So...all I could think about was:
- I need to snatch.
- I want to train with Matt Ladewski.
- I'm expected to DEADLIFT.
So I woke up with full deadlift attitude going on. I'm really a completely different person on deadlift day and the bigger the importance of the deadlift, the more crazy I feel inside. They said be at the gym to deadlift at 9 AM...so I was standing in front of a locked door at 8:55 AM REALLY FREAKING READY!
After standing outside in the freezing Ohio weather of what must have been as low as mid 70s, I decided to go inside and see what was going on. What I saw when I got there was a total shock. Everyone was sitting around inside lolly gagging around, talking, with a total relaxed attitude!
The next hour and a half were some of the most nerve racking minutes I've ever experienced. I'm already completely on edge and ready to deadlift and they just sat and talked for FREAKING ever!
To work off my nerves I grabbed my camera and just started walking around the office because I was still beyond being able to actually have a conversation with people at this point.
I stumbled into the only office where people were at least LOOKING like they were getting stuff done. Sheena Leedham was "hard at work". I never did figure out who actually sat at the middle desk with the Mountain Dew next to it. MIGHT have been Mark Watts but I can't say that I ever actually saw him do any actual work while I was there...he mostly wandered around into other people's offices and talked about his ideas for the next Learn To Train Seminar. That and lunch.
It took forever but I FINALLY talked Matt into stumbling out into The Compound to do some training.
My deadlift is clearly Missing In Action and I'm blaming it on both my meds and a major timing issue contributed to my clearly technically textbook perfect snatch that I've mastered. I pulled a horrible 725 and was VERY unhappy while Matt changed clothes more than a model on Saturday night in Paris.
Just after my horrible 725 pull, Steve Colescott came over to me and started talking about something and my mind was still going in about 20 different directions all converging into one intersection...so I have no idea what he was actually saying yet I just nodded away. Then it just hit me and the frustration had to come out. I threw a little fit, the guys both looked at me a little strange, and then the next thing you know I'm walking from warehouse to warehouse, office to office, in nothing but Chucks, METAL KING PRO Deadlift Suit, and a belt looking for Steve because I know that I needed to apologize for something.
Back to The Compound for some training...mostly just to try a few of the crazy machines out in the place. Matt got me on this Back Attack Good Morning machine where we went up to about two plates and some bands. By this time Dave walks out and lets me know that Chuck Vogephol used five plates and two bands and was hitting it so hard that the machine was jumping off the floor. REALITY!
Played with Dave's Leg Press before I finished...like a kid in a candy store.
Went and picked up my wife, ate some down home cooking at Wendy's, and headed back to elitefts™ for some afternoon training. My wife kicked much tail, again, and I wasn't too screwed up YET to snatch fairly decent.
Then...GUESS WHO WALKED IN!!!!
Freaking Jason Pegg drove 40 minutes each way just to stop and shake my hand and talk for about ten minutes! I can't say enough about this guy!
Then Dave picked us up from the hotel to take us out to eat and, very reluctantly, we got into Dave's car and he drove (very slowly). I have to say that I felt right at home talking to Dave as he is one of the most normal, down to earth people I've ever met. We had issues sitting side by side and actually ever making eye contact and we both kept sitting on one hip, then the other, but it was a two hour meal that I shall never forget.
Dave did like to talk training, but not telling stories. His only concern was ME and how to make ME better both on the platform and off. Our conversations at dinner would set us up for some amazing conversations the next morning.
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