This was a fairly easy week; I'm going back to eating normal after Christmas as opposed to starting a new diet so I wasn't expecting it to be very tough this time anyway.
A typical day of food for me would look like this:
Breakfast: leftover meat curry (homemade from scratch)
Lunch: Same as breakfast
Dinner: New meat curry
Supper: Meat curry
Snacks: small handful of cashews or almonds or walnuts 2-3 times a day. Mandarin before and after training and a protein shake after training too.
Meat curry varies from day to day, I try to rotate the spices, meats and vegetables I use. I quite like curry but this could also be stew, soup, chili, salad or just a mish mash of whatever meats and vegetables are on sale in the local butcher/ supermarket. In three weeks, I don't think I've made the same dish twice. Portion size is usually quite generous and as you can see, that's actually a fair bit of food for me. I work pretty hard to ensure I don't get hungry. I'm not training as much as I generally do because my wrist is still injured but I cycle about 40-50 minutes most days and I lift weights (front squat and deadlift) 3-4 times a week.
I did find myself quite tired at certain times during the week and I had a handful of sugar cravings that lasted a few hours but I didn't give in to them and thankfully I think I'm over the worst of it. I didn't find any of this too bothersome and the benefits far outweigh the nuisance of cravings and feeling a little sluggish for an hour or two during the day. Nothing a cup of green tea can't help anyway!
Around day five I started to notice the biggest change as my body ditched a lot of the excess water associated with carbohydrate bloating.
I've had another decadent Christmas and I regret nothing. I've put on about a stone and I don't care a bit. I've had the leanest, healthiest and strongest year of my life and I put it down to the success of Project Abs last year. In order to achieve any goal, it's important to be in the right frame of mind and what I find helps me to reach my body composition goals is a decadent Christmas then a lean new year. I find that letting my hair down a little and enjoying the festive season and all it's culinary treats is a great way to get me in the right frame of mind for a lean January. Towards the end of December, I am completely sick of mince pies and mulled wine and really looking forward to how great I'll feel when I start eating well again. For the next 8 weeks, this is going to be a log of my progress towards a leaner, healthier me.
My numbers this year are pretty much the same as the start of January last year, the difference this time is that I didn't spend most of the year walking around at that weight. On the 3rd of December 2011, I weighed in for a competition at 60.9kg which was pretty much what I weighed for most of the year. I don't really have to do much to lose the fat this time; just by going back to healthy training and what has become normal eating for me, I should be rid of the Christmas excess in no time.
Hercs Club Championships, Saturday 10th December 2011
Snatch: 60kg, Clean and jerk: 75kg, Bodyweight: 63.0kg
After the Northern Ireland Championships last weekend, I took two days rest and went back training on Tuesday at 90%. I should have stopped at 85% as there were quite a few fails. I don't normally struggle with cleans but I'd a few fails at 68kg which I would think is a pretty routine weight for me by now. Wednesday was a few doubles at 80% and then rest till Saturday Morning.
I spent the week using my 60.9kg weigh in at NI Open as an excuse to pig out on take away, mince pies, ice cream and hot chocolate. This was quite a departure from my usual diet of home made stew and proper sausages. This explains why I weighed in at 63kg on Saturday morning.
I spent a lot of time activating the glutes and stretching my ankles during warmup and I felt really good. I was hitting all the positions and really getting the speed. I finished my warmup at 50kg about ten minutes too early and that timing is something I should probably work on for the next competition but it didn't seem to bother me too much for this one as I hit 55kg easily. My first attempt at 60kg was high enough but I was soft in the catch and lost it forward. 60kg has been too close too many times and I've just failed to hold it so there was no way I was going to let myself miss it again. It has turned into a big mental block for me at this stage. I know I got 61kg in York but I felt that was a fluke. With all this running through my mind and trying to distract me, it was difficult to put it all aside and focus on the lift. It sometimes helps to be a little wound up for a lift but being too emotional will definitely not help!
I stood in front of the bar and took a minute to steady myself. I pictured a great lift, then turned off my brain and just pulled as hard as I could and kept it close. The next thing I know, I hear the down signal and all I know is I'm very happy. Good lift!
