Week 3: CrossFit Games Open WOD 12.3

Three weeks down into the competition, and it ain't getting easier. It's getting heavier and more technical as expected.

As I awaited the workout on Thursday morning... I had a sense of relief when I found out what it is because I know I physically could do it and high expectation about what I want to achieve...So what was the WOD?

The Workout 12.3 

A 18 minute AMRAP (as many reps as possible) of:

15 box jumps (M=24inches, F=20inches)

12 push press (M=52kgs, F=34kgs)
9 toes to bar 

My Experience and Workout score:

I knew this is the kind of workout that I needed to give it my all and my best at one go. In my mind, I had one shot and one shot ONLY. Why? It's a long workout to begin with, and doing heavy push presses within a 4-day period again would be nuts (I am still not fully recovered 100% from the workout! haha)

Also, only recently I established that my maximum push press is 40kgs, and 34kgs is not very far off. So as I got ready to do the WOD and hearing 3, 2, 1...GO! I took on the box jumps, and as I moved into the push presses... I pushed the weight with all my might the first round...but I knew as I started the push presses that they will slow me down, but I was surprised by how much. 

I think in this workout, the tough part was not mental, but it was purely physical - and not in the sense I was gassed out or kept stopping, but I was limited strength-wise in terms of I started failing in some of the reps and the fact I did a few press-outs fatigued my muscles further. 

So, what was my score? 3 rounds + 15 box jumps = 123 total repetitions. 

Regional and International Score:

  

Regional Score (WOD 3): 83rd out of 170 women

Total regional score (WOD 1+2+3): still standing 93rd in the region. 

International score (WOD 3): Among the top 13,000 out of at least 20 thousand women.

Total International score (WOD 1+2+3): Also among the top 13,000.

Final Words: 

I don't doubt for a second that on Thursday, I gave the workout my all.

But the tough part about taking part of a competition, I learned, is that no matter how good you are, compared to yourself, there is always someone who is better than you, and your best may be not "enough" on a scoreboard. However, in the end of the day what matters is how far YOU have come. How far YOU have achieved. How far YOU pushed to get to where you are today. 

Really, putting 34kgs 36 times over my head is PRETTY damn impressive and I am very content with how I did for ME. 

Four months ago, my coach and I were worried whether I will be able to do the workouts RxD (as perscribed) meaning without scaling things down to make it eaiser. And so far, I've done each workout RxD and it got me to be part of the top 95 people competing in ASIA.

Yes, the likelihood of me making it top 60 in the region this year may not be possibility due to nature of the workouts, number of people taking part, my strength levels...and I only had four months training! But imagine where I will be after one year of crossfit training under my belt? Yup. A small beast.

& here is a short video I want to leave you all with to show my progress. Four months ago I couldn't put 10kgs overhead, now I can and squat 40kgs! 

 

Week 1: CrossFit Games WOD 12.1

Want to know who are the fittest people in the world? Follow the CrossFit Games which have kicked off on the weekend!

What are the CrossFit Games Open? 

It's a five week long worldwide competition which includes anything from olympic weightifting, to gymnastics, to kettlebell training and a variety of skills. Each week, one workout is announced (5 am UAE time), which none of the athlete know about ahead of time, and have only 4 days to complete it. Scores are uploaded online and validated by either an affiliate or Crossfit HQ. Through the open, the top 60 women, top 60 men, and 30 teams with the highest score in their REGION, will move to stage two, the regionals. Currently over 60,000 people are competing in the open!

The Workout 12.1:

It was as many reps as possible in 7 minutes of...BURPEES!

Athletes had to touch their chest to the ground
and then jump 6 inches above their reach.

My Experience and Workout Score:

When I found out the workout, I was relieved at first - it's something ANYONE can do. A 13 year old or a 70 year old (and yes, a woman got 71 reps, too!) But...it's a workout that is challenging for me because one of my weaknesses is my capacity.

Surprisingly I did a lot better than I thought I could. Given I had four days to finish the workout, it meant I can do it as many times as I wished to do so. I did the workout from hell, twice.

