#Goals Update

Lifting a 80# keg over head

In January I wrote about a goal I had for this year, to compete in a Strongman Competition. This past April I did just that. It was as amazing as I hoped it would be. I had spent almost four month training in order to be prepared for this competition. Some of things I felt like I went in being very prepared for while others, not so much. However, that was the nature of the competition. 

Overall though, as I told my friend, just simply walking through the door to compete was my win for the day. It's the first time ever I can remember starting something related to my health and finishing it well. 

The comp was smaller than it had been in recent years as it was not a sanctioned comp this year. Strongman is a national sport. In order to get to the national level, one must compete at local events to earn points. This was the first year the Central Maine Strongman was not a sanctioned event which meant many who would normally compete, those looking to head to the national stage, did not. 

What this meant was a much smaller competitor pool. In other words, I only had one other woman in my division. One open division only had one competitor. This didn't mess with me too much as I haven't ever done a sanctioned event. In fact, I think it helped a bit! I could just go in and have fun. And my positive spin was that with only one other competitor, I was sure to get a trophy! Ha! 

The events of the day were as follows:

• Event 1: Last Man Standing Keg Press: (photo above) My division started with a 60# keg. Each competitor had 30 seconds to bring the keg from the ground to a locked out position overhead without using a stagger grip. The kegs would continue to get 10# heavier until only one person could lift the weight up. My goal was to hit 100# which I hadn't done in training (mostly due to what we had available to train with). I had been able to get the 90# keg up during training, but on this day, I was unable to so I came in second at lifting 80# up. And I love the photo of me lifting the keg. You can see my insulin pump clipped to the back of my pants and the black square on my arm is my continuous glucose monitor. 
• Event 2: Car Deadlift: Yes, I lifted a car. There was a heavy frame and the back wheels sat on that. Then there was a yoke with exercise bands attached to make it slightly easier for the women to lift. As the weight divisions increased, the bands were released until the last men's division had no bands. It was very heavy but as to how much exactly, it was impossible to say as there was no good way to measure it. I used lifting straps to help and my left hand sustained some very pretty bruising as a result. I managed to lift it 9 times in 60 seconds. I was happy with that. 

• Event 3: Grip Medley: Oy vey. This was a "surprise" event in that we knew we had a grip medley but we didn't know the weights until the day of the comp nor did we know what the grips were. We had 60 seconds to lift them up. Each had to be lifted only once until we were standing. We had to be controlled as well so if it was dropped too quickly, it had to be redone. And yes, I saw that happen with some competitors. There were four grip implements. I didn't let this one mess with my head too much as most of the women struggled with this event. My competitor and I only managed to lift the same one. Out of the all the women competing, only about three managed to lift more than one and some zeroed. 

This one weighed 35# and was the only one I was able lift. It had a 

large rectangular grip that spun.

This one weighed 30# and had to be picked up by only using your fingertips. 

There is a round shallow circle on top that even my little fingers barely fit on.

This one weighed 90#. It was a smooth rolling grip.

This weighed 110# and the grip went straight up and down. 

• Event 4: Yoke Carry, Keg Carry to Keg Over Yoke: This may have been my favorite event. The yoke looks almost like the letter H. One stands up under the crossbar and lifts it onto one's shoulders and then walks/runs with it. For my division, the yoke weighed 300#. Yes, 300#. We had to carry it 40 feet. Then run back and grab a 90# keg and bring that back to the yoke. Once there you have to load the key over the crossbar as many times as possible in the time limit. I had trained using the original 90 second time. It was brutal as that meant just about a full minute or more of loading. The day of the competition that was changed to a 60 second time cap. I managed to load the keg six times (that was the number that mattered at the end). 

• Event 5: Wheelbarrow Load Race: This was another hard event to train for as we didn't have a wheelbarrow at my gym nor did we know the weights until the day of the event. This was the event I was most proud of because of all that though. We had 60 seconds to push a wheelbarrow (photo below) 18 feet, load a 90# keg, push it another 18 feet, load a 60# keg and push it 18 more feet across the finish line. My highest deadlift ever was 250# so I knew this one would be tough and I hadn't touched the wheelbarrow until the day of the event. This was the last event. I was getting tired. I knew it had the potential for me to quit. And I almost did. A friend took a video that shows that moment. And I stepped back and told myself to keep going until that timer rang! And I did. I managed to move the 200# wheelbarrow and load the 90# keg, but I couldn't move it forward from that point on. I did lift it though so I managed to deadlift for one rep 290#! See, a positive spin on things!

This is the wheelbarrow. However, instead of plates, they had two

"cages" bolted on in those positions and we loaded kegs instead.

This was something I knew once I said I was doing the competition than I had to commit. It wasn't something I could do last minute. I had to show up to my training sessions. I had to dial in my nutrition to support the physical work I was doing. I had be fully and totally committed to being prepared. 

And I feel I did that. I'm still riding a bit high from this competition and it's now the beginning of June. It was truly an amazing experience and I'm looking ahead to potentially trying another one in the fall.