PA's Fittest Competition Overview

I now have my second crossfit competition under my belt.  It was a bit of a wild ride to say the least.  Lots of highs and definitely some lows as well, but overall it was a fantastic day.  Here is an overview.

WOD #1: The emergence of Senor Denos

600m Row, 30 ring rows, 30 ring dips

Journalmenu.com was there to take photos!  More on them soon!

I got a little thrown off mentally for this wod, I thought it would be 30 ring dips then into 30 ring rows…nope.  No excuses though, it is what it is so just go out there and try and kill it.

It started well enough on the row, I was averaging about a 1:43 per 500m so I didn’t kill myself and I felt good going to the rings.  Then it started to go downhill…. I did 7 fast at first, then I could only do about 4 at a time.  But I made it through them before most of the people in my heat.  Ring row time.  This is where everything started to go wrong.  My blood was already boiling from how poorly I did on the ring rows but then when I started to do the ring dips one of the rings started to slip lower than the other one.  It would have been ok if it was just a little bit, but during one of my dips, it slipped all the way down causing a no rep.

This is where senor denos came out.  I started cursing…loudly.  I was just angry.  Not at anyone in particular, more than likely I was just angry at myself.  When time expired, I had only completed 23 of the 30 rings dips and continued to curse loudly and walk away.  You see, when senor denos comes out, I get loud…I just don’t care.  Some people have quiet disappointment…not me or him (how do you type when you talk about an alter ego?), I turn into a foul mouthed 5 year old who didn’t get his way.

I want to note here, I’m not saying that I would have completed if the ring didn’t slip. There was no way I was finishing that wod in time whether or not that ring slipped or not. At the time I needed to channel my anger somewhere and the inanimate object seemed the best choice.

I believe I finished at about 15th in this event.  It goes without saying that I did not come close to my goal.

WOD#2 Victory for Senor Denos

Snatch time.  This is the event I was most looking forward to.  The Snatch Ladder.  I felt great warming up for this event.  When my name was called, I easily made it through 85, 95, 105 and 115 ….now time to hit up 125.  My nemesis the past 2 weeks.  I HATED 125!  I was angry again.  But this time, I was angry at the bar. I channeled that anger and I got 125 up…EASILY.  Woah..ok that was unexpected.  Surely I would fail at 135…nope.  Got 135.  I actually slammed the bar down at this point.  At a weight that was introductory to the rx division, I acted like I was Jake getting 245.

Senor Denos didn’t care.  It was a 20lb PR for me.  Ok time for 140, I was on a high, I could lift a house right now.  Boom.  140 was over my head like it was nothing.  SLAM!   I’m the strongest man on earth!    Bring 145 to me so I can make it look like a paper weight.  3-2-1 go!  Oh shit..this just got real.  Failed on my first attempt (I should note that I was close on this).  Second attempt, not even close.  Third attempt…I hit myself in the face with the bar.

Yes, you read that right.  I lifted and slammed my face into the bar.  Ouch.  Instantly I remember that there are 300 people here that just saw that.  Do’h.  I’m the dumbest man in the world!

Regardless I hit a 25lb PR on the lift.

Here I do have to say thank you to Jake for having his oly lift classes.  It was a huge help in preparing me for this.  His help along with some pointers from Mike and lifter Chris were critical in helping me get that weight.  My form is still a train wreck but it is miles ahead of where it was because of you guys.

Goal of 125 lbs was demolished.

WOD #3: “Fran” : Senor Denos Hates that Fran Bitch

I’m not going to go too much into this other than to say I sucked.  Plain and simple.  I was not mentally prepared for this workout.  Once I was done that snatch ladder I got too cocky or optimistic or something and just completely dropped the ball.  I finished with a time of 7:57, a full minute slower than just 3 days ago.  Terrible.  The only bright spot was doing the final 9 pull-ups unbroken (it was nice having Molly and Evan screaming at me…there was no way I was coming off that bar).  

This would be a silver on my original goal list but a non-medal on the new goals list.

Final Standing

In the end, I came in 15th place out of 36 competitors in my division.

I will have much more on this event in the coming days, including how I saw some athletes react to judging, the overwhelming support from those not competing, and a little bit more on senor denos.

It Doesn't Look That Tough

Never...and I mean NEVER say those words before a crossfit workout.  You will eat them...and then likely puke them back up.  There are workouts and weights that just seem so easy, but when inserted into the workout they become insanely difficult.  For example, if I told you to do 10 reps of power cleans at 135lbs and then do a 200m run, the reaction out of muscle heads is "that's easy, no big deal".  Then you realize you have to do 10 reps, run 200m, then do 9 reps and run 200m...so on to 1 rep and 200m.  Oh..and you have to do it AS FAST AS YOU CAN!  ouch!   It can be vomit inducing at times.   

So never, ever, ever, ever say "that doesn't look so bad" when you see a crossfit workout.   And if some one says "that's easy" then challenge them to come in and give it a try.  

WODs

Saturday:  Barbara 

5 rounds of:

20 pull-ups

30 push-ups

40 sit-ups

50 air squats

3 min break between rounds.  

Times  4:45, 6:30, 6:05, 6:45, 5:57  (times are approximate as they were taken by my phone constantly running)

This was a crossfit 610 field trip day to the local park.  Proves yet again that if life throws you a curve ball, you CAN still get a great workout in.   Had a great time with this group.  Acorns were going places that even the best squirrel detective could not find.  

Me crapping in the woods

Great group of people.  Missing 2 who had to jet early.

3 of the 4 motions in action.  Missing the Pull-up bar.

Marc helping the future of crossfit!

Sunday:  Rest day.  Painted a room in the house

Monday:  Strength:  70% x 3; 80% x 3; 90% x 3+ of Back Squat AND shoulder press

WOD: 100 DU, 100 Ring Rows, 100 Double Unders

Rings Rows SUCK!   As for the strength I felt like I killed it.  I was able to do 5 reps at 90% which is funny because 90% is about 190lbs which is 5 pounds HIGHER than my one rep max of about a month and a half ago.  The shoulder press I was able to do 8 reps of 90 lbs (my one rep max is 95lbs).

As for the WOD...ouch.  False grip still is a problem but I tried to do it for a lot of the ring row stuff.   Double Unders are getting better each time I do them.  I got through the first 100 in about 1:45 which means I would have killed my 2 min max of 105.     I'm moving in the right direction!

Diet

This past weekend was difficult diet wise.  I did well at times..then when I was presented with free ice cream the caveman in me just disappeared and fat Dennis made an appearance.  Ice cream is without a doubt my biggest vice and I have to do more to control it.  Did some great grocery shopping yesterday which should help make this week go really well.