This past weekend was one of the most fun competitions I have
been a part of in my short career as a CrossFit athlete.
Charlie Zamora (owner of Warriorz Health and Fitness), with the
help of his right-hand man, Brian Detrick, put on the 3rd annual
Fittest of Elk Grove. For the last several weekends they have
held qualifying rounds for people of the city of Elk Grove, CA to
test their fittness against one another. On Sunday, the
finalists competed to crown the Fittest oF Elk Grove.
In conjunction to the Fittest of Elk Grove comp, Charlie and
Brian invited a list of top CrossFit athletes in NorCal to
participate in an exhibition event. The Warriorz Throwdown
was a 4-event competition in which 3 of the 4 events were done as a
team of two (male and female). The catch...you didn't get to
pick your partner. The mayor of Elk Grove was the man behind
the magic as he drew the name of a male competitor and female
competitor to pair up the 20 athletes into 10 teams. I feel
so lucky to have been paired up with Rocklin CrossFit's Chad
Augustin. This guy is legit. Number one, he is possibly
the most genuinely happy person I have ever met. I can't
think of one interaction I have ever had with him where he wasn't
smiling, positive and full of life. On top of that he is a
phenomenal athlete.
The day went down as follows...
Event 1:
About 5 minutes before event 1 started, we were all called over
to get the scoop on the event. A bit of a shock to us
all...it was announced that we were to run 2.5 miles...with a
med ball (14# for women and 20# for men). This was the
one individual event. You could hold it however you wanted
with the excpetion of putting it under clothing or using the loops
to hook your fingers. After the short shock, it was
time...3,2,1...Go! We all headed out and at first it wasn't
bad. Most everyone I could see had the ball propped up on
their shoulder with their arm over the top of it. This worked
for a while but then my shoulders were SMASHED...so I ended up
shuffling the ball from my right shoulder to my left shoulder to
carrying it in front of my stomach with both hands clasped in
front. The front hold was the easiest on the arms, but
pressed on the diaphram so made it hard to breathe. Putting
it under my arm wasn't even a consideration because my arms were
too short. Not without several thoughts of, "oh crap...I'm
gonna have to put this down"...I made it through the 2.5 miles
without dropping the ball or walking. However, leading the
women most of the race, Sarah Hopping came blazing past me with
about 100m to go...there was nothing I could do to catch her...she
was burning up that road!
Event 2:
After a bit of a break, we were told to warmup and event 2 would
be announced 5 minutes before go time.
The workout: As a team complete this chipper...
- Suicide Sled Drag (10m down and back, 20m down and back,
30m down and back, 40m down and back, 50m down and back.) *If you
start a length you have to finish down and back.
- 400 Double Unders
- Handstand Walk 50m
- 50 Handstand Pushups (feet against a 15lb plate that your
partner is holding)
- Handstand Walk back 50m
- 65# Single Arm Barbell Snatch (max reps in remaining
time)
*15min time cap*
This was the first event with your teammate so strategy started
to play a role. Coming off of an injured neck, I was still a
little hesitant to do a few things. Luckily Chad was willing
to take up the slack and we had a plan to break it up evenly.
He did the 10,30,50m Sled Drag and i did the 20 and 40m. The
Double Unders we just broke up when we needed a break. I did
most of the first handstand walk. Plan was for him to do all
of the HSPU but in the heat of the moment I knew I could give him a
little break without coming down on my head...so I did 10 and he
did 40!! We headed back on the handstand walk and broke it up
between us. We never made it to the snatches...
Athlete Autograph Signing:
They had tables set up for all of the Warrioz Throwdown athletes
to sit at with sliver sharpies ready to sign shirts for
competitors, spectators and fans. I've never felt so famous
in my life. :) It was so fun to meet so many people, hear
their stories about how they got into CrossFit and how it's changed
their lives. I consider it more of an honor on our part to
have been able to meet so many great people in our sport.
Event 3:
20 min for each athlete to get their max Deadlift and max
Clean and Jerk.
I was pumped for this one because I have never done a 1RM
deadlift until that day. I'm not a very strong deadlifter, so
i've stayed away from 1RM as to not blow my back out. But I
guess today was my day to try and hit it. I'm the type of
person that usually can do more if I don't know what's on the
bar...so Chad loaded my bar as he was waming up with it and I ended
up getting a 315# max. I can't say my form was exactly
stellar (which is why I hate max deadlift...just to reiterate
that), but i did it. Chad ended up hitting a crazy strong
495# deadlift...not too shabby for a 165# guy! ARE YOU
KIDDING ME!!! Then came our clean and jerk. With Chad
still battling a groin pull, he couldn't do a split jerk so his
weight was limited a bit, but still put up a solid #. Then
with my neck, I haven't doing a heavy jerk since before the
games...so I stayed safe with a 185# lift. We were both
pleased to come out unscathed and with descent enough numbers to
keep us in the game.
Katie Hogan's 385# Deadlift!!!! 
Event 4:
The final event was another chipper done as a team.
Male 200m Sprint
Female 200m Sprint
50 Ring Pushups (rings susupended from partner who is
holding a below parallel squat standing on boxes)
Yoke Carry 100m
Parnter Wheelbarrow Crawl 100m
50 Pistols
Partner Carry 100m (male carries female)
Partner Carry 100m (female carries male)
This workout was really fun (minus the ring pushups). Chad
got a late start on the "sprint" cuz we weren't paying
attention...no worries though...that definitely wasn't going to
make or break it. Then my "sprint" went fine. The plan
was for me to do all the pushups because I couldn't hang the rings
from my neck with him suspended from it (just not safe). We
were having so much trouble because Chad isn't a super tall guy so
when we would get to a full depth squat the rings were touching the
ground. They wouldn't let us adjust the straps so poor Chad
was trying to keep his hips down and having to arch his back to try
and get the rings as high as possible. I felt so bad for
him. Finally, after about 15 "no reps" due to either my hands
on the ground or his hips too high to compensate, they shortened
our straps and we were able to move on. Chad DOMINATED the
yoke...he was pretty much running with it. That gained some
serious ground for us. I immediately jumped my hands to the
turf, he grabbed my feet and we took off in a wheelbarrow
sprint. I think I made it about 70yrds and then he
finished. I jumped into the pistols right away and did them
unbroken (I LOVE PISTOLS!!!). Chad was waiting ready to get
me in a fireman's carry and sprint with me to the other end of the
field. We switched and he jumped on my back and I ran with
him as my backpack to the other end. Passing the leading team
to take the victory for event 4! SO FUN!
No matter what the placings were that day, it was seriously one
of the "funnest" days I have had at a comp. Doing the team
thing was such a different experience. You get to "rest" when
you need to. You get to strategize a bit more. Some of
the pressure is taken away since it's not just you doing it.
And you get to enjoy the day, the workouts, the victories with
someone else. Chad and I ended up coming out on top in a tie
with Blair Morrison and Sarah Hopping. I think we were the
oldest team and they were the tallest team for sure.
What a fun day! I'm ready for next year! Thanks
again Charlie and Brian and everyone else that volunteered your
time or came out to support and cheer us all on.
Here is a list of some of the talented CrossFit athletes that I
had the honor of working out with (Becca Voigt, Katie Hogan,
Miranda Olydroyd, Annie Sakamoto, Jackie Perez, Sarah Hopping,
Jennie McKernan, Valerie Calhoun, Leah Bennett, Blair Morrison,
Ivan Alarcon, Will Blaker, Wes Hutchinson, Jake Neubauer, Shaun
Eagen, Ben Alderman, Garrett Fisher, John Hitchcock)