounds under the top of the weight class which was great and then I was able to eat my bagel and cookie and drink tons of water. The last meet we weren’t at a gym so I had no access to water, which was horrible. This time at least I had Brian to run out and get water if needed, but thankfully we were at a gym with a water fountain that you could easily fill your water bottles. I had some time to digest and then it was time to stretch and warm up for squats. I did my opener for squats at about 125lbs. Then I jumped to 135lbs (it was in kg but I forget the exact kg). I missed the second one due to depth, but then retried on the third and just barely got it. That went as expected.
Next up was bench and I was pumped knowing my bench was getting strong. I was warming up and chatting with a coach as I was sharing a bench with one other girl. The coach saw me do 90 lbs and said I could totally go for 105lbs. I was so ready. Well then I started at 90lbs and the bar felt so much heavier, but I made the first bench. The second time came with 100lbs and I got stuck. I didn’t fully realize it was my set up, but I was stuck because the bar was so far up I was knocking the clips that hang out. So I tried for number 3 doing 100 lbs and I totally had it except I was not lined up and I was hitting the clips, so unfortunately for bench I only got 1 of 3 and I was upset.
I rested and had a snack and then got myself ready for deadlifts. This time there would be no equipment in the way so I knew I had it for deadlifts. I started with 170 lbs which I knew was easy for me at the gym. I then did about 186lbs the second time. It was heavier but still good. Staying conservative, I didn’t want to jump to 200lbs and miss a lift, so I went to 192lbs which was still a PR for my third lift and another coach commented that I made it look so easy. I was happy to get 3 for 3 on deadlifts and PR and end on a high note. I have more confidence in myself now that I can pull 200lbs for deadlifts.
After the meet Brian and I went out to meet up with a college friend in the area for some lunch at Druthers. By the time we ate lunch it was about 3pm so I was definitely hungry. I had a burger and fries and it just feels so freeing at the moment to not worry about being in a weight class and eat what I want. I wasn’t even full after the meal.
We then headed to Saratoga Spa Park and walked around to see all the geysers. Brian enjoyed taste testing the water from each while I just simply enjoyed the smell of nature and taking the walk. It was above 70 degrees and beautiful. I was so excited to wear my new shorts from Stitch Fix and they are super comfy.
Around 5pm, I had nearly 10,000 steps (and I didn’t even wear my Garmin at the meet) and I was tired and ready to start heading home. Time to drive, but not without a stop at The Cookie Factory branch in Clifton Park for a delicious late birthday treat. I turned 29 this past Tuesday, but I stayed good and other than a piece of cookie cake for breakfast Monday morning (yes breakfast), I stayed low on the treats for my meet. So I got a delicious chocolate chip fugde filled cookie. There were so many cookies I wanted to try, but I definitely made a good choice. I also got a peanut butter cookie. Sugar overload, but that was essentially our dinner until we stopped at McDonalds and I got some chicken nuggets that I hadn’t had in many years but it was protein I guess?!
We got home shortly after 8pm so it was a good time. I immediately unpacked and got videos on my computer from the meet. I know now that I need to work more on my bench set up and for squats, I need more mobility (yoga) work and lower my weights a bit to work on depth. I don’t have plans to sign up for another meet at the moment, because I know that my focus right now is more on school. I love going to the gym and my weight training won’t be stopping, but I need to work more on technique and do workouts that might be a little shorter to fit my busy schedule right now. I’ll probably renew my powerlifting membership just in case next spring or summer I decide to join a meet, but for now I need to restructure my workouts and maybe I will do a post on that next. This spring has been super busy between work, school and wedding planning and summer I am sure will be busy and fly by as well. Just going to work on enjoying the moment, enjoying the strength I am gaining and hey I lifted 40 lbs more in deadlifts than my last meet. My muscle gains may be slow, but working at a pace that I won’t injure myself and that works for me.
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