The 2019 New Mexico games track and field

On Saturday June 29th I competed in the New Mexico games track and field. I ran in the 100 meter, 200 meter, and shotput. I finished in last place in the 100 & 200. But I finished in first place in the shotput with a throw on 10.95 meters, or 35 feet, 11 inches. This was the first time I'd thrown shotput since 1989, when I was in 8th grade 😁

The New Mexico games track and field meet

I haven't been paying much recently. I'll give you a quick update. I ran in my first track and field meet since 1989 a few weeks ago. I place 3rd in the 40-44AG. But I also pulled my right adductor during the race. I thurouthorenjoyed the experience. I'm contemplating starting track training.

I have a NASA powerlifting meet on July 14th. Training has been going well so I think the meet will go well.

The New Mexico track and field meet

Last year I was training to become a sprinter in track and field. After months of training I was only able to get my 100m time to 20 seconds. Not good. I stopped training sprinting and changed to CrossFit. I started training track again a few weeks ago. My first week I pulled an adductor. Then I had a couple uneventful weeks of training in the %70 of max effort range. Yesterday I decided to try an all out sprint. I ran a 15.9 second 100m. And I didn't injure anything this time! That motivated me to register for the New Mexico games track and field meet that will be held this weekend. That only gives me 5 days of training to prepare. And 7 days after that is the NMLWC weightlifting state championships. I'm a little worried the race will negatively effect my weightlifting meet. Last year I registered for the NM games track and field meet. But the day of the race I chickened out and didn't race. That was one of the only times I've ever chickened out from a competition of any kind. This year is my chance to redeem myself.

New Mexico local weightlifiting club series and The New Mexico Games

I received an email from the president of New Mexico weightlifiting, Joaquin Chaves. Looks like there's some major changes going on for the New Mexico Local Weightlifting Club (NMLWC). I received an email stating the president of NMLWC won't be hosting the New Mexico games and will be starting his own local weightlifiting series. The first will be the the NMLWC youth and master's championships on May 12th, 2018. The next will be a big two day weightlifiting meet. It's going to be the NMLWC state championships June 30th and July 1st. The New Mexico games used to be called the state championships. But looks like it's officially not going to be anymore. Which is big news.

The other big news is that the email showed Joaquin Chaves is no longer signing as High Dessert Athletic Club. He's signing under Black Box CrossFit. I wonder if that means Joaquin, who I love dearly as a friend and weightlifiting coach, closed up his club completely? Is he now a coach for Black Box or a partner? Interesting stuff. Big stuff.

My first double unders and box jumps

A few days ago I signed up for the Crossfit open. Since then I purchased a good jump rope and have been practicing double unders. I can string together 10 at a time now. I couldn't do any double unders a week ago. I decided to practice them because The Open always has double unders. I'm ok with having to compete in the scaled division for things like handstand push-ups, pull-ups, and muscle ups. But having to compete in the scaled division for jump ropes or box jumps would have hurt my pride. Speaking of box jumps. I did my first box jumps today! 5 in a row. I couldn't do them before this. I was just to overweight. This morning I weighed in at 286lbs. I've lost 60lbs so far. I'm over half way to my goal! If I keep it up, at this rate I'll be at my goal by mid to late summer. I'm really excited to go to the New Mexico games this June weighing 100lbs less. None of my weightlifiting buddies have seen me since I've started loosing weight. I wonder, at 100lbs lighter if anyone will recognize me?

Bear Canyon CrossFit barbell club

Last night I did my first weightlifiting workout with Bear Canyon CrossFit barbell club. I had a lot of fun. The people were really friendly, welcoming, and supportive. I was definitely training with a group of like minded people. I enjoyed it a lot. The head coach Dylan was pretty knowledgeable.

The next 7 weeks we'll be doing a pretty aggressive squat program. I'm looking forward to gaining back the strength I'd lost the last year. This gives me 8 months to prepare for my big 2018 goal of The New Mexico games weightlifiting meet. Plenty of time to get my game back.

I seem to be recovering better this week from the crazy hard CrossFit workouts I'm doing 3-4 days a week. It didn't seem to hurt my weightlifiting training last night much, if at all.

