Crossfit Affiliate Cup

Wow. Just back from a KILLER day down in Aromas, CA participating in the Crossfit Affiliate Cup, part of the weekend's Crossfit Games. 97 teams of 6 from around the world competing in 3 workouts vying to be the 2009 Affiliate Cup champion.

(Mad Dawg Fitness - Marshall, Josh, Lynette, me and Saul)

I won't lie - I was pretty anxious about the whole thing. They posted the Cup workouts on Wednesday and by Thursday I knew I'd be doing a box jump height I'd barely mastered and anchoring a 4 man relay team up a steep 500m run with a 5th loop immediately following where we ran en masse. Somehow my slow-and-steady 50k pace had translated to a short, steep, sprint pace. I was anxious about the unknown, anxious about letting my team down, anxious about blowing up. Nevertheless...

The day started off fairly cool and dense with fog. I picked Yariv up at 5am and we made it down by 6:30 to find the rest of the team already there for our 8am athlete's meeting. Walking up to the main spectator area was a little like walking into a roman colosseum - if the colosseum was at, say, a dusty farm on the outskirts of Gilroy. There were bleachers overlooking the main stadium area where 16 or so stations were set up for competition and a Jumbotron loomed in the corner. Gladiator, was all I could think. We sat through the presentation, getting details on what would be expected - depth, locked arms, locked hips, etc. - from the judges and what would cost us points.

First great news of the day was that the box jump was 20" and not 24". Boo ya. 20" no problem. Second great news of the day after hearing Breanne (a Crossfit Games qualifier) talk about the dreaded run course was to find that the course was only 1/3 of what she'd previously run. While still a lung-busting vert, it didn't go nearly as high or nearly as long. I was starting to feel....mildly relaxed.



Our first team went off @ 9:30 doing a pushup/overhead squat workout. Teams of 4 competed in each event, 2 women/2 men, so Saul was able to tailor our relative strengths to the workouts. Thank god because I have yet to link more than 4 pullups without having to drop from the bar. 17 months later and I'm still grunting through pullups! Agh. Slow and steady. Slow and steady. Marshall, Lynette, Heather and Jason rocked through max efforts on both the pushups and the OHS while the rest of us cheered from the sides watching with awe as people tried to hit their max before failing.

(Jason)

(Marshall)

My first workout came at 11:30. It started with each team member, one by one, completing 30 wallballs - a deep squat w/a medicine ball that you then had to thrust straight up to a 10' mark on the wall before coming back down and repeating. Lynette and I watched the first few waves before ours as girl after girl failed to hit the mark. We were a little concerned. 10' was higher than we'd practiced.



After the wallballs, each team member then had to go stand next to a workout station in their assigned area. Once everyone on the team was finished with wallballs, and at a station, we could start - kettlebell swings, rowing machine, box jumps, push presses. We were to rotate only after everyone had finished at their station and put a knee on the ground. Once we'd each done all 4 stations we ended with 30 deadlifts each, one at a time. It was brutal but seriously, at the end, one of my favorite workouts.

(Video showing general energy level of the weekend.)

We each had a few misses with the wallballs, either because we didn't go into a low enough squat or because we missed the mark. There was a judge watching each portion. My last 5 took about 8 attempts. 14 lbs was starting to get heavy. As soon as Josh finished his last 30 we started our rotation and I had push presses. The first 10 were no problem, the 2nd 5 not too bad but the last 15 took a little more effort. I was doing okay but the double effort on the arm extensions was making me feel noodly. Over to kettleballs next where I felt great. It's a pretty nice movement once you find your rhythm. Then on to a 300m row and finally box jumps. Box jumps take a toll! I did them faster than I normally do but they left me winded and starting to fatigue. Only deadlifts ahead - the boys went first, then me, then Lynette. First 10 - kapow. Felt good, felt strong. 2nd 5 a little slower. Then 4. Then another 3. Then maybe another 5 and whatever was left. I was facing the crowd at this point, facing friends and teammates. I didn't see anything, just a dead stare of concentration and determination. I could hear Marshall almost yelling in my face, urging me on, snapping me out of taking any longer pauses than were necessary to regroup. And then I was done. And gasping for air in the dry, dusty heat as I tried to cheer Lynette through her final round.

(Last deadlifts)

I think we placed 3rd or 4th in our wave - not too bad. We all felt good with our effort. I was psyched to be a part of this workout - one of my faves! It's painful but soooo good! Back to the tent we went to regroup and chill in the shade, waiting for our final event, talking about the various Crossfit hotties and the workouts so far. Josh's effort had taken a toll on him and he decided to bow out of the run. Marshall was more than eager to jump in. We were up in another hour.



Butterflies started spinning again as I stared at the course. Soon it was go time, we lined up and Marshall jumped out to a huge lead on the hill. Somewhere in the middle section he got edged out but Heather, on the 2nd leg, pulled it back putting us in the lead again. I heard on the loudspeaker "Mad Dawg Fitness is leading the run." Jason was next and just crushed it, flying into the transition well ahead of the next closest team and then it was up to me. A brutal, steep hill right off the bat - maybe 150 meters - then a little more flattish uphill then rolling and then a steep and soft downhill. And yes, I'm still shite at downhill running. 2 guys flew by in the middle meeting up with their teams before I could connect with mine and then it was out for one more lap. The hill killed me the 2nd time but I ran as best I could with Marshall again urging me on. I passed a few people and then one passed me back. The final team time was based on the last person finishing so passing even just one person meant a victory for the whole team. In the end, I think we came in 2nd or 3rd in 12:30 something. Heather had never run trails, Marshall had spained his ankle a week earlier, Jason said he's not a runner - so I felt like I'd been the weak link following the great lead they provided. And maybe I had, but regardless, we'd strung together a pretty solid effort. I was just thankful it was over.

(Heather, Jason, Marshall, Me and Josh)

And so that was it - maybe 27 minutes of workout time in a 13+ hour day that had caused a few restless nights and some anxious thoughts. Silly girl. I should've known better! You do your best and you're bound to have fun. We shared food and drink, Lynette and Breanne made shirts for the team, we high-fived and congratulated and laughed and got to know each other a little better. Yariv and I hadn't really bonded with most of the team before so it was a really nice experience. Crossfit has introduced me to some very cool and interesting people, strengths I didn't know I had and a whole new world of things like this weekend.

Driving back to SF, Yariv and I both felt a renewed commitment to Crossfit and our training. It was inspiring to be around people pushing to their limits and beyond, watching the faces of pain and endurance and frustration. It was awesome to be a part of the Mad Dawg Fitness team and awesome just to be a part of the Crossfit weekend. It was a very cool sort of Woodstock meets bootcamp experience. Mad Dawg ended up coming in 39th out of 96 teams that competed. Top 40! Not bad at all for a small group out of Redwood City. One of our own represents tomorrow in the individual competition - that is beyond hard core. Go Breanne!