CrossFit Ireland Fitness Invitational, Feb 6th

g'em · 04-02-2010 11:21am

oooooh deadlifts and snatches - YAY \o/

token · 04-02-2010 11:54am

Pretty much all lung busters there. It's going be a tough day. Luckily they are all <10 mins though so should be possible to maintain a fairly high intensity.

cmyk · 04-02-2010 12:04pm

I can't make this

I've got a course that I can't really afford to skip, was looking forward to putting some names to faces! Workouts look pretty damn interesting too, gutted as it looks to be shaping up to a great day.

Hanley · 04-02-2010 2:38pm

I is looking forward to this... looks like most of the things I was hoping for/expectnig came up, and none of the things I was dreading!

Sangre · 04-02-2010 4:50pm

Found out where you are now - thanks to a great big sign on your building! This place is really, really near me. Won't be in the country for this though.

Transform · 05-02-2010 1:01pm

super workouts and mega disappointed i cant be there - next time!

Will be doing these wods though!

d'Oracle · 06-02-2010 1:07pm

Work mate ****ed up.
Now I have to go in Saturday to pick up the pieces.

No spectating possible.
I look forward to the videos and good luck/ fairplay to the competitors.

Hanley · 06-02-2010 7:44pm

SERIOUS day.

Results here;

http://crossfit.ie/2010/02/06/sat-feb-6th/#comments

Way too fcukd to say anything else. Thanks to Will, Colm and Tom at Crossfit.ie for a great day.

Transform · 07-02-2010 6:54pm

Hanley wrote: »

SERIOUS day.

Results here;

http://crossfit.ie/2010/02/06/sat-feb-6th/#comments

Way too fcukd to say anything else. Thanks to Will, Colm and Tom at Crossfit.ie for a great day.

jasus need more details!

d'Oracle · 07-02-2010 7:00pm

g'em wrote: »

Yup and am coming to terms with the ass-whipping now to save me the embarrassment on Saturday

:rolleyes:

"OOH I'm sooooo gonna get beaten."

g'em · 07-02-2010 9:28pm

d'Oracle wrote: »

:rolleyes:

"OOH I'm sooooo gonna get beaten."

frack off

In fairness it was just brute strength that helped me. For the first WOD we had to do deadlifting and pull ups. Out of my 125 reps four were pull-ups, I just can't do them, whereas the other girls were getting a fair few on each round. Instead I just saved my energy and banged out speed deadlifts

I got my ass handed to me in the third round by one of the other girls, Dee, who was an absolute machine. I remember seeing her in the first Invitational and she's come on massively since then, a real all-rounder and she has lots more in her.

It was a fantastic day, huge kudos to Colm, Will and Tom for organising it and a brilliant thanks to all the other athletes for their hospitality and for all the support.

I have DOMS like I haven't felt since I discovered the joys of heavy squatting and I have a feeling they won't disappear for a few days yet. Incredibly tough day, but such a brilliant mental and physical challenge, I'd encourage everyone and anyone to give it a go at least once

Edwardius · 08-02-2010 1:41am

Savage craic. Pasted this from me log:

1st event
Tabata mashup of
100kg deads
chest to bar pullups

Think I got 78 reps in this one. Pullups went downhill very fast, think I was down to 3s and 4s. I forget what the deadlift reps were, there's video evidence of a set of 8, think I was doing 5s towards the end though. Dunno. bit of a lung burner for me but I gamed it a bit and took it fairly easy on deads as I did not want to hurt the back.

2nd event:

AMRAP 10:
3 hang squat snatches (40kg)
6 toes to bar
9 calorie row

6 rounds +snatches +ttb (I think)
Again didn't want to fly out the gates and die so took it slow here, focused on consistency, getting in and out of the rower quickly and staying reasonably fresh for the snatches. Enjoyed this one a lot and think I was fairly competitive here. Toes to bar were fairly ok. Had a few bad reps. Snatches were grand. Missed two at the bottom due to loss of focus though.

