WOD Fest: My 1st Crossfit Competition (South of the Border)

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The Sun was shinning as athletes pulled up to the registration table at the first annual WOD Fest CrossFit Competition.  The setting, Magnuson Park, is a beautiful public park nestled on Lake Washington was ideal for what would prove to be an all out test of CrossFit prowess and athletic might.  Well, actually, it was just a beautiful place and ideal meeting ground/excuse for a bunch of CrossFit enthusiasts to get together and have a day of workouts.  Athletes from all over the West Coast spanning from Beaverton, OR to Vancouver, BC came together for individual and team events alike.

As touted on the event website, “WODFest is a CrossFit competition for all levels, test your metal against the best of the best in the Firebreather division, or if you do Prescribed weights compete in our RXed division, and if your a Master (35+ every 5 years) compete against athletes your own age in our Masters division(s)“.  And test the metal we did!

I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to compete alongside some great athletes and experience such positive people firsthand throughout the day.   Without the great athletes, volunteers and sport enthusiasts, this event would not have been what it was — “AWESOME!”

Here’s my WOD Fest Competition recap – an athlete’s perspective…

WOD 1:  “How Fast Are You?”

This little ditty was a 3-minute AMRAP.  The workout was simple in theory and many of the competitors rocked it out.  I had a couple hiccups with my double-unders at the start which cost me some time, but ended up with 127 reps and 4th overall for this event.

The workout:

• 10 x 24″ box jumps (game’s standard);
• 20 x double-unders.

 

Below is some sideline commentaries from my cheering squad…

WOD 2:  “The Sandbag Run”

I was dreading this workout most of all; “The Sandbag Run”.  For any of you that know me, I will remind you that I get my nickname “Moose” based that I tend to emulate this large animal when I run.  I repeat, I’m not a runner!  I tend to shuffle here and there, meanwhile hoping that I just keep moving forward without falling over or knocking into someone.

Regardless of my personal opinion of running, I maintained my motto, “Suck it up Buttercup!” and pushed through this workout.

The workout (for time):

• 800 meter run;
• 800 meter run with 30lbs sandbag;
• 800 meter run;
• 800 meter run with 30lbs sandbag.

My 13:33 on this workout got me 2nd place, putting me into overall 2nd spot heading into the 3rd workout.

A couple snippets from WOD 2, with some amazing commentary from my biggest supporter (thanks baby!)…

WOD 3:  “1 Rep Max Clean & Jerk”

I was looking forward to this event.  The Clean and Jerk isn’t my strongest lift, but it certainly isn’t one of my weakest either.  I knew going into this one I could put up a number that would be competitive and during the warm-up I put up 205lbs with ease, so decided that would be my opening weight.  The twist on this workout is that you only have 3-minutes to establish your 1 rep max.  Strategy is key as you will only be able to attempt 3 or 4 lifts during that allotted time.  This being said, I should have thought it out more before as you can see in the video, I fail at 250lbs after nailing 230lbs with little effort.

The workout:

• You have 3 minutes to establish a 1 rep max clean and jerk.

I really should have gone to my PR weight of 245lbs or even 240lbs as that would have given me 2nd place in this event and put me in 1st place overall.  That being said – the “woulda, shoulda, coulda” mentality never gets anyone anywhere so rather than dwell on my failed lift, I got centered and prepped for the 4th event.

WOD 4:  “Build it up”

Workout 4 was definitely a very cool and fun workout to do.  The premise is simple, get it done in 9 minutes or less.

The workout:  5 Rounds for time (9 minute time cap)

• 5 x Squat Clean Thrusters (increasing weight per round: 95lbs, 105lbs, 115lbs, 125lbs, 135lbs)
• 7 x Toe 2 Bars
• 9 x Hand Release Pushups
• 11 x 1.5 Pood (24kg) Kettlebell Swings

 

The scoring of the event is simple, fastest time wins.  Only 1 person completed this WOD in my division, and I was 10 reps short of finishing it, giving me a firm 2nd placing in this event and putting me into 2nd place overall with a 5 point deficit to the leader while heading into the 5th and final event.

Note in the video below, there was a little hiccup with my start.  We were instructed not to touch our bars as the volunteers would be responsible for loading the bar throughout the WOD.  I presumed that the weights were correct but upon executing my first thruster I realized that something wasn’t right.  Unfortunately they had a 15lbs plate on one end while a 25lbs (the correct size) was on the other.  they added 20 seconds on to my time at the end of the workout hence I’m still going after the time is called as seen in the below video.

 

The final WOD:  “Girls, Girls, Girls”

So here we were heading into the 5th and final event.  I was in 2nd spot overall with a 5 point difference between myself and the 1st place leader.  To make it interesting for all spectators and to make it easy to determine a clear cut winner, the organizers of the event implemented the “winner’s the winner” in the final.  What does this mean?  Simply put, a multiple of 3 seconds was used per point lead one had over the next competitor.  This meant that Michael, who had a 5 point lead had a 15 second head start on this workout, and in turn I had an 18 second head start over Brad who was in 3rd spot.  And so on…

This type of scoring is great for a lot of reasons, but most significantly is that it is still any person’s game and opportunity is there for someone to come out of  a large deficit and still win the overall competition.  If you recall, the 2008 Crossfit Games saw a dark horse, by the name of  Jason Kalipa, overcome a large point deficit to win in the final seconds of the last event.

It makes for some great action for sure!

The Workout:  Girls, girls, girls (for time)

• 21 x 225 lbs deadlift;
• 21 x hand-release push-up (note that the fire breathers did Handstand push-ups);
• 15 x 135 lbs Ground to overhead;
• 9 x 95 lbs thrusters;
• 9 x pull-ups.

 

If you notice this workout is comprised of Diane, Grace and Fran – the classic Girl workouts.  A great workout and one I plan to try again but as Rx’d with the HSPU’s.

Micheal, with a 15 second lead, was off like a race horse.  Beliveve me when I tell you, this guy is a beast.  Such an awesome athlete and I got used to following him around the WOD’s for the day.  he set the bar high and I trailed him throughout.  At one point during the final WOD I actually slipped ahead but soon ran out of gas on the thrusters and ended up placing 2nd overall by 10 seconds, with a final time of 4:21 to Michael’s 4:11 finish.

Overall, my opinion of WOD Fest is summed up in one statement:  “freaking amazing!”  And for all of you whom are considering to enter into competitions in the near future, this is one to earmark.  I’m sure that in the next year more events of this nature will pop-up and it is a great 1st time event no matter your level in CrossFit.

Thanks again to my biggest supporters, Christie and my girls along with the great words (shouts) of encouragement from Katie, Jeremy, Ben and Baker.  The energy you shared with me made the whole event a positive, fun experience.

Will I see YOU next year at WOD Fest 2012?