Monday 090427
Congrats to all of the PCF Athletes that competed this weekend in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Qualifiers!! Everyone did an amazing job. Special congrats to Jon Matzner who placed 5th overall and will be representing at the Crossfit Games in July.
Thanks to the support crew for making it a great weekend!
“Helen”
3 Rounds for time:
Run 400m
21 Kettlebell Swings, 1.5pood/1 Pood
12 Pull ups
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Photos
April 26th, 2009 on 8:36 pm
Had a great time this weekend – Happy I made the trip!! All competitors were AMAZING this weekend and total bad asses – I love it!! Thank you everyone!!
ps Still can’t stop laughing about Brian’s fake out on the 400m! I propose we post that video on the website!! haha
April 26th, 2009 on 8:50 pm
Thanks to everyone for the support this weekend and special congrats to Jon for making it through. I wanted to let the weekend crew know that Ian and I accomplished our specially designed WOD on the drive home. This can stand beside the “drew” as a disgusting feat of skill.
“The Big Three”
Eat disgusting amounts of food at all three major fast food joints in under a 4 hour road trip
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Mcdonalds – Big Mac, 2 Double Cheeseburgers, Large Fries, Medium Fries
Burger King – Double Bacon Cheeseburger, Double Whopper with Cheese
Wendys- Spicy chicken sandwich, Double Cheeseburger, Large Fries, M&M Frosty
As Rx’d – 5,870 Calories
April 26th, 2009 on 8:58 pm
Rich, impressive performance (post qualifiers). You topped me, I just polished off a Ben & Jerry’s Peanut Butter Cup (1360) calories. But you’ve inspired me to keep going.
Congrats to all the competitors, what a great weekend!! We had 8 males in the top 50, which speaks a lot of the training and coaches at PCF.
Thanks to Drea and the support group, we could not have done it without yall!
congrats Jon M!!
April 26th, 2009 on 9:25 pm
More to come later but so far…
4 beers at games site
1 mcflurry w/ m and ms
12 piece chicken mcnuggets
3 scotch and sodas
12 buffalo chicken wings
1 guiness
0645 wakeup call tomorrow
April 26th, 2009 on 9:36 pm
OK, so here is my reflections from this weekend. First of all, the Potomac Crossfit community is hands down one of the best. Congrats John M for qualifying for Nationals. We were sorry Jen could not make it, but all her hard work in planning paid off big time. Drea is a saint. Her cooking and taping skills are out of this world. The support staff of Vaughn, Erin B, Siddarth, Liz K, Sally, Emma, Aaron K, Laura B, Chef were outstanding. You guys support both at the House and at the Games were amazing. Sally, I hope you get your voice back soon!
Now for the actual point of this. Bottom line is that Crossfit works. Our athletes did a great job of showing that doing the common uncommonly well is a virtue in Crossfit that cannot be overlooked. We all had our “Achilles Heel” from the weekend; however, all performances throughout the weekend were intense and technically proficient. Individually, our folks accomplished some major feats personally that were extremely impressive. From Scott Q snatching for the first time like a champ, to Ryan’s blow out performance on the row, to Mike H gutting through doubleunders, to Dan’s Deadlifts that proved form is everything, our Crossfitters caught praise from every spectator and every judge.
My times:
WOD 1
Row 2K
7:13
WOD 2
3 rounds
10 Deadlifts at 275
50 Doubleunders
6:02
WOD 3
21-15-9
Run 400m
OHS 95#
Box Jumps
9:33
WOD 4
21-15-9
Snatch at 95#
Chest to bar Pullups
7:43
Overall, 16 out of 122 male competitors. I’m happy, but need to work on some things.
My thoughts:
Rowing: It’s not how fast you go, it’s how much power you can create and slowly recover. When I started slacking on form and was pulling 1:53, Erin yelled at me and I immediately fixed myself to 1:48. Other than that, 2K is a gut check. Give it a shot.
Deadlifts: I don’t want to say go heavy or go home, but you need to challenge yourself on the deadlift so that you can make progress. We say in Crossfit that if you are short on time and only have time to do 1 thing, Deadlift.
Double Unders: Most of you have seen me do double unders; however, it was my equilizer this weekend. When I got tired, I tensed up and lost form. We must remember that the rope will take care of itself. There is no need to try and go fast. The more relaxed you are the better. John M and Jen were great examples of this. They smoked these and the only time they messed up (and yes they only messed up once a piece), they were too tight, we commented on it, they fixed it and off they went to the best times out of all the competitors. I noticed people failed at DU because they were either tired or couldn’t do them. If you can do DU pretty well, but can’t sustain them, we need to work on METCON. If you can handle the METCON but the fine motor skill needs work, we need to gradually get you there.
