A Tale of Two Weekends Part I: The Crossfit East Coast Challenge

Yeah, I know it's late.

2 weekends ago was the East Coast Crossfit Challenge hosted by Albany Crossfit. The contest was composed of 3 events, the Crossfit Total, a 5k run, and a hopper style WOD. The total was a great experience, I had never lifted in a competition environment before and it is amazing how much the pressure of competition and people watching can drive you. The squat went well hitting an easy 355 on my first, a solid 370 on my second, and getting red flagged on my 385 attempt. I thought the last one was clean but after watching the video, the judge, Liz Darsh from Crossfit Waterford (good blog btw), was right to red flag me, I hit parallel but didn't break it. Next time that won't be a problem. The Press went well, easy 185 to start, 190 on my second which went much smoother than usual, unfortunately that led me to be a little too aggressive and go for 200 on my third, should have gone 195. The deadlift was where it all came together. I opened at 500, easy lift. I decided to try for a new PR 515, a weight that I have been chasing for months. 515 went up smooth, I have lost it on the lock out twice before, but today no problem. I celebrated a bit after that (I head butted a wall at one point). After smiling and laughing for 15 mins I realized I had to lift again, I got my head back in the game and attempted 520. It came off the ground well and came past the knees smooth. It stalled for a moment as it came to lock out but I had it tight to the body so I knew it wasn't going anywhere. Locked it out and set it down, 10 lbs over my PR going into the day. My total was 1080 a new PR and the highest total on the day. I won my weight class (181, I weighed in at 177), the CFT event, and the pound-for-pound strongest lifter.
The run wasn't quite as fun. It had rained for a bit before but then the sun burned through making for a warm muggy run. It wasn't too bad at 24:29 but it made me realize I need to throw a little more running into my training.
The group dinner was awesome. BBQ ribs and chicken, very Paleo, very primal, and just damn tasty.
The next day's hopper WOD was a beast:
1k Row
then 5 rounds of:
21 Sumo Deadlift High Pulls @95lbs
15 Burpees
9 Thrusters @95lbs


They capped it at 20mins I finished just shy 4 rounds, it was fun in a not fun way.

All in all I took 6th in the competition, met some very cool people and had a blast.




Video from the CFT, my 520 DL is about 6:19 in.