Steve MacD over de IFSA'Worlds!

[IronSport]

Iron Godz - The Iceland experience


Well it all started out exactly as I hoped it would not, by getting picked in the toughest bracket of qualifiers, with Zydrunas, Muramets and Blekaitis all in my group (numbers 1, 4, and 7 from last year, 1, 4, and 5 this year) and Oli Thompson, Britians strongest man fresh off a victory over Mark Felix and I think Terry Hollands, and Jarno Hams, a 7-8 year veteran of pro strongman. I knew right away I had a tough week ahead and things didn't get any better when I saw that I had to do the max block overhead as my pressing event. I was really hoping for the log clean and press (anybody who has known me for more than 15 minutes knows I'm much more of a rep man than a max man.) So I approached the contest with a balls to the wall attitude, there was no sense in being any kind of conservative since I knew it would be a total battle for every little point.

1. Tire flip and block load medley, 900 lb tire for 3 flips, 110, 120, 130 kg blocks loaded to about 54", about 25 feet from the platform. Felt great right from the start, flips went real smoothly and the blocks went pretty quick too, got 3rd just a couple seconds behind Muramets and Zydrunas, started my day out with 6 points.

2. Farmers walk. 275 lbs per hand, 75 meters with 2 turns.
Didn't go real fast but I held on to them though the 2nd turn, put them down, regripped and almost made it to the end but not quite, had to pick them up and finish the last 5 feet. I think I could have made the end but I really didn't want my callouses ripping off with the events that were to follow. Took 4th in this event and chalked up another 5 points, 11 total at the end of 2 events.

3. Block lift, starting at 110 kilos and moving up 5-10 kg's at a time, you could choose your weights, similar to powerlifting but with 5 kg jumps and 4 attempts, 2 consecutive failed attempts and you're out.
110 kg. First lift was pretty hilarious. Never lifted a block before and it showed. Lost my balance but instead of dropping it behind me I rested it on the back of my head/neck area, which looked really painful from the camera's point of view but really wasn't that bad. Lifted it pretty easily from this strange position and got the first lift in. I'm pretty sure I'll hold the world record for the behind the neck block press for all time. 2nd attempt, 115, much smoother, went quite easy actually. The block lift seemed to have a sharp learning curve and I learned just enough from each attempt to succeed on the following attempt. 120 kg, took 3 attempts but on the 3rd rep I maintained my balance and locked it out. I was real happy with this since I really didn't think it was going to go after the way the 115 felt. 125 kg, I really didn't think this one was going to go but like I said I learned just enough from the previous lifts to make the next ones, and I was ecstatic when the 125 went up since it was the last attempt for all of us and I tied Big Z and Blekaitis. I got 4 points from an event that I thought was going to be terrible for me. 15 points total.

At about this time I was on top of the world, since I got my questionable events out of the way and was in the 3rd position with my 2 best events coming up. Before the contest started I figured if I could just maintain a 5th or 6th position after 3 events I would be able to count on my deadlift and the stones to gain lots of points and I'd still be able to qualify, so being in 3rd at this time was just friggin awesome.

4. Deadlift. It was supposed to be 705 but there's just no way. I know what 700 feels like and this was easily around 750. Also all the numbers from the other competitors in the previous round indicated it was more than 705. I pulled the 1st rep pretty easily and the 2nd one went up well also, but 1 inch from lockout both straps just snapped like 2 wet noodles and sent the weight crashing down. I was in shock for a few seconds when Doug Edmunds snapped me back into reality be telling me I had 45 seconds left. A hundred thoughts went through my head about what to do but really all I could do was try to lift it with an alternate grip but the bar was just a bit too thick to hold onto, I got it past my knees twice but my grip was slipping each time, so I had to walk off the platform with 1 rep and only 1.5 points. My best event historically had just become my worst.

5. Stones, light IFSA set, IFSA ring.
Even with the broken straps disaster I still had a chance to make it into the finals mathematically but I needed to fly though the stones. I went as aggresively as I could and did them in just over 25 seconds. This time held up as the best time with just 2 competitors left, Zydrunas and Muramets. The only way I wouldn't make it into the final was if Zydrunas placed first and Muramets placed dead last, which would knock my out of the finals and put Vidas Blekaitis in. Well, lo and behold, Zydrunas beat my time by a little over a second and Muramets did only 3 stones and walked away. Blekaitis only got 4 stones. An eastern block conspiracy? You be the judge.

So I missed out on the finals by one point. I'm discouraged by my bad luck but quite encouraged by the knowledge that it took a very tough group, events I didn't like, broken straps and conspiring athletes to keep me out of the finals, and all that still just kept me out by one slim point. I'll be back next year, hopefully with a little more luck, but definitely with enough strength and ability that even with the worst of luck I'll still make in to the finals.

Let this be the end of my bitching about shit luck and the beginning of my next phase of training. I'm bent on making this year even better than last year.
__________________
Steve MacDonald
Learn as if you're going to live forever,
Live as if you're going to die tomorrow.

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