End of the 2012 Regionals

The 2012 Reebok NorCal regionals are over. I had a lot of fun this weekend competing on my team, but just like last year I scoped out the female individuals and am mind blown on how these girls ranked better than me in the open. 

I just did Diane a little over a week ago, and my time was 2:32. That would have landed me a 4th place finish in the NorCal individual girls event. I know the conditions were different but giving myself an extra 30 seconds for a 3:02 finish would have only costed me 1 spot... 5th place. 

The second work out would have been another good one for me, I would have rowed over 8 minutes, which was what almost every competitor did, and probably be able to move through the pistols pretty efficiently to set myself up for a good finish in the hang cleans which I thought to myself that I would do in 5 sets of 6. I obviously know that things change and the way I think may be drastically different than the way I feel, but I did a version of this work out on the team and felt great, I know I could have handled the extra reps just fine. This work out requires skills and strength and I have both. There would not have been a time that I needed to tap into another mental state to dig deeper and finish the reps. This work out is composed of things I am comfortable with. 

The 3rd event would have been another great one for me. My time with my partner was 5:35 and in my mind I think I could have done at least another set in the time that my partner did 3 total sets, so by this thought, my time would be just around 5:30... good enough for 4th place. 

Event 4, I have no idea how I would do. It is high volume and nothing super skilled that would give me an advantage, I would guess that this would be the work out where I would have accumulated some points. I definitely would have still been able to hang, but something like a top 5 finish is not realistic given the athletes in NorCal, top 14 is where my thoughts were.

Day 3... event 5 (snatch ladder) I did the snatch ladder with the team up to 155#, I made every lift in 1 attempt and felt fine, double unders (in sets of 20) are usually not a problem, so say I would get 155# in the individual ladder... that would place me in 2nd or 3rd depending on the double unders I would accumulate at the 160# platform. 

Event 6 would be another one that I maybe wouldn't be in the top 5 but I think I could hold my own, and do fine. 

There is my breakdown of what could have been and why the open did a really poor job of evaluating my standings in the NorCal region. Given the work outs of the 2012 regionals, I know I could hang with the top athletes, so it is frustrating to know that I didn't earn a spot to prove that. Next year will be a whole different event... different athletes and different work outs. I plan to train hard and hope that luck is on my side when the work outs are decided upon, because no matter how hard you train for the open/regionals/games the work outs themselves have a big impact on how you and other competitors will do. Must train weaknesses so that I am ready for anything that shows up, but I also must sharpen my strengths because it is important to dominant when given the opportunity (work out). 

I am taking a few days off and will begin the journey to 2013 later in the week.