American Masters Championship Meet Review

It's been five months since my last trip to Savannah. Prior to my last trip I had spent a frustrating couple of months training alone in my new home. My routine was off, I had no programming to follow and I was unfocused. Lifts that had been routine prior to our move weren't even close to happening. I was nervous and was hoping that a miracle would happen when I got out onto the platform for the Masters Pan-American Games. There was no miracle. I bombed out on my snatches and sat teary eyed in the crowd watching the ladies of my session clean and jerk.

That meet became a turning point. I realized I needed to be mentally stronger.  I needed a focused training plan and a nit-picky coach who would help me fix the nagging faults in my movements. I was going to be focused and see how far I could take my weightlifting.

Event Details
The event was held at the Anderson Cohen Weightlifting Center in Savannah, GA. This facility has to be close to a one-of-a-kind in the country. It's part of the Chatham County Recreational Department. For $20 a month you have unlimited access to platforms and top end bars and plates. It operates as an open gym, but coaching is available for no additional fee. The coaching staff is led by Michael Cohen. An Olympian himself as well as a two time Olympic coach. Coach Cohen is who started me on my path from crossfitter to weightlifter.

But back to the event. The event ran from November 12-15th with several sessions each day. The competition was held on a single platform with eight warm-up platforms available. As this was a National level event, the competition bars, weights and scale are certified and National level referees run the event. For Master lifters this means your totals can be used to qualify for International events as well as the Masers Nationals also being held in Savannah March 2016. I lifted on Saturday afternoon and can only speak for the day I was competing. Weigh-ins ran on time and my session of lifting was only a few minutes behind schedule.

The event brought a couple hundred participants from across the country. Lifters range in age from their 70's to barely 35. Experience levels also run across the same spectrum. Split snatches and cleans are not foreign sights. 36 individuals set new event records which made for some exciting sessions.

The entry fee for the event was $65. A National level event includes the requirement of drug-testing and so entry fees reflect that in the price. There was no live-feed, up-to-date results page or photography offered. Event shirts are an additional cost. Food is available on site. Locker rooms contain a sauna, showers and changing areas. Weight class winners received medals and the best lifter in each age went home with a nice plaque.

Love shirt from Ladies Lift Here

My Results
My goal was to lift a 163 total and qualify for Senior Nationals. I jammed my thumb severely the week before the competition. The knuckle was still swollen and I was unable to hold a hook grip to the top of a snatch. This concerned Coach Cohen who was handling calling my lifts and he chose to start me low. Snatches went 59, 63, 66 resulting in the first time I've ever gone three for three at a meet, a 2 kilo meet PR and a American Masters record.

Going in to the cleans I knew I needed a 97 to make the qualifying total, a one kilo all time personal best. Coach agreed to let me go for it if I made my first two lifts. Again he opened me conservatively with an 85. I was following myself and sat in the back while several weight changes were called. I came out to lift 92. It was an easy clean, but the jerk was out in front and my back leg buckled. I was caught off guard. I haven't missed a jerk in weeks and certainly not at this weight. Came out to try it again. It was an even easier clean but again the jerk was out in front.

I ended winning the 58 kilo class and best lifter for the 35 year-olds. I broke three records; snatch, clean and jerk and total. I walked out to take my last two lifts hearing my daughter yell and cheer for me. I stood on the podium and smiled at my husband who was proud of me. It was a good meet.

Singlet Adidas from Hookgrip

Diet choices

I posted this to Instagram a week ago, but wanted to give more details. No need turning Instagram into a blog post.

I get asked often how I eat or what supplements I take. I'll start with the don'ts. I don't take protein or other supplements. I don't eat paleo. I don't count calories or track macro or micro nutrients. I don't drink pop. I don't look at certain types of food or food groups as off limits. I don't eat out very often.

And the do's. I do drink plenty of water, close to a gallon a day. I do sleep 8-9 hours a night. I do eat lots of vegetables. I do cook. I do train around two hours a day. I do drink alcohol. I do make sure there are quick snack choices always available.

When prepping to compete I eliminate the alcohol and limit my carbs to just vegetables. I have more specific details for the day before and day of a competition. I'll save that for another post.

Paleo Baking Vent

I was taught how to bake by my mother and grandmother.  The process of measuring out cups of flour, leveling them off, mixing and knowing just when to pull something out of the oven is soothing to me.  I refuse to give this up.  At first I tried substituting paleo ingredients into my old recipes.  This does not work.  Things end up too wet, or too dry.  I've found it's best to seek out paleo recipes.  Google paleo baking and hundreds of blogs come up with paleo versions of pancakes, bread, cake, cookies, etc.

