Kat's Training Diary

Just got home from my first weightlifting competition. It was a blast!!!

A last minute decision, Chad and I decided to drive up to Calgary on Friday night so we wouldn't feel rushed (by that I mean 'I' because I hate to be late/on time and Chad is known for it). Got some shopping in and had a nice slow paced morning before weigh ins.

9:30am - Weigh in. They call your name and they give you your athlete card. On the card you give the official your first lifts for both snatch and clean & jerk. After you write and sign the weights on the card you go into the room to be weighed. Weighed in at 52.3kg... great for the 53kg category!

Then we went for a bite to eat.. good old fashioned eggs and toast before heading back to SAIT for the meet.

Start to warm up, then at 11:30am all the athletes have to line up and present to to the crowd. The meet director walks all the competitors out in a line in front of the audience and they call your name and you have to "wave or do a jumping jack or something" as told to me by one of the other female competitors. Then the athletes return to the warm up area and are given 10 min before the 1st lift. Order of competitors is determined by the loads. The loads always go up, so you may do all your 3 attempts before the next competitor or not, just depends on the lifters competing.

11:30am - Competition starts... there were only 4 females competing today (the other 3 ladies were in the 75kg category). Snatch went exactly according to plan... 52kg, 55kg, 56kg! PR at the 56kg! I really felt a difference in using the competition style bar and plates as the weights went over head easier than normal.

Aug 21, 2010 - 56kg Snatch from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

After all the ladies were done their lifts then the lightweight men went. After that was finally complete, then there was a 10 min break before moving into the Clean & Jerk. As I was warming up, DJ Wickham (OPT/Big Dawg) came in ready to hang out and begin warm up, as well as the Canadian National Champion in the 105kg category Cory Coehoorn. Once it was my turn to go up, Chad went to the front so he could catch my lifts on tape and Cory helped me out and gave me some cues as I walked up. Hit my first lift at 65kg easy! The plan was to move to 68kg from there. Haha that is when I got a little bit of a laugh... Cory said that I should go to 69kg as the 65kg looked really easy. His coach Henrik (who is Armanian) said in his thick accent "No No she say 68kg do 68kg. 69kg too much. She need every kilo she can get". It was pretty funny!

I went on to hit the 68kg and tried 70kg for my 3rd lift and just couldn't stand the weight up from the squat.

Aug 21, 2010 - 68kg Clean & Jerk from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

I'm pretty pleased with my first meet... 124kg Total. A total of 129kg would qualify me to the National level. So my goal is to increase my lifts by 5kg for the Provincial Championships on November 21st. Definately do-able!

As I am gearing up for my very first weightlifting competition this Saturday, it is only fitting to post a video of the best lifters in my weight class from the Youth Olympic Games.
These are the first ever held youth Olympics and are for elite athletes who are too young to compete at the big time Olympics. These girls are pretty amazing. Lifting a 85kg Snatch and 107kg Clean & Jerk for someone my size seems unbelievable (let alone someone 14-16 years of age)!! I'm hoping to hit 55kg in the Snatch and 70kg in the Clean & Jerk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=avzJm2juOTQ

Unfortunately I am unable to embed the video on this site due to Copyright from the IOC. But if you click the link you can watch it!

Today was another re-creation of competition day. Had a blast... cranked the tunes and let the weights fly!!

Snatch
Attempt 1 = 117# (success)
Attempt 2 = 122# (miss)
Attempt 3 = 122# (success)

Aug 13, 2010 - Snatch 120# from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.


Clean & Jerk
Attempt 1 = 142# (success)
Attempt 2 = 152# (success) PR!!!!!!!!
Didn't take a 3rd attempt on the C&J. I'm more than happy with the 152# lift and didn't want to over do it. If we had 1.25# plates I would have tried that, but going for a 10# PR was a little much.

