First Olympic Weightlifting Meet

I lifted in my first Olympic Weightlifting meet yesterday. It was quite the experience. It was pretty much just as nerve racking as performing a WOD.

My first attempt at the snatch was 80kg (176#). I wasn't as warmed-up as I would have liked to be but the opening lift went well. I moved up to 82kg (180.4#) for my next lift and missed. I was still feeling rushed and I let the bar get away from me, making it tough to receive it in a good position overhead. I decided not to try for a new PR and simply try the 82kg again. I made the lift, though not a PR, I was happy I made the lift.

I feel much more confident with the clean and jerk. I opened with109kg (239.8#) and made the lift. Second attempt was 112kg (246.4#) which would have been a new PR but I missed. I'm not sure exactly what happened but upon jerking the bar over my head I felt my left elbow fully extend, slightly bend, and then re-extend creating a "press out" which is a no-go in Olympic Weightlifting. For my final attempt I decided to go up to 113kg (248.6#). I made the lift and set a new PR. The only thing I was really unhappy about was with my clean. On all three attempts I was doing this weird sort of collapsing forward movement at the bottom of my clean. I've never done that before but it may be due to the fact that I haven't been clean and jerking with max weight for a while, and/or I was not tight enough through my mid-section.  

My total for the meet was 193kg and I made 4 out of the 6 attempts.

For those of you who don't know what a snatch is or the clean and jerk, see the video below.

Lessons learned:

1) I need to get used to lifting in kilograms. Even though I was able to make the conversions it just made the actual lifting that much harder. Not much else to say about that, but if you've never had to deal with kilograms during your lifting I suggest you try.

2) Olympic Weightlifting is just as much a sport as CrossFit. Though the general public (mostly Americans) think it's just a bunch of guys and girls working out, there is major strategy involved. I was taught how to count the attempts in front of you in order to time your warm-up properly. There can also be some going back and forth with the attempt choices (the amount of weight a lifter will attempt to lift) in order for another lifter to pull ahead in ranking.

All in all it was a great experience. Thanks to everyone who came out to watch/support, it meant so much to me. Special Thanks to Mark and Jesse for helping my out where I needed it, you guys are awesome.

Well it will be back to regular CrossFit Training from here on out. I have to prep. for regionals. Here's hoping I can make it through to day three :)!