Virtualmeet.net

All and anything related to the 26-28 June 2009 Weightlifting meet is welcome here.

To register for the meet, click here. (http://virtualmeet.net/community/forum/meet-talk/309/0/)

Don't you have the dates mixed up. The proposed schedule shows the PL meet in June and the WL meet in July.

TNT

That was the first proposal yes. But if you scroll down that thread you'll see that the two meets were switched in the final version in November 2008 (http://virtualmeet.net/community/forum/meet-talk/253/msg1639/#msg1639). The schedule was then posted on the meets page (http://virtualmeet.net/meets/) which is the authoritative list of events.

Hope this doesn't mix things up on your end. 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh......yup it does. My error. We were preparing for a PL meet.
 
Several of the girls hit Personal Bests on Monday and now we're beginning the taper leading up to June 26-28. This will probably be their last lifting training block before the fall rowing season so they will just go for team bragging rights that weekend.

TNT

TNT

Now that's what I call an unfortunate mix-up.  :(

In practice, the two meets are still only two weeks apart so from a physical standpoint the girls should be able to stay in PR shape with very little training, even if you finish the peaking according to schedule. This would actually be a pretty good exercise in itself as staying sharp over a few meets close to one another is part of the competitive game for many lifters. But of course, if this messes up the rowing schedule it's naturally a no-go. Just a thought.

Ok, the final line-up (http://virtualmeet.net/community/forum/meet-talk/309/msg2236/#msg2236) has now been posted. All participants should have received the usual e-mail with the upload details (if not, e-mail me at kris@virtualmeet.net ASAP). We are still missing judges, as usual we should be clear on that front too come meet time.

Have a great one everyone!

PS. Jeff: planning on lifting outdoors again? :)

Weather permitting...  There hasn't been a day here in the last week that we haven't had thundershowers but right now the forecast looks promising.

I'll have to talk to my meet director (wife) about locations, I'm hoping to setup somewhere with Boivin creek in the background.  Preferably somewhere I don't have to drag the weights too far.


Small turn out for this meet.  This really seems like a busy weekend, I had a couple friends bail because of other events going on.  Hopefully next time I'll get 'em out.

At least the judging won't take long. I'm going to try lifting in my garden if it doesn't rain.

Also, I can only come first, second or third!

We will soon need to make an "outdoor lifter" badge or something that those who like dragging their iron outside for virtualmeets could add to their lifter profile. Once you try outdoor meets, there's no going inside again... unless it's winter or rains really hard.  ;D

That said, it's unfortunate that setting up a powerlifting meet outside is not as easy as a weightlifting one.

Anyway, good news! Ramon (http://virtualmeet.net/adrnline/) again volunteered to judge. Thanks a lot for your continued support. :) Still looking for two more judges, but so far so great.

All I need to do now is find a level spot, they're few and far between as I live on a hill!

Lifting outdoors is great, I save so much energy each workout dumping the bar rather than being forced to lower it carefully. Last time I put myself out of action for 3 weeks trying to lower a failed jerk.

What happens if there's not enough judges?

To date that has never happened. But should we not have enough judges come judging time then the judging will simply wait until we do. The worst case scenario is that the meet gets delayed a bit, but we are not in the business of canceling meets.

Getting all judge slots filled before the meet sign-up deadline is still a rarity, but fortunately we have a pool of nice people who tend to say yes when asked kindly. :)

Well, meet should hopefully be uploaded, unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate and I was forced to stay indoors.

edit: won't discuss till judging is complete...

Did my lifts just before a massive storm. There was a thunderclap before one of my snatches I think. Wanted to time thunder, lightning and a new PR simultaneously!

Three lifters are now successfully uploaded. Seems like this was a pretty rainy weekend in both Europe and North America... we had some intermittent showers here as well. Let's hope for good weather for the upcoming powerlifting meet as those of us lifting at the gathering won't have an indoor option. :)

Another update in a day or two regarding the release timetable for this meet. I should know a lot more about judges etc. then.

Judge update: Jamie Jamieson (http://virtualmeet.net/jamie/) and Brent Kim (http://virtualmeet.net/brentstayshungry/) have stepped in as judges. This is the third time they are coming to the rescue, thanks guys! :)

The meet is now with the judges. :) As usual, they will have seven days to complete the judging, that is until July 9th.

One lifter dropped out, so three lifters in this one.

Wow, that's got to be a record for fastest judging ever!

Yeah! Thanks a lot to Jamie, Ramon and Brent for the quick turnaround. Meet release scheduled for around Friday midnight GMT, but if all fails Saturday.

And thanks to the lifters for prompt uploads and well prepared material, that is what saves the day at my end. :)

The meet has been released! (http://virtualmeet.net/meets/200906wl/)

Indeed that was quick turnaround! Thanks, judges! And thanks guys for not dropping out cuz of the low number.

