I’ve read through several “tips” articles and they all seem to somewhat agree that this WOD is all about speed through the thrusters and taking it easy on the burpees. I certainly wouldn’t call bar facing burpees a ‘rest’ period but ideally you’d find a pace that would allow you to catch your breath a little, before getting back to the bar. If you push through the burpees too fast you’ll end up having to break up the thrusters too much, and every time you drop the bar, you’ll lose precious time. Taking a break during burpees though won’t require near as much time or effort to restart. Also if you need it, take a several seconds before picking up the bar after thrusters. There’s no sense in grabbing the bar immediately only to knock out 3 thrusters before having to drop it again.
As for the live throwdown, Rich Froning again took a moment to show us that he’s incredibly, amazingly and unbelievably dominant. Sam Briggs jumped out to an early lead but ‘slow and steady’ Rich just kept banging out reps and eventually passed her just over halfway through the WOD. Khalipa, Holmberg and Thorisdottir were also there but HQ made it pretty clear that this show was all about Froning, with a small side dish of Briggs. The ‘cool down’ show was almost entirely a Rich Froning ‘fan club’ meeting. I’m still not sure Dave Castro even knew Graham Holmberg was in the building. I really enjoyed seeing the co-ed competition but if they’re going to have 5 athletes on the big stage, they could at least give each of them some face time. Overall though it was a great show and I hope that they do more of these ‘co-ed’ competitions in the future, but then again I hope they do more of any kind of competitions in the future. I love watching these shows and I’d love to see throw downs with Masters athletes as well. Maybe one week during next year’s Open they could have the champions from each of the Masters’ divisions compete against each other. Just a thought though Dave.
One last final thing, Castro mentioned at the end of the show that they had a lot in store for the ‘off season,’ including some big events with cash prizes and some “all star-type” team competitions. Maybe it’s just a convenient coincidence, but my immediate thought was that maybe Crossfit was already feeling some pressure from the NPFL. Maybe HQ wants to make sure that some of their top athletes are getting paid and don’t feel the need or desire to join the NPFL in order to justify the high cost of training. Maybe they’ve already seen some big names sign with the NPFL (Lindsey Valenzuela) and they want other top athletes to see there will be opportunities outside of the Games to earn some kind of living. Whatever the motivation though, I think it’s a good thing. For the past couple of years Crossfit news goes very dark for a couple of months after the Games and it’ll be good for the sport if it develops a way to stay in the spotlight during the off season, even if it’s in limited doses.
That’s all for now but stay tuned. We’ll start breaking down leader boards and regions in the upcoming weeks. Any other thoughts on last night's throw down, 14.5 reactions or what's coming next for Crossfit?
No comments:
Post a Comment