October 14-15, 2022 – Strongman Corporation National Championships

This isn’t my first Nationals. This is my fourth time going in a decade. My first being 2012, held in the parking lot of the now closed Hurrah Casino in Tunica, MS. I think 2014 was the last time they had Strongman Corporation Nationals outside. Getting spoiled with nearby facilities for restrooms, concessions, and A/C. I’ve been competing in this sport since 2008 so just over 14yrs at this point. Most people will have given up on this well before this point if they haven’t gotten to the pro level and even then, some will have reached the pinnacle of the mountain top and find themselves wanting. I keep pushing despite the Sisyphean role I seem to have of being at the foothills of the mountain and potentially being just a source of stories and tips for those more likely to have more than just the desire to ascend the peak.

My plan for this year had been Nationals after how 2021 had went. I had come back from a low point to feeling myself again but didn’t feel that I was prepared for Nationals that year. I had done that when I came back from my back injury in 2016 to qualify in my first show back and then going right into prep for that in 2017, the last Nationals I was at. I did well at two events, bombed two and just passable on another. And ended up injuring my wrist and getting the flu for the first time in my life so not terribly pleasant. And first time being on a plane in like a decade (I don’t fit most places). My hope had been to qualify early and then do off season prep to stay fresh (as that seems to work best for me longevity wise if goal is big show) but that didn’t end up happening. 2022 saw the consolidation of my weight class (under 300lbs) to being just open HW with there being an under 265lbs class solidified as its own division. So this made qualifying harder. My two planned shows of the year I was just out of a spot for Nationals both times. But when Nationals was announced as being in PA and having some of the most favorable events possible for me, I decided to give it another shot, foolishly, and do another show in the midst of Summer. This whole year was nothing but peaking for shows and it was taking a toll on me. 
Stress from work and stress in training had an impact. I’m very hard on myself when it comes to training and most of the time my contentment is only with what I feel is the bare minimum of what I should be doing. I’d probably be unable to proceed forward and not even do this if I measured myself against the metric of what I should be doing to be elite. My work shouldn’t be as stressful as it is with being able to telework since early 2020 and being with fairly strong government union (no overtime, no weekends) but it has managed to be so. And it isn’t just me. My supervisor for like the past 7yrs retired early because of the added stress and by the end of it was having to take anxiety meds that they’ve since stopped since retiring. High turnover (about every 6 weeks I “lose” a co-worker) leads to very sudden changes in workload. Knowing how I had been with 2017 Nationals as far as illness, I took precautions to try and mitigate stress and boost my immune system as best I could in the 2-3 weeks leading up.

Despite my best efforts, I was feeling like crap and was teetering on that line. Many chicken sandwiches the night before I headed out to the venue with my father wasn’t the best thing for my digestion but it required no thinking and let me just focus on getting things ready. Heading out to the western side of the state has been a frequent enough thing since 2015 that it is fairly routine. Drive on the turnpike until near outskirts of Pittsburgh and then depending on where to from there, take the next route. That point of the junction is often where we stop if traveling further west for food or a place to sleep or both. This was just for food before abruptly heading north. My dad wanted to try a place called Burgatory which makes crazy burgers and milkshakes. I generally keep my midday meals smaller and save the larger meal for the evening so I don’t feel logy. I got an elk burger to see what the memes about Joe Rogan were talking about. Not bad. Pretty uneventful drive the rest of the way up to Erie, PA for the contest venue. Windy as a bastard but very scenic looking. If I was more inclined to sight see, I’m sure there would be things I’d enjoy. We checked into the hotel and I went down to check in. Didn’t have to weigh in as open class heavy weight. Took a look around at the setup. Noticed the convention floor was quite slick in some areas. Went to an upscale place for dinner to get in some really good food. Swordfish and ribeye steak good. I’m not sure if I would be a “foodie” as I eat because I am hungry but I like tasty food in large quantities. Got cleaned up and did my best to try and sleep comfortably (I took Dayquil the morning and Nyquil before bed).

