My First Crossfit Competition

by 115 Comments

Hi Friends!

As promised, I’m back with a recap of my first Crossfit competition! On Saturday, I competed in the Fit Club Summer Games.

my first crossfit competition

There was an Elite division with about 10 women and 20 men and an Open division. I competed in the Women’s Open division and finished 17th out of 76 competitors!

They told us a little bit about the first WOD on Friday, but we didn’t find out about the other WODS until about an hour before we did them.

Here’s how it went down. We carpooled with some friends of ours (There were about 15 of us competing from my gym) and arrived around 7:30. We unloaded our car, set up our tent, etc.

IMG_7470

There was an athlete’s meeting at 8:15 where they gave us the details of the first WOD and then we had some stretch and get ready before the heats started at 9. They had guys and girls heats running simultaneously during the events. The Elite heats went first, then the Open heats.

DSC_0134

IMG_7464

Wod #1:

2 min AMRAP squats.
1200 m run

DSC_0164

For the open division the weight was 165# for the guys/ 105# for the girls. You could do any kind of squat you wanted (back, front, overhead). 99% of us chose to clean the bar up, put it over our head and do back squats with the bar resting on our shoulders. There were 1-2 girls that did front squats but that’s about it. Luckily, 105# is not that heavy for me so I was able to get it on my back no problem. I did 34 squats in 2 min. Looking back, I probably could have gotten a few more, but I was focusing on making sure I went down low enough each time so I wouldn’t get no-repped and waste a rep. I tend to squat REALLY low anyways and I never really have to worry about it….so I probably should have focused on going a little faster, but oh well.

DSC_0166

*Photo note: I’m one of those people that always looks absolutely miserable while working out. Some people look like they’re having fun…I usually look like I’m about to die 🙂

DSC_0171

I wore my running shoes for this wod instead of my nanos because they didn’t tell us how far the run was ahead of time. Since I get shin splints easily, I didn’t want to be running a long way in my nanos. After the squats you had 2 minutes to walk across the road to the starting line of the run. We had to run out 600m, pick up a brick and run back carrying the brick.

DSC_0177

The run was hard after doing all of those squats. The brick wasn’t heavy, but it had sharp edges and was just kind of annoying to carry. I finished the run in 6:27.

DSC_0180

The second WOD took place in a field and involved dumbbells. Open guys used 35# dbs, girls used 25# dbs.

Wod #2:

10 DB Deadlift Burpees
Walk/run 50 yards
10 DB Hang Squat Cleans
Walk/run 50 yards
20 DB Push Press
Turn around
Walk/run 50 yards
10 DB Hang Squat Cleans
Walk/run 50 yards
10 DB Deadlift Burpees

Here’s a little interview with hubby where he shares his thoughts on how he thought I’d do with this WOD:

The deadlift burpees were by far the easiest part of this wod. The hang squat cleans were hard because our legs were already tired. Mine ended up being more of a db clean and then squat.

DSC_0211

The push presses were hard as well because I’m used to doing them with a bar, not with dumbbells.

DSC_0209

The hardest part was probably just carrying the dbs. They were heavy and awkward and I was definitely feeling the burn in my forearms. I tried resting them on my shoulders as I ran/walked to the next marker but they were bouncing around so I gave up and ended up just kind of lumbering along. I started off kinda slow on this event but once I did the push presses and turned around and came back for round 2 of hang squat cleans I made up a lot of ground.

DSC_0215

I finished this WOD in 4:40.

Here’s a video of me doing WOD 2.

After WOD 2 we had about a 2 hour break. They made the announcement about what the final WOD was going to be and then we had a while to just sit around and think about how awful it was going to be!

IMG_7467

And we were right. It was terrible.

 WOD #3

5 min AMRAP of Fran
5 min break
5 min 115# sled pull

If you know anything about Crossfit, you’ve probably heard of Fran. It’s a benchmark workout: 21-15-9 reps of thrusters and pullups. A thruster is basically a front squat straight up into a push press. Fran is hard on a good day when you have fresh legs. It’s pretty much the worst when you’ve already done two other WODs already. The elite athletes can do Fran in 2-3 minutes so many of them got through the whole WOD and then started over at 21 again since they were still under the 5 minute timecap. My Fran PR is 6:40…so I knew going into it that I wasn’t going to finish in 5 minutes.

