I remember feeling envious of all the women who competed in the 2010 Crossfit Central Women’s Challenge.  I was very pregnant, and participating in an event like the women’s challenge was not something I could do.

So when the women’s challenge rolled around this year, I leaped at the opportunity to participate.  I was not disappointed.

This year, they called it the Iron Belle Challenge (The T-shirt is awesome).

My teammates were Beth and Stephanie.  We know each other so well, that when we worked up our tactics for the challenge Friday evening, it was quick and efficient.  The key to team competitions is effective communication, they told us Friday night. I think we did a really good job of doing that.

The challenge started Saturday morning at the Shoal Creek Hike & Bike trail near 34th Street in Central Austin.  We showed up in our matching team outfits: yellow tanks, gray shorts, black bandanas.  We participated in the “fun” division, which was the same workout at lower weights, because none of us can do a strict pull up.  (Honestly, I’m kind of relieved.  Some of the weights in the competitive category were right at my max, so I would have been extremely difficult for me.)

WOD 1
2 mile run
with 2 stops:
100 KB swings (Competitive 16kg / Fun 12kg) /
100 MB passes (6#) & 50 burpees

The swings, passes and burpees were all cake for me.  The run was more difficult.  But as much as I wanted to stop, I kept at it.  I mean, really, it was only 2 miles. Should have been easy.  It wasn’t.

We finished under the 30 min cutoff at 27:16, and I am thrilled with that.

The second WOD was a deadlift ladder.  Only one member of our team could do it, so we chose our strongest lifter: Stephanie.  The weight started at 105 and advanced by 10# all the way to 200#, and on the last set you lifted as many times as possible.

Steph set a PR, by the way.  It was awesome.

WOD 3
3 rounds
20 DB Push Press (C 25# / F 15#)
20 Box Jumps
20 squat cleans (C 85# / F 55#)
20 pullups (C unassisted / F jumping from box)
3 butcher pushes sidewalk to sidewalk (C 90# added / F 50# added)

This was the WOD where we really communicated the best.  We had a plan, but we were so good at watching to see who was getting tired and who was almost done, that we were able to change out on the fly — exercises AND people.

Time:10:45

Did we win?  No. How did we compare? We were top half or third on everything.  Stephanie reminded me that no matter how you do, you should be grateful for the opportunity to be there.  And you know what?  I’m so glad I was there.

A huge congrats to the winners, many of who I know and consider friends. It was an honor to be around such strong women today, and an honor to have Beth and Stephanie as my teammates.

I can’t wait until the next adventure.

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