Crossfit

I drank the Kool-aid! 

Hold on to your sweatbands, this is going to be a long post.

Lately I have been getting a lot of Facebook messages asking about my gym. 

“So, what’s this gym you’re always going to? I swear you’re always there. Every time you pop up in my news feed it’s all ‘Charity is at Crossfit Cimmeria.’ “

I’m sure it does seem like I am always there. I’m not, but I wish I could be.  Yep, I drank the Crossfit Kool-aid and I’m loving it. In my last post I had been crossfitting for about 3 months or so. I had finally reached a point where my body wasn’t in a full on state of DOMS after every WOD (work out of the day). Of course I still get sore but it’s the good kind; more of a manageable soreness that one can work through.  Instead of the OMG I don’t even want to go pee because It will hurt so bad to sit and I may not be able to stand up afterwards. Truth, it happens. 

Anyway, the Box (AKA crossfit gym) has gone through some crazy awesome changes the past few months and it’s been so exciting to be a part of it. First, we took on two new coaches this summer. Coach Wendy and Coach Jared. Both are super awesome and honestly I can’t gush enough about the both of them. They each have their own unique approach to coaching yet their styles don’t conflict with each other rather, they compliment. And although their styles may be different, all of the Coaches at CFC are encouraging and willing to take the time to help you one on one. 
The other big change is we are officially a Crossfit affiliate.   Up until September we were Next Level Athletics (yes the workouts were Crossfit but the head coach/owner could not advertise as such thus, a lot of his business was primarily word of mouth). Now that we have the official Crossfit branding the box has been blowing up. The growth has been crazy! Coach Ty just recently added more hours of operation to the weekly schedule in order to accommodate peoples work schedules as well as thin out the population during the peak hours. These are all good problems to have as I am positive this is just the tip of the iceberg for our little box! 

I know a lot of you have been curious about my first crossfit competition, and what it was like. So here is my re-cap. 

Last month, some of our athletes participated in their first Crossfit competition, including yours truly. Two female teams of three went up, Coach Wendy and her daughter competed as a mother/daughter team, and we had one of our guys compete individual. This took place up in Seattle, Wa. The competition was 2 days long, both Saturday and Sunday, three WODs each day. I think all of us, with the exception of Wendy and her daughter were scared to death. Don’t get me wrong we were excited too, but with none of us had ever  competed so, well, you just fear the unknown. I think a total 16 people from our box caravanned up to the outskirts of Seattle where we set up camp. We got super lucky with lodging and stayed in a house, belonging to the cousin of one of our team competitors. At no cost!

We arrived Friday night and I know hardly any of us got any sleep. The combination of nerves and sleeping in a strange place sort of gets the better of you. So when Saturday morning made it’s appearance (totally mocking me) it found we were all in a sleep deprived state of nervousness and well,  just fear. Have you ever tried to eat when your stomach is not behaving? Yeah, you just don’t. Not unless you want to reap the intestinal punishment an hour later. So, the the real bummer about an athletic competition is you have to eat- right? You’re gonna need fuel. Especially if you’re going to bust out three WODs that day. Well, I think I ate a banana and a piece of beef jerky and decided to rely on my glycogen stores to get me through the first WOD. I’m sure my coaches are reading this right now shaking their heads in shame at my lack of proper fueling but it was either a hungry nervous Charity or a Charity that couldn’t make it to her WOD because she was stuck in the restroom. Yes, tmi I know, get over it. Anyway, we all arrived at the center, got our little wristbands showing we were competitors, and our sheet of paper with our heat and lane assignments.

The team! Please note that we all look like normal people. I say this in order to prepare those who have never seen people when they lift heavy weight. It's sort of like watching a person sneeze when their naked...yeah, not so hot.

Ah, Pat. He's such a good sport to put up with us ladies. Always encouraging, a big heart and a fierce competitor. Psst, I'm the one wearing the blue sox. Just so you remember I do look normal in real life.