It was now time to get it done. I got to sleep in a little because of the schedule. There was an AM and PM session. Women for the AM and men for the PM. New thing but not really. I say new in that this appears to have been in place since 2020 Nationals to one accommodate crowding restrictions and move things along because of the Rona. There had been an AM/PM session back in 2012 but it was split into 105kgs as the AM and everyone else as the PM to best of my recollection. The split I think is a good thing (now how it gets split I’m not too sure) as it allows for one set of athletes to be the focus and not have the people going later if all at once be sitting for hours and get cold. Also if someone is competing with someone else in a different class, they can watch them and not worry about having to get ready. But this can lead to some issues as I heard a few women competitor’s complaining about being the “rough draft” or the “test subjects” for the setups of events and such. I get it. But this is also something I’ve come to expect from competing in strongman for so long. Progress is slow and organization is a best cat herding. I got setup and chatted with people I knew from competing in the past or this year as well as some people that I’ve not met IRL from social media. 43 big boys here for the big dance and I’m not much of a dancer.

The first event of the day was axle clean and press. Rising bar for max. No limit on attempts and could skip attempts. But you missed and you were done. 30 seconds to lift, fight, kick, scream to get it done. Setup being on those big 70lbs rubberish wheels the Rogue Fitness makes. Handy but don’t scream strongman to me. Sterile compared to that grittiness of wagon wheels or the eccentricity of something like viking shields or cheese wheels. But that’s besides the point. This was the event I was stressing out the most. I actually almost didn’t compete because of how poorly things were going in training for this event this year. The opening weight was 285lbs. In my strongman career, I’ve never missed that weight when I’ve attempted it. I’ve hit 320lbs as my best in 2016 with a close miss at 340lbs. This was shortly before my back injury. But even then with coming back, I never felt like I was that far off coming back to that with just a little more focus in training. The event had kind of gone away a bit and then came back. I was feeling good with my progress leading up the Regionals but then when the clean ended up being involved, I had all kinds of issues. Issues I never had before. And it felt like I was falling down further and further as the year went on. So now something that would be no problem and would be hopefully pushing for 150kgs (a number that still eludes me), was going to be hit or miss. And more likely miss as in the last month of training, I missed 276lbs twice. When I feel things, I feel them hard and I got depressed. Frustrated, confused, thinking my peak was all those years ago and chasing vapors on my dreams that have evaporated. I knew where I stood with all the other events but I was putting so much weight on this one. Warming up I felt I had too much time. They had wanted athletes here and had indicated a schedule. Last Nationals, I had gotten barely any to little warming up (same with the Arnold) but with how things were going, it ended up being about 3hrs from when I arrived to actually start lifting. So that was quite of bit of staying on edge with trying to keep from being spent and not cooling off. And it is a very fine line as I could feel that I was getting less sharp on my sets on the top end. Heaviest I worked up to was 255lbs for singles and tried to keep warm by doing bounds and mobility stuff. Finally time to go. I had hoped if I was feeling good that I’d do the opener and maybe give the second jump a shot (became less likely when jumps were adjusted to 10kgs vs 20lbs) but with how I was feeling after the wait, just get this done and move on with the contest. The pull to my belt was fine. That has been on point which is at least something. Then I went for the dip to pop it up to the rack. Not quite. I had made a switch to thumbs around the axle to assist as I seem to be sucking when it comes to thumbless like I had in the past. If I had been thumbless, I fear that I may have dropped this back to the floor and my chances would be sunk. I was able to keep it close and land back on the belt, which wasn’t terribly a comfortable sensation. Got focused and launched it up to the shoulders. Felt heavy, was feeling a little lightheaded and just let it settle and wait until my vision cleared. Went for the press and just wasn’t quite there. I was reverting to more of a lean back style. I knew my triceps were there if I hit it right. Time was ticking down. I went for it again and got my body under it more and got it up but I was teetering forward and kept walking with it until finally it came to a stop and I got the down call. By the skin of my teeth, I was on the board. I came back out for the next attempt just to show I was waiving the attempt. Not last here, tied for 38th place.

