Day 1 – HSPU or Else!
The first day was a deal-breaker for many athletes both on teams and in the individual competition– if you could do handstand pushups at a good pace, no problem. If you couldn’t, you found yourself already at the back of the pack and having to fight your way back in the next three wods.
Team
19 teams of 6 athletes showed up to compete for a spot at the Crossfit Games. Our intrepid group of Zoners brought a great mix of skill, power, and endurance that challenged well for top spots in several wods. Here’s how the first day shook down
Event 1 – Row – Handstand Pushup
- · 4x750m row, 50hspu (as a team, broken up as needed), 4 x 750m row
- · Team members – Dee, Adam, France, Warren (Dub)
- · Placing: 10th (26:59)
Adam and Dee found themselves staring down some crazy low splits in their first rows in the excitement of the first event but managed to hang on. Dub and France were rocks – calm and composed throughout the WOD. Francey rocked a solid single handstand pushup and Deanna was a powerhouse, banging out several in a row on many occasions. Adam paced the second row much better and hammered out an amazing effort – likely equivalent to a 3:08 1k or thereabouts… amazing!
Event 2 – Thruster Ladder
- · 30 sec to lift successively heavier bars overhead in a single attempt
- · Women start at 105, Men at 155
- · Team members – Linds and Paul
- · Placing: 6th (combined total – 350lb)
Paul “PR” Prsala definitely earned his dinner in this WOD with a beastly 225lb thruster – indicating the importance of having a strong dude (and dudette) around when the need to lift heavy stuff arises! Linds performed very well also with the work over the past months on front squat technique paying off with better power transfer when moving the bar overhead.
Individual
40 strong male competitors and 26 fierce female athletes registered for the Regionals. Smaller numbers (especially on the women’s side) gave fewer chances to move up or down, which rewarded very strong performances but equally punished athletes finishing near the back of the pack in any workout.
Event 1 – Run 1k, 30 hspu, row 1k
This turned out to be a huge odyssey for the women, who were given the wrong run course not once but twice! At the end of the day, all female competitors had to redo a portion of the workout – full credit to them as that was probably the last thing they wanted to do!
| Athlete | Placing (time) |
| Charly Thivierge-Lortie | 14th (22:43 – for both parts!) |
| Lucas Parker | 4th (9:06) |
| Tom James | 2nd (8:44 – amazing!) |
| Cam Birtwell | 26th (12:53) |
| Mike McCabe | 38th (27:02) |
Event 2 – Thruster Ladder
Strict (and sometimes inconsistent) judging on this movement lead to some early exits on both the women’s and men’s sides.
| Athlete | Placing (weight) |
| Charly Thivierge-Lortie | 19th (115) |
| Lucas Parker | 1st (255) |
| Tom James | 13th (215) |
| Cam Birtwell | 32nd (195) |
| Mike McCabe | 40th (175) |
Overall a mixed day for our individuals. An excellent performance in the first wod and a strong thruster pushed Tom to near the top of the standings. Lucas had a well-measured first WOD and an outstanding max thruster (in a “snug” singlet!) that set him up well for the events to come. Charly came back from a tough first run at the run-hspu-row wod to absolutely crush the second version of it. Mike had a tough start with the hspu after running well but we all knew he would come back strong the following day. I did better than I had expected in the first wod but fell short of what I needed to get in the thruster in order to put myself in qualifying position for Sunday.
Day 2 – Heavy Weight, High Volume
Most teams and athletes showed up with something to prove on Saturday – one group wanted to state that Friday was not a fluke while the other group was looking to move up significantly to recover from a poor first day performance. Teams had to secure a top 10 ranking by the end of the day to advance; individuals were pushing for a top 14 placing that would enable them to move on.
Team
Event 3 – Deadlift – Box Jump (high!)
- · 21-15-9 of deadlifts (185/275) and box jumps (24/30)
- · Male athlete completes full workout then female switches in
- · Team members: Paul and Linds
- · Placing: 10th (12:15)
Great push by both team members in this one – the combo of heavy deads and high box jumps was a toughie but Paul and Linds powered through. It was great to see each athlete cheering the other on and inspiring them to keep at it. Paul was steady throughout and again Linds’ technical skill paid off with rapid-fire box jumps.
