A week after the SeaWheeze half marathon I decided it would be a GREAT idea to do my first CrossFit competition. KODA First Timers Open is geared toward athletes who have never competed in a formal competition – it’s meant to be a completely level playing field.
Going into the competition I was nervous. Because I was prepping for a half marathon right before, I hadn’t done a CrossFit workout in nearly two weeks. Before the first event I heard athletes talking about how they had been prepping for months and I thought to myself “Oh, this isn’t going to be good.” There were 48 girls in my division and at that point I was praying for top 10.
Event 1 was a power clean ladder. They scored the workout by the number of reps completed at 125#, the tie-breaker was the amount of time it took an athlete to get to that final bar. I had tested this workout twice before the competition. The first time I did it I completed 11 reps at 125#, the second time I got 13 reps but I also pulled a ligament in my thumb and couldn’t use my hand for a week – so there’s that.
Cleans kill my collarbones. It looks ridiculous but my collarbones were grateful.
I was nervous before the start but I thought for sure I would shake my nerves once I did the first set of 10 cleans. Well, I didn’t. I stayed frazzled the whole time. I finished with 11 reps at 125#. I was really disappointed with my number, my goal was 15. My score was good enough for 9th place at the end of Event 1.
Event 2 was all about the sleds. There was a 5 minute time cap, so I knew it was going to be fast and painful. I have a tendency to underestimate sled workouts, until the lactic acid hits me like a ton of bricks and I can’t use my legs for 15 minutes. I was not going to let that happen to me this time. I saw the men’s division go before me and they were DYING. They were going out way too hot and by the time they got to the 15 thrusters they physically couldn’t move. I told myself to pace it, don’t get caught up in trying to keep up with the other girls in my heat.
At the sound of “Go!” I started pushing. I kept my pace just above a quick walk and girls were flying by me. I told myself to stay in my lane. I got to the end, grabbed my dumbbells and started on the thrusters. Coaches had been telling me to break them up, don’t try to do too many too soon. My legs still felt good, but I stopped at 11 to take a quick breath and then did the remaining 9. Even if I stopped squatting, my goal was to not set the dumbbells down. The set of 15 thrusters was definitely the hardest but I never set the weights down. At the end of my 10 thrusters I picked up my pace to a slow jog and saw Chief standing at the finish line yelling “Go Mom, Go!” I pushed the sled all the way to him. I finished in 3:39, first in my heat, and 6th overall. That workout put me in 6th place on the leaderboard.
This was my proudest workout. Comparatively I’m not the strongest, so the fact that I did it well under the time cap was just the boost of confidence I needed.
Event 3 was in my wheelhouse. Running combined with toes-through-rings and pull-ups. I was most nervous about the front squats, my legs were still trashed from the sled workout. Again, I told myself to pace it – don’t run too fast on the first 400. I paced the workout well, finished 1st in my heat, but I could’ve pushed it more. I wasn’t even breathing hard at the end and felt disappointed I didn’t push it harder. Time cap was 9 minutes, I finished in 6:27. First in my heat, 3rd overall in the workout, and that was good enough to send me to 4th place on the leaderboard.
At this point there were 8 points between me and 3rd place. The last workout was long, aerobic, and grindy and the girls placed ahead of me had been really aerobic all day. I thought 8 points was too many for me to make-up in one event. My body was exhausted before the workout even started. I was seeing stars as I was lining up to go to my lane. I kept thinking “one more workout.”
Event 4 was long, painful and geared toward endurance. Usually my specialty. But after 3 tough workouts, I was feeling less than ‘endurance-y.’
Between the round of 10-12 burpees, I got scared like “I’m actually going to die before this workout ends” kinda scared. And the only thing scarier than dying, was not dying and having to finish the thing. There was a girl in my heat that came out HOT, I told myself to stay close to her and I’d make up the gap later in the workout. As the workout progressed I kept waiting for her to slow down, but she didn’t, she kept her foot on the gas the whole time. She took first in our heat and I took second. I was so thankful for her – I don’t think I would’ve gone that fast if I hadn’t have been trying to catch her. Time cap was 17 minutes, I finished in 14:35. I placed 5th overall in the event.
Now, I wait. By the time I finished the workout, I had an hour and a half before podium. They had been updating the online leaderboard all day, until the last event. Because I was so beat after I finished my heat, I didn’t wait around to watch the leaders in later heats. I had no idea how the other girls did, I was just assuming they did really well.
When the podium announcement began I was at the back of the gym. I had already told Chase I was really proud of 4th place and all things considered I don’t think I could’ve performed much better that day. As the announcements began in my division, Brice said “In 3rd place, from KXN…” I immediately started looking around because I was thinking “Dang it. I didn’t do it. AND WHICH GYM IS KXN?!” A fellow competitor turned to look at me and said “That’s you!” I looked at Chase like he had 3 heads and he was smiling from ear to ear. It felt like it took me an eternity to realize KXN was Koda Crossfit Norman. Then Brice said “Cassie Bridgforth!” I squealed, gave high-fives, and was in complete and utter shock. I don’t think I’ve been surprised like that as an adult, it was seriously the coolest feeling walking to the front of the gym.
I came home with a Yeti cooler and a mountain of pride. 3rd place out of 48 – I’ll take it!
WHAT. A. DAY.
Photos by: Lorin Johnson, Taylor Looney, Chad Hamilton, Samantha Legler, and Katie Sullivan.
Congratulatins
Thank you!