By Jon Kissick
Friday, September 13
Friday the 13th, a week of biblical flooding in
Denver, a perfect time to get 204 supremely fit athlete’s together for a
weekend of mayhem? Why not? The 2013 Open started off with a first. A first time, out-of-the-gym-event - the Pro
rucksack hike. Curious to see how the
ruck was going and fueled by rumors of a Pistono sighting, I headed south on
the trail about an hour after the pack had left the gym.
On the CrossFit continuum from your local neighborhood throw
down & BBQ all the way to the final Sunday in Carson, we all know and
respect that a FRCF event, and specifically the Open, is the closest thing to a
Regionals level contest in the country. As
such I wasn’t surprised that less than a ½ mile from the gym I saw the first
event staff. Betsy Tauer and Ben Maus were
camped out just below the only major traffic intersection of the trail. They were there as the final check point for
returning hikers and to make sure all athletes followed the prescribed course
back to the gym.
Interesting enough though, this was a pass/fail event for
the Pro athletes. All 27 would hike the
10 mile trial with 40 or 60 lbs in their ruck.
All of them had to make it to the 5 mile turn around with Skip, but then
they could pace themselves back to the gym.
Just making sure to finish before the 6pm WOD. As a past academic I can attest to the
confusion of introducing pass/fail grading to a population that has only known
the unforgiving grade of the clock. I
think this is the first P/F event programed into a major event like the
Open. Another tribute to the
inventiveness of FRCF programing.
Heading down the trail from Betsy & Ben, I rode for a
while before seeing the first
athlete. As someone who has spent more
than a few days humping around the mountains of the Pacific NW and British
Columbia, I have a moleskin earned understanding of the concept of my foot in a
shoe under bodyweight, and the reality of my foot in a shoe under my weight
plus another good percentage of my bodyweight on my back. The whole equation can get ugly when you add
covering multiple miles over varied terrain.
So I was curious about what I would see.
I was shocked. I have
been around the CF community for a few years. But I didn’t recognize Michelle Kinney
from Tennessee and I also didn’t expect to see a CrossFitter moving that fast
under load and smiling. She didn’t look
like some Olympic Lifting gym rat working under load, but more like some large game cat that had a clear intuition
that a week’s worth of dinners was just over the next rise. She was flying. Insist on helicopter coverage for next
year. I rode for a while before even passing
the next two competitors. I rode for
another while before seeing not another competitor but Mike Pistono cranking up
the trail to catch the leaders.
Mike, FRCF OG from Year One, filled me in that Skip had
taken everybody out at a 4 mile per hour pace to the 5 mile turn around and
then let them go. Skip was going to be
taking his time on the way back and everyone just had to beat him.
I continued on down the trial passing the rest of the field
and I did see some CrossFitters moving smoothly under load and others that looked
like Olympic Lifters laboring uncomfortably.
To that point I will argue with anyone in the CF training hierarchy that
general physical preparedness is a great goal or ideal but it is a myth. By definition there is specificity to all
training.
To that point and the question if this sport will ever make it
to the Olympics, and the Pendleton Tri, Open water swims, Log carries and other
such nonsense, there has to be boundaries if you want to call it a sport. Otherwise call it what it is, play.
Riding on toward the end of the field I came to the anchor
group, Colleen Maher, Amy Backel and a few other friends, just chatting away,
heckling the golfers and being a general public nuisance. They informed me that Skip was just behind
them down the trail. I rode on and
apparently took a wrong fork because I saw no more CrossFitters. On doubling back I eventually came upon a
middle aged gentleman walking ahead on the trail with a definite hitch in his
giddy up. As I pulled up I realize that
middle aged dude was my coach. Turns out
a semi-blistering pace under 60 lbs and a few rocks in his shoes was a bit even
for someone with a long history of sport specific training. I rode with Skip until we came out of the Evans
Street underpass.
Looking further up the tree lined trail it appeared, and
soon turn out to be, a 1954 Olive Green US Army Issue Willy Jeep rolling down
the trail towards us with the windshield down.