The 3rd annual CrossFit Hellbox triathlon race report

I really wanted to compete in the 3rd annual CrossFit Hellbox triathlon in Rio Rancho NM. But the 2nd WOD looked brutal. So instead of competing I spectated. Turns out the WODs weren't as bad as they looked. I could have completed it. I may have been one of the slowest. But I could have done it. I should have done it. I only need 14 more triathlons to complete my bucket list of 100 multi-sport events. And I've never done a CrossFit triathlon before. 100 multi-sport events completed would have looked great on my athletic resume! Earlier this year I also chickened out of competing in the New Mexico games track and field meet. If I'd have signed up my finishing time would have put me in third place in my age group. Am I turning into a coward in my old age? I used to sign up and compete in ANYTHING! Even if it was something I'd never done or had very little experience. I have a new resolution. I'm going to stop being so cautious and tentative. I've gotten soft since turning 40. That's going to change! I have no clue how long I'm going to be on this Earth. So I want to make the best of it while I can. I'm going to register for all sorts of stuff next year. Anything at all that I'm doing or have done in the past I'm going to compete in. Especially if it's considered a "state championships". I'm putting this out there now. Next year I'm going to compete in the:
1) 2018 NM games for weightlifting
2) 2018 NM games for track,
3) the state state championships USPL (powerlifting)
4) the state championships for NASA (powerlifting)
5) the state championships for USPA (powerlifting)
6) some sort of 2018 CrossFit games, local or otherwise
7) the 4th annual CrossFit Hellbox triathlon
8) and possibly one or more other multi-sport events.

 Next year will be epic. Did I really just use the word epic? What am I 12 years old?

New Mexico games track and field 2017 results

I had registered for the 2017 New Mexico games track and field 100m dash for the Masters division 40-44 age group. The weekend of the meet I was feeling sorry for myself because I'd been working a lot of overtime and hadn't trained like I wanted to. So I ended up not competing. I just looked up the results and there were only 2 people in my division. If I'd of competed I'd of been in third place at least.

1st place: Chris Barrett 12.67
2nd place: Vince Ortiz 13.14

Next year I will compete!

Back to weightlifting!!!!

My Dr released me to go back to weightlifting a couple months ago. I wasn't able to go back because my work schedule didn't fit with my coach's training times. This week my work approved a shift transfer that works with weightlifting. So after 6 months I'm finally back to weightlifting!

Yesterday was my first day back. Today I'm pretty sore. But not nearly as bad as I thought I would be.

I went off the deep end today and registered for the state games. The New Mexico games is in 4 weeks. I doubt I'll be ready to compete that soon. But I'll try anyways!

kick butt coaches make kick butt results

7 weeks ago I joined High Dessert Athletic Club in Albquerque New Mexico. It's a weightlifting gym ran by one of the top weightlifting coaches in America, coach Joaquin Chavez. Coach Joaquin Chaves is the only level 3 Olympic style weightlifting coach in the entire South West. So far I've put 8k on my total. 8k in only 7 weeks is absolutely unbelievable. I'm so pumped up. Can't wait to see what I'm going to accomplish with him training me.

So, 3 weeks ago I rehired my nutrition coach. The last time we worked together the nutrition plan he had me on made for great weight loss and unbelievable gains in the weight room. But the program was to hard for me. After throwing in the towel and consequently gaining all my weight back I decided to try it again. I finally was honest to my nutrition coach about how hard the last program was. Lo and behold he tried something new and wallah, it's perfect! In 2.5 weeks I've lost 10 pounds.

The 2016 New Mexico games weightlifting meet report

On Sunday May 22nd I competed in the 2016 New Mexico games weightlifting meet. This was my 6th week training at my new weightlifting gym, High Dessert Athletic Club, and under my new coach, Joaquin Chavez. I'd made incredible gains so far under his tutlage.

I wasn't nearly as nervous as I usually was before a meet. And I got to warm up with my nutrition coach Barry Shroeder. He's really knowledgeable and a motivating person. So that was pretty wonderful for my meet.

Robel Tayloy, he goes by Chacho, showed up to compete today. He's beaten me by at least 20k at every meet I've ever competed with him at. I'd say if I had to pick one person who's my weightlifting nemisis he'd be it. Super nice guy. But a man can only get his butt beat by a person so many times before that man becomes his nemesis. And he'll be aging up to the 40-44 age group on Jan 1st 2017, so he and I will be in the same age group and weight class next year.Also, My nutrition coach and friend barry was there. Seeing him compete a few years ago was the reason I got into weightlifting. There's no chance of me beating that stud eather. Although, when I first saw Barry lift i decided one of my bucket list goals was to some day beat him. To be the best you have to beat the best right?