Last event:
3 rounds
1min max thrusters 45kg
1min max box jumps
1min max swings 24kg
1min rest

I was s***ting it before this one. Looked like it was gonna be hell. Seeing as thrusters were worth the same as swings here and that I'd have a minute's rest after the swings I focused on them. Did 10 thrusters per round and had 30s rest before the jumps. Box jumps were sluggish (I'm a wuss) and I made sure to keep swinging unbroken for the entire minute. Worked out according to plan anyway, got a score of 140 which was pretty ok as I rocked out about 24-26 swings per round. Should have tried a little harder on the jumps though as a few more reps would have me place a bit higher and I had some energy at the end. Wasn't thinking about placing at any point though, just wanted to get through the events and not embarrass myself too much. Finished up in 7th, which I was fairly happy about. Great day though, super organisation, great to see some new and old faces, damn fine humans the lot of them. Thanks to Colm, Will, Amy, Tom and spotters. Lower back is a bit stiff and I'm a bit sore everywhere and hungover as Ollie Reid on a Saturday.

Transform · 08-02-2010 7:30am

keep those reports coming everyone

Colm_OReilly · 08-02-2010 10:16am

Wow! What a great weekend the February Invitational turned out to be!!!

The participants really gave it their all in every event, it ran like clockwork thanks to our amazing facilitators on the day, and the atmosphere from the crowd was beyond awesome.

The first workout was all about strategy for some, while others just put the foot down and went for it hammer and thongs. James Hanley took this event with a total score of 113 reps, although there was insane performances from James doing a flying squirrel impression on the pull ups; Pat Crowley tried to power clean every rep he was that excited and Garvan tried to get the most rebound by slamming his bumpers into the floor!

On the female side of things, Gillian Roddie busted out deadlifts like no one's business, and just let the pull ups become her rest.

The second workout came around fast for some, and like the first, it didn't disappoint. The Shane Courtney set the pace with an even, controlled 7 round score. All the girls, Eve, Lisa, Dee and Gillian, really attacked this workout, and to my recollect no one dropped a single squat snatch. But it was new comer to CrossFit Ireland from America, David 'Rambo 2' Schurter that took the event with a total points score of 130 points.

This score put Dave and James neck and neck going into the last round.

But before that, Davie Easton, representing CrossFit Hobo in Scotland, put in an amazingly consistent performance with a score of 175 reps in the Thruster workout. Whereas most people took it handy on the Thrusters to rest for the box jumps, Davie just chipped away at everything fairly evenly to build this impressive score.

Another outstanding performance of WoD 3 was Jimminy who despite his hands been torn open, ripped into the box jumps like a mad man, clocking up over 30 each round! Eve and Lisa, who in their own words were never naturally competitive, gave it their absolute all in a stunning final workout, and were buzzing after having taken part.

Dee, the pocket rocket, took the highest score out of everyone in the final workout, with a score of 207!! Even though she won the last workout, boards own Gillian had done enough in the first two to guarantee her first place prize.

So it all came down to James vs David in the last workout. James Hanley started banging into the Thrusters and took about 20 reps in the first minute. I was personally worried for Dave as he did about 8 Thrusters then stopped for the box jumps. "Not Enough!" I cried at him, but he just turned away from me! Luckily, Dave was better at the box jumps than James and clawed back a good few reps. James 66 reps, Dave 59.

Round two was much of the same, with James trying to destroy the Thrusters but having a few reps discounted due to incomplete lockout. Dave had his bad luck on the box jumps, either not getting his heels on the box or not standing up fully, much to his spotter Will's chagrin! But luckily he could keep just a few more kettlebell swings up and the score was, I believe, Dave 55, James 49. So it would all come down to the last round.

With 60 people screaming at you you've no real option but to keep going, and both guys really gave absolutely everything to that last round. In the end, Dave edged out James but just 4 reps to claim the coveted first spot.

