It was a disappointing meet for me, but my wife tells me that, given everything I did, I should consider it progress.
I took a big taper for this meet - even though it was supposed to be a low-key meet for me in preparation for another one in June, I felt I didn't taper enough for my previous meet. As I entered this meet, I felt strong and well-rested - that was a plus.
I bench pressed for the first time in a decade or more, after training it again for the last 3 months or so. My BP has never been strong - lifetime best is about 1-1/4 times bodyweight, which is 190 lbs. Yesterday, I got 175 lb. on my 2nd attempt and tried 180 for my third but my right shoulder just, well, stopped working. Nothing hurts or seems damaged, but I have much to learn about this lift and will continue experimenting with grip, training schedules, and the like. So, 2 for 3, but one thing my wife pointed out is that we don't know if it's that I couldn't get the weight for my third attempt or simply that I didn't have a good third attempt in me. I think it was the weight, i.e., I don't think I would have gotten 180 for my second attempt, either, but I don't have any way to know.
Deadlift - a big disappointment for me, but this time, I know that I had the weight in me but I didn't have a good third attempt. For most of my meets over the last few years, I've only taken 2 DL attempts and I pretty always got both of them - the last few meets, I've taken 3 attempts, and I've never made a third attempt. There is, as is obvious when I read what I just wrote, a good lesson there for me. (I don't rule out, however, the possibility that a change in training, something that would result in an increased work capacity (or something along those lines) might enable me to do more heavy lifts in a meet. I will be pondering this point as I consider my next training cycle ...) I went 2 for 3, getting 315 and 335, and missing 360. 360 would have been an APF American record for my age/weight in the Raw Division, which makes it even more disappointing.
There are sometimes complicating factors - this was my first APF meet, and therefore my first with this meet organizer, and it was a small meet with just a single flight of lifters. The organizer had many of the people do all their warmups on the platform - all their warmups. That would certainly not my first choice because it meant there was quite a long waiting time between SQ and BP, and between BP and DL.
APF's weight class for me is the traditional 67.5 kg, 148.8 lbs., and they have day-before weigh-ius. But because I'm doing another USAPL meet in June and want to continue lifting in the USAPL, I decided to weigh in at the USAPL weight limit of 66 kg, 145.5 lbs., and to weigh-in the morning of the meet. I think I was the only person who did the morning weigh-in. I made weight exactly - the scale said 145.5 lbs. - and then went out for a really fun, big breakfast at a diner before the lifting started.
The guy I'm friendly with in the grocery store looked at me today and said, "You can do it at your age, and that's a blessing" - he meant that it's great that I can still train to compete at age 63, but while it's always a blessing not to be taken for granted when you wake up every day, I won't be satisfied until I get some more of my preparation sorted out so that I can get back to making my DL attempts again.
Next planned meet is the USAPL NJ State Championships on June 24, 2018, and after that, whatever happens, I'll be taking a break from PL meets for a while to focus on other things.
-S-
I took a big taper for this meet - even though it was supposed to be a low-key meet for me in preparation for another one in June, I felt I didn't taper enough for my previous meet. As I entered this meet, I felt strong and well-rested - that was a plus.
I bench pressed for the first time in a decade or more, after training it again for the last 3 months or so. My BP has never been strong - lifetime best is about 1-1/4 times bodyweight, which is 190 lbs. Yesterday, I got 175 lb. on my 2nd attempt and tried 180 for my third but my right shoulder just, well, stopped working. Nothing hurts or seems damaged, but I have much to learn about this lift and will continue experimenting with grip, training schedules, and the like. So, 2 for 3, but one thing my wife pointed out is that we don't know if it's that I couldn't get the weight for my third attempt or simply that I didn't have a good third attempt in me. I think it was the weight, i.e., I don't think I would have gotten 180 for my second attempt, either, but I don't have any way to know.
Deadlift - a big disappointment for me, but this time, I know that I had the weight in me but I didn't have a good third attempt. For most of my meets over the last few years, I've only taken 2 DL attempts and I pretty always got both of them - the last few meets, I've taken 3 attempts, and I've never made a third attempt. There is, as is obvious when I read what I just wrote, a good lesson there for me. (I don't rule out, however, the possibility that a change in training, something that would result in an increased work capacity (or something along those lines) might enable me to do more heavy lifts in a meet. I will be pondering this point as I consider my next training cycle ...) I went 2 for 3, getting 315 and 335, and missing 360. 360 would have been an APF American record for my age/weight in the Raw Division, which makes it even more disappointing.
There are sometimes complicating factors - this was my first APF meet, and therefore my first with this meet organizer, and it was a small meet with just a single flight of lifters. The organizer had many of the people do all their warmups on the platform - all their warmups. That would certainly not my first choice because it meant there was quite a long waiting time between SQ and BP, and between BP and DL.
APF's weight class for me is the traditional 67.5 kg, 148.8 lbs., and they have day-before weigh-ius. But because I'm doing another USAPL meet in June and want to continue lifting in the USAPL, I decided to weigh in at the USAPL weight limit of 66 kg, 145.5 lbs., and to weigh-in the morning of the meet. I think I was the only person who did the morning weigh-in. I made weight exactly - the scale said 145.5 lbs. - and then went out for a really fun, big breakfast at a diner before the lifting started.
The guy I'm friendly with in the grocery store looked at me today and said, "You can do it at your age, and that's a blessing" - he meant that it's great that I can still train to compete at age 63, but while it's always a blessing not to be taken for granted when you wake up every day, I won't be satisfied until I get some more of my preparation sorted out so that I can get back to making my DL attempts again.
Next planned meet is the USAPL NJ State Championships on June 24, 2018, and after that, whatever happens, I'll be taking a break from PL meets for a while to focus on other things.
-S-
