First Things First. How it all started, and me and Tricia Dong

I don't even know where to start, so I'll start with first things first!

A few weeks ago, maybe a couple of months, Mark and I were enjoying our evening sitting at our computers together, working. and he looked across the table from me and asked me, "How many 12kg snatches can you do in 5 minutes?"  I thought about it, did a quick calculation and answered back, "About 150-160, that's about as fast as you can go!  Why?"

John Wild Buckley and his partner Nazo were organizing their next OKC Kettlebell Sport competition and wanted to extend an invitation to all kettlebell athletes, GS sport and RKC/Sfg to compete together on the same platforms as a way of bridging the gap between these styles of training.  Mark first met John at an RKC way back around 2007 and the two have been online friends since, so I'm lucky that I was one of the first to be invited to participate!  John and Nazo have been so kind as to acknowledge how hard and consistently I've trained for the past few years and have been the most giving, encouraging and supportive, and talented people I've ever, ever, ever come across in the kettlebell world.  I know I tend to be dramatic, but I don't care, that's how I feel, and it was solidified this past weekend!

OKC added a 5 minute snatch event that was open to all kettlebell athletes and the rules adjusted to allow multiple hand switches, basically, "Hardstyle" friendly.  There is much more to write about the differences in the two for those of you unfamiliar with GS sport, but that will come over the next few weeks time....first things first!

The minute I agreed to participate OKC's announcement on Facebook of my attendance went crazy (well, crazy to me!).  All of a sudden dozens of people were excited about me being there and had only THE nicest things to say and offer words of confidence and support!  Really?  I couldn't believe it!  I couldn't believe anybody even paid attention to who I was or what I did as far as my training went.  I'm posting my 5 minute snatch test first and I'll get to the 10 min. single jerk as the story unfolds...

The 5 minute snatch test was not any different than what the RKC has been using these past few years as part of their strength testing requirements for Certification (SFG has yet to hold their first Cert, and that's why I am not including them right now).  The only difference is that in a Hardstyle 5 minute test you only need to complete 100 reps within that five minutes. When you get to 100, then you stop.  For most top female RKC's this is completed somewhere between 3.5-4 minutes.  I, myself, had the best time of about 3 min 50 sec at my Level 2 almost two years ago, but I test it regularly in my own training at least 4 times a year.

The biggest difference is I stop when I get to 100 reps!  I never go on for another minute if I don't have to!  I was also given the choice of using the 12kg or the 16kg.  This is already turning into a longer story than I wanted to so let's get in with the highlights!

I had to use a comp bell, and I chose the 16kg to challenge myself knowing I still had the 10 minute jerk later in the day.  My strategy was to complete 120 reps, that's a 12 rep per 30 sec pace. Was it "all out"?  Well, to me it was close enough for my next "baseline", and really I may want add another 10 reps or so IF I ever do it again, but to be honest I really don't feel the need to prove anything better...unless it's ever in another competition!

I'm posting the video only because I wanted to show Tricia Dong's performance next to me on the platform. You will see Tricia in the video around 1 min 30 sec, 2 min 40 sec, and a couple of other spots.  You will notice two things (oh, and Tricia has been RKC for many years now and resides in Vancouver), she is using a 12kg, and she is snatching "GS" style. Tricia chose to use the 12kg because this was just a warm up to her "real" event, the 24kg, yes, twenty-four kilo, long cycle jerk, which I will see video of below!  I missed video taping her left side(starting side), and two of her reps on her right side, but I got most of it!



Tricia was one of the very first people to reach out and welcome me to this competition.  Her 24kg competition set was one of the most impressive, if not the most impressive, thing I've ever seen a female kettlebell athlete do!  Congratulations to Tricia for her first ever 24kg in competition!

It was an extremely emotional day for me, in fact I'm getting a bit teary now looking back at it all, so I will write more about that next time.

(ps, I'm so happy I had my roasted squash with me!  It made me even that much happier!)