Survival Fitness Summer Open 2012

Yesterday, Survival Fitness held the first Summer Open. It was a team event with one male and one female per team. It was a great event with 28 teams competing.

It was the first time I’ve competed in any event like this. The workouts were tough, but fun and rewarding. It was a great experience and very inspiring to watch the top teams. I could barely roll out of bed this morning and it’s a struggle to walk around the house. Even my fingers are sore.

WOD #1

10:00 AMRAP (Clean/Deadlift – HR Push-up ladder)
1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-?
Men

Clean 135#
HR Push-up

Women

Deadlift 135#
HR Push-up

Man will do 1 clean with 135# and then 1 HR push-up, then…
Woman will do 1 deadlift with 135# and then 1 HR push-up, then…
Man will do 2 cleans with 135# and then 2 HR push-ups, then…
Woman will do 2 deadlifts with 135# and then 2 HR push-ups
etc.

This was going to be our weakest workout because of the weight. If we got to the round of 10 I figured it would be good for us. We completed the 10th round and I got in 3 more cleans before time ran out. We placed 24th in the workout. My back has been wrecked for about a week and it’s even worse after this one. I have some pretty good soreness in the lower part of my back. I need to get myself on video to see if there is something I’m doing wrong with my cleans to cause the lower back issues.

The woman had it relatively easy in this one and you could really tell by the fact that the men immediately collapsed to the ground when the 10 minutes was up.

WOD #2

Partner A: 100 burpees, then tag off and…
Partner B: “Karen”

If you don’t know what “Karen” is, she’s one of the benchmark WODs:

150 Wall Ball Shots for time
Women: 16# ball, 8′ target
Men: 20# ball, 10′ target

The teams decided who is partner A and who is partner B. This workout had a 14 minute time cap and if your team didn’t finish, each rep not completed adds 1 second to your time for scoring.

Both parts of this are gassers. My partner did burpees and I did the wall balls. My PR for “Karen” is 8:51, but I knew I could do much better. As a best case scenario I was hoping my partner would complete her part under 7 minutes, giving me about 7 minutes to take a shot. She finished up just under 7 minutes and I managed to get 141 wall balls in the 7 remaining minutes. Only 9 more reps and we would have finished! The WOD was our best placing (18th) of the day. My quads and glutes are on fire today from all of the wall balls.

WOD #3

“Isometric Chipper”
15:00 AMRAP

Part 1:
- 60 1 arm d-bell snatch (alternate arms each rep) (45#/30#)
- Other partner holds a hand stand against the wall
Part 2:
- 50 Goblet squats (45#/30#)
- Other partner does a bottom squat hold
Part 3:
- 40 AbMat sit-ups
- Other partner must hold a plank
Part 4:
- 30 K2E
- Other partner does a bent knee L-hang
Part 5:
- 20 ring rows
- Other partner holds their chin above the bar

One partner will perform the isometric hold, while the other chips away at the reps. As many switches can be made as needed. No reps are be counted if the partner breaks the isometric hold.

This was one of the most brutal workouts I’ve ever done. The isometric holds crush your soul. I was shooting to get through one round if we could. We got through the circuit once and got done with 40 more snatches, notching us a 22nd place finish in the workout. Nearly every team struggled with the ring row and chin-up hold combination at the end of the circuit because there was nothing left in the tank.

Today I’m feeling a lot of this one in my abs and especially in my upper back and shoulder area from the handstand holds. My partner had a hard time getting up on the wall, so I had to do the majority of the hand stand holds. The goblet squats most definitely contributed to the sore quads and ass I have today.

Overall we finished 25th out of 28 teams and I couldn’t be happier. My partner in the competition only started doing CrossFit about 2 months ago. I didn’t compete with any visions of placing high. I know I can’t stay with the top guys, but I enjoy the challenge and pushing myself.

In addition to these 3 workouts, the top 4 teams then did:

WOD #4

In 7:00:

Flip a 325# tire 50 yards down and 50 yards back in the parking lot.
With the remaining time, each partner then does over the box jumps (at the same time) using their own 24″ box

Score is total number of over the box jumps when you add both teammates reps together.

WOD #5

“Double DB Fran”
42-30-18

Thrusters (45#/30# DBs)
Pull-ups

With only one partner working at a time they have to do 42 thrusters, then 42 pull-ups, then 30 of each, and finally 18 of each. The team can split up the block of reps for a movement however they want but they most be completed before switching movements.

For anyone that doesn’t know, “Fran” is the most well-known CrossFit benchmark. When you ask someone their “Fran” time it’s the equivalent of asking a weightlifter how much he bench presses. In a normal “Fran” you do 21-15-9 using a 95# barbell for guys and a 65# barbell for the gals. Top athletes can finish this in under 3 minutes, but it’s an all-out sprint. My PR for DB “Fran” is 9:05, which is not very good.

Moment of the Day

My favorite moment of the day was during the 5th WOD. The male on the second place team (going into the WOD) hurt his ankle in the 4th WOD so he was only able to do a few of the thrusters. That left his partner doing nearly all of the thrusters and him doing nearly all of the pull-ups. If you’ve ever done thrusters you can already begin to imagine the suck.

Many of us have done “Fran” but we’re talking 42-30-18 here! Not 21-15-9. You could see the woman on the edge of tears each time she had to drop the DBs. The guy’s hands were tore up and bleeding all over. They were several minutes past the times of the other 3 teams in the finals and could have called it quits taking 4th in the WOD no matter what. But they dug deep, we all cheered them on, and they finished. You’ll never see anything like that in another sport. We are CrossFitters.

Judging

Four of us guys that competed ended up judging the final two events to give all of the other volunteers a break. It was kind of stressful to be in such an important role. Luckily it’s pretty easy to judge the most elite of the group because their form in usually dialed in.

After Hours

After the awards ceremony and most people went home, about 10 or 15 of us stuck around cleaning up a bit, finishing off a keg and a bunch of beer in the fridge. A couple of people that didn’t compete actually did some drinking WODs! I think I got home around 10:30. It was a long day, but worth every minute.