One week out: Fingers and toes crossed!

This is just a quick update on how competition prep is going.

One week out from the last big competition of the year and so far so good. I've been working on filling out the 63kg class with lots of starchy veg (and a few hot chocolates!) Training has been consistently good. Even after a busy day if I'm tired getting to the club, the weights have still felt light and gone where I want them to. I'm taking that as a good sign.
The programme I've been following is a basic singles programme which seems to suit me best. Triples and doubles feel too much like cardio!

Last week and was the first of two taper weeks where I lift up to 90% but reduce the volume and accessory exercises. Next week will start at 90% on Monday and decline to 70% on Wednesday, then rest on Thursday and Friday and hopefully I'll be in great form for Saturday morning.
I'm not quite at the top of the 63kg weight class so I have no pressures to make weight. I'll continue to eat well and probably wait until after weigh in on Saturday to have breakfast.

I still haven't decided on my openers. I have a good idea of what I'd like to do but I'll probably wait to see how I feel in the warm up on Saturday.

I really enjoy the run up to a competition; I love the nerves and excitement and all the extra energy tapering builds up. Now I just hope I can put it all together on the day. Fingers and toes crossed!

When everything doesn't go to plan

I didn't get to do the Cork Open competition in the end. A last minute bout of rare bad health meant I had to call it off, just as I'd finished tapering. This was more than a little disappointing as I'd been looking forward to the competition for well over six months. I did the get the award for most improved female lifter 2011 at the annual awards though which was nice. 

After this setback, I got my training back on track as soon as I was well enough to do so which luckily only resulted in one week off training. I found it pretty tough going for about two weeks. Even though I didn't physically do the competition, I was mentally spent and normal training weights felt heavier than usual.
I can feel I'm getting back to good form now and I'm really looking forward to the next competition which is at the start of December. I was going to take a few months break from competing after the Cork competition and just concentrate on training so that break is just postponed by a few weeks.

The plan for training between now and the competition at the beginning of December is one of higher intensity and lower volume as that seems to suit me better in the run up to a competition than the doubles/ volume programme. Training plan is very simple, just focusing on the snatch, clean and jerk, power variations, squats and then a bit of abdominal work and stretching. It's all going well at the moment anyway, hopefully this keeps up and I'll have good things to report in a few weeks!