Contest write up/video.
Most of my thoughts are in the youtube description, but I'll copy them here for ease of reading. What's not included is the misery that was the water cut/mostly the water rehydrating. If you've ever wanted to know what NOT to do with a water cut, read below.
I think the primary issue I had all day during the competition was the LENGTH of time I was dehydrated.
Because I've never done a water cut before, I overdid it in terms of how soon I started and (I eventually learned) how far I cut. I started by not drinking past 6 pm Wednesday night even though I normally pee and drink several times over the course of a night's sleep, and Thursday morning I woke up at 210.6 which really concerned me since I didn't know how much I could lose by weigh ins the next day at 4. So I went aggressive with my prep: only two water based shakes on Thursday, and virtually no extra water throughout the day even though I worked a full day. I got home and was around 209.4, so only down a little over a pound even after a full work day and no real fluids or food other than two shakes. I began my water cut with a series of ultra hot baths for 25 minutes each or so, with weigh ins in between. After 3 segments I was down to 207 on the dot. I'd planned to go to bed around 203 if I could, but I wanted a breather from the water so I switched to our treadmill while we watched some UFC fights. By the time I finished the 3.3 miles it was 11:30 pm and I was down to 205. I decided to call it good there and see where I was in the morning. I'd also taken some MiraLax earlier in the evening but since I hadn't had much to eat or drink all day nothing was coming out yet. I got a terrible night's sleep and had several productive trips to the bathroom around 3 am and 6 am, which took me to 202.6 when I got out of bed around 830 am. We packed up and hit the road and after getting to the hotel 3.5 hours later at 1 pm I was sitting at 201.4, so back into the hot tub for another water cut. By this time I think my body understood what we were trying to do and I dropped a surprising 2 pounds in 30 minutes bringing me down to 199.4 (or so I thought). We decided to head over to the venue early for weigh ins in the hope that someone would be around, but no such luck. We did, however, find the scale they'd be using for the competitors sitting by the check in station, so I hopped on and it turns out my scale read heavy or theirs read light, but either way it had me at 197 pounds even. I immediately took a few sips of pedialyte and we decided to head back to the hotel for the next hour and a half until we could return for weigh ins. At this point I'd been dehydrating/dehydrated since Wednesday at 6 pm, ALMOST A FULL 48 HOURS. What a goddam mistake. We got two pizzas, a slurpee, some gummi bears (came in handy the next day, that's for sure), a few Reese's, and my three pedialytes, and I started trying to consume everything I could. That ended up being another mistake because obviously fats slow down absorption, so over the course of the next 7 hours I ate and drank as much as I could but I wasn't rehydrating at ALL. My scale reads bodyfat/bones/muscle mass/and water %, and I couldn't get my water % to increase. I was bloated in my stomach but had bad dry mouth still, it was an odd and terrible combination. This unfortunately led to another awful nights sleep and increased nerves since I knew my body wasn't feeling right at all. I continued to drink water through the night, but to little result. In the morning I was back up to only 208 but I could tell it was all in my stomach since I still hadn't urinated more than a tiny, very very unhealthy yellow amount. I tried to choke down an oatmeal/protein shake I'd make the night before, but my stomach still felt bloated and getting anything down was a challenge, and I still had dry mouth. My forearms and hands were feeling swollen and weak, and my calfs and quads were feeling shaky as well, and I was so angry that the rehydrating was going this way/that I'd done such a poor job at this. Why didn't I do a practice cut a month out? This general feeling of being ultra dehydrated, cotton mouth, swollen forearms and hands and weak grip, and shaky legs, persisted until around noon, then started to settle down a bit. At this point I still could barely urinate and it was still a dark yellow. Muscularly I just couldn't generate any power and barely any stability, and I felt a heavy fatigue and lethargy. I was so frustrated, but determined to do as well as I possibly could, knowing that I have a habit of thinking my way through situations sometimes when I should just ACT instead. My wife continued to make me take sips of water and eat gummy bears here and there. Around noon I took a half a preworkout supplement (ECA stack) and the water was starting to get into my muscles. Right around the husafell carry I started to feel a little like myself, but made the error of wearing a tight belt during the event. This is the event I have very little experience with and I paid for it heavily because I couldn't breathe at all during that run. The pick up felt smooth and easy, and the weight in my hands felt oddly light (my grip strength/power was finally coming back), but I was getting first half and then quarter breaths throughout the run. I knew going into the husafell that I was in the lead by 1 point and I did NOT want to drop that lead, but sure enough I missed 1st and 2nd place by around 35 feet. I truly feel that I could have gone another hundred feet, weight wise, had I not had the belt inhibiting my diaphragm. Serious live and learn moment. So going into stones I was in a tie for 1st Place and I knew I was starting to feel like myself more and more every minute, and that I needed to do everything in my power to take the event so I could take the competition. I was able to pull out the stone win and the competition 1st by being the only one in our class to get the 4th stone.
For next time, if I ever have to do a water cut, I'll be so much more prepared and understand that I can cut more than enough the day of weigh ins and to not compromise myself for the 48 hours before. Finally, as a big woohoo and also lol: I was able to have redemption on the 605 deadlift that beat be two years ago at this contest, and did so while forgetting to lever my damn belt closed. With all the weight I'd dropped, the belt would have been a little loose even levered closed, an unlevered as it was it may as well have not even been on. So major PR for my on that event with a double at triple bodyweight axle with no belt!
(Copy and paste of the YouTube description)
1st Place in the 200 class. Made several mistakes and learned a great deal from this competition. Came in severely dehydrated and performing at 70% power until around 2 pm when my body finally rehydrated and woke up. Went into stones tied for first and was able to pull out the win by loading the 305 stone.
List of mistakes for future reference/other competitors:
Rickshaw - Trying to sprint from the start. It was too heavy for that, so when I took a step and it didn't come with me my grip opened up. With lighter weight this wouldn't be an issue, or if my grip/forearms weren't so dehydrated. Next time: Either way, doing a practice pick with closer to competition weight would have helped a great deal.
Circus DB - I was too amped up knowing how compromised my power output was and didn't drop under it the 2nd and 3rd attempts. Once I switched to my right hand my instinct to drop into a jerk took over which is why I got those two even though my right shoulder wasn't as put together. Next time: just drop under and jerk instead of push press.
Deadlift - I didn't even tighten my belt. It's a lever belt and it was loose/may as well have not been on. I was so intent on getting at least a single rep here since I zeroed on it two years ago at this contest that I forgot to lever it closed. Mistake. Still very happy to pull a double with triple bw on the 16" axle with essentially no belt. Next time: just close the belt.
Husafell carry - The exact opposite problem, I shouldn't have used a belt, it was a major error. The pick and transition to bottom loaded carrying position was super easy and my body felt like it was finally waking up and I was pumped, until 10 steps in to the carry run when I realized I could only take half breaths at best. I wasn't leaning back so it wasn't the husafell itself, but rather my belt completely shut down my diaphragm. I'm surprised I got as far as I did and went until tunnel vision set in and I was about to pass out. Next time: no belt.
Atlas Stones - No real mistakes here other than I should have one-motioned the first stone. One good thing was putting extra tacky on the top of my hands because by the time I hit the 4th stone the tacky was mostly gone since these were very dusty/gritty stones. My right hand grip was slipping on the pick and the load portion on the first attempt at the 4th stone, but after reapplying the tacky from the top of my hands it went up no problem and felt night and day different.