OHS and Box Jumps: I liked this workout because it’s more up my ally, and our athletes did very well at these. Most everyone did them unbroken. Very impressive. I attribute that to the fundamentals. Again, do the common uncommonly well.
Snatch: This is what killed many of the Special Forces guys who were up in the lead going into Sunday who muscled through Saturday. This technical movement taxed many people and caused them to lose a lot of time. What we found out is that breathing and pacing was key.
Chest to Bar Pullups: Like the snatch, pacing was key. Stay within yourself. Once you are confident with pullups, you need to start shooting to do Chest to bars whenever you can.
Now with all that being said, again, I can’t say enough about our compeitors and I’m sure you all with see videos and hear some great stories. The weekend was fantastic, and next year will be even better.
April 26th, 2009 on 9:49 pm
i can’t say enough about the support crew and how awesome everyone was this weekend. i have never felt so much part of a team as this weekend (and I have been on enough others). thank you to everyone who sreamed in my face during all the workouts. today especially – for doing squat snatches for the first time ever, i certainly needed it. who would have thought CTB pullups would be the easy part of a workout.
Anyone notice muscle ups on Norcal’s qualifyer – can’t remember who I was talking with on the walk out today that that would never be in a competition – rich maybe?. so much for that theory.
i ate mcdonalds on the way back – but can’t compare to the guys.
anybody still wearing their wristband?!
April 26th, 2009 on 10:06 pm
I’m a failure, all I’ve had is one pizza, one half pint of ice cream and one beer. I have failed….
I’ll just echo what was said above. The athletes that came down this weekend were unbelievable – couldn’t ask for a better bunch of guys and gals to get sweaty with.
Support folks, Drea, Siddharth, Vaughn, Erin B., Aaron K., Liz K., Sally, Emma, and Chef – you guys were just downright unreal.
I am now going to sleep. Love this box.
April 26th, 2009 on 10:11 pm
Awesome, Jon!
April 26th, 2009 on 10:36 pm
Congrats, Jon!
April 26th, 2009 on 10:37 pm
I am sitting here trying to put this past weekend into words and finding it nearly impossible. Everyone who competed was amazing. You left everything you had to give in VA beach.
A few things:
Drea could organize the world….really. None of us have any doubt!
Brian can run… wait for the video.
Guch made us laugh… a lot. He was so polite when he asked his judges to stop talking to him…mid-WOD.
Don’t get Kristin mad (or steal her pull-up bar mid- competition) she may not bite but if looks could kill….
You really can talk about CrossFit for 72+ hours straight.
Don’t try to follow Chef while driving…it won’t work.
Both FBI Mike and Scott said they hadn’t done snatches…yeah right! (see the video)
Some of the judges don’t count as well as Erika! (or Brian for that matter)
Matt B’s 5 year old daughter though Scott Q. got lost in the woods…(mid-WOD). It was so cute.
The guy standing next to me said loudly to the group of ten he was standing with after Jen N’s deadlift/double-under WOD. “Wow- That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen!”
Don’t listen to Dan when he says he can’t do something…even when his back is sore.
Jon M. is on his way to sunny California-what a great person(and amazing athlete) to represent PCF on the west coast!!
April 26th, 2009 on 11:36 pm
I would just like to echo everyone’s sentiments already about this weekend – everything I say is redundant, but it needs to be said again.
All of the support crew were amazing – everyone was so supportive of everyone – running back and forth between simultaneous WODs to yell encouragement, cooking, taping, filming . . . the list goes on. Cheering on these WODs was emotionally draining and everyone was going crazy for everyone else. Hats off to everyone, but Drea is seriously a saint and should probably be under consideration for a our next Secretary of Defense – I know DoD could use the organization.
Athletes. I am so proud of the way everyone did this weekend and the way we looked as an affiliate (which I take no credit for – we’re just lucky to have such a group of amazing people). Some things deserve special mention:
1. Jon M tore it up – it goes without saying.
2. Take a look at Mike R’s times (posted above) . . . and then look at them again. They’re ROCK SOLID all the way across – it’s like he got stronger as the weekend went on.
3. The overall PCF performance was astounding . . . I predicted that as a box we would have a very high number of people in the top 1/3 . . . and the most amazing part is that I can think of a bunch more people that could have been there with us to make our pool even deeper.
We’re doing a lot right at PCF, but this qualifier showed us some things that we can improve on to make even better CrossFitters. So even if you missed this one, you’re going to benefit.
P.S. Kristin and I were part of the ice cream demolishing team (there are pictures, and video) . . . and then we ate at Outback on the way home.
