Crunchy Green Health Nut: First National Festivus Games- My first competition.

On Saturday April 19 2014 I participated in my first Crossfit competition; the first national Festivus Games. It's a competition designed for Novice and Intermediate Crossfit athletes. I competed at the beginner level.

I was super nervous going into this. Started exercising back in June of 2013 and haven't looked back. Ran my first 5k in February and decided to sign up for the Festivus. I cannot do double unders yet, or a pull up without either a weight assist machine or a band, plus at the time of signing up I had not done power cleans. I can finally manage to do a box jump onto a 1 foot box but anything higher is a step up.

So I mustered up the courage and signed up for the novice division.

It was so much fun and I'm so thankful for all the support and encouragement from my hubby, friends, fellow athletes and my awsome coaches from Crossfit Etowah.

Crossfit Sting in Alpharetta Ga hosted the games for my immediate area.

I started the day at 5:30 a.m. Ate a portion of sweet potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli and chicken tenderloins and my morning coffee.

We were still on the road at 7:30, I had a banana and h2o.
Around 8 a.m I mixed a scoop of Carnivor protein powder with h2o and had that.
First WOD started at 9:00 a.m

WOD#1: 1,000m Row for time w/ 6 min time cap (4:14.4)

This was grueling, my legs were shaking by the time I was done.

WOD#2: Establish 1 rep max clean in 6 min (Started at 45, then 50, then 60 lbs)

This is the WOD that scared me the most since I had not done cleans before. My coaches thought me proper form and I was able to lift 45 lbs. At the competition I totally surprised myself, went up to 60lbs.

I ate another portion of sweet potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli and chicken tenderloins at 10:30 along with another scoop of my Carnivor protein in a bottle of h2o.
Third WOD started at 12:00 noon

WOD#3: 8 min As Many Rounds As Possible (3 rounds + 10 KBS=190 reps)

10 kettle bell swings (26lbs) (40)

20 sit ups (60)

30 box overs (20 inch box) (90)

This was the easiest of all 4 WODS

Around 1 PM I ate my last portion of the chicken with broccoli, sweet taters and butternut squash along with h20.

Fourth WOD started at 2:00 p.m.

WOD#4: 2 minutes max Wallball (10 lbs) (32)

2 minutes max single unders (255)

2 minutes max Burpees (26)

(313)

The wall balls were the hardest I think, by the end of 2 minutes it feels like you are trying to lift and hurl a baby elephant up in the air while trying to hit within the 6 foot mark.

I can't do double unders, thank goodness us beginners were doing single unders. I had not skipped rope since I was little. I purchased an RxSmartGear jump rope a couple of weeks before the event and started practicing, its the same rope I took to compete with. The most I had ever gotten in the 2 minute mark during training was 209 reps, but was able to whip out 255 reps at the event. I was pretty pleased. The rope I used was the misfit mango spiral rope with buff translucent red cable. I love the grip on the spiral handles plus they're 1 inch thick and I feel like I have great control of the rope. As I get better at it and learn to do double unders I'll consider a lighter cable like the Elite or Ultra.

I'm very glad I did this. There's a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, no I did not make it to the top 10 or 5 or whatever but I participated and had a ball doing it. To anyone who is thinking about entering these types of competitions, just do it, you'll be glad you did.

Coming up next month is the Greenprints Alliance 5k trail run in Woodstock Ga and the 5k ColorVibe run in Stone Mountain Village.
Can't wait to run those with my Crunchy Crossfitters team :-).

I'll leave you now with my overall ranking and pics from the Festivus.

Female Novice division (out of 27)

My local scores (within Crossfit Sting) were:

Rank WOD#1time(rank) WOD#2reps(rank) WOD#3reps(rank) WOD#4reps(rank)

14 04:14.4 (12). 60 (27) 190 (12) 313 (11)

My Nationwide Scores were:

Female Novice division (out of 1062)

Rank WOD#1time(rank) WOD#2reps(rank) WOD#3reps(rank) WOD#4reps(rank)

716. 04:14.04 (533). 60 (1052) 190 (630) 313 (305)

Click for info and specifics on the Festivus Games

First and second WOD 9 a.m