I took a moment to be pleased with myself and sat down before warming up the clean and jerk. Warmup was good but I probably shouldn't have taken that time to sit down as I was just hitting 60kg when I heard the announcer say the bar was loaded for me at 70kg. I had planned to open at 75kg so that I could have two shots at the 80kg if needed. I may or may not have gotten visibly cranky at having my plan disrupted but I made the 70kg and 75kg both very easily. It's worth noting that I used to have a horrible growl of effort with these weights but with the clean technique work I've been doing lately, they feel very easy and quick now. I was feeling really confident about the 80kg and the clean was easy and quick enough, although the big nasty growl was back to help me get a little bit of oomph! I took a breath and went to jerk the 80kg but unfortunately, it just wasn't there and I sort of melted under the bar and lost it behind. Rare that I'd lose them that way and I was damn lucky I didn't kill myself!
I was still incredibly happy with my lifting and even though I earned less sinclair points this week (due to a higher bodyweight), I felt my lifting was better. This is only the second time out of many attempts that I have hit the 60kg+ in the snatch and this time definitely wasn't a fluke so the confidence is there to hit it again soon. I'm just going to keep drilling it as often as I can (allowing for recovery) so I can move past it and focus on getting to the next milestone: 70kg. I'm incredibly chuffed that I got my shot at the 80kg clean and jerk and even though I didn't make it, I am satisfied that I gave it my all, that the clean was so easy and that I didn't squash myself with the bar!! It was very close so I reckon I'll be able to get it in training this side of Christmas.
I don't underestimate the effect that the extra kilos had to my lifting. I felt better in the days before and on the morning of the competition and I'm sure this led to a better mental state and more confidence. I think a good strategy for me would be to eat the way I normally do and then bulk up to 63kg in the week before a competition. My previous strategy was to try to weigh in as light as I can so I can get as many sinclair points as possible but that's not necessarily the best considering I normally eat fairly healthy anyway. Amazing how much difference such a few kg bodyweight either way can make!
I'm going to take a couple of weeks to feel out my training and do some general strength stuff before getting on a new training programme. I'll wait a week or so and max again before Christmas and hopefully hit the 60kg at least once more and get that 80kg under my belt. That's all I want for Christmas!
Here is a video of my lifts minus the 80kg clean which will come at a later date once I track it down.
Snatch: Warmed up the snatch a little early so had to go back down and work up again. Everything was feeling technically good but I just wasn't in the zone and lacked that last little bit of "oomph". 57kg was not perfect but a good lift. I pulled 60kg high enough to get under it but I was a fraction too slow and I think it was a bit out front from the start. I thought putting 1kg on the bar would force me to put more into it but it just wasn't there. Incredibly disappointing.
Clean and jerk: Tried to put snatch out of my mind and not let it be like Edenderry all over again but that was really tough to do! I just did the best I could and warmup seemed great. 72kg has been a weight I can pretty much hit anytime. I felt like I had a good easy clean but then I started to see stars and got really dizzy. I just couldn't commit to the jerk at all and failed it. The same nearly happened for the 2nd attempt at 72kg but judges gave it to me anyway. Not feeling at all confident, I called for 76kg. Nothing left to conserve energy for, without thinking, I just went out on to the platform and stuck it. Really easy clean and rock solid jerk. Where I'd been feeling lousy before, I was suddenly feeling amazing and like I was finally hitting my stride. Damn, too late!
In hindsight, 60.9kg was probably a bit too light for me so I need to be a bit smarter about competition week nutrition in future. I reckon I should clear my schedule and just eat and sleep in the week coming up to the next big competition!
Overall, I was hoping for 60kg+ in the snatch and 80kg in the clean and jerk so I'm disappointed but there are a ton of positives that can be taken from the day. 76kg is a personal best and a national record and 133kg total is also a personal best. It probably seems a little silly to be disappointed in light of that but I know myself I wasn't in the best form for whatever reason and I can do better.
I'll have another chance on Saturday at the Hercs open. It won't count for records or rankings but it'd be good to know myself that I can do those lifts.
All in all, a very good day for a bad day!
Thanks a million to Ed for top notch handling on the day and for pandering to my diva whims!
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!
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!
