Both Frank and I are working with another couple in another club to run the Toronto Super Show meet in June at the Toronto Convention Centre. As of today, there are only 3 spots of 50 left for a June meet. We’ve run it for a few years and it’s gotten better and better. We cap the meet at 50 three lift plus 25(ish) bench only run over two days. We have to cap the numbers because it is part of a show (Body building, strong man, Olympic lifting, etc) and the show has specific start and finish times. We’ve gotten several sponsors with prizes like Titan and I’m pleased with the progress. It certainly helps with organization if you know who is lifting a few months out.
A bunch of singles unequipped working on speed. It went 225, 245, 255, 265, 275, 285
Front squat
95-5
105-5
125-5
135-5
140-5
145-3
Bench (By this point I was feeling kind of beat up)
bar-10
95-5
105-5
110-4
115-4
120-2
125-1
130-1 PR Although I once benched 132.5, it was at 135bw. This morning I was 122.5. Bench has always been my weak lift but lately I’ve been consistently hitting 125 with no difficulty. The bench at the Y is closer to competition width where my bench is narrower.
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
I’m seeing bugs. Not real bugs but it feels like it. The other day after skating I saw a string of bright lights in the corner of my right eye and shortly after got the biggest freaking eye floater ever. It’s like fruit flies or dust bunnies skimming across my vision. I’ve had floaters before but not like this. It isn’t bad indoors but in the sunlight, I’ve been driving with my right eye shut because the floater is so distracting. I went to the eye doctor and she said it would disappear in time and there was no damage to my eye but it was likely created or knocked loose when I hit my face a few weeks ago.
[/quote]
The event you experienced is called a ‘posterior vitreous detachment.’ The flashing lights (the $2 term for them is ‘photopsia’) were due to the vitreous gel (the thick substance that fills the posterior segment of the eye) tugging on your retina when your eye moved in a certain direction. This tugging continued until it (the vitreous) finally pulled itself free of the posterior retina (it remains attached anteriorly). The big floater (aka a ‘Weiss ring’) is the fibrous portion of the vitreous that (prior to detaching) was attached at the edge of the optic nerve; it is now freely floating within a liquefied portion of the vitreous gel.
Here is a pic of a Weiss ring floating just above the optic nerve from which it recently detached:
[quote]ouroboro_s wrote:
I’m seeing bugs. Not real bugs but it feels like it. The other day after skating I saw a string of bright lights in the corner of my right eye and shortly after got the biggest freaking eye floater ever. It’s like fruit flies or dust bunnies skimming across my vision. I’ve had floaters before but not like this. It isn’t bad indoors but in the sunlight, I’ve been driving with my right eye shut because the floater is so distracting. I went to the eye doctor and she said it would disappear in time and there was no damage to my eye but it was likely created or knocked loose when I hit my face a few weeks ago.
[/quote]
The event you experienced is called a ‘posterior vitreous detachment.’ The flashing lights (the $2 term for them is ‘photopsia’) were due to the vitreous gel (the thick substance that fills the posterior segment of the eye) tugging on your retina when your eye moved in a certain direction. This tugging continued until it (the vitreous) finally pulled itself free of the posterior retina (it remains attached anteriorly). The big floater (aka a ‘Weiss ring’) is the fibrous portion of the vitreous that (prior to detaching) was attached at the edge of the optic nerve; it is now freely floating within a liquefied portion of the vitreous gel.
Here is a pic of a Weiss ring floating just above the optic nerve from which it recently detached:
Thank you for the explanation. That was kind of what my optometrist explained. She said they never disappear but will, hopefully float out of my field of vision and/or my brain will stop seeing it and filter it out.
So far, I still see the floater. It is most apparent outside when it is brighter and intrusive to the degree that I will sometimes cover my right eye when driving. It gives me a vague nauseous feeling.
I lift at nationals in just over 4 weeks but I’m so caught up in all the administrative stuff that training is an afterthought. Having said that, things are going well.
Bench
bar-10
95-5
115-2
135-3 add shirt
155-1 signals
165-1 signals
170-1 signals. I think this is the first time I hit this weight since I lost weight.
Squat
bar-10
135-5
185-3
205-3
215-4x3 add belt
Powercleans - I haven’t done these in ages and felt like something different.
95-3x3 cleaned and front squatted for three reps for each clean.
