I thought I was going to cry after dead-lifting 275 pounds at the Tactical Strength Challenge today. I had to limit talking to people for almost 10 minutes until I regained my composure. I never imagined that I would get so emotional about picking up a barbell! I did not get weepy when I successfully pulled 245 and then 255 in practice 10 days ago!

After hearing the judge’s instructions about the technical requirements required for a lift to be counted, I was glad that I decided to make my first of three attempts at 245 just in case I was doing something wrong and would have to adjust to get credit. I was surprised at how heavy 245 felt in Marietta compared to how 245 felt at CrossFit North Fulton a week and a half earlier. When I mentioned it to one of the locals he said, “Welcome to Cobb County.” I went with 255 for the second attempt. It felt heavier still, but I got it. When asked what I would attempt for my third effort, I said 265 at first and then in a flush of excitement said, “No. Let’s go for it. Make it 275.” I was confident I could pull 265, but 275 was risky.

I could feel the crowd with me as I struggled to get the weight off the floor and then up to my shins. Their cheers as the weight got above my knees made me feel like I was flying. Another participant told me later how enjoyable it was to see my face change from doubt to excitement as my upward grind gained momentum.

The next event was pull-ups. I got three in practice on 3 occasions, so I was hoping to get four in competition. I got my chin over the bar with the fourth one, but could not get my throat or chest to the bar so only three counted. I am not sure I had ever gotten so high over the bar before, so these three were definitely better than any three I had achieved before.

I performed a strict version of dead hang pull-ups where I jumped to the bar and then settled into a hang before pulling up. I paused in my hang before each rep and did not use the “elastic bounce” that can make the pulling phase easier. No participant was kipping in classic CrossFit fashion while doing pull-ups, but I thought the judge tolerated too much bouncing off the bottom. I am happy with my approach and performance and plan to continue my pause at the bottom in the future. Here is a video of someone using the ideal form I am trying to emulate. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1U39ifztg8

The next event was snatches. I moved up from the 16 kg to the 20 kg bell 2 months ago in anticipation of this competition. I started snatching 50 reps per day in practice, but dropped back to 40 because I was worried about a pinched feeling I was getting in my left shoulder and wanted to make sure I did not provoke an injury. I did 60 reps in 5 or 6 minutes on several occasions, so was hoping to get at least 60 reps in competition. I think I got to 50 in 2 minutes, but then I was whooped. I put the bell down, walked around a bit, got a swallow of water, and then got back to it. I almost dropped the bell changing hands at one point, so I started setting the bell down on the floor to change hands. It felt unreal as I heard the judge counting out 61, 62, 63, 64… 71, 72, 73, 74… I sat the bell down to change hands after I got to 80. I thought I had time to do five with my left and five with my right. I got 81 and 82, and then sat the bell down again. I was out of gas. In fact, I was so out of gas that I almost vomited in the bathroom a few minutes later as I may have experienced a bit of exercised-induced asthma. My only symptom was prolonged coughing; no wheezing, tightening of the chest, or fatigue, but it was kind of amazing and I lost my voice for a while.

I signed up for the Tactical Strength Challenge to participate and meet other kettlebell enthusiasts. I think I discovered during the event that I am a competitor after all. And more importantly, I realized that I am closer to being able to complete StrongFirst Girya certification than I thought I was. I can do five strict chin-ups now. I have to achieve only 18 more good reps to reach 100 reps in 5 minutes. Holy crap. I may be able to achieve the goal of becoming a serious Girya in 2015.

Thank you StrongFirst for calling me to the Tactical Strength Challenge!