The Throwdown

On Saturday January 19th, I competed in the Crossfit Countdown Gym Throwdown. I was asked a few weeks ago by a friend (Wendi Waugh, the awesome director SOMC Cancer Services/Community Health and Wellness) to compete with the team representing the SOMC Life Center. 

The competition was extremely well run by Ger Sasser and the Crossfit Countdown coaches and athletes who were not competing. 

My morning started out relaxing a bit more than normal, as Wendi and her brother Brian Saunders picked me up at 8 AM. By the way, much respect to Brian, hometown boy doing his thing publishing 11 Athletics magazine (definitely worth checking out and picking up!). We rolled into Ashland at 8:45 and I (of course) had to request the "necessary" Starbucks stop! We arrived at Crossfit Countdown just after 9 and quickly checked in, saw our heat assignments posted, and got ready for the athletes meeting. Countdown provided every competitor with a sweet t-shirt. It was great to see Brad Fuller from Crossfit Thunder, very cool member of the "community" and found out we would be competing in the same heat. 

A quick announcement, and all of the competitors reported to the competition area. The area was roped off, and the areas for the three WODs were clear and well organized. Ger lead all the athletes through the standards and the work required for each of the WODs. Coach Jared served as the demo-dummy and showed standards and what would be no-repped. 

After a athletes meeting , the first heat began. Each heat consisted of six athletes (usually four males and two females), and would cycle through the WODs with around 20 minutes of time between WODs once you began.

WOD 1: (15 minute timecap)

2 minutes to establish a 5 pull max wattage on the Concept 2 rower
then 
3 rounds for time
500 meter row
15 sit-ups with Abmat
20 Wall Balls

WOD 2: (10 minutes)
9 minutes to establish 1 rep max on clean
- start with 135 pounds
- complete 7 24" box jumps after each successful clean
- go up 10 pounds each attempt

from 9 - 10 minutes (1 min) complete as many deadlifts as possible with the successful cleaned weight (used as a tiebreaker)

WOD 3: 12 minutes

0 - 3 minutes (mini WOD) - run 400 meters for time

3 - 10 minutes (7 minute AMRAP)
5 front squats (115 pounds)
7 toes to bar
9 shoulder to overhead (115 pounds)

10 - 11 minutes rest

11 - 12 minutes AMRAP Burpees!


I would venture to say that these three workouts would test all the competitors 10 general physical skills!

3...2...1...Go!

I was assigned to heat five and had to wait til nearly 11 before beginning. This gave me some time to watch some truly incredible work being done by my fellow competitors. I saw guys pull over 1000 watts on the rower! I can scarcely imagine the power. As my time drew closer, i moved to the warm-up area and started getting ready to compete (takes me a bit longer than it used to take). Some foam rolling, some rowing, some dynamic stretching and I was getting to the ready point. I had fueled up on some of the paleo snacks that they were selling, which I have to say were very tasty! You can find the recipes here at the blog that Ger's mom maintain. 

My heat was called to the rowers and I had to demo each of the standards for my judge. I really like this as it gives you a chance to connect with the judge, and establish what he/she will be looking for during the WOD.  As the earlier heats finished their work, and the judges reported out, i was ready to get on with the work. For me, the time spent in anticipation of the competition seems to crawl by, and I just want to get started! The time came for my heat and we started our 5 pull max outs. I was able to pull in the high 600s on my first attempt, and went to 748 watts on my second. That was enough for me, and I rested and waited for the next phase to start. At the 2 minute mark it was go time, I went out fast to get the flywheel moving and completed the row in just under 1:40 and was second off the rower in my heat. I moved onto the sit-ups with no issues, and it was on tot he wall balls. Wall balls are not something that are programmed with great frequency into my workouts (for various reasons). As I progressed, I felt the fatigue of the row and ended up with two no reps, which put me slightly behind on getting back to the rower. The second round went pretty smooth, I began to feel some additional fatigue on the row and my average crept into the high 1:40s. Sit-ups were no problem, by cycling through them quickly left me without a chance to bring my heart rate down. i should have focused tightly on my breathing to bring myself back, but I was focusing on the other competitors and not on me. The wall balls again bite me, as i had three no reps and let the ball drop twice. On round three, the rower was really starting to jump on my back, and my average rose again, and I saw the 1:50s way too often. I was still second off the rower, and the sit-ups, but Chris, from Firebreather Fitness, was able to pass by me on the wall balls and I had a couple of no reps and a drop. I finished at 10:03. I want to get closer to 9:00, but I really need to be more consistent on the rower and cycling through wall balls. It was clear that my heat had some solid competitors!