DSC_0225

I finished 21 thrusters, 21 pullups, 15 thrusters and 15 pullups before the time ran out. What’s crazy is, that I’m pretty sure I could have PR’d my Fran time if we’d had to just do Fran without a time cap. It probably would have taken me less than 1:40 to do that last round of 9 thrusters and pullups…but I was happy to be able to stop at 5 minutes!

Here’s the video. I did my set of 21 thrusters unbroken for the first time ever. Usually I split it up into 11 and 10. My hands were way too close together on the pullups….which usually happens when I’m tired and stop thinking about it. During the 21 pullups I was able to string 5-6 together at a time. Not so much on the round of 15. When I get out of breath, I can’t string more that 2-3 pullups together.

After Fran, we had 5 minutes to walk down the hill and back to the field to do a 5 minute sled pull.

DSC_0233

I’d never actually done a sled pull before. Turns out I kinda like them. I don’t, however, like them after Fran and two other wods. That combination was one of the hardest things ever.

DSC_0231

We got points for every flag we passed. I made it down to the other end of the field, turned around and came back and then went about 1/2 way back again. I think I got 66 points. I was exhausted by the end!

Our car decided to not stay for the finals. The top 10 men and women in the open division made it to the finals. Going into WOD 3 I was in 34th place so I knew I didn’t to well enough to make it into the top 10….plus we were hot, sweaty, tired and ready for a shower so we packed up and headed home.

Overall it was a fun competition! I’m glad I did it, even though I was nervous. Big thanks to the hubby for cheering me on all day and taking all the amazing pictures and videos! He’s the best and he captured lots of great pics and videos of me and our friends!

IMG_7469

IMG_7468

I woke up Sunday feeling much sorer in my upper body than I expected. My legs got a bit sorer as the day went on, but even by Monday they were still feeling better than expected, so that was good!

A few other things to note:

Food:

We packed a giant cooler with our friends and filled it with food and water for the 4 of us. We brought:

  • Chicken
  • Tortillas
  • Avocado
  • Fruit- strawberries, grapes, apples, bananas
  • Bread
  • Peanut butter
  • PB Banana cookies
  • Jerky
  • Quinoa breakfast bars
  • Water

My best advice is to bring stuff you know you’ll want to eat. You know your body and how you feel after workouts. If you think you’ll have trouble eating, consider bringing some protein powder or pre-made smoothies you can drink. I opted for most fruit and breakfast bars until our large break and then I ate some chicken and a pb sandwich.

Equipment:
I packed a TON of stuff…and didn’t end up needing all of it….but I was glad I had it to be prepared. Depending on the competition, you might need more or less stuff. I brought:

  • Extra shorts
  • Extra tank tops
  • Extra sports bra
  • Oly Shoes
  • Nanos
  • Running shoes
  • Flip flops
  • Compression sleeves
  • Wrist wraps
  • Weight belt
  • Jump Ropes
  • Tape
  • Change of clothes for afterwards
  • Long sleeve shirt

Other stuff to consider

  • Blanket
  • Chairs to sit in
  • Tent/canopy (our friend brought one and it was great to have shade)
  • Cooler
  • Warm-up equipment: foam roller, lacrosse ball, bands, pvc pipes
  • Extra hair ties!

I ended up staying in the same clothes all day, but if I had gotten any sweatier, I probably would have changed between wods and would have been very glad to have the extra clothes!

me

That’s all I’ve got 🙂

Enjoy!
–Lindsay–

 

LEARN HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR BODY.

Get my free Table Talk email series where I share bite-sized nutrition information about carbs, protein, and fat, plus bonus information about snacks and sugar!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  6. Wow I’ve never actually seen the indepth details to a cross fit competition so this was super interesting! Thank for you for sharing! Great job and wow you just look so strong and powerful. Nice work!

