Safe As Milk

Data Wing is a slick little iOS racing game from Dan Vogt. It’s free-as-in-free, too. Like, no ads, no in-app purchases, no nothing. Just a simple racer with a cute story and good music. It scratched all of the little Mario Kart places in my brain and for that, I am thankful.

Alto’s Odyssey is the sequel to Alto’s Adventure, a great (and very chill) iOS game. The basic gameplay is the same but I think they’ve added enough new mechanics for it to feel fresh. I don’t generally get down with the endless runners, but this one does it for me. I’ve been playing a ton. It’s taken a lot of time from my other iOS obsessions, in fact.

I had a big weekend at the American Open Series 1 at The Arnold, in Columbus, OH. This was my 3rd weightlifting meet and it was successful again. I added 1kg to each of my lifts for a new meet total PR.

The weekend started badly on Friday when I got caught in a huge traffic jam. I was parked on the highway for over two hours. People were out walking their dogs. It was weird.

I stopped in Charleston, WV for the night at about 1am, caught some sleep, and then got back out on the road to Columbus at 8am on Saturday. My lift session wasn’t until Sunday at noon so there was plenty of time to rest and stretch.

The way the weight/age classes worked out I was one of two lifters, so all I had to do was complete at least one of each lift to get a medal. The other guy in my class was *way* stronger, so I was looking at the silver (which I got pretty easily).

That lift above was my final lift of the meet, a 101kg clean and jerk, and a PR. It was exciting.

The other best part of the weekend was spending time with my gym friends. The Weight Room is my home gym and the best place I can imagine for getting strong. Chris does a great job of preparing athletes to compete and I wouldn’t have been able to do this without him. Danny is the whole reason any of us go to The Arnold. He competes in Strongman and finished this weekend as the #9 amateur middleweight strongman in the world. The way he works in the gym is inspiring and I’m glad we’re pals. Wayne was my friendly nemesis for this meet. We had the same qualifying total so we were training like this was a head-to-head contest. I won, obvs., but he’s also 5 years older than me so he’ll probably mention that if he ever hears me bragging.

My next meet is set for April 14th in Dowell, Va., at the 2018 Virginia LWC Championships and Open. I’ll tell you how it goes.

I’ve still got my men’s basketball season ticket to the Richmond Spiders. Live sports are fun.

2017 RVA Open

This was my first weightlifting meet and I’m willing to call it a success. I finished third in my age/weight bracket (earning a swanky bronze medal), I completed all six of my lifts successfully (with two new PRs), and I had a good time doing it. I will break it down GoW-style.

*Highlights*:

• Singlet fit
• new PRs (164kg total)
• Solid hangs with Joe and Cy and Swolenik
• Getting coached up
• A bronze medal that looks like it could be on a real podium somewhere

*Lowlights*:

• 8am session start
• Nerves
• Shirtless post-session cryotherapy (don’t ask)

To add a little color, I’ve been way, way overweight the last year or two. I’m mentally chalking it up to wanting mass for powerlifting, but really I just like not paying attention to what I eat and drink. I’m working to fix that now. It is def. work. I’m a big, big fan of “play”, and I *loooove* playing team sports. It was cool to hang with the team in my session and I’m double-especially looking forward to training with them over the next couple of months. Getting active input from a vested coach was really great. I trust Chris Lawyer to put me in a position to succeed. He does good work.

The negatives from the meet were minimal. Since I’m a new lifter with a relatively low projected total in my first meet, I was seeded in the first session. 8am Saturday start time means a 6-8am weigh-in window. I’m not the worst about getting up in the morning, but this was a bit much for a Saturday. Once we got to the lifting, I was more nervous than I expected. Chris was there with a “hey have a seat and lower your heartrate”; (which is just one example of how an experienced coach can make a big difference at a meet), and I chilled out.

My plan, and I realize that naming the plan dooms the plan, is to get on a weightlifting track through the rest of 2017. There should be 2-3 more meets on the calendar and I’d like to get close to 200kg with my total. I think I have room to grow to that number.