My Very First CrossFit Competition

Saturday, September 29 was the SeaCity CrossFit September Smackdown. Considering September 3 was the first time I ever actually went to CrossFit, it seemed like a great idea to go ahead and enter a contest.

Source

Honestly, I was assured there was a place for beginners, and sure enough there was.

We were divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced. Coach Tim sent us specific guidelines so that we would know where we belonged. The guidelines for beginners was this:

Beginner – I scale most if not all the wods.

I can push press 65/50#
I can step-up or jump on an 18” box
I can swing a 35/26# kettlebell

Well, I got this. Sign me up for beginner level!




They divided us into multiple heats. I went in the first heat of the day. Each athlete (I love how they kept referring to us as "athletes". Take that, middle school gym teacher!) was paired with a judge. The judge would count your reps with you and tell you if it was a "no-rep" (it didn't count). My judge was a super nice guy named Xavier who is a CrossFit coach at another box.

We had 2 WODs.

Beginner WOD 1:

Stationary lunges 8 each leg (alternate)
Push Press 50 pounds 8 times
Jump or step up on 18" box 8 times

AMRAP in 10 minutes.

We did a few practice moves with our judge before the timer started to make sure we had it down. Sadly, I could *not* do an 18 inch box jump. I tried. It was sad. But, luckily, I could step up instead. That I can do.

Lungin'

One Push Press at 50# is cake. 40+? Um...

 (I think that's the face my kids see when they're in trouble)


I felt really good about WOD #1. However, once the timer went off, we had 5 minutes to rest before WOD #2. WOD #2 was MAX BURPEES IN 2.5 MINUTES!

Mid-Burpee

I hate burpees. A lot. And I was already tired. But, dang it, I was going to BRING IT. I decided I would do 10 at a time as a psychological game for myself. I ended up with 30 BURPEES! Holy cow! I didn't know I could do 30 burpees in a row EVER.

What my legs looked like when I was done.

After that, I was done. I had brought a babysitter and my children and envisioned a lovely day with my children getting inspired to pursue a lifetime of fitness..... well, it may not  have gone as planned, but they seemed to enjoy themselves...

My daughter doing her own burpees

Then she somehow became a ninja

My son shows off his muscles.

Playing with wall balls.

 Watching the other groups do their WODs was inspiring. The intermediate women were CRAZY. Their first WOD included burpee box jumps (!!!!) and crazy kipping pull ups. Their second WOD was 10 minutes to work up to their Clean and Press ONE REP MAX. It was inspiring to watch these ladies lift such heavy weights overhead. I definitely have some new goals.

The advanced men was a small, elite group of CrossFit coaches who had to run 800 m (about a half a mile), do 12-9-6 of some crazy stuff including muscle ups and double unders, then run 800 m AGAIN. Holy cow.

I waited the whole day, mostly because I wanted to see the other groups compete, but also because I was a little curious to see if I placed. It was silly to expect to place in my first competition, and when they announced the top 3 and I *wasn't* there, I wasn't surprised.

However, later they posted the complete results and I was shocked to see that I was FOURTH in my group!

When I arrived at the 5AM WOD Monday morning, Coach Tim came up to me and congratulated me on a great job. He said I was first in my heat, and that he was really impressed with how well I did. He also gave me some surprise swag: A bracelet, WODShop Coupon, and a jumprope (so I can practice double unders... she said with irony). I was really moved.

My surprise swag

Overall, I'm very proud and excited that I chose to participate. I had a great time, and I was inspired by what people can do. The support I received was amazing and is going a long way towards healing my PTSD from middle school P.E. class.