April 26th, 2009 on 11:42 pm
this weekend blew me away. i am so proud to be a part of this group with all you wonderful individuals. every athlete did an ABSOLUTELY amazing job throwing around all that weight!!!!!
i cant wait for next year. lets get a bus or an rv or something big to haul everyone down there!!!
drea we would have been lost without you!
congrats jon!
April 27th, 2009 on 7:15 am
We really wanted to make the drive to the beach on Saturday a.m. and join you all, however, I am learning “morning sickness” does not end at noon. And, sometimes does not begin until 3:00 in the afternoon.
Thanks so much for the updates on Twitter. Rob and I followed them all weekend to get our updates.
Jon – nothing made me happier than to see your pic on the main page – standing in 5th place! I am so thrilled for you. You deserve it!
April 27th, 2009 on 7:49 am
First off congrats Jon and to Shiela and Rob!
“Helen”
3 Rounds for time:
Run 400m
21 Kettlebell Swings, 1.5pood/1 Pood
12 Pull ups
As rx’d 9:34
couldnt find the last time we did this, but i improved by about 3 minutes so i am happy
April 27th, 2009 on 8:10 am
Congrats, Jon! You rocked it!!!
April 27th, 2009 on 8:24 am
adding my penny…
What really stuck out in my head and I hope was noticed by non-PCFers was that even when our folks were done competing, PCFers would stay and cheer the last person on and a few times that person did not have anyone else cheering or yelling at them to take two breaths and get back on the bar or jump on the box. Which I believe is part of what crossfit is about (cheering/encouraging individual achievement) but it was great to see that PCF was a great example of that. I am also proud to be part of the box!!!
April 27th, 2009 on 9:07 am
Helen: 12:10, with 40# Kb
Congrats Jon M!
April 27th, 2009 on 9:16 am
Alright, my AAR on this weekend’s games. This was for me both a humbling and inspiring experience and I am so thankful that I competed, despite having my ass handed to me by the double unders.
First things first. As a coach, I am so proud of each and every one of our athletes. You guys went out there and gave 110%, pushed through the pain, and rocked some seriously wicked WODs. Awesome performances. And what is more, I am constantly impressed by the comraderie and support of our athletes. Despite the fact that there were 20 or so of us and everyone was on their own schedules and keeping up with their own WODs, there was NEVER a time that a PCF athlete did not have several friendly faces cheering them on. Truly inspiring, and I am so proud to be a part of such phenomonal group of people. As a competitor, it really made an impact. Especially when all I wanted to do was throw that damn jump rope into the wall and sit down and cry, you guys really kept me going.
As for our sheer numbers, PCF rocked that as well – I think we had more people there than any other affiliate, and each and every one of them held their own and cranked out some solid performances and some personal feats of strength.
Thing number two: the PCF support staff was amazing. Drea is my hero (as if I didn’t know that before), and her crew of Erin, Aaron, Liz, Sally, Laura, Emma, Chef, Siddharth and Vaughn were incredible. You guys kept us fed, taped, watered, kept the trains running on time, and generally just took amazing care of us. Words cannot express my gratitude to you all for your support over the weekend. Really, truly appreciated. Jenn M, we missed you, but I know you were there in spirit.
As for lessons learned: I think we all came back better off having had the experience, and we all have a better sense of what we need to work on in order to become the best crossfitters we can be. I know we all have a tendency to enjoy crushing the things we’re good at and let the “goats” fall by the wayside. Unfortunately, a few of us learned this weekend that it really can come back to haunt you. Maybe y’all dont know this about me (right…), but I personally suck at double unders (that is f’in double unders, Vaughn) and it really hurt me – put me a good 7 to 10 minutes behind and took me out of the game, despite being proficient at the rest of the WODs. I learned that have to stop biasing myself towards the things I am good at…lifting heavy…and start working those body weight movements in order to make myself more well rounded. So, fair warning to double unders, rings dips, and handstand push ups: I am about to spend the next year making you my bitches. Nothing personal….maybe we can be friends someday…. but for now, prepare for domination.
To Jon M….congrats, brother. You were awesome, go make us proud in Aromas.
Sorry for the long post, just wanted to take a minute to express how proud I am to be a coach at such an amazing box. You guys definitely do not suck.
Oh, and Brian, your ice cream was FANTASTIC on Sunday night and I’m sorry you had to miss it. We did not scale, and we destroyed the “polish off the ice cream for time” WOD. There is video to prove it.
