Once upon a time...

Once upon a time in a small town no one has ever heard of in the second half a state no one knew even had a second half, Jessica and I met. You can call it "destiny" if you want. Yeah, let's call it that. We can be Destiny's Children. We are bootylicious, after all.

So Jessica and I wrote these separately and put them together for you!

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Here's my version (Scharah)

     I had applied to the OTC in Colorado Springs and the Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University. I was not accepted into the OTC (ignore the huge chip I had on my shoulder) and decided to give NMU a try and keep applying for a resident slot at the OTC.
     The girl's team at NMU at that time were Sage Burgener, Jessica Gallagher, Chelsea Kyle, and I. Then Robin Feuerman came into the mix after Chelsea left.  Sage and Jess shared a room whilst first Chelsea then Robin and I shared a room. We ALL had. to. share. a. bathroom.  NOT COOL. haha We did end up saving money on shampoo because we all used the same kind. So that was a bonus. (Blue Herbal Essences.) We had a small team and we did pretty much everything together. We ate, trained, slept, competed, and suffered together every, single, day.
     I don't know about Jessica but, I think NMU was some of the hardest training I have ever experienced. I think we died and came back several times during our stay. There was one week where we were just getting smashed into the ground and barely made it out alive. Well, we decided to celebrate surviving one week of Andy's workouts by buying cake, candy, popcorn, soda, and anything else we could ever want that wasn't cafeteria food and watch terrible zombie movies. 
     I was there only for a year before the OTC decided to accept me as a resident. During the time we were at NMU, we all had our spirit animals, teased Jessica relentlessly, studied together, and listened to the Mama Mia on an eternal loop. I hated this at first but, grew to love it. Dang you, Jessica!
     My greatest pleasure was trying to find new and exciting ways to scare Jessica everyday. One time in our usual race to the bathroom between 4 girls, when we got home, I ran into my room and hid in hers. She opened the door and I scared the Scooby Doo out of her. She fell down crying on the floor. You think she'd be used to being scared by then but, I guess not. I got the silent treatment for two weeks but, we still wrote each other love notes on sheets of toilet paper. That was our bathroom's only saving grace as we had all kinds of teen magazine clip outs of cheesy inspirational quotes and "hot" guys plastered all over the walls.
      I swear Jessica's greatest pleasure was to wake me up from my naps and yell, "Weightlifting!" and jump around the room much more motivated than I would have ever been. I hated it most of the time but now, I wish she were here to still do that for me.
     Studying for anatomy was fun because it was hard to remember what we were learning so we would resort to just yelling the answers or making up cheers. It worked for the most part. What's an osteon? COMPACT BONE!!!
     I went off to the OTC for a year then moved back to Arizona and Jessica stayed for a year, fell off the face of the earth, went to Idaho and lifted on cardboard boxes while dodging raquet balls, then ended up at the OTC herself, then moved to California (probably because she misses living her life in a bikini) and in the midst of this we kept in touch, remained eachother's #1 fan status, and I asked Jessica to write this blog with me.
     I love Jessica because we say silly things to each other, laugh raucously with each other then get back into squatting 150 kgs. Playing  games like "How many things can we touch until Andy looks?" She never has anything bad to say which evens out my pessimistic nature, she's beautiful, and so strong! I better sleep with one eye open or she's going to catch up to me. :o

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My version!!!!!!!!! (Jeshica)

When I got my call from Andy Tysz the resident coach of northern Michigan Olympic education training center I was already all set up at LSUS. I was about to graduate high school I wore my LSU shirt to college week and I was exited. Andy told me about the program and the full scholarship and all the amazing lifters he recruited for the next year including our very own, Sarah Robles. I decided rooming with my good friend sage Burgener and not paying for school would be a good idea so a month later I was off! 

When I arrived to butt freaking Michigan (from Florida) I was in culture shock but so excited to train full time with a very enthusiastic coach and the best junior aged lifters in the country. I arrived to meet Andy  at the dorms to show me my room and get me settled in. He explained how the resident program worked our rules, our room situation and of course gave me my key and cafe card. He said sage and I would share a room and the bathroom would then connect to another suite where Chelsea (a resident from the year before) and another new recruit (Sarah) would live. Andy told me Sarah had arrived just before me and as soon as I get settled in I should go introduce myself. 