My first score: 77 burpees in 7 minutes
My second score: 82 burpees in 7 minutes


The Goal, Regional, and International score:

My goal is simple -do the best I can for ME and hope to make top 60 to make it to regionals this year.

Regional Score: My score was changing on the leaderboard during the 4-day period as more people uploaded their scores. At fist, I was in the top 20's, down to 30s, 40s, 50s and my final score after closing of the week one is...81 out of 146 women in Asia.

International Score: Not only do I have a regional score, I have an international score as well which is currently 10764 out of 19789 women worldwide

After the end of week 5, the sum of all five workout scores will determine whether an athlete will move on to the next stage or not. So a score in one workout that is below the 60 mark is not necessairly a disqualification of any sort.


Final Words:

Whether I make it to regionals or not this year, nothing beats the experience of taking part of a big international competition. Not only that I will still have a final score that determines where I stand in terms of my fitness regionally and internationally.

For the next 5 weeks, I will write a blogpost to document the journey each Monday. Also you can follow my progress through my athlete profile HERE.

Yours Truly,

Reflection: Four months training for competition

It's finally here.

Nerves are kicking in, blood swimming in my veins from the adrenaline rush, and my palms are sweaty. But most importantly I feel that I've done all I could to take part of something big.  

The competition that I have been training for and talking about for four months has arrived. A week from today, the CrossFit Games 2012 open will kick off on the 22nd of February, US time.

I have been through a journey in the last four months. Not just physical, but mental. I decided to take my fitness levels beyond the four-walls of a typical gym. I decided to take part in an international competition on a whim after a training session in October.

What's so nerve-wrecking about the competition, you ask me? You don't know what you'll be competing at and against whom. Last year 27,000 people took part, this year it's estimated to be 100,000 people across the freaking globe! and I am one of them.

Stating next Wednesday, each week for five weeks one workout (aka WOD) will be put up online on the Crossfit site, and you only have four days to complete the workout and validate your score. The workouts will include anything from - Olympic lifts, powerlifting, gymnastics, skills (double-unders, wall balls, toes to bar), and met cons (metabolic conditioning, meaning cardio).

They will be paired differently each week with different rep ranges and weights.

Here is the tricky part for me. In four months I have honed all the skills with hard work - from double-unders to toes to bar, to learning more than 20-30 movement patterns. Not only that, I also increased my strength level significantly. Week on week, I was PRing (having new personal records), I was learning new lessons, how to mentally deal with a gain or a disappointment, learned to listen to my body, learned to be in tuned with myself and my thoughts.

Despite all that, my fear since the day I started and until today is always going to be weights. It's always going be my "goat", because no matter how strong I am as female who weighs 50kgs (110kbs), to be able to lift as much as other female crossfitters will always be my challenge. And that's okay - because strength is built over time, not overnight.

I have faced a lot of stumbling blocks in the past few months.  Some were harder to get pass through, some were just a "typical bad day," but each time I got up and took a step forward nevertheless.

Challenging areas:

My mobility - which I have been seeing a physiotherapist for week in week out to ensure I work on it and get my body to work in harmony, and this process is still on-going. Boy, 4 months ago I couldn't overhead squat 10kgs, now I can do so with 35kgs!

Olympic lifts -I have been working on my Olympic lifts on weekly basis with an Oly coach Ikaika Paakaula, who has 15 years experience. In just four months...I was able to improve my Olympic lifts technique and I can do a clean with 42.5kgs, which is REALLY close to my own bodyweight!

Diet -  My eating habits has always been off and on. But recently I did something that although saddened me in a way, it also helped me a lot at the same time. I have done my "Allergy test" to see if I have any issues with certain food items. 36 out of 300 items were marked as "intolerant" from a not so-severe to extreme intolerance. Through that list, I have changed my eating, added new items, removed a few items. It's still not 100% yet, as everything is a process and takes time to sink in and adapt.

Mental - Mental challenges are the worst - not the training, not the sweat, or not the muscle burn you have during WODs. It's the thoughts that swam in my head. But with time I am slowly, I repeat, SLOWLY, learning how to deal with my negative thoughts. Thanks to great coaching by @CandiceHowe, I am much better at dealing with mental breakdowns.

