Let's Get Caught Up: Nationals, Getting Your Life, and Travis Mash
So I have not been on here in quite some time. I'd have to look back but I think I posted a little blurb about my nationals recap and that was the last time. In all fairness I want to get you caught up and I want to utilize this blog a little more personally and not as a training log. But before I go I want to set up proper expectations. This is more going to be my sarcasm mixed with ranting. Do not take most things as personal attacks or literally. I am just going off the cuff here in the hopes that I can alleviate some of the stress I feel from the daily grind. Secondly, I'm all about having some fun so this will allow me to do just that...So, let's begin.
Starting from the top: Nationals, geez what a shit show that was. I mean for me. My teammates all did awesome given the fact that most of them were competing in their first national meet. Watching me lift you would've thought the same thing but I digress. The highlights for me were each of the girls doing exactly what they needed to do to win the Women's Team Title. Congrats to Morghan Queen, Jess, Stevie, Ariel, Becca, Tayeboo, and Rachael. Seriously that was awesome to see happen and gave MDUSA even more legitimacy which is always a plus. On the men's side the highlights were Travis and James going back and forth with THE Chad Vaughn in the 77's. I felt like it was their time and Chad's was up, but you have to give the 2-time Olympian his due respect and not count him out. Another cool thing to see was my boy Sean finally come into his own. I couldn't tell you how many times he cleaned 180 or more but at nationals not only did he crush 182 for a 4 kilo PR but he then went and killed 185! Jimeny Christmas, the best part was he was 1 lift from a bronze in the clean and jerk...Let that one sink in. Lastly, the Sheriff literally came straight off the farm fields and put together a nice total and a 4th place to help the team. What a guy huh? By the way you think he's a stud, wait until his boy Mason is all grown up...He's going to be a bruiser that's for sure.
Now as for me well yes I had hyperextended my elbow which pretty much allowed for me to do diddly squat and wind up with a big ole goose egg. But if we are going to be serious my prep was all over the place leading up to it. I had days where I snatched 145 (not many, but I had a few) with no misses and then other days where I would only get to 137-140 with 15 misses or so the whole way up. No that is is not an exaggeration or typo, ask the guys and gals, they'll back that one up. I was all over the place and not being consistent (that's already been addressed by the way).
In terms of things I learned:
1) I got to and have stopped worrying about what I can't control.
When you are on a big team like MDUSA there are way too many positives to name and a few negatives to go along with it. For me I get distracted easily with things I consider dumb that someone else is doing. But in reality how is that affecting my lifts? It really doesn't so why worry about it?
2) Pissing matches aren't my thing.
I am a competitive person. Let's be serious...who isn't in this gym? I want to preface this by saying there is a difference between a pissing match and good competition. On Fridays we will do some sort of a competition and I am all about doing my best to compete with the crowd. But going day to day trying to one up someone does more harm than good to the long term goal. But what I have to keep in mind is I am in a different place in my training physically and mentally than most folks so going to max or trying to one up people isn't for me. I've tried that now for a while and my results haven't been that great. I need to stick to the plan and go when I need to go.
3) Knowing my role
While weightlifting, in my opinion, is primarily an individual sport, MDUSA has introduced a new element to training in that at national meets we are also a team with the goal of winning not only individual medals but team titles as well. When you assemble a football or basketball team you don't collect all running backs or forwards right? No you collect the pieces you need and plug them all in for a winning recipe. That is no different here. We have our "stars" of the team (Skinny Cooper, Goldie Locks, and the Old-Looking Man) and then we have role players (the rest of the Motley Crew). Going into the meet nothing more than a middle of the pack finish was expected of me. So why did I put extra pressure on myself to open higher than my training had been reflecting? Good question, no clue. Best answer I have is because I am a dupa (Polish for dummy, to put it nicely). Bottom line on this is do what you can and let the rest take care of itself. There's a reason Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are on separate teams.
That's it. That's what I am able to take away from Nationals and what I have been applying to my personal strategies. In all honesty the team is still expanding and with all the folks coming in and out, I don't have the time and energy to be paying attention to the ins and outs. You got to focus on yourself and get your tasks done first and as my wife tells me all the time "Leave alone what's not yours".
Well now that all the reflections and such are over I can keep moving right along the timeline. I know all that stuff seems like a no-brainer sort of thing but as I mature and am able to reflect it's good to put things into perspective and be real with yourself.
As stated before we added even more to MDUSA, mostly in the name of Travis Mash. He was a local sports performance coach but I knew him mostly as one of the best powerlifters of all time. I knew him as a strong mofo and when I got to the Carolinas we hung out and talked and I then found out he was also a resident at the OTC. Then he started cranking out young talented lifters on a regular basis. I mean Becca was one of his originals and look how good she is. But when we signed him, all people wanted to talk about was how "strong" he was going to make us...While I get he is known for his strength and making a particular weightlifter who didn't like to squat reasonably strong, the dude's not a one trick pony. He obviously knows what he's doing based on the the youth and junior lifters he is cranking out. He's got a good relationship with youth athletes and those athletes will eventually need a place to train and earn some $$$ so it seemed logical to me to get that stream of talent potentially coming through here.. But as if I needed proving that he belonged, the FIRST day, the very first day, Mash was on one side of the room coaching someone up. Rachael missed a lift, Don gave a correction, and then she made the lift. Mash no joke comes hauling ass across the gym to get right up to Don and asks "what did you tell her to fix?" Are you kidding me. The man has beaten the best in powerlifting, trained with the best in weightlifting, and has worked with some of the top strength coaches in THE WORLD, and he still wants more knowledge. He's cool by me that's for sure. On top of this he is a very positive coach which you need from time to time and he really wants to see you get after it. He likes to instigate and I ain't about that life but others are so cool. But when he tells you something, you WANT to do it for him. Bottom line: Travis Mash is a great addition to the team and things are only getting better with him on board.
Well, I just looked back at the cluster-effery I just wrote and that's a lot. I am thinking this will be a multi-part thing so stay tuned for a new post next week.