Crossfit Open

I haven't had anything too exciting happen in the last month. Everything is going smoothly at work and nothing too crazy happened outside of the office...until yesterday.

The 2011 Crossfit Games will be from July 29-31st this year in California. This year, there is a 6 week qualifier called the Crossfit Open. Athletes worldwide can compete in the open for a chance to compete in the crossfit games. Each athlete registers online, specifying their personal stats as well as what region they will be competing in. The top 60 athletes from each region will get a chance to compete in the games.

When I started crossfit full time back in January, my goal was to improve as fast as possible and join a competition next year. When I found out that it was only $10 to register for the crossfit open, I jumped at the opertunity. I figure this will be a great way to see how much I improve my fitness over the next year.

Each week for 6 week, 1 workout is perscribed. Each registered athlete must complete the workout by the end of the week and submit their score. The workout must be performed at a certified crossfit gym, or videotaped and submitted to ensure that all scores are legitimate. I performed the workout at my home gym (Crossfit Lions). Chris, the gym owner, created an extra workout session at 11am Saturdays for everyone to come in and throw down the workouts.

This week the workout was:

As Many Rounds As Possible (AMRAP) in 10 minues:
15 Double Unders
30 Ground to Overhead (power snatch/power clean...whatever works)

The gym atmosphere yesterday was much different than anything I have experienced before. I walked in with about 5 minues left to go in the first heat. 5 stations were set up, so 5 people could perform at a time. There were about 40 people in the gym at this time (already more than I had ever seen there). Everyone watching was cheering the 5 athletes on, watching them struggle to get through the workout. In the last minute everyone was yelling, willing them to squeeze in as many reps as they can. Just watching the first group throw down got me really amped.

The workout itself was really tough. I found myself getting fairly lightheaded at certain points. I fought through it and ended up posting a score of 4 rounds + 19 double unders. Previous to the workout I told myself that I would be happy with anything over 4 rounds, so I was stoked.

I hung around after I had finished to watch a few more rounds. Many more athletes showed up from other gyms to post their scores. When I left there had to be about 70 people in the gym. This was my first taste of a crossfit competition and it was great. I immediately found myself looking forward to next weeks WOD. You can check out all the info on the Crossfit Open and leaderboards here.