Up next was a farmer’s walk. The farmer’s walk. It was something I knew I’d be good at but lord was it going to suck. I tend to be good at the event with a suck factor to them. This was farmer’s walk with two different implements, each for 80’ with a drop and turn at 40’. 60 seconds time frame. Unlimited drops and such. I had seen this even debuted at one of the Regionals this year and no one finished it there. First set of handles were 290lbs and the second set was 330lbs. I have experience and I know what I’m about most of the time. Training for this had been mostly ok. Worked all the different parts with focus on working on my weaker points but relying on my strength to pull it together. I’m slow on the pick up and generally slow. But I got a good support grip. I can hold on to things real good. Farmer’s walk, Hercules hold, grudges, you name it. I have large hands but not comically so. I harp on this a good bit that grip is many aspects. I’m very good at being able to hold without overexerting things to keep a hold. Like the difference between holding a ball vs squeezing a ball. And that is the approach I take. So training here had been building up endurance in the legs and for being able to make picking up the handles a repeatable action under fatigue. I’ve done down and back farmer’s before but it has been just one set. I may not be terribly quick but due to my surety in my grip, I can often make a quick turn around and make up the time there. So initially testing things out with lighter weight and longer distance as well as working shorter distance and timed rests and then working picks a good bit as well. Building fatigue and then attacking the holding while under that fatigue so maybe my grip feels taxed. Also working to find ways to keep knee discomfort down with not doing a ton of running. I’ve put a good bit of wear and tear on these joints and family history doesn’t seem to be a good indicator I’ll be finishing this lifetime out with my original parts. So good bit of prehab stuff as well. As I got closer, my only concern was making sure I didn’t time out before I finished. Due to my depressive episodes near the end of the prep, I didn’t end up doing the last session for this at contest weight and conditions. I felt I was as ready as I was going to be and needed the extra rest. One of the variables I couldn’t really calculate for here was the handles themselves. These were not handles that I think were for sale and only a few perhaps in the southeast had used them so I wouldn’t know how they felt until I got there. I had tried rotating handles (I have access to several) to not adapt specifically to one style. They felt good empty as far as grip. Not knurled but not exactly smooth. Good hunk of rubber on them to prevent sliding and floor damage. Foot clearance and a wide base so would be difficult to have them tip over (though some people managed to do that). But when weight was added, I encountered and issue. Picking from the back of the handles and using my usually stride would result in me hitting the weights with my feet. So this required a bit of testing to see what made the most sense. Gripping further up made the pick a ton harder but I could keep my stride length (albeit a little shorter due to the slippery convention floor). But gripping like I usually do at the back and taking an even shorter stride would allow me to have the easier pick. I decided to go with that and hopefully see if tacky towel on my shoes would help any with the flooring. This had been a lesson learned at the Arnold when I found I wasn’t able to put as much forward lean and pressure on the front of my feet from training on turf. I was going to be in one of the earlier heats because of axle but would probably place well overall if things went how I expected them. Local news team was there apparently filming while I was going. I just can’t leave my house without becoming b-roll footage. Whistle went and I was off. I was the slowest off the gate. Weight was feeling fine. I felt I would be quickest here on the first set as far as my own pace and then slow things down on the second set as I knew my matchbook stick of a back only had a so many lights left. The 330lbs set felt damn heavy. My hands were hurting and everyone else was ahead of me. Just keep going. I finish the first leg and prepare myself for the last hurrah. Lane 4 had finished and Lane 3 could go no further. I get going and time is running short. Fight the temptation to speed up and jostle the handles out of my mitts. Lane 2 goes down and is done. I cross the line with moments to spare. 56.47 seconds here for 18th place. So better than half.

