This is part 2 of my CrossFit Games Open review. For part 1, for sale click here or just scroll down.
I have come to expect couplets and triplets from CrossFit, ampoule and these are the workouts I love. 12.1 and 12.2 were single modalities, sale but became necessary to balance each other out on the scoreboard. 12.3, 4 and 5 were pure CrossFit.
12.3 AMRAP 18 of Box Jumps, Push Press and Toes to Bar
Classic CrossFit! This is more like it, right? This is the type of WOD I try to program for CFO everyday. This WOD required athleticism, speed, knowing your engine and will. The only difference from what we do daily? It’s a little long, which is fine. On a training normal day, I rarely program WODs that last longer than 12 minutes. But, even though we don’t train long often, we didn’t see any one “blow out” once the minutes built up, we just kept chipping away.
On a personal note, I outlined some movements that I had to work on over the last year: Toes to Bar, 24in Box Jumps and Wall Balls. These movements continually killed me in competition, and I worked them into the daily gym WODs often, and into my cash outs regularly. Seeing high rep T2B AND BJ in the same WOD made my heart sink, but that’s the game we’re playing. This was my “Goat WOD”. It was super fun going head to head with Chance on this one, as he figured out T2B and crushed the BJ and PP. Both did this one twice, and went rep for rep both times (literally, 375 reps to 374), and we both placed in the near the top 60 in the region in this one, Chance’s best finish yet.
12.4 Karen plus 90 Doubleunders plus 30 MU
Uh oh, it just got real! After 3 tough, but relatively accessible WODs HQ throws down the gauntlet. To me, this is a masterpiece of a competition WOD: each element requires more skill and engine from the athlete. Good at wall balls? Great, do 150. Good at Double unders? We’ll see after those wall balls, kiddo! Think you’re good at muscle ups? How about we take your legs away first, pal?
I’m super proud of the standard we maintained as a gym. The wall balls require a higher level of accuracy than most movements, and a “No Rep” is obvious, and often times, warranted. Wives no repped husbands, husbands no repped wives, friends called no rep on friends. It sucks to call it, it sucks to get no repped, but we maintained the standard.
I know I left female athletes unprepared for the Open with my Wallball standard. We have stripe painted for 8 foot wall ball targets for women and 10 feet for men. 8 foot is a very good target, and attainable for many of our women. Unfortunately, it appears the Open standard is 9 feet, which is what it was last year, too. For some ladies, that extra foot was a huge difference. This is my fault. I will make sure we’re better prepared for this standard. We have some 9 foot targets up (in black tape) and I’ll add a stripe.
If I’m being fair, CrossFit favors a shorter athlete. I’m short. We don’t have to move the bar, or our body, as far. Wallballs, rowing and box jumps are some of the few movements that favor taller athletes. Wallball shot play hell on me, and Gloria and Em as well. Even rep to the 9 foot target was like a max effort thruster. Know that they EARNED every rep!
All that being said, this was my favorite of the Open WODs in either year. It was fun to watch people transition from WB to DU, and from DU to MU. When an athlete did make it, it was cheered with surprise and admiration. Christine earned her best score here, tying for 102nd place in the region. Christine just got her MU powers back, but she wasn’t able to sneak on in at the end of 12.4. I have said this before, you can have the movement, but you really want to be able to do it when exhausted.
A few of us re-did this WOD. THAT was tough. The quad soreness was amazing, and lasted for days. Following this WOD, I got into an ice bath for the first time. It was that bad. And it was ALL from the wall balls. Needless to say, I don’t think I’ll be doing “Karen” for a long time.
12.5 Thruster/CTB Pullup Ladder
The anticipation before each WOD was really exciting, as I think it will be every year. We all guessed, and we were all wrong. I have some witnesses, but I called the thruster/CTB pull-up, or “Fran” ladder last year. Going into the final WOD, many of us were guessing deadlifts, but in the back of my mind, I knew we had to have thrusters and pull-ups. It’s easy to score, and dammit, it’s CrossFit: you gotta have thrusters and pull-ups in a comp. I was relieved that the final WOD was something familiar, and something I felt like we were ready for as a gym.
I actually like the idea of having a repeatable test in the Open. I kind of hope this WOD appears every year. But kinda not. Because, man, this thing hurts. Bad.
Alison and Tricia each showed major improvement, Alison besting her previous score from last year by over 15 reps, using a one at a time approach to the CTB pull-ups and attacking thrusters in big sets.
But Tricia W was the bulldog of the final WOD of the Open. Each week, Tricia diligently broke down the movements, and strategized her way to her best performances. Last year, Tricia completed the Open, but she told me that she never looked at the leader board. Last year, each WOD was at, or just beyond her ability level. This year was different. Tricia was in attack mode, but it wasn’t until 12.5 that she broke through.
Tricia finished third in the gym in the first 4 WODs, but in this crushing test, she turned in her best score relative to the field, and the best women’s score at CrossFit Oakdale. She nearly doubled her reps from last year. 12.5, the most challenging gut check WOD of the Open brought the best out in Tricia, and she jumped to the top 40% of athletes in the WOD. If we had a Most Improved Award, it would got to Tricia.
Workout of the Day
Strength
Deadlift
Heavy 5
Work to one heavy set of 5. If this is your first week, start light. If you did this last week, try to add 5-10 lbs. Follow the 2 second descent, pause at the bottom, pull. If you are too slow, or especially too fast, lower the weight.
Metcon
AMRAP 11
Farmers walk to end building
50 Double Unders