20131215-174220.jpgACO Recap

Cold. Sore. Legs. Wind. Heavy. Cold.

That’s about all the words needed to summarize our experience at the ACO. But in all seriousness the event was awesome. If it wasn’t for the cold, the event would have been near perfect. Hat’s off to the CrossFit Dallas Central team. They ran a professional, organized event I would be happy to call my own. The programming wasn’t ideal for our athletes but it was good test of fitness. Some did better than others. Regardless, every athlete gave it everything, and came away better for it.

Laura took 11th overall on the final workout to bounce back to 22nd in the final standings. She faced a “worst case scenario”series of tests… heavy stuff designed for massive people, and it didn’t faze her. She just marched through the workouts like the warrior she is. I’m very proud of her.

The workouts suited Caleb’s power much better. Out of 82 athletes, he climbed as high as 14th only to be humbled by the last workout and finish the competition in 28th. He still managed to beat a handful of Regional Athletes in impressive fashion.

Coach Brandon put up a great fight, but never found an event that suited his talents. He bounced back on the final workout to finish 65th.

Laura, Brandon, and Caleb represented our community with professionalism, poise, and determination. We learned a lot about their strengths and weakness and will be better prepared going forward, which was the single most important goal going forward.

On the team side Charlie, Jenn, Brandon, and I got to have a lot of fun. If you haven’t heard, our first event was a 55 minute, 5 mile, weighted slog through the woods and fields of east Texas, hauling 20-30 lb packs and carrying a 100 lb sandbag. It was the hardest challenge I’ve ever faced. Of course that didn’t stop the competition directors from making us face our next challenge at 8AM the next morning. An event in where 3 members of the team PR’d on their Deadlift or Clean. By a lot. The quick recovery of high level CrossFit athletes is simply amazing to me. We finished the ruck in 13th, and despite our teams PR’s we back slid from there. We won our final heat, bouncing back to finish 21 out of 38 teams. Off the top of my head, I think every gym that beat us has fielded a Games and/or Regional team in the past, so we are definitely in good company. Our team was strongest when things were most difficult, and confident when the outcome looked bleak. We did as well as we thought we could against the competition and workouts we faced. We will be back. Stronger. Faster. Better.

HUGE shout out to Alex Jones. He showed the true strength of community. Even when our other athletes were hiding from the cold to prepare for their next event, Alex was right there in the frigid weather, cheering on every athlete through every workout. Amazingly motivational.

WOD

Five sets of:
90 seconds of Rowing (for Calories)
30 seconds of Rest
90 seconds of Kettlebell Swings (for max reps)
30 seconds of Rest
90 seconds of Double-Unders (for max reps)
30 seconds of Rest
90 seconds of Front Leaning Rest on Rings
30 seconds of Rest

COMP

ACO Competitors: No days off, but I do recommend backing off the gas pedal some. Don’t worry about percentages too much, just go off feel and get some quality training in. 

1) Build quickly to 80-85% of your 1RM Snatch, and then…
On the minute, every minute, for 5 minutes:
Snatch x 2 reps @ 80-85%

2) Build quickly to 90% of your 1RM Back Squat, and then…
On the minute, every minute, for 10 minutes:
Back Squat x 1 rep @ 90%

3) Four sets for times of:
20 Pull-Ups
20 Wall Ball Shots (30/20 lbs)
20 Calorie Row
Rest 3 minutes

OPTIONAL CONDITIONING EXTRA

1) Take a long, thorough warm-up period…be ready to run your best effort.

2) For time:
Run 1600 Meters

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