From everyone to the casual competitor in it for the crack, to the spectators cheering everyone on, to our dedicated team of spotters, organizers, and snack makers, it's because of your enthusiasm that these days are the great experience they are!

Thanks everyone,
Colm

token · 08-02-2010 11:46am

As always a brilliant day. Everyone as usual gave it everything they had and there was some really impressive performances on the day. Cheer's to Colm,Will,Tom & Amy for running the event and whomever else had a hand in the preparations and running of the day.

Copy & Paste from my log

Event 1

Tabata mashup of
100kg deads
chest to bar pullups
73

I was worried about the deadlifts coming into this and decided to try maintain 6 reps per round. I think I got 5 rounds of that then finished with set's of 5. That's about what I was expectating to get on the deadlifts. I started with 7 reps on the pullups with a goal of maintaining 13 points a round for as long as possible. That lasted a whopping two rounds and the pullups started to go further south round after round. Missed a few with just the chin over the bar. I think I only managed like 5 reps between the last 3 rounds they got that bad. Scored lower than I hoped but was reasonbly content with my performance. Felt horrible for 20 minutes afterwards.

Event 2

AMRAP 10:
3 hang squat snatches (40kg)
6 toes to bar
9 calorie row
5rds + 6 ttb I think

I liked this wod as I could fly through the ttb's. I did pretty well on the rower too keeping a decent 1200 watt output throughout. Snatches are what slowed me up here. I knew they would though so I took my time with them from the get go. I also took them from the floor because of the easier technical requirement especially doing them after coming off the rower. At first I was doing my regular style snatches and going A2G. Stephen who was spotting me got me to go to parellel though on the 2nd round and I was getting through them alot easier then. They became bad again as I got tired and I was very slow with them at the end. Lost one forward and also clocked my forehead pretty bad with another one in the last 2 or 3 minutes. I was pretty happy overall with how I did here. All thecallouses I tore in the first workout opened up again pretty much right away and there was blood everywhere. On the barbell, on the pullup bar, on the rower even on the chalk (really sorry about that one). Took poor Will about 10 minutes to clean it all up scrubbing away with a toothbrush.

Event 3

3 rounds
1min max thrusters 45kg
1min max box jumps
1min max swings 24kg
1min rest
126

I have a very weak front squat so I startegised beforehand to just bang out a few thrusters and then rest the remaining time before the box jumps. I think I did 12 reps the first round, then 8, then wussed out at a measly 5 on the last round. Bobby my spotter shaking his head at that one. I scored pretty well on the first round with unbroken kb swings. I don't have Jimmny style box jumps so I just plugged away at them at a regular pace. I'm going to get him to show me his mad hops version later this week for damn sure!!. I was running on fumes as I got to the swings in the second round. I couldn't do them for the full minute and had to put it down. The 3rd round I was more and more tired and my box jump numbers had gone down. Then the final minute of swings which was the worst minute of the whole day. 24kg has never felt so heavy. I dropped a few places on this event but again reasonbly happy with my performance I just wanted it to end so badly.

Transform · 08-02-2010 12:51pm

token wrote: »

As always a brilliant day. Everyone as usual gave it everything they had and there was some really impressive performances on the day. Cheer's to Colm,Will,Tom & Amy for running the event and whomever else had a hand in the preparations and running of the day.

Copy & Paste from my log

Event 1

Tabata mashup of
100kg deads
chest to bar pullups
73

I was worried about the deadlifts coming into this and decided to try maintain 6 reps per round. I think I got 5 rounds of that then finished with set's of 5. That's about what I was expectating to get on the deadlifts. I started with 7 reps on the pullups with a goal of maintaining 13 points a round for as long as possible. That lasted a whopping two rounds and the pullups started to go further south round after round. Missed a few with just the chin over the bar. I think I only managed like 5 reps between the last 3 rounds they got that bad. Scored lower than I hoped but was reasonbly content with my performance. Felt horrible for 20 minutes afterwards.

