After being out of the gym for over a month with a strained back it was hard to get back into training mode. I wanted to start small; lower impact skills and lighter loads, but that’s not what happened. I don’t know if it was my competitive personality or the encouragement from my friends, but I decided to join the D-Town team in the largest crossfit competition in the world: The 2013 CrossFit Games: CrossFit Open.

I figured I had nothing to lose because the workouts are designed so athletes of all skill levels can participate and get a taste of what it’s like to compete. I played competitive sports growing up so I’m no stranger to the challenge, but I have to admit, this was a whole new level of hard.

The Open consists of 5 workouts over 5 weeks. This week is week 3.

The first workout: 13.1

WOMEN – includes Masters Women up to 54 years old
Proceed through the sequence below completing as many reps as possible in 17 minutes of:
40 Burpees
45 pound Snatch, 30 reps
30 Burpees
75 pound Snatch, 30 reps
20 Burpees
100 pound Snatch, 30 reps
10 burpees
120 pound Snatch, as many reps as possible

My score: 165 reps.

I only made it through 1/2 of the 75# thrusters before time was up but to be honest, it was better than I had expected to do.

The second workout: 13.2
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 10 minutes of:
75 pound Shoulder to overhead, 5 reps
75 pound Deadlift, 10 reps
15 Box jumps, 20″ box

My score: 114 reps.

I went into this WOD thinking it would be short enough to go all out from the beginning. I was wrong. I was extremely tired after only 3 minutes and had to do step ups on the box jumps for much of the remaining time. I know I could have done better on this one, but I did not have time to re-do it before the deadline. Oh well… two down three to go. I’ll keep you posted.

The Third Workout was 13.3
Complete as many rounds and reps as possible in 12 minutes of:
150 Wall balls (14 lbs to 9′ target)
90 Double-unders
30 Muscle-ups

My heart sank as soon as I saw what the WOD was. Last week I did a WORd that totalled to 90 wallballs, and I was so sore for 4 days I could barely walk. I knew that 150 wallballs were going to absolutely destroy me! I forced myself into the gym with butterflies in my stomach. I couldn’t remember the last time I was this nervous for anything. When the workout started I felt the burn after just 20 reps. My strategy going in was to do 10 reps, then rest for 10 seconds. This worked well at first, but soon my rests turned into 15 seconds intervals and my rep counts became 7, then 5, then I only could do 3 at a time before dropping the ball. After what seemed like eternity, My counter yelled, “150!” Dropping that 14 lb medicine ball for the last time was such a great feeling. I could not believe I had finished all 150 reps with time to spare! Now for the double unders. Usually I’m good at these, and can easily do 30 unbroken. Today though, the wallballs turned my legs into noodles. I could barely jump off the ground long enough for the rope to pass under my feet twice. I did a total of 16 double unders before the 12 minute time cap was reached.

I curled up in a ball on the floor and closed my eyes until I could breath. I sat up to a room of people cheering me on and walking over to first-bump me and give me high fives. I was just sooo happy 13.3 was done!

My score: 166 total reps with a tie breaker of 11:24

{ AD WALL BALL PIC HERE}

The forth workout: 13.4
Complete as many reps as possible in 7 minutes following the rep scheme below:
95 pound Clean and jerk, 3 reps
3 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 6 reps
6 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 9 reps
9 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 12 reps
12 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 15 reps
15 Toes-to-bar
95 pound Clean and jerk, 18 reps
18 Toes-to-bar…
This is a timed workout. If you complete the round of 18, go on to 21. If you complete 21, go on to 24, etc.

After spending most of the week recovering from 13.3 I was ready to take on 13.4. Ok, I though to myself. This one I can do this one. It was quick, and heavy.

My score: 40 reps. time was up during my set of 12 C&J’s.

********************************************************************************************************************

The 10 Principles of Crossfit: