Part 4: CrossFit Challenge Completed!

 “You are…stronger than you seem…” A.A. Milne

The THROW-DOWN

The grand finale to our 8 week challenge was the throw-down! All 10 teams would compete, completing all the previous challenge WODs as fast as possible in one sweaty display of strength and stamina: Row 5000 meters, run 1 mile, Grace (30 clean and jerks), Annie (+00 000 000 0000 double-unders and sit-ups),and Karen (150 wall balls).

The rules were pretty simple. The WODs could be broken up to allow multiple team members to complete each one. For example, someone from each team had to be rowing until the team total reached 5000 meters. The mile run could be broken up into a relay style, someone could do the double-unders while someone else could do the sit-ups, and so on. Each WOD had to be RX (prescribed weight) before the team could move on to the next one and each team member had to row a minimum of 500 meters.

Our team was set to compete in the second heat and the anticipation was killing me! Since one member of our team couldn’t be there, we were short 1 guy and another guy on the team had hurt his shoulder. This was a little concerning since some of us on the team (eh, hem… me) couldn’t do the prescribed amounts. That’s when my man Alex, our fearless leader, stepped up. The plan involved everyone, but Alex would be carrying our team. He was set to do a little or a lot of each WOD. The rest of us were also prepared to help make up the difference where we could.

Alex started us off with his 500 meter row in just over 1 minute, folks! The adrenaline high wore off somewhere between the 400 meter sprint immediately after and the 150 double-unders that quickly followed that. The poor guy was ready to collapse by the time he got to the clean and jerks. Of course, he didn’t listen to me when I told him to take it easy and that I would run his relay lap for him to give him a rest. Oh no, of course not. I guess I’m not the only competitive one, am I?

We were all pushing ourselves though. I was part of the 1 mile relay with Alex. As soon as I got back from the run I set up to do 40 sit ups in between Alex’s double-unders. The rest of the team was taking their turn rowing and doing sit-ups. Alex was the only one who was consistent with double-unders so we really couldn’t help him there. My abs were burning as I jumped up and onto the rowing machine. Everyone was yelling encouragement. Meanwhile, Alex and Jared started pumping away at the clean and jerks.

By the time the guys got done with Grace they were lying in a heap on the floor gasping for air. That meant me and the other girls would have to take care of the wall balls. Wall balls involve squatting then throwing a large weighted ball 8 feet up against a wall. To RX, the wall ball for women has to weigh 14 lbs. For men it’s 20 lbs and 10 feet up.  I wasn’t the only one who’d never been able to RX before, but that day we all did. Taking the wall balls ten at a time, we each took turns doing something we hadn’t been able to do before…until we had to. I ended up doing 40 wall balls before Alex, who had miraculously revived, came and did 25 in a row to finish the full 150.

P.S. My husband is incredible!

We didn’t win the throw down, coming in just a few minutes behind the winners. Even though winning the throw down earned you points, the team that won the cruise would win because of the final weigh in.

I was amazed to see  the way everyone pushed themselves past how far or fast they could have gone before. It reminded me that we are all stronger than we seem. 

“Cruise’n CrossFitters” after the throw down

I never thought committing to doing CrossFit for 8 weeks would have been such a journey of self discovery, but it has. Eight weeks ago I started CrossFit as part of a challenge from my husband to take part in a muscle building, fat losing, team experience and win a cruise. Well, here’s how I did.

…And the results are in!

I started out with a total body mass (total weight) just under 120 lb. That’s not a bad size, but my fat mass was 24% of my total. My goal was to replace some of the squishy parts with lean muscle and build up my stamina and endurance.

After 8 weeks my totals now are:

Total body mass ——-> 116.59 lbs.

Total fat mass ———> 21%

Fat mass lost—–> 4 lbs.

Muscle gained —> 0.59 lb.

I was so surprised that I had lost that much fat. For someone who was already “moderately lean”, I honestly thought I would only gain some muscle. Now I’m in the “lean” category and let me tell you that 0.56 lb. of muscle made a huge difference!

So, did we win a cruise?

I wish I could say yes, but you’ll have to congratulate a different team. No, we didn’t win a cruise (although Alex and I may go anyway). However, I still feel like we won something. I mean really, I won 0.56 lb. of muscle over the holidays, made new friends, learned more about myself, and saw my husband be superman! Yep, we won alright.