London and South East under 18s and under 23s Weightlifting Championships

I have just got back from the London and South East under 18s and under 23s Weightlifting Championships. I weighed in at 61.5kg (I lost 3kg in two and a half days!) so was in the under 63kg group, on my own! There were only 4 girls in the whole comp, and one was a guest so wasn't even competing!
I lifted:
 Snatch: 47X, 47, 50
 Clean and Jerk: 60, 63, 65X
 Total: 113
I was very pleased, as this is a new competition PB, and I won!! (By default, sadly, because I was the only one in my group!) And I got a shiny gold medal to add to the collection. All in all a really good day.

Congratulations also to Emily Godley for getting a new C&J PB of 97 (I think!?)

Have a look at my YouTube channel for my clean and jerk videos for this comp (my parents forgot to film the snatch!): http://www.youtube.com/user/zoraphina

New P.B.! At last...

So... having got back into training, after my exams, I got a new personal best: 65kg clean and jerk. I can now say I can C&J my own bodyweight. I am pleased, but I will only know I've made it when I can snatch my own bodyweight!

Since then training hasn't been great, but I now have a job next door to my gym so I have no excuse not to go!!

I have the London and South East under 18s and under 23s championships on 7th August. It will be almost exactly a year since my first ever comp, which was the same one at Crystal Palace, in which I lifted 35kg and 50kg. It is strange to think my total has gone up 30kg since then. And worrying because I know that will never happen again in one year!

I will let you know how it goes...

London and South East Spring Open

Me and my coach, John, left Lewes at 7am. I felt VERY ill (from not eating or drinking) so I slept the whole way. We met Holly and her dad there. I weighed in at 61.6kg, So I could have had breakfast after all!
The competition didn't go brilliantly. I felt good, but I lifted 1kg less than my total at the British Juniors and I DON'T like going down!! However, I worked out this was a better sinclair percentage (which also takes into account bodyweight: total(kg) / BW(kg) x 100) because I weighed a fair bit less.
Holly wasn't too pleased either. We were both expecting to do better. They also gave prizes according to sinclair instead of BW category because there weren't that many women, so neither of us received a prize :(
However, it was good fun, as I feel comfortable competing at Crystal Palace now, and although Zoe Smith and Emily Godley weren't competing they were there loading the bar for us and being supportive :)
You can see me and Holly's videos from the comp at http://www.youtube.com/user/zoraphina

Things started to look up yesterday, when I went to the gym with my old coach Rob and managed to lift a total of 112kg again! For the first time since April! It felt good to know that I haven't completely lost all my strength!

'No news is good news' = Not true!

Sorry folks! The reason I haven't blogged for so long is because nothings happened! Training's going rubbishly! I haven't had a 112kg total since before the British Juniors!

I have, however, got my first pair of weightlifting shoes! They're beautiful, and I paid for (most of) them with the £70 grant I got from Wave Leisure. The company I bought them from (Risto Sports) in the USA didn't make the postage charges clear though so I ended up paying £35 extra! Not cool!

Tomorrow I have the London and South East Open. I am soooo hungry because I am trying to go down a weight category to under 63kgs. I'll let you know if I make it!

The British Junior (Under 20) Weightlifting Championships

I woke up feeling OK (considering it was 4am!), and so happy that my emergency sports massage the evening before had sorted out my hamstring injury which I had obtained through fencing! 

We left Lewes at 5am(!!) and arrived at Lilleshall national sports centre at 9am. I then had to weigh in: 64.6kg which put me in the 63-69kg category with 2 other girls. 

The warm up went OK, so I started on 45kg snatch, which went fine. Then 48kg which I failed - it was too far forward and I almost threw it off the platform! So I took 48kg again and got it. 

Then I started the clean and jerk on 57kg, which was fine. Then 60kg which the judges said I failed, but looked fine to everyone else!! So I took 60kg again and got it. 

So I ended up with a total of 108kg, which put me in second place. I was a little disappointed, as I was only 5kg off winning, which I could have done if I hadn't failed two lifts. I was annoyed because the total which the girl who won had put on her entry form was 80kg, which is significantly less than she actually had, which fooled me into thinking I stood a chance of winning in the 69kg bodyweight category. If I had known the truth I would have gone in the 63kg category, and won it!!

Even so, it was a good day. I overcame a lot of the fears I had last time, thanks to reading Steve Backley's book. I also came home with a MASSIVE silver cup (see picture above).

Zoe Smith was there, even though she wasn't competing, and she filmed my lifts (well, actually, she missed half of them!) which you can see on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/zoraphina

Quick Update...

On Monday, I had a brilliant training session. I got a 112kg total for the second time and I was feeling great, then today I had my last session  before the comp and it went appallingly. Only got 105kg total, and dropped the bar... a lot!

Last night Zoe Smith was on the BBC program Olympic Dreams! She looked great! I suggest you watch it on iPlayer!

This evening I went fencing, when I should have gone to bed because I've been feeling really run down this week, and I pulled my hamstring! 3 days before my big competition! Now I'm icing it, trying to get it back to normal for Saturday! Will let you know...

Training with Zoe Smith!

On Monday Rob (coach 2) and I were driven to Kent by John (coach 1!) where we spent a couple of hours training with Zoe Smith! The British champ! She's a real inspiration. She's 15 and can lift more than men twice her age! To give you an idea of how strong she is - I can C&J 62.5kg and she can C&J 110kg!! I learnt a lot from watching her and she was very encouraging. She is off to Spain in a couple of weeks for ANOTHER international competition, but she is still coming to the British Juniors next week to watch and cheer everyone else on! While training with her I managed to snatch 50kg again, and got a total of 110kg.

The rest of training this week hasn't been quite as successful. My totals haven't been very high, and I only have 2 training sessions until the British Junior Championships next Saturday! Will let you know how it goes!