Category Archives: Squat Cleans

Today was CrossFit Dahlonega’s TEN Competition. Ten events!! When the WODs came out a little over a week ago, I nearly panicked and dropped down to scaled. But, instead I put together a workout that included some of the things that scared me, and I realized I could do “ok”. I knew I wouldn’t necessarily be in the top, but I knew that I could likely finish all the workouts and do pretty well. So, I went in with a good attitude ready to do my best.

WOD 1 – 800 meter – 20# Sandbag Run
This one was kinda crummy, running on hills with people’s sandbags spraying a mist of sand in your face, and I ended up in 13th place.

WOD 2 – 30″ Box Jumps, as many as you can do in 3 minutes
I’d only done these box jumps the week prior during two separate practice WODs that I made up. These were SOOOO hard. I managed 20 of them. I failed on at least 5 or 6 attempts where I made it on top of the box but lost my balance and fell off before I could stand up completely straight. I fell on one attempt and smashed my shin. The woman next to me had at least twice as many jumps as I had, and that was a bit discouraging but I kept going and know that I couldn’t have done much better because I really tried my hardest. Jumping on boxes that are half your height is NOT easy!!!! I ended up 16th place in this WOD.

WOD 3 – - Ground to Overhead with 95#, as many times as you can in 3 minutes.
I managed to get the weight up 18 times in the 3 minutes. I had hoped to do better in this one, as I know that I can do more than 95#. I’ll have to work on this one more. I was 11th place in this WOD.

WOD 4 – Suicide Sandbag Sprints – bags are 20# each, and there were 4 suicide lines with 1, 2, 3, then 4 bags at each line. You had to run to each line and carry the bags back to the start, then do the suicides again taking the bags back to the proper lines.
This WOD was difficult in that it really strained your back carrying the piles of 3 and 4 sandbags without dropping them, especially if the bottom one was wet, which my pile of 3 had a wet bag on the bottom. I ended up 14th place in this WOD with a 3:02 finish.

WOD 5 – 95# Overhead Squats and Double Unders – done as 9 OH Squats, 50 double unders, 6 OH Squats, 50 Double Unders, 3 OH Squats, 50 Double Unders
This was one of the WODs I was most scared of because I don’t think I’ve ever done 95# OH Squats. I’ve done 85# at least a couple of times, and that was pretty tough. So, I had no idea how well I would do here. But, I went in telling myself that 95# is just like 85#, and I could manage that! I ended up 8th place in this WOD with an 8:27 finish – shocking myself with doing the first 9 OH Squats without fail!

WOD 6 – Carry a 25# plate overhead for 400 meters, if you drop it to your head or below your head put it down and do 5 burpees.
I did quite well on this WOD because I was one of only a couple of Rxd women who did NOT put the plate down at all. I realized that if I locked my arms out overhead the weight felt “lighter”. I finished 8th in this event with a 3:00 finish.

WOD 7 – 195# Deadlifts – as many as you can do in 3 minutes.
I only managed 14 Deadlifts. I was really disappointed in this one because my back started hurting really quickly even though I felt like I had good form. I felt like I should have been able to do more than 14! I guess this is one area I just really need to work on – especially since my 1 rep Max is only 240, and I believe most of those other Rxd women have 300 or more 1 rep maxes. I ended up 14th in this event.

WOD 8 – Burpee Pull ups, jumping to 7 foot bar for pull ups, doing as many as possible in 3 mintues.
I felt GREAT in this event. It was initially one of the things that made me want to go scaled, but I practiced at the gym on our 7.5 foot bar and although I was slow I at least figured out how to get up that high and do them. It wasn’t easy, but I put them in to two separate WODs last week and started to feel confident even if I was slow (and SHORT). I ended up with 28 of them, and was in 6th place overall in this event!! (7 foot was easy compared to 7.5 feet and it felt great)

WOD 9 – 20 burpees, then carry a 70# plank (3 or 4 feet tall plank) about 200 meters.
This WOD sucked! That plank felt so heavy and so awkward! Some of the ladies were able to get it up behind their neck and do a slow jog with it. I had trouble just picking the stupid thing up, let alone trying to swing it around on to my shoulders and wrap my small arms up around it! I ended up finishing this in 2:50 for an 11th place finish.

WOD 10 – this WOD included most of the things we did. Sandbag Sprint – move 5 of them; 5 26″ box jumps, 3 tire flips, carry 25# plate to the next station, 5 95# squat cleans, sprint to burpee pull up area and do 5 burpee pull ups, then carry the 70# plank back to the 95# bars and do 5 deadlifts, then carry the plank back to the finish. I ended up 12th in this event with a 5:49 finish.

This was a VERY well organized event, the WODs were varied so everyone could excel at different areas. It was a good test of several different skills. I was very glad that I stayed Rxd even though a couple of the events were things I had not done prior to trying them out in the days before the event. I was somewhat discouraged because so many of the events seemed to favor tall people (box jumps, burpee pull ups, plank carry), but even though I am smaller than nearly all the Rxd women, and am older than probably all of them, I still held my own and did pretty well. I excelled in events I did not expect to, and proved to myself (once again) that I can achieve what I set my mind to!

It was a great day, and so fun to hang out with everyone from our gym, other gyms, and to meet new people.