Event 2

AMRAP 10:
3 hang squat snatches (40kg)
6 toes to bar
9 calorie row
5rds + 6 ttb I think

I liked this wod as I could fly through the ttb's. I did pretty well on the rower too keeping a decent 1200 watt output throughout. Snatches are what slowed me up here. I knew they would though so I took my time with them from the get go. I also took them from the floor because of the easier technical requirement especially doing them after coming off the rower. At first I was doing my regular style snatches and going A2G. Stephen who was spotting me got me to go to parellel though on the 2nd round and I was getting through them alot easier then. They became bad again as I got tired and I was very slow with them at the end. Lost one forward and also clocked my forehead pretty bad with another one in the last 2 or 3 minutes. I was pretty happy overall with how I did here. All thecallouses I tore in the first workout opened up again pretty much right away and there was blood everywhere. On the barbell, on the pullup bar, on the rower even on the chalk (really sorry about that one). Took poor Will about 10 minutes to clean it all up scrubbing away with a toothbrush.

Event 3

3 rounds
1min max thrusters 45kg
1min max box jumps
1min max swings 24kg
1min rest
126

I have a very weak front squat so I startegised beforehand to just bang out a few thrusters and then rest the remaining time before the box jumps. I think I did 12 reps the first round, then 8, then wussed out at a measly 5 on the last round. Bobby my spotter shaking his head at that one. I scored pretty well on the first round with unbroken kb swings. I don't have Jimmny style box jumps so I just plugged away at them at a regular pace. I'm going to get him to show me his mad hops version later this week for damn sure!!. I was running on fumes as I got to the swings in the second round. I couldn't do them for the full minute and had to put it down. The 3rd round I was more and more tired and my box jump numbers had gone down. Then the final minute of swings which was the worst minute of the whole day. 24kg has never felt so heavy. I dropped a few places on this event but again reasonbly happy with my performance I just wanted it to end so badly.

hey man great effort and its not a competition unless you bleed! My hands were a mess from the last comp at the end

Magic Eight Ball · 08-02-2010 3:55pm

Anyone have any videos?

Edwardius · 08-02-2010 6:12pm

Trevor Coulahan wrote: »

Anyone have any videos?

I think most of it was captured on camera. Presume Colm's gonna upload it at some point.

There's also some photos floating about.

Edit: I'll see if I can get herself and Amro to make the albums public.

Colm_OReilly · 08-02-2010 6:48pm

We had a professional camera man on hand who took a decent amount of footage, and we'll see what the editors come back with.

Only 15 weeks til the next one!!!

Hanley · 08-02-2010 7:27pm

Nice write ups so far...

I think I’ve finally recovered enough to give my account of the Crossfit Ireland February Invitational…

The week leading up to it wasn’t a great one for me. I was stuck down in rural Mayo with work in a small hotel with no pool or gym. Normally I don’t do full deloads but this one was enforced. I was stiff as a board by the end of the week because I was sitting down all day and then had almost a 4.5 hour drive back thanks to traffic jams. The only actual “exercise” type work I did for the week was 2 nights of stretching to try and keep loose.

Got back in to Dublin at 7.30pm on Friday and was back in town for 8.30 for a work reunion party. Told myself I was only having 3 drinks. Ended up having a 3x that amount, and a bit on the way to a brilliant night with lots of laughter and stories, so it was worth it. Decided the best was to counteract the alcohol was with copious amounts of water, so 5l was consumed between 11.30pm and 2am when I eventually made it to bed.

Was on the road to CFI at 8.15am feeling remarkably fresh. It was nice to get there a few hours before the WOD’s commenced, gave me lots of time to wake up properly and get stretched out.

