Well, now that a full week has passed since Nationals, I have had plenty of time to analyze my performance at Nationals. I am still extremely disappointed in myself even though all in all, a 3rd place finish after coming back from ACL repair, all while getting married and buying a house, is really pretty good.
We started the competition at 4:30 pm on Friday, November 12. It was cold in Reno!!! Super cold... I had been sick the week leading up to Nats, but I was feeling pretty good when we got started.
Axle C&P
I got 6 reps on the axle... I was definitely expecting to be much closer to 10, but the 130 lbs just felt so heavy and I'm not sure why. The high altitude definitely made it tough to breath and the cold made it even more difficult. 2nd place in this event.
Truck Pull
49ish seconds. I really didn't have the opportunity to train this much, so I couldn't complain about my 2nd place finish in this event. By the time we got half-way through the truck pull, it was dark outside and starting to get even colder.
Yoke
400 lbs, 60 feet, 12ish seconds. Felt pretty quick on this one, but I'm beginning to realize that wearing my knee brace is slowing me down. It makes it difficult to move normally... time to get rid of this thing. Once again, 2nd place.
Keg Carry/Chain Drag
Ugh, this event was my undoing... Got the keg down, slowly, and then halfway back with the chain, I just had to stop. I could not breath!!! Not even a little bit. It was so awful, I felt ready to pass out. I actually needed assistance to get off the course once time was up. I felt like I barely had time to recover before it was time to get up and do the stones. I think the only thing that made me ready for the stones was the fact that I was so angry after this event. 3rd place.
Stone Over Bar
Hit 3 reps... had the 4th one up on the bar and heard... "Time!" So I dropped the stone... Well, stupid NEWB mistake, it must've been the MC saying "She's still got time!" because once I dropped the stone, I heard "10 seconds left." Had I gotten that 4th rep, there wouldn't have been a 3 way tie on that event, which would've left me in 2nd place overall, rather than 3rd... you can imagine how frustrated I was with myself...
I have realized that I definitely need to work on my cardio ability, that is for sure, and getting a lot faster! I am more than capable of picking up ridiculously heavy things, but I can only move so fast, so I need to work on that. Overall, I'd say this Nationals was my least favorite for a number of reasons. Though I was glad that we finally got the opportunity to pair up with the men, it was clear that the women were an afterthought at this contest. Everyone was saying this throughout the weekend, why we couldn't compete between the men's events is beyond me. I felt so bad for my friends and family who had to watch me compete in below 30 degree temperatures, in the dark. I'm pretty sure they would've preferred watching all the ladies during the day when it was at least a few degrees warmer. The fact that we had very little time to recover and re-prepare between each event was extremely discouraging. When you don't even have enough time to pee between events, well, that's just no fun. After talking with one of my training partners about the whole event, I've realized that my focus should be the contests I can do and actually have fun at. Winning, or even not winning, Nationals, especially for a woman in this sport, is not life-changing. I do this sport because I love it, but the longer I do it, the more I see why some women have gotten out of it. Now don't misunderstand me, I have no intention of quitting, but I'm realizing that sometimes in life, there are much more important things than strongman, and when strongman isn't fun anymore, well I just shouldn't be doing it.
I am very much looking forward to competing in Portland on December 11. This show's proceeds will be going to Doernbecher's Children's Hospital. Who could say no to such an event. In the meantime, I will be doing as much resting as I can and doing strongman on the weekends to just get some training on the events I haven't hit in a long time.
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