The Crossfit Games 2014

I had originally planned on writing a massive summary of every event for every one of our athletes from the weekend. However, I am almost positive none of you want to read all that, most of you are fairly capable of reading a leaderboard, and all of you would be bored out of your skull hearing about the details of a 3 mile run or a 1000m swim. Therefore, I’m just going to hit some highlights for the weekend and talk specifically about some triumphs we had as a coaching staff with our athletes.
Later this week, after I’ve debriefed a bit, I want to share a couple things I think we learned the hard way any some rookie mistakes that won’t happen next year.
I think the first highlight of the weekend for me was watching all the swimming we had done all year long allow Emily and Jeff to be comfortable in the water on the first event. Granted neither one of them had practiced swimming in a surf like that but I could tell they were used to the water. Once Emily stop hyper-ventilating about a potential shark attack, she settled in really nicely. Both her and Jeff would say that was one of their more fun events.
One of my personal highlights was watching all the prowler and sled work we did pay off on the sprint sled workouts. Emily Carothers, at 135 pounds, placed 5th and 12th overall on those workouts! Not only was that a huge surprise for me but her second best finish of the weekend! Jeff ended up on the sticky end of the field and had a battle to keep the sled moving. Don’t believe me that lanes were different? Look at the top 30% scores and the bottom 30% scores. You’ll see that, with few exceptions, the fastest times were in lanes 1-6 and the slowest were in lanes 10-14.
On Saturday I was very happy with how our athletes performed on the Push/Pull event. Strict HSPU are not a strength of Jeff’s and yet he was able to handle them with poise, control, and patience. He finished the workout under the timecap and looked like he moved at the perfect pace throughout. That type of workout is a dangerous workout for Jeff. Strict, deficit HSPU can create failure so fast for him that control and patience is key. Jeff handled that aspect very well. Emily got 9th on the workout and after a day of tough finishes this was, in my mind, her most important finish. Ending the day for her on that note was a good momentum builder for her final (and best) day.
Sunday was my favorite day hands down. The midline march gave me a ton of proud coach moments as both Emily and Jeff completed their last OH walking lunges unbroken for the 50ft amidst some pretty severe lower back and shoulder fatigue. I loved seeing their grit push them to that place. Emily’s performances on the final workouts were nothing short of spectacular. 3rd on the Thick and Quick and 10th on Double Grace. Just as with the sled push sprint, she dominated a fairly heavy OHS with poise and control amidst probably some of her own self-doubt. Furthermore, the fight Mike and I saw in her eyes as she completed the last 10 reps of Double Grace will be etched in my mind for months. We figured some things out preparation-wise for her final day and seeing our plan mesh perfectly with her desire was a thing of beauty. I love seeing a girl with Emily’s size and stature surprise the crowd with strength and determination.
Thank you Emily and Jeff for a weekend full of excitement and joy. Athlete’s like yall make my job more of a joy than a job. Also HUGE shoutout to one of America’s current best female lifters, Lauren Fisher for her top 10 finish and if you don’t know who Cody Anderson is after this weekend then you weren’t paying attention. That kid is a ball of potential.
Lessons Learned From The Games Coming Next.