Final event for the first day was a medley. Sandbag carries loaded onto a sled and then dragging the sled back. Each for 40’. Sandbags of 309lbs and 331lbs and sled of unknown weight (well more than 640lbs). Really didn’t matter the weight of the sled as it was going to be a crapshoot anyways. It comes down to friction on the competition surface and the implement. Backwards drags at Nationals have been notoriously tough. The one I did in 2012 I didn’t end up finishing. I’ve gotten better since then. Training for this had been in parts. Working on building up endurance on the sandbag carries (breaking it up with either drops every 50’ and repicks or doing several sets of 100’ with turns) and then getting more specific as things got closer. Like the farmer’s, there had been a plan to put everything together for close to contest run but that ended up not happening because of the depressive episode. I had worked up to the first bag for double the distance and then double the distance for the sled drag. I felt I was ready enough here with other training. Again, like farmer’s, I’d probably be slower on the actual moving. But I feel I’d probably be quicker on transitions because of thinking about spatial awareness. So many people seem to think that there is a front and back to an implement like a sandbag or keg and rush to get behind it when they can just get it from the side and pivot and go. If my gangly and uncoordinated body can manage it without tearing something, it can save time. The sandbags here should be fine, the sled was another matter. Traction for the implement also means traction for the competitor. This floor was slick and going too fast with shoes was not working. I tried everything I could before resorting to the inevitable; going barefoot. Most ended up going through this process of realization. It was a regular science fair back in the warm up area with athletes testing out things. I’m not sure how well the livestreams were here so hopefully no athletes lost any income from having to inadvertently provide free feet pics. I don’t care, some of my training/contest videos have made it to some of those kinds of webpages (funny the things you can track with analytics when people hotlink your stuff). Of concern to me was if I was going to let my worry of a staph infection or other communicable disease have me stay prideful in wearing my shoes? I figured no, I wouldn’t. But I had to test it out first. I don’t like doing things on the spot if I haven’t gone over it in my head at least once or tried it out. Make sure I moved ok, no issues. Was I tolerating things. Foot movement is a bit different barefoot vs equipped. More pressure being felt on the feet vs in a shoe. Certainly a greater “tactile” sensation and grounding. I just needed to know if it worked and if I’d suffer an injury not trying this out. Unladen is one thing, but moving with the heaviest sandbag you’ve ever attempted to carry before is another. I was about half way in for this one after the farmer’s placing. Saw range of performances from blitzing it to barely getting the first bag off the starting line. Told myself I had to finish to have shot. Tacky towel on my bare feet. Positioned the sandbags how I wanted them and got ready. And we were off. Faster on the picks I feel but slow on the moving with the sandbag. Knee tight and feeling like more upright posture. Not really in the fastest gear with lean back I felt caution was warranted with the slick floor. Placement on the sled also was important. Some guys were just chucking it on there and inadvertently knocking the sled back a couple feet. I didn’t want any extra distance. Second sandbag felt much the same. Almost no difference really with how I moved with that heavier bag. I didn’t feel like I’d drop them. I was a little slower than I’d have liked with the start of the drag. I think partly hesitant with making sure I had enough tension there and just being unfamiliar with barefoot (though I imagine this was the same for many there) but I got going finally. I tried to catch up but couldn’t quite do so and ended up finishing but being the slowest of that heat. Still, in a time of 45.57, I got 19th place. So again, better than half.

After the first day, I was in 29th place overall. For most, not great, but for me, fine. 29th is the best I’ve placed overall at Nats so maintaining would be ok but there was the possibility for improvement my best event was on that day and I wouldn’t get last on the other two events. During the day, I had several people talk with me. Both competitors from past competitions as well as people I’ve not met IRL. A candidate for governor was also having a function in the same center later in the day and it was for “Restoring Freedom” which I found ironic since it was a private event with curtains and police officers and they put in portable metal detectors at the building entrance (and they weren’t there in the morning or the next day). Bobby Thompson and Anthony Fuhrman were there (there were other pros from woman and men’s division with athletes or helping out) and talked to me for a good bit. I haven’t seen Bobby since 2019 Arnold because of Rona and just my own cloistered living situation. It was an interesting talk about future in the sport that I may need to reflect on. But for now, I want to keep on focusing on this being a competitor as my full-time passion project. Things had gone way later than planned. Like it was to be done at 5:30PM and it was about 8PM. I hadn’t eaten since like 10:30AM because I had assumed a different schedule and it was too late by then to get food in (as I have a terrible time keeping anything down besides water when competing). With how late things had gone, couldn’t get to the one restaurant (they stopped answering after we had to reschedule it twice as things kept going later lol) so options were the one in the hotel or find out where everyone was getting these subs (local gas station). Ended up with the hotel restaurant. Passable. Not the best food for my stomach and in my rush to eat I burnt my tongue and roof of my mouth. I knew getting to sleep was going to be a challenge as usually after event sessions, I take a while to fall asleep. Iced my knees and took ibuprofen and some Nyquil.

