01 Nov Brian Carroll – RPS Revenant Rising and Murphy’s Law
RPS Revenant Rising 10.29
I really don’t like write-ups like these, especially when they come from me as it’s very annoying and makes me even more mad at myself the more I think about it.
Thanks
Huge thanks to Tony Cowden for running a great meet, especially in a tight facility and doing everything he could to accommodate all weekend. Any issues I had this weekend were due to myself & a lack of being proactive but was, instead, reactive. Ria had a great time lifting in her first meet and loved lifting with all the HAM girls.
Travel
We got to NC about 5pm on Wednesday evening and got settled in as I had to get some weight off over the next few days. The weather was beautiful and so was the hotel. Perfect so far.
The cut
Making 242 wasn’t too bad actually. I was about 267, 8 days out from the meet. 260 on Sunday, 5 days out and I was 252 when I cut my water off on Thursday, the day before weight in.
It’s always painful in some way, mentally or physically but in the end it is worth it. Like I’ve said, I’m in no-mans-land being in the mid 260’s – very much in between classes. The issue is this – I cannot be any heavier than 268 for more than a day before I can feel my entire body hurt. This is why 275 is no longer an option for me, it would require being more than 275 to be my best in the class and I can’t withstand that anymore.
When I went to bed on Thursday night, I was 243.5 and ahead of schedule. I got up at 6 and started spitting. I drank and ate some throughout the night, so I was about the same when I checked my weight again, which was fine. At 9:30am I was 241.2 and was good to go.
The day was spent rehydrating and relaxing/eating as much as possible. By the end of the night, I was back up to 270 and that was perfect as I knew I’d drop down a couple of lb over night and be right where I wanted.
Meet day
I got up at 266, ate breakfast and headed to the meet venue and got settled in.
This meet was unique for a few reasons but mainly due to Ria lifting in the meet. She decided to do a meet this year and I was all about it. She ended up lifting really well, topping the day off with a 330 dead at 148 in a belt. Super proud of that!
Liz was running the 10/20 booth, Ria was in the first flight, Lisa in the second, then Will K and Myself with Todd in the third. I had Byiiird, Jason and Channing helping out but I knew we were going to be spread thin going into the meet. Some people didn’t show to help run & spot on the platform for Tony, so Channing and Jason helped out when they could during the first flight and unfortunately this ended up setting us back and hurting us a bit. It goes to show that when people don’t follow through with their promises, it can impact people they have never met. Unfortunately, this is the norm for spotters and loaders at meets, and not just this one.
The help was simply spread too thin and I should have made some changes but I didn’t and had to deal with it. One of those changes would have been starting my warmups early, which I didn’t. This begins and stops with me and my lack of being proactive.
Squat Warm-ups
135
225
315
Things started to bottleneck quite a bit at this point and I should have said something and established a better order rotation but I didn’t assert myself enough and it cost me.
500 – preds
700 – full gear – not sure what happened after this lift but at this point everyone in the third flight was on one mono, and it gridlocked bad, which always slows up the warmups.
820 – full gear again, but right as I was taking this the 3rd and my flight started and I was not going to have nearly enough time to take another warmup of 920.
Opener 1020 – good but heavy and slow. Quite a shock
Second 1070 – smashed me
Third – repeat 1070 – Got a little more focused and came up with this good easily, but I feel I cut it a little. I actually felt good on this attempt, and warmed and ready. It’s just how it goes.
I was pretty mad at myself over the squat warm-ups. I’ve been to many meets and lifted in more than I can count and I didn’t make the adjustments necessary that I’d usually make (or hoped I’d make).
Looking back, I was too casual and too comfortable and easy going overall, not good. The ultimate killer – being ok with what’s going and complacent. This will not happen again. They did say they weren’t going to give any breaks between flights and we didn’t get any. Fair is fair. I should have been warming up with the first flight, slowly but I didn’t. I should have known better since each flight was short, and mostly raw with no breaks in between. Lesson learned.
I was still in it mentally but couldn’t seem to let myself simply & only focus on what I needed to do and was too worried about others at this point. I needed to be relaxing, eating, drinking and not talking to anyone, but unfortunately at this meet and all we had lifting, that was not really possible for me at the time.
I needed a little over 1100 and I was at 1070, so we were going to be more aggressive on the bench.
Warmups for bench
135
225
315
Shirt on, and went on too easy (a little big)
400 – 3bd
550 – 3bd
650 – 2bd
720 – 1bd – moved a little slow and out of groove.
Shirt was a little loose in me, so we cranked it down for the opener.
Opener 765 – went up ok, but both feet kicked out and slid at lockout. Good, then no good lol
Decision to make – repeat or go after the numbers – no brainer
Second 800 – couldn’t quite lock it out, close
Third – 800 – couldn’t quite finish it, done.
On bench, I wouldn’t have done ANYTHING different, my hand just wasn’t good enough this day. There was no money at stake, no competitors in my class to beat, so the number of 2700 WR total was the goal. 765 wouldn’t have made it even close, and taking it over wouldn’t have helped my chances as I needed a third of about 815. Some may think this is foolish, but it’s not their decision. It’s a small meet that I wanted to go big at, so that’s that.
This day really never quite got out of the blocks for me. I learned a lot though as always and will be making the adjustments. I have to have my handlers in the warmup room ready to take weights and not off helping other lifters or distracted when I have to spend time hunting them down (they don’t just wander off, other lifters tend to pull them away here and there). Especially if the meet is running very efficiently and fast.
I’m learning more and more how exact not only a meet day needs to be but how precise communication MUST be at all times. Don’t ever assume people know what you want or need. HUGE mistake, they cannot read your mind.
I felt good going into the meet and the cut was fine, but my lack of focus on myself ended at this meet.
The bottom line is I have to be more self-centered and selfish at meets from now on. I’ve been preoccupied with clients lifting, teammates lifting and flat out just being nice, distracted and turning the cheek at meets for the betterment of others juxtaposed to worrying about myself and the goals for a particular day.
I really thought I learned this Arnold weekend this last year but it was hammered home to me this weekend by the events as well as some people reminding me of this. I cannot take ANYTHING for granted, not when I need a big day to hit my goals.
What’s next?
I’m going to take a couple of down weeks to recover and let me get over being frustrated at myself. I need to just take the lessons learned and data dump this weekend in my mind. Just forget about it but it’s just how I work – I get very mad at myself, then get over it. I had a great cycle, and I will look to do a meet sooner than later as I’m in good shape, zero pains or injuries. In the meantime, I’m going to look to bring my bodyweight down a little bit and work on a couple of things that I feel I need to. One being my quads.
Thank You
Thank you to my awesome Wife Ria for her huge support and love, for putting up with me and being such a good best friend when I’m not always worthy and even cantankerous at times. Thanks to my PRS team for their support and help in helping me see the vision I have come to fruition. Thank you Channing, Byrd, Lisa, Jason, Todd, Will, Scotty, Derek, Emily, Liz, and everyone & anyone else that I may have missed, for their help last weekend.
Thank you to Inzer Advance Designs for the best gear on the planet, Captain Jacked for the great Nubreed and Magnum supplements and for their help in seeing my goals come to pass.
When people ask me about my goals and the 4 meets I’ve done this year, I just tell them before each meet that a meet is difficult to predict many things, and they can go wrong so I don’t get my hopes up, ever. Don’t let your highs be too high and your lows be too low. Don’t get me wrong, I go for my goals but I know things happen that sometimes make the journey harder than other times.
I’ll be back.
Brian Carroll
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