CrossFit 719 Grand opening!

It is always really cool to be able to say that you were one of the very first people to d a workout in a brand new gym.  I had that opportunity at the grand opening of CrossFit 719 in Colorado Springs on June 9th.  Josh C.  (Proud new papa of 719) called my coach GA and let her know that there was going to be a competition in conjunction with his gym's grand opening.  The first thought that I has was that he must be a serious glutton for punishment.  I have opened two gyms and the amount of work that goes into just getting the doors open is incredible.  Add to that the coordinated effort required to put on a competition and it adds up to several nights without sleep.  Josh handled it with grace and great composure. 
When we arrived there was a palpable excitement, a nervous anticipation of all the great things to come.  The gym was like a brand new pair of climbing shoes, fresh and without the marks and sweat stains that tell of great struggle and accomplishment.  The competition was held in the parking lot.  It was hot!  As a friend of mine would put it "It's Jabuti Africa hot out here!"  There was two workouts and a "Floater" which means that you could do it at your discretion anytime throughout the day.  The floater was 90 seconds of max rep thrusters at 85# for boys.  Now, if you know me then you know that I hate thrusters, they are the bane of my existence.  I was not happy when I heard I would be doing this.  Here is how the day broke down....

WOD #1
3 rounds for time of...
10 power cleans @135#
20 Kettle bell swings @55#
30 Lateral bar hops.

I was in the second heat and finished at 4:57.  Sean Turner went in the first heat and put up an impressive 4:58 while Hunter Lea was in the third heat and finished in 4:56!  So there was less than two seconds of separation between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place! 

I am not too proud to admit that I spent the next 2 hours with ice in my armpits and groin, throwing up under a tree. (Sorry laundry mat on the corner, I am sure that I scared away some of your patrons)  I had to do my Thrusters before the second WOD and I was not pleased, so much so that I decided that flip flops would be appropriate foot wear. 

I think I did 38 in a minute and a half.  I honestly didn't care.  It is a terrible terrible attitude to have I know.  But like I said before, I had been puking for hours and I HATE thrusters!  don't get me wrong, it is probably one of the best movements in CrossFit due to the sheer number of muscle fibers that are recruited and the complexity of the breathing pattern associated with it. 

 The second WOD started about 30 minutes after my thruster shit show.  In warming up for event two I vomited two more times.  I knew at this point that I had a pretty severe case of heat exhaustion.  My head was tingling and I was seeing spots before we even started.  I knew what I needed to do though.  I knew that pretty much everyone scored better than I did on the thrusters.  I needed to flip the switch. 

WOD #2

15 bar facing burpees

20 box jumps (24")

25 dead lifts @ 225#

400m plate carry run @ 45#

25 dead lifts @ 225#

20 box jumps

15 bar facing burpees

Finish time 6:40.  It was good enough for another 2nd place finish and 2nd overall in the competition. 

A great event put on by some terrific people!  The athletes that participated were all amazing.  I got the chance to meet several Crossfitters that I have known about for some time.  Sean and Hunter are two of the coolest people.  Tom Ashby is always a class act at every local event, cheering for his fellow competitors.  And even though Robby Z. refused to do my thrusters for me, it was still really cool getting to hang out with him and some of his crew from Alpine.  I tried to get him to divulge some of the workouts from his upcoming "Legends" Competition but being the fair and honest guy that he is he just smiled and said "You'll do fine."  I'm not much of a writer so consider that as my segue into my next post which will be on The Legends Competition by Alpine Crossfit.