First WOD was a Tabata mash up (20 seconds on, 10 rest for 8 rounds of each);

-Deadlifts w/ 100kg
-Chest to bar pull ups

I knew I was going to kill the deadlifts, but would probably suffer on the C2B pull ups so I gamed accordingly. I averaged about 4 pull ups per round, slightly less perhaps, but managed to score 113 which was good enough for first. I think second place came in at 107. So I woulda pulled 89 deadlifts during the 8 rounds – 11 per round or a deadlift every 2 seconds, fairly happy with that.

I generally don’t do recovery well. I have absolutely no problem turning off that little part of my brain that tells me to stop, but I usually suffer for it afterwards because I can’t move. I knew that coming into the day so sandbagged the first workout a bit. Call it 95% effort to try and keep a bit in reserve for WOD 2 and 3.

By the time WOD 2 rolled around I still wasn’t feeling 100% so thank god I took the first one easy. It was max rounds in 10 minutes of;

3 snatches w/ 40kg
6 toes to bars
9kcal row

I scored 7 rounds plus 1 snatch and promptly fell on my ass attempting the second snatch right as the clock ran out. That was good enough for 3rd place. It was a tough WOD but manageable, mainly thanks to the cycle time of the snatches and the strapping in and out of the rower giving an extra bit of time to catch my breath. The hardest part of the WOD was the toes to bar. My left shoulder’s extremely dodge and tends to try and subluxate if I spend any time handing or kipping on a bar. I can bust out a strict set of 10-12 when I’m fresh without any trouble but as I got fatigued my ability to lock my shoulder down just disappeared, so even tho the 6’s woulda been ok, I had to drop off mid set each time and shake my shoulder out. I wouldn’t have gotten thru this WOD as well as I did if it wasn’t for 3 reasons – chasing Dominic beside me, Garvan shouting abuse the whole way thru and having Will give constant encouragement and tips, so thanks a million for that guys. Will had to take a few snatches off me for not hitting full extenstion (musta been 5 or 6?) and I dropped the bar on my head mid way thru. Good fun other than that.

I was joint first after all that, and staring down the barrel of a straight slug off with David S in the final WOD.

WOD 3 was always gonna suuuuuuuuuuuuck. I just knew by the look of it that it’d be my weakest event by a mile, and probably David’s strongest!! Total reps scored decided placings, it was 3 rounds of;

-1 minute of thrusters w/ 45kg
-1 minute of box jumps to a 24 inch box
-1 minute of KB swings with a 24kg ‘bell
-1 minute rest

Decided my best option was to try and get my reps on the thrusters and swings, and I was right – I nearly fell off the box about a million times trying to get up onto it, left some of my skin on it too. Myself and David were dead even coming into the final round, I’d won the first by 6, he won the second by the same margin. During the last round of KB swings is probably the single hardest I’ve ever pushed myself in any Metcon. I’m pretty sure I was out on my feet for the last 5 reps. All I remember is blurry tunnel vision, a big crowd screaming encouragement, and pain, that horrible burning pain EVERYWHERE. I could see David all the way thru outta the corner of my eye and could sense myself pulling away a bit on them, but I didn’t know how many box jumps more he had done than me so I just pushed as hard as I could. As soon as time was called I didn’t even bother trying to stop the swing of the ‘bell, I just let it go between my legs and got catapulted forward to the floor. I don’t think I moved for about 20 minutes after it. I didn’t feel even 90% for a solid 2 hours afterwards either.

In the end, David edged me out by 4 reps. 162 versus my 158. Speaking to him afterwards, I got 1 more thruster on the final round, and I think 3 or 4 more swings. The bloody box jumps got me in the end!! Fair play to the guy tho, I pushed absolutely as hard as I could, and came up short.