With that, he left me to my unpacking and adjusting to my new life. First things first! I thought, "nap time!" I went from a tropical paradise to "Alaska" in a sense and I was beat. So I laid on my ugly weird sheets with Olympic Rings on my mattress and dreamt about gold. As soon as I started drifting off in true Sarah fashion she barged into my room without a word and said, "Hi I'm Sarah. Lets be best friends" I of course Facebook stalked her before this moment so I knew she threw track or something, and  that she was fairly new to the sport and was a super heavyweight lifter. What I didn't know from her Facebook page was how annoyingly talkative and loud she could be. I instantly loved her. 

Weird like me. -check 

Laughs alot. -check 

Social. -check 

Good training partner. -to be determined seemed to be a check 

Nice.- check 

Down to earth.- double check 

It was a good start. Slowly over the first week, our new team began to move in. We all got along at first. Went bowling together, went to the lake together, ate everything and anything together, trained twice a day together, went to sports med together, ice bathed together, got terribly hard and painful deep tissue massages together, we all even died during workouts together. It was great. I'd sing annoyingly catchy songs everyone hated but grew to love and was everyone's alarm clock yelling "weightlifting!!" "Time to train!!"

Even though us girls became sisters who loved to hate on each other and bicker and tease and fight we all had each others backs. To this day we are sisters and always will be.

Jessica and I are now living happily ever after. The end.

Jessica knows about these death cats. LOL

Poor Athlete Recipes: Chicken Fried Rice

I would like to start getting back into writing these recipes. As an athlete and a person who has been tight on money for as long as I can remember, I tell you, it's really hard to have a good diet when you don't have money. It's one thing to be well fed, it's another thing to well nourished.

That's what I hope to accomplish with these posts: teach you how to be well fed and well nourished at the same time.

Side story:

During one of my brokest times, my friend told me, dude, you eat like crap. My produce rotted fast, there was a lot of bread, $5 hot n' readies, canned meat and vegetables, frozen chicken quarters, and boxed food. Basically when you're living on $400 a month and your car payment is $250 and your rent is $150 (very generously cheap) there's no money to get decent food. $16 a month in food stamps can get you about 2 weeks worth of food from the food bank. That's if you're an average person. For an athlete, that amount of food, won't last long.

The tables turned at one point when she was out of money and I had some so she asked if I could help her with groceries. She's never one to buy generic foods or be seen in the cheaper stores. I tell her she shops like an "elitist." Anyway taking her to the store was an interesting trip. I got her peanut butter and jelly and a little lunch meat and cheese that would  roughly 7 sandwiches, 1 gallon of whole milk, chicken legs, rice, cereal and bananas. I heard things like "I don't really like milk that much." "Can I get whole grain bread?" "This lunch meat has preservatives." My response wasn't very nice but, very true. "Dude, you're broke. Broke people can't eat the way you do. The main priority is to not feel hungry." I can say with thanks to my parents an the generosity of others, I have never had to go a day without food. I cannot say the same for thousands of people out there and many of my closest friends growing up. One of my friends, who is the oldest of four children said she remembers skipping on meals so her siblings had enough to eat.

Hopefully those reading this blog aren't in that kind of need but, if you're tight on cash, I'm here to help!

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Chicken Fried Rice
1 cup of cooked rice
1/2 bag of frozen peas/carrot mix
2 cubed cooked chicken breasts
3 eggs
Coconut Oil
Soy Sauce

I put a handsome-sized glob of coconut oil in the pan and heated it up.
My chicken was already pre grilled so I just cubed the meat. 
I added the vegetables and eggs into the oil and stirred until the eggs were cooked
Add rice and chicken
Stir in soy sauce until the rice is brown
Keep it cookin' for a bit, then you're ready to eat.

I was able to split this up into three meals. 

Shopping Tip:  When buying poultry, or any kind of meat for that matter, buy it with the skin on and the bones in. It will be more laborious but you will save those precious cents.

So-Called Femininity

     Somehow, sometime, things got all jumbled up. Somehow size, sport, and our personal choices have all gotten mixed up with all these "traditional" ideas of femininity, sexuality, and gender roles. I don't know why, and I will not understand these molds that we are all put in. Some us will not ever fill the mold and others of us will get bored or hate the mold we're in and bust out.

