I had waffled for months on the question of whether or not I would compete in the 2011 Games Regionals. I've become a dedicated power lifter, and all my training for months has been directed towards the Colorado Regionals, November 12th, 2011. I try to do enough CrossFit to stay within 10 or so pounds of my competition weight of 181, but I don't focus on killing the work out and becoming a better CrossFitter. True, I'm an avid indoor rower, so my conditioning can never be truly horrible, but I've found - as the experts predict - training tends to force specific adaptations; while I've become formidable at rowing 500 meters and not completely hopeless at 2,000 meters, I haven't become any better at, say, wall ball shots or thrusters.
But hey, some of our athletes are trying the games, and so I'm in. That's how we roll.
Work Out 1:
AMRAP 10
30 Double Unders / 15 Power Snatches 75 pounds
What I thought going in: fuck
My plan: grind away
My Result: 122 repetitions
What I though going out: fuck, I am really bad at double unders
Work Out 2:
AMRAP 15
9 Dead Lifts - I forgot the weight, maybe 165 or so /12 Push-Ups / 15 Box Jumps @24"
What I thought going in: fuck, but not as bad as WOD 1 fuck
My plan: set a pace and sustain it, the tortoise
My Result: 251 repetitions
What I though going out: I should probably do more CrossFit
Work Out 3:
AMRAP 5
Squat Clean & Jerk 165 pounds
What I thought going in: fuck, yeah! Power endurance is my thing, especially under 10 minutes
My plan: kill, kill, kill
My Result: 36
What I though going out: I probably do enough CrossFit
Work Out 4:
AMRAP 10
60 Face-the-Bar Burpees / 30 Overhead Squats @ 120 / 10 Muscle-Ups
What I thought going in: This is a joke, right?
My plan: Endure the burpees, finish the overhead squats with 20 seconds left, run to the rings - slowly - and flatly insist I could have done a muscle-up
My Result: 74 repetitions; I didn't finish the squats
What I though going out: I hate burpees. 120 pounds should not be a heavy overhead squat, but it was post-burpee
Work Out 5:
AMRAP 20
5 Power Cleans @145 / 10 Toes-to-Bar / 15 Wall Ball Shots 20# to 10'
What I thought going in: what the fuck? 20 minutes? I signed up for CrossFit games, not an ultra-marathon
My plan: Keep moving, under no circumstances look at the clock
My Result: 191 Repetitions
What I though going out: what the fuck? 20 minutes? No more ultra-endurance events for me
Work Out 6:
AMRAP 5
3 Thrusters @ 95# / 3 Pull-Ups
then
6/6
9/9
12/12
15/15
18/18 (You get it, right?)
What I thought going in: This should be the best one since 3, and if not it's 7 minutes and the last one, so fuck it
My Plan: kill, kill, kill
My Result: 75 repetitions
What I thought going out: that was fun in a met-conny way (I'll do this one again maybe once or twice.)
Like Olympic lifting coach Max Mormont says, nobody is competitive until they lose.
I'm doing this again next year. Top 100 should suffice; I'm a power lifter, kids.
