As I sit here with the worlds largest bag of ice on my leg I figure now is the best time to reflect on the Tri-State Throwdown that was held at Albany Crossfit this weekend. First and foremost, I want to thank all of the coaches, judges, and volunteers that worked there fine fanny's off to make it such an amazing event for all of us involved. From the t-shirts to the monster workouts it was a great experience for all. Getting the chance to compete alongside some of the best athletes in our area and gym was such an honor.
My week leading up to the competition was a bit hectic and overwhelming. I had received some extra duties at work and I am coming up on my first game with my team in 2 weeks, so I had a lot of other things on my mind. So needless to say when WOD 1 was posted on Wednesday night my stress level heightened significantly. 8 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of 9 box jumps (24") 6 Handstand Pushups and 3-125lb front squats. Box jumps and front squats, what more could a girl ask for! Handstand pushups? I knew they were going to happen at some point, but knowing they were actually going to be in the WOD was like drawing Alabama in the first round of the NCAA tournament. A blow to your excitement level. Thank god I have made such amazing friends and have such fantastic coaches at ACF. Janie Wilkinson, Erika Wilson and Kia all helped me out leading up to Saturday on form to get at least one. Janie reached out to me the next morning knowing I was frustrated and said to meet her Friday to just try kipping and I'm so glad I went because I hit my first HSPU and jumped up in utter amazement and excitement and hugged Kia. I for sure thought that was never going to happen for as long as I ever crossfit. I put a lot of focus on pull-ups working up to the competition, so sadly my HSPU didn't get the attention it needed. All I needed to do was pray for 5 more to occur once in competition mode. Wellllll.....no such luck. I told my judge Maggie Doyle that this was going to be a rough one, thanks for sticking through it with me! I got my first on my 2nd attempt and then failed for a solid 7 minutes to get another. Up....slam.....Up.....slam. I was a chiropractors nightmare. WHY CAN'T YOU JUST PUSH YOURSELF UP AGAIN!!!??? That was my constant thought. Not a great start to my first individual RX competition, but I needed to remember that it was a PR for me. I had done an HSPU in a WOD for the first time ever, holy crap what is going on?!
(SIDENOTE-I wrote on my hands DON'T STOP to keep reminding me that no matter what was going on or how many times I failed or no rep'd I couldn't stop. I wouldn't have been satisfied if I sat through the WOD and gave up. If I kept pushing who knows what could happen. I suggest this tactic for future competitions.)
Well, Debbie Downer over here left and did a little sulking after the WOD, but had her spirits renewed by her friends Lindsay and Shelley that showed up to cheer me on. They couldn't believe I was even attempting what I was doing and were really supportive. I was so happy that they had come, it really meant a lot to me. I had to shake it off and know there was plenty more to come and I needed to be ready for anything. WOD 2 was announced about an hour later. As I was sitting there and Kevin was telling us that the Rec division was doing GRACE (my all-time favorite of the girl WODs) my heart started pounding in excitement. Are we doing GRACE RX??!! HELL YEH.....and then this happened. Kevin said that yes we would be doing 30 Clean and Jerks in our workout, but in order to even get to your first set of 10 you would have to do 20 chin over bar pull-ups. Heart....falls....to.....butt. I had just gotten kipping pull-ups a week or 2 ago, so doing 20 was going to be a slow and steady process. I was the tortoise amongst many hares in this WOD. HUGE shout out goes to my judge TK. I told him that this was going to be tough for me and I was probably going to be hitting them 1-2 at a time. I then requested that he keep yelling at me, loudly, and with profanity. BOY DID HE DELIVER! Every single pull-up he was in my face, chalking me up, and telling me to get the F*#$ back on the bar. I had a competitor/judge love moment. I kept staring at my hands and pushing through. Just get me to those clean and jerks, something I can do well!! My first 20 pull-ups ever later I got to the bar and ripped through 10 c and j's. Here we go....20 more. And there TK went, screaming and yelling as I did singles with probably the biggest kip known to man. I may have had crotch to bar at some point as I was swinging all 174lbs of me up to that bar. I heard so many people yelling for me to keep going and to push. Thank you all so much for that, you were my motivation to keep going. With 20 seconds left I finally got back to the bar again and did 4 clean and jerks, and then looked down to the whitest, most bloody hands I've ever had. They were ripped to shreds, but at that moment I didn't care. I had just done 40 pull-ups in a WOD. Yet another PR. On to the next one, dear God let it be something in my wheelhouse.