Event 4 – 250’s!
- · 250 reps (as a team, broken up as needed) each of – ctb pull-ups, kettlebell swings (35/55), double unders, overhead squats (65/95)
- · Team members: Dub, France, Adam, Dee
- · Placing: 7th (30:24)
The chest to bar pull-ups were a tough ask for the athletes in this one. After that though, the team worked well – switching quickly when needed and pushing fast consistent reps as opposed to grinding out slow ones and eating up time. This wod in particular was an excellent demonstration of how a team should work together – a less cohesive group would not have done nearly as well as Dee, France, Dub and Adam in this WOD.
Individual
Event 3 – Deadlift – Box Jump
- · 21-15-9 of deadlifts (205/315) and box jumps (24/30)
| Athlete | Placing (time) |
| Charly Thivierge-Lortie | 21st (9:19) |
| Lucas Parker | 1st (3:52) |
| Cam Birtwell | 14th (5:43) |
| Tom James | 24th (6:49) |
| Mike McCabe | 36th (10:24) |
Event 4 – 100’s!
- · 100 reps each of: pull-ups, kettlebell swings (35/55), double unders, overhead squats (65/95)
| Athlete | Placing (time) |
| Charly Thivierge-Lortie | 19th (26:01) |
| Lucas Parker | 3rd (21:03) |
| Mike McCabe | 13th (25:09) |
| Cam Birtwell | 19th (25:17) |
| Tom James | 21st (25:19) |
At the end of Day 2, our Zoner team had continued their excellent run through the wods and had secured a tied spot for 7th – and were on to Day 3! A great reward for a strong and well-organized team that was as good looking as they were fit 🙂 There was a lot of strategy in the team competition in terms of who competed in which workouts and our gang definitely got it right throughout the whole competition.
On the individual side, Charly pushed hard in both wods, with #4 taking her to place that I don’t think she’s been before in Crossfit… as a testament to her character, she finished strong although outside of the top 14. For someone with only a little over a year of Crossfit experience, Charly has progressed at a very rapid rate and has built technical skill on top of a super solid engine and will only continue to get better.
Lucas continued to press for the top position on Day 2. He won the deadlift-box jump wod in impressive fashion – going unbroken on the deadlifts and steady in the box jumps, catching his “fly and die” competition slowly but steadily. The 100’s workout offered up a much different challenge but Scoots worked at his steady pace, even pausing to change shoes after the pull-ups, and dug very deep to finish strong in the overhead squats.
TeeJ continued to perform well through the Day 2 wods. With his 2nd place finish in the first wod in his back pocket and a glint in his eye, Tom worked hard and ended the day in 11th spot. He came into the competition ranked 43rd but had earned his shot to compete with the big boys in the Sunday workouts!
I started the day with a bang as I knew I would have to move up big time if I had a chance at making my goal (top 20) or better. The deadlift-hspu wod was great fun and landed me my best finish of the weekend – 14th. The 100’s presented an emotional and physical challenge that was greater than I’ve seen in a long time, but I managed to push through as well as I could with the amazing support of an awesome Zoner crew.
In probably the gutsiest performance of the weekend, Mike McCabe came back from a tough first day to dominate the 100’s workout – gaining a 13th place finish and only 9 reps from finishing in the 25 minute time cap. Mike is a killer in midweight metcons and has huge mental toughness – it would have been great to see what damage he could have done in the Sunday wods.
Day 3 – Hang On!
The third day dawned with the promise of sore bodies but lots to play for. The pool of teams was whittled down to 10 and there were 14 male and female individual competitors left. The morning workout was a classic from the 2010 games and the afternoon wod was a final metcon push to see who would be left standing at the end of the day.
Team
Event 5 – Amanda
- · 9-7-5 of muscle ups and squat snatches (95/135)
- · Team members alternate throughout – male does 9 muscle ups, female does 9 then male does 9 squat snatches and so on.
- · Team members: Paul and Linds
- · Placing: 3rd!! (20:24)
Great work from the power-strength duo on this one, maybe the moment of the day when Linds busted out 5 consecutive muscle ups with full turnout! Paul made those squat snatches look easy-peasy!
Event 6 – Gauntlet Chipper
- · 20 calorie row, 30 burpees, 30 floor to overhead with dumbbells (35/45), 30 toes to bar, 100` walking lunge, 50` sprint
- · Athletes advance when person ahead has completed their reps
- · Team members: France, Adam, Dee, Dub
- · Placing: 9th (20:37)
Good strategy on this one as Adam (Abzilla the aerobic monster) raced out at the front, not getting any rest at all through the first few stations. Everyone kept a solid pace with the girls really stepping up on those heavy dumbbell floor-to-overheads… 35lb per arm is a lot, especially considering that France and Dee aren’t exactly hulking beasts! Once again Dub was solid and composed – obviously traits that lend well to high-pressure golf play as well as to crossfit wods!
Individual
Only TeeJ and Scoots were left in for the final two workouts in the top group of 14 athletes. Scoots started in first with Tom in 11th with both men looking to finish strongly.
Amanda –
| Athlete | Placing (time) |
| Lucas | 3rd (5:23) |
| Tom | 14th (15:09) |
Lucas stalked Amanda like a Terminator stalks a frantic human – consistent movement and strategy kept him on pace through the whole workout with unbroken muscle ups and calm but quick squat snatch singles.
Tom took on Amanda for the first time and fought well – the squat snatches looked easy but the muscle ups gave him some trouble. On another day, TeeJ will crush this workout!
Chipper –
- · 20 calorie row, 30 burpees, 40 db floor-to-overhead (45lb), 50 toes to bar, 100’ walking lunge with 45lb plate, 150’ sprint.
The final event of the competition would be daunting enough by itself but was even more so when layered on top of 5 tough prior wods.
| Athlete | Placing (time) |
| Lucas | 7th (12:37) |
| Tom | 14th (14:23) |
With his ticket already punched to California, Lucas didn’t even have to push at all in this workout but he’s not that kind of guy. In spite of tearing his hand a bit on the toes to bar, our Teen Wolf worked well through the wod and finished in 7th place – solidifying 1st overall in the competition! A well-deserved win from a dedicated, talented, and consistent competitor, who was #1 in our eyes even before his performance validated it.
Tom again worked very hard and crushed the burpees early on. Even in the depths of extreme fatigue, he pulled through and finished the workout, capping off a very good performance – especially considering his 43rd place ranking coming in – finishing a solid 13th overall. This improvement didn’t go unnoticed as Tom received a “WOD HOG” jersey from the competition organizers for being the one athlete who showed the biggest jump over the weekend.
Summary
The energy was electric, the venue was amazing, and the caliber of competition was higher than we have ever seen in Western Canada. Fuelled by the support of friends and family and with a background of training that stretched back 4-8 months, our athletes took the REgionals WoDs on head first and held nothing back. The result was a series of outstanding performances that everyone should be proud of.
On behalf of all the competing athletes I want to extend an enormous “thank you” to all our supporters both near and far – you are the wind beneath our wings 🙂 Special mention to Bob and Heather Cameron, our official sponsors!
If you didn’t make it out this year, I will say it again – this is NOT to be missed and you can guarantee that next year it will be even better!
Turts.
Today’s Workout
Buy-in: Shoulder Press – 5 x 8
- create a solid platform for the press by generating tension
- bar path straight up off shoulders, tuck chin
- no leg drive
WOD: Station Rotation
This wod is not a scored workout but should be completed at a good pace. The focus is on quality of movement so if you feel that your form is breaking down, slow your pace.
- 4 rounds of 30 seconds work, 30 seconds switching time through the following exercises:
- Wallballs (14/20)
- Ring Rows (scaled as needed)
- Box Step-ups (20/24)
- Russian Kettlebell swings (swing finishes at shoulder height)
Zone 2 – scale exercises as needed
Zone 1 – scale wod as needed
Cash-Out: 16 turkish get ups (total – mix sides and weights as needed)
