I'm 5 days out now and just started my water load to get to 264.5 on Sunday. I was 268.5 today after a high carb day. A month ago I was 275.2 meet day after fasting for 12 hours prior to weigh in wth food and water. I was more like 278 the day before last meet. 20 some days later and I'm 10 lbs down. I must say it was nice focusing on the meet and making lifestyle choices based on my goals the last few weeks. I hit the gym yesterday for my last bench workout before the meet. I don't do much. I worked up to 315 for 2 singles and did a bunch of light db work for the delts, triceps, and pecs. Fluffy fluff stuff was all.
A couple cool things happened last night. First thing is that Big john hit his first lifetime 300lb raw bench. John has been my training partner for probably around 10 years. He's is also one of my closest friends and loved by my wife and kids. I'm very happy for him. John is not blessed with strength. He is blessed with work ethic though and trains harder then any person I have ever met. Most of my success has come from me trying to work as hard as john. The other thing that happened was I was able to take both my kids out at the same time alone and shop. My wife turns 35 today and we went to a bunch of stores for presents. We were out for 2 hours and survived eating late, 2 potty brakes, and a lost bunny at the store. Having young kids is hard. The hardest thing for me has been getting used to life with consideration. Everything must be considered with little kids. Now that mine are getting older I feel like I can do everything with them. As of yesterday I no longer feel like I can't do things because of them. This was a huge realization for me.
Kids with freedom and a best friends life long goal being a reality is huge. It gave me a nice feeling inside. A feeling that sometimes just "being" is great, and not making or missing a goal isn't that bad. Yesterday I realized I focus so much on outcomes that I miss out on the implementation or to be cheesy, the "journey". Now don't get me wrong, goals are a must and self accountability is crucial for growth. My point of all this is that at times when I ask my self what I am chasing that sometimes I just need to appreciate the fact that I can still "run".
I still still want to win Bench Nationals though.