November 2-3, 2012 - NAS National Championships

Finally everything had lined up where I could make it out to NAS Nationals. This contest is undoubtedly the one show that I’ve invested the most time, effort and money into so far. To be honest, the returns on the investment fell short of what I expected of myself. Friends were telling me I looked good but that isn’t how I feel. Perhaps I’m being hard on myself and I certainly stressed myself out a lot in the weeks leading up to this contest and during it as well. I felt off, mentally exhausted and actually bailed on my last week of training. But enough of that for now; on to the write-up.

While the contest didn’t start until midday Friday, the write-up isn’t going to start there as the trip didn’t start there. I left with my dad for Mississippi right after work on Wednesday. Practically worked just one day that week with Hurricane Sandy screwing everything. By the time we hit Tennessee, I had already murdered six chicken sandwiches. Tennessee has got to be one of the more interesting states I’ve been through. Lots of attractions like the Flea Museum, the Yarn Pile, a place to buy DVD’s of fireworks and the largest rattlesnake in the southeast to name a few. Didn’t have time to stop at any of them unfortunately. Made it to Mississippi and checked in to the hotel.

The rules meeting was at around 7:00 Thursday night and was mandatory. I weighed in at a light 258lbs, 6lbs lighter than CT Europa, and waited. We were sharing the convention center with contestants for Miss Teen Mississippi. That made me laugh. Rules were pretty standard, no surprises really. Got a bit of a relief that the heavies would be competing in the afternoon each day and the lightweights would be in the mornings. It would give me time to wake up and to get used to the slight time zone difference. I ended up leaving in a bit of a bad mood because of two things. One was that talk about biceps tears and tacky use was discussed. I’m not going to get in to it here but I feel that talking about biceps tears in strongman is a lot like Fight Club in that you don’t talk about it. The other was that we had to get our yoke heights for the following day. There was just the one yoke being used and we were told if we didn’t get our yoke height, we’d get a zero for that event. After waiting for about 15 minutes for one person to get their height done, I thought screw it and had someone look up what I had marked down as my height for the yoke at the Europa. I noticed that the yoke was a different style and guessed it at one notch lower. Even waiting with that information was a slow process as people kept cutting in front of me. Ate dinner in the casino. Expensive but excellent. Never been in a casino before but the stories of no clocks or windows was very true.

The following morning I was incredibly nervous. Literally shivering I must say. Very hard to keep it together. The contest was taking place on one of the casino’s parking lots. I learned my lesson from being at the York Fair contest to bring shade. Added sunscreen for good measure. I had to have looked ridiculous with an umbrella. Like one of them southern belles, worried about getting the vapors or something. It kept me cool and that’s all that matters really. There were four sets of each implement, with designated lanes. Weird seeing that much equipment at a contest, but then again, there were a lot of bodies. 43 competitors vying for a Pro Card in the heavyweight division. Granted I was in the lower weight class of under 265lbs, I was still hoping to do well enough to have even a chance of getting an invite to the Amateur Arnold Classic in March.

The first event of the day was axle clean and press. 310lbs for as many reps as possible in a 60 seconds time period. I had no illusions of doing well here. My main goal was to get just one rep to get points on the board and move on from there. There was a crater in the ground under the mats from the lightweights doing atlas stones earlier so I had to consciously avoid it in my lane. I had hit just under this weight in training pretty well and had hit over it from the rack as well. I got ready and attacked on the whistle. It went up well and I had only a bit of an issue stabilizing it. Good for one and I felt a lot of relief in getting that rep. I made an attempt for another rep and the pressure was just not there to go for it. I got it cleaned but not enough power to get under it and lost control and it came crashing down on me. Pushed me into a full front squat position before I could bail on it. One of the helpers thought I had blacked out but I told them I was fine. I tried again but no good and fell on to my thighs before I could bail from it. Stopped there rather than attempt anything else. The rep kept me from bombing the first event. Tied with a few people in I believe 31st place.

Up next was a yoke frame medley. 50’ for each implement with a 60 second time limit. The yoke was 910lbs  and the frame was 650lbs. Heavy yoke and light frame combo again. Yoke was so brutal at the CT Europa. Even though this was less weight I was still very concerned with the event because of how poorly I was doing with yoke in training leading up to the contest. I had no worries about the frame as it was baby weight. My last two yoke workouts really messed with my head and there was very real concern that I might not finish the yoke portion of the course and get a zero for the event. Because of my height, I was in the last heat to go. I got few feet and dropped the yoke. Second pick I start moving but I drop it again and my left side of my body starts spasming. Not good at all. I violently shake it off and get back under and give it one final push and complete the rest of the yoke portion of the course. No bombing on this today. The time keeper says I have 5 seconds left and I just pick the frame and start moving but I make it about 18’ before time runs out on me. Shame as it was easy. This was a 35th place finish for me here.