     I truly believe if we were supposed to fit the mold, God would have made us all exactly the same. He would have created us in a world without things to deviate from the "ideal." We are all created differently for a reason whether it be by what some believe to be a divine being or by evolutionary means. Either way, we're different.

Is this beside the point? Probably. Anywho...

I speak for myself obviously but, I am sure many, many, women will agree with what I have to say.

     I tweeted recently, "Yes, I am stronger than you. Yes, I'm still a lady." This was brought on by a person in my own gym who said, "I would say ladies first but, you're stronger than me." As if my strength somehow meant I wasn't a lady. I said, "I'm still a lady, though." The week before that, I was squatting and someone told me, "Show them how a REAL man squats!" He wasn't implying that he literally saw me like a man but that I was as strong as a man. Still, why does my strength, appearance, size, etc. have to do with my femininity or lack-there-of? My strength doesn't change who I am. It is not who I am. It is something I possess. Something I have earned through years of hard work.

     Let's take weightlifting out of the picture for a minute. I'd like to take you back to my childhood. During my potty training time, my mom was working and I was at home with just my dad and brother all day. Somehow, I learned how to pee standing up. My mom came home and saw me doing this and had to back track on how to "train" me properly. Even from that young of an age, I did things differently. I guess you could say growing up I was a tomboy. Whatever. I played with dolls, I wore pink, I listened to the Spice Girls, I painted my nails, etc. All the typical girly stuff. I also did "boy" things too. I watched WWF wrestling, I played with stretch armstrong, caught bugs, watched scary movies, and one year for Christmas my brother and I both got all the same presents. 

I never really played sports but, of course I would gravitate toward non-traditionally female individual sports requiring size, power, and aggression. During my time throwing in highschool, I cut my hair short. In hind sight, it did look really terrible. Haha

     One day in cooking class, a girl came up to me and asked, "Do you know what a 'dyke' is?" I said, "Sure. It's this thing built to prevent flooding." Then I thought, "Ooooooooohhhh. That's what she's asking." She and her friend laughed at my expense, and sat at the table next to me. On and off over the years, I have had short hair. I really like it. After a while though, I got tired of being called, "Sir." Whether it was on accident or on purpose. Even if I was wearing makeup and jewelry and spoke softly, etc. I underwent the long, arduous, and always awkward process of growing my hair out. Hoping this would help. It did not. One day I thought, "Screw it! I'm going to get confused for a dude no matter what so I may as well just do whatever I want." So I went and got my hair cut again.

     My coach was surprised at the haircut and asked me why I did it. "Well, no matter what I do, I will be confused for a man so I may as well just do whatever I want." His response was not surprising. "What's wrong with being a man?" "Nothing. I am not a man, though. How would you like it if I called you ma'am? How are you today ma'am?" "Don't call me ma'am?" "Why not? What's wrong with being a woman?" "Nothing but, I am a man." See what happened there? haha

     At the Olympics I had my hair braided and it was in a cute up-do. I did my make-up and nails. I wore huge, darling, rose earrings. I was told by someone after the games, "You were the most feminine lifter out there! Even out of the lighter weightclasses."

     Somehow size is now related to femininity as well. The bigger you are the less feminine you are? As a bigger person myself, I don't understand that thinking. Maybe people think because we are bigger we then become "less desirable" or "unattractive" to other people which diminishes or deletes our femininity. However difficult dating and finding "the one" may be for a lot of us, I believe that way of thinking is wrong. 

     I do not have a "feminine" shaped body. I have small breasts and hips. I have broad shoulders. I am tall. I have fat. I have muscles. I do not behave traditionally "feminine." I spit, I cuss, I compete in a male-dominated sport, I usually wear men's clothes to train in, I'm "one of the guys" in the gym, I prefer to surround myself more with men. That's "Gym Sarah." Outside of the gym, the same me, wearing a different outfit loves mani/pedis, shopping, wearing dresses, make up, watching romantic comedies, cooking, and I enjoy the thought of a future home, husband, kids, and maybe even a Girl Scout troop of my own. I cannot change the way I look, I will not change my career, I will not change my interests/passions. I will not conform to what traditional femininity is. I absolutely refuse to do so. I also refuse to apologize for it.

