The lowdown from the Throwdown

From the perspective of last place

First and fore most we had a great time!

We had both kids and Bella with us so we decided to get a room at the Sheraton for Friday and Saturday night which was totally the right call...it was hard enough getting everyone up and motivated when we only had a 2 minute drive, I can't even imagine an hour drive. We got there and our friends from Baydog Crossfit and our teammates from CrossFit South River were already there getting tents set up.

SouthPaw Tent City

DAY 1 - WOD 1: "Partner This, Synchronized That"
All 4 members 18 min. TIME CAP For Time:

Building Run all 4 Partners Sandbag Carry

Male/Female Partners 1
30 BB Thrusters Scaled (75/55) *Synchronized
40 T2B (combined)
50 Double Unders each

Male/Female Partners 2
30 BB Thrusters Scaled (75/55) *Synchronized
40 T2B (combined)
50 Double Unders each

Building Run (w/out sandbags)

We weren't too far behind on the first run, so Donald and I set in with our thrusters, and that's when shit got real. We had a plan going in and thank God! We decided we would do 5 at a time. That 5th one just got harder and harder. I got a few toes to bar, but Donald totally carried us there. Then it was time for double unders. Now let's be clear - going in I thought that we had to get 50 combined, like Donald could do 49 and I could do 1. That was not the case.. we each had to do 50. So, Donald busted his out and then it was me, doing sometimes 1 at at time. A few times I even tripped up just doing the singles trying to get to the doubles. But then a crazy thing happened.. I just kept trying and I started getting some in a row. Not strung together, but you know, single single double single single double etc. It was so cool!! I could hear Dave, Donald and Patty screaming for me and it was so exciting. There was a moment when I had about 10 left and I just stopped. I bent over and took a deep breath. I was trying to get my focus together so that I could finish this crap but I think everyone thought I was giving up. I almost laughed out loud, but thank goodness I didn't, people would have thought I was crazy.

I finished my last one and we only a few minutes left so Patty and Dave jumped right into their thrusters. They pumped them out really quick and had time to get in some toes to bar. They made us jump to this middle bar for the T2B that was really high, most of the girls couldn't reach it so the men had to hoist us up. Dave and Patty had planned on Patty starting them so Dave would need to help Patty up. When the time came though, I think his brain was too tired to remember. Patty was standing under the bar, arms reaching for the bar, focused and ready to go, she just needed a boost from Dave. Dave was standing like a deer in headlights catching his breath, we all started yelling at him from the sidelines to lift her up. He couldn't hear what we were saying just that we were yelling at him so he jumps up on the bar and strung together a bunch of T2B. It was awesome. The time ran out before we could finish. We all had a good laugh, thankful that WOD 1 was finished. 

During the break, we all fueled up and stretched out. We met the team from CrossFit Annapolis. They hadn't brought a tent and we had an extra so we set it up for them and shared our shade. It turns out we both knew a lot of the same people, Annapolis is a pretty small town. Next up were the tire flips.

Erin M and Bella getting some snuggle time.

WOD 2/3/4: “Flip the Script”
45sec. of work / 15sec. transition
Tire Stations:
Station 1 : Tire 1 (380#) = 1pt per flip
Station 2: Tire 2 (465#) = 3pts per flip
Station 3: Tire 3 (650#) = 6pts per flip
Station 4: Tire 4 (1000#) = 12pts per flip
Station 5: Max Cal Row (1 partner per rower): 1 calorie = 1 point
WOD 2: Mens Total Score
WOD 3: Womens Total Score
WOD 4: Total Combined Score (Men & Women)  

To be clear - the heaviest tire any of us has ever flipped is about 250 pounds, so we really had no idea what to expect. The men went through first and made it all look pretty easy. Donald and Dave got the 1000 pound tire 4 times. Patty and I didn't really have a plan - just get under it and flip it until we couldn't flip any more. We were doing pretty good until we got to the 650 pound tire.. we got it up off the ground and were holding it fine. Our judge, and everyone close by, just kept saying "Get under it, get under it!" At one point, I turned and yelled back - "How are we supposed to do that?!?" I didn't get an answer. When it was our turn for the 1000 pound one, we just sorta looked at it and laughed. Since we had 45 seconds to stare at it we figured we might as well try, we got down in position, placed our hands close together and started pushing through our heals and you know what?! Nothing happened, that thing didn't budge an inch. Oh well, we did OK on our row. For this event, we didn't come in last!!! But only because another team dropped the tire and it landed on her foot resulting in a trip to the hospital... so ... yeah. Our friends from CrossFit Annapolis did get the 1000 # tire flipped, check out the video! It was so cool.

Watch the Video Here

The last event of Day 1 was the Human Rack. The weights weren't that bad, it was just the sheer number of reps that was a killer. I mean, 70 front squats?! When have you ever done that many in a row!? 

