Chuck Kasson

Well hell

I don't even know how long it's been since I've posted. Probably since I started training hard for Nationals. I trained as hard as I thought I could push my body with the heavy weights and I think it ended up ok. There are some things I would have definately changed.

Last Nationals (07) didn't go real well. I had no idea what I was doing and had no access to any of the heavy equipment I would see there. I went injured, came away worse...but had no qualms about my performance...all things considered.

This year's nationals was a different story. I felt I trained hard (not exactly smart...we'll get to that). I felt strong and had pretty much zero pain or injuries coming in. The result was bittersweet. I smoked the tire flip. I won it outright. Out of the 50+ guys in the National Championships of Amature Strongman I beat every single one of them in the tire. Pretty sweet right.

The rest is a different story. I felt I was good for at least 2 reps on the log, hopefully 3. This was not the case. I barely managed one. Of all the events this is the one that really pissed me off right after the contest. I'll chalk this up to poor preperation. I have found out that my body really responds the best to sub-maximal training. I get a lot out of near max work (90%+) but I think I make the best gains in the high rep 80-90% range. Don't ask me why, I just do. I trained the log with very very very low volume. I think there were log training days where I was only doing maybe 5 reps on the log at the contest weight of 300 pounds. Probably 13 reps on the day total counting warm ups. This is NOT the way I should have done it. I feel now that had I trained consistantly with 275-280 with max reps I would have been far better served.

File this under my ever growing folder entitled "Shit I should have done differently/didn't think about/didn't know/didn't care about. More entries into this folder to follow.

After the log was the carry/load/drag medly. I'm not going to make excuses about the weather, environment, and venue (all sucked). It ended up soaking wet rain the second they got this event set up. The sandbag was getting soaked and the loaders/promoters were experimenting with ways they thought they could make it at least a little "Competitive". They ended up dropping the sandbag alltogether and adding a 100# plate to the sled. Carry keg, drop into sled, pull back. Sounds simple...When I loaded the keg and gave it a huge pull...it moved all of an inch and a half. I knew then that my only goal was to pull as hard as I could for the remaining time and let the chips fall where they may.

What will I file in my SISHDD file? Of the 53 or so guys in the contest...I think 4 finished. Of those 4, 3 had climbing shoes on. Argggg! I had my shoes in my hand but didn't grab them, for whatever reason. That could have been the difference right there. Could have/would have/should have...excuses are like assholes, they all stink.

Yoke walk/farmers walk. This event has plagued me. It wrecked my back at last nationals and all I wanted to do was finish. I ended up finishing (Got my goal), but again...took away some valuable learning experiences

Don't wear two shirts on the yoke.

After seeing my speed on this event (At least between drops from a lack of really training this event due to fear of injury) on video it really makes me angry at myself for dropping. I smoked the farmers even after I rocked my right SI joint. I was happy with it at the time, but after seeing it on video and realizing how much points my drops cost me (due to shirt problems and back issues) I'm really not happy with it at all.

Stone Load: I wasn't sure what to expect on this event. I had never touched a 380 stone before and had just become an inch shorter on one side from my back on the event previous. I ended up loading 4 stones (an improvement for sure from last nationals!) And almost had the fifth one up before they called time. This was kind of a neutral performance for me. Meh...I really like stones, and can't wait to get some more time on them. I feel I can really become a good loader given enough exposure and fixing my learning curve

So...I was really trying hard to find positives in my experience this year. Right after the contest on the 15 hour drive home it wasn't too hard...but now that I have seen my video, and had a chance to let everything sink it...Next year's nationals can't get here soon enough. I need to get this bad taste out of my mouth.

Except for the tire...the tire tasted good!