Geezer's Long March Toward the Elite Sneaking Up On the Finish Line

[Mark E. Hurling]

OK, the forecast is for the upper 80's in that area of SoCal on Saturday. Not great, but better than I thought it might be.

I'm getting an early weigh-in tomorrow morning, at which time I'll see if I can get a reasonable window of when I'll be starting.

I had a routine appointment to get my blood pressure and cholesterol meds for the next 4 months. My doc, a great guy who is heavily involved with sports teams and athletes stopped by the room I was in and asked me to come with him to meet a coach down the hall. The coach was with two other guys in their late teens on the Redondo swim team who were in for physicals. He introduced me as the masters national record holder in powerlifting in my age group. The teens were thunderstruck into near worshipful silence. So I resorted to one of my trademark wise cracks, "Old guys rule!" Lot's of laughs all around. My doc seems determined to make me a local celeb.

[Oldster]

Good luck Mark! Can't wait to see how you do.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Thanks Oldster.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Well that was another learning experience of sorts.

I took today off to decompress after a very stressful week at work and clear my head. At which point our daughter asked if I could take her into work instead of riding the bus to take nearly 2 hours to go 15 miles inland. After which I had a dentist's appointment I had forgotten about. All of which delayed my trip to the meet venue for early weigh-in from 9 to 11.

I arrived at 10 to discover that there were around 40 others ahead of me when I signed in. Which was a slight shocker since there were only 4 of us for early weigh-in at Santa Barbara in April. So 90 minutes later my name gets called. During which I figgered out that I didn't need to keep schlepping around my belt, shoes, etc. for equipment check. I asked the same hulking official who had weighed me in and checked my equipment at the first meet. Which allowed me to unburden myself and take it out to my car.

Finally(!) my name was called and I stripped and stepped on the scale. Since I am in the lower end of my weight class I had no concerns. But after stepping back I asked the official if I could use the toilet. Something about the clothed to unclothed state seems to trigger this response in me. Probably my aging prostate. Having completed my business, I walked out of the stall still naked, since putting shorts et. al. on just to pull them down again seemed a little repetitive.

Whereupon a couple of the women lifters who were assisting with some of the administrative tasks of the morning walked in to see if there was anything else needed. The official warned them back with a "naked man in the house." They chortled, as did I and the official and turned around as I said, "Nothing here worth seeing at this point ladies." I pulled on my de rigueur hiking shorts and t-shirt and the official asked for my pin heights. "What, it's not on my lifting card?" No indeed. So I came out to get that done where there was some bemusement from the women involved as well as nearly a dozen others having heard the ensuing southern exposure that had taken place.

"That was the most excitement I've had in years." What can I say? I refuse to lie down in mortification if I can turn it into self deprecating humor. It takes the burn out of it.

Two nice kids named Nguyen helped me as I did with them determining my pin heights which will hereby be bronzed on my forehead. Squat: 16, Bench: 13, Bench Safety Rails: 10.

[bob g]

Hah, even the weigh in becomes a good campfire story. Fun.

Have a blast today, Mark.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Thanks Jon and bob. Just now I'm in the final countdown to departure. I got all my stuff organized and the butterflies have descended upon me.

[Leah Lutz]

Your story is already off to a great start. :-)

Excited for your day!

[Mark E. Hurling]

I must say I'm ready to levitate, and it's driving Dearly Beloved nuts from my fidgetry. "Just sit your antsy butt down and relax!" She said semi-lovingly. I'm taking notes today. I got a six page story from the first meet that has only been seen in severely truncated form. I'm sure there will be more thrills and chills from this one.

Yeah, I'm babbling. It's the only thing keeping the sutures of my cranium together.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Hot off the presses. (so to speak)

More learning took place yesterday as well as some humbling experiences. We arrived at the Metroflex Gym at 10:30 with me havng already donned my WFAC T-shirt and singlet with an Old Guys Rule patch emblazoned on the front. It was noisy, crowded, chaotic, and hot. Really hot that got much hotter as the day wore into the afternoon what with only fans to get air moving in the place. It took me 45 minutes to filter out and get acclimated to the chaos and determine that my flight would start squatting at around 12. But not being certain, I warmed up immediately. Which, since I was not sure about timing, had me work in with someone who already had 185 on the bar. Which I lead off with for 5. Then 225 for 4, and since I was opening with 275, I decided to stop. But I did get another guy to check my depth which he said was good. The judging looked tough and it proved to be exactly that once on the platform. There were a lot of red lighted lifts even on 2nd attempts that didn't require rescue from failed reps.

