September 15, 2012, Saturday - Iron Athlete Challenge

Iron Athlete Challenge - 5th place RX
I ended up doing a lot better than I thought I would. I hung in there with 3 regional competitors and was just 1 point away from making it to the podium. Not too shabby.

Event #1
5 min to find Clean & Jerk max - 165# (4th place)

I think I had adrenaline coming out of my ears. Started at 145#, then bumped up to 155#. 155 was my current PR. I got this pretty easily and felt great. Went up to 160 and got that pretty easily, too. Loaded up 165. I got the clean, but didn't drop under enough to stick the jerk. Took a few deep breaths and  tried again. Nailed it! I was so pumped! I tried 170 twice, but it was a no go. I would have been happy with 155, but 165 was what I was shooting for, so I'm really happy with this.










Event #2
21-18-15-12 GHD/Pullup - 6:40 (4th place)
This didn't go great, but I knew going in the pullups were going to be a challenge. All the GHDs went fine. Got my first set of 21 pullups unbroken. The second set of pullups I think I got 10-4-4. I don't remember what I did on the next 2 sets, but they were more broken up that I wanted. I am proud of myself for staying calm and sticking with it. I never let my breathing get out of control. This time was 4 seconds faster than the last time which isn't a lot, but better is better.

Event #3
200m shuttle run, 15 thruster 65#, 25 box jump, 15 thruster, 200m shuttle run - 4:06 (5th place)
This one went so much better than I was expecting. I took the first shuttle run at a pace I felt comfortable with. I may should have gone a little faster. First set of thrusters felt decent. Just about everybody in my heat got to the box before I did, but I know that my thrusters are slow. My box jumps went really smoothly. All under control and unbroken. I got back to my bar before a few people. Second set of thrusters were tough, but I got them unbroken and took only a short pause between a few reps with the bar racked. As I set out for my run I spotted Sarabeth not too far ahead of me and was determined to catch her. My legs were dying but I was pushing through it. The last 50m I went into an all out sprint and caught her in a photo finish at the line. Edged her out by1 second. I knocked almost 40 second off of my previous time. My breathing was a lot better on this that my last attempt. The first time I did it I was sucking wind big time. Grayson kept yelling at me to slow down my breathing. This time my breathing was completely under control until the last sprint at the end.

Event #4
50 burpees, 30 kb 35#, 400m run, 50 goblet lunges, 400m run, 30 kb, 50 burpees - 15:15 (5th place)
I've now done this workout twice and will never do it again. First set of burpees and kb didn't feel too bad. By the time my heat went there were divots in the ground from the burpees. Every time my chest hit, a cloud of dust came up. I was breathing in dirt and getting it all in my eyes.  Legs were a little tired on the first run. The lunges were awful. I took a short break after 25 reps. The second run hurt. My legs were dead. Second set of kb went fine. Last set of burpees were very tough. Janice Marie was next to me. We were going rep for rep on the burpees until we got to about 35 and I died. I wish I could have held out. If I could have held on and beaten her I would have tied overall for 3rd. I just had nothing left in the tank. My breathing wasn't too bad, but my muscles were just exhausted. I did shave around 30 seconds off my last time.

I have another competition in 2 weeks. There are over 200 individuals signed up. Hopefully it will go as well as this one did.