I awoke the next morning unfortunately. Congested and riddle with soreness. Technically I woke up but really it felt like I was just lying-in bed for 8hrs with my eyes closed and was awake the entire time. So not the best sleep. I’ve had worse, like lying on the cool bathroom tiles with food poisoning while only one line of Billy Joel’s “Scenes From an Italian Restaurant” plays over and over in your feverish brain. I knew this was going to be rough having not done a two-show in over 3yrs. It’s one thing to go all out for a day, another to repeat the effort. The soreness can be almost exquisite in its completeness. Stuff you didn’t think could even be sore ends up being sore. The usual suspects were sore such as back, hands and legs but even things like the spaces between fingers, bottoms of my feet and base of the skull were feeling it. Lower legs were the most sore and constant. And mostly my own doing. I’ve gained a rather bad habit to deal with my nervous energy and that is pacing. Having a hands-free headset lets me talk and pace while working. At a competition, I tend to be on alert and relaxing is hard to do when warming up isn’t guaranteed and a lot is going on. So I pace like a caged animal and probably get in a several miles of walking judging by how sore I am (since I walk 2 miles on my off days no problem). Thankfully, this day didn’t require a ton of moving. That had been consolidated for that first day. So the soreness was one thing I can handle that. The other was getting myself to feel like I wasn’t congested. Cocktail of Claritin, Dayquil and Nasacort where needed but it still took several hours to not feel like crap. And I needed to be on as this day was starting earlier and it seemed the lax pace of the day before was an error and things would be moving today.

First event of the day was deadlift medley. Two farmer’s implements for a single rep and then axle on the big wheels for reps. 60 seconds to complete, no split times so just number of total reps. Same farmer’s as Day 1 but a magnitude heavier at 330lbs for the first pair and then 380lbs for the second pair. The axle was 13” and was 705lbs for reps. Straps allowed as well as briefs. The briefs was new. I hadn’t planned on these but I was noticing wear and tear and that anything that could help me a little and perhaps alleviate some taxing on hips was worth a shot. My must do goal was the first two implements. The axle deadlift would be a huge PR if I got it. Training for this had gone relatively well. Farmer’s got most of training from the farmer’s walk with extra picks added. Axle deadlift had been the main deadlift focus really. Bar in front deadlifts are more often contested and only doing side handle doesn’t bode well for me with maintaining and improving. Deadlift has been mostly good this year of training. Only time really that it felt like I wasn’t having all the pieces there was the last prep when front squat was used instead of ssb back squat. Something just seemed off. Deadlift like overhead is something that needs constant work and unfortunately continues to have a huge focus in strongman. But I continue to push and adapt and an athlete. In training, I worked up to a big PR of 650lbs for a double on the axle and had done 330lbs for 3 on the farmer’s. Considering the short prep relatively (10 weeks), this was kind of the best I could hope for. Warming up for today was going to be a bit less technical. Overhead is always so much involved. Most other things I do a few things and I’m good. My first round of warming up I did just under 500lbs (allegedly as it felt really good) on the axle and just under 290lbs on the farmer’s. Then another round just over 500lbs (felt tough hence questioning that first lift) and just under 340lbs on the farmer’s. I had felt good and was thinking initially best shot at the 705lbs pull but then after confirming the numbers that I needed to make sure I got the first two implements and then give 705lbs a shot just because. Somewhat near the middle when it was time to go. I was in no rush. As I said, no split times so there wasn’t a sense of urgency here. I just needed to secure things and get solid lifts. Even though I could probably do these farmer’s without straps, it wasn’t worth the risk or fatigue as there were other events that needed the hands later. 380lbs was tough but not my absolute max. I took my time and tried to get myself as amped as possible and waited until 10 seconds left to give it my best shot at that axle. It moved but didn’t come off the ground. Which is something. The fatigue of the first day definitely didn’t favor me here. I’d told myself at the 2019 Arnold that the next time 715lbs is on the bar, I was pulling it. This wasn’t that weight so technically still have that promise to keep. Tied for 27th place here with several people.

