I was confident going into nationals this year. I had no false expectations. There were three lifters registered who out-lift me by 200lbs or more, but I was confident I would have a great meet. I was comfortable with my openers: 601 squat, 518 bench press, and 584 deadlift. I'd doubled 601 in training three weeks out. I was nervous about opening at 518 on the bench-that matched my best competition lift, but I'd been hitting that range consistently during training, and had benched 545 and 551 in the gym. Since we'd planned on hitting a heavy squat in the meet, we decided to open conservatively on the deadlift at 584, and I had been pulling that weight consistently both in training and in competition.
I was anxious to weigh in-I had weighed two and a half pounds over the night before, and therefore was fasting and was a bit dehydrated. Weigh-ins for nationals are ordered by a lot drawing, and I found myself second to last to weigh in. When I finally did hit the scale, I'd lost seven pounds from the night before-and was just over 215lbs. After weighing in, my flight's start time was pushed back 30 minutes to 3:30 PM, giving me time to carb up and re-hydrate.
Even though my squat opener at 601lbs squat went up relatively easily, my hands were shaking with excitement after the lift. I got my second squat at 644 with some effort, and was pretty sure I was tapped out on squats, but went on for 655 on my final attempt. It would have to be perfect on technique if I was going to lift it, and it was far from perfect. I messed up the setup horribly, almost losing my balance at one point, and shuffling far too long getting my foot placement-burning precious strength. I was sure I was stuck on the ascent, nearly coming to a stop, but I kept pushing through. The training and technique kicked in, and somehow I completed the lift-three white lights!
Bench press was a different story. We weren't allowed enough time between lifting sessions to capture my rack height on the bench, and the rack was set up far too low. On my first lift, even with the spotter lifting off, I was pressing the bar half the way up just to get setup. I missed my first bench, getting stuck on the lockout. We adjusted my shirt, and went for the second attempt at 518. I got under the bar, but backed out and had the loaders raise the rack one notch. Since I hadn't given proper heights in the first place, the one minute clock was still running while they made the adjustment. The rack was still far too low, but I went for it. I struggled, but locked it out, two whites, one red. We reset the rack height up two, and readjusted the shirt again. My third attempt at 540 was perfect. It went up far easier than my first two attempts at 518. While cooling down from my last bench, I heard the announcer's "no lift" for the current 3d place competitor. He had missed all three bench attempts, bombing out of the meet-I was now in third place and had the top bench for the weight class.
Now in third place, we played deadlifts more conservatively, dropping my opener on the deads to 564. It came up almost effortlessly. My second attempt at 584 was just as easy and third pull at 601 (at 11:00PM!) was no trouble either. Third place finish was a lock.
Coaching me, Kevin Stewart had called the numbers flawlessly. He set up my squats, drawing out every pound I had in me. His tweaks to my bench shirt and rack heights pulled me out of a hole after I missed my first bench press. He then called three easy deadlifts to lock up third place.
My training cycle for the 2008 USAPL Nationals was the most effective session I've ever had. I need to thank Kevin and Team Phoenix members Tony Watters and Mike Maury*, as well as all of the people whose support and encouragement helped drive me to a successful meet.
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