WOD 1
Sandbag Shuttle Sprint
5 sandbags: 20#, 40#, 60#, 80#, 100#
100′
In increasing order, carry a sandbag over your shoulder 100′. Drop the sandbag. Sprint back, pick up the next one, and repeat.
Time – 1:15
Place – 64/178
Notes: Sprinting is definitely not one of my strengths, but I’m not that bad at moving weight quickly either. I lined up in a lane right next to another tall guy (I’m pretty sure he was 6′ 7″ too), just to give myself a bearing as to how fast I should/need to be going. Up until the 60# bag I was in the top three of my heat. I ended up finishing fourth in my heat and the other tall guy finished right ahead of me in third. Not going to lie, that really sparked a fire in my gut and set the tone for my competitiveness for the rest of the day.
WOD 2
Deadlift/Burpee
5 rounds for time:
7 deadlifts 225#
11 burpees
Athletes are wearing a 30# weighted vest
Time – 5:53
Place – 87/178
Notes: By FAR, this one was the most difficult for me. There’s a WHOLE LOT of range of motion I have to move my 6′ 7″ body through to finish this work. CrossFit always seems to serve up the tough love where it doesn’t care what your strengths, weaknesses, height, or weight may be. For some reason, I like that. Dan Bailey, a shorter and very muscular athlete ended up winning the entire Sectional, and blew away the competition with a 3:26! 3:26!! The next fastest time was :33 seconds slower than that. Incredible Although I finished in the nearly the 50th percentile for this one, I was not disappointed because I gave it my entire all.
WOD 3
2 rounds for time:
Row 500M
15 overhead squats 95#
Row 500M
15 toes to bar
Time – 10:59
Place – 11/178
Notes: Now THIS was fun. I haven’t even sat down on a Concept 2 since, oh December. I was a little concerned about how my performance would be for this workout because of that, but to be honest I did feel pretty confident. All the competitors that I talked with before I went said they were going to shoot for pulling a 1:45-1:50 500M in order to have some good energy for the OHS and T2B. Initially, I thought this was a good idea, but after the first three or four pulls on the rower, I realized that I could comfortably keep a 1:40 pace.
To be honest, it seemed like all the athletes in my peripheral were going crazy, pulling for the wall with each stroke. I glanced over at the competitor’s screen next to me, who I was certain looked like he was working much harder than I was and I was surprised to see he was keep a 1:52 pace! At that point, I knew I was doing the right thing. Although my strokes per minute were certainly less than the competitors around me, my efficiency was saving me.
During my heat, I was the first off the rower and on to the next station each time. I can’t even describe with words how good that felt. To lead 40 fierce competitors through a workout, and to hear the crowd cheer for you as you are giving it your all. It was incredible. Considering most most of my athletic career has been spent doing team sports, I’ve never felt anything like that.
I was first coming off the rower and going into the final round of toes to bar, and that’s where I lost it. A good friend that I made during the competition told me later, “Karl, we need to talk about your toes to bar! They’re tragic!” I sincerley appreciate his honesty, and they were undeniably the one thing that kept me from post a possible top 5 score for this workout. If I haven’t rowed since December, then I haven’t even practiced toes to bar since last March! Yet another example of CrossFit bringing those weaknesses to the surface. I ended up finishing second in my heat for this workout.
WOD 4
15-12-9 Reps for time of:
Power clean and jerk 155#
Chest to bar pull-ups
Box jump 24″
100′ Sled Pull – Athlete is seated and pulled the weight 100′ via rope – 115#
Time – 10:42
Place – 15/top 60
Notes: Only the athletes in the top 60 were qualified to take part in this last workout. At this point, I was 47th, so I had made the cut.
As soon as this one was announced I had a really good feeling. All the time spent during my training of working with heavier weight was going to allow me to move through the clean and jerks really well. Furthermore, (and I didn’t really realize this at the time) I really did a TON of box jumps during my training too and with nothing less than a 30″ box. My primary concern was the chest to bar pull-ups as I really haven’t been training these, well… at all! I have been doing a lot of weighted pull-ups, which definitely proved to help me out during this workout, but I can’t recall the last time I actually busted out chest to bar pull-ups for reps.
Thankfully, my efficiency in the clean and jerks and box jumps bought me enough time to knock out the chest to bar pull-ups in triples, doubles and even singles. Again, I was able to lead my heat the entire time during this workout which felt absolutely incredible. Once I was doing with the entire 15, 12, 9 mess I was the first to the sled pull.
As I finished my last box jump and made my way to be the first one over to the sled pull, I heard the crowd start to cheer. I’m telling you, this was a defining moment for me! All my hard work ever since I dedicated myself 10 months or so ago to training for these games had brought me to this specific moment. I sat down at the rope (Haha! Which by the way, I had NEVER done before in my life!) and just started pulling with all I had. The closer that sled came, the harder I pulled until it was across the line. And then… it was over.
I ended up finishing first in my heat and 34th overall out of 178. I couldn’t be happier with the way things turned out. Subconsciously, I set a goal in my mind of finishing in the top 40, but I had NO IDEA what type of competition would show up. To finish 34th is on honor, especially considering the athletes who were in attendance. Honestly, competing in the CrossFit games was one of best experiences of my life, and I’m definitely looking forward to working on my weaknesses and competing again next year!
Andrea put together a Facebook album with a few of the pictures she took from the Sectional. You can check it out here. All scores for this Sectional can be found here.
