My First Crossfit Competition - War of the WODs

Happy Monday friends!

This weekend flew by and I have a lot to tell you about, so let’s jump right into it. (Especially since if you had a surprise day off on Friday you probably have a lot to catch up on and few expendable brain cells.)

This weekend was my first Crossfit competition - War of the WODs! Getting there through the unplowed roads (because Greensboro doesn’t start plowing until several hours after the snow and sleet stops) wasn’t easy, but luckily, Leon is from Vermont so he has the necessary skill set to maneuver my Corolla through the roads.

Sunday came bright and early. By the time I got to the competition venue I was beyond nervous.

 The first event for my partner and I was the one we were most nervous about: the lifts! In this event there were four barbells set up with increasing weights: 65 lbs, 85 lbs, 105 lbs, and 125 lbs. Each team had 1 minute to get a total of 3 snatches and 3 clean and jerks. (Those are links to videos of each movement.) Your score is the total amount of weight you lifted and the tiebreaker was the time that each team got to the finish line after completing all the lifts.

Our strategy had us right at our maxes for each lift, which is a scary place to be when you only have a minute and when the warm up area is tiny and crowded and inadequately equipped and it’s your first competition and when you are in your own head so much that you don’t hit the lifts at all in the warm up.

So yeah, the Chicks with Chalk were freaking out.

Luckily, though, by the time we got to our heat all the coffee and pre-workout powder we drank kicked in and the music was good, so I was excitedly dancing at the start line. They counted down 3…2…1…

And before I knew it we were both chest bumping at the finish line because we made all our lifts.

Words cannot describe the excitement I felt after that first event was over. Really and truly, I don’t think I’ve ever felt that good or happy or proud. Adrenaline is one hell of a drug.

The rest of the day was spent cheering on friends and trying to figure out when we were supposed to do our next events.

Our second event was an 8 minute AMRAP (as many reps as possible):

21 over the bar burpees

21 calories on an airdyne

21 thrusters with 65 lbs

Repeat with reps decreasing by 3 until the time is up

The airdyne is a machine straight from hell and my quads were cramping for hours after we finished this one.

Our final event was a 9 minute AMRAP:

750m row while the other partner does 30 dumbell ground to overheads with 25 lbs

150 single jump ropes while the other partner does 30 slam balls with 20 lbs

40 knees to ninety degree while the other partner hangs from the bar

30 wall balls with 10 lbs

20 box jumps

With the remaining time, do as many pull ups as possible

We ended up with 22 pull ups, which I am very happy with.

By the end of the day I was completely exhausted. It took everything I had in me to pack up my stuff and walk across the icy parking lot. Luckily, Leon is amazing and picked up Mexican food, so I could take a hot shower and then eat chori-queso in my pajamas.

And today I am sore. Very sore. And I’m trying my hardest to recapture that unbelievably proud feeling I had after our first event, because as much as I hate to admit it, I’m disappointed in how we placed. My goal was to finish in the top half, but we didn’t even come close. And while I can’t pinpoint a single moment at which I could have pushed harder or done more (and I know my partner feels the same), I’m still disappointed.

Unhappily foam rolling my quads.

I am highly competitive by nature. That doesn’t mean I’m used to winning, by any means. I’m definitely no stranger to failing. And like I said, I harbored no delusions of winning this competition. But for some reason this competition is bugging me.

Maybe I’ll harness that disappointment into motivation for another competition.

What do you do when you’re disappointed in yourself, friends?

Cheers, Kara