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

[SeanThornton]

We're also headed down (well, down for us, up for you tomorrow morning. We have one lifter Saturday afternoon, and three on Sunday. So, I'll look for you at the Sat AM coach's meeting, and then hopefully we'll be at the same session coaching our lifters!

[Mark E. Hurling]

At this point I only have sketchy information. I do know that John's flight lifts at 12:30 on Saturday with a 7:30 weigh-in. DB and I are going to the monthly planning meeting tonight at 5:30 for more detailed information. This is the first I have heard of a coaches meeting, so thanks for the heads-up. I'll inquire about that at tonight's meeting if not otherwise briefed on it.

[SeanThornton]

I'm pretty sure the 7:30 AM Saturday thing is the coach's meeting. My info (per the email from state SO) is that all weigh-ins are from noon - 2pm at Redbird Arena on >Friday<. Weigh-ins have been on Friday the last two years.

The 12:30 Saturday session is indeed when my son is lifting, so we'll definitely see you there! 83kg class, or 93kg?

[Mark E. Hurling]

Yeah, I got that from the team meeting tonight, at Kingsley. Likewise got the info on the the weigh-in. I may not make it there for weigh-in, but John's father and head of Team Lightning is taking him up and DB and I will be following. Our own departure time is still a little dicey, so we'll see.

John's in the next weight class down. His flight is scheduled to start at 1:30 Saturday.

All the information rest of the team parents and coaches got filters through the head of the team. I think we and the team heads would have liked to have had the information sooner than we did. Oh well.

[Mark E. Hurling]

4th Cycle, Week 1. 5 reps @ 65%, 5 reps @ 75%, as many reps as possible.

Bench Press: 145-170-191/6.

Hammer Rows: 275-325-360/6.

Hammer Leg Press: 465-535-610/8.

Jammed through this session this morning so as to get a good start. Which we are hurriedly prepping for now. Slept badly. I blame the prednisone mostly, but then too I got a case of brain gallop around O-dark 30 and never got back to sleep. Almost certainly from looking forward to the Games. I had the same problem the whole week before I went to the IPL Worlds in Vegas when I first started competing.

[Mark E. Hurling]

An exhausting but rewarding weekend. Also very humbling. When I caught up with John at the meet, he told me he had picked me as his coach. Made me blush. The morning was utter and complete chaos with several versions of when lifting would take place. First 1:30, then 8:30 am, then back to 1:30. My head was ready to explode. Interpreting Special Olympics lifting flight assignments could defeat Bletchley Park. I gotta get smarter about this.

So after all the early morning crazy, it was off to watch gymnastics where I ran into Jareth, one of the guys I coached in the shot put.

"Hey coach! I got gold and I couldn't have done it without you!" Another blush moment. "I threw 9 feet." Which was odd since he had been tossing 25+ feet in practice. As it happened, he used Imperial when he meant metric. So 9 meters it was. A few feet farther than his best in practice.

John got gold in the bench and squat, despite missing 190 on his 3rd attempt in the bench. A little too aggressive on my part, but I ran it by him and he thought he was good for it. Stalled inches off his chest. His competition in the deadlift was too tough to beat, but he made a brave 3rd attempt at 275 when his right leg caved under him. He was OK though.

This meet inspired me to start competing in powerlifting again. I have tried to contact Highland Games organizers several times and got no response. Including the upcoming Irish Fest in Peoria so far. So back to my roots. Coupled with a little guilt over not back squatting and coaching the lift, I need to get back under the bar again. Once I get my squat to around 300 or better, my bench and deadlift would qualify me to compete in the IPL worlds again with a total of 875 or better. Should be doable in 6 months or less. I am also considering getting a federation (USPA or USAPL) coaching certification. I want some instruction with more meat on the bones.

So, time to start revising my training again. More to follow.

Nice to have met you and your son at the meet Sean.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Back to the salt mines. Or perhaps the iron mines is more apt.

Took the last prednisone this morning after a capital night's sleep of around 10 hours. God knows, I needed it after the disrupted slumbers I had been having. I could actually feel my head nodding in late morning on I-57 yesterday on the drive home. Fortunately that was North of Effingham, because South of there and Mount Vernon especially, the truck traffic thickens up exponentially. A few of those drivers comport themselves like they are also short on sleep.

After doing some study of the USPA's classification standards, I determined that if I can get my squat up over 300 again I can qualify for the drug tested raw IPL Worlds next year. Depending on which weight class I lift in it's a total of either 845 as a 220 pounder, or 875 as a 242 pounder. I could make weight in the 220's with a little effort, but I am hovering at the bottom of the 242's. So for now, I'll pick the 242's. The drug tested Worlds are in Limerick Ireland this year. Whadda ye think of THAT, Sean me lad?

I had been toying with a Hepburn routine with lots of singles back when John was having problems with multiple reps. So it wasn't like this was terra incognita last night reviewing it again. I've never done such a routine, but decided to give it a shot. So, Hepburn it is, and now, in homage to his homeland, a rousing chorus of Oh, Canaduh.

No more explosive stuff with a M-W-F routine spread across 4 main lifts. This gives my low back 4 days of recovery between the lumbar intensive squats and deadlifts. It will go like this:

Week 1:
Monday: Squat and Hammer Curls.

Wednesday: Bench Press and Hammer Rows.

Friday: Deadlifts.

Week 2:
Monday: Overhead Press and Floor Press.

Main lifts will start with 6 singles @ 90% of 1RM after warmups adding singles each session until a total of 10 singles are reached. Then a bump of 5-10 lbs. upward. Followed by a backoff set of 5 @ 85% of 1RM. Assistance (and vanity) lifts will consist of 3 sets of 5.

So today, it was a reintroduction of squats with the bar set at the 9 hole. Despite diligent shoulder stretching, it still took 3 sets before they loosened up enough to settle into a good low bar position with the knurling digging into the top of my scapula. I enlisted a knowledgeable youngster (which is everyone else in the gym these days for me) name of Nolan to check my depth. My first notional take he declared was right at parallel but would probably pass with white lights. So I dropped the safety catch rails from 5 to 4 and got a little deeper. I only went to 135 because I knew my glutes and quads would hurt. They always do when coming back to squats after a hiatus, and just like always, they are barking at me like irritable dachshunds.

I hit 100 for 3 sets of 5 with the hammer curls, stretched, and declared victory. I was surprised, with the light weights and singles, that my average HR was 121 bpm @ 82% of MHR.

[SeanThornton]

It was nice to meet you and your lifter as well, Mark. What a fun weekend!

And I wish you well in getting to Limerick! That will be great to see

[Mark E. Hurling]

I can't get cycled up in time for Limerick this year. But next year, wherever the Worlds are held, probably so.

Despite the fact that that I share a surname with the sport of Irish field hockey, and my name has been mangled to transmogrify me into the Irishman Mike Hurley, I remain German. So much so, that when cut I bleed black and yellow along with red.

[Mark E. Hurling]

Woof! Those yapping dachshunds I mentioned have become snarling rottweilers.

So today it was rounds of SciFit, rower, medicine ball toss, and stretching. Rather painful stretching of the hamstrings and lumbars, may I add.

In other news, the Rec Center now sports an excellent glute/ham extension device.