Top of the World Recap

Well, I’m indifferent about my performance at the Top of the World PL Challenge in Fairbanks. Going into it I felt great – weighed in at 74.1 kg (about 2.2-lbs under weight) – and felt strong. Squat warm-ups went exactly as I wanted them.. I was able to stay focused on exactly what I needed to do. My opener and 2nd attempt were great, even could consider them easy. On the third attempt is where I had an opportunity to chip my current Junior American Record of 297-lbs. “Chipping” a record is only something I can do, because I am the record holder. Most people just have the option to make 2.5-kg increases, but my advantage is that I can make 0.5-kg increases if I’m going to bump up my record. I had several options, my coach advised me to attempt anything UP TO 303-lbs (137.5-kg), but I took a more conservative route and went for 299.8-lbs/136-kg. It was like butta:

Now, the rest of the day was unspectacular. I am attributing it to a few things: meet-day nutrition (I need to eat more carbs), adrenal fatigue , and regaining focus after a monumental moment (like setting an American Record). It does seem crazy for me to say that I’m not satisfied with my performance, considering I set an American Record, but I had certain expectations for myself and I failed to meet them. The take-away is that I had yet another great learning experience and it taught me more about myself as a competitor – I’m happy with that.

Next Up

This week was an easy week training-wise. I came down with a head cold and sinus infection type of thing for a few days, but trained anyway. Today I did some extra work after my 6×3 Squat at 225-lbs (75%) because I finally felt good. Next week I’m starting the bulk of my next 6-week cycle before the Bench & Deadlift Invitational at AFX (Alaska Fitness Expo) on October 26th.

Experimenting with nutrition is something I enjoy doing. Therefore, I am now doing carb backloading, as described in this article by Caitlyn Trout of Juggernaut Training Systems (JTS). I really just got started today. I’ve been looking for guidance and advice from other female powerlifters who have to watch their weight while they do strength training, so this article had perfect timing.

Another piece of news in my fitness life this week is that I got business cards! I am going to have them printed in the next couple of weeks and when I get a high-quality image, I’ll post it on here. Let me just say, they are pretty bad ass, with a custom-made logo by House 8 Graphics.

Here is the crew from the Top of the World PL Challenge in Fairbanks, AK.