The 2014 Fittest Games Recap + My AWESOME Weekend

by karen | Jan 28, 2014 | Life as an Athlete

This weekend I returned to The Kingdom and participated in The Fittest Games. Since this is one of the largest comps in this area/Nation…I knew that many of my friends were going to be there (something I love about competing…seeing old friends and meeting new people and this comp was full of that).

The workouts looked rough and crazy…but I was down for the challenge. The were full of things I love (handstand walks) and things I hate (pull ups). This year there were many ladies that were not in our region attending The Fittest Games. There were names I have never seen before…which was awesome. I was in heat 3 all weekend long. I stood in front of a girl name Marilyn who was from Madison Station Crossfit in Mississippi…I grew up in Madison Mississippi so we always had something to chat about. A girl named Sarah Pierce stood behind during line up. Every time we checked in they asked us if we were related, so I started calling her my cousin which made cheering on alot more fun!

Huge thanks to my sponsors Grayhawk, Rock Materials and the one and only V23 Athletics! Even in the cold, y’all made me look good!

Also thanks to Tara and The Benton’s for coming out and supporting me. Its always good to see y’alls face!

Below is my recap on the different WODs that myself and the other Pro Women Attempted.

WOD 1: Pro Workout – Gas Mask, v.2 (Workout presented by WODLIFE)

30 Burpee Over Object

50′ HandStand Walk

300′ Shuttle Run

50 Alternating Pistols

300′ Shuttle Run

50′ HandStand Walk

30 Burpee Over Object

Time Cap: 10 Minute

Athletes will complete the workout exactly as it is written above. The handstand walk will be 25′ down and 25′ back. Both hands must start behind the line to begin and both hands must cross the finish line before an athlete may come down. If and when an athlete comes out of their handstand walk before completion, the judge will mark where their hands last were before they came down. No “cartwheels” will be permitted, and athletes must show control of their handstand walk to advance forward. The shuttle run will be 50′ down and 50′ on the return. On the way “down” athletes must run facing forwards. On the way “back” athletes must run backwards.

Scoring: This workout will be scored for time.

I was actually looking forward to this workout no lie. It was a great way to start off the competition because on Friday it was FREEZING cold…in fact they delayed the start 2hrs…THANK GOODNESS! Kudos to who ever made that decision, LOL!  I would walk out to the WODS in MANY layers, remove layers for the WOD and re dress before leaving the pad. I performed the 30 burpee jump over things, then we had to move the block that we jumped over…that thing was heavy!! I did my handstand walk. I started on my run and they were slow…that whole running backwards and I slipped on my cone. I started my pistols and my hands were ICE! I even thought about asking my judge to give me my gloves during the Pistols but I didn’t want to slow down to put them on. How I did the handstand walk again I’m not sure. I finished my burpees and called time. The only reason I was the only one to finish in my heat was because of the cold. I am with some stellar athletes. I had to recover from that and it was on to the Triplet…oh boy!

WOD 2: Triplet (Workout Presented by Cyclone Speed Rope)

12-9-6: Bar Muscle-Ups

6-9-12: Triple Unders

(8-Minute Cap)

*1-Minute Reset*

1 Minute Max Effort Shoulder to Overhead @ 185#/125#. Athletes may strict press, push press, push jerk, split jerk or squat jerk.

Scoring
This workout will have two data points: the first part will be for time. If an athlete DNF’s, there will be a 5-second penalty added for every rep not completed. The second part will be for max reps.

*If an athlete finishes part one before the time cap, they will rest until the time cap expires, and will begin part two with everyone else and at the same time.

Well I did a lot better on this than I thought I would. As we (heat 3) lined up for the WOD, we watched heat 2 move to the shoulder to overhead and we all just dropped our jaws. No one had warmed up for shoulder to overhead…completely forgot! oh well it was to late now. Believe it or not I made it through 12 bar muscle ups, 6 triple unders, 6 bar muscle ups, 2 Triple Unders…I thought I would get stuck on bar muscle ups, but I made it through…and I didn’t rip (I saw some nasty hands). We had our minute rest and before heading over to shoulder to overhead. My goal was 15…I got 16. I didn’t feel to bad about my performance there and I walked off pumped for the next one…KING KONG!

WOD 3: King Kong Total (Workout Presented by Rogue)

3 Rounds
1 Deadlift [x]
2 Muscle Ups
3 Cleans [y]
4 Handstand Pushups

This is the classic workout with a twist… You get to choose your weight for both the deadlift [x] and the clean [y]. The MINIMUM weight that must be on the deadlift bar is 455#/305#. The MINIMUM weight that must be on the clean bar is 255#/175# (yes, we know that these are technically different weights than “Rx”, but we will not be using 2.5# plates for this workout).

Time Cap: 6 Minutes
If you choose to, you may add as much weight to either the deadlift bar, the clean bar, or both – in increments of at least 10#.

For example
Male 1: Deadlift 455. Clean 255. Time: 4:15.
Male 2: Deadlift 505. Clean 315. Time: 5:30.
Male 3: Deadlift 475. Clean 275. Time: DNF (only two full rounds completed)

Scoring
This workout will have two data points:

1) Time to completion. For every rep not completed, a 5-second penalty will be added to the time cap of 6 minutes.

2) Total weight moved. This will be on a by-rep basis. You will not receive any credit for weight not moved.