And there it was. My pride and joy. The strongman axle bar. Laying on the ground in all its glory with a huge pile of weights next to it. Here we go, something I can do!! I knew that the day was going to be one of the biggest challenges I would face thus far in my crossfit existance, so I knew that I had to capitalize on opportunities where WODs had movements I could do well in. 1RM axle clean and jerk was just that opportunity. Most of the room was like, what in holy hell is that? How do you even do it? That is how I feel when I see people fluttering on butterfly pull-ups, welcome to my world!! WOD 3 was a two parter-6 minutes to achieve a 1RM axle C and J, 4 minutes rest, then 6 minutes to row as far as you could. I had 16 minutes to black out and use every ounce of my body to do well in 2 events I knew I could excel in. 3, 2, 1....GO! I put 135 on the bar right away just to get a weight established. Hit it. Ok, I'm going to attempt 155. I get it up to my shoulders....push! FAIL! NO!! You can do this! I get it up to my shoulders and fail again. What is happening, get under the bar! I had a minor freak out moment and decided I should try 145. I heard other people hitting 130 around me so I knew that I had to do something and fast. I got 145. At this point I thought back to the time I visited up at Lake George Crossfit and had a WWDD (What Would Dirk Do) moment. Screw it, go big or go home. Let's hit a PR and get 160 right now! Boom, up to my shoulders. I waited for a second, composed myself, reset my hands and knew that I needed to get a huge push from my bottom half because my shoulders were smoked from the HSPUs and pull-ups. Big breathe in......BAM! Holy crap! If you have ever hit a huge PR in front of a crowd of people before you know the excitement that you feel when it happens. Unbelievable. I dropped the bar and said some profanities to it because that axle was a big time female dog that day and I just slapped it. I was going to try for 170 but ran out of time.....on to the row. I got set up in my rower and was telling my judge how much I was shaking from just doing that. Then over walks TK, my knight in shining armor. He apologized for not being at my C and J but he said that he knew I was gonna need him more during the row. (Earlier I told him that I wanted to personally request him as a judge for the remainder of the day because he was just the motivator I needed). The row began and I was just trying to stay in a zone, block everyone out, don't listen to what people are doing on the lifts. TK was yelling at me to stay under 2:00 pace for as long as I could. I stayed at 1:58 for about 3 minutes and then started to teeter between 1:58 and 2:10 until the very last minute. I heard TK say to my judge that he was going to start screaming and cursing at me 10 times more than he already was. I knew I had to put everything I had into the last minute. I felt like my legs were going to shut down, but knew I need to keep going, I wanted to get over 1500 meters. 3, 2, 1......1515 was my finish and I rolled off the rower to the ground. I gave it my all....I hoped it was enough. THANK YOU TK, THANK YOU. I can't even explain how much I appreciated you coaching me through that row. Back in the summer there was a moment when we were rowing in class and I'm pretty sure Dean came up to me and started throwing me back and forth on the rower because my form was so crappy. I can't believe how far I have come. That is what these competitions are all about.
I was ready to call it a day, WOD 4? What do you have in store for us? Oh...pistols? Ok, cool. Oh wait, we have to do them alternating on each leg? Oh....well that's unfortunate because I can only do them on my right leg which I figured out on Thursday. It looked as though I was going to be ending the competition just as I had started it. Fighting my way through one movement until the clock ran out. WOD 4 was the following-3 rounds of 7-185lb deadlifts, 14 pistols, and 21 unbroken double-unders (jump rope passes under you twice on each jump). I knew no matter what this was going to be a rough day in the office. Even if GOD entered my body and got me to do 7 pistols on my left leg, 21 unbroken double-unders was also going to be a serious challenge. I think my max is 15. I looked at my judge Julie Duncan and said that I would be doing left leg pistols for the entire time and I did just that. for 5 of the 6 minutes we had to complete the rounds I tried and failed. Down....fall. Ok, lets try holding my leg....nope, fail. At this point I started laughing. Thanks for hanging in there with me Julie! This is what I signed up for, deal with it and move on. As the clock ran down I could feel the pain building up in my leg. It was hurting pretty bad. As I pimp walked off (also known as a limp) I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes, why am I crying? Well, what I didn't tell you was that before the WOD I was told that I was in 8th or 9th and that I needed to do well and I could qualify for the 5th WOD. I don't know what I was expecting of myself, but I think I was just briefly disappointed. But then I said, stop it, you are an idiot. This was your first ever RX individual competition, you are lucky you didn't place last. Come back down to reality for a moment and look back on the day. I had so many firsts and PR's. I have been working towards pull-ups for 7 months and I did 40!!!!
The last WOD with the top 8 was the eliminator and let me tell you it was such an amazing site. I got to watch some of the people I look up to the most in the gym represent our community so well. Theresa "Booty" Lang and Miwa Andrus-you two are my idols. I am in awe of your talent and I look up to you both so much. Tiff, what can we say about her?! Your fight and drive through the whole day and that final WOD was the epitome of crossfit. I don't feel I deserved to be in any type of division with you all, and I am truly honored to be able to work out alongside you in our gym. I learn something new from you all from every conversation we have or WOD we hit.
Big shout outs to Crystal Colvin and Angie Ahr. My heat buddies. You girls rocked it out. Mark Sheehan, my male twin. Watching you do big lifts is awesome and I got so excited when you hit that axle. Tom Burkhart grabbing 1st place on the row! Barbara Sessa, my high school phys ed teacher who absolutely rocked the Masters Division. I was so happy that we had this opportunity to see each other after all these years. I can't wait to track you through the Open, Regionals, and Games. To all the coaches that competed-Kim, Viv, and Nikki. I loved getting to see you compete, you all did amazing. To all 90 day challengers that left their comfort zone and kicked some serious AAAASSSSSSS! Michele Sano, 2nd place, what what!! You are amazing girly :) Brian Mulvey, so great to see you and watch you compete!!
Thank you to all of the coaches and athletes that have helped me to get to where I am today. I have a laundry list of movements to work on and I can't wait to heal and get back to work. The second half of this 90 day challenge is going to be used to the fullest.
ps-How come no one ever told me that when you WOD all day and take your shirt off your stomach looks 10 times better than it did when you woke up that morning? I am doing 2-3 WOD's before any type of bathing suit activity from now on!!
pps-signed up for the Crossfit Open today.....ish just got real!
No comments:
Post a Comment