Warren, isn't it exhilarating to lift in a thunderstorm? Much less a competition - did it fuel you?

I almost lifted outside, too, just for the lighting. But I was afraid to do it on the ground; the platform is too heavy to move. So Warren, it looked to me like you laid down two mats on concrete...isn't that hard on your knees? Also, were you able to get the right grip/slip with your feet?

Jeff, when you lift outside, like in your amazing avatar, what do you do? Drag out plywood? Or do you have some semipermanent structure?

The dropouts were a shame, but now I can say I came second in a weightlifting competition! And then hope no one asks how many competitors there were...

I can't help but wonder what the other guy would have lifted though, since he was so young.

Kat, the thunderstorm was more an incentive to hurry up! The atmosphere was very heavy, and we had some serious hail that day.

I laid down the mats to spare the bumpers, but yes I had to make do with concrete. We have a small patch of level grass at the bottom of the garden, but the earth is so soft that after a couple of attempts the plates would dig holes into the ground. Didn't fancy pulling from a deficit.

For me there was a definite disadvantage to using the concrete. I think it was mostly psychological, but in my warm-ups I was missing lifts that came easily on grass. A comparitively small dumping target, combined with the ever-present threat of falling off the step and rolling down the hill.

The grip/slip for me was about the same as on grass. This is because I used a pair of Chucks and I find them pants for Oly lifting. Rubbery around the edges and not stable. I train barefoot 90% of the time, but I think I'll have to invest in a pair of weightlifting shoes for the next meet.

What bothers my knees most is my ropey foot placement on heavier attempts. My stance comes out too wide and my toes point outwards instead of forwards. Not only is this painful, but it also looks stupid!

Well done for winning the women's meet Kat (and by winning I mean breaking PRs), and to Jeff for soundly trouncing me. New records for you too?

Now that the meet is over, I can tell my tale of woe... I didn't want it to affect the judging.

But first - Kat - I've got a 3/4" sheet of plywood that I've been dragging outside with me when I lift.  It gives good consistent surface to lift on.  It's getting a little beat up now though as it breaks when you drop weight on it if the ground underneath is soft.

Warren - I set a new PR snatch and tied my best competition c&j.  However, I was really hoping to break a 200 total and fell just short.   Next time I should be able to blow it out of the water!


Now the story...  It was a dark and stormy afternoon, the day of the meet.  I'd just finished my snatches and was starting my warm up for the C&J.  I have been working on really driving through my jerks with my shoulders so that I get in a stronger position underneath the weight to lock it out.  As I held the empty bar in rack position getting ready for my first jerk I was really thinking about getting down and under it.  Unfortunately I moved my head too quickly as I drove up and slammed the bar into the bottom of my nose.  I saw stars and felt my nose start to bleed.  I lay down on the floor.

After a couple minutes on the ground, I figured I had the bleeding under control enough to make it upstairs to our condo to get myself cleaned up.  When my wife saw me, she asked if I was done.  When I explained my situation she just laughed and told me that was a dumb thing to do.  I got myself cleaned up and shoved some toilet paper in my nose to stop the bleeding and went back downstairs to finish the meet.

I got warmed up and completed my three remaining attempts.  None of the jerks were very good, I don't think I was locked out under any of them, I was a little nervous jerking again.  I couldn't wait for the judges so I uploaded my lifts to youtube to see if I'd get credit.  Most people said they wouldn't give any although some said they'd give the first.  I feel quite fortunate that I didn't bomb out this meet.

It used to be that anything I could stand up with I could get overhead.  Now it seems like my jerks are lagging behind.  I've got to do a lot of jerks and presses and overhead work between now and October.

I know what you mean about the jerks lagging behind. It's frustrating because the strength is probably there but the technique holds us back.

Since we're sharing stupid injuries, the reason I couldn't get those last two attempts in was a 50kg snatch warmup that I dumped - ON MY HEAD.

Holy crap, Jeff! Glad you were all right. Between that and the weather, you had a pretty memorable meet!

And Warren, dumping on your head...

What a study in grace this meet was - hahaha! Thanks for sharing.

That's interesting you both mentioned the jerks lagging. That's recently become an issue for me as well; one I never expected, cuz my jerks were always the easy part. One combo Jim Schmitz recommended to me to address this is three front squats followed by a jerk.

I really like the idea of taking the plywood outdoors for a lift. Hmm. Thanks for the idea. Maybe someday we could do a video project to lift in front of major world landmarks :-)

PS Not to highjack this into a training thread...

There's also the jerk support and recovery, not everyone does them, they're vital and oh so satisfying... http://www.vimeo.com/1783320