Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Results from the PWA Championships

As you guys know I participated in the PWA championships on Saturday. I was a bit disappointed in my performance on the Snatches. I hit my firt attempt at 78kg and then missed my next two attempts at 82kg (which were very close). I hit all three of my attempts on the clean and jerk, finishing with 114kg (250lbs and a PR).

1 comment:

  1. I suspect its fair to say that all of the competitors a the PWA event were very well prepared athletes, certainly you were. The thing that's tough to prepare and train for, I suspect, is the actual emotional and perhaps even environmental reality of game day. What do you do to contribute to your success for your 45 seconds or so of actual performance? It's not like you can recreate the environment of an actual competition as part of your usual training--the crowds, the standing around, etc.
    What was it like for you? I know you drove up from SF to Sacto that morning--was it just another long car ride, or were you nervous? what did you do to stay relaxed? Do you have some favorite music that you listen to? Once you're there, I suspect there might have been lots of standing around and uncertaintly until your turn to perform? How did you manage that? did you get hungry? feel like just the smell of food would make you hurl? I know my friends who run marathons say game day is all about fluid management--in all ways one must manage that. Were things like that even relevant?
    How about rituals or techniques you use to stay calm and focused on game day? I have a silly ritual before a very heavy lift(well, heavy for me, its all relevant...) of moving the lower cuff of my sweats outward from my shin before I push the bar onto my shin--silly stuff like that can become a calming habit which can enhance performance. How about you? any rituals or habits like that which you continued at the PWA?
    And how about the other athletes? did you notice what they did or didnt do? How about antics they may have pulled to mess with their competition?--you know, try to unnerve the competition? And, did you do anything materially different at the PWA compared to a regular training day?
    anyway, I find one of the most interesting things about deliberately putting ourselves into a position of literally pushing ourselves to do our very best (ie your PR) and in a public, structured, environment, is how we come up with ways to eliminate variables (hunger, stress, nerves)yet retain lots of habits so that we are able to perform at our very best. I look forward to hearing what you do for the same success.
    thanks!!!!
    Debbie

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