Aug 13, 2010 - Clean & Jerk 150# from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

August 10, 2010
A.) Power Snatch 92% x1 x2; Rest 2 min - 95#
B.) Power Clean & Push Jerk 92% x1 x2; Rest 2 min - 135#
C.) Snatch Balance 1RM - 155# (PR)

Aug 10, 2010 - Snatch Balance 155# from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

August 11, 2010
A.) Build up to a heavy single of press - 90#
B.) Clean & Jerk 80% x1 x5; Rest 2 min - 125#
C.) Clean Pull 109% x1 x2; Rest 2 min - 165#
D.) Clean Grip deadlift 115% x1 x2; Rest 2 min - 175#
E.) 1 & 1/4 Back Squat 75% x3 x3; rest 2 min - 125#

Today I got to simulate a competition environment. Warm up. 3 attempts at each lift with standard rest time between lifts (2 min).
Snatch = 117# (53kg), Miss (55kg), Miss (55kg)

Aug 7, 2010 - Snatch Attempt 1: 115# from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

Aug 7, 2010 - Clean & Jerk Attempt 3: 150# from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

A.) Work up to a Heavy Single Rack Jerk - 145#

Split Jerk 1RM 145# - Aug 5, 2010 from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

August 5, 2010 - 2 position Snatch 60% - 75# from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

August 5, 2010 - 2 position Clean, Push Jerk, Split Jerk 60% - 95# from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

A.) Snatch 75% x1 x3; Rest 2 min - 95#
B.) Clean & Jerk 80% x1 x5; Rest 2 min - 125#
C.) Clean Pull 107% x1 x2; Rest 3 min - 155#
D.) Clean Grip Deadlift 112% x1 x2; Rest 3 min - 165#
E.) 1 & 1/4 High Bar Back Squat 80% x2 x3; Rest 3 min - 135#

The snatch felt WAY better today! Within one warmup turn I realized what was throwing me off... I was starting to low and looking across the room on start position, versus picking a spot on the ground a couple feet away. So glad I figured that out right away. The 95# felt great today, no struggle just some nice and easy snatches. PUMPED!

A.) Power Snatch 91% x1 x2; Rest 2 min - 85#
B.) Power Clean & Push Jerk 91% x1 x2; Rest 2 min - 135#
C.) Build to A Heavy Single of Snatch Balance - 150#

Man... began the training session a bit frustrated because my snatch feels HORRIBLE! Not sure what it is, but the past couple of days it just doesn't seem right. An 85# power snatch should be a cake walk but today it felt awkward and heavy.

Cleans (and anything pressing overhead) has felt pretty quick and "easy" the past week. 135# went overhead nicely.

Definitely pretty stoked about the snatch balance though! Huge PR for me on that one. I'm pretty sure my last 1RM was 135# or something around there.

19 more days until my first official Olympic lifting meet...

A.) Snatch 80% x1 x3; Rest 2 min - 100#

Aug 2, 2010 - Snatch 80% 100# from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

Aug 2, 2010 - Snatch 80% 120# Side View from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

B.) Clean & Jerk 75%  x1 x4; Rest 2 min - 125#

Aug 2, 2010 - C&J 75% 125# from Katrina Burton on Vimeo.

C.) Snatch Pull 105% x1 x2; Rest 2 min - 125#
D.) Snatch Grip Deadlift 115% x1 x1; Rest 2 min - 140#
E.) Front Squat 90% x2 x3; Rest 3 min - 140#

Other than training Chad and I have just been enjoying the summer and all the great movies that go along with it. The other night I rented 'Surrogate'... what an amazing movie. I never heard of it, I just happened to go into the movie store since I was in the neighborhood (getting ice cream from Marble Slab... Swiss Chocolate with Skor Pieces) and the movie was in the top 10 rental list so I figured it should be good. Watched that with a huge summer lunch platter... pepperseed salami, garlic salami, dill havarti, green pepper, blueberries, cucumber and for dessert peanut M&Ms!