11th Place at the NorCal Regional

#dreamteam

     Many more Pics to come!

      The last time I competed at the "regional" level was in 2010 at the Southwest Regional; this region consisted of Arizona, Hawaii, and all of California. During this time, I wasn't really trying to achieve anything, I was new to CrossFit and I just signed up for the NorCal sectional like all the other "top" athletes at my gym were told to do. The competition then was not even close to the difficulty as the competition now. I somehow managed to make top 20 which qualified me for the SW regional. I remember thinking regionals was like the coolest thing ever, so I set my goal to make it to regionals the following year.
      In 2011, the "open" was introduced which has proven to be one of the toughest stages of competition for me. In 2011 and 2012 I did not qualify for regionals. Last year I was bummed out, I had put in a lot of effort, and I saw the girls at the NorCal regional and knew I could hang there. Leading up to the 2013 CrossFit season, I worked harder than I ever have, but it seems that almost everyone else is doing the same thing. I bet close to every athlete could say "I am stronger and more conditioned than I ever have been," going into regionals. Every year the competition gets better, new people come into the sport, some bigger named athletes don't compete... some people go team, others switch from team to individual... so the competition is always different and you really never know who you will be competing against.
     This year CrossFit guaranteed the top 48 women in each region an invitation to regionals. I finished 51st and patiently waited to receive an invitation. I was so excited to finally make regionals, as I always felt like I could compete against the top girls. My goal going into regionals was top 20, given that I was 51st in the open I thought that seemed like a reasonable goal. These girls have to be pretty good if they have been qualifying for regionals the previous years and I haven't, right? I was actually quite surprised by some of the athletes and the scores they posted on the open versus at regionals. There were quite a few things that didn't seem to add up. But that's a whole different topic and something that is way out of my control.
     Anyways, while it is fresh in my mind I figured I would do a review on regionals.
Event 1: Jackie
This went really well for me. I have done this event a few times before, and my best time was 7:22, in the event at regionals I won my heat with a time of 7:05 (11th place overall). This was super exciting. I slowed my row down a bit, completed the thrusters unbroken (something I have never done in this work out prior to regionals) and my pull ups were completed in a few sets with very short breaks. I was really happy with how this went, I knew it would be a tough event for me but I feel like I did well.
Event 2: OHS
I started at 155# and ended with a set of 3 at 175#. The thing that surprised me most was this was a 13th place finish. No one did a ridiculous amount of weight, but there were quite a few girls in the 180-185# range. I think I could have gotten 180# if I started at 175#, but that just seemed too risky. I finished this event feeling a bit more tired than I thought I would, since I did 5 tough sets in 7 mins.
Event 3: Burpee Muscle Ups
I completed 21 burpee muscle ups for 11th place. Sure I would have liked to finish but I didn't think I would have enough time, and it turns out, I didn't. I thought I would get closer to 25 reps, but finished with 21, and failed my last rep so I know I did as many as I could.
Event 4: the 100's
This was the toughest work out of the weekend for me. I was in the final heat with all the top girls on this day, and this event itself was not a good one for me. It was tough seeing them get so far ahead of me. I was in the mix until the pistols. I just couldn't get comfortable during the pistols. My hands ripped in 3 places on the pull ups, I couldn't catch my breath and it felt so hot out. Once I started to get hot, that was all I could think about. The floor at regionals were plastic squares covering a dirt pig pen (literally), and on top of the plastic flooring were black, rubber mats with metal equipment. We had no shade, and it felt soooo hot. The pistols slowed me down so much, I only had about 80 seconds left when I got the the snatches which I completed 20. This was my worst finish of the weekend, 24th place. No surprise though, I knew day 2 was going to be a tough one for me, but I did think I could get more like 40 snatches. I jumped right into the ice bath after this event, I thought I was going to over heat. The following 4ish hours after this I felt really awful. Really light headed, and I just didn't feel right. Even warming up for event 5 I felt like crap, but after event 5 I felt much better.
Event 5: DL/Box Jump
Another tough event for me, but I felt like I did well (for myself) on it. I finished in 5:41 for 23rd place here. This was the end of the tough day. After this event I dropped into 13th place so I moved into the second the last heat, which was a good set up for me to do well the following day.
Event 6: The Chipper
HSPUs seemed tougher than usual, and everything else went somewhat to plan. The lunges at the end were brutal. I finished in 13:21 for 11th place. A much better start to the day. By this time it felt like 5 months ago I had done Jackie, the weekend was a long one, but with just 1 more event to go, I tried to remain focused.
Event 7: Rope Climb/Clean
I knew this was one I could do well at. I practiced it, and I felt confident with my plan. I also watched my competitors climb the rope and realized that I would be able to pass them on the rope and probably the cleans too. I finished first in my heat with a time of 5:03 which was good enough for 3rd place overall. This was an incredible end to the weekend. I stayed cool and calm during the event and just took over at the end. It was super fun.

I finished the weekend in 11th place in Norcal. I never ranked lower than 13th. I finished the open in 51st... a little imbalanced. Anyways, this was an incredible weekend with awesome support from my friends and family. I couldn't have asked for a better time. I feel like I proved myself to the crossfit community, and I am already thinking about next year. I learned a lot over the weekend; everything from recovery to food prep/fueling, to composure during the work outs. One thing I like about regionals is you only have 1 shot for the work out and you have a judge. No matter the weather conditions, how you are feeling, if your box for box jumps is not on even ground... whatever... you only have this 1 time and no redos. I am not a fan of doing work outs multiple times so I love this part about the regional. I knew I deserved to be here and I worked hard to earn my spot. I snuck in during the second round of invitations but I came back with a top 12 finish, and had a top 3 finish in an event at regionals. My coach came all the way to Canada to support me at my first big time regional, it was so awesome. I felt very well prepared, and I took away many things from the weekend. Once my hands heal and my body is not quite as sore, I am ready to move on for next year! Looking forward to another fun journey leading up to 2014.