14.5 Recap

This post is a bit late…but I had a busy weekend and I ran out of time yesterday too.  Anyways, better late than never…here is my recap of 14.5.

So, I was dreading this bad boy pretty much from the second it was announced.  Not that it was a great surprise. Everyone knew it would be Thrusters and Burpees…Even Dave Castro teased us pre-14.5 with a little video on the CrossFit Games Instagram feed (click image to be taken to the video):

“Everybody know what we’re gonna be feeding them tonight…but nobody has a clue to how we’re gonna serve it.”

I was playing hockey when 14.5 was announced and actually forgot to check the announcement for a while after I got home.  I was not too impressed to see this: 

You can read about my pre-WOD nervousness here, but what I wrote on Friday afternoon, was nothing compared to the nerves I had when I got to the Box. 

I signed up on the run sheet and picked lucky #13. This seemed like a good spot for me to choose. It’s my hockey jersey number and it just seemed to be the place for me on the run sheet.  I wasn’t in the first group to start, but would be replacing one of the first people finished their WOD, taking their station on the gym floor.

I started my warm up with a 500m row, did some work with the foam roller and lacrosse ball, and then the usual stretches and warm ups we do. I did some work with the PVC pipe to get my shoulders warm, did some squats, and then a few empty bar thrusters and a couple at 65#.  In regular WODs with thrusters I use 45#, so jumping to 65# was pretty scary.  Those 65# thrusters were tough and once again I started to doubt if I could do 84 of them.

Watching the first group do the WOD didn’t do much for my confidence either.  People looked like they were suffering even on the first round. I started to get even more nervous and really doubted if I would be able to do this WOD. 

When Coach Ryan called my name and told me I was up, I was a giant bundle of nerves.  I really didn’t know if I could do it.  I even got a little teary as I got to my station.  The thought of 84 65# thrusters just got to be too much. A couple of the coaches, Savannah and Katrina, both came over and gave me a hug and told me I could do it.  My judge, Simon – who I had as my judge for 14.4 too, gave me a little pep talk as well.  Then he started the 3-2-1 countdown, I wiped my tears away, and picked up the bar for the first time.  I cleaned it up and then got my focus and did the squat part of the thruster – that’s not the hard part for me…the tough part is the press part, since I couldn’t stop and push press it up…it had to be one fluid movement.  Well, I did the first one and thought how the hell am I going to do 20 more for this first round, let alone 83 more for the whole WOD.  I think I may have done 4 or 5 thrusters and then had to put the bar down.  Simon was great at encouraging me and I picked the bar up and did 3 more thrusters before I had to put it down again.  Then Simon said something like “those three looked good..nice and strong…just keep doing that…3 at a time”.  And that’s exactly what I did…the rest of them were done in sets of 3 for the entire rest of the WOD. 

The burpees were actually my recovery time.  I had watched a video earlier in the afternoon that had someone doing a burpee with jumping out and back and someone stepping out and back beside each other.  The step burpee was a little slower, but not all that much. It’s not like I would be posting one of the top times, so, I decided on step burpees for each round.  I stepped out and back and was able to go unbroken in each set, never needing to stop and rest during the burpees.

The round of 15 was the worst round for me.  I had already done so many thrusters by then and still had so many to go.  But, I had a great cheering section and my thruster strategy and I just kept plugging away 3 at a time. 

Finally, I got to the last round of 3 thrusters…thank God!  They were tough, but I managed. Only 3 burpees and I would be done.  I actually jumped them out and back and they were probably the fastest three burpees I’ve ever done.  I just wanted it to be over.  When I finally hopped over the bar that last time, I let out the biggest yell!  I did it!  Kat and Sav were both there to give me the biggest celebratory hug, and my friend Nikki, who was already finished, gave me a big high five, and I think I may have even hugged Simon!  I was so happy! 

My time was not the fastest posted in our Box that day, nor was it the slowest, and even if it was I’m not sure I would have cared. I finished!  I did 84 65# thrusters!!!  
After I finished, I stayed to cheer on fellow athletes and then watched the coaches do the WOD.  It was so amazing to see them kill this WOD.

As a reward for 14.5, hubby and I were planning to go out for beer and chicken wings. Turns out a few others were planning on doing that too. We met them at the bar and we had a fun night chatting about life and CrossFit and I stuffed myself with chicken wings and enjoyed a few nice, cold Coronas!  I was one happy CrossFitter!

14.5 was one of the hardest things I have done at CrossFit..maybe even the hardest so far.  It took me outside my comfort zone, but also showed me that I need to have more confidence in my abilities.  It wasn’t easy, but I finished…and for that, I am proud!

Did you do 14.5?
How did it go?

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