I owe it to her and CrossFit LifeSpark for making me a better well-rounded athlete, physically and mentally. When I first made the decision to take part in crossfit, oh boy, little did I know what it takes... but I made it this far and hopefully I will make top 60 athletes in the region!


Starting next week, I will write a blog post about each workout, how well or not so well I do, and where I rank worldwide. So stay tuned!  

Competition: My Fear of Not Making It

I have a fear. A fear that I won't make it through Crossfit Open 2012. I have been training rigorously as some know, but am I getting closer to where I need to be? Unfortunately, I don't think so. I have been training for competition for exactly 10 weeks, and there are about 9 more weeks left.


You'd think there is enough time. Wrong. There is not. 


If I were to tell you I have not made any gains in the past 10 weeks, I would be a liar. If anything, I have made some awesome personal gains; some of which include my 90kgs deadlift, 65kgs back squat, 40kgs squat clean, 30kgs snatch, 1RM Weight-pull ups @ 10kgs, my wallballs are better, my box jumps are improving...I am improving, but am I improving enough to make it? 


You see, crossfit is unlike any other competition. There are no weight classes; which is what makes it exciting but also very nerve-wrecking for a 50kgs, 5'2 small girl like me. Most crossfit women who I have seen compete are beasts and majority - not all - but majority weigh in their 60s with experience in Crossfit or other sports.


Yes, I was weight-training before, but not this way. Not even close.


However, when it comes to doing body-weighted movements, my light weight helps; with push ups, pullups....etc, but what worries me is that there will be a big weight thrown in the Open which will immediately disqualify me; especially anything overhead.


Although my overhead position improved SO much in the past 10 weeks; before I was not able to hold more than 5kgs and squat it down without dropping the bar. Yet, I recently did an overhead squat with 25kgs, and HERE is a video similar to what I did with 1kg less.


I have been going for physiotherapy for the past 10 weeks and doing extensive 30-45 minutes mobility exercises everyday (aside from my actual training). The goal of the physiotherapy is to make sure I get mobility, better range of motion, prevent injuries and work on existing injuries.


Yet, I wonder...is it enough? Am I doing enough to make it? Am I doing everything I should be doing to get through?


Another major concern of mine is....DOUBLE-UNDERS! Before Crossfit, I never skipped in my life, let alone do a double-under (which basically when you jump once and the rope goes under your feet twice.) I have been going at it for at least TWO months. I get it occasionally - out of the blue - and then it disappears for a long time. And to be honest, I am not sure how to get them. EVERYONE exhausted their double-under cues to me, I watched numerous videos...and it's just not happening. Will that be what stops me from making it through the open to go through Asia Regionals? 


I have quite a lot of these doubts. A lot of people tell me that I have passion and my passion will get me through. I don't think passion without hard work is enough. I have the passion, I am working hard, and spending a lot of money on my training and physio. Yet, I still wonder...is it enough?


I really for once in my life want to do something daring. I never did anything so. I want to make it to the regionals, even if it's just for ONE workout. I know I am not strong enough to make top 10 or go to the Games. Not because *I am not strong as me*, but I am not strong compared to the other women who have years of experience under their belt, while me...I have only been technically doing crossfit for 4-5 months.



It may seem that I am "making excuses", and maybe I am, but my excuses are realistic concerns, too....yet I am still training , working hard, and making gains. So my goal is to keep focusing on getting ME better. Getting ME stronger. Getting me to perfect some skills. Yet sometimes, my body doesn't respond the way I want it to.


I have these fears. And a lot more. They came up sometimes. It's normal and I need to let it out, because if I don't I will be cheating myself and only drive myself crazy with self-doubt.


Yet I am still trying and going to give it a shot - because I never know if I don't try and I don't want to regret not giving it all I've got. But at the same time, I want to be realistic and not disappoint myself if I don't make it or disappoint those who supported me, either.


Yours Truly,
GymFreak @999Fitness