Squats
275: 2 red lights. Not deep enough. No doubt because of my rushed warmup and my bad reaction to the heat. But I stuck to my plan.

305: 2 white lights. I thought at that point that I had gotten the range and gotten my head and hips into the game. So I went with 319, because of the vagaries of metric to Imperial conversion.

319: 2 red lights. I walked off the platform realizing I was going to have play catch up to make 1000 or accept a lesser total. Steve Denison, President of the USPA, said to me as I passed him that I had gotten to parallel but failed to break below it. This impressed me quite a bit, because I am small potatoes in this outfit and a newbie. He could have let me slump out of the pit and said nothing. A class act that I won't soon forget.

I reviewed the video of this last lift and I think I see the problem. I come out of the rack with my head and neck in the squat model looking down. The I look up making eye contact with the official giving the command to squat. Then I squat without having reset my head and neck in neutral re-asserting the model and cues.

Bench Press: 3:30 Command official was the venerable Gordon Santee. Heat felt like a Louisiana bayou in August.

220: EZ-PZ.

242: Also solid, although with 1 red light. I know why too and nearly crapped myself. At the lockout, my right arm wobbled back slightly and I thought "Shit, another failed lift for having anticipated (or appeared to) the rack command." One judge certainly agreed. Probably the one on my right.

253: Nailed it with a triumphant kiai at the lockout and 3 white lights. I wanted 255, but was getting smoked by the heat with the next metric bump being 259. As hard as that rep was, it was a good decision. So I broke my own state and American record in that lift of 250 in Santa Barbara in April. I also beat the bench press curse that nearly DQ'ed me back then too. So more room for improvement.

Deadlift 7:45 and the heat had subsided to merely unpleasant.

360: Much harder than it should have been. The day had taken it's toll on me. But I thought I could dig deep and I stayed on plan.

390: 2 red lights and very hard, but I had some more in me. As I locked out at the top, I felt my right foot to a toe to heel bobble first to the front and then me compensating by pulling back. I'd swear both feet stayed planted but either one of them moved or the referees thought I had hitched the lift. I asked later to determine what I had done, not challenge the call and the consensus was that it looked like a hitch. Shit. But I stayed on plan with a hope and a prayer to at least exceed my 970 total in April.

419: I just had run out of gas. I could only get it half way up, stalled, tried to fight it to lockout, but didn't have it in me.

Total: 920.

Even so, I still took first, I broke my own record in the bench, and held on to my state and American first place in my age and weight group. I also got a 3rd place in the Men's Open Raw Division by being crossed over into it. So while I was bitterly disappointed by the end of my 3rd attempt in the DL, I managed to cobble together some consolation.

Lessons Learned
Don't compete in un-airconditioned venues if you can't take the heat. I knew this was a risk for me and now have had it hammered into my forehead. I went into that meet at 257 and weighed 252 this morning despite a lot of water and gatorade. Couldn't find the stuff you recommended shug.

Don't warm up too soon and make sure you do it thoroughly. I kept repeating this mistake for the other two lifts.

Be prepared for a long day. I averaged 3-4 hours between the squat, bench press, and deadlift. It went on for 12 hours from arrival to awards. It also takes a toll on your supporters. Dearly Beloved is more whacked than I am today from having all that time in cheap folding chairs. She is taking a nap as I type this.

Be prepared for possibly dire after events. I got a cramp in my left hamstring while sleeping that woke me and I nearly screamed from the sudden shock.

[Gwyn Brookes]

Hot off the presses. (so to speak)

More learning took place yesterday as well as some humbling experiences. We arrived at the Metroflex Gym at 10:30 with me havng already donned my WFAC T-shirt and singlet with an Old Guys Rule patch emblazoned on the front. It was noisy, crowded, chaotic, and hot. Really hot that got much hotter as the day wore into the afternoon what with only fans to get air moving in the place. It took me 45 minutes to filter out and get acclimated to the chaos and determine that my flight would start squatting at around 12. But not being certain, I warmed up immediately. Which, since I was not sure about timing, had me work in with someone who already had 185 on the bar. Which I lead off with for 5. Then 225 for 4, and since I was opening with 275, I decided to stop. But I did get another guy to check my depth which he said was good. The judging looked tough and it proved to be exactly that once on the platform. There were a lot of red lighted lifts even on 2nd attempts that didn't require rescue from failed reps.

Squats
275: 2 red lights. Not deep enough. No doubt because of my rushed warmup and my bad reaction to the heat. But I stuck to my plan.

305: 2 white lights. I thought at that point that I had gotten the range and gotten my head and hips into the game. So I went with 319, because of the vagaries of metric to Imperial conversion.

319: 2 red lights. I walked off the platform realizing I was going to have play catch up to make 1000 or accept a lesser total. Steve Denison, President of the USPA, said to me as I passed him that I had gotten to parallel but failed to break below it. This impressed me quite a bit, because I am small potatoes in this outfit and a newbie. He could have let me slump out of the pit and said nothing. A class act that I won't soon forget.

I reviewed the video of this last lift and I think I see the problem. I come out of the rack with my head and neck in the squat model looking down. The I look up making eye contact with the official giving the command to squat. Then I squat without having reset my head and neck in neutral re-asserting the model and cues.

Bench Press: 3:30 Command official was the venerable Gordon Santee. Heat felt like a Louisiana bayou in August.

220: EZ-PZ.

242: Also solid, although with 1 red light. I know why too and nearly crapped myself. At the lockout, my right arm wobbled back slightly and I thought "Shit, another failed lift for having anticipated (or appeared to) the rack command." One judge certainly agreed. Probably the one on my right.

253: Nailed it with a triumphant kiai at the lockout and 3 white lights. I wanted 255, but was getting smoked by the heat with the next metric bump being 259. As hard as that rep was, it was a good decision. So I broke my own state and American record in that lift of 250 in Santa Barbara in April. I also beat the bench press curse that nearly DQ'ed me back then too. So more room for improvement.

Deadlift 7:45 and the heat had subsided to merely unpleasant.

360: Much harder than it should have been. The day had taken it's toll on me. But I thought I could dig deep and I stayed on plan.

390: 2 red lights and very hard, but I had some more in me. As I locked out at the top, I felt my right foot to a toe to heel bobble first to the front and then me compensating by pulling back. I'd swear both feet stayed planted but either one of them moved or the referees thought I had hitched the lift. I asked later to determine what I had done, not challenge the call and the consensus was that it looked like a hitch. Shit. But I stayed on plan with a hope and a prayer to at least exceed my 970 total in April.

419: I just had run out of gas. I could only get it half way up, stalled, tried to fight it to lockout, but didn't have it in me.

Total: 920.

Even so, I still took first, I broke my own record in the bench, and held on to my state and American first place in my age and weight group. I also got a 3rd place in the Men's Open Raw Division by being crossed over into it. So while I was bitterly disappointed by the end of my 3rd attempt in the DL, I managed to cobble together some consolation.

Lessons Learned
Don't compete in un-airconditioned venues if you can't take the heat. I knew this was a risk for me and now have had it hammered into my forehead. I went into that meet at 257 and weighed 252 this morning despite a lot of water and gatorade. Couldn't find the stuff you recommended shug.

Don't warm up too soon and make sure you do it thoroughly. I kept repeating this mistake for the other two lifts.

Be prepared for a long day. I averaged 3-4 hours between the squat, bench press, and deadlift. It went on for 12 hours from arrival to awards. It also takes a toll on your supporters. Dearly Beloved is more whacked than I am today from having all that time in cheap folding chairs. She is taking a nap as I type this.

Be prepared for possibly dire after events. I got a cramp in my left hamstring while sleeping that woke me and I nearly screamed from the sudden shock.

Epic!

That long of a day sounds incredibly arduous. Plus three hour breaks between each lift! All in all, I think you did great. Congratulations!