The jeep was driven by another FRCF OG, Eric Herbst. Skip gladly poached a military grade ride
back to base. As they drove ahead I couldn’t
help but think that there are many places on this blue marble, but only one
like Front Range CrossFit.
Saturday, September 14
After you have gone to, written about and participated in a
few FRCF Events there’s not much left to say.
The athletes are in superb condition, the event is well run, the judging
is consistent and first rate, the scoring is accurately and quickly
updated. So what more needs to be said? Saturday was another day in the life of FRCF
events. Everything ran well, despite
challenges from the weather. There was
some questionable OHS technique in some of the rounds Saturday morning. But all and all lots of quality performances
from consistently fit athletes. The same
held true for the afternoon Open workout of dead lifts, cleans and
snatches.
The Pros barely lost a stride with the T2B / C2B / Bar Muscle
Up complex in the morning and absolutely destroyed the Clean and Jerk section
of the afternoon workout. For me the most
fun aspect of the first day was the Rowing floater workout. If you didn’t manage to catch the last two
heats on Saturday, when the FRCF women tackled the rowing workout, it was
inspiring.
Louisa Berky, Madeline Berky, Shaina Jordan and Erica
Drennen all have fluid, graceful and balanced technique built to the exacting
demands of rowing on the water. Colleen
Maher, Jasmine Dever, Amy Backel and Kristen Olson have efficient technique but
don’t display the telltale scars of thousands of miles on the water. Regardless, both groups turn the erg with
savage power. It was quite a site. Concept II publishes altitude adjustment
factors because the rowing machine is slower in thinner air. These floater times were very respectable for
good college rowers, but if you take any seconds or partial seconds away for
altitude they start to look silly.
Sunday, September 15th
Sunday started with another ‘modified’ CrossFit
workout. Really? Wooden walls?
What gyms have wooden walls to climb?
In Sparta or in preparation for the Ancient Games did they use wooden
walls to train? I don’t think so. Apparently some of the more educated contestants
who shall remain nameless (Erica Drennen) choose to attempt a ’68 Mexico City
Games style protest by working at running through the wall instead of over. Rope climbing however, is an integral and
standard part of CrossFit. Friends who remark
to me about what a weird cohort CrossFitters are, often point to how many and
how easily CrossFit women do pull ups as a benchmark of our oddness. I think that point was further driven home
when you saw how efficiently and tirelessly CrossFitters can rope climb.
The afternoon soon dispensed with the gimmickry and got down
to old school CrossFit. Lifting weights, lifting body weight and muscle
ups. Straight up CrossFit, with no
chaser. These types of workouts, any of
‘the girls’, or any hero workout can be done with the equipment found in any
box in the world. That’s where the sport
of CrossFit is truly a sport. That is
where our athletes are trained to shine and they do. The amazingly high level of performance in
the Open Chipper and the speed and power of the Pro’s in the final muscle up /
squat snatch workout were remarkable.
With athletes like Chris Hoppe, Natalie McClain, Michelle Kinney, Thaddeus
Eshelman, etcetera it is so apparent that this is not your average neighborhood
throw down. This was the Sixth Colorado
Open and the level of functional fitness was world class.
But how can you finish a write up for the Open without
acknowledging our other outliers? If we
define fitness as (Force x Distance)/Time across multiple modalities, then we
have to acknowledge that lifetime fitness is the integration of that function
from 1 to X,
with X
being your final tally of years on the
rock. As such if we over consume
resources in one decade and thus dimension the area under our fitness curve
later in life, then are we truly being fit?
Given that reality, as a community I feel we have to constantly
acknowledge our other outliers. In that vein props to those that have been
rocking the whiteboard for eight and a half decades! Shout out to FRCF’s own Jim Neely, who
normally can be seen working out in the 6 PM workout, but this weekend spent
his time in the athlete recovery tent, helping to assist in the running of the event.
Thanks for another great Open. Thanks to all the volunteers that run the
heats, judge the heats, constantly re-set up the competition space, maintain an
accurate and current leader board, maintain a safe and organized warm up space
and generally make this event one of a kind.
See you next year.
Jon Kissick
