Wrapping up

May has more or less ended, finishing out quite a series of eventful weekends. The Olympic Weightlifting meet was a fair success - I went 6 for 6 on my lifts and PRed both my lifts - Snatch at 87kg and C&J at 107kg. Both of these went up quick and easy, bringing up a few questions about my training program: I already knew that my Bulgarian-esque training was leading me into overreaching, but the fact that a week off (before the meet) lead to very quick and strong gains leads me to wonder if perhaps there shouldn't have been longer breaks during the training cycle as well. On the one hand, one could argue that because I went into steep supercompensation that went clear into the meet I was guaranteed a successful competition, but on the other hand one could also argue that if I had included longer rest periods I might have been able to hit a "mini-peak," hitting these PRs earlier in my cycle and thus opening the door to hitting higher PRs in the meet. In essence, the program I used only provided one peak at the very end - during the entire cycle my strength levels stayed level and I was unable to hit any new strength gains as far as the Olympic lifts were concerned - I did PR my back squat, front squat, and press.

I'll be taking time off to digest the pros and cons of my Bulgarian-style O-lifting program. In the meanwhile, I'll be doing an adjusted Starting Strength program and building running volume - running mainly on my days off, no more than two miles per session. Pulling power may also be a supplemental focus.

Stepping up

The first big weekend has passed, with me landing a gold, silver, and bronze medal in three divisions and placing out of a fourth. My performance was about as I had expected, although my conditioning seemed to be well beyond many of the other competitors. What would have made the biggest difference simply would have been more time on the mats in practice, though there wasn't much I could have done about that. Otherwise, I did much better against the other players than I thought I would, and was very happy with the weekend.

I'll be back on the strength work, coming off a brief taper during the last week and a half leading up to the BJJ tournament, although I did notably hit a front squat and back squat pr (295 and 365, respectively).

Workouts the week before my final tournament taper:

monday snatch 85kg, fail 90kg, tabata shuttle

tuesday c&j 102, fail 107, "amanda" - 100DU, 20 burpees, 3 min rest x 5, 1:56 first round, 2-3 after

wednesday dynamic box squat 205 3x8, good mornings 8x3 95lb

thursday snatch 80kg, snatch 2x3 80kg, 30sec escalating airdyne (>60, 70, 80rpm), 2 min rest x 3

friday c&j 102, tgu 3x3, 70lb, 80lb, 80lb, bodyweight fran - 3:30

For the next few weeks leading up to the O-lifting meet, I'll be on a Bulgarian-style cycle with plenty of food, hoping to come as close as I can to the 185lb mark. I'm hoping to attempt 195lb and 245 for my snatch and c&j at the meet, respectively. Following the meet, I'll be looking to start my running "experiment," which pretty much just means doing it at all.