sled push

sled push

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

I did it and I did it WELL!


I am a little late blogging this, but I was waiting for the video to be put together so I could share it with you in this post.
Two weeks ago I stepped WAY out of my comfort zone and pushed myself to new limits!
I participated in an all night Endurance Camp in which we did 10 "Girl" WODs in 10 hours. For those of you who follow this blog but are not very familiar with CrossFit, the "Girl" WODs are some of the most difficult workouts that we do. They are named after girls much like hurricanes and they will leave you wrecked!
So last Friday night, my friend Mary and I arrived at 7:00 pm. We had an hour to set up our little gypsy camps, meet everyone there and start to warm up. At 8:00 pm we started with our first and probably most awkward workout, "Condoleezza Rice".
I had done many of these WODs before and I knew this was not the night that I would be making a new PR (personal record) on any of these. This night was going to be about getting through one WOD, resting, fueling up, and getting through the next one, and the next one, and the next.
The WODs were scaled to varying degrees so that we could make it through the night. One of the ways they were scaled was that everyone worked in teams of 2. In some WODs, we both had to complete the workout in its entirety. In other WODs, we could share the work however we needed to.
The ones that had heavy weight were the ones we were able to "share", bodyweight ones like "Angie", and "Annie", we both had to complete on our own but we couldn't call time until both of us had finished.
In the video, each WOD is listed and the time that we did it. We started each one on the hour every hour.
The first and last one I would say were the most demanding because they were awkward, but I will confess, "Angie" almost made me cry.
In the video, you will see me standing on the tire (in white shorts) with my hand on the bar...not doing anything. I feel like I should explain. This was during "Angie" and I think I was in the 70's on the pullups by this point and my hands were done. Just hanging off the bar hurt so much. After this WOD, I was more thankful than ever that Mary was on my team. We complimented each other perfectly. She can crush most body weight exercises and I could handle the heavier weight. Being able to split up "Helen" was huge! She did the 45 pullups and I did all 45 of the 45lb Kettlebell swings.
OK, so you may be wondering, why the hell would I do this?
Because it scared me.
Because it was something I had never done before.
AND, because it scared me.
I have done CrossFit competitions before and I leave them with mixed feelings. I love doing them, and I am so proud of myself for putting it all out there, but I am always humbled by how far I have to go. There are so many incredible athletes out there and I will never come close to some of these ladies. At the age of 38, I just started too late.
(This is not something I am saying as a "poor me". It is a fact. I will tell you that now, at 40 years old, I am fitter and stronger than I have EVER been! So, no, this is not me playing a sympathy card.)
Let me tell you though, this was not a CrossFit Competition yet I think I put my body through more that night than I have in any competition I have done so far. Another thing I should mention is that this Endurance Camp did not leave me with those mixed emotions. I was humbled, yes. I was exhausted, absolutely! I was not the best, or even close, but I left that morning at 6:00am thinking of only one thing. "I DID IT AND I DID IT WELL!"
Thanks to Sean Dickson for putting together such a great camp. I will be doing this again for sure.