April 27th, 2009 on 9:17 am
I dont have much to say (mainly cause I drank a LOT of scotch last night) but I really wanted to say thank you to everyone involved with this weekend. You all are some of the most amazing individuals I have ever met as far as your dedication, camaraderie, and ability to test your limits. It was an honor to be a part of it all and I sincerely thank you for letting me be part of the team.
-Scott “not Last” aka “the Plumber”
WOD Times: I finished. Enough said.
April 27th, 2009 on 9:46 am
Where to begin? After reading everyone else’s comments, I just want to say THANK YOU to the coaches, support staff, and fellow competitors for allowing me to be a part of such an awesome team. You may not know this, but you gave me the courage and drive to push myself harder and further than ever before. The intensity of tackling what seemed like an impossible WOD was so overwhelming. I actually found myself in tears in the middle of the deadlift WOD when I looked up and saw everyone cheering me on and my little girl jumping up and down and screaming “go daddy, go” and I realized that I was going to make it. I hope I didn’t look too much like a baby, but I didn’t really care at that point. That’s how intense this weekend was for me. And it’s something I’ll never forget. So thank you all for an incredible experience.
PS. Erika, I’m with you – I am going to own the snatch before the year is through.
See you at the box.
April 27th, 2009 on 10:22 am
Though I still can’t feel my legs or make them move correctly, I couldn’t be happier with this weekend … well, maybe I could be a little happier, but I’ll get to that.
The support crew was awesome. I almost felt guilty asking people to do things for me as I was getting ready to compete, but they didn’t think twice. Drea taping my hands and Aaron K. running for my shoes was a huge help.
The athletes all did great. We were deep and even though we ended with only person going to Cali, we were solid on just about every workout. That’s how we ended up with so many people in the top 50.
There were a number of us that probably were snatching for anywhere from the 1st to the 3rd times in our lives, but because CF has made us generally athletic and fit people, we got through even if we didn’t excel (though Mike managed to never snatch and to excel, which is impressive). Everyone got nailed by something they are not great at. It was snatches for some, double unders for others, running, and heavy deadlifts. Erika got the nightmare draw of events she wouldn’t want to see come out of the hopper and gutted through to the end. I couldn’t be more proud of her.
Jon said he was right where he wanted to be after day one and two WODs that aren’t exactly up his ally and he was right. I was also right where I wanted to be after day 1, right up until they told us what the last WOD was.
Now I think this is the important part. We have to strive for competence at everything. The defining characteristic of the people who qualified is that they didn’t have one BAD event. Now they had some very average performances in one or two events, but but if you were in the top 20 percent of EVERY event, you had a great shot of qualifying.
Even though we always talk about training our weaknesses, we don’t see it in action quite like this. We do a workout at the box, get beat really badly, shrug our shoulders and say, “this isn’t my movement, I’ll get them tomorrow.” But at the games, there is no tomorrow. I got lucky that three events I was good at came up first, but I was a paper champ. I hadn’t been asked to do a single thing I wasn’t good at. The FIRST time I was asked to do something I wasn’t good at, I dropped like a stone. I didn’t have to be great at snatches, I just needed to be competent. And I wasn’t.
There is no “I’ll get them tomorrow,” but there is a “I’ll get them next year.”
This is getting long winded, but stay with me here, because I know not everybody is like me and living for competition. The lesson I learned this weekend is also for people looking to live long, healthy, productive lives. You don’t know the day test will come. The day you run to catch a plane, the day you reach down to pick up your kid, the day you help a friend move, the day you go snorkeling or hiking on vacation, the day you want to join your office softball team. Don’t ever let your self be in a situation where you can’t do it because you are physically unable. If you find yourself avoiding things because of a physical limitation, you need to address that limitation.
I know it feels good to do things your good at and receive the positive reinforcement that comes with success. But we need to be a lot better about doing things we’re bad at and feeling REALLY good about becoming competent in that movement. My favorite moment of the weekend was Erika finishing her double under deadlift workout. There was a 15 minute time limit. Many men and women did not finish that workout because they couldn’t do double unders or did them so poorly they couldn’t do them in 15 minutes. Six months ago Erika couldn’t do a double under, much less 150 of them. She worked at them and became competent enough to do them through hard work. She finished the assigned task in the time allowed (not to mention the 185lb deadlifts that went along with it) when most people wouldn’t even start because they couldn’t do it. Just get good enough to do it and you will be 10 times fitter and healthier than you ever imagined.
I promise that you won’t find anyone at the gym more dedicated to working on what they are bad at than me for the next 12 months. Expect some pretty slow times from me for a while, because if my time is really fast, I probably shouldn’t be practicing it that often.
