February 6th Meet Results

USAPL California State Powerlifting Championships
Junior division/82.5 kg weight class
Weight: 80.6 kg (177.6 lbs)

Squat
297.5 lbs -3 whites
325 lbs - 3 reds: right when I started descending I lost my balance and came back up slightly and they told me to rack it
330.5 lbs - 3 whites: didn't feel too bad, had at least 10 more pounds in me but I wanted to play it safe and not go up in weight too much

Bench
203.75 lbs - 3 whites: felt pretty easy
231.25 lbs - 3 reds: got it up maybe 6 inches off my chest and then it stopped
231.75 lbs - 3 reds: got it up to about the same spot as 2nd attempt but this time they let me struggle for a while which left me really tired before deadlifts

Deadlift
391.25 lbs - 3 whites: easy
424.25 lbs - 3 whites: (PR) came up fast off the ground but i struggled a little bit at lockout
440.75 lbs - 3 reds: got it up right above the knees and tried to grind it out but couldn't

Total: 958.5 lbs

Initially I was pissed off at the mistake I made on my 2nd squat attempt, but I guess shit like that happens especially considering that I've only squatted in the Hardcore suit 3 or 4 times before the meet.

As for picking my bench press numbers, I think that's where the real mistake was. My reasoning was this: to go for a 1000 lb total (which was my goal), after the 330 squat I needed a 230 bench and 440 deadlift, so I decided to try 230 on my 2nd attempt to give me 2 chances at it just in case I miss. This backfired though because I couldn't bench it on either attempts and on top of that, both attempts left me really burnt out for deadlifts.

What I should have done was go for 220 on my second bench attempt then 230 on my 3rd. This (most likely) would have given me a bigger total AND left me a little less tired for deadlifts. I just have to be smarter at the next meet (and stronger too, obviously).

Lessons learned:
1. It's not always smart to change my planned attempts because it could result in more failed attempts and ultimately a lower total.
2. If something goes wrong early in the meet during squats, I shouldn't have a "do or die" mentality of reaching a certain total and should instead just go for as big a total as I can with my planned numbers.

Considering my goal of totalling 1000, my performance was kind of disappointing but I still had a really great time at the meet, especially lifting with and cheering on the 6 other UCLA lifters.
Congrats to Luke, Scott, and Trey on all the records that they broke. Big thanks to Dave, Matt, and Kyle for handling and also to Bryce and his dad for taking a ton of videos for us (I think it must have been 60+ since we had 7 lifters and 9 lifts each)