Another crazy early morning in which my body did not want to
get out of bed. Thankfully I was already
in my compression tights and therefore half dressed to start the morning. Everything was a bit sore and all I wanted to
do was stay warm in bed, sadly I couldn’t.
Got back to the Claremont Showgrounds – the venue this year
was perfect – to sign in and warm up for Day 2.
WOD #5
9 minute cut-off
50-40-30-20-10
Double Unders
25-20-15-10-5
Wall balls (14lb ball to 10’ target)
5-4-3-2-1
Power clean (35kg)
9:06 (3rd
place)
I really liked this one – perhaps because it was where I
peaked on the weekend – but it was definitely my kind of WOD.
The double unders were solid – my initial plan was to do
30-35 then finish with the rest but was in a groove and feeling good so focused
on staying relaxed and kept going knowing I would struggle the most on the wall
balls. I managed to get through the 50
unbroken and was super stoked – there’s something that makes you feel a little
badass being the first to walk off your mat and onto the next movement. I was
feeling good.
The wall balls were a bit of a challenge – between the sore
body and the bit of extra height (minor) but mostly because it was a target
sticking out from the rig and not an actual wall. On a wall you can look at the ground and
have a good idea where you want to be standing, on the target it’s a bit more
challenging – there were a few times where I’d slowly move forward and end up a
bit too far under the target to make it easy on me so there was a lot of focus
on where I was standing. My body kind of
warmed up into the wall balls – I thought going in that this would be the place
where I’d have a lot of chance to breath but turns out there really wasn’t
anywhere in the WOD to breathe except in the transitions – it was definitely a
lung burner. There were times (a lot of
them) where I’d almost shot put the wall ball – using mainly my right arm to
get it onto the target – like shooting hoops rather than using both arms, I’m
not sure why as I can’t recall ever doing this before but it seemed to work so
I wasn’t going to change it.
I got to the first set of cleans in front and all I can
remember is Jono somewhere in the middle of the floor with the microphone make
a comment about me wearing the ‘Beast Mode’ tank. It made me laugh. The cleans felt heavy (35kg isn’t much on
a normal day) though with it being 5
reps or less they were all unbroken and quite quick. Back to the DU’s and again, mostly
unbroken. I did make a few errors –
counting the reps in my head wasn’ t goo as twice I thought I was done and Nine
who was judging me told me I had one rep left and I had to pick up the rope and
get it done – definitely lost some time there.
Lesson learned – keep going til your judge tells you to stop. I struggled through all the wall balls but
still managed to stay neck and neck with Hannah in my heat – she’d get ahead on
the wall balls, I’d catch up on the double unders. At the end of it all Steph and I ended up
tied for 3rd (in our different heats) and it was a solid effort for
us both – would have liked to finish but just didn’t have it – probably would
have if it was a day where I wasn’t hurting already.
There was a cut of the bottom 10 after this WOD – only 20
moving through to WOD #6. Steph, Naydine
and I all made I through.
WOD #6
7 minute cut-off
Sled push (85kg)
21-15-9
Shoulder to overhead (30kg)
Toes to bar
Sled push
7:18 (16th
place)
I peaked on WOD #5 and it went downhill from this point
onward – my shoulders were absolutely destroyed. It’s amazing how 30kg can actually feel so
heavy. My mind wanted it but my body was
starting to suffer.
 |
| Exhausted (photo by Kevin Frankie Reid) |
The sled push wasn’t too bad – I think we were all more
nervous about it that we should have been – I know I was. It wasn’t too bad and a quick buy in before picking
up the bar. The only advice Steph gave
me before this WOD was to go unbroken on the shoulder to overheads – since I
was mostly worried about the t2b I thought this would be a good plan and I
really wanted to stick with it but it became apparent early on that I wouldn’t
be able to. I did the first 11 then had
to put the bar down, I’m not sure how it went after that but I do know that I was
having trouble – lots of it. I had to
start split jerking them in a bit of an awkward half split jerk way – to stay
on the mat my legs were split and bent but not fully. There was another rep that I just dropped –
we had the small plates on our bars so weren’t allowed to drop them but I
couldn’t lock out and the bar pulled behind me and I just had to let it
go. Ryan looked my way but immediately
saw what happened and didn’t bother to come over to say anything – I really had
no choice.
