Wodapalooza Recap: Part Two!
Since there was so much I wanted to share, I felt breaking it up into two parts was best. Here’s part one if you haven’t had a chance to read that yet! Here’s the rest of my Wodapalooza Recap!
Wodapalooza Recap: Saturday
This was the day I was most nervous about. Saturday was the day we all had the swim event. This year’s event had a rowing and running portion as well. As I mentioned before, I had been working on swimming and actually took lessons prior to Miami. I was excited to try it out but I knew that open water swimming was completely different.
The morning turned out to be pretty cold with temps in the 50s so I was already nervous. I tried my hardest to relax and talked with the girls in my heat. I had actually messed up the location of the workout so that already threw me for a loop as I couldn’t find Jordan in the crowd. The workout started with rowers at one stage, we ran a short distance and then swam to the next stage where we would finish on AirRunners (non-motorized treadmills). We were allowed shoes on the rower but whatever we jumped into the water with is what we would have on for the run so for the majority this meant running barefoot. I’ve done it before but I didn’t like it.
The clock started and I think that’s the smoothest I’ve ever rowed before. It was 1500m and the whole time, my mind was racing. I couldn’t find Jordan and I was not looking forward to the swim. What I had pictured in my head wasn’t what was happening and I just couldn’t get past it. It felt like the plan was changed last minute and I didn’t like it. Once I finished on the rower, I took off and just hoped for the best.
I got to the water, took off my shoes and slipped in. I looked out into the water and there were many staff on kayaks to guide and rescue the swimmers. While I was scanning the water, I saw Jordan on the edge and he was trying to reassure me. I let go and went under but something didn’t feel right. I came back up and held onto the platform and willed myself to let go. My body was floating already and I kept looking over at Jordan but I just couldn’t do it. I can’t explain it but I just couldn’t go through with it. There was one guy on a kayak looking at me like he was ready to jump in so I guess I looked uneasy.
With some help from one of the volunteers on the platform, I got out and ran to the barrier where I could hug Jordan. I began sobbing. I never understood what people meant when they said they were terrified of open water swimming but I felt it right then. It wasn’t a beach where you gradually went in, it was a straight platform and then OPEN. To be honest, I’ve had a few nightmares since then because of it. I was so upset but I got myself together and we went on the hunt to find my shoes and towel.
During this time, I bumped into the girls from my heat who had just finished. They cheered me on and I just began sobbing again. I told them what happened and they were so kind to me. The sense of community I felt from them was truly amazing. It made me realize that I was so hard on myself and had crazy high expectations. I mean, I JUST learned to swim last year and I jumped into a freaking bay of water. WHO DOES THAT?! Their kindness was just at the right time and I’m so thankful for it.
Fast forward to the early afternoon after that chaos. This was yet another spicy barbell workout. I went into this with an attitude of redemption. I knew that I could crush this workout and I wanted to forget what had happened that morning. In the briefing before the workout, we were told that we had to perform full Wall Walks and not the scaled version. This is literally MINUTES before getting on the stage. This is another problem that I had with Wodapalooza. For a true Beginner, Wall Walks are not possible. I felt bad when Jordan told me that some girls didn’t advance past that part of the workout.
I was getting some clarification on the equipment and my judge asked if I spoke Spanish. We ended up communicating in Spanish which was a first for me when it comes to CrossFit. By this time, it was around 1pm and the sun had been cooking the stage. I was in the middle of a set of Wall Walks when I felt something on my palm. The floor was so hot and the constant rubbing of my hand had caused me to get a friction blister.
To top it off, on a mad dash run over my bar, I caught my foot and FELL. Like on all fours. And my knee was scraped and bleeding. The Head Judge rushed over but I just waved him away and WALKED back to my spot to begin another round of Wall Walks. No one finished the workout in the time cap but I advanced quite a bit so I was proud of myself for that.
It probably doesn’t sound like it but it was truly the redemption workout I needed after that morning. I felt so strong during the Wall Walks and it reminded me of doing them at my home gym. Plus doing a total of 25 repetitions of Front Squats with 95# makes me feel like a beast! I had managed to get my confidence back (even with the tumble) and I KNEW I was capable of finishing strong.
Wodapalooza Recap: Sunday
After the events of the last two days, I woke up so SORE! My shoulders were dead from a combination of heavy lifting and Wall Walks. Coming into Wodapalooza, I knew to expect this but it was still hard to wake up to. There were storms forecasted for the afternoon so Jordan and I kept a close watch on the weather. The morning workout went as scheduled so I was glad for that!
The morning workout was an elimination style sprint workout. The whole division would go and then the top five times would do the workout again. Everyone’s finishing time would determine their score. I was excited for this one because it had a 70# sandbag carry. We don’t have these at my gym but I practiced with a similar object so I knew I could do it.
Before the workout, I went on a hunt in the Warm Up Area. They gave us every weight and machine we would need but small objects were scattered. I found a sandbag that looked to be about the right size. The Elite ones were HUGE but this one looked small. I saw a girl practicing with it so I gave it a try. It was heavy but I could handle it. That’s when I turned around and saw a girl from my division. She told me that the bag I was using was actually 100# and ours would feel tons lighter! I felt silly but at least I knew I wouldn’t struggle!
The workout itself was so fun but I think some of the other girls played basketball or something because I got SMOKED on the shuttle sprints! I was able to jog with the sandbag so I made up some time but it was truly a mad dash! I didn’t advance but the girls that did were insanely fast so more props to them!
Jordan and I returned to our Airbnb to relax. We went for a quick lunch and managed to avoid the rain. However, the rain put a damper on the rest of the events. Wodapalooza had to make a call and they cancelled the last workout for our division. Since there were only two divisions (Elite Individuals and Elite Teams) that had money prizes, they allowed them to perform the sixth workout while the rest of the divisions only completed five. It sucked because it felt kind of anti-climactic. Jordan and I returned to the site to pick up my awesome name banner and did our last walk around to make sure we bought everything we wanted to buy.
Final Thoughts:
Overall, I did enjoy myself. Yes there were many frustrations throughout the event and speaking with other athletes in the Warm Up Area, I wasn’t the only one. There are some things that I believe could have been done different and hopefully there will be some changes moving forward.
It felt so amazing to be on that stage and truly feel like an athlete. There’s just no other way to describe that feeling other than pride. It made every day leading up to this event worth it and I can say that I left it all out there.
My training for this event was amazing and I’m so proud of myself for showing up and doing my best. I will have to get back to swimming soon so this doesn’t turn into a crippling fear but I know that I can get through it! Plus Jordan was already joking that I’m “not going to have problems on the swim next year.” Even though I told him I’m not competing again, he’s not convinced. There’s plenty of time before qualifiers so we’ll see what happens!
