Long Road to 10 Minute Snatch Set

It's been a while coming but today I hit my first milestone - 10 minute set of Snatches with the 12kg!

I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't start Snatching with the 16kg until I was able to last for 10 minutes with the 12kg. And today I did it and feel pretty good afterward as well!

I missed my training sessions the last two days. Thursday I took off to rest and yesterday I slept through the alarm. (If you know me, that happens every now and again.) I saw the chiro yesterday and woke up today with my back a bit sore from it. Nonetheless, I decided it was time to go for 10. Here's what it looked like...

Swing: 12kg - 15/15; 16kg - 10/10; 20kg - 10/10

Snatch: 12kg - 10 minutes @ 14 rpm - total of 140 Snatches

In case you're interested here's the play-by-play on how I performed the set...
I have a large clock in front of me with a sweeping second hand.
On the floor out in front of me I have a digital timer that's on zero.
I chalk up and wait until the second hand of the clock hits the "9" - 15 seconds till we begin the set - at this point I start the digital timer.
I then prepare my stance, position the bell and get ready to begin.
When the second hand hits the "12", I start.
My focus my becomes gets the pace set and synchronized with my breathing. I've got to hit 3 reps before the second hand approaches the "3" on the clock.
As it hits the "3", I hit my 4th rep.
Three more to go before the second hand hits the "6".
And now we repeat for the next half minute.
And so on.
If I zone out and lose track of how far into the set I am, I glance down at the digital timer.
Once my breathing is comfortable, I then focus on my form.
At the top, the bell rested diagonally down across my hand.
To start the downswing, I focus on rotating the bell gently out of my hand to descend.
As it passes through my legs I focus on tightening my 'ok' grip.

Once I hit the 5 minute mark with my left hand I knew I was home free. My breathing was steady and controlled. It's all about pacing yourself.

With the Snatch, there are two avenues that I am now going to pursue. (1) Improve this 10 minute set by increasing my rpms. (2) Start with the 16kg once again and work my way up to longer sets as I did with the 12kg.

I still have a lot of work to do with my back. But at least I am able to move and train again. That makes it a lot more tolerable. Snatch 'em up baby!!