The Road to Regionals

It's just past 3 am and I am sitting in a hotel lobby in Salt Lake City Utah.  Typically if I am sitting down to write at three o'clock in the morning it means that I have been over served at a local tavern and I am feeling loquacious.  Tonight is different, I can't sleep because every muscle in my body is cramping in an almost symphonic nature.  About ten hours ago I managed to place 14th in the CrossFit Games South West Regional, which is an improvement of 20 places over the previous year.  But that isn't where this story begins.  In all honesty the journey started the day after last year's 34th place finish.  It has been 360 days of focus and preparation to stand on the same stage as some of the best CrossFit athletes in the world.  360 days of sacrifice and sore muscle, 360 days of commitment to the craft.  Make no mistake, the individuals at this level are professional athletes and they are dedicated to CrossFit as a way of life not just a hobby.  They live it, breath it, bleed it every day.  I knew last year that if I stood any sort of a chance against such a competitor that I would have to step up to their level.  I will tell you this right now though, every delicious golden ale that was skipped, every night going to bed at nine o'clock, every missed day snowboarding with my friends was worth it because only by delaying gratification can we find true fulfillment. As my torn hands peck away at this key pad I feel completely fulfilled.


Since I have already spoiled the ending for you and you know how I placed please let me at least tell you a few details of the weekend.  We were tasked with a total of 7 workouts over 3 days.  This is what they looked like....

Workout 1-
"Jackie"
1,000m row
50 thrusters (45lb)
30 pull ups

Rowing has never really been my thing so having this as the first movement of the weekend was a little unsettling.  What should we do when we suck at something?  Do it.... a lot!  I rowed between 3-6 kilometers a day from the time that this workout was announced.  I set my goal at sub 6 minutes, which would be a personal best for me on this workout.  I figured that if I rowed a controlled pace and stayed within myself I had a good shot at going unbroken in the thrusters and pull ups.  I set my dampner to 9 and rowed 22 strokes per minute at a pace of 1:46 per 500m.  I was the last person off of my rower in my heat.  The strategy payed off and I went through all 50 thrusters and all 30 pull ups without so much as a pause in a time of 5:34.  That time was good enough for a 14th place finish.

Workouts 2 and 3 were to be done with just 2 minutes rest between.

Workout 2-
7 minutes to build to heaviest 3 rep overhead squat.
There was two challenging components to this workout (besides the obvious having to overhead squat some heavy shit) first off all you had to start at a specific weight (135, 185, 225 or 255lbs) Second you had to take the barbell from the ground.  I can overhead squat more than I can clean so I was significantly limited.  I chose to play it like you would an Olympic lifting competition and start with a weight that I absolutely knew that I could hit.  I opened with 225lbs.  We were required to increase in 10lb increments.  I was able to hit 235 without a problem and 245 with a couple of grunts.  I feel like I could have hit 255 as I recently hit 295 in practice but I wanted to save something for the next workout which was just minutes away.  My 245 for 3 reps was good enough for an 18th place finish.

Workout 3-
30 burpee muscle ups for time
This workout was written for me.  I was stupid excited when I saw it announced.  The world record going into the event was set by Kenny Leverich at a time of 4:11.  I preformed it in practice in 3:56.  I was confident that despite the previous two workouts that I could repeat or even improve on that time.  I went for it from the gates in a way that would have likely made Steve Prefontaine smile.  It was going to be set a world record or blow up and finish last.  I did not pace properly and had to settle for a 12th place finish with a time of 6:29.

So by the end of day 1 I was sitting in 13th place overall.  I was just one place outside of being in the top heat for day 2.  This was both frustrating and motivating.  I wanted to be in with the top guys, I wanted to know exactly how I would stack up.



Workout 4-
"100's"
100 wall ball
100 Chest to bar pull ups
100 pistols
100 dumbell snatches (70lbs)

Rocking the Ranger Panties again this year. 

Similar to "Jackie"  I set a very conservative pace in the first few minutes in hopes that I could accelerate toward the end.  Although I could have done at least 80 of the wall balls unbroken I went for a strategy of 25 reps every minute on the minute.  My plan was then to do 5 chest to bar pull ups every 15 seconds.  I knew the pistols and snatches would be just suck it up and go.  I got to the snatches with 6 minutes and felt like I had a very good chance at finishing in under the 25 minute time cap.  After the first rep when I noticed the handle of the dumbell covered in blood I knew this was going to be a tough 6 minutes.  I managed to get 379 total reps before the time expired.  It was the only workout of the weekend that I didn't finish in under the time cap.  It was still my best overall placement of the weekend.  I came in 9th overall.  The only 4 people that finished... Chan, Spealler, Forrest, and Hathcock.  Kind of a who's who in this region, hell in the world.  Finishing 9th checked a big box for me this year.  It was a side goal to have at least 1 top 10 finish.  I honestly didn't think this would be where it would happen but I'll defiantly take it!



Workout 5-
21-15-9 of...
Dead lifts (315lbs)
Box jumps (30")

After the first 4 workouts I was sitting in 9th place overall.  I am going to be honest, I didn't expect that.  I knew that if I applied the training that I had put in that I would do well but to be in the top ten after 4 workouts was an amazing feeling.  I was in the same heat as Games veterans Matt Chan, Chris Spealler, Zach Forrest, Peter Egyed and Pat Burke.  That is a stacked line up! I knew that workout 5 would be my Achilles heel.  So it figures that it is the one that I end up going head to head with some of the best CrossFit athletes in the world.  Here is the video if you wanna see what a bug feels like when he hits a wind shield.  No joke, I went to my happy place on this one.  I finished in under the 8 minute time cap with a time of 7:28.

http://games.crossfit.com/video/south-west-regional-live-footage-mens-event-5




Workout 6-
"Chipper"
100 Double unders
50 handstand push ups
40 toe to bar
30 shoulder to overhead (160lb axle bar)
90 ft walking lunge with 160lb axle bar in front rack position.

                                           

My goal going into this one was just to finish.  I did the 100 double unders unbroken then did the first 10 handstand push ups strict.  I broke the remaining 40 up into sets of 5-8 reps.  I managed to pace ahead of that and get through the toe to bar in two sets of 20.  This was the only one of the 7 workouts that I had done multiple times in practice so I knew how much that axle bar was going to slow me down.  I manged sets of 3-5.  The walking lunge is nothing more than 90 feet of gut check.  I yelled at every one of my last 10 steps just to keep moving.  A finishing time of 13:19 not only put me ahead of the 15 minute cut off, it put me in 12th place.

Workout 7-
4 rounds for time of...
2 rope climb
100ft run
4 squat cleans (225lb)
100ft run

That picture is no exaggeration, it really did suck that bad.  I don't think this workout would have been as nasty at all if it wasn't for the 6 before it.  I had no glutes left and by back was as tight as a drum.  Every one of those 225lb cleans felt like 285.  Honestly, I was just happy to finish under the 10 minute time cap.  A time of 9:38 bought me my worst result of the weekend with a placement of 35th.



Vince Lombardi said, "I firmly believe that any man's finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle - victorious. " If that is true then this weekend was my finest hour thus far in my CrossFit journey.  Today I will return to my gym in Denver and I will be able to look each of the athletes that I coach in the eye and tell them that I gave every ounce of myself, that I left nothing in the tank.  And while in the grad scheme of things a 14th place finish may not sound too impressive, the amount that was necessary to give in order to achieve it was nothing sort of everything that I had in me.  In that effort, I am victorious.