This weekend I competed at North Nevada’s Strongest Man in Reno, NV. After USS Nationals and qualifying for Pro Women’s Worlds, I abruptly switched my competition plans for the year. I switched plans and decided to compete at The Olympia at Master's Nationals, but in order to compete, I would have to qualify.
So off to Reno I went. In order to qualify for masters, I just needed to complete the competition since I was competing in the open class. Of course, my competitive side took over, always expecting more for myself. So then my plan became to win, securing each event win without going overboard and not impacting the final few weeks of training for Master’s Nationals. The bonus of this competition is I had Mattie there to take video, which never happens, and a couple local competitors who were sweet enough to send me videos/pictures as well.
Circus Dumbbell Clean & Press, 90 Pounds
I have never done a Circus DB in competition and have never devoted much effort into training it. The few times I have trained it previously, 90 pounds was not an issue. Clearly, now it is. This is the second press event I have bombed this summer. I have been detailing some of the shoulder/arm issues impacting my performance in my log. This winter I will spend a large amount of time dialing in my press. If I can’t get it under control, there’s no point competing just to zero on the event.
I missed lock out a few times. Overall, I need to really nail down this technique because this event will pop up again. Fortunately, none of the HWW got the DB, so there was no catch up needed on points.
Giant Axle Tire Squat, 300 Pounds
My plan for the day was to do just enough to win each event so I can preserve my training cycle and plans for Master's Nationals. The problem with zeroing on the DB was I had to go all out on this event. The starting point was 42” and I’m a fairly tall girl. Getting deep under the axle and getting it set lower on my back with a fairly narrow stance was difficult and seemed to be the biggest challenge.
There were only three competitors in my class and I went second on this event. The number to beat was 6ish and I had to make an estimate of where to stop. Going all out wasn’t on my to-do list for the day and up commands are difficult to nail down timing. When I got to 11 reps, you will see in the video I asked Matt if that was good enough. Well, you can hear his response, and see my reaction and slow attempt to get back under the bar. In the end, 11 was more than enough to secure the event win and put me in a position to go last on the next event.
Carry/Tire Flip Medley
This event originally was run 150-pound sandbag 50 feet, run 180-pound keg 50 feet and then 500ish-pound tire flip for 50 feet. The weights were lowered but I am unsure what they were. Since I was last, I knew my only job was to complete the medley within 60 seconds. Watching the video is painful, it was slow and had I trained the event with effort, I could have easily trimmed off 25+ seconds.
The tire had to completely cross the line for the clock to stop. During my flip, I did not “push” the tire over forcefully which over the distance of the flip should have shaved off at least one flip. I didn’t and made it much harder for myself. This event was an outstanding reminder that my conditioning is terrible and I need to focus on this area for Master's Nationals.
Max Distance Farmers Carry, 180 Pounds
The number to beat on this event was 90 feet but I had bigger goals for myself on this event. In the end, called it good at 200 feet. I was moving super slow on the carry and just wasn’t up to par where I felt like I should have been moving to go for my 300-foot goal.
Atlas Stone Load Over Bar, 200 Pounds
The number to beat on this event was one. At this point the tacky was literally dripping off my arms from the heat. The loaders had the stone in position and ready for me — they knew the best position to load the stone. Like a jerk, I asked them to move the stone for me. I attempted it once and then you see I reset it back to the position they had it in, to begin with. I took my time on the loads, making sure to get the two loads over for the event win.
My sincere apologies for the loaders on this event. It is brutal when a several hundred point stone is launched over the bar at you to stop and roll back. My intent with pushing the stone over using my stomach was to minimize tacky contact on the stone due to melting conditions.
Rookie Mistakes
Let’s just say my packing and planning skills have become terrible. When I was packing, I had an internal dialogue with myself concerning which belt to pack. In the end, I grabbed a belt that wasn’t even one of mine and it didn’t fit. Not even close. I also forgot to get wrap for my arms for stones. I had tape, got my arms taped up, and sure enough, the arm sweat peeled that tape right off while waiting. Local competitors, Jessica and Vantz, thankfully and generously shared a belt and wrap for my arms. They saved me from total disaster.
Competition Thoughts
This is the fifth year Gary Montoya has promoted Northern Nevada’s Strongest Man, the first year I was able to make the trip. Gary and his people ran an exceptionally smooth, quick, and fun competition. Going to local shows is always so much fun and a reminder of why I started competing to begin with. I got to catch up with some friends I haven’t seen in a long time and meet some new ones. We even got to hook up with THE Chad Aichs for dinner and he came out to the competition for a few hours. Chad likes to push people to the very limit of their abilities by yelling and teasing the whole way. So that was a good time and I am pretty sure I let him down with my conservative approach to competing that day.
In the end, my plan worked like a charm, I am ready to get back to training tonight. Master's Nationals is five weeks away. I need to make these final four weeks training really count.
Gary Montoya sharing some history of NNSM and Travis Ortmayer was in attendance, coaching one of the HWW.