Having done well after day one gave me faith that I am, in fact, really good at about 75% of the exercises we do. Good enough that I would gladly trade a slight decline in those skills, for a 50% improvement in the other 25% of the skills I am bad at. And so should all of you, whether for games or for life. It’s no good to be able to bench 250 if you can’t run a mile. It’s no good to be able to run a marathon if you can’t jump up onto a box or do a push-up.
I am super motivated right now. Expect to see me at the Box. I’ll be the one in the corner doing snatches, stretching, overhead pressing, handstand push-ups, ring dips, sit-ups, and back extensions.
I needed to get a 7:50 on the last workout to qualify for the games. Don’t think I won’t be testing that a few times in the coming months.
For those of you sticking with this post to the end, thanks for reading. Writing it was good therapy.
April 27th, 2009 on 11:00 am
Aaron,
Well said.
April 27th, 2009 on 11:01 am
Wow! I’m pumped just reading all of this! You guys rock! Can’t wait to personally say congrats to all of you at the box!
April 27th, 2009 on 11:39 am
The next time you hear me complain about 95lb snatches, show remind me of the workouts for the NorCal games. Here thy are:
Day 1 Workouts
Workout A*
For time:
Row 500m
30 Burpees
10 Shoulder-to-Overhead (Men: 165#, Women: 95#)
It’s up to you to decide on the technique to employ for the shoulder-to-overhead movement (shoulder press, push press, push jerk, etc.). Efficient technique will be rewarded.
Workout B
Max reps in 10 minutes of:
Muscle-Up
Ground-to-Shoulder (Male: 185#, Female: 105#)
It’s up to you to decide on the technique to employ for the ground-to-shoulder movement (power clean, squat clean, deadlift-and-curl, etc.). Efficient technique will be rewarded.
April 27th, 2009 on 11:40 am
You guys should be SO proud and you represented us so well!! I’ve never been more happy to call a gym my home! Congrats to ALL of you. No matter what you placed, just having the guts to compete and never quitting says everything!
Aaron, I read EVERY word!
April 27th, 2009 on 11:42 am
Now, I’m glad I reside at east coast.
April 27th, 2009 on 11:42 am
Congrats, everyone! Way to represent! Thanks for the great recaps. Can’t wait to get back in there and get to work. Eff’n DU’s, here I come.
April 27th, 2009 on 11:44 am
Wow, amazing posts today.
I’ll dumb it back down and point to this video as one of the highlights of the weekend.
http://www.vimeo.com/4353540
I’m *slowly* getting the videos up on Vimeo. We have something like 12-15 hours of raw footage, so right now, I’m just trying to get all of it up.
MAQ == Mid Atlantic Qualifiers, so you can search the PCF Raw channel for that tag.
April 27th, 2009 on 11:52 am
KB Swings – 35#
Pull-ups – tan band first round, blue band last two
13:20
April 27th, 2009 on 12:37 pm
Siddarth,
I’ll burn the footage I have on a CD and bring to the box tomorrow.
April 27th, 2009 on 1:05 pm
Ok…I have to chime in on this weekend.
I don’t even know where to begin but this weekend was one of the most awesome displays of pure “good peoplehood” that I have ever seen and reading these posts just nails it down even further. This weekend was pure joy for me and I am SO proud to be a part of our Box – we have an unbelieveable group of people surrounding us. There aren’t words to describe this weekend to someone who wasn’t there and I encourage all of you to watch the videos and try to see a competition someday – it’s inspiring and emotional on so many levels.
Thank you to EVERYONE for all of the help…we had an awesome support staff. The goal was to create take care of the athletes so that all they had to think about was their individual tasks at hand and we nailed it (and then some) as a well-oiled machine. You guys ROCK.
To the athletes…congrats. to you all for your awesome displays of mental and physical strength. I LOVE YOU GUYS. Jon, I wish I could be in Cali. to support you but you bet your ass I will be there in sprit and will train Siddharth on the hand-wrap knowledge.
That is all for now – I just started crying again…dear lord, I guess this is what happens when you put suspense and emotion on a pregnant woman’s plate!
Dan, I will accept the Sec. of Def. nomination…can you think of a better way for us to start on the World Domination – I would have everyone CrossFitting in no time…but I will remember my roots – PCF t-shirts for all.
April 27th, 2009 on 2:46 pm
“Helen”
3X
400m Run
21 KB Swings – 1 pood
12 Pull-ups – blue band
Time 12:02
Thanks Curtis
April 27th, 2009 on 2:53 pm
Congrats to all the people brave enough to compete in the qualifiers this weekend.
15:02 Rx
Very disappointed with my running. Definitely something I need to work on.
