Frostbite 2014

Everyone should compete as a team at least once. I had originally signed up to volunteer at Frostbite 2014 to support Denis and Anthony's team, but found out that I was actually a member of that team. We asked Katrina to be our fourth and Team When Hell Freezes Over was born.

I'm carrying Anthony while Denis is performing the reverse med ball toss. Katrina, not shown, is rowing.

I was nervous to compete on a team because I don't like to let people down. I am extremely competitive against myself and will push myself passed what I think is possible in order to succeed. But if I make a bad call, I'm only responsible for me. Lock out a leg during an ultra? Whelp, now I have to drag it. Injure myself in the first WOD of an all-day team competition? Well shit. But I also didn't want to hold back and not push for the extra rep, pound, what have you.

I had been very concerned for the Grizzz-abel workout. Grizzz-abel combines two of the Girls workouts, Grace and Isabel, and makes it into a team endeavor splitting the work between the two sexes. I had just hit my 1RM for the full snatch at 70# and it's not like I excel at the power snatch anyway.

“Grizzz-abel” (7 min cap)

with one bar for men and one bar for women:

men complete 30 Clean & Jerks and 30 Snatches, 135# (Scaled 95#)

women complete 30 Clean & Jerks and 30 Snatches, 95# (Scaled 65#)

each member of the team must complete at least one Clean & Jerk and one Snatch

We all agreed to start with the snatches. Denis and Anthony decided to go 15 and 15. Katrina and I had a different approach. She would start and when she put the bar down, I would go. I think we came out around even but she definitely did a few more snatches. I'm all about the clean and jerk and I think I did a few more of those. I want to give a shout-out and a thank you to Matt Bronson whose coaching on the push jerk made the movement finally click for me. I would've lost serious time if I had to split jerk the entire time. The guys finished in 2 something and Katrina and I finished in 3:24, so our time was 3:24 for the team.

You can see all of the workouts here.

We were in 5th and then 6th place until the third WOD. Twenty synchronized push-up buy-in followed by a sprint, grabbing our plates, and then finding our individual 4RM OHS. My teammates did AWESOME - Katrina lifted 95# like it was nothing! I really struggled making it to 65#. Really fucking struggled. I felt like I had let everyone down but it was a PR even for a 1RM for me. Now that 14.2 has been announced, I am so appreciative that I made it to 65#!

We had beautiful weather and a fun atmosphere, but hands down, the best part of the entire day was working with my team. Our boxmates came out to cheer us on and I felt so loved and part of a family. I think I'd like to compete individually, but I am so thankful that Denis and Anthony convinced me to be on this team. I didn't know Katrina very well before this and now I absolutely love her. If you're thinking about competing, I highly recommend you do it with your box family.

These photos are all from the talented photographer Shaun Cleary. You can see his work at http://www.superclearyphoto.com.