Next was the husafell stone carry. 400lbs with turns at 50’. With my placing on the medley, I went fairly early. The implements had been left in the sun all day so they were a bit warm to the touch. I felt good on the pickup and was aiming for 200’ but fell a bit short of that with 169’5”.  I felt I did well (before I heard my distance announced) but I knew it wasn’t going to hold. My distance was actually almost 6’ short of what I did at the CT Europa. This didn’t make me happy. My effort was still better than most and it was enough to get me a top ten finish in an event with a 9th place.

Final event of the day was my beloved atlas stones. 390lbs stone over a 54” bar for as many reps as possible in 60 seconds. I only had two times to train on stones and neither time was really this heavy. But stones are my rock so I knew I could pick up some points here. I was near the end of this event due to my higher placing in the h-stone carry. I was a tad concerned with how they would be since they had also been out in the sun all day and hot stones are no bueno for tacky. Had to wait a little to go when I was up there and the stone felt slow coming off the ground on every rep but felt easy when it was in my lap. With how slow it felt, I was worried I’d get just a double. I got five in a good time but had nothing left to extend the sixth rep over the bar. Tied for 7th place on this event.

After the first day, I was in 23rd place overall. Not great but close to what I wanted to accomplish. Unfortunately, I knew that this may be the highest position I get this contest as the second day’s events were not good for me. Strong possibility of getting no points on two of the three events. Consumed mass quantities of food at the Paula Deen Buffet in the casino and went to bed.

First event of the day was circus dumbbell for reps. 200lbs with a 60 second time limit. I bombed this at the CT Europa and training leading up to this wasn’t giving me a strong impression of success here today either. I felt more comfortable with the dumbbell but I just haven’t been able to hit any big numbers on this. Warm-ups consisted of lifting the womens’ bell and then shouldering the contest weight. No real in-between to warm-up on for this. I was close on my first attempt but not so much on my next two attempts. I stopped there and accepted my zero for the event. Not at all happy about this.

The next event was the car deadlift. As many reps as possible with a 60 second time limit. Unsure of the weight but it was more than 650lbs but less than 790lbs in hand from 15” pick-up height. Like the circus dumbbell, very strong possibility of bombing this event, despite improvements on it in training. There was a chance but as I watched competitor after competitor miss it, I knew I was going to be amongst the casualties. I got set and gave two tugs and against the unyielding frame and call it there. No point in pissing myself off and wasting energy. Another zero for me.

The final event was an event I had been dreading since my awful workout a week earlier; the suicide medley. 90 seconds to carry three objects 50’ and then drag a sled 50’. I’m normally good at this kind of thing but my confidence was shot to hell after everything felt super heavy the week before. And that was just the light stuff. The event was carry a 225lbs sandbag, run back 50’ to get the 250lbs keg, carry it 50’, run back to get the 410lbs duck walk implement, and move that 50’ and finish with the sled drag. The sled was supposed to be 730lbs but it looks like it was just 400lbs. I was the most concerned about the duck walk implement, especially since the one we were using was much larger than the one I had trained on. The whistle went and I attacked the sandbag. Didn’t bother getting it in a secure position and just ran with it, throwing it over the line to quickly get back to the keg. I had rotated the keg sideways to try and make my transition quicker. Easy here as well and I ran back for the duck walk. This is where it all fell apart. It was too much for me and it kept shaking me off balance. I didn’t stop but my progress was becoming shorter and shorter with each drop. I still got it to the other side and had seconds left to get the sled moving. I got only a few feet before I lost my footing and fell down. Time was up as I got back up off the ground.

I knew I hadn’t done well enough to even have a consideration for the Arnold so we left for home after the last HW competitor went. I would have had to have stayed for several more hours to hear the results and it was already going to be a long drive back home. Especially long as I had a lot of time to dwell on my performance. Still unsure how I did overall and on the final event as I’m still waiting to see the final results. I was in 28th place going in to the final event and I doubt my performance on it really did much. Overall, I was not pleased at myself. Probably putting it mildly. Taking a break for a little while. I’m honestly not sure where I’m going to go from here.