This years CrossFit Games season is officially upon us with the start of the new format Sectionals a week and a day away!  Affiliates around the globe are preparing to open up their doors to allow competitors the ability to compete with fellow athletes as they try their hand at the weekly workouts given by CrossFit HQ. 

Courage Performance once again has partnered with CrossFit San Mateo to offer an official location for athletes to compete.  Below you will find the details of this unique and exciting six-week event!

Where:
CrossFit San Mateo

When:
Every Saturday at 10:30am heats will begin.  Depending on the amount of registered athletes, heats will run up to five at a time, and will continue to run until all athletes have completed the WOD.
Event 1 - March 19
Event 2 - March 26
Event 3 - April 2
Event 4 - April 9
Event 5 - April 16
Event 6 - April 23

Who:
Anyone who wants to come out and compete against fellow athletes for their chance to make Regionals.  Also, anyone who wants to come out and just compete!  Even if you've already done the WOD, come out and give it a second try!

Additional Features:

• Courage Performance has brought on lululemon athletica Burlingame, CORE Warrior Bars and a couple other awesome sponsors to offer a small prize package to the top male and female performances each Saturday
• All judges will be at least level 1 coaches and will be holding each athlete to the highest of standards.  Be prepared!
• Each heat will be video taped in addition to each athlete being individually judged.  We recommend that you bring your own camera to video as well.
• Every Saturday will end with a bit of a cool-down.  Food and drinks and hanging out will be more than welcome!
• Information on each event will be posted by Thursday morning each week.  You will have until midnight Friday to register and hold a spot (how to do that is directly below)
  

How:
To register yourself for event you MUST submit your first AND last name to the comments section of this blog by Friday night.  If your name is not posted you will not be allowed to compete Saturday morning.  If you and a group of people want to register, feel free to post up all the names of the people coming in, just make sure to post first AND last names.

You will be required to pay $20 at the door, either cash or check each Saturday.  We will be donating 50% of that fee to a soon-to-be-announced charity. 

We will attempt to put same-level athletes in the same heats so that they can push each other.  If you are a serious competitor hoping to break into Regionals, be prepared to go in the first group of heats starting around 10:30 am.

If you have any questions at all, please do not hesitae to call or email me!

I want to start my apologizing for the delay in this post.  With the craziness of the event and what followed, and an intense cross-country trip planned, I had plenty of distractions from getting this finished.  But, after long last, here it is!

I can proudly say, without hesitation, that last weekends Courage Games was truly EPIC!  On officially one of the coldest days of the San Francisco Bay's year (high of 45, and an average of 41!), we had over 150 total people come spend suffer through the day.  Over 80 competitors in total came out; that is 100% of registered athletes braving the weather and battling.  Even two athletes who had to give up their spot for an injury and sickness came out to support everyone!  Before going into how the day went down, I want to take a moment and give a MASSIVE shout-out and thank you to all volunteers.  It's one thing to brave the rain and cold for some crazy workouts, but to volunteer your time, knowing full well that you won't have the time to go get warm between heats, well that is just awesome!  Thank you so much to all my judges, and everyone who helped, this event could not have happened without all of you!

So on to the competition!

We showed up dark and early at 5:30 in the morning to get things set up for the competitors.  We had a moment of hope as the moon shone down on us because the sky actually looked pretty clear.  Yeah, that didn’t last too long.  Right around the time athletes began rolling in, the weather began to show us what the day would look like.  As the rain came down on us all I was so excited to see that people just kept on pulling in.  And when registration was over, the first workout was set up, and I called over all the athletes for the first announcements, I was pleasantly surprised to find that every single athlete who registered showed up!  So right off the bat we were off to an impressive start.  With the worst weather of the year, everyone still came out to compete!

I thought about a few ways to go about putting together this review and have decided to just go back through the day and recall some of the highlights.  Given the nature of the event, you know, the whole “it’s freaking cold and raining yet everyone is still out here giving their all”, there were quite a number of pretty memorable moments.   The energy was crazy at the start of the first team event, and when the first heat rolled through the finish of the run and began banging out deadlift after deadlift, it was nothing short of motivating!  When the water and sweat had settled from the competition site, we had some fatigued looking athletes and some excited looking spectators ready for a solid days showing.  The three teams from Lalanne Fitness marked their names as the teams to beat, but the all the teams there had a solid showing though that first event. 