Around 20 minutes later we began the clean ladder. the structure of the ladder was a test of more than just pure 1 rep strength as you had to complete the box jumps in between, and you could only increase 10 pounds with each attempt. Talking with Ger, he had gone to 285 pounds when he completed this WOD. During my heat, 255 pounds was reached by Brad (very impressive!) and I saw Chris just miss at that weight. For myself, i was very pleased with be able to clean 225 pounds (my personal PR!) and then was able to hit 18 reps on the 1 mintue deadlift tiebreaker! I'll take that for a strength WOD!

After downing a couple of the incredibly tasty Cocoa Delight protein bites, it was off to the final WOD! After typing that I feel like there should have been theme music and a slow walking montage to the staging area!  The beginning of the final WOD featured a 400 run (sprint for some though), and if you know me, you know I don't exactly like to run! After the walk down Greenup Avenue, we reached the painted start line. John Davis had the radio, we all heard Ger say "3...2..1.Go!" and the sprint began. I cruised in at around the 1:33 mark (about my usual time for a 400 meter run). I was fifth in my heat. I was OK with that time. As i crossed the line, I found out that Brad Fuller smoked it at 1:01! That was simply astounding! No blocks, no cleats, running on the streets, and he comes in a just over a minute. Unreal! I used the time remaining to get ready for the AMRAP. 115 pounds is a bit out of my comfort zone, not that front squats are in it either. As the AMRAP progressed, I was able to go unbroken through the front squats and T2B. When I reached the Shoulder to overhead, I broke them up into 5 reps then 4 reps and was able to drop right into the front squat on the last rep. Progressing through, I was able to get to the proper depth (hip crease below the knee) which is a struggle sometimes with my hip mobility (or lack thereof). i did have a couple of no reps here and there on my T2Bs. I struggled with the S2O portion, as I knew I would. I broke them up into sets of 3 and was able to knock them out that way. I finished 5 complete rounds with 30 seconds til the rest started. I moved my bar an caught my breath and got ready for the last minute of burpees. Truly an insidious way to end the day! But, who doesn't love burpees? Hitting the standard of jumping on the plate and clapping behind your back was not nearly as difficult as it sounds, and made the judging of the standard consistent. I was able to knock out 20 before the timer dinged. 

The Throwdown was a great event and taught me some lessons! I definitely need to up my strength programming to make strides. I don't get out of my comfort zone enough with weights. Getting out of your comfort zone is what Crossfit is all about. You find out a lot about yourself and how you'll respond when you're off balance and the thought of stopping pops into your head. 

Also, I am struck by the great community feel that Crossfit has. It was great getting to interact with the other competitors. I met lots of cool people. Everyone seems to be having a great time. Never once did I see bickering with a judge or other competitors that often mar sports. This is a testament to the collective community that Crossift creates, and to the quality of people who volunteered their time to ensure that this was a successful event. Clearly evident was the time and care that went into this event. Again, I want to compliment them and say thank you for helping me have a great experience!

I was very fortunate for Wendi to ask me to be a part of their team, and really enjoyed the time with the guys! Hopefully we will be able to do this again, and if not at least hit a WOD together soon!