Saturday
August 20th up at 04:45 to get to Durham County Stadium for the CG
Games. The Games consisted of four
unique events, none of which was I enamored with. Two involved bear crawls and
one - prone opposite hand opposite toe
touches. Oh, yeah! Nightmare time.
I had 6
ounces of juice mixed with NSF certified (no USADA banned substances) energized
training formula powder with arginine (to help breathing) and beta
alanine, then about six ounces of super beet juice. I filled three one and a quarter squeeze bottles of beet juice to drink during the day. A few gulps of Red Bull and out the
door. One sip of Starbucks Double
Expresso with cream on the drive was enough to remind me that it gives me
oggita (sick feeling)
184 folks
had signed up for the event in Raleigh (the Games were also being contested in
many other parts of the country). Serious folk hoped to have event completion
times good enough to put them in the top 50 women nationwide or top 50 men
nationwide in their respective age group (under 40 or over 40.) Those that do will go to Austin to compete
for prizes. There will also be four
person coed, all male or all female teams competing in Austin. Obviously, I was not one of those thinking about going to Austin. My objective: Just don’t quit. Finish. I
had a real fear of oxygen deprivation with not enough to finish an event
I arrived
at the stadium about 06:20. Shortly after we were let in to sign a waiver,
get our competitor number marked on our arm and then sign in using that
number. The events were scheduled such
that the two field width events were run together in the first hour, followed
by the two field length events in the next hour. This was repeated twice
more.
We had a bunch
of warm up exercises led by Trainer Zeek. This is when I realized I had not taken my B12. My legs were tired just doing that. Not a good sign.
I had
wanted to get my dreaded event over first -- the endurance event (squat then raise sandbell
above eyebrows 15x, followed by 30 opposite hand opposite toe touches from
prone position, then run length of field, touch line and run back. Repeat four more times.
The small bottle I’d transferred Red Bull into had leaked, so I drank part of the
remainder (4 gulps), consumed one energy gel and some beet juice before the
start at 7 a. m. However, there were so many people queued up for that, they did not get to a lot of us before the
hour was up. We were given a lineup
number for the next time the event was offered in an hour.
So, in the next hour
I did the EMOM (Every Minute on the Minute, aka Interval Event) Another one that I was not looking forward to
– in reality – I was not looking forward to any, but this one I knew would find
me gasping. Each of us had a CG Trainer
who would be timing us and encouraging us. For this event mine was Bain.
Here is the
video of how it should be done
Interval event https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6tBxys15aA
That is not
how I did it. I did trot to the far side
and pick up a cone and return it and then do the five thrusters. My hops back
up were not elegant. I finished in time to have part of that minute to “rest” –
10 seconds? before having to run the
width of the field again and pick up the second cone and return and do five
thrusters. Maybe I had 5 seconds left of
the minute before having to go again. I
walked ¾ of the way to the far side and slow jogged back. The others in my group were already off and
running before I finished my thrusters.
For the next three iterations I only had half the distance to go. You
think I might have sped up, huh? Nope.
It was walk out to the cone and jog back.
When I finished the last five thrusters I don’t think I had any oxygen
left in my lungs. One done! Time 5:31.95 or something like that. The good folk had times half that or even
less than half.
 |
| starting their minute |
 |
| Casey thruster |
A few of us
just managed to squeeze into the functional event before the hour ran out. This was a width of field event
carrying a 12 pound sandbell to the far side, then bear crawl back, throwing
the sandbell ahead. Fortunately, there
were dashed lines across the field. Following my trainer Brent’s voice and
trying to keep my head up enough to see a little of what was ahead, I managed
to get back to the start without veering all across the field. Jogging back to the far side with the
sandbell and then returning, throwing the sandbell ahead was not too bad. Back across the field again carrying the
sandbell. Now I had to throw the
sandbell ahead while crab walking half the distance back and then get up and
run backwards. During this part, my
daily CG trainer Andrew de Anda came along and urged me on (afraid I might
quit?) He told me I was just ahead of
another competitor, also crab walking back.
(trying to bring out a competitive drive – ha ha). I got to the halfway point, picked up the bag
and started running backwards. And promptly fell back on my butt and head. Yep. Glorious. Crone-like action. I got up and finished. I think it was in 6:30. Our real contenders do this in about 2
minutes.
This is the
video of how it should be done. I did
not look like that.
I managed to get
the endurance event done in the second offering around 9 a.m. or so. I think I ate an ancient (not as ancient as me) Stinger Honey Waffle before this event. I know when I ate it, I was a little concerned that the more than 18gms of sugar (I think it was in the 20s) would make me sick. It didn't.
Brent was the Trainer who had the Crone again.
I had practiced the toe touch thing at home and so approached that part at a
slower pace. I slow trotted the length of the field each time. I don’t think I
walked, but I may have. I did try to run or jog at a faster pace on my last run
back. My time was about 10:48.
 |
| endurance toe touch |
I did not get to
do the last event until around noon. I ate a small chia bar first. I
had never done this one before (I had twice practiced the field width events
and once the endurance event.) Dea Block was the trainer who pushed me to get
to the 50 yard mark bear crawl dragging the 50 pound bag behind. (100 LB for men) Dea walked along, telling me which yard mark I
was approaching. At 25 yards, my hands were burning from the hot artificial
turf. The sun was out and the temperature was in the 90s with high humidity. I
had half gloves on that left the fingers exposed. I did get to the 50
yard line without stopping. I’d been forewarned by other competitors to not
expect to run when first standing up. No problem there – I was quite dizzy. I
walked a few steps before jogging to the far end and coming back to the bag. Dragging it back from an upright position was
a lot easier than crab walking it out. I
think my time was 2:31. I find that
unbelievable. It seemed much longer! But this was the easiest of the four events.
 |
| Metcon -- someone dragging bag |
 |
| male running back with 100 LB bag |
I watched my other
camp goers run some of the events in magnificent time: Melissa, Heather, Nadeen, Steve
R, Tonya, and Ginger Zach and Ginger Kenny. My trainer Andrew was incredible in
the Functional (sandbag, bear crawl, crab walk etc) event. Andrew, Zach, and Kenny are three of the four
men on the Two Gingers Two Souls team.
So, it is
done! Never on the bucket list but, for
sure, I will not be revisiting this again. I took an ice bath when I got home.
I won’t be
complaining about the 400m after having done this! My next scheduled (Senior Games Final)
400m is at Durham County Stadium. It will seem like a stroll after today!
1 comment:
I love this post! You did an awesome job Louise and are a great example to us all!
-Danelle G
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