06/09/14
SPA championships
Squat 140kg/150kg/160kg
Bench press 110kg/120kg/130kg
Deadlift 180kg/190kg/200kg
I woke up this morning running a fever. On top of that, I didn't manage to catch up on my sleep debt and my ankle seemed to hate me even more on this occasion. I originally intended to squat 140 and call it a day because every rep hurt like crap, but I ended up doing a 160 anyways. It looked pretty fast on video ("Speed work" lol) but every attempt I was terrified that my ankle would give out. Every rep hurt, in a bad way. Nonetheless I could have gone for a 170 but I didn't. RPE of 8.
Bench was kind to me. I managed to get a 130kg which was a pretty ok grind. 10kg PR on this. I would probably rate it a RPE 9.
Deadlifts sucked lol. Right from the warmups I knew that it was going be a tough fight. It didn't help that my preworkout was wearing off, and I was crashing due to sickness and lack of sleep. I was literally nodding off while waiting for my turn. My mistake was not peaking correctly, and not deadlifting enough. I didn't deadlift till I was 3 weeks out and even then the routine was poorly planned and extremely haphazard. 200 is something I would consider to be an everyday max. I pulled an easy beltless 180 and a 210 belted in training, so 200 wasn't particularly satisfying for a 3rd attempt. But hey, I did what I could. In retrospect I could have gone for a 205, maybe even a very tough 210. RPE of 8.5.
My only disappointment and regret was not performing well for the squat. It was my main focus, and probably the lift I'm the most proud of. I took so much pride in getting my squat up to reasonable competitive standards only to get my efforts hampered by injury; injury that I should have foreseen, injury that I should have tried to offset instead of turning a blind eye to. I paid a heavy price for that in this meet. I could hardly walk after the meet, and the pain from today's warmups and 3 attempts will probably cling onto me for the whole of next week. But I will come back stronger, and hopefully with better foresight with the experience gained.
After I fix my injuries, I will want to hit 200/140/240 in the next 6-9 months. Very doable considering a) my squat was already in the 180-190 range prior to injury; b) I finally gotten the hang of benching to be better at benching; c) I will take my deadlifting more seriously.
"Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising up every time we fall."