A thousands thanks to David S and Dominic B for being such hard ass competitors (and really nice guys too!), I don’t think any of us woulda done what we did without us all being so close together, thanks to Shane for keeping his top on and to all the other competitors and spectators for making it a great day. Thanks to Tony for spotting me in WOD 1, Will in WOD 2 and Stephen (Special K) in WOD 3, I wouldn’t have gotten thru the workouts as well as I did without their help and encouragement. Same goes for the crowd all the way thru. Hitting WOD’s with a wall of sound behind me gives that extra 5% that isn’t always there in the gym on your own.

As I’ve said elsewhere, thanks to Colm, Will and Tom for organising, Amy for keeping things running smoothly, Louise and Marianne (I think?) for their treats (which I barely got to sample, but all reports said were delish) and to anyone else I’m forgetting (sorry!!).

I can’t wait to see the videos and photos of the day!! It was great meeting everyone again, and getting to meet others for the first time. Not gonna single anyone out at all, because you’re all worth a mention for one reason or another!!

In summation, I went from 13th as a fat 110kg powerlifter with like a 41 inch waist and 21mm calliper reading at the May ’09 Invitational to a 2nd place finish as an almost lean 95kg powerlifter with a waist under 34 inches and calliper reading of sub 10mm on Saturday. I’m stronger, fitter, in better condition and in much better shape now than I was then, and you can bet your life on me coming back even stronger, leaner and with a much higher level of conditioning on May 22nd for the next one.

Chet Zar · 08-02-2010 10:26pm

Hanley wrote: »

Nice write ups so far...

I think I’ve finally recovered enough to give my account of the Crossfit Ireland February Invitational…

The week leading up to it wasn’t a great one for me. I was stuck down in rural Mayo with work in a small hotel with no pool or gym. Normally I don’t do full deloads but this one was enforced. I was stiff as a board by the end of the week because I was sitting down all day and then had almost a 4.5 hour drive back thanks to traffic jams. The only actual “exercise” type work I did for the week was 2 nights of stretching to try and keep loose.

Got back in to Dublin at 7.30pm on Friday and was back in town for 8.30 for a work reunion party. Told myself I was only having 3 drinks. Ended up having a 3x that amount, and a bit on the way to a brilliant night with lots of laughter and stories, so it was worth it. Decided the best was to counteract the alcohol was with copious amounts of water, so 5l was consumed between 11.30pm and 2am when I eventually made it to bed.

Was on the road to CFI at 8.15am feeling remarkably fresh. It was nice to get there a few hours before the WOD’s commenced, gave me lots of time to wake up properly and get stretched out.

First WOD was a Tabata mash up (20 seconds on, 10 rest for 8 rounds of each);

-Deadlifts w/ 100kg
-Chest to bar pull ups

I knew I was going to kill the deadlifts, but would probably suffer on the C2B pull ups so I gamed accordingly. I averaged about 4 pull ups per round, slightly less perhaps, but managed to score 113 which was good enough for first. I think second place came in at 107. So I woulda pulled 89 deadlifts during the 8 rounds – 11 per round or a deadlift every 2 seconds, fairly happy with that.

I generally don’t do recovery well. I have absolutely no problem turning off that little part of my brain that tells me to stop, but I usually suffer for it afterwards because I can’t move. I knew that coming into the day so sandbagged the first workout a bit. Call it 95% effort to try and keep a bit in reserve for WOD 2 and 3.

By the time WOD 2 rolled around I still wasn’t feeling 100% so thank god I took the first one easy. It was max rounds in 10 minutes of;

3 snatches w/ 40kg
6 toes to bars
9kcal row

I scored 7 rounds plus 1 snatch and promptly fell on my ass attempting the second snatch right as the clock ran out. That was good enough for 3rd place. It was a tough WOD but manageable, mainly thanks to the cycle time of the snatches and the strapping in and out of the rower giving an extra bit of time to catch my breath. The hardest part of the WOD was the toes to bar. My left shoulder’s extremely dodge and tends to try and subluxate if I spend any time handing or kipping on a bar. I can bust out a strict set of 10-12 when I’m fresh without any trouble but as I got fatigued my ability to lock my shoulder down just disappeared, so even tho the 6’s woulda been ok, I had to drop off mid set each time and shake my shoulder out. I wouldn’t have gotten thru this WOD as well as I did if it wasn’t for 3 reasons – chasing Dominic beside me, Garvan shouting abuse the whole way thru and having Will give constant encouragement and tips, so thanks a million for that guys. Will had to take a few snatches off me for not hitting full extenstion (musta been 5 or 6?) and I dropped the bar on my head mid way thru. Good fun other than that.