      I personally do not pass judgment about people's sexual orientation, the gender they lump themselves with, religious preferences, career choices, the way they dress, etc. I have never understood why and how sport/career, size or appearance, dictated our very being. It really does not. The sport I'm in, the body I have, the choices I make daily is not a gauge of my womanhood. I will not allow another person to tell me who I am or who I should be. I hope other women feel the same.

-Sarah
     


    
    

San Jacinto Valley Academy-Speaking

     On Tuesday I headed back home to San Jacinto, Ca to do some public speaking at a local charter school. It was a pretty fun and interesting experience. I didn't get off to a good start, however.
     I drove myself to the airport and after parking in the garage, I took the skytrain to the check-in desk. Before I got there though, I saw an older woman lying down on the escalator. Her bag had gotten caught and she took a spill. A man stopped the escalator and called 911. I stopped and assessed the situation, and began asking questions. She had a pretty good laceration in her hand and was bleeding. Anywho, I wrapped my tshirt around her hand to stop the bleeding, talked to her, and made calls for her until the EMTs came. By the time all that happened, I missed my flight and had to wait 5 hours until the next flight left.
     I got into town around 9 o'clock and had dinner with my mom, went to my hotel room and soon realized I had forgotten the outfit I was supposed to make one of my presentations in. Well, I had a polo and khakis with me, thank goodness so at least I had that to fall back on.
     The next day I began speaking and demonstrating bright and early at 8 AM and concluded the day at 4 PM. I talked about my background and how I cam from the same town as they did, and about hard work. I showed them the Snatch and Clean and Jerk then opened the floor for questions and answers. During one of the demonstrations, the kids asked if I could arm wrestle their P.E. coach. I learned later on that he learned weightlifting from my old coach too. We looked at each other and mulled the idea over in our heads. I said, "You see, this is not an easy situation. If Coach Phil loses, he will be sad to have lost to a girl. If I lose I will be sad because I am an Olympian and I hate losing." Well, we shook hands and had our match. For a split second, I thought I had a chance at winning! Instead, I lost. Darn it!
     After the day was over, I was pretty sunburned and exhausted. I took a nap for about three hours and had to force myself to get up and eat and then go get a dress for my presentation. Before dinner we headed over to the Target clearance rack and found the best dress we could, a black and white striped summer dress. I also found a pair of hideous jaguar earrings. We ate dinner and went to bed.
     The next day was a symposium followed by another talk and demonstration. I gave a talk at the symposium about developing the Olympian within you. I began the talk with a terribly cheesy joke about myself. Wearing the black and white dress with the sunburn, I couldn't resist asking, "What's black and white and red all over?" That got some laughs. My main topics were "working hard" and "dreaming big." The speaker ahead of me said a lot of things I wanted to say so I had to make some slight changes to the speech. I decided to have a dialogue with the audience. I asked the students to stand up and tell me what their dreams were and we had an applause after each one. I began talking about the importance of hard work and gave some example of my own life and career. Afterwards, the three main speakers as well as some other community leaders were panelist for more discussions. We spoke to three different groups of kids and answered any of their questions about our careers.
      Afterwards, I got several compliments about my speech even from the CEO of the school. She told me that I was a great speaker and she's "heard a lot of speeches" in her day. She appreciated the techniques I used and the message I had to convey. I was encouraged to think about speaking more full-time after I was done training and other such compliments. The only training I have had in speaking was my senior project about throwing shot put and discus my senior year of high school: Keep eye contact, stay on point, no jargon, look nice, etc. Overall I am pleased with my speech and I am very encouraged to do more speaking in the future.
     I then got ready to speak to the elementary school kids. kindergarten through 5th grade. I have to say that was probably the most fun. Before I got started I went and gave a lot of the kids hi-fives. I didn't know this before I went but my old coach's kids both went to that school. I gave them hugs and talked really quickly before I got started. I told the group a little bit about me, weightlifting, and the Olympics. I told them to work hard and do well in school. I asked them who thought they were strong and almost all of the kids raised their hands. I told them I got to travel the world and have fun while doing my job. I showed them how to Snatch and Clean and Jerk and told them the more the clapped, the stronger I became. I was asked awesome questions like, "Have you ever been to California?" "Have you ever seen a Burmese Python?" and "Can you lift a black robot-dragon?"
     When I was done, before I had to leave to fly back to Phoenix, I shook a lot of hands, got a lot of hugs, group hugs, pictures, I flexed, and the best part of the day was hearing a little girl say, "I want to be just like you!"

