Crossfit Challenge

Pre workout

Today my friend Jeff convinced me to attend a 'Crossfit Challenge', kind of a prep workout for a Crossfit regional games in May. In truth, it didn't take much convincing, all he had to do was mention it and I of course said 'Oh, okay, why not, sounds fun'.

Until today that is, when I spent the entire morning today questioning my decision and wondering why I didn't just go do a normal 'easy' crossfit workout. Until today when I showed up at the Challenge and viewed the arrival one total bad ass 20 something woman after another -each looking stronger than the last. And until, I was one of the last two to start, so I had a good 1.5 hours watching others, the same others who were so bad ass, working their butts off and looking like they were in huge pain. I think crossfit works better when you get to jump on in and not think about it too much (Mom).

Oh, and a final intimidation factor. The workout consisted of several 'proscribed' weights. At the beginning the person running the challenge asked if anyone needed to scale any of the exercises (ie use a lighter weight). I was the only one who raised my hand. Fortunately, later on a few of the other women jumped in, but it was a bit of a shock, as there tends to be a bunch of scaling at my gym.

The workout:

1. 50 box jumps. A box jump is just as it sounds. You jump on a box (in this case a 20" one) and jump off. This actually was easier than I thought it would be. Piece of cake!

Me moving so fast on the box jumps the camera can't even catch me.

2. 20 Thrusters - proscribed weight 40K, I opted for 30K. Thrusters are tough! You hold a weighted bar at shoulder height, squat down, then as you lift up you thrust the weight overhead until your arms are straight (using your hips to move the bar). One note about this Challenge. For the workout you had your own judge counting and making sure you were doing the exercises properly. Squatting had to be hips below knee level. This not something my body does very well and not something I'm used to having monitored. When I got done with about 6 thrusters I looked over to Lisa (my judge) and she told me I had only done three! Hopefully she didn't see (or take personally) the evil eye I pegged her with, because she was actually very nice in every other respect.

The woman behind me is doing an overhead squat.

Closed eyes are very helpful, I think I did my entire row with closed eyes.

3. 30 pullups - pretty straight forward. I used a band to help with the second half. (For regular blog readers, I haven't perfected or taken my kipping pullups public yet.)

4. 800 Meter Row - I think this was the rest event for most people. Oh, and don't think we were hitting the water with oars, in crossfit you use an ergometer, essentially a stationary rower. And expend lots of energy to go nowhere!

5. 30 Overhead Squats - proscribed weight 30K, I went with 20k. I probably could have done 25, but I have a pulled muscle in my leg and overhead squats were hurting it a lot on Thursday, so I went with 20. Overhead squats, hold a weight overhead arms straight and squat. They suck.

6. 20 Deadlifts - proscribed weight 70K, I did 60 and probably should have done 70 (60k is roughly my body weight. With a deadlift you start with a really heavy bar and lift it off the ground. Then tend to make you dizzy as you're supposed to hold your breath to stabilize your midsection.



7. The Coupe DE Grace, 50 wall balls........ Wall ball is my nemesis. This, along with burpees, is probably my least favorite exercise. You hold a medicine ball (in this case 14 pounds), squat, then as you raise up you throw the medicine ball to a certain height on the wall. In my gym there is a line of the wall and you just hurl it. Here, there were little wooden targets set away from the wall that you had to hit (remember my own personal judge). In the beginning I kept getting docked because I wasn't hitting the target, but then I think my judge got a bit more lenient. Now here's the kicker, I was one of the last two to start the competition. I had been just cruising along at my own pace. I was doing my wall balls in a corner with only my judge and Jeff watching when suddenly I was the final person working out and the center of attention. Suddenly the entire gym knew my name and was encouraging my wall ball progress, offering tips, and encouraging me to rush through rest breaks.

Anyone having this much fun in the middle
of a set of 50 wall balls, is not working hard enough. Note the small wooden target!

So it was fun, in that painful crossfit kind of a way! I was reminded that I need to have faith in my abilities and not be intimidated. I finished about mid pack and used roughly the same amount of scaling as many of the women.

Special thanks to Jeff who invited me, gave me almonds as I was jonesing from lack of food and the caffeine in my nuun, and was hugely encouraging through out my work out. Much more encouraging of me than I was of his workout (I was too busy watching the pain of the 20 somethings and being intimidated to be fully supportive). Jeff kicked ass, finishing fourth in a field that was probably half his age (he's my age).

I am pretty sure we represented Crossfit Seattle and the master's set very nicely! In fact, had there been a master's category. Both Jeff and I would have come in first!!!

Lindsay, the female winner at 19+ minutes was all of about 17 and arrived with her parents!