In my mind, the first event for individuals was hands down the most exciting.  After heats came in from the run and began moving through the ground to overhead procession, it was clear we were all witness to an impressive show.  PR’s were flying through the competitive field and we had an impressive amount of women and men hit that final weight at 135# and 225# respectively.  I think what stood out the most on this event was an athlete names Nathan.  His last place finish on the run left some monster juice in the tank to move through the barbells.  And when he got to the 205# station, we watched in breathless amazement at the effort he put forth.  The clean literally brought him to his knees!  Somehow he was able to find his feet and stand up; but then both hands slipped off the bar from the rain.  Yet again he was able to keep the bar on his shoulders and find that grip.  The jerk was probably a good 8 or so seconds, along with a good 5 feet of ground covered to find his balance.  But, he was able to lock that thing out and the surrounding spectators just erupted with cheers!  It was insane!

The second team event yet again showed some impressive teamwork all around.  The Lalanne teams proved successful again!  I personally was super impressed with the team San Mateo 2 and their “never give up attitude” on the final 100 squats and 50 overheads.  They share the bar well, they kept the energy going, and each and every athlete put so much effort and energy into helping them finish.  At three points I saw one of them push to failure and just as they were about to dump the bar, the other team members jumped right in to catch it and transfer the load to someone else.  Hat was great teamwork!

The second individual event proved to be the messiest by far.  With puddles forming on the freezing concrete, athletes dove right into the push ups and burpees with no hesitation.  We saw some speed demons with this sneaky hard workout and I think what stood out the most on this one was a photo finish between a handful of athletes in both heats.  The first heat saw athletes at opposite ends of the line finish about a second apart, and the last heat saw two athletes right next to each other pushing hard for that last rep.  Another thing that made this workout stand out was the fact that it all took place in close quarters and was a relatively quick one.  This meant that spectators were able to gather around pretty tightly and the energy just exploded.  From an individual competitors perspective, this is what these events are all about; feeding off each athlete AND the throngs of people screaming at you to go harder and faster.  Quite a scene!

At this pain in the day, I think everyone was just about comfortable with the fact that they wee not going to see any break in the weather.  It was great to see so many people come so prepared.  Tents were up, cars and heaters were running on high, and thanks to this, things ran so smoothly given our unique situation.  I have to give some respect outs to all the athletes, not just for putting forth such great efforts with all the workouts, but really for coming out and staying on top of things throughout!  My original goal of ending around 4pm looked a little shaky, but everyone met up when needed, got warmed up properly and seemed ready to go when their heat began.  Props to you all!

And now on to the final workout.  The teams got things rolling with a sheer sprint of max reps.  Just like the individuals second workout (getting down and dirty in the soaked concrete), the teams event started off with burpee barrier hurdles.  I was so pumped to put these parking barriers to use during the event and I was able to do so for the final both final workouts.  The teams tore it up!  What was interesting to me was watching the strategies of some of the teams.  Clearly the bear complex before double unders was the toughest part (unless an athlete REALLY did not have their double unders of course), and some athletes chose to completely forgo that exercise to conserve their energy for the jump rope.  A couple other teams just went all out for each exercise and just gave it everything they could.  It was fun to watch.  Like I expected, the teams who stayed super tight, communicated, and pushed each other seemed to have the most success.  In the end, only a handful of seconds separated the 1st and 2nd place teams, but what was more impressive was the fact that both those teams, AND the 3rd place team all hailed from Lalanne Fitness.  Good showing from those guys for sure!  The other teams looked awesome all around as well, all putting forth a great effort.  And while some teamwork was better than others, I was impressed to see how well all of these people worked with each other.  I personally have never been part of a team in a CrossFit competition and watching all thee groups work together and get after it made me really want to give it a go! 

The final event of the day got started not a moment too soon with burst of energy.  The individual competitors took the unconventional aspects of this final WOD and really adapted well.  With heavy deadlifting, barrier hurdles, carrying weight, stripping their own weights, double unders and more; this final one threw quite a collection of challenges at the athletes.  Oh right, and the rain and freezing cold added a bit to it, just in case you forgot that was still going on.  Even though the workout looked like a chipper style, and I’m sure it felt like that at the end, it was actually more of a complex sprint than anything.  The winner of this event came in at just over 3 minutes, pretty hardcore!  My favorite part of this was a tie between watching these athletes spring over the concrete hurdles, and watching them hoist up their heavy barbells after a good deal of deadlifts and carry the damn thing about 25 meters through the puddle-filled parking lot.  I’m going to have to program this style of workout more with my clients, it looked like s much fun (hard as hell, but fun!).

My biggest disappointment of the day had to be the fact that we were not able to have a proper awards ceremony.  People really wanted to get the heck outta dodge, and we all felt that was completely understandable.  So, people huddled under the tent to collect their scores and the winners were announced and awards passed out like we were handing out soup at a shelter or something.  It didn’t seem like people minding too much though, and just like that, everyone was gone.  A huge congratulation goes out to all winners!

