I am a few days behind with the blog and this is my second entry today (if I get it finished!). After basically dropping my bags and boxes of furniture at the apartment and spending a few hours unpacking and trying to get the massive amounts of stuff I've accumulated organized and put away in my apartment, Kat (my roommate), my mom, and I went up to my coaches (Ellyn) beach house for a two days. Ellyn is big into making the team feel, look, and operate like a family- so she invited the team up to her house for a Labor Day bbq (and lift!). Kat, my mom and I went up to Ellyn's house Friday afternoon/evening and had a lift on the grass overlooking the ocean. That workout we did Snatch pull and snatch (that's all i remember as of now!) I enjoyed lifting outside and wish I would have taken pictures of where we were lifting and what kind of view we had!! It was AWESOME!
I loved, loved, loved having Ellyn right there to help, correct, and push me to get better! When I would lift at Wake she would coach me via text message- and that was okay for while I was there- but it wasn't as good as having her see what I'm doing and being able to respond immediately. I am very excited to see where Ellyn's coaching will take me! I think we (Ellyn and I) work well together and will make dramatic and drastic improvements in a very short amount of time. After our workout we had turkey burgers and vegetables. I only ate the turkey burgers! :) Once the eating was over we all played card games until 1am or so...
The next day Ellyn, Kat, and Lorie went for a run.. they asked me if I wanted to go and I politely said "no way!" I hung out at the house waiting for them to get back so I could lift. This workout we had to clean and jerk up to 95% of our one rep max or PR and those were a little shaky. I struggled with the mental preparation and set up for the lifts when the weights got heavier... even though the difference in preparation between 35kilos and 105kilos is (should be) nothing..still working on that. When I got up to 95% I wasn't committed to each lift and it's not surprising I didn't make those lifts. Ellyn ended up taking some weight off so I would finish on a successful lift. And I did. Missing a few of the lifts lit a fire under me and I was ready for the heavy front squats. The front squat workout was 6 sets with reps of 3, 2, 1 climbing to a 1RM (one rep max.. same thing as a PR) and then starting back with 3, 2, 1 adding a little weight each time. I ended up with a new front squat max of 120kilos which was a 5kilo PR! When front squats were done we finished the workout with orangutan presses. Those were new to me (I had only done them once at Wake by myself) but I'll do my best explaining what they are. You are down in a deep squat with the barbell on your shoulders, weight on full foot, hands wide in a snatch position, and back straight (not bent over or arched) and from that position, press up and straighten your elbows. Success. :) To complete the workout I rolled and stretched. Then showered in the outdoor shower Ellyn has at her house. Kinda cool!!
Once the hard work was over my mom and I went to Bear Skin Neck and went to the nic-nac shops for a few hours while the boys lifted at Ellyn's house. We got back as they were finishing their workout. Watched the last few sets of Clean and Jerks and then Ellyn (? i think it was her) started up the grill. This time there were more people, teammates, friends, etc at dinner. Dinner ended and a bonfire and card games began. Pass the ace was played outside by campfire until everyone was out of money except Jooooohh (i think i got the spelling right! :)). The games came inside and I introduced the team to NERTZ. THEY LOVED IT!! here's a link on how to play nertz!! I was partnered with my mom and we beat up on the "new" kids two games in a row! :D Ellyn took pictures (maybe some will end up on this page soon) of the intense battle faces everyone had.. it was pretty comical! Games were over and it was past 1am and everyone was in their bed, and Joooohh was being ridiculous- kept throwing blankets, pillows on me, then taking my blanket and yelling. It was a mess! but so hilarious!! Although I'm new, I think I'll fit in just fine..
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