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| My Good Luck Omens |
Upon arriving at The Centre for Functional Performance in Watford, I was greeted by the ever smiling familiar faces of the other Strong Ladies, including fellow EBW Coach Sara who had got down early to weigh in and eat! She had done a huge weight cut for this comp and luckily for her, she made weight...although it meant I was now also competing against her too! Once Morgan had arrived and we were all kitted up, it was time for an obligatory EBW Photo.....
I weighed in over 10kgs below the category weight which made me the lightest competitor...! At this point, we all received a goody bag containing our comp T-Shirts and a shaker, complete with protein (which was yummy!)
With 10am fast approaching, it was time to start warming up for the first event. It's fair to say that warm up didn't go well at all and I was in a bad frame of mind. Feeling very emotional, I avoided talking to people....and then I was told I would be second to go. So I started panicking...
Event 1 - Overhead Medley; 30kg Block x 1 into 35kg Log x 2 into 40kg Axle as many reps as possible - 75 secs
Simple, press 30kg above your head. Easy. I've pressed more than 50kg above my head. But for some reason, I just couldn't get that block to go up.
In the warm up I attempted it and dropped it on my left knee as I placed it down, so all I could feel was that throbbing pain. That coupled with me battling to keep from crying mid - event, I just lost it. I attempted three times, each time swearing rather badly (sorry!) and then dropped the block on my left foot. I just wanted to give up. 4th attempt and with massive encouragement from the crowd, it finally went over my head!
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| After what felt like an AGE!!! |
Straight into the log, 2 reps easily, I was pleased, but knew I was struggling for time to get any axle presses in. Still fighting back tears and trying to ignore the pain in my knee and foot, I took hold of the axle, attempted a clean but dropped, I had nothing in me. Then time was called and I stormed off and sat in the corner. What an awful performance. I was gutted.
Points: 1
Event Position: 7th
Event 2 - Max 18" Axle Deadlift
I felt good about this event, one that I had put a lot of work into in my training sessions so felt I needed to make up for my poor performance in the overhead.
All competitors had to do an opening 115kg lift and then nominate their 3 remaining attempts. We were told previously that the biggest lift would earn a new BNSF British Record, so I was pretty excited!
Having warmed up to 140kg, 115kg felt effortless so I opted for my first lift to be 160kg. Warmed up again and did 160kg, so changed my first lift to 170kg.
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| My Record Winning Lift!! |
Stepping up to the bar for the final lift, everyone was cheering. Adam, the host, reiterated the fact that this lift would be nearly 4 x my own bodyweight, and hearing that was enough. 200kg went up, just like that, no jerking, kicking, screaming, I was amazed! And I had just earned myself a record!! This certainly made up for my overhead performance! I was firmly on a high!
Watch the video here: http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=TGaSg116Ams
Points: 7
Position: 1st
Event 3 - Farmers Hold, 60kg Each Hand.
It was too wet to do a Farmers Run (which I was secretly glad of because of my ankle and falling over abilities) so instead we did a max hold. I was last up and the longest held before me was an incredible 1 min 57 secs - so all I had to do was hold to 2mins...
Once they were up, I shut my eyes; I didn't want to look at anything to be distracted, I just needed to focus, which I did. I had asked James to shout out how long I'd held for, but I couldn't hear anything.
All of a sudden, I opened my eyes, and I don't even remember why. I looked across at Nina who was also in the hold for her category (and who also set a record with a 230kg Deadlift!) And saw the strain in her face. I started to wobble and did all I could to keep my shoulders from moving. At this point I think it was Katie and Ben I could hear shouting ''STABILISE!!!'' but I just couldn't and mine came crashing down just after Nina, with a 1 min 6 sec hold....rubbish!! |
| Trying to hold on.... |
Points: 2
Event Position: 6th
Event 4 - 80kg Big Wheel Squats
I had been squatting a lot in the run up, but hadn't really tested my 1 RM for a long time - so I went into this knowing my previous 1 Rep Max was only 85kg...
Warm up went well, although the heavier I went, the less I could control my Bambi Knees! But I Felt good and ready to get this out the way! James and I hadn't even spoken about what to aim for, so I didn't have a target...
Points: 3
Event Place: 5th
Event 5 - Carrying Medley - 30kg Block into 40kg sandbag into 59kg Circus Dumbbell into 70kg Duck Walk.
Ok, the end was in sight. I was tired and happy, but just wanted to get it all over with. Had a quick practice with picking up the dumbbell as this was the trickiest object to pick up.... and I felt ready. I had to beat 34 secs so in my head, that was 15seconds max on each item....
Even though the block and I had made enemies earlier that day, it went up easy and felt light. Into the sandbag, and as this was tightly packed and could stand upright, I opted for a squat and hug pick up, again, feeling easy. The dumbbell was tricky - I had to pick up low, pull into my lap and get my arms under it as quickly as possible, and think I missed a bit of time here as I wasn't overly confident with it....but I got it to the end of the track and straight into the duck walk. It certainly didn't feel like 70kg and I honestly think that's the quickest I have ever moved with a duck walk. I managed 30 secs in total, which I was more than happy with. I was just glad it was over!
Points: 5Event Place: 3rd
Overall Points: 18
Competition Place: 5th
Then came the trophy presentations; Claire and Jen from the Over Category both winning special awards, for Best Calves and Best Entertainment respectively.
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| Claire and her Calves! |
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| Jen with her Viking Power! |
Then Nina and I were presented with our Trophies for our Deadlift Records...queue another shy walk from me up to collect my trophy from Adam and have some pictures taken!
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| Nina collecting her well deserved trophy! |
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| Frankie - Winner of the Overs! |
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| Jenny - Winner of the Unders! |
I placed 5th overall and was happy with that! Sara however placed an amazing 2nd considering her gruelling weight cut and self doubt - Well Done!!
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| EBW Have a pretty good line up of Coaches!! |
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| Morgan about to start her 100kg Squats! |
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| #teamEBW ! |
Once again, I would like to Thank all of those who wished the three of us success, it is a massive help! Especially to those who came all the way to watch us...we really did appreciate it!
And once again, a Huge Thank You to this chap, who as ever the professional, managed the diva strops, tears, swearing and foul language of three ladies perfectly :-)
Lastly, a huge Congrats to Jenny, Sara and Nadia on placing 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively, truly amazing, all three of you!
It was a pleasure to meet a new group of ladies, and I am sure we will be all seeing a lot more of each other in the future
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| BNSF Britain's Natural Strongest Woman 2014 Competitors! |
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| Oh yea, and me and my new Trophy of course :) |
No rest for the wicked though, after a day off yesterday, I was back in this morning for a squat session to re test my 1RM - I managed 91kg, which was pretty good considering the weekend..! I am aiming for 100kg by October...if not sooner!
Franki xx
Facebook: Franki Napolitano
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Facebook: Franki Napolitano
Twitter: @fnapolitano2
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