Gorilla Takeover my life

WOAH. 

What a month this has been! 

I was put to the SOBE-TOBER challenge for October 

and 

I'll go ahead and pat myself on the back and call it a success. 

This was less about boozing for me (I'll admit--  I had a few glasses of wine sporadically) because I rarely drink anyway, but more about keeping my diet in line and focusing on some fitness goals.

My fitness goals for October:

• Continue my double-under awesomeness and learn to string them together. Practice these each time I work out. YEAH BABY! I did it. I can string my double unders together without singles in between. Not super consistently yet, but hey it is undeniable progress!
• CrossFit/BootyCamp four days per week I faltered here a bit due to a stupid dumb dumb stupid cold, but I made consistent attendance.
• Do five unassisted kipping pull-ups Yeah no. Close but no cigar. Still working towards this!
• Compete in the Gorilla Take Over Garage Games AH HELL YEAH I DID. 

So I am going to focus on my last goal of competing in the Gorilla Take Over.
The competition was held over two days. Three WODS on Saturday and then two on Sunday (including the finals.)

I competed in the individual women's scaled division.

Holy Ballz. 

Me and my fabulous lady friend/coach/judge/cheerleader extraordinaire, EM

This was an absolutely amazing weekend and while I am still tired and sore, I cannot wait to do it again. Just watching and cheering for the other competitors was exhilarating. One woman brought me to tears as she completed a 345 pound dead lift. And no I was not crying because of the assumed pain she would be in tomorrow. But I could relate to the mental and physical duress she just overcame in that moment. These competitors are so dedicated and it requires so much emotionally and physically. It was incredible to watch her set a new PR. I am so thankful for my coaches Tony, Joon and Emily for pushing me to do this, plus the fabulously supportive fitfam, who cheered throughout the weekend.

One of the best parts though---I got to share this weekend with my mom. She came down to do some wedding dress shopping (I SAID YES to the dress...) and I talked her into staying for part of the competition. It was very reminiscent of my volleyball tournament days, bleacher butt and all,  and I loved sharing this huge part of my life with her. At one point she got the entire bleacher section cheering for me. I am so lucky.


My goals for the weekend were to:

• Finish all the WODs under the time cap
• PR my deadlift (previous max was 175) and break 200 pounds
• Make it to the final WOD
• If I made it to finals, not to finish last.

WOD 1:

500M Row
Then 
21-15-9
Thrusters (#45)
Box Jumps (20in) 
TC 10:00

Okay. See the maniac rowing in the middle of the back row? Yeah that crazy chick who is doing two for ones for everyone's pulls? Dont you want to scream at her to slow the hell down?

yeah. Where were you saturday morning?!

Mom's handy ipad cam proves my insanity

I jumped on the rower and all the advice I'd heard ("dont burn out on the row" "take it easy" "pace") flew right out my head. Pure adrenalin took over and I rowed like my life depended on it.

thanks to TA Barnhart for capturing this moment

Unfortunately, when I stepped off the rower, my legs turned to jello. I battled through the thrusters and box jumps (coughSTEPUPScough) and managed to finish in 7:18.

(c)TA Barnhart

Thank god.

WOD 2 
Ten minutes to find a 1 Rep Max Deadlift

OMG most rewarding WOD award goes to....WOD 2!

I've never REALLY pushed myself to find my deadlift max. I stopped around #175 and never pushed further. Obviously, competition is not the place for that mentality. My goal was to break #200 and I fucking smashed it.

This is attractive....

I PR-ed at #245!!!!!

I had four failed attempts at #255 and am still kicking myself for not being able to get that shit off the ground. BUT it was SUCH an awesome feeling to push myself so damn hard. I had a phenomenal group of cheerleaders screaming their fool heads off and my mom even got her section of bleachers to root for me.

