3 CrossFit Oakdale teams took on the Caffeine and Kilos Team Competition in Sacramento on Sunday.  It was a well run, erectile organized event – it was indoors, adiposity had some decent vendors, order and ran on time, which is great.  The WODs were simple and well programmed – a Clean and Jerk/Snatch Ladder, a Burpee Box Jump Over/Kettlebell Swing Couplet, a yoke carry event and a thruster floater WOD.  All the WODs required teamwork and were balanced tests of fitness.  I would highly recommend participating in this event next year, as it offered an RX, Scaled and Master’s Division.  There was something for everyone.
The Box Jump Over/Kettlebell Swing and Thruster WOD were simple, relatively light and required communication.  Like many CrossFit competitions, it highlighted how fast you need to move to score better than your competitors.  Simple movements usually equal moving much faster than is comfortable.  This is an excellent takeaway for your day to day training – if you can handle the movements, move faster.
C&K was really fun, in my opinion because of 2 events: the Clean and Jerk Ladder and the Yoke Carry.
Ladders are really cool events.  At the CrossFit Games and even Regionals, the Ladders, as you build to heavier and heavier lifts under a shortened clock.  The time seems manageable until you start getting tired, and time becomes compressed.  As you try to remember all the little things you need to do, the clock is ticking, the bars are getting heavier and the crowd is cheering you on.
CFO had some great lifts.  Louis drilled a 245# Snatch, and Buddy Hitchcock – a top 10 NorCal CrossFitter and national level lifter, tapped me on the shoulder as he was judging another team and asked, “Did he just SNATCH that?” Bob, who had been dubbed Big Bear earlier that morning by an excellent waiter at breakfast, Snatched 185#, Cleaned 265 – and pressed the weight out in front of the webcast camera and MC to finish a 265# lift.  Way to go Big Bear!
The final event, a yoke carry, was the most fun event of the day and one of the most fun events I’ve done in competition.  The yoke, which was like a squat rack you walked with was heavy.  For nearly all our ladies – Kelly (in her first competition), Vanessa, Alison, Tricia, Janet and Christine the movement was new and the weight was heavy.  Kelly and Vanessa were barely able to move the damn thing at first in the scaled division, as that bad boy weighed in at a robust 260#.  When Alison and Christine stepped up to the yoke in the scaled division, that mother grabber weighed in at 350# or so.
It was so cool to watch our guys pick up that yoke and run with it.  Bill and Trevor were slinging it like champs, and because it was set so low for the ladies, Bill had to squat the damn thing every time to stand it up and move it.
But the highlight was the ladies.  You could see how nervous all our ladies were about moving this awkward, heavy object.  In each situation Kelly, Vanessa, Christine and Alison tried to move it, heard the cheers and encouragement, and moved that sucker as best they could.  Each time they finished a pass with the yoke, it would be to cheers and high fives.  As the nerves subsided, our CFO ladies kept slinging the weight.  So fun to watch.
I haven’t said much about our Master’s team yet – Funky and Forty – made up of Bob, Tricia, Janet and Denny.  F&F took third place in a stacked Master’s division, edging out a very experienced team from TJ’s Gym on the final WOD to earn a spot on the podium and finishing behind a sponsored team from Proanox (with Master’s Games athletes Freddy C and Lynn Hunter).  F&F stayed consistent early, overcoming some missed, but makable lifts on the ladder and a tough floater.  Folks, any thruster WOD is tough when you have 2 athletes well over 6 feet.  Especially when the bar is light.  F&F came back hard on the BBJ/KB WOD, pushing the pace on the burpees and never setting the KB down for 12 minutes.
With the help of a little leader boarding from Denny, F&F timed their final sprint on the yoke carry perfectly, earning a second place just finish behind the Proanox team.
For me, the highlights of the day was watching our tough ladies move that yoke to everyones cheers and when they announced F&F as our third place team.  Watching our guys take their place on the podium, especially as Bob, Tricia, Denny and Janet have been such great supporters of folks in the gym was emotional.
One last thing.  As F&F was jamming on the BBJ/KB WOD, I was standing next to a group of master’s age athletes from Turlock.  They were at the event to watch, and they were watching F&F in amazement, first that they were competing and second that they were doing so well.  Awesome.