Moving on to the next event, sandbags again. Kind of a newer one here with the sandbag over shoulder. No waiting for down calls, fairly easy to judge (like only one instance where I noticed a dispute between athlete and judge). This was fairly innovative as far as an event. We had 60 seconds to suplex five sandbags (265lbs, 287lbs, 309lbs, 331lbs, 353lbs). This was the only event of the day that had split times so timing was a factor. My goal was the first three bags with hopefully a shot at the fourth. I had done a similar to shoulder series in quick time in March. Training this was kind of fun. Mostly singles and series here. Practicing them spaced out with run ups. Did notice that the one side would get a bit more banged up when training these. Potentially more than just shoulder them as there has to be more control. I was feeling pretty good about this event. But expectations make for a poor support column. Lower back fatigue was still very present. I was feeling decent enough warming up. I did attempt to budge the 350lbs bag to see if the vertical style would work (my bags are too short to make this work) and see if I’d even be able to pick it my usual way with fatigue. Vertical maybe, horizontal no. Information for making a better prep for next time. I was not a fan of the setup we had as they were all placed on the mats we had for axle and deadlifts. It seemed like a hazard having them all clustered together like that. Perhaps there were concerns on the floor traction but if so, then why the farmer’s and the medley being ok? Then there was the bags themselves. Now they had indicated that these would be this particular brand and that they’d make up the weights with material as needed. Silly me was thinking more compact with sand and lead shot, not taking into consideration the national shortage on that (it was pain getting some for my own sandbag) and that they would be using bigger bags and filling them with crumb rubber. This resulted in large, loose bags. Most people are going to be having compact and tight bags as sand is cheaper. Also some were wet either from water or sweat. Can’t really stop people from sweating on them though. I saw people struggling on these bags and that was people that had done better than me at them at shows we had both competed at this year. So I knew that I’d have to be efficient and also pace myself. Coughed a bit before we were to start to get my heart rate up (tip to help me from blacking out going cold into these kind of events) and got set. Time started and I went to pick that first bag. It was wet on the bottom and it didn’t move like my sandbags I train with do. It was loose so I eventually shuffled it onto my hands and got it up and over. Shook my head a little to clear it as I needed to be efficient and secure my grip. Also keep track of where everything was so I didn’t trip and fall. Second bag was even bigger and tougher to flop down. Got it up and over and again shook my head and refocused. The third bag was off to the side. I didn’t want to switch up the side I was favoring and went where it stood (like golf). This was also a floppy boy. I got it up but not high enough. Didn’t panic as it was folding me in half but attempting to bump it up was getting me off balance. I couldn’t determine where the other bags were as vision was obscured and after another stumble I bailed. Not good. I had 20 seconds. Going again is such a drain but I felt that this was a necessary lift to bump up my placings. Just sapped at this point and couldn’t pop it up to the left side and tried to just go straight up but it wasn’t budging. I heard 10 seconds and dropped it. Not happening today. Only event I felt I left something there I should’ve had. I don’t think I’m alone on that with underperforming here based off training (I saw someone that had been crushing this in under 30 seconds only get 3 bags). Still, 24th place here.