April 27th, 2009 on 3:26 pm
Being very slow on the uptake…. I will blame it on being blonde AND male…
CONGRATS Rob and Shiela!!!!
April 27th, 2009 on 5:55 pm
1. Congrats Rob and Sheila!
2. Words to describe this weekend and the PCF people involved include: inspiring, humbling, endearing, amazing, fun, heart-warming, supportive, comradely, loyal, unselfish… the list goes on.
3. Thank you to all the PCF “support” staff… Vaughn, Erin B, Siddarth, Liz K, Sally, Emma, Aaron K, Laura B, and Chef. I put support in quotes because I think it understates what you all brought to the table. In my travels, I’ve been to a number of boxes across the country on a one-off basis. I have never felt the atmosphere or camaraderie that I feel walking into PCF daily at the box. However, this weekend took that feeling to a new level. The outpouring of support, loyalty and camaraderie across this weekend was an experience that I haven’t felt since playing football in college. Thanks for taking such great care of all the competitors and for cheering us on through all our efforts. Our performances would not have been possible without you. Also, thanks to the trainers for establishing the atmosphere that makes PCF a special place.
4. Jon M, congrats on making it to Aromas. All your hard work, dedication and intensity paid off. You are a true competitor in that you always share your knowledge and insight in order improve the performance of others, and then you still go out and dominate. Thanks for setting the bar high for all of us. I know you’ll represent us well in Cali.
5. Like all of the previous posters, I’ve spent a lot of time processing the weekend. I lost count of how many times I’ve watched the video of my snatch-CTB pull-up workout. I’ve replayed every workout in my head and agonized over where I can improve. Next year the competition will only get stronger, but the good news is that we have a year to get stronger as well. The crossfit items I need to work on include (among others): CTB pull-ups, box jumps, running, METCON endurance, HSPUs, muscle-ups, other gymnastics movements, and nutrition.
6. This weekend also gave me new perspective on day-to-day training as well. Too often, I’m guilty of aiming for the best time or heaviest weight for the day. This weekend helped me realize that what you post on a particular day versus others is irrelevant. You are always training for something bigger whether it’s a competition or a functional challenge in day-to-day life. The important question is not “where do I stack up against others in today’s WOD?” but rather, “how far did I push my own personal limits in today’s WOD?” I think that approach prevents plateaus in training and maximizes progress for crossfitters at all levels.
7. I look forward too seeing everyone in the box soon… not just to train, but to see my PCF fam as well! 2010 Games, here we come!
April 27th, 2009 on 6:36 pm
OK. This weekend and these awesome posts today inspire me enough to blog – I’ve been stalking the board on and off today and it made me smile at my desk at work even though my lower back has been screaming for about 55 hours straight — I’m literally laying flat on the floor typing this now.
My breakdown – Drea and the support team are awesome. I’m so glad that we had such a large contingent of people cheering us and feeding us – I really didn’t have to think about taking care of anything but surviving those workouts- the hand wraps and climb on were key saves! And hearing Dan, Brian and Erin’s voice on that final WOD on Sunday was what I needed to finish. I know there were other folks there, but I heard you guys even after I nearly turned into the green hulk around the pull up bar incident. And the chatter and jokes and good attitudes through the whole weekend made it more fun than I expected.
So, I went into this knowing that I wasn’t a real contender since I’m still borderline on RX’ing most WODs, but I figured if I was gonna be there anyway, I might as well compete … I told myself as long as I’m not dead last, I’ll be ok with my performance. Wow did I come close! What a pick for workouts for me. But I can’t really blame my height much – while it could have been an advantage in some areas, the simple fact was that the girls that showed up were BEYOND FEROCIOUS. Imagine 35 Erikas, Sheilas, and Jens of all range of height, then add maybe 4 chicks like me and that was the female qualifiers. So proud of our ladies – Jen is so strong she pulled off some tough snatches that had her judges actually jumping up and down with excitement when she saved them. And I love that Erika kept going and gave more than 100% even when faced with double unders, 85 degree heat and running, and some judges with questionable math skills. I was personally happy with my 8:55 2k row, as I’ve never done that distance in my life, and I was quite pleased with my 10:02 deadlift/DUs since I had only once before done a set of 5 reps at 185. Finishing 30 of them was a proud feat for me, but it cost me some skin and enough back strain that I wasn’t good for much more after that. I timed out on WOD 3 w/about 2 OHS and 9 box jumps left – my back and my pride hurt after that. So, I seriously debated not doing the final WOD cause I knew I was wasn’t strong enough that day to finish in time, I didn’t want another DNF. But I didn’t want to NOT do it, cause I wanted to finish it all and b/c I knew our other athletes were hurting too, why should I get to give up? – Instead, I stood out in my group with a scaled down weight and regular pull ups, but was so glad to finish.