DAY 1 - WOD 5: “Human Rack”
15 min. TIME CAP
Women perform WOD / Men act as rack
70 Front Squats 55
60 Hang Power Cleans 75
50 Shoulder to Overhead 95
Then Men perform WOD / Women act as rack
70 Front Squats 95
60 Hang Power cleans 115
50 S2OH 135

The 70 was split between Patty and I, so we didn't do 70 in a row either. We had planned to do 5-10 at a time and just get through them. They went slow but we got them all done, then it was Hang Power Cleans. We were super efficient at changing the weights but it wasn't nearly enough. We were falling behind. At one point Patty looked back over her shoulder to see the other teams, when she looked back at me she had this look of panic. I stared right at her and said "Don't look at them, this is about you and me, keep going." After that, neither of us looked back down the line, we just kept going. We were doing OK until the Shoulder to Overheads. The weight was only 20 # less than our PRs which shouldn't seem like a lot - maybe if you're only doing 1 or 2, but 50! We got down to doing 1 or 2 at a time and just kept going until the time ran out. Our guys were great holding the bar for us and encouraging us. Thank goodness it was them, they never once told us to "hurry up" or "come on, just do 3 this time," They let us work at our pace and just do what we could. It was a bummer to not finish again and our guys didn't even get to work. But we were all glad it was beer thirty.

Day 2 - Comfortably in last place.

The dreaded Snatch Complex... I totally screwed this one up. I just got all confused about the weights and stressed about the time.

Day 2 - WOD 6/7/8
“Snatch This Complex” Time Cap: 6 minutes
WOD 6 Male partners
Score: Total combined weight
WOD: 
Build to a heavy single complex:
1 Full Snatch + 1 Hang Squat Snatch + 1 Over Head Squat

WOD 7: Female partners
Score: Total combined weight
WOD:
Build to a heavy single complex:
1 Full Snatch + 1 Hang Squat Snatch + 1 Over Head Squat

WOD 8:
Snatch This Combined Weight Score

The main problems I had with this one was that a) you have 6 minutes, 1 bar and limited weights and b) you only get three attempts. Outside I had done 75 pounds so Patty and I decided to start with 55 pounds and make sure we got one in the books. Then I was going to go up to 75 so I would have two tries to make sure I got it. On the first pull of the 75 I just didn't have it though. So, I only had one more try. We dropped the weight to 70 and I got the Snatch, but then paused on the way down of the Hang Snatch. Bam. Done. With a score of 55. I was so mad at myself. Maybe if I had done 65 I would have gotten that. Ugh.. but oh well.. The boys did much better and tied for 15th.

It was definitely inspirational to watch the RX women snatching more than 100 pounds, and making it look easy! 

WOD 9: "Off The Grid" - Time Cap: 12 minutes
50’ Overhead Plate Lunge (45#)
80 KB Swing (53/35)
60 Goblet squat (53/35)
40 Chest-to-Bar Pull Ups
20 G2OH (135/95)
50’ Overhead Plate Lunge

It was finally time for the last WOD, well last for us seeing as we were nestled in last place, there was no chance we'd be doing any sort of final WOD. "Off The Grid" looked fun from the start. Lots of opportunities for everyone to work based on their strengths. Donald was bummed that Scaled didn't get to do Handstand Walks - so we he took matters into his own hands..

  #iwanttowalkonmyhands

We went into this WOD with a plan and it looked something like this:
50' lunge - Dave
80 KB Swings - We'd each do 20
60 Goblet Squats - Me (20) Dave (20) Patty (20)
40 Chest to Bar - Donald (10) Patty (0) Dave (5) Garrett (0) repeat until finished
--- Our plan fell apart here. After Donald had done all those Toes to Bar the day before, his hands were already on the brink of ripping. After his second round here, they tore wide open. He couldn't keep a grip. Dave stepped up to the plate though and finished them off for us, stringing together 5 in a row. 

By this point we only had about 2 minutes. I ran up to the bar to start the Ground to Overheads, and dag it was heavy! I only got a few in before I tagged Dave back in to finish. Only he was winded from the Chest to Bars so it wasn't long before I was back at the bar. We did that a couple of times and then we only had about 20 seconds left. I ran to the bar and and was all "I got this, I'm just gonna bust them out until the time runs out" except when I picked up the bar it was freaking heavy!! 

By this point we were the only team still on the floor. I figured I'd get two in and be done. The first one was a struggle but I could hear my team mates yelling at me to get it up. I still had 10 seconds so I got the second one up and locked out. When I let go of the bar, I realized I could hear everyone screaming. I didn't have enough time to run back and tag Dave but it was too long to just stand there. So, my only option was to pick it up. 

Two days of WODs, way too many squats, shoulders on fire and damn near tears all came down to these three seconds. In terms of our score, It didn't matter if I picked up that bar or not. One extra Ground to Overhead was not going to suddenly jump us up to 19 instead of 20 out of 20. So, why was everyone in that gym screaming and encouraging me? Why did all of the judges care if I got one more?

Why? Because at the end of the day that's what CrossFit is about. Those three seconds at the end of a workout, when you are so sure your body can not possibly put out one more ounce of effort. You find yourself digging down deep inside to places you didn't even know existed. You hear the other athletes yelling and cheering as if they are in a tunnel far away. You close your eyes, take in a deep breath and you just know. You just know that you are going to get that bar up or get those last double unders or get your toes to the bar. You know. And so you do it and you finish. 

When I turned around I saw everyone smiling and clapping. I was proud of myself for finishing, for getting that bar up and I was proud of my team for showing up and giving it all they had to give. 

During the Capital Throwdown my team literally came in last. But we finished and we finished with our heads held high and we all agreed we would do it again in a heartbeat.