The Arnold / Weightlifting Olympic Trials Detailed

I know that I said I would blog about the event as it happened, BUT it would cost me $10/day to get internet access in my room. Were it $10 one time for the length of my stay, I'd probably have done it. What is it about hotels that the nicer they are the more likely they are to nickel and dime you for extra stuff?

Friday

Body airbrushing booth

We didn't have anyone on our team lifting on Friday, so it was a day to relax and just see some sights. There were some 300 vendors at the center, with booths and samples and lots of uber muscled people. It was also the day that we got to tease our coach about being recognized by random people for his 0-600 lb squat video and his recent record breaking 705 lb raw squat. And as Big Mike says, too bad they were all dudes. 

That night was one of the most exciting men's weight classes: the 94 kg class. You have Jon North, Phil Sabatini, Ian Wilson, Jared Flemming, and Coard Wilkes, all of whom have some major accomplishments to their name in both National and International competition. 

Ian Wilson on his first snatch at 147 kg

This year, the National Champion title went to Ian Wilson, who is only 18 years old. He's also taken second at the Junior Pan American Championships, so it will be super exciting to see what he's capable of in the coming years. 

Saturday

This is the day that most of my team competed. We start at 10am with Big Mike and had someone in every session until 6 pm. 

Big Mike jerks 160 kg. 

Sandra at full extension for her second snatch. 

Jo Ann makes her second snatch.

Overall, people did pretty well. Sandra made a National Master's record with her third snatch. Jo Ann, after making the same national competition total for the past three (I think) times, put up some big numbers that more than blasted that out, and Jenny (not pictured) also made some competition PRs. 

Sunday

It sucks to lift on a different day than the rest of your team. It happens at every national meet I've gone to, except my very first American Open where I was still lifting at 69 kg bodyweight. But a few things made it all worth it:

Me and Misha Klokayaev

First, Misha Klokyaev decided that it was a good time to train before we had to start our warm-ups. So of course, I scamper over to the training hall and get my picture with him. Luckily, he seemed pretty cool with people interrupting his training to get pictures and hand shakes. Then:

Yup, that's the Governator.

Arnold decides this is a good time to stroll into the warm-up room to meet the lady lifters there. He shakes my hand for I don't know how long talking about what a fan of women's weightlifting he is and asking how I feel about the competition today, do I feel good and am I going to pull heavy weights? Well, now I will! 

So I don't pull then numbers that I usually do, but considering that I haven't been able to lift any more than 55kg/ 75kg without excruciating pain in my hip flexor area, I'm okay with that. Usually, after a big meet, I tell myself, "Dammit, Kristin, you need to train more! You need to train harder! You need to get back to your former glory!" This time, however, I thought, "Well, that was fun. I don't need to train more, I just need to better optimize what I do with my 3-4 days of lifting and hope my dalliances in other activities don't hurt it too much." It's a nice change of mentality. 

Regardless of how serious or carefree you are about a sport, when you make the decision to travel and compete at a national level, it's stressful. Any support in any form is so much appreciated. Also, this:

I swear, it's just apple juice...