Spare Change
June 2, 2010
Just thought I would list a few highlights from the eternity since my last post. The biggest change was that I started a new job in North Bay back in November. The company is called Nasittuq and they are tasked with operating and maintaining the North Warning System radars, which means I get to tell my niece and nephews that I help track Santa Claus. I moved the same weekend of a weightlifting club meet held in Lachute, QC, where I lifted a competition best in the Clean & Jerk (105kg).
I’ve adjusted well to North Bay so far. I was able to keep up with my weightlifting at the local YMCA with the North Bay Norseman/Valkaryies. I’ve been travelling back and forth between Ottawa most weekends to see Laura, and getting in to lift with the Capital Weightlifting Club most Saturdays.
I took a nice break over Christmas to fly home and see the family. Laura flew from Ottawa and we were able to meet up in Fredericton. I played in the Dwayne Williams Memorial hockey game once again and had a great time seeing everybody.
Laura and I celebrated our 6th anniversary with a day at Spa Nordik in Old Chelsea. It was a real treat, and one of the more relaxing experiences that I’ve had.
Capital Weightlifting had a small club meet in Ottawa in February, which I lifted as a 62kg for the first time and posted a provincial qualifying total. I had to eat a little healthier after “enjoying” myself over the Christmas holidays (that box of Toffifee disappeared pretty fast…) to get down in weight, but I made it with a pound to spare.
Snatching at the club meet in Ottawa
Since I fared ok as a 62kg at the club meet, I decided to lift as a 62kg at the Ontario Senior Provincial Championships at the end of March. I was hoping to qualify for Nationals. Alas, it wasn’t in the cards this year. I needed to make my final attempt at a Clean and Jerk of 110kg to make the qualifying total. I was able to rack the clean, but just couldn’t stand up straight with it. I still managed to finish first in the province in the 62kg category, so now I can say I’m a provincial champion! Next year however, I won’t be satisfied with anything less than a National total.
For the second time in less than half a year, I moved right after a weightlifting meet. After provincials, I moved in with some mutual friends from my 1 bedroom apartment. It was a pretty easy move though, as I don’t have much stuff with me here, and the place I moved to was just a few blocks down the road. I think I increased my drive to work by about 30 seconds.
In a few short weeks, I’ll be moving again. The people I moved in with bought a new house. They weren’t planning on it when we initially made arrangements for me to stay with them, but the right opportunity came up and they jumped on it. I had a couple other friends that bought houses in this time. They all got to become a part of the statistic of those buying houses while interest rates were at record lows.
Lucky for me though, they’re letting me move with them, so I didn’t have to try and find a new place. Staying mobile has its advantages. I’ve managed to cut down on some of my stuff to try and simplify my life. Of course, after getting rid of some things to de-clutter, I did manage to get an iPad, but that’s another story…
“The iPad went on sale this week, ushering in a new era of thousands of people buying something just to find out what it does.” - Seth Meyers, SNL
CrossFit Olympic Weightlifting w/ Coach Mike Burgener – Ottawa
October 12, 2009
This past weekend I attended the CrossFit Olympic Weightlifting Certification with Coach Mike Burgener. The cert was hosted by CrossFit Ottawa, and held at the local Notre Dame High School. Unfortunately the weekend got off to a rough start as one of the instructors, former Olympian Fred Lowe, was denied entry into Canada. The sport of Olympic Weightlifting in this country still suffers from a lack of exposure and the thought that someone would come to Canada just to instruct it for the weekend seemed rather foreign to the border officers. Our own Pierre Auge stepped up to fill the void for the smaller breakout sessions, joining Matt DeMinico, Debbie Hudson, and Melissa Cvjeticanin.
The weekend was full of great instruction on technique and progressions for training the elusive snatch and clean & jerk. I picked up plenty of great coaching cues and “drills to develop the skills” that I believe will help me teach the lifts to a greater variety of groups and individuals.
Myself, Coach Mike Burgener, and Janine Daigle (CrossFit Bathurst) at the CrossFit Olympic Weightlifting Cert in Ottawa
Coach B joked that he was going to take me back to California with him, along with a few others. He was impressed with my size, as short people with my lever lengths do have an advantage in this sport! Then there was Janine, who was given a lot of “tough love”, all in good fun though.
We also had Hani Kanama of Toronto Weightlifting on hand to show off some of his equipment, most notably the weightlifting shoes that he’s developed. The majority of the lifters in our club are using them now. Many of the weekend’s participants quickly discovered how much of a difference a good pair of weightlifting shoes with a solid raised heel makes regarding overall stability and positioning.
A few personalities emerged over the weekend, kettlebell trainer “The Iron Angel”, who exhibited some great flexibility, and David, who made the trip from Iqaluit, Nunavut. At 64 years young, he is just one year older than Coach B. David was then affectionately referred to as “Dad” by Coach B, and showed that you’re never too old to learn new tricks and have fun.
Overall, Coach B. is an engaging instructor and commands an attentive audience. There’s nothing like having strong “motivational consequences” to ensure everyone’s paying attention. YAY BURPEES!*
*You’ll have to go and find out yourself what this means!
Blue Mountain Open 2009
August 24, 2009
This past weekend, I travelled to Collingwood, ON with a few members of the Gas Hut/CrossFit Ottawa Weightlifting Club for our first meet of the season. There were three other lifters from our club competing. For all of them, this was their first meet. It’s been less than a year since my first meet, but I have a few meets under my belt now, so I was the seasoned veteran among them. I did my best to offer advice from my experiences so far.
Since this was the first meet of the weightlifting season, the goal wasn’t to put too much emphasis on the amount of weight lifted, especially since I’m just getting back into it after dropping almost a whole weight class since provincials in March, mostly due to a bad case of food poisoning. I’ve managed to put some weight back on, but not all of it. I was more concerned with making my lifts and just getting more meet experience.
Here’s the skinny:
bw: 64.9 kg (lightest I’ve weighed in at so far)
Snatch – 75, 78, 84
Clean & Jerk – 92x, 92, 95
Total – 179 (3rd Place)
Video:
I pretty much power snatched my first two attempts, so Pierre decided to move me up to 84, which is just 2 kilo’s under my PR. It felt good to make that, as it’s been a while since I’ve gone that heavy.
I was a bit disappointed to miss my first clean, since it shouldn’t have been hard, I just got a bit too far back on my heels. I managed to recover and make my next two attempts. I kind of wanted to go for 100, which would have been a competition PR (and would have moved me up to 2nd place), but fatigue was starting to set in. The ~7 hr drive up and not enough food were probably the main contributing factors. I’ve decided I need to eat more during the break between Snatch and Clean & Jerk.
Overall though, I was very happy with how this meet went for myself. I managed to sleep much better the night before and I didn’t have the nervous shakes when I went out onto the platform. This was probably more what I was looking to get out of this meet; building confidence and being comfortable enough that I can perform my best.
One final note, I have to congratulate the other lifters from our club. They all did very well in their first meets, especially Rob (94 kg) who went 6 for 6 and hit PR’s in both the snatch (101) and clean & jerk (125). The way things are going, he has a legitimate shot at qualifying for nationals this year. Christa and Liz also had strong showings going 5 for 6, and 4 for 6 respectively and lifting close to their training PR’s in a competition environment.
The next meet is scheduled for North Bay on October 17. Hopefully we get a few more lifters from our club out for that one!