Coach Chavez had me attempt an 85k for my first snatch. It felt easy and landed perfectly. On my 2nd attempt I asked to go for a 95. Coach's eyes just about fell out of his head!
"That's to big of a jump. How about 91k." It wasn't a question.

91k was a good lift.  On my third attempt I asked for a 100k. Again, coach almost fainted. "what's your PR?"  he asked.
"96k coach"
"go for 97"
Third lift was good.

Since I went 3 for 3 on the snatches I was probably going to be able to take 3rd place in my heat, 2nd place in the 105+. Behind Chacho in the 105+ and behind both Barry and Chacho in my heat. Beating Chacho and Barry isn't even a question. Those two doen't just beat me when we lift against eachother. They slaughter me!

I was really excited about the clean and jerks. My weightlifting coach has helped me make huge improvements in my jerks, which was my biggest weakness in weightlifting. I attempted a 110k on my first lift and nailed it, easy. On my second attempt I asked to go for a 120k. Same thing, coach almost died of shock, once he recovered he said, "A 10k increase is to much. what's your PR?"
 "120".
"Lets go for 118k this time. I'll let you go higher next time."
Nailed the 118K! I'm 5 for 5 so far. I've only had two 6 for 6 meets in 2 1/2 years, so things were already pretty exciting.
"Let's go for broke in the third lift coach! 125k!!"
I see coach thinking.....
"Go for 122k. That'll be a PR and you'll be in first by 2k."
This time it was my turn to be confused. 1st? 1st of what? I couldn't take the time to figure it out. The clock was counting down and it was my turn up. I nailed the 122k!

Turns out I took 1st place in both the 105+ and the heat. I also set 3 40-44 AG 105k+ New Mexico weightlifting records. I beat Chacho by 2k total. Chacho will be aging up next year to the 40-44 age group 105+ weight class, so that was huge! Next year will be exciting and heck of a big challenge. I've never done well enough at a weightlifting meet to look at others and think to myself "I want to lift better than this person or that person." Chacho's a beast. Next year will be a lot of fun! And, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I out lifted Barry Schroeder too. Out lifting Barry was on my bucket list for a long time now. I honestly didn't think I could ever do it. But today i did. It was a good day.

passed the test

OOn Saturday I passed the written test I'd failed earlier that week. I also passed the state and federal firearms tests. All I have to do is one more 16 hour block of training and a test to be able to start working. After I start working I have to get in 440 hours before the medical insurance kicks in. Once the medical insurance for my family kicks in at the new job everything will be fine. But until it does we're hurting. Medical insurance through the New Mexico retiree health care is $1,872 a month, my pension is $2000 a month take home. That leaves $128 a month for us to live on. I wasn't able to pay the mortgage this month. I never should have retired from the prison.

The New Mexico games is this weekend. I'll be competing in the 105+ 40-44 ag.

The 2015 New Mexico games weightlifting report

On Sunday July 19th 2015 i competed in the New Mexico games weightlifting meet. On Monday night of the 13th i got sick and was sick the rest of week. It wasn't  until the night before the meet that i felt well enough to get off the couch. The good news about being sick all week was i lost a few pounds, the bad news was i lost a bunch of strength. i weighed in at 131k, the third lowest I've ever weighed at a weightlifting meet.

The loss of strength was apparent during my warm up. My form was off too. Coach Shane was concerned enough to lower my openering lifts.

My first lift was a 79k snatch. I over pulled and i almost dropped it, i was able to recover. Barely. Good lift.

My 2nd snatch was 84k,  no problems at all,  good lift.

The third snatch was going to be a state record lift of 87k. i didn't finish the pull so the weight almost fell forward. As i was standing up i had to chase it forward. I was about 2 feet from the end of the platform before i was able to get under the bar and secure the lift. The middle judge raised his hands in fear, afraid the weight and i was going to fall on him. Despite scaring the judge i got three white lights, good lift.