Teams:
2nd: Bower
2nd: Ty’s Team
3rd: Viscious & Delicious

Individual Men:
1st: Neal Maddox        
2nd: Dusty Sulon
3rd: Peter Nguyen 

Individual Women:
1st: Melanie Wade  
2nd: Cheri Felisilda
3rd: Melody Miser  

Again, I really want to thank all the people who helped out throughout the day with keeping things running smoothly and judging.  We had three confirmed judges bail literally the night before the event and it was great to have a good handful of people step in and offer their services on such a crappy day.  I have to give a special shout out to two affiliates in particular who helped out a ton in terms of lending equipment for the event.  Lalanne Fitness not only had an impressive showing from the teams, but also lent about half the equipment used on the day.  Thanks so much t Chris and Maribel for that!  Also, Brendon at CrossFit San Mateo helped out with equipment, securing a few sponsors, and played host to a wonderful after party as well.  Thank you so much to Brendon and all the athletes at CFSM as well!  Lindsey, not only is she the best girlfriend a guy could have and a beast CrossFitter herself, but she helped out so damn much in getting this thing organized.  And after the organization, she helped with prep, registration, scoring, judging, clean up and just being an all around awesome person!

To all the sponsors ho helped to put together the great prize packages for the winners and supporting this event, especially CORE Foods and lululemon athletica Burlingame for coming out and supporting the athletes personally with gifts, goodies and plenty of cheering.

2XU
Jump Ropes RX’d
Stronger Faster Healthier
After The WOD
Genr8
2POOD Performance Apparel 

And finally, to all you athletes to bundled up and toughed through the craziest day in the Bay Area.  I am humbled to have been in your presents and am honored that you all came out to my event and worked through such incredible challenge.  You all strengthen my view on what CrossFit and its community is all about: people who have committed to making fitness a serious part of their lives no matter what!  Inspiring work all around, congrats to each and every one of you, and I hope I will see you all at events to come!

Never Stop, GET FIT.

Josh Courage

Competitor               1A        1B          Total 1       WOD 2    WOD 3      Total
Neal Maddox              495       0              495            209         241           945
Dusty Sulon               497       0              497            242         255           994
Peter Nguyen             487       0              487            227         290           1004
Luke Kayyem             504       0              504            223         294           1021
Chris Michelmore        473       0              473            240         311           1024
Steve LeValley           497       30            527            233         328           1088
David Bui                  493       0              493            225         382           1100
Ray Espinoza             459       60            519            246         360           1125
Rick Larsen               477       90            567            261         312           1140
Esteban Aguilar         529       0              529            282         364           1175
Andrew Wilhelms       579       0              579            248         370           1197
Jay Heath                 522       30            552            256         428           1236
Rafael Arceo             559       0              559            338         370           1267
Jerry Rainey             446       150          596            258         417           1271
Xavier Casillias          553       0              553            276         462           1291
Jonathan Berg           560       0              560            326         471           1357
Cory Boyd                 585       0              585            351         431           1367
Bo Dahlburg             512       60            572            239         606           1417
Justin Olasiman         606       60            666            254         607           1527
Eric Delgado             571       60            631            294         628           1553
Brett Dahlberg          501       180          681            330         611           1622
Gary Wu                  566       120          686            336         688           1710
Nathan Johnson        979       90            1069          342         828           2239
Rick Restivo              496       240          736            365         N/A           1101
Clarke Holland           529       240          769            425         N/A           1194

Competitor        1A     1B      Total 1    WOD 2   WOD 3   Total   

Melanie Wade          556        0           556            279            269         1104   

Cheri Felisilda          584        0           584            234            294         1112   

Melody Miser           559        0           559            274            365         1198   

Rita Benavidez        583        0           583            314            359         1256   

Traci Nixon              561        80         641            262            380         1283   

Terry Pashoian        578        40          618            295            380         1293   

Tamara Holland       650        80         730            320            531         1581   

Amber McLeod        651        80         731            392            514         1637   

Ruth Pardue            751        0           751            476            437         1664 

Elizabeth Zapata      718        40       758            339            885         1982   

Lynn Thomas           761        80         841            446             852         2139   

Margaret Kenney     766        40          806            611            825         2242   

Danielle Wesse        596        160       756            330            466         1552    scaled

Heidi George            652        160       812            328            490         1630    scaled

Celinda Moore          653        120       773            320            556         1649    scaled

Marilou Seiff             660        200       860            398            474          1732    scaled

