So the Catalyst Games were created last year as a charity event in memory of Kade O'Brien and benefits the Kade Project that works with local youth and the men and women that are working overseas defending our country.
My playground for the day:
The layout of the competition had 4 divisions: Men's and Women's modified, and Men's and Women's Rx. Each division had about 60 athletes. I was in the modified division. We started off SUPER early in the morning. Athlete check-in was at 7:30, with the competition starting right at 9. I got there and noticed that the place was packed with people already. Teams literally came from everywhere. I think every Rochester box was represented as well as boxes from Syracuse and Buffalo. I signed in and they told me I would be in heat #5. I was handed a bag and a t-shirt and told to go warm up or entertain myself for an hour and a half. There weren't a lot of people from our gym competing but there was still a good amount, so we kind of hung out with each other and got nice and warmed up...and I say warmed up figuratively because it was about 40 degrees outside. The nice little weather man promised me that it would get up to 75 degrees sometime during the day.
In this competition, there were 2 WODs plus a final WOD. Everyone was supposed to do the first 2 and the top 10 from each division went on to the finals. I wasn't expecting myself to get into the finals by any means. I told myself that as long as I didn't come in dead last, I would be just as proud of myself.
The first WOD was our endurance WOD:
2 min max cal row
...rest 1 min...
2 min kettlebell swings
...rest 1 min...
2 min burpee up and over box jumps
...rest 1 min...
2 min DB ground to overhead, alternating arms
They started off with the Women's MOD division. For the row, they told us we could set the damper at whatever we wanted, the caveat being that the less resistance you use, the less calories you're going to get out of it. They used 35# kettlebells, 20 inch boxes, and 30# dumbbells. The weights were borderline "easy" for me since they were lower than the weights I'd been using recently, but the thing is, I'd be using them for two minutes (<_<). The box jumps I was a little nervous about but they told us we could step up onto the boxes so that calmed my heart rate a little more. The way they were going to get through the heats was that the first heat would go, and once they finished the rowing, the next heat would take their place until all the heats had gone through each station. I was in the 5th heat, so I got to sit and stew and worry. My judge was also a Boomtown member so we got to commiserate a little. She asked me if I'd be ok with her yelling encouraging things at me. My response? "Whatever keeps me from stopping, go right ahead."
My time came and let me tell you, going into a competition with a heart rate that's already at least 100 sucks. I got through the rowing pretty well. It usually takes me about 2 minutes to get 500m. I set my damper a little higher than I usually do so I could get some extra calories out of it, which ended up being 39. I did 40-something kettlebell swings, 12 burpee box jumps (not surprised), and 29 ground to overheads. For endurance work at my level, I really ripped through it...and promptly died afterwards.
After that I watched the other divisions go through. Obviously the stations increased in weight as the divisions went along. I watched some of the Women's Rx division and holy crap the weights they were using. Some of those women were hell'a fierce! I was honestly shocked to watch even the Rx divisions get steam rolled by the WOD. For them, the weights probably weren't anything different than what they were used to, but just the fact that people had to do it for 2 minutes at a time really got to all of us. It was kind of relieving to see I wasn't the only one that struggled with it. Whoever said 2 minutes isn't a long time clearly never did CrossFit.
We got a little downtime after the first WOD so they could get everything set up for the second one.
WOD #2:
Heavy Jump Rope & Axle Clean Ladder
1 min. to complete 20 jumps and clean the axle bar once, moving up in weights. If you fail to clean a weight, do deadlifts until the time is up for partial points
So I'd never used a heavy jump rope before. I'd say it weighs about 20 pounds. It's basically just a jumprope that's a little thicker and they use a heavier metal braid. The big thing with those is that you have to plan your jump just right or else you end up whacking yourself in the shins. It wasn't a speed contest to see how fast you could get 20 jumps, as long as you did it. The kind of "test" with this WOD was to keep yourself from tiring out doing the jump rope. With something that heavy, you really have to make sure that you're not using your entire arm to try and get the rope up and over your head. I found that if I gripped the handle close to the rope I didn't have to deal with as much shock absorption so I could swing it a little more evenly and not get tired. The axle cleans were what made the whole thing interesting. The part that made it a "ladder" was that you started off at one weight. Finish the jump roping and clean the bar once. Next you move on to the next station which is jump roping again, and cleaning a 10 pound heavier bar, and you just keep moving down the line. You had the choice of either squat cleaning or power cleaning, whatever worked best. If you fail to clean a bar, you were supposed to deadlift for the rest of the minute and then you were done.
