CrossFit Women’s Challenge: A Story in Photos

The CrossFit Women’s Challenge was Saturday, and Team Relentless ran, lifted, swung, threw, swaggered, and ate with purpose. The instructions from CrossFit Central said “rain or shine” and boy, oh boy! did it rain. Cats, dogs, elephants, frogs, saber-toothed tigers. It poured. And we loved it.

For your viewing pleasure, photographic evidence of our BadAss-ness.

Carla wore her hair in really cute buns. But they were dismantled in favor of a hat. Damn rain!

Jennifer was our team chauffeur which I loved because in our house, I usually drive.
The first workout was a trail run with “stuff.”

Workout #1 @ 8:50 a.m.
150 burpees + run 1/2 mile
200 kettlebell swings 12kg & 16 kg + run 1 mile
200 med ball passes & nutrition questions + run 1/2 mile

Like I said, it was wet.
But that didn’t dampen the spirits of Deep Eddy Divas: Vickie, Annie, and Maggie (the unofficial training partners of Team Relentless).
We did our warmup in the rain…
… and posed for a team photo.
The socks were our favorite part.
Then we got down to business: 150 burpees. Rain and mud be damned. Traction was an issue, but we eventually finished and headed down the trail.

It was like running in a rain forest, complete with waterfall. (I loved the trail so much, I took Dave running there this morning.)
Confession: I cost my team 10 seconds!
Part of the third station, after the medicine balls, was a series of nutrition questions. We were required to open the envelope, write our answers on the page, put the pen and paper back in the envelope, and place the envelope in the box.

I tore into the questions and realizing I knew the answers, I took over. “Turn around, ” I snapped at Carla, and used her back as a writing board.

1. How many grams of fat in a 2-block zone meal? EASY! 3 grams.

2. How many grams of protein in 1 zone block? GOT IT! 7 grams.

3. Put the following foods in the right category of protein, fat, or carbs:
sunflower seeds
wine
avocado
black beans
squash
egg
chicken

I scribbled the answers in the right column, and we took off. I was very pleased with myself. Who knows the Zone better than I?!

Fast forward: The Challenge is over, the winners are about to be announced. Carey jokes, “Some of you need to come to my nutrition seminar… because some of you think wine is a fat.”

Ha! Ha! Ha! I laughed. Who thinks wine is a fat?

Later, I looked at the scores and found we’d been penalized 10 seconds for getting a nutrition question wrong.

Impossible! I thought as I feverishly tore through the pile of papers to find our answer shirt.

Guess who the idiot was that wrote “wine” in the fat column? By mistake. Cause I was CrossFit drunk. And my hands were shaking from throwing the med ball. And I was soaking wet.

And that, my friends, is why I should always remember the value of being on a team. Someone’s gotta call you on your own bullsh*t.

Anyway… back to the soggy trail:

Annie and Maggie were really happy when they finished the run.
The Divas look annoyingly cute after running in the downpour and mud.
Then we all headed to Central Market to change into dry clothes, re-fuel (hello, banana + Sunbutter!), and sip coffee until…

Workout #2 (The Chipper) @ 11:05
50 snatch, 45-lb. barbell
200 box jumps
175 situps (assisted)
100 pullups
125 duo deadlift, 100 lbs.
150 jumping ring dips
100 duo shoulder press, 55 lbs.
400m run

I’m hoping more photos of Team Relentless at the indoor workout will surface. For now, I’ve got this one of me doing a not-very-pretty snatch. (Thanks for the photo, Bonita!)

The Chipper was rough and also amazingly, painfully fun. I’d never done snatches with a barbell before, and I really liked them a lot. Our team figured out how to rotate into and out of reps, and if I didn’t think about how much I wanted to stop and rest, it was OK.

Box jumps: I finally got the jump up/jump down rhythm and our 3-person rotation worked like a charm.

Situps: In the context of the rest of the torture, pretty easy-peasy.

Pullups: Two bands + assists from the team = awesomeness

Duo deadlift: Harder than I thought they would be. Coordinating with a partner was tricky. That was where the “don’t think, just go” really kicked in.

Ring dips: SUPER fun (and, I think, responsible for my sore calves today).

Duo shoulder press: Yowzsa! Shoulders burning. I might have gotten a little bossy counting on those.

Then finally, blessedly, the 400m run: More like a shuffle.

Our reward: The Frisco Shop.
Warning: If it will ruin your image of me to see the grease- and carb-tastic food I consumed, close your eyes and scroll rapidly to the end of the post. If you’re ready, let’s continue…

Annie and I haven’t taken a photo like this since our Derby days. I got to sit on her lap!

Erika, me, and Bonita… all smiles after lots of grimaces.Annie and Catherine…
Carla and Sean, our official cheerleader for the day…
Maggie, John, and Jennifer…
And now, meet my friend, Monsieur Steak with Butter and his amis, Francois Fries.
Erika got the onion rings. I had one. Just one, I swear.
And it took four of us to put away this pie.
As you can see, we made a happy plate.
Erika models the latest trend for Fall: Burpee/Snatch/Deadlift Knees.
Team Relentless, ready for showers and naps.
The End.

Need more?
More photos from the Run Workout
More photos from the Gym Workout