Though I do not consider myself to be a competitive person, I must admit I was consumed by the thrill of the CrossFit Open this year. It forced me far beyond my comfort zone (like there is such a thing in this environment).
I have attended a couple CF2a and CrossFit Free competitions and it is exciting, but it is clear that I am still not strong enough to compete in many of the scaled movements. But, the WOD 4 Paws event seems to have been designed to be less aggressive and perhaps a little playful, factors that made me consider this as my first taste of the game.
This is a Guy-Girl Team event, and my challenge was finding a girl who would be willing to team up with an old man twice her age. I needed someone who could take up the slack on movements that I either don’t have the flexibility or the stamina to perform. I also needed a partner who would encourage me and laugh along with me if I totally bombed on this next experiment on my tired, old carcass.
I was blessed with my early morning WOD pal, Julia, who keeps telling me that we will just do our best and have fun doing it. She is not even embarrassed that I do not sport any ink and I have no body piercing.
The WODs have recently been posted and I must admit I am wondering what I have gotten myself into. Normally I do a single workout in the morning, shower-up, go to work, sleep it off, wake up sore and do it all over again the next day. For this event, I must do four workouts in a single day. I am just a little curious what my recovery time will be between WODs. Though we have registered as intermediates, that required me to stretch the truth just a tiny bit.
The first WOD is entitle Herding Cats: AMRAP 1 in each station – one athlete working at a time – both athletes must contribute to the total – 30 seconds break in between stations – 1 point awarded for each completed rep.
- Hand release Push Ups
- Kettlebell Swings – Guys 53# / Girls 35#
- Single Unders
- Box Jumps: 20-inches
- Leap Frog
- Dumbbell Thrusters – Guys 25# / Girls 15#
- Stone to shoulder – Guys 75# / Girls 45#
- PVC Partner Pistols
- One-Arm Dumbbell Snatch – Guys 40# /Girls 25#
- Cart Wheels
How many reps can we get in this fifteen minute period? How do you get me to do a cartwheel? Actually, when I first saw this WOD published, I had not done half these movements. The last time I did leapfrog was 1959. Are you beginning to get the picture?
There are three other workouts that include Power Cleans beyond my current max weight, lateral bar burpees and planks and max weight, shoulders to overhead.
Saturday morning Julia and I are meeting at the gym to perform the first WOD. It should be interesting. I’ll let you know how we make out.
Hey Chuck! Thanks for the shout out for the WOD 4 Paws event! I am thrilled to read about it here and even more excited to hear you & Julia will be joining us! CrossFit events are not all about crushing it; we believe in having fun too and throwing in a little something something that you wouldn’t expect! (Trust me, there are a lot of us practicing our cartwheels and leap frogs in the driveway!)
Come and do the best you can and, more importantly, be sure to have fun while you’re doing it! I’ll be looking for you! See you there!
B
Carol, I am looking forward to a good time. Thanks for hosting this event and thanks for making me feel welcome. I’ll be easy to spot, I’ll be the old guy being held up by the cute girl.