Heather Vaughn       770        40          810            646            646         2102    scaled

Team                                WOD 1             WOD 2             WOD 3             Total

Bower                              983                  436                  383                  1036

Ty’s Team                         990                  452                  392                  1050

Viscious & Delicious        1000                458                  331                  1127

Reem                                1069                489                  310                  1248

Crossfit Woodland           1077                447                   275                  1249

GTL                                   1022                529                  294                  1257

Rippin N Tearin’               1066                610                  317                  1359

Tuan Experience              1171                635                  303                  1503

San Mateo 2                     1128                914                  267                  1775

Here's what all of you have been clicking refresh like mad for, the workouts!  These workouts may seem a little complicated, so please read over them a few times to make sure you understand what is going on.  Individual WOD's are written first, and then team WOD's.  Standards for all exercises will be written at the very end.   And don't worry; we will go over everything in detail tomorrow before WOD's begin!

A reminder to all:  the weather is going to suck!  COME PREPARED!  All athletes will suffer together.  There is limited covering and such.  Also, be prepared to pay a $5 entrance fee to the park (it is an all-day pass). 

When enetering the park, it will be the the 2nd left after the front gate to get to the Competition site.  Look for a CrossFit Courage sign at the turn if you a

Individual WOD #1:
a) 1.3 mile run
b) Ground to Overhead Anyhow procession
Men - 155#, 165#, 175#, 185#, 195#, 205#, 215#, 225#
Women - 65#, 75#, 85#, 95#, 105#, 115#, 125#, 135#

Heats will be all Women, then all Men for this workout.  Part "b" begins exactly 1 minute after the LAST athlete crosses the finish line (once you cross the finish line, you can rest until Part "b" begins).  The order of the "procession" is: last place on run goes first, second to last place goes second, etc. 

You will have 30 seconds AND 2 attempts at each bar.  If you fail both attempts, or fail to get the lift in 30 seconds, your score will be last bar you lifted.

Scoring WOD #1
a) your time in seconds
b)
Women start with 320 points.  -40 for one attempt, -20 for two attempts
Men start with 240 points.  -30 for one attempt, -15 for two attempts

Each bar successfully lifted in one attempt will subtract 40(women)/30(men) points from your 1b starting points (320(women)/240(men)).  If it takes you two attempts you subtract 20(women)/15(men) points from the 1b starting points. 

- If you achieve all lifts on first attempts, you get 0 (zero) additional seconds added to your run time. 
- If you achieve four lifts on your first attempt, a fifth on your second attempt, then fail both attempts on the sixth, your score will be 140(women)/105(men) ADDED seconds to your run time.
[subtract 40(women)/30(men) for each successful lift (4 total = 160(women)/120(men), then subtract 20(women)/15(men) for the fifth attempt for your overall score.]

Fasting run time, with possible seconds added from Part "b" wins.

Individual WOD #2
10 KB Swings 53#/35#
40 Air Squats
20 KB Swings 53#/35#
30 Push Ups (hands off deck)
30 KB Swings 53#/35#
20 Burpees

Heats will be determined by where you place in the 1st WOD and will most likely run about 8-10 people per heat.

Scoring WOD #2
Your time in seconds.  Fasted time wins.

Individual WOD #3
15 Deadlifts 275#/185#
10 Barrier Hurdles
30 Double Unders
20 meters out and back Overhead Lunge 45#/25#
Transfer your bar (275#/185#) 20 meters (anyhow)
20 Deadlifts 225#/135#
Sprint to Barrier
8 Barrier Hurdles
30 Double Unders

Heats will be running about 8-10 per heat.  There will be a penalty of 2 lateral jump-over burpees in any weight touches the ground on the Transfer portion.

Scoring WOD #3
Your time in seconds.  Fasted time wins.

Team WOD #1
1.3 mile run with two 25# bumper plates
200 Deadlifts 225#/135#

We will be starting this WOD in two heats, about 8-10 minutes apart.  You can carry the plates however you want between your teammates.  Only one person can lift at a time for deadlifts (two bars, a mens and a womens, will be supplied)

Scoring WOD #1
Teams time in seconds.  Fasted time wins.

Team WOD #2
Athlete #1 performs 20 ground to overhead anyhow w/ 105#
-       strips 10# off each side and carries weight 50 meters
Athlete #2 performs 20 ground to overhead anyhow w/ 85#
-       strips 10# off each side and carries weight 50 meters
Athlete #3 performs 20 ground to overhead anyhow w/ 65#
-       strips 10# off each side and carries weight 50 meters
Athlete #4 performs 20 ground to overhead anyhow w/ 45#
-       carries bar 50 meters
Once all athletes are together, they must load 105# back on the bar and perform:
100 squats
50 shoulder to overhead anyhow

Heats of 3-4 will be running.  Besides on the ground to overheads, weights are not allowed to touch the ground at any time.  There will be a 15 second penalty if weights touch the ground. 

Front squats and back squats are allowed.  Only one person on the bar at a time for the squats and shoulder to overheads.

Scoring WOD #2
Teams time in seconds.  Fasted time wins.

Team WOD #3
1 minute at each station:
Burpee Barrier Hurdles
KB Swings 53#/35#
Bear Complex 95/75#
Double Unders

Heats of 3-4 will be running.  Athlete #1 starts at first minute and transitions directly to second exercise on second minute while athlete #2 begins at first exercise.  So on.

Scoring WOD #3
1 rep = 1 second.  Total combined reps/seconds for team will be subtracted from first two WOD’s.
Fasted overall time wins.

Standards:

Ground to Overhead Anyhow:
Bar must start on ground.  Arms, hips and knees must be locked out in straight line with arms lined up at back of ears at top.  Dumping is allowed.

KB Swing:
Arms, hips and knees must be locked out in straight line with arms lined up at back of ears.

Push Ups:
Hands must come off ground at bottom.  Hips and chest must come off floor at the same time.

Burpees:
Chest must hit ground at the bottom.  Feet must leave ground at the top with arms, hips and knees locked out in a straight line with arms lined up with back of ears.  Must clap hands.
(teams – burpee barrier hurdles involve NO jump, just the bottom, then get the heck on over the hurdle!)

Deadlifts:
Bar must start on ground at bottom.  Hips and knees locked out at top.  Dumping is allowed from top.  No bouncing.

Squats:
Crease of hip must be below knee.  Hips and knees locked out at top.

Bear Complex:
Bar must touch ground each rep.  Squat clean and thrusters are fine.  We are going to be very lenient on this one.  It is defined as: power clean, front squat, thruster, back squat thruster.  We will allow: squat clean to thruster, back squat to thruster.

Let The Fun Begin!

What's Up CrossFitters!

Alright, below you'll find the OUTLINED schedule for the coming competition.  I need to make very clear that this is a estimation of what will go down this Saturday, and I am supplying it so that you can all gauge how the day will look.  I want everyone to know that things may change.  I will be sure to give everyone a big heads up when things get moved around a little. 

From the second the first workout starts at 7:45am, there will be heats running practically non-stop until the entire competition is over.  So, I ask that everyone be as attentive as possible to announcements (both posted and spoken).

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:
6:30am - Registration opens (@ Coyote Point Park)
7:00am - Judges meeting
7:30am - Movement standards for Team WOD #1
7:45am - Team WOD #1
8:25am – Team WOD #1 ends
8:30am - Movement standards Individual WOD #1
8:45am - Individual WOD #1
9:45am - Individual WOD #1 ends
9:50am - Movement standards for Team WOD #2
10:05am - Team WOD #2
11:05am - Team WOD #2 ends
11:10am - Movement standards for Individual WOD #2
11:25am - Individual WOD #2
12:15pm - Individual WOD #2 ends
12:20pm - Movement standards Team WOD #3
12:35pm - Team WOD #3
1:15pm – Team WOD #3 ends
1:20pm - Movement standards Individual WOD #3
1:35pm - Individual WOD #3
3:00pm - Individual WOD #3 ends
4:00pm - Award Ceremony
6:00pm - The Party Begins (@ CrossFit San Mateo)!

There you have it folks!  Again, I'll have a list of places to check out for food and whatnot nearby, but please, please be aware of posted changes.  I have a few more bits of info for you, so here goes:

• We will be selling water and Gatorade from the main tent
• Heats will be determined and posted after the first workout (don't worry, this will make more sense tomorrow night after the workouts are posted)
• Expect to get dirty (besides the fact it might rain, out will all be working out on a pretty beat up concrete parking lot!)
• Scaling IS allowed, for individuals and teams if needed.  If any scaling is needed, you/your team will finish behind all others who perform everything RX'D.
• Everyone is invited to the After Party at CrossFit San Mateo.  If you plan to come, you MUST bring something to share with everyone!

If you have any questions at all, don't hesitate to ask!  We are only a day away from this thing, and judging by the insanely high volume of visits to this site, I can tel everyone is excited to see what these workouts will be!  Well, if anything comes up between now and tomorrow evening, I'll post it on up.  And, you can expect to see everything posted up with standards and all some time later tomorrow evening.

Looking forward to an awesome day Saturday!

Josh Courage