The final event was my best event; arm-over-arm pull. This was TBD up until we went. All that we knew was that it was to be 80’ with a normal rope with a run up to it. Because reasons. There are few events that I feel confident in but the ones I do, I feel I am world class. And those are holding stuff for time, atlas stones and arm-over-arm. I’ve only had arm-over-arm contested twice before this year; once at my very first show where I took second to an eventual 105kgs pro (back when I was 227lbs) and in 2013 and I had started that day off aggravating my back on the first event and won it over a guy who would turn pro two years later as a HW. March this year was my third time and I put on a clinic there, blistering the course even after failing out of the tire at the end and having to get back up to finish. I feel my training for this is probably a bit different from most. I don’t worry about weights so much, just what I feel is effort. Never going to really get a feel for each setup and the different friction of surfaces. Use really thick rope to start out and then gauge down rope diameter if I know show is using a thinner rope. This event is a pain to setup and tear down. I had mentioned I was feeling down at the beginning of 2021 and had done this event for kind of fun in my street and someone commented that it took dedication to setup that event so I figured I probably still had the fire in me (and turns out I competed against that individual this weekend). Direct training for this was minimal. My coach knew I was good at this and just would need some technique training on it and just work on building the foundations in training and keep focus on other events. I ended up only doing two sessions total of it during this prep. One was with the thick rope up hill and on turf (worked up to 445lbs and it was a gasser) and then another session the week before doing with normal rope in my street uphill with 285lbs for really quick hands sets. Training for all situations. I had a feeling that based off the weights available and the convention floor, the best strategy was going to be a big initial start and then short fast strokes to keep it sliding and then as I fatigue switch back to the long strokes. Everyone was saying just do long pulls. My reasoning was from seeing videos from the 2018 and 2019 Arnold’s in Africa and Europe with a similar situation. I’m very much a student of the sport. Waiting to go, I heard some competitors mention that there was probably going to be someone that has no business being good at this just crush everyone. That was going to be me. If I didn’t get top 10 here, I was going to be severely disappointed. I was sore, tired, I wanted to be done to just go home and sleep in my own bed. Weight announced as 1000lbs. They had probably put too much weight on for the women as that seemed tortuous to watch which had me thinking this might be a war of attrition situation at first. I was fully prepared to alter plans as needed. My line judge (MW women’s pro) told me she wanted me using my length and going head to the floor. I said I would (but only if I needed to). Time start and I was off. The floor was slick right at the foot board and I almost lost my balance on my left foot so that had me slow down a fraction of second before I grabbed the rope and fell back with it. I knew what to expect with a thinner rope made from jute as opposed to manilla. It would feel like it is stretching. I pulled it and it felt easy. Going forward with my plan. This was despite my line judge shouting in my left ear to go all the way back. Despite seeing the person the lane to my right have a better initial pull. Initially it seemed as if I was being stupid but I started getting faster and my sled didn’t stop while everyone else’s did. Once it got closer, I went back to the long pulls and calculated what I needed. I found the weight was still moving even as I finished a pull and I let go of the rope to keep fatigue down and reach again. Judged it just right and it sailed across the line. I looked around and saw everyone else was still a ways behind me. I stood up and hopped up on to the footboard and gave a “woooo!” to however was listening. I felt fine. I was ready to do it again if need. Maybe even another time. I knew my time was around 30 seconds. Competitors were asking me why I did such and such and others asked what my strategy was. My responses left some scratching their heads. I baffled one guy who got 3rd overall when I told him my training for this event and that my best deadlift was only 675lbs with a suit. Time of 31.09 seconds for an event win at Nationals.

I’m not an after-party kind of guy. Even though this was the probably going to be the best showing I had and possibly Arnold invite, I wasn’t sticking around for the banquet. The high of competing was wearing off (and so were the meds) and I really just wanted to sleep in my own bed this night. It does wonders for me after traveling and being away. I had checked with Dionne about me paying for shipping if I ended up winning any hardware as I was booking it after the competition was done. I got to be rested for work Monday after having to move a bunch a things to this week rather than have an unprepared back-up do stuff while I was out (I never take leave despite having a lot). Found out on the drive home that I had placed 22nd out of 43. Top 11 got invite to Arnold. So likely out of contention as a back up invite if people decline. But it is my best placing at Nationals in my four attempts at it. Still learning, still got things to improve and work on. It was great getting hang with guys I competed against earlier this year as well as seeing new people or people only had online contact with them. As far as how things went and ran, despite my mutters and complaints, this was the best run it has been. My father felt it was the best as far as spectator experience as well. For now, I’m taking the much needed break from training this coming week and then start back with light stuff and off season. Plan is to compete again hopefully by middle of March but if not, then I guess wherever and whenever Regionals are in the 2023 season.