Superfit National Championship 2016

So let me start off with if I tried to go back and relive everything that has happened since I last blogged it would take FOR-EV-ER. Basically, since summer of 2015 I joined RARE Crossfit to help motivate myself and learn some new stuff while Jasper was away at school.  In the short amount of months I've been there, I've learned a lot and really enjoyed how empowering it can be.  I love lifting, but I also love HIIT training and getting my heart rate up.  I love the feeling of death after a hard workout and then the high it gives you once you realize what you just did in a short 20-30 minutes.  With that, I hadn't been attending the classes as much as I wanted to because of my work schedule and moving up to Quantico.  Rare is down south by my work, but it doesn't have a shower so I was unable to go right before teaching.  Most nights I am down there, I work until 8:30PM so that wasn't working either.  Regardless, I had been spending my time working out with Jasper on base.

Knowing Jasper was leaving soon and the holidays were rapidly approaching, I decided with the coaxing of my friend Jenn, to sign up for my first ever competition.  This was a two-person team competition and so Jenn and I signed up as Team Vicious and Delicious. After reading the rules of the novice division that we signed up for, I realized that novice-level athletes should know how to do kipping pull-ups and double unders.  Well shit.  I didn't know how to do either.  I knew I was close to a DU but nowhere near a pull-up.  We had approximately two months to learn.  At first, I was like, ok, this should be easy.  But as the days and weeks passed, I wasn't getting into Rare often.  I actually only got to the gym ONE time in December.  I would do the workouts they posted on their blog here on base with Jasper, but I was so worried I wouldn't be good enough. I knew I was improving, but I was unsure of myself because I wasn't getting any validation from coaches in the gym that my form was correct, etc.  Let me just say, YouTube is amazing when you're trying to learn lifting techniques. I would watch countless tips online trying to see what I was doing wrong and catch on some lifting cues to tell myself while I was in the gym.

As the days got closer, I talked myself out of competing about 100 times.  I told everyone how I didn't want to do it.  I didn't know why I spent $100 to participate in a competition that I wasn't even up to par competing in.  I was SO FREAKIN NEGATIVE, even though I knew I was pretty strong.

About a week before the actual event, Superfit started releasing the workouts...

Workout 1:

8 mins to find your 1RM Clean & Jerk

Psh... I CAN DO THAT! Not scary AT ALL... easy peasy.

Workout 2:

5 min AMRAP
7 cals Assault Bike
7 Box Jumps 20"

Rest 1 min

5 min AMRAP
7 pull-ups
7 deadlifts 155#

DAMN PULL-UPS! I knew they were coming... and if we can't complete 7 pull-ups, we can't deadlift, and I LOVE DEADS! Oh well, I guess I'm just going to stand there like an idiot while I attempt pull ups for 5 minutes.

This workout totally had me fearful, I was so so so positive I couldn't do a pull-up.  Jenn said she was close and I was hoping and praying I wasn't going to let her down by not being able to do them.

Workout 3:

50 Burpees (over bar, hand release)
25 OH squats 65#
50 Wall balls 14#
25 Snatches 65#

7 min time cap

Not so bad, light weight, wait... SEVEN MINUTES!?!?!?!?! This one I didn't think would be terrible but 7 mins is like NO TIME AT ALL...

So we went on Saturday to watch some other people from Rare compete and just feel out the setting of the competition and I am so glad we did! It definitely helped us see how it worked and how to plan out our workouts.

Sunday came around, I was so so so nervous.  It was weird because I kept telling myself, why am I so scared? I love working out, I do it almost every day, why is today any different?!  Especially because Jenn and I did not sign up to win, we signed up to meet goals for ourselves.

Our goals were: PR on Clean & Jerk, Jenn get ONE pull-up, make it to the snatches in the 7mins for the last workout.

What we did...

145# clean & jerk PR for me... poor Jenn dropped the bar on her knee and hurt it pretty bad.  After seeing it a week later, I don't know how she wasn't bawling her eyes out on that competition floor, she is so bad ass!!!

The second workout Jenn got her one pull-up.  I was soo excited for her!!! She's SO close to getting more and I know with practice she will be there!!

Last workout, we made it through 48 of the 50 wall balls in the 7 mins so we were TWO REPS away from our goal.

Overall, I'd say we did a fantastic job.  I definitely did not leave there feeling defeated or inferior.  I actually left that competition thinking to myself, wow, I am in MUCH better shape than I thought I was.  I realized that with more practice, I can be pretty darn good at this sport.  I also realized that confidence and fun will definitely help you excel.  I have been paying to run road races for five years or so and I startekle a new trade.  I am not done running, but I have definitely found a new task to push me in a different direction.

Next up, the Crossfit Open and working on getting a darn pull-up! :D