So here's the vent.  A good portion of these recipes disregard the usual process of baking.  You should add wet ingredients together, slowly mix in dry, don't throw hot melted butter in with eggs (they'll scramble), there is such a thing as over mixing, cold dough that's been allowed to rest will make thicker cookies, etc.  The instructions usually amount to throw everything into a bowl, stir and than dump into a pan.  It pains me every time I see it.  And than the comments from people who follow these directions that want to know why the texture is off, or they took forever to bake, or they burnt.  Baking is chemistry.  There is a reason why you use certain amounts of each ingredient and follow an order for adding them. 

I'm going to make a huge generalization here.  We have become an eat out, premade, add hot water and your done kind of country.  Part of what is hard about eating paleo, or clean, or just better for you is that it requires you to actual cook.  There are hundreds of bloggers out there creating recipes, following recipes, complaining about how horrible things taste, how difficult it is to follow this lifestyle, and a huge part of the problem is they didn't know how to cook to begin with.

Civilized Caveman's Banana Bread

I've complained enough.  I should share some of the good ones now.

Civilized Caveman- Great stuff here too.  Some of the baking recipes fall under the dump it all into a bowl and mix, but if you follow traditional methods for baking you end up with great results.

Clean Eating for the Realistically Minded- Delicious recipes that everyone will eat and won't have a clue they're healthy.

PaleOMG- Her recipes are easy to follow and yummy, and Julie is just hysterical. I will never be a fan of cake in a mug, it's way too dry no matter what I've done to tinker with the recipe, but otherwise everything I've made off this site is stellar.

Meal Planning

My first Crossfit competition is just a little over 30 days away.  I'm starting to get nervous.  To take the leap and spend the $ to register and travel, etc. makes me so nervous. I want to do my best and I want to feel prepared.  Today I distracted myself from the pressure I'm putting on myself by meal planning.  I get some sort of weird thrill finding ways to provide healthy, cleanish meals for my family (cleanish because I have to make some concessions for the not-anywhere-close to Paleo/clean husband of mine).  I thought I'd share what I came up with.

Everything was based off our local Kroger add.  I start with what's on sale protein-wise and than hit my recipe books, internet, etc.

Chicken with ginger, mushrooms and asparagus Using chicken instead of sea bass.
Spicy pasta with sweet potatoes I'll omit the sugar and substitute plain greek yogurt for the cream cheese.
Pork medallions with caper-sauce Without the olives.  No one in my house will eat them.  Add I may substitute almond flour for the dredge.
Baked zucchini coins This one is especially for Miss K who prefers her veggies fried.
Also soft-shell tacos and homemade pizza. 

Add in the regular odd's and ends like milk, cheerios, yogurt, fruit and snacks for the kiddo and that brought the whole bill to $126 and some change.  With leftovers and probably one meal out somewhere over the weekend, we should be good for the next two weeks.

I don't coupon.  I've tried many times and find that I spend too much time sifting through all the coupons for prepared foods to find the one or two I may use.  It's just not worth it to me.  I keep hearing of these mystical coupons for fruit and veggies.  I haven't found any yet, but if you know where to find them please share!

Sort-of, kind-of Paleo

That's the best way I can describe where I've ended up after my husband has been gone for a few months.  My husband and I make dinner from scratch close to 90% of the time.  When he leaves I go from having no desire to cook to thinking I can make what I want to eat so I should take advantage.

I have heard the words paleo and clean thrown around on facebook and on the magazines near the checkouts.  I've read hear and there and realized that without intentionally trying, I eat a clean diet.  When K started having digestive difficulties we switched to almond milk, added more fruits and vegetables and became more aware of food labels. 

When I started a crossfit style workout in March there was a lot of talk about eating paleo.  On a whim I stopped eating bread and pasta and noticed immediately how much I leaned out.  My digestive issues that were frequently a problem disappeared.

Where I've ended up is a focus on making all our meals from scratch.  I've moved away from white flour and sugars and eliminated pasta, rice, bread, and grains.  I read labels closely to prevent any sneaky sugars in.  But I drink wine, I use sea salt, and I just can't break my greek yogurt addiction.

As far as the kiddo goes, I do make her the occasional bowl of mac and cheese (the commercial crap, there's something about fake yellow cheese that makes her go nuts). On-the-go snacks are where I'd like to do better.  It's just easier to buy a 9 pack of goldfish crackers than to make my own protein bars for her to munch on.  Some days she refuses to eat the healthy stuff, and since she has always been on the skinny, tiny side I am constantly concerned that she's not eating enough.  I won't get into my rant that the percentiles are based on a good majority of kids who eat horrible processed diets and are therefore bigger.  That's for another post.