Well, like Hannibal, this was my first meet. We weighed in Thursday night, checked the place out, got some food, watched some UFC, and crashed.
And then, I couldn't sleep. Seemed to go in 20 minute cycles all night. My heart wouldn't stop pounding, I kept thinking about my squat, and just got to sleep as the alarm went off.
Funny thing is, as soon as I got to the gym, I wasn't tired at all. Also wasn't nervous at all until I walked in the door and saw chairs in front of the monolift.
I'd never squatted in my suit before, and we had a small debate as to whether or not I'd be able to get my opener (225) to parallel. So, I suited up, got the straps up, and proceeded to do an ass-to-ankles 175 warmup.
From that point, I nailed my 225 opener, and had planned to go to 265, then 300. 225 was easy enough, I jumped to 285, which I nailed with no problem. We tested our lifts in July, and my max squat then was 265, so really, this was a 20lb PR from test to meet. At that point, I decided to go for it all and jumped to 325. I came down a little low, and missed it. I think I might have gotten it, but I'm not sure. The spotter pulled me a little soon, I think, but that may be my ego talking.

In any case, I want Hannibal spotting me next time. He and Spatts know what I can do better than anyone else.
Bench, in short, was a disaster. I opened with 225, which is a cake weight for me, but I could not keep my ass on the bench. The weight wasn't a problem, but the comp benches are a little lower than our training bench, and I couldn't get the foot placement right. I'm still not staying tight enough on the bench, but I'll get that nailed down too.
Deadlift was almost a no-go. I was on the sheet, and prepared to follow Spatts onto he platform, but they called someone else's name. I walked over to the announcer's table to find out what the hell was going on, and she told me I was out of the rotation because I bombed my bench. I said, "So I can't pull?!?" And she told me I could, but it wouldn't count. I told her I'd like to pull, and added a belated "thanks" so as not to appear rude.
I pulled 315 easily, which was the plan, then suited up and pulled 375 with no trouble. I set my 3rd attempt at 400, a 23lb PR, but I got in too big a hurry, and grabbed the bar unevenly. Once the bar started to lean, there was no way I was going to try and finish the pull. I know I can get 400 now, no question tho.
All in all, this was a hell of a lot of fun. I'm excited as hell about February, and I know what I need to do between now and then.
On another note: I couldn't be prouder of Spatts. She always kicks ass, no matter what, but she left it all out on the platform yesterday. 8 for 9, exceeded expectations, and was in a word, awesome.
Hannibal did a hell of a job. He put his max effort into every lift, and I know I was jabbering at him most of the time, and asked for a lot of help, and he was there for me the whole time. I have no doubt in my mind that he'll kick ass and take names in February.
Springfield and Okie crews were great, no doubt. I think the quote of the trip has got to be "It turns out I'm part monkey!" from Friday night. DG21 is a freak. I literally had chills watching his 3rd deadlift.
Again, a whole hell of a lot of fun. I don't feel bad at all about my performance. First meet, 6 months of training as a powerlifter...I think I did okay.
