Hail To The Queen Throwdown: Part II

Yesterday, CrossFit Queens hosted an all women's CrossFit competition.  The competition consisted of three workouts ("WODs").  WODs two and three were announced a week prior to the event; all they told us about WOD one was that we'd be lifting things up and putting them down.  I figured they'd ask us to lift awkwardly shaped heavy objects.  I was wrong.  They had us do something way harder: math.

We were given five minutes to rack up as many points as possible.  If you deadlifted, you were awarded twice the weight you lifted in points.  If you cleaned, the weight was multiplied by four, and if you did snatches, the weight was multiplied by six.  We were allowed to change weights and lifts once, but we had to pick the weights out before we started and we only had a few minutes to decide.

If you were a proficient snatcher, I don't think there was much of question.  The snatch was worth a lot of points.  There was no way I was going there, though.  It's a tricky lift and not one I'm comfortable with.  I debated only doing deadlifts, but luckily realized that five minutes of deadlifts would be exhausting and really tough on my back.  In the end, I decided to go light and aim for speed.  I remembered doing a lot of 115 lb deadlifts not too long ago, and how tiring that got, so I decided to do 103 lb deadlifts and 53 lb cleans.

In additional to all the competitors, there were tons of spectators so it was really loud.  I can't think of any other time in my life when so many people were cheering/yelling at me to keep going.  My judge who was counting my reps was also very encouraging, which helped a lot. 

I did 40 deads, but only 22 cleans.  In retrospect, I probably should've switched to cleans as soon as I slowed down on the deads.  Instead, I wasted time trying to eek out a few final deads.  I also lost a ton of time stripping the weights between lifts.  My arms were jelly and just wouldn't cooperate.  I felt good coming out of the event, though.  I came in 37th out of all 42 competitors and 12th out of the 17 in my level.  Considering my size, I'm pretty psyched about that.

I was in the second heat out of six, so once I was done, I downed some Progenex and watched.  It was pretty inspiring to see the really strong women, especially the ones were who were good at snatching. 

Before I knew it, it was time for WOD number two...  (to be continued)

-Gym Belle-