The first WOD was 9 minutes of Thrusters at 65lbs, 75lbs, and 95lbs. For a team of three that was 3 minutes of thrusters at each weight. Meaning, the first team member would complete as many thrusters as possible in 3 minutes at 65lbs, then the next team member would go for 3 minutes using 75lbs, etc…Now, I have done thrusters in the past but not for 3 minutes straight. Usually it’s part of a WOD so it’s broken up by doing other movements. Needless to say I hate that lift. It’s a front squat into a press and it freaking sucks. It’s seriously the only lift that has made me cry. Yeah, there have been WODs that have made me cry. But I will save those stories for another post. Anyway, my team members Mich, Renee along with myself nervously made our way to our lane. A super friendly judge greeted us and asked us how we were. I’m sure it was apparent that we all looked like we were going to either vomit, pass out, or maybe both. If he didn’t notice how green we were around the gills (don’t see how he couldn’t) then me shaking like a leaf as I handed him our judging sheet was a sure tip off. This guy was super cool, he explained the wod, and asked if we had any questions. He said he was going to be right there encouraging us and cheering us on. Bless his heart. I wanted to hug him right then and there. As I was totally expecting a bunch of militant a-hole judges yelling “no rep” the whole time. So chalk this up to a time in my life were I was glad I was wrong. I was first to go at 65lbs. I heard the timer beep 3-2-1 with a long beep for GO! I picked up my bar and went for it. Honestly the whole 3 minutes were a big fat blur.  It was all muscle memory at that point and the three minutes were up in no time. True to his word the judge was telling me I was doing well and to keep moving even when I dropped the bar and wanted to stop. Mish was next up at 75lbs and she attacked it getting in one less rep then myself at a heavier weight. Freakin beast! Lastly Renee was up, the little powerhouse of our group who had been diagnosed with a sprained ankle the night before. Say wha? Girlfriend handled the 95lbs like no big deal. The 9 minutes were up and that was the end of Wod 1. We worked out most of our nervous energy and realized we could do this thing.

Thrusters baby!

WOD 2 was a 12 minute AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of 6 ear to ear pull-ups  (weirdest pull-ups I ever did), 12 kettlebell swings @ 35 pounds and 15 goblet squats (you hold the 35lb kettlebell you just used for the swings and squat) this was a really fun one to do as a team. We had the freedom to break this up anyway we wanted. You could have one person just do pull-ups the other kb swings the other squats, or you could have each person run through each set of movements once. You could mix and match anyway you wanted you just had to get in all the reps. This was great for us as it was rather difficult for Renee to jump up to the pull-up bar with her sprained ankle. It worked out though as she is has a powerful squat and so Mish and I took most of her pull ups while she took most of our goblet squats. We really pulled together as a team for this WOD, paying close attention to one another and jumping in when we could see one of our teammates getting fatigued and slowing down. We felt pretty bad a** after that WOD.

Ear to ear pull-ups
 Mich and Renee watching and waiting to go

Kettlebell swings: mouth breather ;)

WOD 3 was the one that I was least looking forward to. We hadn't run this as a team during training and I was a little nervous how it was going to pan out. It was cleans with bar jump overs, partners hold the bar as the third partner jumps over. Number of reps 25 then 50 then 75. I was super thankful that our injured team member was also our heavy lifter. Renee cranked out 25 cleans unbroken and I jumped over 25 times. At 50 reps we had to start breaking it up with jumps between Mich and myself as well as relieve Renee of doing all the cleans. The wod turned out better then I thought it would but I know we would have performed better had we been able to practice this one as a team. I felt like we were just starting to get into a rhythm right at the end. Oh well, it was the final WOD for the day and we were just ready to get out of there.

I am totally giving someone the ef-you wave. Don't ask me why and don't ask me who was on the receiving end of that one. Mich and Renee are discussing their strategy, okay, probably not but that sounds more legit.

Jump!

My last set of cleans. it was getting heavy!

We rendezvous'd at a restaurant/pub after everyone was finished competing for the day. We all had a nice little debrief, unload and unwind over burgers and tots. That's right we weren't eating strict paleo that night. As coach Ty said, "We earned those tots!"

Okay day 2 came with a little less fanfair. We all slept better, stomachs had calmed down and I think we all just wanted to go in, complete our WODs and head home.

The team competitors pre-competition day 2.



WOD 4 was the team lifting event where each team member had 5 minutes to find their max lift in either Snatch, Clean, or Deadlift. Renee having the most experience with lifting got snatch, Mich being a beast herself got to do Cleans and I got deadlift as that is my best lift out of the three.
The thing that made me the most nervous about this WOD was we had one minute to clear our bar once our time was up. I was under the impression that we wouldn't have help from our team members. Again, another time where I was glad I was wrong and our team members were allowed to help us load and unload our bar. Wheew!

Waiting on deck. I look like I am really studying someones lift?

Gawd, I look tired. Seriously, you'd think were heading to a funeral with the looks on our faces. Why so serious.?.

Yo Mich, put that weight plate on right there...wth, why am I pointing?

Increasing weight

Almost there

Bam! 245lbs. I lift heavier when I have no clue how much weight is on the bar. I just kept telling my teammates to keep adding weight. This last lift seriously took me 10 seconds to get into full lock out and I could hear my coach, my teammates and the other team members yelling at me to push through it. It was epic to watch from what I hear. I suppose it was a thing of comedic beauty as it was not executed with much eloquence. But hey, I got the job done. Side note: my previous one rep max was 205lbs. Just shows what competition adrenaline can do for a person.

Asking the judge how much weight is on the bar.

As you can see I am very shocked by my new PR!

We all did very well with that one. Renee Pr'd her snatch and Mich having not done a lot of cleans let alone finding a one rep max did and awesome job and cleaned 115lbs! And although we weren't the heaviest lifters out there, we all went out and PR'd that day. And that's really all that we wanted to accomplish in this WOD.