WOD 2 went straight into the next WOD
WOD 3:
4RFT
10 Kb Swings #35
25 Yard Farmers Carry #80
8 Modified Rope Climbs
25 Yard Farmers Carry #80
(TC: 10:00)

25 yrd farmers carry with #160

I'd like to point out that the Farmer's Carry (pictured above) is #80 in each arm. #160 TOTAL.
But right after lifting #245, that #160 felt like nothing. And in fact, the #35 KB swing was dangerously light in comparison... I almost chucked it. whoops!

That night I went home and inhaled my dinner--- I was ravenous, rightly so, I'd say.  I passed out at the respectable time of 8:45pm gearing up for the next day. 

Note: I did have to be pushed/rolled out of bed in the morning and not because I was unwilling to leave my pillow.... little sore...


Shane was my cheerleader for Sunday and was at the sideline of each event screaming, cheering and capturing some of my crazy faces. Thank god there isn't any video.

Sunday morning kicked off with  
WOD 4: the chipper from hell

60 double unders or 180 singles
50 wall ball squats (#14)
40 burpees, jump to the plate
30 ab mat sit ups
20 lunges with wall ball
10 hand release plyo pushups
20 lunges with wall ball (#14)
30 ab mat sit ups
40 burpees, jump to the plate
50 wall ball squats (#14)
60 double unders or 180 singles
 TC 25:00

Okay mind you, my body is spent from SATURDAY and now I have to work my way through this bullshit?!?

Wall ball

Sit up, convince self that you are not dying, laydown. Repeat.

Weighted lunges.

FORTY BURPEES... twice. so EIGHTY BURPEES. *Whine alert*  burpees suck in general, but they really suck after doing 50 wall balls and they REALLY SUPER SUCK after doing three WODs the previous day.

Hurdle body at ground

Jump onto plate

Un-hurdle body and throw feet forward

take nap on plate.

This workout became so much more mentally challenging than anything (though my quads still beg to differ)















 I had several mantras running through my head, some helpful, some not.

"Stupid dumb stupid legs" this was also combined with punching my quads to remind them to work. 

"Fuck burpees, fuck this, why am I doing this"

"Just keep swimming, just keep swimming."
"HOW DID THAT WOMAN FINISH SO QUICKLY. DONT CHEER ME ON. YOU ARE CLEARLY CRAZY"

"I paid to do this, maybe I am clearly crazy"

"only 500000 reps to go"

Eventually, I did make it back down the other side of the pyramid. I powered through my wall balls and with less than 30 seconds left in the time cap, I threw everything I had left into jumping rope. I managed to knock out 55 singles before time was called. 125 jumps short of completely finishing. BUT as Em reminded me, I finished all the hard stuff. If there was just another 30 secs, I would have finished. I'll take it as a win. 

I walked away, shaking, exhausted, high from endorphins (not high enough though thank you) and slightly bummed because I figured since I hadn't finished, I wasn't going to make it finals. 

BUT duh dun duhhhh!!! I did! Holding on to the number 9 spot in my division, I got to move on!

CUE Happy Face! 

Or "Shit-yay-excited-wait-this-means-I-have-to-do-another-workout" pained expression.

The last WOD was exhausting, mentally and physically. 

Final WOD
Sweet sixteen sprints buy in
Straight into D.T.
5 RFT
12 Deadlifts (#85)
9 hangcleans (#85)
6 shoulder to overhead press (#85)
Sprint buy out
TC 15:00

16 Sprints.

12 Deadlifts

9 Hang cleans

6 shoulder to overhead

 The coolest thing about this community is that the very people you are competing against, are the same folks that are cheering you on. This is something I believe is unique to the CrossFit community.  I was well behind the other women in my division for this WOD and ended up being the last to finish. But I don't think I would have finished, had I not had a gaggle of people surrounding me, cheering like maniacs for me to get the bar in the air.  I sprinted my last bit and finished at 14:11.

At the end of the weekend, I'd managed to hold on to my number nine position in my division meeting my goal of not being last (aim for the stars).


My fabulous friends, family, and fitfam really made this weekend remarkable for me.

WHEN'S THE NEXT COMPETITION!??!?!?

My take-away from the weekend: "Tell your Mind to get out of your Body's Way"