Which brings me to a great point about PCF – Erika and I were the first PCF’ers to compete on Sunday morning at 0920. The final day of competitions started at 0800, but so many athletes just didn’t show up. There was ONE guy who showed up for the 0900 heat that should have been 10 deep – these other people were either too broke to compete or just didn’t bother since they weren’t in contention for winning. But ALL of our athletes competed for the WHOLE competition- pain, soreness, trouble with snatches or pullups and all- they are physically and mentally solid people who saw it all through. That says a lot to me- I’m surrounded by some good people.
From now on, I want to focus on getting stronger in general- watching my core and improving overhead strength. I’ll appreciate our Olympic lifting days more and will try to turn my ninja kip into a more efficient one and face my fear of HSPUs too.
Thanks for all the support from the folks that stayed behind too – the cheers from the blog – and the support bags. Dan and I had a list of who’s who on the CD, but we forgot to write it down, we should re-do that while recovering tonight. Britney Spears was for Brian, right?
April 27th, 2009 on 6:56 pm
12:13
non-Rx strength – 1 pood & green band
April 27th, 2009 on 6:58 pm
12:25
45 lbs KB
Pull ups were the limiting factor, sets of 1 for the entire last round didn’t help the time
April 27th, 2009 on 7:10 pm
Helen”
3 Rounds for time:
Run 400m
21 Kettlebell Swings, 45#
12 Pull ups, 1st rd: 8 kipping, 4 blue bnd;
2nd rd: 5 kipping, 7 blue band;
3rd rd: 12 blue bnd
14:16
April 27th, 2009 on 7:31 pm
9:01 as RX’ed.
Damn one extra second…
Jon, and all competitors. Congrats on having the guts to go out there and give it a run. Braver than I am.
April 27th, 2009 on 7:58 pm
Congratulations to all of you! Just thinking about how well you did and of the experience you had. What a great journey with a wonderful group of people; I’m just sorry I missed it. PCF has something special that I am proud to be a part of. Oh, and I’m glad you guys remembered to recover with massive amounts of food!!! Nice job!
April 27th, 2009 on 8:03 pm
“Helen”
10:26 as Rx’d
CFE
10:20 x 16
1000 meters
April 27th, 2009 on 8:21 pm
Helen
10:56 RX’d
April 27th, 2009 on 8:23 pm
KB swings scaled to 35 lb DB
13:17
April 27th, 2009 on 8:53 pm
14:45
rd 1: 30 lb kb, blue band pullups
rd 2&3: 25 lb kb, green band pullups
April 27th, 2009 on 8:53 pm
Helen
13:47
PU w/ blue band
KB 1 pood
April 27th, 2009 on 9:04 pm
Big shake up on the Leaderboard:
1. Sheila 8:51 (stays at #1)
2. Danielle 9:00 (new #2)
3. Jenn N. 10:10 (new #3 – after finishing #9 at the CF Games this weekend…)
1. Lee 8:15 (new #1)
2. Mike R. 8:30 (drops to #2)
3. Mark 8:32 (new #3)
April 27th, 2009 on 9:11 pm
Typing has become my only reliable source of comunication, for I left my larynx in Virginia beach… I did not lose my ability to ramble on, however, so take the seed and toss the chaff, this aint gonna be brief.
Had a long talk with Brian on the way back that involved some very mixed emotions on my part, a bit about why he insists on that leopard print thong, but that’s for another post.
I came to a realization that CrossFitting, in general, is the only place where one can find both absolute team cohesion and spirit and be an absolute rockstar soloist at the same time. At what other point in life’s journey do you find such support for individual effort?! Not just admiration but a visceral understanding of what each is going through on every level and the ‘no one left behind’ mentality to the last.
It’s amazing, awe inspiring and supremely humbling at the same time to see what the PCF family, and I mean FAMILY, was willing without cue or hesitation to pour out for each individual. It happened over and over again, too many times to list them all: Ian’s absolutely supra-human effort on the C2Bs shines brighter than the sun. Erika’s final push? Jen fighting gravity with a broadswoard? John’s stoic and focused slaughter of every rep of every wod? The list is filled with each name that suffered their own fears to step into that ring to find that in their individual moment of glory they could not have been farther from being alone. Not just a moment in the sun, but every minute of every WOD supported by the heart and sinew of every family member.
