The Fittest Games Final Day

I didn't get a lot of sleep going into the final day. I kept replaying in my mind what I could have done on the two workouts I came second in and what the final day was going to bring.  My body felt good and I was really looking forward to the first workout that morning.  I. Love. Power. Cleans. 

5 rounds

9 deadlifts

6 hang power cleans

3 shoulder to overhead

110 pound axel bar. 

They didn't tell us it was going to be a fat bar we would be using but we practiced with one just in case and it didn't feel too bad.  It caught a few people by surprise when they told us at athlete briefing.  When we started the workout it was about 32 degrees and that made it even harder to keep a hold of it. 

My plan was to go unbroken on 6 cleans and straight to the 3 shoulder to overhead.  I really didn't pace myself on this workout, I just went crazy. I knew this would be a good workout for some of the big guys. I wanted to be under 30 seconds for each round and I was able to do that. My time was 2:17 and I won by about 30 seconds on the next guy. 

Confession time.  The next 4 hours really were nerve racking. I had gotten myself a pretty good lead going into the final workout but I knew the final workout was going to be winner take all.  I found out a few weeks ago that I have a torn labrum. Pull-ups and most things feel fine but snatch and overhead squats aren't very good per se.  All I was thinking about was the final workout was going to have HSPU and squat snatch and I would have to try and fight my way through it.  At 12:50 they called us into the briefing and told us the final workout.  I was sitting there trying to keep calm. 

60 double unders (ok cool)

30 alternating DB snatches at 50 pounds (doable)

20 wall balls (sweet)

10 Burpee box jumps (sounds good)

After we finish that chipper we go straight into 

15,12,9

Thruster 75 pounds

Pull-ups (well this is about to be fun)

I was pretty pumped that the final workout had pull-ups. I told myself "I was going to go unbroken on a light Fran to win The Fittest Games" I have seen Brice go unbroken on Fran so many times and there was no way I was stopping with over 1000 people watching.  We were walking out to get started and people were everywhere and one of the guys said "I feel like I am going to throw up."  And I was thinking to myself that I am about to push myself so hard that I am going to throw up like my buddy Conor does after Fran, and that would be embarrassing.  I asked Brice what our game plan was and he said not to worry about that. He said he will be right there and I will just listen to him. 

3-2-1... Go

I messed up on about double under 3 and then finished unbroken after that.  I was a little behind and just went steady on the snatches. I caught up and three of us finished the wall balls at the same time and started the burpees. We all finished about the same time and all picked up the bars for Fran (this is exciting).  Brice said "this is where YOU win."  I was worried about the guy behind me and when I heard him get no repped and put the bar down I just went faster. I was the first one to the pull-up bar and was almost done with my 15 when the next guy got to bar. Did my 12/12 and knew I had it. My judge was getting excited and was saying "no one is close. You are going to win."  I finished the 9 thrusters and on my last pull-ups I decided to do a chest to bar just because I was excited.  I ran to the box and jumped on and won The Fittest Games. I gave Brice and Solange a high five, thumbs up to Chad and pointed to Mai up in the stands and finally relaxed. 

A few things. This was really my Regionals since the CrossFit Games doesn't have regionals for Masters. I knew it was going to be a very well run event, which it was.

For some lucky reason I had the same judge for 3 of the first 4 workouts and he was the perfect judge for me. He kept it fair and made me do good reps, but also was very supportive when I was going. when I saw he was out there on for the final event I just walked straight over there to him.  When we were going over the standards and movements he said "after you finish the last 9 pull-ups, you will go jump on this box and win The Fittest Games". 

It was awesome that we had so many Koda members come all the way down to Austin to watch us. It really meant a lot to us.  When I do these competitions I can just feel everyone back at home pulling for me and it feels like a team win. 

Fittest in OK in 5 days.

Muse out.