Saturday was awesome! It was my first throwdown so anxiety was running high and the monsoon we drove through didn’t help. For all who are thinking about the next one – Go for it – A full range of emotions but really worth it – here’s a recap.

When we got there the anxiety cranked up another notch once I saw the other athletes, but Lindsey Dan, B, Buzz, Ketih, and Cindy were all passing along words of encouragement and of course I nodded along and said oh no sweat, I’m fine, this is great… when I was really saying “what the hell is a clean and jerk”? is that the one that goes over my head? Are my shorts too tight? Is there a bathroom in here?…. Dan calmed me down a bit once we started warming up and we decided on our strategy.

Round 1 – went as planned, we all hit our previous max lifts immediately and took a few shots at heavier weights as Dan worked up to an impressive 235. At this point though it was clear that there were some strong mfer’s on the floor with us.

The 40 – 45 minutes we had in between WOD 1 and 2 flew by. Sucked down a few of Lindsey’s wonder snacks, Celery, Almonds, Chicken….

Round 2 – 12 minute cap. I’m thinking this one is in our wheelhouse. Deadlifts and Pull-ups, no sweat. We pounded out the first 75 deadlifts in good shape and hit the pull-ups hard. I fouled on my first two and was thinkig “shit if these don’t count Lindsey and Dan are in for a lot more pull-ups than they signed up for”…instead I just pulled harder and made sure the reps stuck even if they were 3-4 at a time. I’ll give the judge credit though, he was pulling for me as much as the Cynergy crew, lots of encouragement from some of the yellow shirts. After our 150 pull-ups we were still in good shape to finish under 12 but the second round of deadlifts was challenging, I picked up the bar with 8:45 showing on the clock and didn’t hand off to Dan until 11:00. I used fingernails, forearms, teeth, glutes, ears…anything I could “flex” to get those last two off the floor. I don’t think I could have gone any faster and I looked at the clock when I handed off to Dan and just couldn’t believe he only had a minute to try and bang through 25 reps. He finished at 12:03— awesome last 25.

I was officially spent at this point – downed a Paleo heather bar and some red grapes and it seems like 8 minutes later we were gearing up for WOD 3.. The “METCON”. This one was tough…Basic movements, Burpees, Box Jumps, then a run. No problem. 20 minutes will be tight but we’ll get it done. After watching the first heat and then hearing they extended the cap to 25 minutes I began to overthink it. We hit this one hard, Lindsey on the box, me on Burpees and Dan resting so we would be in the best order for the run. We targeted 22 mins. The first 15 burpees were OK, had time to spare, then the judge fouled Lindsey on 6 or 7 reps on her burpees while I was resting, part of me said go ahead and keep fouling her because I could use the rest but the other part said crap, if they can foul LJ what will my next round look like. I was really dying after round 3, last 15 burpees were grueling and I had nothing left for the 30 box jumps. I looked at the judge knowing full well I was at 21 and hoped she was going to say 29. At this point Dan’s advice to keep breathing had completely been forgotten, so I hyperventilated through the last nine reps and walked out to start the run. Dan and LJ were there and coaxed me through the 1200 meters, we sprinted the last 150 meters for a 25:29 finish.

It was great to cheer and be cheered, I saw some gutsy Cynergy performances and some really incredible athletic feats. The Cynergy family was definitely in the house and the support was amazing and GENUINE. Simply put, we all care deeply about each other and it is clear on days like Saturday. Some people I know well, while others I just met, all holding the others up and urging them on. Great stuff.

The atmosphere definitely brings it to another level. We go hard in the box everyday to the point of exhaustion and I was shocked to find that there was even a little bit more in me Saturday. Not much, but a little extra something keeping you going. 3 WOD’s in 4 hours? Why not, we’re trained for it!