I made the first clean and jerk of 99k, but it felt awkward. My form was crap. I dropped my 2nd clean and jerk of 104k. I don't think it was that i lacked the strength,  i think because of the illness it was taking me longer to recover from the lift before. Coach Miller could tell i was tired and needed some extra recovery time so he changed my next lift to 105 so i could have an extra couple of lifters between me and my next lift. I told coach i'd already totalled and secured 1st place in  my division, i still felt strong, with the extra recovery time i was certain i could successfully lift another state record of 108k. Coach Shane's eyes almost popped out of his head when i asked for 108k, "you missed 104k & want to go up to 108k? That goes against every rule I have.... if you miss this....." he changed my next lift to 108k but he wasn't happy about it. The extra rest helped a ton. I nailed the lift! I was so happy i stood there on the platform and yelled "YEAH!".

I took 1st place in my division  and became state champion for the 2nd year in a row,  i also set three state records.

Last year i lifted a 65/89/154. This year i lifted a 87/108/195. That's an increase of 41k (90lbs)!

The next goal is to qualify for the national championships. I'll need to get a 207k total. Right now I'm 12k short of 207k.

one year anniversary of my first weightlifting meet

The New Mexico games are next month in Albuquerque. I'm very excited about competing in it this year. Last year's New Mexico games (2014) was the first weightlifting meet I'd ever competed in. I'm hoping i can break the state records for my weight class. That'd be awesome. Breaking state records at a meet a year after my first ever competition.

getting back into training

It's amazing to me how quickly i lose strength when i miss training. I lost a ton during the 7 weeks i was out. The good news is I'm gaining it back really quickly.

I'm loving the new training program my coach built for me. It's a 10 day program. My body is chronically sore. I'm loving this so much. I'm hoping i can get back to where i was by the New Mexico games in late July.

greater totals and greater goals

This week was a great week for lifting! On Monday I lifted a new snatch PR of 75k. Today I lifted a new lifetime PR of 95k in the clean and jerk. I'm foaming at the mouth thinking about hitting a 100k clean and jerk! My next competition is the last Saturday of this month at Miller weightlifting in Santa Fe NM. If my weights continue to increase it's possible I'll lift 20k more than I did in May at the New Mexico games. That's a big increase in only a couple months. In January I age up to the 40-44 AG, and I'm currently lifting 132 pounds above the New Mexico 40-44 AG 105k+ total state record.

I'm having so much fun with the sport of olympic weightlifting. The next big mile stone I'm shooting for is a 400lb total, which is 181.4k. I'm currently 11k away. I'm really loving this.

Another snatch PR and the New Mexico games women only weightlifting competition

This morning I finished a workout set building up to a 2X2 snatch of 71k. 71k is a lifetime PR for me. I completed it easily, making all four attempts. I'm not sure why I do so well at the snatch but struggle at the clean and jerk. After the snatch I did a 1X5 back squat of 120k.  I also set a new lifetime PR in the deadlift of 163k.

This weekend my wife and I watched the women only weightlifting for the New Mexico games. There were so many amazing athletes. I have a few videos I want to upload soon onto my blog withing the next couple days. A lot of those women were stronger than the men lifting a couple weeks ago.

I'm freaking out a little bit. In the last couple weeks i gained a lot of weight. I'm now up to 289. I gotta do something. This is getting ridiculous.

the 2014 New Mexico games: weightlifting

The 2014 New Mexico games weightlifting competition was an all around awesome experience and a perfect event for someone who is lifting in their first competition. There was so much going on, so many people involved in the experience, and so many emotions involved that I seriously doubt I'll be able to explain in one post how wonderful the event truly was. I was a nervous wreck the night before the meet. I realized this was going to be nothing at all like any of the 86 triathlons and duathlons I'd competed in before. This was all new and somewhat overwhelming territory I was in. I ended up contacting the best female American super heavy weight Sarah Robles and top female 69k lifter Jenny Lyvette Arthur on twitter. Both of them were quick to respond with support and suggestions. I was kind of in awe. In no other sport in America outside of weightlifting could an athlete get an almost immediate response from a top level pro to give support to a newbie in their sport. Think Tom Brady, Michael Phelps, Kobe Bryant, or George St Pierre would have responded to a stranger claiming to be competing in their first game in the morning and asking for advise? Nope. 

A very experienced lifter, Dominick Ferris, decided to drive up with me the morning of the competition. I was so very grateful for the company. He was great at keeping the conversation going and keeping my mind off of being nervous. (Dominick ended up being the top lifter of the day).

