2013 Fall Classic

A few Catalyst Ladies @ Hassle Free Barbell

Last week we competed in the 2013 Fall Classic Weightlifting Competition, hosted by Kevin's gym.  This is one of the two meets the Catalyst team will participate in before Americans in December!

My goal for the meet was to beat my best total by at least 1kg, weighing in at 48kg.  However, I was too heavy leading up to the meet.  The last couple weeks have been rough.  Recently, I've also been traveling a lot for work, so all that junk food, alcohol, and ice cream sampling really adds up.  On Friday, the day before the meet, I was 49.5kg!  How was I going to be 48kg by 1pm on Saturday?!

The Meet.
Each athlete has three attempts at each lift.  The Total is the sum of the highest successful lift for the snatch and clean and jerk.

Cutting Weight.

Because I love eating and you can argue I eat too much, I often weigh over 48kg.  I didn't have much trouble cutting for Nationals and the PWA Senior Open.  I would eating mostly Paleo (+ rice) a week before, and come Saturday morning, I'll be 47.Xkg.  However, before this meet, I just flew back from a crazy business trip.  Some of our clients know how to live it up and it was hard to say no to high quality wines and spirits.  On Friday, I knew had to limit my water intake and just sip when needed.  Almost all day with little food and water, I was 49.5kg.  I started to freak out.  I knew the meet didn't matter since I already qualified, but for myself, I wanted to be 48kg for the meet since I qualified as a 48.  I also wanted to experience serious weight cutting and see if it was even possible to lose that much in a short amount of time.  I had to prove it to myself.  Therefore, I asked Heather for tips on cutting weight and if it was even possible.  She gave me a list of things to do and I pretty much did them all.  First off, I was to have no more water or food until the meet.  That wasn't so tough since I was so preoccupied anyway.  Second, on Saturday morning, I was to spit until weigh in.  She also recommended wearing sweaters, or basically somehow generate sweat without moving around too much.

I woke up Saturday morning weighing 48.5kg.  Awesome, somehow I loss a kilo overnight.  If I weighed more than 49kg, I would've not tried to cut anymore and just feast.  But since I was sooo close, I decided to continue with the plan.  I'm quite stubborn and so I had to prove it to myself!  Therefore, I put on my winter jacket and started spitting.  Holy cow, this was miserable.  By noon, I had dehydrated myself so much.  At this point, I just wanted a giant tub of water, food, and some ice cream.

Feeling way too hot in my fur jacket

Spitting all morning. 

My Experience at the Meet
I weighed in at 47.95kg!  I just made it!  Immediately after, I finished two bottles of water, a large lunch, and some ice cream.  I was happy I made weight.  The meet ran about 1.5 hours late.  By warm ups, I wasn't feeling so great.  I was tired, exhausted, and I just felt very weak.  My performance at the meet wasn't so great either.  A few people told me I looked slow and tired.  My goal for the meet was to beat my best total by at least 1kg.  Instead I finished the meet 1kg below my best total.  I did make weight however, but was it worth it?  Just to know I could lose it, but other than that, not at all.

Never Again for Practice
This was my first time cutting some serious weight in just one day.  I'm glad I know I can do it, but the experience itself was not pleasant and I hope I never have to cut serious weight in a short amount of time ever again.  It was stressful both mentally and physically and it didn't put me in a good position for the meet, other than lifting in my desired weight class.  I made weight but I was dehydrated, tired, and physically miserable.  I also heard from other experienced lifters that you can only cut so many times before it just doesn't work anymore.  I definitely would not want to waste one of those chances on a meet that's just for practice.  Next time, if it's a local meet that doesn't count and my job has me traveling, I'll just compete as a 53.

Audra going 6 for 6!

Me on the clean & jerk

Heather on the snatch

Alyssa on the clean & jerk

Tamara PRed everything!

Blake on the snatch

Adam, PR clean & jerk!

2013 Fall Classic: Results 2013 | 2013 Info
2013 PWA Schedule

Great job to everyone who participated and especially to Catalyst athletes!  I missed Tate and Tamara H. in my photos but they also participated and did awesome too.  Audra went 6 for 6 and a few of us had some PRs!  These practice meets are useful for the American Open come December.. from just the meet itself, the pressure before lifts, and experiencing the crazy warmup room.

A special thank you to our coach, Greg Everett for spending all day at the meet with us and for dealing with us.  I know I drove him crazy!  Also to Colin for the support, the Catalyst team for cheering me on, and Heather for the weight cutting advice.

I'm actually on a plane to Minneapolis as I'm writing this.  I get back on Friday, just in time for another meet at the home base!  It's been a hectic last few weeks!

Other Olympic Weightlifting Competitions: 2014 Cal Strength Meet | 2014 Senior National Championships | 2014 Hassle Free Open & Invitational | 2013 American Open Championships | 2013 Ensign Gray Invitational | 2013 Senior Nationals | 2013 PWA Senior Open | 2012 Redwood Empire
Other Comps I Participated In: Occupy Strength NorCal | NorCal Regionals -Team | 2012 CrossFit Games Open | 2012 Sac Town Throwdown | 2011 OktoberFit