They took Men's and Women's MOD division first. There were 8 total stations, women's weight started at 50# and ended at 120#. I knew in the back of my head that my 3 RM for power cleans was 103#, but that was with a regular barbell, not an axle. If you remember, axle barbells are wider and don't have any rotating parts so it's up to you to manipulate everything. So I started off going down the line. Jump roping was actually kind of fun with the heavier rope and the first 3 or 4 cleans were fairly easy. I think I had just finished the 80# clean when I looked ahead of me and all the girls that were ahead of me were gone, defeated by whatever weight they had gotten to. I had people behind me, but there were a ton of eyes on me at that point. I looked back at what I was doing and a bunch of our guys were just standing in the crowd yelling encouragement at me. Literally. Day made. So, I kept going. 90#...starting to get a little heavy. 100#...wondering if I can hold out. 110#...did it in one try but teetered a bit at the top. I had one left, so close. 120#...nope. Tried it twice, got it up to about my collar bone which was about the point where I was supposed to be able to get my body under it, but it was just too heavy for me to manipulate. I think I ended up getting in about 16 deadlifts before the minute was up. I was a little disappointed, but in the end, it was a lot further than I could have dreamed of getting.
This is me trying the 120# bar, just before I failed. Pretty epic nonetheless.
Honestly the best part of the day had to be getting cheered on by everyone. In the past 4 months, I've definitely gotten to know a lot of the people in our gym and we've all started becoming friends. It's probably been the best part of all of this. They definitely get props for being part of my motivation and pushing me to get through WODs or add on another 5 pounds or keep trying until I get something. Love them all to pieces.
We had some down time while the judges got our scores together. Looking at the preliminary scoreboard, I was in 37th place out of 52 after the first WOD. I couldn't complain. It was a lot better than I thought I'd do! After that, they only did enough scores to figure out who the top 10 were. I obviously didn't make it to the finals, but I was so excited to see that Jason, Erik, Holly, Christina, and Meg all had.
Final WOD:
7 min AMRAP
20 deadlifts
10 handstand push-ups (or hand release push-ups for modified)
While I'm good at deadlifts, I was so relieved I didn't have to do that one. They started with Women's MOD and it was brutal to even watch, but the women gave it their all! Actually, every division gave it their all. Everyone must have been exhausted from the earlier events, plus by that time it was hot out! But I was so proud of the people from our gym that made it. Most of us had gone through the Paleo Challenge together so there was kind of a sense of solidarity in getting to cheer everyone on.
A couple days later I found out my final standing...25th out of 52. I was just so amazed. I wasn't expecting miracles, or to be the top 10 or anything like that. Heck, I didn't even expect to be in the top 50%, but I made it! For my first competition, I was pretty damn proud of myself. Now that just makes me want to compete more!
Moving forward from the games, I've realized that I still could use some work on my endurance. It's decent now that I've worked at it for a few months, but it's still no match for my strength. I can do strength stuff all day no problem. Endurance kills me. I feel like once I balance those two out I will truly be able to beast through WODs...Rx'd!
So that was my day at the Catalyst Games. It was the hardest, most fulfilling, and emotional thing I've ever done. Everything I've done in the past 4 months...including crying, peeling the callouses off my hands, standing in the shower for 10 extra minutes just trying to soothe sore muscles, and trying to be a source of motivation to people who cheer me on when I need it, came down to a couple of hours and 2 WODs. I've got a ways to go, but I really needed it to show myself what this is all about.
Ok before I keep blubbering like an idiot, I'm going to leave you guys at that.
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