WOD 5 was a "surprise" WOD. Nobody knew what the WOD was until that morning when it was announced. This was an open WOD meaning you could go and complete the WOD at anytime during the day, you just had to get it done before 3pm. It was a push-up/handstand push-up ladder. We squeezed this bad boy in before our final WOD. Not having really done handstand pushups before I figured this would be interesting.

Check out my judge. He is looking pretty intense.

Going into deficit push-ups

Next stage of deficit push-ups. (I'm in the pink sox)

Starting my handstand push-ups. Jess O'day from the other team sporting the Hot Mess sox

And I am still moving up the ladder 

Getting into a kip position which will help me push-up

This was a fun little WOD. Low stress and really just a get in and get out sort of deal. We all did fairly well in this one. And it was a nice confidence booster before going into our final WOD of the competition.

WOD 6: Sweet Jayzus they saved the best for last! a 20 minute amrap of 50 double unders, 40 wallballs (20lbs throw to 8 ft.) 30 medball cleans (50 lbs) 20 shoulder to shoulder with medball (again 50lbs) 10 box jumps holding 20lb wallball and 5 rope scales. Each team member completes each movement before progressing onto the next. Our team didn't complete the WOD but we got close to the end. Also, Renee was unable to participate during this WOD due to her sprained ankle. The double unders were just too much and if she had to box jump it would have been all over. Deciding not to push her any further our coach Wendy stepped up and joined our team for the final WOD. 

Yeah, 50lbs cleans when you feel so beat-up. Check out my arm! Damn! Seriously though that sucker hurt.

Cleaning it over my shoulder. Check out the chick in front; she looks way too happy doing those cleans. WT?

And the shoulder to shoulder! Good Lord, I never wanted to see another 50lb medball in my life after this wod.

Okay WOD 6 made me cry. My arms were toast. They were feeling pretty beat-up going into the competition hence the sweet RockTape on my arms. It helped but not enough to stop the 3 hour continuos muscle cramps in my biceps and forearms. 

So what did I learn from this? Well, I learned that I packed way to much food, that time really flies during a wod in competition. That my athleticism reaches a higher level in both strength and ability during a competition. And that support of team members and coaches are everything! Which we were all very fortunate to have.
 At first I was beating myself up thinking we weren't performing as well as other teams. When Coach Wendy put the shut-down on that real quick. She told me we were competing against a lot of women who have been competing for about 3-5 years. Then she asked me how long had I been doing crossfit? To which I sheepishly replied 7 months. Her response was, okay,.. now think about where you will be in 5 years if you continue to train the way you are training now. I know I got a huge smile on my face cause I was thinking, " I am going to be so kickass!" Well played coach Wendy :)

Sure a lot of wacky things happened over the course of that weekend. Key's were locked in Trucks. The competition coordinator fully embarrassed me in the middle of a wod telling me I couldn't do a movement a certain way after I had had it okayed through 2 judges. Yeah, tell me that won't screw with your head in the middle of a wod. Nasty rips on our hands, my hair looked like a rooster. I was a hot-mess all over the place.

So would I do it again? Absolutely!  

Acknowledgments: I know I didn't mention everyone but please know that not only did we have the competitors up in Seattle, we also had some awesome folks from our gym who came up volunteered,  supported, took pictures, brought us water, etc...Not to mention a whole bunch of athletes back in Portland sending us messages of encouragement and praise. I really appreciate everyone at CFC. Each person played a roll in helping us improve and bring our A-game up to Seattle. Even if you weren't there I know that extra push you gave me or maybe one of my team mates during a training WOD helped. So please know that every member of CFC played a roll one way or another.

Read further for some funny quotes from our box. I may even dedicate a page on my blog for these in the future. 

I know I miss a lot of people and a lot of funny stuff goes down when I'm not there. So if you have something humorous you'd like to share please pass it on to me and I will post it.

-Coach Ty telling me Jess' snatch was looking money.

-Howard: Confessionals, "I may or may not have eaten an entire sleeve or Ritz Crackers today."

-Howard: "Do you like my anti-mrsa glove?"

-Coach Ty shows his sensitive side: "I may not cry during Schindler's List but dammit, watching Teeny PR on that deadlift just got me all choked up."

-Coach Wendy gives advice: "Never say to a man you are going home to teabag your hands. It's very important your phrasing is, I am going to use green tea bags on my torn callouses."

-Veterans Jess and Charity are notorious for being clumsy when partnered together.  WOD at your own risk all who are sharing space with them during that hour.

-Coach Ty being modest: "I don't try to be awesome, I just am. I come in here and I keep it real."

-Coach Ty encouraging his wife while she struggles to add more weight to her back squat. "You know, you would really benefit from one of my private lessons Court."