Weekend Update

A busy competition weekend for both Sarah and myself at the Toronto Super Show.

On Friday we were both competing at the same time. As I plowed my way to a 3rd Ontario's Stongest Man Title. (2009, 2010, 2011) Sarah was lifting raw in the OPA powerlifting meet going on across the convention hall.

I want to give a shout out to Sarah who despite missing her thirds in all 3 lifts (and was extremely sour about it for about 2 days) still drilled some decent numbers and won the women's overall. She squatted 303, benched 215 and pulled 370.

We also had 2 lifters lifting on Saturday in the full equipment meet also put on by the OPA. Shout out to Jayne Major 2nd place women's, and Rebecca Mckeen. Good Job Ladies.

Here's a summary of my contests from my training log:
OSM quick summary

Log (280 clean each rep)- plan was for 8 reps, things were going as planned, rushed the 8th and missed it just above my head. 3 way tie for 1st. I am pretty irritated with myself, as I didn't stick to my plan 100%. I had timed out 8 reps, there was no need to rush.

Power stairs (425,425,475)- The fact that they used lighter bells than we use at CSM, didn't change much, this is still a massive back grizzler. 13 stairs, picked the bell up twice towards 14 but was coming up about an inch short each time.
13 stairs held up for the win.

Car DL- after big D only got 7, and many guys zero'd, it was obvious this was a legit heavy pull. I got a good rythm going and pulled the first 7, ref told me I had 40 second left, I stopped to breath, hoping to pull 2 more, but after the rest the car felt bolted to the floor. 2 guys tied for 1st w/ 8 so big D and I tied for 3rd place points with 7 a piece.

Stone for reps- was only able to place it in the pot 3 times. A bit disappointing, Karl made us all look like monkeys when he drilled it for 5 with time to spare. I think this placed me in 3rd for this event.

Medley-(260 farmers/chain drag)I had about a 3 point lead overall, Kyle and I were head to head, I really like Medleys, this one was a bit of a sprint as the chain slid very well on the smooth floor, 20.?? Seconds, for 1st place and sealed the deal on 1st overall.





North American Cup summary (saturday after osm)

I had a fairly good rest and put into play recovery modalities like ice/hot baths (luckily my room had a jacuzzi bath), plenty of fluids and food.

Event 1 Hercules Hold
I love this event. after Jackie Oullette went for 15 sec we all knew it was pretty heavy. (Jackie won this event at CSM 2010), When I got to 20 sec I tried to count to 5 in my head but the handles were slipping out of my fingers. 23 and change, good enough for 2nd place. Old balls Jason (Jessen Poulin went 33 for the win) He taught me how to do this event so I guess he didnt share all his secrets.

Event 2 Car DL hold- (we used the exact same set up that was used on Friday at OSM, which was heavy but I was able to pull 7 reps)
I left my suit off for this feeling that the suit would lessen my time, my mistake was that the suit would've helped me get it off the floor. Big fat ZERO. Back and legs told me to go hump my hat.

Event 3- Wheel barrow (although I'm not awesome at this event, I do enjoy it)

I hung in until the weight in the barrow got up to 2110lbs. I moved it 2' and change for about 5th place. This tears the hands pretty good, I opened up a small tear on my right index finger, but came away without massive hand damage.


Event 4- Log for max
This is usually a good event for me, but after all the low back and legs, I wasn't expecting any PR's (But I still had it in my head to try) I even asked Brian D to watch my attempts and help me choose jumps that may lead to a 360lb log, but it wasn't in the cards. I got 320 and missed 340. My log press depends heavily on my legs and they weren't there today.

Event 5- Pierres de atlas (Atlas Stones)
Another fave of mine, despite my stones being a bit poor overall lately. 265-308-330-355-385 to 56" podiums/pots.
I drilled the first 3 in 15 seconds and the 4th proved a bit much for me this day. I also grabbed the stone in a poor position and had crumbly concrete all over my hands.
I think my time was good enough for 4th place on the stones. JF Caron loaded all 5, which if you've ever done Hugo's stones, you understand that its kind of a big deal.

Event 6- tire flip
I'm a fan of the tire flip, especially Hugo's tires. Unfortunately I slipped on the smooth concrete on my first flip and fell on my face, this cost a big chunk of time and had me finish in 43 seconds. Not sure where I placed on this event but it wasnt' great.

Finished in 6th overall behind; 1st Savoie, 2nd Caron, 3rd Cummine, 4th Jackie, 5th Jason Poolin.

It was pretty cool to compete against a legend like Karl Gillingham, and also to finish ahead of him in the overall. (he had broken fingers and lots of other old guy ailments but I'll take it)

Good times out for breakfast and dinner with a bunch of the competitors.