Hello Zoner team!
It’s 830pm on Sunday and the CrossFit Games 2011 are wrapped up and after parties are underway. The whole weekend was amazing – the excitement and energy built like a wave through Friday and Saturday, finally peaking in the late afternoon on Sunday.
The events for all categories were definitely true tests of fitness and the level of the athletes just continues to grow by leaps and bounds each year. I’d like to recount all of the amazing moments and stories to you here in this blog but I think I’ll rely on the CrossFit Games officials to fill you in with videos and articles at the games site.
One of the greatest things that is pretty unique to CrossFit is the accessability of fans to the competitors. I hope that never changes as the Games evolve and move forward. It just goes to show that this whole experience has grown from strength of community and so far it doesn’t appear that the big dollars have changed that. Case in point – at the after party at the Home Depot Centre, Rich Froning, Austin Malleolo, Coach Glassman, Rebecca Voigt, Katie Hogan, and more were all mingling in with fans… Rich even brought in his giant winners check!
It seemed like everything has gone by so quickly and the moments too numerous to count… suffice to say, it was an outstanding event in every possible way and definitely worth the trip!
If you headed down to the Games this year or watched the webcasts, feel free to share your favorite moments of the weekend in the comments 🙂 Looking forward to getting back and WODing with you all soon!
Turts
Today’s Workout
Buy-in: Back Squat 5×5
- Work up in weight to a heavy 5 reps
WOD: Two Little Ones
This is a combo of a couple of our own classics – these are both meant to be short, so keep the scaling within your abilities!
1. Little Isabel – 30 snatches for time (65/95)
Zone 3 – 55/75
Zone 2 – 45/65
Zone 1 – scale as needed
2. Mini – Wallup
3 rounds for time of:
- 15 wallballs (14/20) – hit the dot!
- 10 pullups
Zone 2 – scale to assisted pullups and wallballs to 10/14
Zone 1 – scale as needed
Score each WOD separately in MFT!
Cash-Out: Easy block jog as a group 🙂
My favourite moment (other than all of the times they showed Lucas) was when Camille Leblanc-Bazinet burst into tears when her rower wasn't on in the 9th workout. I know this sounds mean, and it probably is, but it illustrated to me just how much these athletes commit to each WOD, and just how destroyed they are after three days of crazy tough competition. After she lost it for a few seconds, she pulled herself together and came second in her heat. Totally inspiring.
Nice one Jenn…. yes that was an interesting moment… with everything on the line and every second counting it's easy to see how that would affect someone so strongly. Testament to her commitment – she did fight back, great to watch.
For me, the absolutely most inspiring moments came from the two smallest competitors at the games – Chris Spealler (5 times games competitor, 135lb) and Annie Sakamoto (5' tall and 112lb, original "Nasty Girl" from way back). Both competitors faced multiple wods in which the weight they had to move was significantly more than their bodyweight (Spealler – 195lb snatch, 225lb clean and jerk at the END of a wod, 21 front squats at 225 WITHIN a wod… etc etc and Annie clean and jerking 165lb and front squatting the same within a workout).
I can't really tell you how much it impressed me to watch those two perform and how it inspired a whole stadium full of fans when they competed. I will remember that for a long time!
No excuses, full commitment, self belief, and a whole lot of training. It's that simple 🙂
Cam
For me, my favourite moments, were watching Annie Sakamoto push and pull the sled .. when her original strategy wasn't working, she switched up her technique and tried again until she figured it out! I also enjoyed when Chris Spealler did the 3 rounds of 7 front squats 90 pounds over his body weight (also having to clean that weight from the floor). Watching these 2 perform has inspired me to work hard and cut the excuses.. if there's a will, there is a way! You may just need to adapt your perspective and strategy!
And of course, watching Lucas do so well against the big dawgs!! He was amazing to watch, and exciting to see that we haven't seen all of Scoots.. he is definitely on par for being and competing with the crossfit greats! He held his own in each WOD and showed everyone he deserved to be there and is Canada's fittest man:) I'm excited to see his Crossfit Career develop!!
Pat Barber (manimal) pulling the sled at the end of the last WOD on Sunday was pretty crazy. That guy is the champ at coming from behind and winning wods.
Agreed Dub… the Manimal has HUGE heart and absolutely no fear – Physcially he's very similar to TeeJ which was interesting to watch as they approach wods usually in the same way. Definitely a favorite to cheer on and that was an amazing moment when he decided to just turn it on and finish of the pull – the sound in the stadium was crazy!!
I agree with the Pat Barber moment. That was pretty awesome! I was also a big fan of the final team event. The come from behind win by Front Range Crossfit on the Karen portion of the workout was pretty neat. And I loved that prowlers and sleds with heavy loads were programmed into the workouts. That was cool to watch!
And by win, I mean 2nd place win…!