CrossFit 180 has their own little queen, as if you did not know. April Garner has been busy preparing her body for the Sectionals and I got to watch her compete at the Central East Sectional Qualifier against athletes from Indiana, Michigan, Kentucky, and Ohio at the Arnold Classic in Columbus, OH on Sunday, March 7. I did not get to walk around and see much of what was going on at the Classic, I just focused on the CrossFit piece. That was cool enough, I did not need anything else to try to keep track of.
Saturday, March 6 was the morning of the Indy 500 Festival Mini Marathon 10k training run. So, I did that run, dashed home to shower and pack an overnight bag and headed East to grab some sleep before April’s big day. The day was huge, on so many levels. Pretty much anyone was welcome to register and participate in the first three workouts. If you had physically survived and done well enough you got to participate in the fourth workout. The TOP 20 ladies TOP 20 men get to go to Regionals.
I got to the facility just in time to see the area with the equipment set up and give April a big ole hug. The place was amazing. The spectator set up was not perfect, but the equipment that the athletes were going to be using was awesome, and that is the part that counted the most. Rogue Fitness provided a snappy set up.
WOD 1 - Sandbag Relay Sprint, for Time!
Ok, that title really does not do the work justice.
Start facing forward, turn around, pick up the first Sandbag, sprint to the other side, sprint back, pick up the sandbag and sprint to drop it off, etc. Each sandbag got heavier as they worked through the pile, as their legs became more and more fatigued. They had to shoulder the sandbag prior to starting their sprint. It was more than ‘keep moving’, they had to work smart and not make mistakes with their feet.
I was so nervous for her. The first workout heat was to start at about 8 am, but the men went first, so the ladies had to wait for what felt like forever to get going. They had a little area off to the side where the athletes could warm up. They had weights and Concept 2 Rowers and some elbow room to do some air squats and stretch. Many athletes were running warm up sprints in the convention center lobby.
During the workout many tripped, in fact many tripped multiple times. Some were so destroyed by this first workout, they just could not continue through the day. Groin pulls and hamstring tears were just a few of the injuries. April did not like her score after this workout. She walked it off, talked it out, and kept going like the machine we know that she is.
Event First place finisher time – 01:13
April’s time – 1:27
WOD 2 - Burpee, Deadlift.
7 Reps - Deadlift #155 - 11 Reps - Weighted Vest Burpees 15LB - 5 Rounds For Time!
We all know that April loves a Burpee and she is fond of a DeadLift too. But, try doing the Burpee with a weight vest. Holy cow, and Wow! Again, aside from the fatigue they were fighting, the weight vest is tricky. You can get it tight so that it does not flop into your head each time you drop for the Burpee, but then you cannot breathe to do the DeadLift.
Of course, April did really well in this. As strange as it sounds, I think she started to feel better with this one out of the way.
Event First place finisher time – 03:48
April’s time – 06:01
Her time was so competitive she moved up in the overall standings. Nice Job April!!
At some point before the third Workout Arnold Schwarzenegger showed up. It was pretty cool and funny when someone in the crowd yelled “You can DO IT!”. Sorry 'bout the phone in the pic... you take what you can get. ;)
WOD 3
Row 500M - 15 Reps OHS 65LB - Row 500M - 15 Reps Toes to Bar - 2 Rounds for Time!
April found a great rhythm for this one. She seemed to be in a zone and nothing was going to stop her. Obviously, she does not get to Row very often so this was a huge challenge for her. But, she toughed it out, did her very best and did well enough to continue progressing up in the standings so she was In for WOD 4!
Event First place finisher time –11:43
April’s time – 14:53
WOD 4 – The Final WOD
15-12-9 of Clean & Jerk (105#) / Pullup, Chest to Bar / Box Jump / Followed by one Sled Pull
Seriously, this had to suck on an epic level. April was wore out. She was sweating wet, but shivering because of the craziness of the day. Everyone was exhausted by then. 3 workouts already in one day, then this?!? Even the Event Judges seemed to be on edge. The crowd had thinned out as some competitors took their toys and went home since they did not get to proceed to the final WOD. Worked out great for us, that got us in better position to cheer on April.
Event First place finisher time –8:52
April’s time – 13:25
I have a cool video of April's final workout, but I cannot get it to upload now. If I can figure out what this techno tard is doing wrong, I will upload it for you all.
It was a long ride home that night; there was so much to think about. The idea that someone can accomplish completing all of those workouts in just one day was amazing. Add to that the idea that you are competing and so completing is not enough. But, it was not even that simple. Sure, you had your Heat to compete against and maybe that adrenaline would push you through. But, there were other Heats. To sit and watch others compete was a blessing and a curse. There was no way to control that outcome. What if your Heat was relatively slow? Then maybe you had less of a competitive advantage. April found a way to get this done on her own. Yeah, we cheered and we screamed and we wanted the best for her. Not just the few of us that got to travel over, but all of you who knew what was going on. But, in all reality, April did this amazing thing with her own strength and guts. And, she did it really well.
Thanks to Brad, April, and Brent B. for including me in on the fun. Next up for April is the Central East Regional. I think that you should all take the weekend of May 8 and 9, head to Logan, OH, and get your scream on. I know April would love to see more familiar faces in the crowd, and I am certain the experience will amaze you! I will be running the Mini Marathon in downtown Indy that morning, so I figure I better run quick so I don’t miss out any of the fun at Regionals!
I hate that I did not get better pictures of April, but the spectator area just did not lend itself well for that and she is too darned fast for my camera. I can only hope that this blog post somehow described how incredibly cool it was see what these athletes did, what CrossFit 180 April Garner did, and how hard she worked mentally and physically to make it Regionals. You go girl! The next time you see April wearing her Sectionals T Shirt, give her a pat on the back. That thing might not have diamonds on it, but it is prettier than any crown ever worn!
The only way to win is to do more work faster. Oh yeah, that's April!
For those who do not get to watch at Regionals, be sure to become a Fan of CrossFit 180 and Friend Jamie on FaceBook. I will keep the updates coming as best I can like I did for Sectionals. If I do get to talk to April, I will forward along all of your well wishes until you get to see her again.
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