Sarah

May's Training

Ok so this post was originally supposed to be about girly stuff like make up but... of course I forgot to save it and I don't feel like writing about makeup for an hour. It was a fun post, though. I'm such a dingus!

Anywho, I've written about a lot of other stuff lately but, not actually about my training. You see, I like to keep some of my training a secret. It adds to my aura of being sultry and mysterious. It leaves more to the imagination. It keeps you coming back...

Ok it doesn't do any of that but, I do like to keep some of my training to myself; good or bad.

So here' what's been going on that I'll let you know about:

*So far as supplementation is concerned, I have been taking casein and a carb/bcaa's mix, and both are working marvelously.
*I have created a few designs for custom singlets and I am in the works of having one of them created by the time the National Championships rolls around. I am really very excited about this project and I hope it takes off.
*I have been Back Squatting 200 kgs fairly regularly and I Front Squatted 180 last week.I am starting to Snatch 100+ more frequently as well as Clean and Jerking 140+. I haven't really been an athlete to train the lifts very heavy during training but, we're doing our best to change that to adapt to a new training style.
*I was training 3 times a day for a while but, I was getting tendonitis pretty bad so we backed off for a bit. Now we are doing two a days. We'll see if I resume three times after Pan Ams/Nationals preparing for the World Championships.
*I have applied for a couple of travel and training grants so I can go to an acclimation camp somewhere in Europe before the World Championships.

A couple of more personal updates:
* School is going really well. I got a B in my first class and currently, I am getting an A. I am working hard to maintain As and Bs
*I have a couple of public speaking engagements coming up that I am very excited about
*I am sad that my VCR is broken. HOW am I going to watch Lawrence of Arabia?!
*I have two pairs of Khakis now that actually fit. I'll look like a super Pro when I travel.
*I taught a Crossfit class recently how to snatch and will teach them how to clean and jerk. I like it a lot and it's a good way to work on my public speaking/teaching skills as well as help supplement my income. 
*I found a really cheap store nearby to get all of my meat. I have 30 lbs of new meat in my freezer just waiting to get me stronger.


SaraH

April 2013 and Other Junk

Special Olympics

I always have a great time coaching special needs athletes despite how challenging it can be. During the first
2/3 of the season, the time is spent getting the athletes to learn the commands and actually learning how to perform the exercises. Then in the last little bit, they pretty much know what's going on and can get into lifting some good weights. We had a good sized group of people that showed up for the Tempe Special Olympics Power Lifting Team this year. We had High school kids all the way through full-grown adults. We wish girls would sign up but, they didn't. One of our guys had to have gall bladder surgery and would be done for the season. We were pretty sad about it.
     This year, we split the team up into groups of two per coach. Which is one of the best changes we've made over the years. One of our more experienced athletes, Matt, helped us coach. It takes a while for the athletes and the coaches to warm up to each other and understand each other. My group had two autistic kids. They were completely different with their levels of functionality but were both pretty strong.
     At the State Championships, all of our athletes had personal records and they all got medals. They were all so pumped!

 

Before the state meet happened, one of our athletes earned an an award for his work through the work-study type program that he participates with in the special needs program at his school.

 

The April Challenge of Adding more fruit went well. For the most part, I added fruit to every meal. Being the dessert-fiend I am, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn't desire chocolatey desserts as much. Adding more fruit is such a better way to get in your sugar for the day and get in some vital micro-nutrients.

I went to the Phoenix Women's Sport's Association"Power to Inspire" fundraiser recently and it was an awesome experience.I got to meet a lot of new and important people a well as do some valuable networking. 

Interesting reads & Videos:

There was an interesting video I stumbled upon asking people, "When did you decide you were straight?" 

 

The discussion about what the CEO of Abercomie thinks about "fat people" and the "uncool" kids. I'm pretty sure the message that he doesn't like specific demographics was there to begin with. I don't really understand how anyone would be surprised at that. Here's an article: A&F Hatorade

Eating on a $3.00/day budget. Here's how they did it: 3 buck chuck!

The end for now!