*I looked forward to this WOD all day! I have done King Kong when I was in the best shape of my life (Games training 2012) but I haven’t deadlifted in awhile and this was heavier weights than my last King Kong (which I did in 5mins flat) and the handstand push ups were on a boxes…eeekkk! I warmed up a little for this, but I was ready! We did have the option of going heavier but I knew I would do better with the lighter weight and just go for a fast time. It was awesome and I finished in 4:10…50 seconds faster than my last King Kong. I placed 2nd in this WOD which was a mucho needed placing for me.

*Saturday night I took an epsom salt bath, ate a good meal and got in bed early…which was the BEST thing I have ever done at a comp. Moving forward I’m taking epsom salt baths after every day of a competition. I also want these to be more regular in my training, great benefit here.

WOD 4: Pro Workout – Kepler (Workout presented by CryoUSA)

-50 Unbroken Heavy Rope Singles

-40 Unbroken Pull-ups

-30 Unbroken Dual DB Thrusters @ 50/35

-20 Unbroken Toes to Bar

-10 Unbroken Dual DB Ground to Overhead @ 50/35

The workout will be completed exactly as it is written above.

Each movement MUST be completed “unbroken”. If an athlete breaks before they have completed the requisite number of reps, they will have to start over at zero.

This workout will test the athletes’ ability to push the gas pedal, but will also test the athletes’ knowledge of him or herself. How much rest between movements? Only the athlete knows. Start too early, and they may have to break and start over. Rest too much and they might lose out on valuable points in the scoring table.

*I dreaded this workout every since they posted it. If you know anything about me, vertical pulls are not my best thing…especially unbroken ones. I tried this WOD the weekend before we actually had to execute it. I did everything, but it was HARD…and it was in mucho warmer weather. When we showed up to do this workout, they delayed our start time 30mins to allow the icy mats to dry out…WHAT??? When time came for us to line up, we watched some of heat 2 and it wasn’t pretty. We were up…and I was in LOTS of layers…not kidding tapped hands…reebok gloves…and then massive outer gloves. I knew my hands were going to freeze during the jump rope. Jump rope was fine…easy no problem. We all get to pull ups and just stop and look at the bar. Finally 1 by 1 we attempted the pull ups. Long story short I made it to 33. I felt fine, better than I did at practice but my hands were sooooo cold I couldn’t hold onto the bar. My fellow competitors/friends also had this problem and were dropping off at average, 35. Candice even made it to 39, yikes! I think only 3 girls made it past pull ups. I’m not going to lie, I was so happy this was over because Rope climbs were next and I like those.

WOD 5: You’re Welcome

7-Minute AMRAP:

-2 Rope Climbs

-2 Overhead Squats @ 160/110 lb.

-2 Rope Climbs

-4 Overhead Squats @ 160/110 lb.

-2 Rope Climbs

-6 Overhead Squats @ 160/110 lb.

-2 Rope Climbs

-8 Overhead Squats @ 160/110 lb…

This workout will be 7 minutes in length. You will complete the above sequence, with each round starting with two rope climbs. In the first round, you will perform 2 overhead squats. In each subsequent round, you will increase the number of overhead squats by two. Get as far as you can in 7 minutes.

I was excited about this because I’m not bad at rope climbs and I actually enjoy them. However OHS with an axel bar was a different story, especially since we didn’t get to warm up with one. I had alot of trouble reaching full dept on my squats and got a few no reps on my initial squats. After the 1st squat I was good…I think mentally I was testing my shoulder and its ability to hold weight overhead on an axel bar like that. I made it to 6 squats of my 12.

*I finished this part of the comp in 7th place which qualified me for the final event (top 10).

Final:

This was a neat concept this year. They brought out the top 5 girls (here is where the bottom 5 of the top 10 named ourselves the worst of the best). Places 2-5 drew a movement out of a bowl and place #1 drew a workout. AFTER we hung from a bar with a 20#med ball between our legs (1st person to drop was out) we took a stop forward and started a small run around a tire and came back to a station less than what there was people. They used this “musical chairs” process with 10 Muscle Ups, 30 20# Med Ball sit ups, 30 Wall Ball #20 Med Ball, 15 burpee to plate. The first 5 to jump on the boxes then had to do Isabelle (30 snatches for time 95#). I made it through the hang and to the Muscle Ups. I got beat by 1 muscle up. When is this going to kill me enough to practice more! I’m thinking it is now!

All in all it was a good competition. I met a lot of GREAT people and Crossfit Central did the best they could with the elements they were given. It was good to see people’s postings AFTER the event stating how much FUN they had!

That night it was Wahoo Tacos and drinks downtown with others! Woke up Sunday to find BEAUTIFUL weather. I said goodbye to friends as they journeyed back to Houston (not before having a bacon cinnamon rolls). Then sat on the deck and brain stormed for an hour or so. That deck is so awesome!  I started putting together BaseCamp packets which turned out AWESOME! Then it was off to 24 Diner because I didn’t get it on Saturday and a trip to the Hope Outdoor Gallery…a must to check out! Every time you visit it is different!

I delivered BaseCamp packets to athletes so they could start Monday. This got me in bed way to late but the weekend and the productivity of Sunday was WAAAY worth it. This LONG weekend (Thursday-Sunday) was AWESOME and full of GOOD TIMES and GOOD people. I’m one lucky gal!

HUGE thanks to THE NERD for PRing in spectating this weekend which included carrying my bag and documenting the activities via camera, tolerating me and my lack of ability to do math to figure out what I need to do to place where. You are one of a kind. THANK YOU!