Thanks to a detour on the interstate we got to UNM with only 10 minutes to spare until weigh in. And then of course finding parking was difficult, so by the time I walked into the UNM weight room I was freaked out that I was going to miss weigh ins. Turns out the 1st group of lifting ran late so i had plenty of time to wait.

All the other lifters I met were awesome. I'm a chatty guy before races, tournaments, and meets. Part of it is nervous energy, some of it is that I love the life style of competition, but mostly I just really love people. So there I was bouncing around from person to person starting small conversations with people I'd never met before but would be doing something with them that is, in my mind, special. As i was talking to the other lifters I found out that there were only 3 athletes lifting in the 105+. Each of the three 105+  were in a different age group, so as long as each of us got a single snatch and clean and jerk we'd all get a gold medal. I was the 2nd lifter to lift in the 2nd session which comprised of the 94k, 105k, and the 105k+. When i walked out onto the lifting platform I just about had a heart attack. Every judge, spectator, athlete, and coach was looking right at me. That was COMPLETELY different than I was used to at a triathlon. It rattled me. I got so nervous it was ridiculous! I actually froze half way to the platform and stared out at the audience. Coach Shane Miller actually had to tell me from the side lines, "It's ok Cody, go on, you got this."

Even though coach Miller had me start out with an opening lift that was ridiculously easy, 60k, i was still amazed I made the first snatch with how nervous I was. My form was horrendous. My shoulders didn't stay over the bar long enough, the bar swung out away from my body, I didn't pull long enough to get the weight up high enough, and I started to drop into the squat position too soon. After the 1st lift was successful I calmed down a bunch.

By the 2nd snatch of 65k I'd calmed enough to be better at concentration of form. But I wasn't expecting the adrenaline to make me so strong! I pulled that weight up so high and back so much farther than I ever have before that I ended up not able to catch the bar, the weight went flying one way, and I fell the opposite direction landing right on my butt!

On the 3rd snatch I repeated 65k. I was expecting the adrenaline and was able to make a good lift. It felt easy.

Clean and jerks are my weakest event so I was nervous again and doubting myself. On my 1st clean and jerk I tried to force myself to stay calm, but I made the mistake of putting all of my focus on ignoring the crowd and trying to stay in the moment. I totally forgot to think about the lift at all. Thanks to muscle memory I made my 1st attempt which was 80k. It was an ugly lift, but it was ruled good by the 3 judges.

The 2nd clean and jerk was 84k, which was only 3k below my lifetime PR. I made the lift relatively easy.

On my 3rd clean and jerk i attempted 89k, which was 2k above my lifetime PR. I'll tell you now I love adrenaline in regards to weightlifting! I lifted that bar up like it was nothing!!!!

I ended up succeeding at 5 of my 6 lifts and taking 1st place in my division of 35-39 age group in the 105+ weight class and setting a clean and jerk lifetime personal best lift!!!! It was a good day.

tune up session before my first weightlifting meet

Today was my last day of lifting before my first olympic weightlifting meet tomorrow at the New Mexico games. All I was scheduled for was 5 or 6 sets building up to my openings lifts. I missed a couple lifts even though the weights I was using was lower than anything I'll be lifting tomorrow.  I assumed I wasn't going to be nervous because I've competed in so many competitive events from triathlons, duathlons, jiu jitsu tournaments, running events, cycling races, and CrossFit competitions. And truth was I wasn't nervous until today. But today I realized I'd done so many endurance races there was nothing I could have happen to me that I hadn't had happen before. Now I'm a rookie. Up until today I was confident and ready for anything. But now I realized an olympic weightlifting competition is like nothing I've ever done before! Before if I had a bad swim, bike, or run  it was ok, because I could make up for it in the other events.  There was room for error. I've realized that if I make a mistake in olympic weightlifting it pretty much grantees I'm going to miss the lift. Now I'm nervous.

last heavy weightlifting day before the NM games

I work nights and sleep during the day. Yesterday I wasn't able to sleep because my neighbors were blasting music. This morning I was forced to work a 16 hour shift at the prison. After my shift I slept for 2 1/2 hours, then woke up and went to the gym. I was exhausted, but I didn't want to miss the last heavy training session before my first olympic weightlifting competition, The NM games, which will be held this Saturday. I'll wear my old NM outlaws triathlon bib for the competition. I trained in it today, it was tight, but it worked. Next time I post I'll let you know how my competition went. Thanks for tuning in.