Sarah

learning overload

I'm helping out at my coach Greg Everett and old coach Daniel Camargo's seminar here at Catalyst Athletics this weekend. 22 lifters from all over the country are here with all different backgrounds to learn about Olympic-style Weightlifting. I've seen all different body types of lifters, talent and all kinds of bad habits to fix. Every coach helping (all 7) have different que's or sayings they use to teach the same things. Example: FINISH! FULL EXTENTION! OPEN HIPS! Not one is better than the other it works for some and confuses others. It's all preference.


One thing i've noticed at this seminar with the lifters is something that i catch myself doing a lot: OVERTHINKING. All these people have the amazing opportunity to learn from two of the best coaches in the country (plus all of the awesome helpers) and they want to absorb every word that comes out of our mouths. They want to be able to do exactly what we say and fix everything all at once. What i suggest is remembering this is a lot of informantion to learn in one weekend. It's a lot to try to apply. You're body is not some sort of Apple genius. Take your time. Focus on one or two que's at a time. "chest up, back flat, move hips and bar at the same time, keep bar close, active pull into hips, full extension of hips, push with legs, shrug, high pull, pull under hard, move feet, squat, stand up is just playing too freaking much.

When you can focus your energy on doing just a few que's at a time make sure you're consistent. DO NOT under any circomstance change the que at any point in my workout. If on 35kg warm-up set you said: "i have boogers i better be quick under the bar so noone sees" you better say that on 40/45/50 etc...


like I said earlier I do that same thing i have like 19 things i say to myself before i lift and usually it results in a miss. If i just concentrate on one thing at a time or maybe two... actually three's ok i guess...than I can actually make my body do what i want instead of have a seizure snatch.



Log what you learn. If you're training and something just clicks log it. If you're at a seminar with the famous Greg Everett and fabulous Danny Camargo log what they say for review. If you come in for a one on one with me.. log what we work on. Log what people say, Log what you think, Log your freaking faces off.


thats all folks.

fearlessly, J

Wake me up/PR's are assholes

Rankings

The rankings came out and I'm happy,relieved, crushed and disappointed all at once. I know I'm lucky I have an amazing coach and an amazing team. I know I'm talented and I know I have potential. 

So, what's my problem? Why is there a block that stands in front of me and the next level? What is it that as soon as I can reach happiness I figure out a way to slap it away? What is it that makes me not accept success. I deserve good things to happen to me don't I? I work hard. I do my best to treat people well. I want this dream so desperately it's hard to breathe. So, what's wrong with me?

Every day isn't going to be a day I can PR, but i shouldn't ever miss weights I miss sometimes. I can never win. I think too much. I don't think about the right things. I'm not tough enough. I'm not confident enough. I give everything. I don't give enough. I do everything. I dont do enough. I'm trying but not hard enough. I need to be alone. I need the support. My goals are too high, be realistic. shoot for the moon. What am I missing? I try to relax in the gym and have fun but then I'm not focused enough or taking things seriously. I over-do it to under-do it. 

It's a vicious circle. Weightliftings hard. Somebody wake me up.

Fearlessly terrified,
J

Margin for Error

     One of the things I love most about weightlifting is the pressure of doing the right things at the right time for the right results.

     The success of the athlete in weightlifting is largely due to good coaching. If you do not know too much about weightlifting, it has been said that the "real competition happens in the back." This means that what you see on the competition platform isn't necessarily all there is to the competition. All the "competition" is happening behind the competition platform in the warm up area. The athlete of course has to lift the weight and be prepared for it but, the coach is in the warm up area performing vital, game-changing functions.

     The coach has to load the weight for the athlete, make sure the athlete is in the right frame of mind, at the same time as being the supreme strategist. My coach and I always have plans: A, B, and C. Plan A is the ideal situation, everything is going the way we want and need it to. Plan B is about making quick adjustments based on other athletes performances or your own missed lifts. Plan C is the "uh-oh" plan. This is the last ditch effort to just make a total and get out of there. Coaches need to be able to tell what their athlete needs to take as a warm up attempt and when. This needs to be perfectly timed so they are primed to make their opening attempt when the weight is loaded on the bar. The coach needs to know what kind of "jumps" are necessary to keep you ahead of another athlete. [Jumps are weight increases.] A coach needs to know how to "play with the clock" in a way to buy the athlete more time for rest or to push another athlete to go ahead. A good coach can see ahead and generally get an idea of what is going to happen so they can make wiser choices for their own athlete. In weightlifting, the coach/athlete relationship is unique and special. The athlete must trust that their coach is going to make the best choices possible to put them into a good position in the competition. The athlete trusts that their coach will not place an unmanageable amount of weight on the bar.