    Reply

  23. Wowza, this is so impressive! I’ve never really gotten into crossfit, but I appreciate how candid you were in this post. Great work girl!!

    Reply

  41. Completely badass Lindsay! This is such an accomplishment. I still haven’t tried Crossfit (I’m still pretty intimidated by it) but I think it looks like one of the best workouts possible! Congrats again.

    Reply

  44. I never have a pretty face when I workout, either. I look absolutely miserable or in pain 99% of the time and the one percent I don’t look miserable is when I’m walking away feeling accomplished. 😛 Uhm, please give me your legs! You’re freaking amazing!

    Reply

  48. Awesome recap, Lindsay!! And beautiful thrusters, even with the pretty lifting face 😉

    Isn’t it bad when you feel the best part of a workout is the burpees?! We had a competition training WOD Sunday and another WOD with burpees yesterday and I looked forward to the burpee part.. what the heck.

    I’m in total awe of you and your performance and definitely look up to you as an athlete!! 🙂

    Reply

  52. You are such a BEAST girl!! I remember forever ago when you shouted out that you were going to buy a Groupon for Crossfit and you were wondering if it was going to be worth it! Remember that? Look at you now! I sat, watching, in total awe of you during the videos. Go girl!

    Reply

  55. Look at you go – you look very hardcore in these photos (and hubby really did an amazing job capturing great shots!). So excited for your accomplishment. I can’t believe how many pullups you can do – I’m not there AT ALL! 🙂

    Reply

    • Thanks Heather! Still working on getting a few more in a row when I’m tired but I can’t believe how many more I can do now than when I first started!

      Reply

  60. Dang girl. I am exhausted just reading this! You totally kicked ASS and it actually made me want to try to squeeze some Crossfit into my life. Thanks for the inspiration – and congrats!

    Reply

  63. Why does this bring tears to my eyes? I’m such a sap. You look so beautiful and you worked so hard and it all came together and it paid off! SO incredibly proud of you, I hope you do another! You’re amazing, congratulations! xoxo

    Reply

  64. Wow well done!! Sounds like you had a great time and did really well.

    I need to work on being able to squat lower, not sure if I’m just really inflexible or what but I definitely can’t squat as low as you in that picture. 🙂

    Reply

  70. Lindsay:
    Holy Smokes this is impressive. You did phenominal!
    I hope you have a daughter someday so you can raise a young woman as strong as you are!

    Reply

  73. Gosh! You are incredible woman!! I’m so proud of you and I don’t even know you! I almost cried watching some of those videos lol and no I’m not a crazy person!:) I know how hard it is to do something that physically challenging, and I’m personally not interested in Crossfit, but I admire SO many people who do it! I have watched your posts over the last year of how hard it has been for you, and how much you’ve gained from it. I remember when you started and thought you couldn’t do half the stuff you did in these videos- GREAT job!!! You should be very proud of yourself and hang the first photo of this post somewhere in your home for keeps!!! GREAT JOB!!!!!

    Reply

    • eek! Just signed up for a partner comp at the end of october. It’s going to be more oly/power lifting focused with heavy weights. should be interesting!

      Reply

  76. hey lindsay – just wanted to say thanks for this awesome post! i always love your coverage of WODs and your review of this competition (especially the videos) was very honest and real, as usual. as a new-er crossfitter, you are a great inspiration!

    Reply

    • Thanks Jen! I’m glad you like it, especially the videos. I hate seeing myself on video but I think it’s important that people realize that crossfit is NOT easy, no matter how good you get at it. It always leaves you struggling and gasping for breath!

      Reply

  77. Congrats on your competition!! I did my first competition this past weekend, myself!! What.an.EXPERIENCE!! It felt amazing afterwards..what your body can do (and you really thought it couldn’t!!). I admire you competing as an individual..I’m not quite convinced I am at that level (ie good enough) for that!! I did a team WOD…4 – 12 min AMRAPS with 3 min rest in between. WHEW…

    Congrats and hope you have more to come….

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *