As many of you know, I competed in the BC Winter CrossFit Games this past weekend, and I have to say it was definitely one of the best CrossFit experiences I have ever had. Parts of the day are still a blur, but I still have several very distinct memories.
I arrived at the gym with Mehul and Krista, and we were the first athletes to get there. I guess we were a little eager. I hardly slept the night before, perhaps 2-3 hours at most. After finding out what the workouts were going to be the night before, I had so much nervous excitement built up in my body, my brain just wouldn’t shut down. In retrospect, I probably should have taken something to help me sleep. Due to the lack of sleep and for strategy reasons, I was hoping to not be in the first heat as I wanted to feel out the workouts a bit and see if my approach was going to work. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, as I was in the first heat. However, luckily, a familiar face (Deanna) was also put in the first heat. It was great to be able to warm-up with someone I knew and be out in the center of the gym with a fellow Zoner. It helped with trying to convince myself it was just another workout and not a big deal.
I definitely underestimated the difficulty of the first workout. I fully expected to cruise through it without much difficulty. However, as I discovered during my second round, my double under stamina was not what I thought it was. I managed to complete the workout in 6:34, good enough for 7th overall once all the heats were run. I had to sit outside for almost 20 minutes before the nausea left me. My lungs felt like they were on fire and it was probably the worst I’d felt after a workout in a long time. It wasn’t a feeling I was use to, and I really wondered whether I was capable of completing the rest of the workouts.
Once I had some nutrition in me, and I saw all the fellow Zoners there cheering people on, I felt much better. Shannon let me lay down in her car and just rest for 30 minutes in between the workouts. I made it back to the gym just in time to see Cam finishing his heat. I felt so inspired by him battling his well known goat head on by completing the 135 lbs overhead squats and then cruising through his 50 double unders, that I knew I wanted to win the next workout.
Due to the running in the second workout, it was the one I knew I had a really good chance of winning. Also, the winner of the first workout, who was in my heat, told me he was not a good runner, so I felt like I could get myself back into contention if I performed well.
I was first out of the gym and down to the track. Totally unexpected, I had some trouble getting into the track area. As I approached the track fencing, I stepped on some mud and fell sideways, slid along the ground and slammed ribs first into a medal fence post. The guy behind me almost stepped on top of me trying to get by. I was so shocked that I fell that my adrenalin kicked in and I jumped up almost immediately and regained the lead in the run. I was first back to the gym, but surprisingly to me, one guy stuck with me the entire run. I fully expected him to be gassed, but he also stayed with me throughout the workout. I gained a bit of a lead through the burpies but I struggled on the wall ball due to fatigue and also due to slightly different standards and setup. I was passed just as I had one or two wall balls left. Once I was finished, I heard a huge roar from the Zone crowd, and I ran over to the ab mat sit-up station and attempted to catch him. We finished 1 or 2 sit-ups apart, him with the win and me in second.
Going into the last workout, I felt like I was in a decent position to finish in the top three. But I was worried about the deadlifts in the final workout. Several of the larger guys in my heat told me they had max deadlifts over 400 lbs, while mine is a measly 305. I knew I couldn’t compete with them on the deadlifts, so my plan was to run my own race. Concentrate on finishing the deadlifts as quickly as I could, but not kill myself to stay with the larger guys, then go all out on the pull-ups and ring dips to catch up. This last workout was the most intense and fun one of the day. All I remember is all the Zoners cheering me on and running full speed between all the stations. My strategy paid off and I finished third overall in the workout.
One of my most vivid memories of the day was watching Cam battle in the second workout. He was incredibly smart throughout. He paced himself very well on the run, starting out conservative, and then passing several people through the last few laps. He was still pretty far behind coming into the gym, but his steady pace through the burpies and wall balls helped him catch up to the leader. He was second on the GHD machine, only seconds behind the leader. As we all know, the Zone doesn’t have a GHD machine, but despite this, Cam went through the 30 GHD sit-ups unbroken. There must have been 10 to 15 Zoners there cheering him on, yelling at him to keep going. It was an amazing performance.
Due to the heat distribution, and positioning of the athletes relative to me, I missed some of the girls performances. I’m sure Krista and Lani killed it like always. I vividly remember Mehul destroying the pull-up bar with his chest to bar pull-ups. I thought he was going to rip the whole thing down.
The level of support from all the Zoners that came out to cheer people on was amazing. Also, the camaraderie from the various athletes participating was fantastic. It was a competition, but in many ways it was the same as a regular workout. Everyone was cheering every person on. I know next year, there will be 20 Zoners killing themselves to participate and although I’m moving away, I really hope to come back to compete.
~ Sean “Spidey” Falconer
Just a reminder that the “Think Well” seminar is on Saturday, December 12th at 11:00am. If you have not registered and are wanting to please contact us.
Today’s Workout:
Buy In – Whats the highest box you can jump on?
WOD – “Perpetual Motion”
Elite/Zone 3: Perform 3 rounds of the following exercises
• 10 Wallballs
• 10 knees to elbows
• 10 pushups
• 10 squats
• 10 kb swings (35/55)
• 10 double unders
• 10 overhead squats (bar only)
• 10 inverted rows (feet on level with hands
• 10 db push press (25/40)
• 10 pull-ups
• 10 thrusters (bar only)
• 10 walking lunges
Zone 2: scale db push press weight, pull-ups adjust as needed
Zone 1: 2 rounds
Compare to October 6th, 2009
Cash Out – Full body stretch!
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100 Day Burpee Challenge:
Burpees today: 8
Buy-in: 36