     In one competition I was in, I had out lifted the other top two competitors in the Snatch portion of the competition. For the other girls to beat me, they would have to clean and jerk enough to even tie with me or more to beat me. The coaching mistake made by the 3rd place girl's coach was this: When there is a tie in total, the higher rank goes to the athlete with the lighter body weight. There was no way the 3rd place girl was going to make up the difference in order to win so what should have been done was to settle for 2nd place by tying in total with the other athlete to beat her on body weight. Her coach got over zealous and made her lift a weight that was unmanageable at the time and she missed it. She then took 3rd place but, could have easily placed 2nd. 

    As you can see in that scenario, and all that the coach's job entails, the room for error is very small. Once a decision is made: it most likely cannot be reversed. You have to commit to that choice. As an athlete, that same pressure is on you.

     The days, weeks, months, and training cycles of training preceding the competition are all displayed on the competition platform. The athlete must be flexible mentally, can train/compete in any circumstance, know how to execute the lift properly, eat and supplement correctly, recover enough, etc. Especially for a clean athlete, the margin for error for the athlete is very small. 

     On the competition platform, there are only 6 lifts for each lift able to be executed. There is not re-do, time-out, or make up attempts. 6 total lifts. That's it. The athlete and coach must work together flawlessly. The coach sets the athlete up; the athlete executes. The Snatch is a very technical lift. It can be performed less than 1 second's time. If you make a slight mistake at the initiation of the lift, the lift cannot be corrected. The athlete will miss the lift and there is nothing to do about it. There is simply not enough time. The athlete needs to focus every day on making as many quality repetitions in training as possible to the lift can be executed for the best results. If the athlete does their job, the coach can do theirs and vice versa. Whether or not an athlete makes the lift, that lift is now over, and the next lift needs to be done. From attempt to attempt, the athlete needs to know what correction needs to be made and can orchestrate their body into accomplishing the task. The coach needs to know how to manipulate the attempts and how to deal with their athlete in order to accomplish the task as well.

      I enjoy the challenge of competing against myself and subsequently, the other athletes. Competition really is a test of who is the better athlete/coach combination. International competition is even more exciting taking into consideration the travel, adapting to a new kind of pressure, acclimation and recovery after a time-zone change, and  training and competing in a completely different and typically unpredictable environment. These factors are why my coach and I consider results at international competitions greater than any other results. National results matter little and training results even less than that. The margin for error is very small in weightlifting. Being able to react appropriately in the right way, at the right time, for the right results, makes weightlifting very exciting.

Sarah

The goings on with Sarah

That doesn't make much sense does it? Well, it's a Family Guy reference...so there.

Anywho, just thought I'd let you know what's going on with me lately.

I recently accepted the invitation to be on the Pan American Championship Team. I will be contending to be the strongest woman in the western hemisphere come June. I will be using this meet primarily as a tune up for the National Championships shortly after. The main priority is to qualify and do well at the World Championships. As an elite athlete, you have to pick your battles.

Brute Force Sandbags has sent me some sand bags and I am excited to implement them into my accessory work. All I need to do is buy sand. Seems kind of silly when you live in the desert...

I have agreed to start blogging for the plus size clothing company Junonia. Here's an interview I did with them a while ago. Junonia Interview  Once a month, you'll be able to read a little bit more from me. You just can't get enough, can you?

Training is going pretty decent. I feel like taking the time to get back to the basics is a good thing for me. I am addressing some little things that the athlete generally forgets. Next week, we will start kicking things into gear preparing for the Pan Am Championships.

I am taking an online class. It is challenging but I know it will be worth it in the end.

I have two public speaking opportunities that should be lined up in May and September. I hope both go well and I inspire some kiddos. 

I should be having an interview coming up soon which I am excited about. Staying relevant and getting my name out there is kind of difficult after the Olympics are over.

That's pretty much it. Any other updates will be tweeted, I'm sure.

Stay Strong,

Sarah