I’m finally rested enough to write about this past weekend. It’s hard to wrap my mind around the flurry of emotions that I experienced/witnessed Friday through Sunday. My voice? Gone. Motivation? Through the roof.
I’m not going to give you a play-by-play of the entire competition–you can find all the workouts on the Crossfit Games site, but I will explain to you why I feel honored to know Jason Khalipa. As he mentioned in his latest blog post, he didn’t do so hot in the first couple of events, but like a true champion he never gave up hope and persevered until the every last pull up.
Overall, Jason placed fifth at the Games and won the respect of everyone in the house. Quite honestly, his support system of friends and family was on another level. Magical even. The way our group rallied behind him during every event was something out of the movies. I can’t begin to comprehend what it’s like to be on that stadium floor surrounded by screaming fans. As a spectator, I could barely handle the electric energy — I had goose bumps every five minutes from all the roaring.
In the end, Rich Froning and Annie Thorisdottir both became repeat champions of the Crossfit Games. Witnessing these two athletes in action was like watching Terminator, human-robots moving through mindless workouts. At times, Rich and Annie didn’t even look out of breath. Insane.
As motivated and pumped as I was driving back from LA on Sunday, I couldn’t muster the energy to make it in for a workout yesterday. I’ll just consider the trip my “extended off days”… And with as much crap and drinks I consumed during the weekend–it’s no wonder that it was extremely rough getting back into the swing of things this morning. My lunges stung during the entire warm up–I HATE that feeling. I’m hoping tomorrow my body will perk up…
Here’s what we tackled today (via NorCal Crossfit):
- Zercher Squat 3-3-3-3-3-3
- 400m KB Farmers walk
I’ve cranked out a farmers walk before–I even used the 20kg kettlebells this session, but the zercher squat was completely new. Sounds like a medical term, no?
Take a look at this interesting lift:
http://youtu.be/-LsO4dWFE5s
The grunt at the beginning of the video cracks me up! Maybe I should pick up a growl when approaching the bar? Ha! Anyways, I surprised myself with the weight I hit — maxing out at 113lb, which is crazy to think about because that’s close to my back squat max…I definitely owe it my friends Maura and Mariko for practically pushing me back to the bar for the last attempt. Thanks ladies!
The moral of today’s story is that the Crossfit community is second to none. I don’t think I could have improved as much as I have without the constant encouragement from the other members. Coincidentally, this week marks my six-month anniversary of working out at NorCal Crossfit and I can honestly say it has changed my life forever. Meeting new friends, establishing a healthier lifestyle and pushing myself to unknown limits are all elements of this incredible journey.
Without sounding like an episode of Barney, I feel truly blessed and thankful for all the wonderful experiences I’ve already had, and will tackle in the future.
With that, I’ll wrap up with a video the explains the phenomena that is the “sport of Crossfit”– enjoy!