Well the pain of the CrossFit Regional Games has faded enough that I can look back upon them with a smile. About 100 athletes from Australasia battling it out for qualification to the World Games in California.
I always knew Taz was going to get one of the spots, however much she might have covered her ears when I tried talking to her about it. But knowing the depth of the men's field, all I hoped for myself was that I wouldn't get my ass kicked too badly. So obviously, to get 4th made my year.
I had a slow start to the weekend; paced myself too much on the 1st workout and didn't find any rhythm. It was good enough for 11th though, which I think also helped me relax a bit. As long as I wasn't last!! (not that there's anything wrong with that.....) I also felt a little overawed by the audience. I'm certainly not one for crowds, and it took a while to forget about all the eyes on you and tune out the noise. By the last workout though, I was feeding on the crowds energy - they were awesome.
Met a Kiwi living on the Sunshine Coast, Rachel, a physio who worked wonders with both Taz and I - sorting out tight backs, shoulders, calves and forearms.
The 2nd WOD was a little more my scene, however I was almost undone before it started. During warmup and explanation of the exercise standards, I suddenly discovered that my injured shoulder was not 99% healed, but more like 90%, and the incredibly strict burpee standards were almost out of my range of motion. After what seemed like 50 reps of practice I started producing reps that the judges were happy with. Only had 1 rep disallowed during the workout.
Went out hard from the start and jumped on the rower in about 4th place. The 15 rep set slowed a few people down, and all the butterfly kip/chest to bar practice got me even with Steve (overall winner), but it's next to impossible to wear a big man down on the rower and I finished up 18 seconds behind him. Watching him having to be carried away from the rower though, was a lesson to me in how to work harder than you think is possible. He can go to a dark place can Commando Steve; Taz commented how blank his face was in comparison to my zombie grimaces...... :)
A 2nd place finish for that heat and 4th for the workout put me in 7th overall going into the final day, which was announced as a 1200m sand dune run. At first I wasn't happy that we had to change locations, but tried to think of it as a chance to see more of Aussie, and it turned out to be a beautiful spot; just not so great for running on....
It was a cool cloudy day.....for all but Taz and my heats! The sun broke through just before Taz started and the remaining 32 competitors groaned audibly. But once the races started the heat was forgotten with the need to concentrate on dragging one foot out of the sand and planting it in front of you, repeat ad nauseum.
Hit the steepest section holding the middle of the pack. Took the advice of heats already gone, to go to all fours for this and pulled myself up the hill into 2nd place. Guys that's why we do bear crawls at CFNZ so much see? Had an epic battle with Doug A from CF Brisbane, with him passing me on every downhill and me clawing it back on the uphills. Steve held the lead the whole way, and by the time I thought about the possiblity of a chase, there wasn't much race left and I had to concentrate on keeping ahead of Doug on the last hill. Used up everything in the tank on the last stretch - felt pretty happy with my effort.
Next year we will have to take a decent team from CFNZ, an amazing opportunity to mix with like minded people. We are already planning friendly battles with CrossFit Auckland and will be trying to mix it up more regularly with Australian affiliates too.
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