Again With The Thrusters

As part of my mission to become the Best Version of Me, I signed up for CrossFit Austin’s Circle of Awesomeness Challenge. They seem to be keeping some of the details under wraps, but so far, it looks like we earn points with workouts and other good behavior:

Complete special Challenge workouts

1/12 Anaerobic Test
1/15 Strength and Strength Endurance Tests
1/17 Strength and Strength Endurance Tests
1/20 Aerobic Output Test
1/24 Anaerobic Test
1/27 Aerobic Output Test

Earn points for doing each of the following every day of every week between now and March 12.

Consume NO grains. (1 point)
Consume NO dairy. (1 point)
Consume NO sugar. (1 point)
Consume NO alcohol. (1 point)
Sleep a minimum of 8 hours within each 24-hour period. (1 point)
Complete your required weekly WODS per your contract, i.e., 3X per week. (1 point)
Log in your exercise journal. (1 point)
Log in your food journal. (1 point)
Try a new recipe. (1 point)
Stretch for 10 minutes per day or do the WOD at www.mobilitywod.com. (1 point)

Today was our first Challenge workout, and it seemed to be designed for maximum misery (and gave me flashbacks of this):

We had three attempts to get our heaviest weight, with 7 minutes of rest in between. 

Here’s how it went down for me…

Round 1: 45#
I finished 28 reps. Inside the noggin, I broke the 30 reps down into three sets of ten, but there was no stopping, no pausing, no “just a little breath” to acknowledge the tens. Just move, move, move for a minute. It was pretty terrible during, and my heart was hammering like a freakin’ freight train after, but I was confident I could squeeze out two more on Round 2 if I picked up the pace on the first 10.

Round 2: 45#
I was on a great pace for the first set of 10 – finished them in exactly 20 seconds. Inside the noggin, I started counting by fives, steady rhythm, moving through it. On thruster number 17, I lost my focus at the bottom of the squat and stumbled a smidgen on my way up. Which meant I had to re-set my feet. Which meant I finished 29 reps.

29. One short of the goal. Heartbreak.

Round 3: 40#
Tristy said, “If you didn’t finish 30 yet, you must take weight off the bar. We need to get a number today; you have to finish 30.” So I dumped 5# off the bar and finished the 30 reps at 40# with three seconds to spare.

I feel good about my performance –  I fought really hard for Round 2 – but my heart’s just a tiny bit broken about the foot shuffle that cost me 5#.

Next time.