I was joint first after all that, and staring down the barrel of a straight slug off with David S in the final WOD.

WOD 3 was always gonna suuuuuuuuuuuuck. I just knew by the look of it that it’d be my weakest event by a mile, and probably David’s strongest!! Total reps scored decided placings, it was 3 rounds of;

-1 minute of thrusters w/ 45kg
-1 minute of box jumps to a 24 inch box
-1 minute of KB swings with a 24kg ‘bell
-1 minute rest

Decided my best option was to try and get my reps on the thrusters and swings, and I was right – I nearly fell off the box about a million times trying to get up onto it, left some of my skin on it too. Myself and David were dead even coming into the final round, I’d won the first by 6, he won the second by the same margin. During the last round of KB swings is probably the single hardest I’ve ever pushed myself in any Metcon. I’m pretty sure I was out on my feet for the last 5 reps. All I remember is blurry tunnel vision, a big crowd screaming encouragement, and pain, that horrible burning pain EVERYWHERE. I could see David all the way thru outta the corner of my eye and could sense myself pulling away a bit on them, but I didn’t know how many box jumps more he had done than me so I just pushed as hard as I could. As soon as time was called I didn’t even bother trying to stop the swing of the ‘bell, I just let it go between my legs and got catapulted forward to the floor. I don’t think I moved for about 20 minutes after it. I didn’t feel even 90% for a solid 2 hours afterwards either.

In the end, David edged me out by 4 reps. 162 versus my 158. Speaking to him afterwards, I got 1 more thruster on the final round, and I think 3 or 4 more swings. The bloody box jumps got me in the end!! Fair play to the guy tho, I pushed absolutely as hard as I could, and came up short.

A thousands thanks to David S and Dominic B for being such hard ass competitors (and really nice guys too!), I don’t think any of us woulda done what we did without us all being so close together, thanks to Shane for keeping his top on and to all the other competitors and spectators for making it a great day. Thanks to Tony for spotting me in WOD 1, Will in WOD 2 and Stephen (Special K) in WOD 3, I wouldn’t have gotten thru the workouts as well as I did without their help and encouragement. Same goes for the crowd all the way thru. Hitting WOD’s with a wall of sound behind me gives that extra 5% that isn’t always there in the gym on your own.

As I’ve said elsewhere, thanks to Colm, Will and Tom for organising, Amy for keeping things running smoothly, Louise and Marianne (I think?) for their treats (which I barely got to sample, but all reports said were delish) and to anyone else I’m forgetting (sorry!!).

I can’t wait to see the videos and photos of the day!! It was great meeting everyone again, and getting to meet others for the first time. Not gonna single anyone out at all, because you’re all worth a mention for one reason or another!!

In summation, I went from 13th as a fat 110kg powerlifter with like a 41 inch waist and 21mm calliper reading at the May ’09 Invitational to a 2nd place finish as an almost lean 95kg powerlifter with a waist under 34 inches and calliper reading of sub 10mm on Saturday. I’m stronger, fitter, in better condition and in much better shape now than I was then, and you can bet your life on me coming back even stronger, leaner and with a much higher level of conditioning on May 22nd for the next one.

So you came 2nd after 9 pints and less than 6 hours sleep....fcuk I've probably got a lotta work to do!!

Fair play dude.

CrossFit Ireland Fitness Invitational, Feb 6th

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