 |
| Mini-split jerk (photo by Kevin Frankie Reid) |
Surprisingly in comparison, the t2b went fairly well. The first round I was last to the bar which
meant I had to jump up on the high bar on the back of the rig – there were two
green plates underneath it to help with the height though I stood on them and
the bar was still miles away. Nine was
judging me again and couldn’t give me a boost so we both started calling Jase
over who was floating around. He gave me
a boost and then I knew I had to stay up there for a big set as it took me so
long to get there and because I didn’t know how I’d get back up if I dropped
down so I pulled out 7 which felt good.
I came down and then Nine pointed me to a lower bar that I could jump to
so I could finish it off.
 |
| t2b (photo by Kevin Frankie Reid) |
I managed to sneak in one rep on the round of 9 shoulder to
overhead but really wasn’t happy with my result. This is a WOD I’d definitely like to do again
when fresh just to see how it compares.
I can’t put into words how much my shoulders ached on this one but I
think anyone who was watching could see (and was likely a little surprised) by
the struggle I put up on the shoulder to overheads. Ah well, the comp continued on.
There was another cut to the final 10 at this point, I was
still hanging in there thanks to my performances on day 1. Steph was making a
steady climb up the leader board as well and the two of us made it to WOD #7.
WOD #7
8 minute AMRAP
Ascending ladder (1,1,2,2,3,3,4,4…) of
Chest to rings
Walking lunge (32kg axel bar)
23 reps (10th place)
I could have done way better on this one –way better. It just goes to show you how skills
matter. I definitely need more time
playing on the rings. It took me half of
the workout to figure out how best to get my chest to the rings – I was trying
more like a c2b pull-up where I was mostly vertical whereas the trick on the
rings was to basically lay back horizontally and pull your chest up. Easy now when I play around with it but in
the heat of the moment an epic struggle.
My judge was amazing trying to help me through and even Ryan came over a
few times to help out. Once I figured it
out I got through a few more rounds quite quickly but unfortunately I had just
run out of time.
Again, I thought going in that the lunges would be the
struggle with the tiredness of my legs and having to clean the axel bar (though
not heavy I had struggled with the 30kg in the previous WOD so anything was
possible). Turns out the lunges weren’t
too bad nor was cleaning the axel bar but the rings were my downfall. Like I said, I peaked in WOD #5. Again, this is a WOD I’d like to do again
just to see what difference a little practice and rest does for me.
 |
| concentration (photo by Kevin Frankie Reid) |
Overall I finished in 9th for the weekend. I was up in 6th after WOD #5 and
would have liked to stay up there (bettering my 7th from last year)
but it wasn’t to be. I was happy though
to finish off top 10 (goal for the weekend) and to make it through all the
WODs. I definitely have to work on quick
recovery and doing back to back WODs in preparation for next year after tanking
in WODs 6 and 7 but that will come. Most
of all though, I’m excited to get back to training with my gals and working on
my weaknesses and becoming more badass overall ready to do it all again at the
next comp. Anyone want to be my partner
for primal pairs?
And to wrap it all up… it was a fantastic weekend - I am
super proud of my Southern family for putting on an amazing and truly high
caliber event – a huge thanks to the volunteers/ judges who were outstanding –
from the encouragement and coaching to just honestly wanting each and every one
of us to do our best with integrity throughout – it made our work as athletes
that bit easier. And to all the athletes
– thanks for making me better by pushing me to meet your best every time we
stepped onto the floor. We all became stronger this weekend in so many ways. To
everyone who came down to cheer and photograph us with our sweaty faces and
crazy workout faces – another big thank you – every time I was in the middle of
it all I felt that extra boost of energy when someone called my name, you all
own a piece of my achievement. And to Steph,
Naydine and Brydie – it was so much fun to be competing alongside you in the
workouts – I love training with you each and every day in the box and this made
me want to get right back in there and get stronger and better and faster for
next year right alongside you all. I can’t
believe it’s over for a another year.
Sorry for all the stolen photos – I didn’t take any on the
weekend – my priorities were elsewhere. Haha.
No comments:
Post a Comment