Weekend of Challenges

This past weekend was a once in a lifetime type of weekend - some of you might think I am slightly crazy for what I was up to this past weekend, some of you might just chalk it up to me being me, and some of you might be somewhat taken back by the amount of activity that I was able to endure this past weekend.

Let's recap the events and performances:  I wanted to compete in several things this past weekend, and instead of choosing one or the other - i did all of them.  First up Saturday morning 9am- MCRD Boot Camp Challenge.  I train full time at CF Invictus and I absolutely love it there - super lucky to have such a great group to be on this journey with,.  Anyways, we had a contingency out there on the course and a few weeks before I decided I wanted to take part in this event.

It was a super fun 3 mile course that we did as a 3 person team.   I knew Joerg and Matt (from CF Invictus) were interested in doing this event as well, so I figured we'd make a great team.  It was a blast, we went out there in a super hot day and were able to complete the course in 21:40 which was good for a 2nd place finish among the 3 person teams :)

Shortly after this event finished Joerg and I headed to CF Invictus to get ready for the OPT Big Dawg Challenge.  I am a big fan of OPT - I have learned a lot from his training methodology, website and from the trickle down effect since it is one of CJs mentor.

When I heard about this event I was super excited about it - I had no idea what I was getting myself into.  We didn't find out what the workout was going to be until that morning - I LOVE the element of surprise and it really speaks volumes to the efficiency of Crossfit training that no matter what comes out in the workout I look forward to attacking it and doing my best on it!  

When I saw the workout that morning I was excited about it and started to strategize in my head where I would push and how I would approach it.

For the full workout and the results check out the Invictus blog from last week - link below

http://www.crossfitinvictus.com/blog/2010/09/saturday-september-25-2010/

The event started at 11:30 and I was in one of the later heats which gave me a chance to recover, fuel and warm up accordingly after the Boot Camp Challenge.  I was able to watch some of the earlier heats and see how they were performing and modified my approach slightly.  On the Snatch portion I chose a weight I knew I could do and utilized the rest of the time to do as many burpees as possible.  I went into a trance during the burpees - it was an outer body experience, it was quite something and hard to describe.  I went into this zone that I pushed through some fatigue and was able to keep a consistent pace and rhythym going throughout. 

I knew I had 3 minutes of rest coming to me after which I knew I'd fully recover before getting on the rower for phase 2 of the workout.  At that point it was about maximizing my reps at the stations.    I pushed and pushed and pushed everything I had in me - I felt pretty good about it, and when I found out I finished 2nd I was somewhat surprised.  I thought I had done well, but wasn't expecting to have done that well - I was STOKED!!!!  To finish ahead of guru OPT (CF Games champion 2007) will be something memorable!

One would think this is a lot to do in one weekend already - but I did not rest there, i had one more event to compete in.   I signed up to do the AIDS 10K Run in Balboa park on Sunday morning.  I have been wanting to do this event in the past and haven't been able to.

I was looking forward to running this event, my friend Christopher Walden has done this event in the past and we were going to line up together and see who is fastest.  I know I'd have to run really fast in order to have a chance - he's fast.  Just this past year he ran a 3:13 Rock N Roll Marathon that qualified him for Boston Marathon!!!  What was incredible about his accomplishment is that he never ran more than 7 miles and no more that 3 x week, which speaks volumes to the type of training that he's been doing.  (Oh yeah - he's been coming to track workouts regularly all year long)  Interesting what a little speed work can do....

We lined up at the start and it was a beautiful day - super warm, Heidi (accupuncturist) came out with Koda to cheer us on, Joerg with Jackie (his awesome dog) and a few other friends and people we knew.  Before you know it the gun went off.  I hung with Chris for about the first mile and kept him within sight the entire race, but could not keep up with him.   My legs were feeling tight and so was my upper body - i did my best to stay relaxed and kept a good pace throughout.

All in all, i finished the race in 39:37 - my goal was to come in under 40 minutes, i was super pleased with this time which comes out to 6:22 per mile.  8th place overall and 4th in my age group.   My entire body was feeling wrecked after though, i could feel the soreness coming on, the adrenaline of the competing wearing down, and knowing I'd have to take some rest this week to let my body recover.

It was a great weekend - i love competing, not for the sake of winning, but for the sake of being active, sharing great experiences with friends and pushing my body to the limits.  I know this past weekend I pushed my body beyond what I thought was possible.  My goals were not to win or place in my age group - it was to do my best in all the events, and mission accomplished here.   I feel super lucky that I was able to share in these experiences with friends over the weekend, and been recovering all week from it - but it was totally worth it.  I haven't worked out since the weekend, but been honoring my body and the rest its been asking for as i get ready to do the Mission Bay Triathlon this weekend :)