A hundred? a hundred and fifty? more? people, PCFers and absolute strangers, screaming ‘IAN!! YOU GOT THIS, YOU CAN DO THIS!! GO! GO NOWWWWW!’ to give whatever was at hand of their soul to get Ian up to that bar… and he got there like a champion, the champion that was in every member of your family the moment the going got rough.
My mixed emotion is that I am about to embark on a dream of my own, to give away everything I have ever learned to a new family of athletes that is just now about to take shape and with every fiber of my soul I just want to walk into PCF and hit it with you all. I have had some wonderful ‘family’s in my life: my kitchen brigade went from shop to shop with me for nearly a decade, my trainers at the gyms i have hung my hat in have been some amazing people. I am eager to admit, however, that you all have something truly unique, truly singular and I cannot express how wonderful it was to be a member of that family, even if only a ‘distant cousin’, for the moments of this past weekend. I can only say ‘thank you’.
I walked into my box this morning and rasped out a yell as best I could measure, ‘PULLLLLL!!’, made me both smile and evoked some sadness at the same time. You have something precious. Cherish it.
April 27th, 2009 on 9:23 pm
9:52 as Rx’d. Paul thanks for the pacing, and kudos to Aaron K. for doing CTB pullups.
Congratulations to Jon! You deserve it, and I know you’ll tear it up at Nationals.
Congratulations to all the athletes who competed!
Congratulations to Rob and Sheila!
Kristin, great point you brought up about all PCFers showing up for their workouts despite daunting mathematical odds, severe pain, and fierce competition, when others bailed early. You all are badasses for seeing it through.
As I sat in front of my computer constantly hitting refresh on the PCF Twitter page for a larger portion of the weekend than I’d like to admit, I realized “Oh, so THIS is the point of Twitter.”
Aaron, great post. I took your advice today and after Helen got some fine pointers from Brian on overhead squats (thanks Brian). Then I did 3 rounds of 5 shoulder presses, 5 push presses, and 5 push jerks at 95-105-110. My shoulder hurts like hell and I have the arm strength of a T-Rex, but in time overhead will be my bitch.
Much needed day off tomorrow. See y’all Wednesday.
April 27th, 2009 on 9:39 pm
Pull ups with the tan band
35lb KB
11:20
April 27th, 2009 on 9:41 pm
it’s been great to read the qualifiers posts – extremely inspiring, and impressive. looking forward to hearing more stories of Herculean effort and epic ice cream eating.
still hacking up Helen, several hours later. 11:07 with green band dead hangs. the shoulder rehab has begun.
April 27th, 2009 on 9:46 pm
50 lb KB
pull ups TAN band
9:56
April 27th, 2009 on 9:53 pm
as Rx’d 10:06! New PR by 30 seconds but I REALLY wanted under 10 min. Next time!
I don’t think there is anything left to say about this years qualifiers except that I hope to share the same wonderful experiences you all had at next years quals. Great job everyone!
April 27th, 2009 on 9:53 pm
Sounds like everyone did an awesome job this weekend! Keep up the good work! Conrats Shiela and Rob- so exciting! Helen- 10:18 rx’d
April 27th, 2009 on 9:55 pm
Great job to everyone who competed. Y’all are allstars.
Helen, 12:15 w/ 1.5pood KB and blue band all pullups
April 27th, 2009 on 10:16 pm
“Helen”
1 Pood KB
thin tan band pull-ups
14:10 (could of/should of been faster)
Jenn N. — Ok I know you are heading on vacation but what were you doing at the box today? I think you earned an off day.
April 28th, 2009 on 12:33 am
And Jenn N comes and drop down another performance tonight. It’s like she can’t help herself
Awesome weekend- the words above do it far more justice than I can. I’m going to just keep uploading poorly MC’d videos.
Helen as RX: 12:02. A -3 min PR. As in this is the worst I’ve ever done on this WOD. Ever. By far.
April 28th, 2009 on 4:48 am
Addendum to my earlier post,
Jen N. 10:00 vice 10:10 – still on zero days rest after the Qualifier – WOW!!!
April 28th, 2009 on 7:40 am
11:33…could do better
April 28th, 2009 on 9:09 am
13:00 as Rx’d. The last few pullups may have been a bit short of completely looking over the bar.
April 28th, 2009 on 11:35 am
Helen 12:57 rx’d
April 28th, 2009 on 12:36 pm
Helen
13:59 as rx’d (w/ CTB pullups)
Thanks for coaching, Siddharth. More on my thoughts about going to the regionals in today’s (Tues 4/28) post.
April 28th, 2009 on 1:39 pm
13:28
35# KB
Green Band on last two sets of pullups.
May 5th, 2009 on 10:29 am
14:39 rx’d
July 4th, 2009 on 8:00 pm
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