I was up till three this morning working on the program for nationals, writing my presidents report for the agm and beginning work on a presentation to expand our high school program. I was up again at 9 to continue on with it. Too much time with my ass in a chair doesn’t work well with training. I had an average day despite it.
Deadlift
135-2x5
225-3
245-3
265-3
275-3
275-2
I didn’t put my suit on this week and I’m not pulling in a suit until the meet,. In fact I likely won’t pull much heavier than 225 for the next couple of weeks. My left shoulder is tweaking again.
Bench
bar-10
95-5
100-5
105-5
110-5
115-3
Front squat
bar-5
95-5
105-5
115-5
125-5
135-3
I made a delicious beef and mushroom curry for dinner with a ton of coconut cream in it, garlic and onions. It’;s a good thing it’ll just be me, alone at my desk while Frank works.
I really have so little desire to lift equipped right now that I’m looking past nationals. You have to be in the right mind set for it and I’m not there right now. That’s part of why it’s being kept to a minimum but also it’s to test my theory that in the past I ground myself down over training heavy that by the time I hit a meet, I wasn’t at my peak.
Squat
bar-10
135-5
185-3 I had to double check that this was loaded properly. It felt unreasonably heavy for such a light weight. Squatting was fine but unracking it felt much heavier.
225-2 add suit bottoms
255-1 add belt
275-1 add straps/wraps
295-1
I left it there.
The reason things were a bit soft on Monday is that I’ve come down with whatever it is that everyone else seems to have; some variation of a cold.
Today we were supposed to be in St. Catharines. A local cable company was meant to do an interview of me and a team mate and our training as a promotion for nationals. However, we got hit by another freaking blizzard. Just as well, today was bench day which would be underwhelming on a good day. We’ve rescheduled for Friday, deadlift day which makes me much happier. I just hope I’m feeling a bit stronger.
squat
bar-10
135-5
185-2
195-2
205-2
215-2
225-2 add belt
Good mornings
135-3x8
bar roll outs 3x10
Right now it feels like my upper back has been whaled on with something. At the end of squats, it tightened right up. It’s not injured, I think its just from the cold but it still feels crappy.
I had the day off work and we went to St. Catharine’s for the cable interview but the interviewer was sick. Training was decent considering I’m still feeling like poo.
Deadlift
135-2x5
225-2x3
255-1 add belt
285-1
295-1
305-1
squat
135-5
185-3
By this time there were so many of us squatting, that I decided to move to another rack since it was just an accessory for me.
Front squat
95-5
105-5
115-5
125-5
135-5
140-5
145-3
Bench
95-5
100-5
105-5
110-5
115-5
paused squats
135-a bunch of sets of 5
by this time we were just sort of hanging out and socializing and I ended up doing the paused squats and various sets of pullups because the bar was there. I finally just emptied the bar because I was treating it like a bowl of chips in front of me and going back and back and back.
Yesterday the interview and profile of our club was aired on the local cable station. They did a good job. They cut out a lot of my stuff including my dance routine to “I am woman, hear me roar” which was quite disappointing as I worked very hard on that .ha. Actually something like that would have been awesome. My team mate does an excellent job of getting across what it means to be part of the Canadian powerlifting family.
Today was the national championships for my weight class. The entire week has been crazy busy. It started on Sunday with an 8 hour agm that was exhausting but very productive. Yesterday we were at the meet all day and I worked the head table.
This morning I woke up nauseated, head achey, feverish and light headed. Weigh in was at 1pm and although I started to feel marginally better, I made the decision to lift unequipped because competing in gear takes a lot more focus than I had and I thought I would end up injuring myself. I went with our allowable unequipped gear of belt, knee sleeves and wrist wraps.
I was a good choice because I ended up having a very solid meet. The only downside is that although I competed unequipped, it won’t count as an unequipped total because it was in the equipped championships.
I weighed in at 55.1kg and didn’t eat much afterwards because my stomach was still dodgy. Warmups weren’t bad but I kept them brief.
Squat
97.5 good
105 good but super folded over
110 couldn’t grind it out. It’s a good thing my spotter is a team mate because we end up super close
Bench
50 good
52.5 good
55 good - This is a highlight for me because it’s my first unequipped bw competition bench
Deadlift
130-good
135- good
140 - didn’t leave the floor
Total -295 (class one - which was a fun goal for me)
Wilks - 351.5
.ha. Actually something like that would have been awesome. My team mate does an excellent job of getting across what it means to be part of the Canadian powerlifting family.
